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This book was digitized by Microsoft Corporation in
cooperation with Yale University Library, 2008. You
may not reproduce this digitized copy ofthe book for
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a

SAINTS AND SINNERS

OF THB

BIBLE.

Mrs. JULIA MctfAIK WEIGHT.

"JYil nisi cruce."

ZIEGLEE & McCUEDY,
PHILADELPHIA, PENN.; CINCINNATI, OHIO.; ST. LOUIS, MO. ; CHICAGO,
ILLS.,- AND SPRINGFIELD, MASS.

PREFACE

HE cause of God is one. All revelation, for every age^
discloses the same animating purpose — the bringing
^5 of men to God. Consequently, God's dealings with men
having a common object are ever generically the same,
and the Word of God is largely a record of the varieties of that
discipline which seeks the eternal happiness of man.
In this present work, we enter into no arguments on the
authority of Scripture. We expect of our readers a prejudice in
favor of it, as a rule of faith and practice.
God calls to Him His child, and puts into his hand a key to
unlock the mysteries of his present and future life, and this key
is the Bible. To him who studies these records, light arises.
Those wonderful ways of Providence, which have been dark as
Erebus, glow with a sudden splendor. He beholds not only that
" immense hope which has crossed the earth," but sees walking
in its sheen men who, from Eden until the present, are the
exponents of God's dealings with humanity ; in whose toils and
conquests ; in whose losses and compensations ; in whose agony
and jubilation ; in whose sins and righteousness, we can learn justly
to estimate ourselves and our fellows.

6 PREFACE.
For exactly as the world grows practically in the knowledge
and love of God, the human mind becomes known to itself, and
man correspondingly bends toward his fellows in brotherly love
and compassion ; becoming less an unjust judge, but more and
more a Christian Philosopher, and therefore more largely a Chris
tian Philanthropist.
We are God's little children, set to learn in His school, and He
teaches us, as becomes our simple estate, rather by object lessons
than by abstractions. We hold this vast advantage in these les
sons of the Bible, that they are absolutely true to human experi
ence. Here they are lifted infinitely above the productions of
human imagination, which forever tends to extremism in one form
or another. In God's Word we have not only the history of good
men's virtues, but of good men's direful sins.
In human romance" the hero is generally perfect, and we know
better than to believe in him ; in God's true Book the heroes are
of our " fellow-servants," fashioned of that same frail clay whereof
we ourselves are made.
So also as man inclines to make his hero a saint, he is apt to
make his sinner a criminal of the most notorious type. On the
contrary, the Bible exhibits to us not only the openly ungodly,
who receive their meed of shame and contempt, but the Christless
moralist, who maintains a gracious outward seeming, who climbs
high in all the honors of earth, and who falls at last like Mulciber,
"sheer from the crystal battlements of heaven."
In these chronicles we find answered for us many of those puz
zling queries over which worldly philosophy has stumbled. As
the Sphinx sat on the road to Thebes, with an unanswerable riddle

PREFACE. 7
on her lips, the world has sat on the great highway of the stars,
puzzling all her servants with questions none can understand, until
faith finds them definitely settled in the Scriptures.
The history of worldly philosophy is a history of profound mis
takes ; but when we enter into Bible history and Bible philosophy,
we escape from what Goethe called " a wearisome circle on a barren
heath," and are come into a realm of peace, order, beauty, clas
sified facts, unfolded reasons, and the sunshine of Divine guidance
and over-ruling.
When we turn our backs on this region of light, and go wan
dering into the mists of human wisdom, we, little children, are lost
children ; we are far from home in wilderness shadows ; horrible
spectres crowd about us ; dismal echoes mock our cries ; and dim,
disastrous twilight lies over all our world.
But in the study of Scripture nothing is more deplorable than
a divorce of the heart from the head ; and in no department of
Scripture are we more prone to this error than in a study of its
Biography. The scholar is apt to look on the Biographies of Scrip
ture as a sort of statistics of the Kingdom ; its men and women
are a mere array of facts and figures — census tables of a far away
time, of no practical daily importance. The careless reader be
holds in it a Sabbath Dream-Book and Fairy Tale. To others,
the Old and New Testaments speak of those set by remarkable
circumstances of their life entirely out of the range of our sympa
thies and present exigencies. If we indulge in mere fanciful mu
sings, these personages become to us shadowy ideals, rather than
bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh.
To gain from the people of the Bible that instruction for which

8 PREFACE.
they were embalmed in Holy Writ, we must believe in them and
think of them until we have brought them into the immediate
circle of our acquaintances and friends.
We must live in their atmosphere. We must go out of our
homes and dwell with them in the storied east when the world
was young. We must sit in their tent-doors and turn our faces as
theirs are turned, toward that distant horizon where was to arise
that Sun which is called Christ.
We must learn and love and hope with these Bible men and
women. We must with them sit by the cradles of mighty empires,
and we must realize that while the Book of God is growing piece
by piece, first by oral tradition, and then by written record, the
religion of God, the plan of salvation, has come to the early fami
lies of the race full armed and beautiful, the true Athene.
Having thus learned these people as real people in their own age
and region, we must make them part of our own lives ; we must
bring them into our surroundings ; lead them with us in the jost
ling ways of modern business; set them down in our studies and
libraries; inspire them with our ambitions; perplex them with
our cares ; enlighten them with all the garnered lore the earth has
laid up for us ; and, as they once always looked forward, we must
place them where they can now look back to that dear Christ who
came, and onward to that glorious King who is coming still. Put
them where we are, between the two advents of our Lord. Then
shall all the galaxy of Scripture character warn ^md instruct us
what our God would have us do, shun, and be ; how He helps us ;
why He tries us ; and what shall be the end of steadfast faith and
of perverse desire.

PREFACE. 9
Such studies teach us the unity of the human race, the unity
of God's plan for man ; we realize Christ as the central thought. no$
only of the Bible, but of all history ; we are learners in that grand
school of Theology which Zuingle has aptly called " God's thoughli
in his own Word."
The object of this present volume has been not to exhaust such
a plan as this, but simply to exhibit it in a few suggestive outlines ;
to encourage and popularize the study of the Scripture ; to show •
that this study is no dry, repellant task, but can be made cheerful
and most inviting; that general reading, and classical studies, and
the severer researches of modern criticism, can be as comely priest
esses to minister at its shrine.
There has been of late a general awakening of interest in regard
to the Holy Scriptures. Copies of the Bible are wonderfully mul
tiplied, and there isa vastly increased demand for all books serving
to explain or assist the study of the Sacred Oracles.
This is evidently God's great day of preparation for tremendous
events and trials, when men shall need all that armor of truth
which is now being forged for them. It therefore becomes every
reasonable being, not only every Christian so-called, but every
thinking mind which desires to be a competent judge in its own
behalf, to take advantage of every increased opportunity for acqui
ring this knowledge.
To the noble array of works on Biblical subjects these few studies
ofthe "Saints and Sinners ofthe Bible" are oifered as an humble
contribution. Inasmuch as they contain the golden truths of God,
they have in them an imperishable element. The Author has
endeavored to gather about certain prominent characters of Scrip-

10 PREFACE.
ture some of the products of historical, geographical, and critical
research ; designing especially to give those who have not oppor
tunity for extended studies and libraries at command, part of the
results of the investigations of others. The wish has been, not
merely to cast the Biblical narrative into some other form of
speech, but to cluster about it its correlated facts, and those inci
dents of time, place, and influence which the Lord has left the
readers of His Word to search out for themselves.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

i.
CAIN AND ABEL.
THE GENESIS OF RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE.
Types of humanity — An error of parental judgment — Eve's idea of the
Saviour — The first Revelation of Christ — The name Tamil — The hope
set on Cain — His training — The first household — Its privileges — Cain's
idea of himself — His pride cultivated — Abel's education — Mistakes
concerning Cain — Cain a moralist — Sacrifices — Sword symbol — The
narrative not a mere murder case — Religion and the sword — The two
offerings — What was wrong — The sin of self-righteousness — Cain's
rejection of a Saviour — Fables of antiquity — Penitence and thankful
ness — Religious war — The altar — God's mark on Cain — The line of
martyrs — God's argument with Cain — A full Gospel— Meaning of
hattolh  25
II.
ENOCH.
THE PREACHER OF THE RESURRECTION.
A wonderful epoch — The ancient home — Man's high ancestry — The
intent ofthe Genealogy — Enoch's family life — His friends — The elder
patriarchs — Learning ofthe antediluvians— Overlapping generations-
Age of gold — Legends of Enoch — Enoch's living and walking— Enoch
and Elihu — Meaning of walking with God — Enoch the first foreign mis
sionary — His errand — His audience — The sons of Cain — The sermon —
Promise of the Resurrection — Enoch's vision — Influence — Reason of
his translation — Mystical number seven — Enoch's descendants — Enoch
a family saint — End of Sethic annals — Sethic economy — Macrobian
heroes  46
, 11

12 CONTENTS. III.
ABRAHAM.
FELLOW-CITIZEN WITH THE SAINTS.
The princely patriarch — God's great Nomad — The line of Shem — Earli
est idolatry — Abraham's teachers — Terah — Death of Haran — Terah's
failure — The pilgrim line — Population and civilization in Abraham's
day — Abraham's renunciation of the world — The sojourn in Egypt —
Abraham's wealth — Character — Family — Friends — First battle — Mel-
chizedek — His symbols — Abraham's example — Classic legends — Birth
of Isaac — Trial of faith — Age and character of Isaac— His part in the
sacrifice — Death of Sarah — Eastern courtesy — The royal burial-place —
A bridal — Abraham's citizenship — His going home — End of pilgrimage
— Inheritance — Faith and fruition — Rest at last.  64
IV,
JACOB AND ESAU.
THE STRIFE OF NATURE AND GRACE.
Problems for parents — Inherited traits — Esau like his mother — Jacob
like his father — Isaac's wrong intention — Unfitness of Esau for spiri
tual birthright — The ambition of Jacob — The pleasure loving of Esau
— The strife of physical and spiritual — Our sympathy with Esau — •
Hasty judgment — The two birthrights — No injustice done Esau — The
brothers — Their differing views — Esau's wives — The sale of the birth
right — Jacob's greed — Esau's profanity — An oriental picture — Isaac's
error — The course of Rebecca — Her vindication — Esau's contempt and
Esau's tears — Esau gets exactly what he wants — His inheritance —
Jacob's experiences — His punishments — Was Esau rejected ? — Meaning
of God's loving and hating — Esau a saved soul — Conversion of both
brothers— Their reconciliation — Jacob's last hours  99
V.
JOSEPH.
THE PROFITS OF GODLINESS.
The argument of EHphaz — Dealings of God with men— Joseph a nearly
perfect character — Judah and Joseph — The triple cord — Turning point
of Israelitish history — Three divisions of Joseph's life — Infancy and

CONTENTS. 13
youths-Quarrels over the birthright — Joseph a Nazarite — An Eastern
"scene — Early caravans — Jacob's woe — The epoch of slavery — Experi
ences in serfdom — Joseph's trials and temptations — Standfast and
Madam Bubble — Potiphar's injustice — Ingratitude — Sudden elevation
— Joseph in prosperity — His era of splendor — Joseph a cosmopolitan —
The changed brothers — Judah's character — Joseph tries his brothers —
Meeting of father and son — Typology of Christ — Death — Burial  110
VI.
PHARAOH.
EGYPT AGAINST HEAVEN.
Pharaoh the antagonist of God — Views of Bunscn — God's intention in the
history — Who was this Pharaoh ? — His ancestors — His education — His
prospects— His country — Splendor of Egypt — Its power — The great
pyramid — Character of the Egyptians — Pride and self-justification —
Book of the Dead — Opinions of ancient historians— The Lord's mes
sage — Meaning, time, extent, bearing and terror of the ten plagues —
An ascending series — Theirjaearing on the Egyptian gods — The Earth
Mother — Pharaoh's duplicity — His confessions — Safety of Israel— The
death of the first-born — The angel with the 6Word — A mad pursuit —
The utter ruin of Sethos and' his army— Character of Pharaoh — Death
of Egypt— The birth of history  133
VII.
MOSES.
FAITH IN ACTION.
The true heroes of earth— Origin of the Egyptians — Builders of the
pyramid — Melchizedek— The Philitian Shepherds — The gentle king —
Besostris — Rameses — Legends of Moses' birth — The queen regent-
Youth of Moses — Rejects the empire — Classic memories of Moses
 His exile — Forty years of probation — Moses' struggle against God
— The secret of his after bravery — The song of Moses — Moses and
Israel— His gifts— His prayers— Types in his life — His faith — His
death — His grave  160
VIII.
MIRIAM AND DEBORAH.
THE THECORATIC STATUS OF WOMEN.
Legends of good women — Scriptural types of womanhood — Likeness of ,
! Miriam and Deborah — Traditions of Miriam — Early life — Beauty of .'

14 CONTENTS.
Miriam — Her equality with Aaron — Her culture — Her prophetic office
— Her sin — The place God accorded Miriam — Woman fit for any station
where she is needed — Women as rulers — "Divine principles" — God
not hedged by men's rules — Office work of man and woman — The law
of necessity— Broadening of woman's sphere— The palm-tree of Debo
rah — Deborali a mother in Israel — God's choice of Deborah — The
strength of her patience — Warrior women — Leadership thrust upon
Deborah— Tiie signal — Jael's deed— Her glory — The woman leaning
from a lattice — God's thought for women — The abilities of women —
Historical examples— Intuition and instinct— Weakness and strength —
Education— Godliness — -Marriage the God-implanted instinct of the
race — Legal and natural disability — Mental and spiritual equality — •
Faith the measure of valor — True unity — The highest destiny  182

IX.
ACHAN.
THE SINNER IN THE CHURCH.
The Bible presents typical characters — Judas— Sinners in the church —
The tentli commandment — Covetous Christians an anomaly — Covetous
angels — Achan " the troubler " — Jericho — Its glory and wealth — Con
secration of metals — Events at Gilgal — An honorable man — Covetous-
ness a habit — Achan' s temptation — Robbing God — The judgment—
Achan's exposure — His doom — His family influence — Reason for the
death of all the household — Achans in the modern churcli — Our
crying evil — Warning — A beggared soul — The great lesson .:  200
X.
SAMSON.
THE SAINT OF IRON AND CLAY.
Need and supply — Cause and effect — The wife of Manoah — A Danite
home — Portraits of Manoah and his wife — Boyhood of Samson —
Danite genius — Power running riot — Muscular Christianity — Wisdom
and strength — The boy of Zorali — Inheritance of Dan — Manners of
the tribe — Iron and clay — The beauty of Timnath— Love-making —
Philistine wedding — First of hermits — Slaughter at Lelii — Palmy days
—The girl of Gaza — The enchantress of Sorek — Samson Agonistes—
The fallen Nazarite — Samson in his right mind — The true hero — The
patriot and saint — Heathen reminiscences of Samson — The real Her
cules — The imperfect instrument  -.  211

CONTENTS. 15
XI.
SAMUEL.
RELIGION IN GOVERNMENT.
The man and his time — Questions of Government — The theocracy-
Christ first revealed as a king — Beginning ofthe theocratic kingdom —
The covenant at Sinai — Christ's early visible kingdom — History of
theocratic times— Children of the sun— Expectations of the Philis
tines — Traces of Joshua in profane history — Period of the Judges —
The child of prayers — Samuel's parents — Parallel of Hannah and the
Virgin Mary — Their songs — Prophetic women — The youthful saint,
and the youthful profligates — Samuel called to the prophetic office —
The ark and the God of covenant — Samuel lost for twenty years —
National convention — Politics and religion — Their unity and contra
riety — Samuel as a military and civil leader — Godliness and happiness
— Aim of national existence — Religious status of nations — Religious
responsibility of nations — The prophet's simplicity and prosperity — ¦
The people rebel against their king — The beginning of decay — Typology
of Jewish kingdom — The people before Samuel and before Pilate —
Formal rejection of Christ — Samuel at Gilgal — Thunder in harvest —
Close of four centuries of the theocracy — A king like the nations  231
XII.
SAUL.
GOVERNMENT WITHOUT RELIGION.
The government still theocratic — Ancient constitution yet in force — The
king's King — Division of Church and State— The Lord's anointed —
The Flower of Israel — The land of Benjamin — Its beauty and history
— Early character of Saul— ^Esthetic spirit of Samuel — "Your king
walketh before you" — The satrapy of the sky — Saul's real prime-
minister — Pathetic tie — Saul spoiled by prosperity — Saul's rebellion —
Saul mistakes his position — Mania of Saul — Prosperity of early reign
— The vengeance of the Lord — Doom of Amalek — Samuel's grief-
Death of Agag — Saul's despair — Real crime of Saul — Need be of his
punishment — Demoniacal possession — Death of Samuel — The fall of
kingdoms— Absolute need of religion to sustain nations — Weakness
and ruin of godless nations — Harod — The horrible silence — Witch
woman — The death of a brave man — Saul's perverted spirit — Bread on
the waters — David sings an elegy — Burial of the ashes  251

16 CONTENTS.

XIII.
DAVID.
A GREAT SINNER AND A TRUE SAINT.
The bloom-time of Jewish history— Ancestry of David — Rahab and
Ruth— Our acquaintance with the character of David — Genius of the
Bon of Jesse— His personal beauty — David as a warrior — The mystery
of David's life — His child-like lowliness — His sins and his repentings
—His virtues — The close of the second period of his life — David's
diary— Hebron — Sev.en years' reign — The kingdom of Palestine —
Hiram and David — Tyre — David unhurt by prosperity— The dynasty
of ¦ David — Sovereigns of the Orient — Piety and lawful authority-
No union of Church and State — The true ideal of a ruler— David's
grand mistakes — A lawful wife — David's zeal — David's wrath — Uriah's
wife — The curse of the sword — Fourfold restoration— The story of
Amnon — Absalom — The watch of Rizpah — The rebellion of the theo
cratic king — The sin of the census— The sin of David — The share of
the people in the sin — The old covenant — Duty of nations toward
God — Baal pleading — Bartholomew of 1871 — Angel of destruction —
; Adonijah's rebellion — David's legac}' to kings— Difference between
eaints and sinners — The rule of judgment  269

XIV.
ABSALOM.
MAN'S CAPACITY FOR FAILURE.
LeBsons of history — Failure as a rule — Failures in national life — Failures
in religion — Man's house building — Failures in domestic government
— Faith and training — Covenant relations of households — Failures of
David — The law of marriage — Godliness and matrimony — The sanctity
of the home— Absalom's mother — Plurality of wives — Eastern laws of
inheritance and succession — The throne of Israel not a hereditament —
Claims of David's sons on the throne — Culpable indulgence of David
— The graces of Absalom — Absalom Tamar's legitimate protector —
His provocations — The King's Dale — A scene of terror — The woman
of Tekoah — Joab— Error of Chronology — Absalom's revolt— His
hatred to David — Civil war — Joab and the soldier— The lament over
' Absalom  294

CONTENTS. 17
XV.
SOLOMON.
HEAVEN'S EXPOSITOR OF THE WORLD.
Solomon an inheritance for the world— Fantastic stories — Extent of the
* legends — Little known of Solomon— The Biblical history of Solomon —
By whom written — His writings — His saintly character — His sinful
character — Object of this double portraiture — Influences of his child
hood — His tutor — Bathsheba — His youth — The beginning of his reign
— Alliances — Traffic in the days of Solomon — The building of the
temple — The splendor of Solomon's reign — Departure from theocratic
principles — Moral character of Solomon — Darker shades of character
— Personal ambition — Extravagance — Solomon's wisdom — Tennent's
Trance — Unlawful wisdom— Astrology and divination — Modern ration
alism — The angel in the sun — Unbelief and superstition — Loves of
Solomon — Idolatry — Koheleth — The Persians — The book of ecclesi-
astes— Earfhly wisdom — True wisdom — The noble lesson — The last
analysis of earth and its honors — Entering heaven as a little child —
Divine pity  309
XVI.
JEROBOAM.
IDOLATRY THE RELIGION OF THE NATURAL MAN.
Atheism not natural to the mind — Religion natural to man — Innate idea
of God — Revelation coeval with man — Traditions of the Shemitic
race — Bel-worship— Its origin — Extent — Duration — Winged bulls —
Calf worship — The religion of the natural man — Milton's Baal — Jero
boam — His early Character — Position under Solomon — Israel and
Judah — The gay captain — The prophet Ahijah — The new cloak —
Promises and warnings — Jeroboam changed — A rebel — Fleeing into
Egypt — A father's disappointment — Coronation at Shechem — The
Hebrew Miss Kilmansegg — The Jewish Marseillaise — The reign of
Jeroboam — Formal apostasy of Israel — Jeroboam's heart — Bethel —
The nameless prophet — The doom of the altar — Tirzah — The dead
heir — The heart left to its own devices— Idolatry — God's offer of
mercy— Full Gospel — The hope  335
XVII.
JEZEBEL AND HER DAUGHTER.
STATUS OF WOMEN WITHOUT RELIGION.
Eth-baal, king of Tyre— Phoenicians and Jews— The king of Samaria—
The reigning beauty of Tyre — Early days of Jezebe] — Visit of ambaa-
2

1 8 CONTENTS.
sadors — Wedding gifts — The bridal journey — Power of Jezebel — The
grove of Astarte — Ahab's idolatry— Character of Ahab— Elijah and
his burden — The trial of strength on Carmel — Rage of Jezebel —
Naboth's vineyard — The curse — Prayers of bad men effectual with God
— Marriage of Athaliah — The fatal day — The dying king — The queen
mother — Jehu the avenger — Athaliah queen-regent — The death of
Joram and Ahaziah — Jezebel's last hope — Her fate — Athaliah's brief
triumph — A royal murderess — Mother and daughter — The destruction
of a usurper — Womanhood set free of God — Status of Hebrew women
— Political position of women — Woman's first duty to her race — His
torical examples  358
XVIII.
JONAH.
THE STUMBLING SAINT.
Bunyan's vision — The selfish brother — A legitimate wonder-land — Con
tradictory character of Jonah — Absolute fact — Time of Jonah's pro
phecy — His first mission — A Jew's prejudice — His reluctance to warn
Nineveh — History of Nineveh — Glory, extent and strength of the city
— Jonah finding fault with God — A narrow-minded saint — JExclusive-
ness — Tarshish — Jonah's journey — The storm — Casting lots— Kindness
of heathen sailors — The great fish — Type of Christ — Effect of trouble
— Jonah ashore— Second message — The extent of the knowledge of
God — Fasting and repenting — Jonah's temper — Jonah's sulks — The
scene before Jonah — The gourd — Its great lesson — Traditions of
Jonah's further history — The tomb of Jonah  380
XIX.
ISAIAH.
THE HERALD OF THE MORNING.
The world and its religion — The central thought — Christ the centre of
history — From Adam to Calvary — From Calvary until to-day — En
shrouding night — The promise of Christ — No change of system —
Different prophets — Daniel and John — The son of Amoz — The oriental
prophet — His messages to the nations — Very little of his personal
history known — A pencil dipped in light — Isaiah's woe — Isaiah's wife
— The prophetess — The child of mystical promise — Meeting with
Ahaz — A storied spot — Deadly combat — Ahaz and the sign — The Vir
gin's son — The babe with a mystic name — The magnificent ode- — Death
of Ahaz — The reign of Hezekiah — Sennacherib's host — The astronomi
cal wonder — Embassy from Babylon — Merodach-Baladan — The seer's
joy — The vision of "the king in his beauty"  395

CONTENTS. 19
XX.
JEREMIAH.
GLORIFYING GOD IN THE FIRE.
The child of Anathoth— The nurture of the prophet— The mantle of
Isaiah — The prophetess Huldah — The boy king and the boy seer — The
voice — The hidden book — Great is Baal — The fire in the bones— Jere
miah's cry — The voice in the gloom — National disasters of Judah—
The counsels of Jeremiah— The mob — The burnt roll— The puppet
king — Jeremiah's dungeon — The Ethiopian eunuch — The hero in
chains — Fall of the holy city — The dead Nazarites — Failures in king
craft — The good Gedaliah — The massacre — Captivity in Egypt — Tradi
tions of Jeremiah's last days — The divine face — Sorrowing souls — The
Lord shall wipe away all tears  411
XXI.
NEBUCHADNEZZAR.
THE FALL OF THE HEAD OF GOLD.
The great kingdom — Nebo the magnificent — The head of gold — The
day-spring of power — The Babylonian empire — Conquests of Nebo —
An oriental despot — Character ofthe king — The heir of a throne — The
glory of nations — Babylon the beautiful — Nebuchadnezzar as a war
rior — As an architect — The tower of Belus — Nebo a religious man —
Whims of a monarch — Cruelties of Nebo — Especial favors of God —
Free speech — Three great experiences — Visions — Nebuchadnezzar sees
the Son of God — The warning — The fearful fall— The watcher and the
Holy One — The grand lesson — Madness of the monarch — The preser
vation of the kingdom — Restoration — The lesson learned — The glory of
sunset — Babylon left desolate  425
XXII.
DANIEL.
THE SAINTLY COURTIER.
Temptation and failure — Daniel the great example of sustaining grace —
The plain of Shinar — The great migrations of the race — The progressive
people — View of the Chaldeans — The scourge of Judah — The captive
princes — A perilous childhood — The education of Daniel — Two choice
virtues of the Babylonians — The boy on the tower of Babel — Among

20 CONTENTS.
the Magi — The life of a courtier — Keeping the heart — The royal
favorite — Susa — The dream — Changes in the kingdom — Daniel in pri
vate life — The night of terror — The hand on the wall — The kings after
Nebo — The cylinders — Bible truth triumphant — The courtier of the
skies — Again in power— The captives by Euphrates — Cyrus the son of
prophecy — Assyrian feasts — Time to be religious — The holy triumvi
rate — Visions— The den of lions — Daniel and John — Seventy weeks —
Memory of Zion — The fountain of help — The everlasting compensa
tion  447

XXIII.
NEHEMIAH.
THE PATRIOTISM OF RELIGION.
Jewish fortunes after Daniel's time — Policy of the Chaldeans — Baby
lonish rulers — The work of Haggai and Zachariah — Edicts of Cyrus —
The mission of Ezra — Ezra's consistency — The cup-bearer — Jews from
Jerusalem — Religion is patriotic as it is filial — Patriotism of the Jew —
Sad before the king — The request — The walls of Jerusalem — The cor
tege — Three days' rest — The midnight expedition — The fountain of
the Dragon — The widowed city — Enemies — Modern Nehemiahs — End
of the first visit to Jerusalem — Return to Babylon — Re-commissioned
as Tirshatha — Probity of Nehemiah — Vitality of the Jewish nation —
Nehemiah as a Reformer — The restored city — Extreme measures — For
eign marriages — "Remember me, O my God, for good 1 "  470

XXIV.
JOSHUA THE SON OF JOZADEK.
THE ROYAL HIGH-PRIESTHOOD OF OUR LORD.
The man and his office — Crying«need of a priestly office — The cry for a
Daysman — The Levitical priesthood — Levi's antitype — The three suc
cessions of Levitical priests — Joshua and Lis captive father — A man
made for his time — Early days — Variety of types — Two rulers — The
book of Hebrews — The Priest of the present dispensation — A Priest
forever — Melchizedek — Day of atonement — Incense and blood — Levi
and Jesus — The Christ and the Holy of Holies — The Return of the
high-priest — Return of Joshua — Vision of Zachariah — Man and his
Redeemer — The new temple — Delineation of Jesus — Our High-Priest. 488

CONTENTS. 21

THE ERA OF HOPE FULFILLED.
XXV.
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
THE IRON LINK.
Time between Malichi and Matthew — Darkness and dawn — Abrahamic
piety — Woman and her Redeemer— Mary and Elizabeth — The prayer
of Zacharias — God giving abundantly — Greatness of John Baptist —
The last Nazarite — Silence — The desert school — The new Elijah — The
wilderness cry — Final expression of the Old Testament — John and
Jesus — The fiery furnace — John and the Martyrs — The Iron Link —
Prominent traits of John Baptist — John and the Sanhedrim — John as
a preacher — John's baptism — Its meaning — Offence of John — John
and Herod — The new Jezebel — Fear of Herod — John's dungeon —
Horeb of the new Elijah — The commission — The answer — Christ's
defence of John — Dying grace — John's last hour — Death — Tenors of
Herod — John and Abel — The birthday of Herod — The marriage of
Navarre — The departure of Jesus — Christ's harbinger  498

XXVI.
HEROD.
THE TRIUMPH AND FALL OF EDOM.
Contrasts of Scripture — God's thoughts — Chief of the Idumeans — The
tent of Isaac — History of Edom in brief — Antipater — Herod and
Antony — Aristobulus the boy priest — Herod made king — Marriage
with Mariamne — Murder of Aristobulus — Asmoneans and Idumeans
— Salome and Herod — Execution of Mariamne — Herod haunted —
Works of Herod — Herod and Esau — Murder of his sons — Opening of
David's tomb — Time of Christ's birth — The taxing — Horrible suffer
ings of Herod — Disgrace — His son Antipater — The last decree — Ex
pectation of a Messiah — The nations — The Star in the East — Christ
and heathen nations — Tacitus, Suetonius and Virgil — Eastern magi —
Magi at Jerusalem — Murder of the innocents — Antagonism of Jacob
and Esau — The babes avenged  519

22 CONTENTS. XXVII.
PETER.
THE EARTHLY AND THE HEAVENLY IMPULSE.
God choosing his instruments — Jonas the fisherman — His sons and their
partners — Social position of the Apostles — The four fishermen and
John Baptist — John and Andrew — Behold the Lamb of God — Andrew
and John following Jesus — Prince of hospitality — Andrew hastens to
Peter — The new name — Capernaum — Three calls of Peter — The love
of Peter — His age, family and character — The draught of fishes —
Apostolic office, primus inter pares — Sayings of Peter — Peter com
mended — And rebuked — Favors bestowed on Peter — His doings — The
glory of the transfiguration scene — The last supper — Warnings of
Peter — Three assertions — Three warnings in the garden — The arrest
of Jesus— The judgment hall— The three denials — The world's great
penitent — Day of agony — John and Peter — The disappearance of Peter
— Day of the Crucifixion — The Sabbath of waiting — Easter morning
— The risen Lord — Silence — Peter's unrest — Peter and his fishing —
Peter in the wrong place— The mountain and the sea — The three
questions — The restored disciple — Peter at Pentecost — Further life of
Peter — He was never at Rome — Miracles of Peter — Paul and Peter —
Legends — Peter's death — The Castor and Pollux of the Church leading
the sacramental host  537
XXVIII.
PILATE AND GALLIO.
TWO POLITICAL TIME-SERVERS.
Pilate as Governor — His cruel disposition — His unpopular deeds — The
trial of Jesus — His one advocate — Claudia Procula — Pilate's three
stratagems — His yielding — Pilate a coward — Last act in the drama —
Gallio and Seneca — Early days — Genial disposition — Paul at Corinth
— The city — Religion of the Stoics — Jews, Greeks and Gallio — Gal-
lio's justice and folly — His injustice — His return to Rome — Death of
Seneca— Death of Gallio  567
XXIX.
PAUL.
THE MODEL OF THE MINISTRY.
The world's rest-time — Tarsus — A Hebrew home — Early training of
Paul — Gamaliel — Life at Jerusalem — Death of Stephen — Journey to

CONTENTS. 23
Damascus — Seeing Jesus — Paul equipped for the apostolic office-
Damascus — Arabia — The escape — Jerusalem — A vision — Tarsus —
Shifting scenes — Paul's eloquence — Athens — Greek art — Paul the
prisoner — Status of Paul's judges — Csesar's bar — Spain and Rome —
Prison life — The road to Ostia — Earth and Heaven  583
XXX.
JOHN.
THE VISION OF THE PARADISE OF GOD.
Pilgrim Standfast — The son of thunder — The Jordan valley — Following
the Master — Salome and her kindred — Sons of Salome — Youth of St.
John — Zebedee — John the calm ideal — James the prototype of martyr
dom — The chosen three — Mater Dolorosa — The risen Lord — Galilee —
Jesus by the sea — The happy home at Jerusalem — Martyrdom of St.
James — His burial — John sitting in the council — John at Ephesus —
The early fathers' picture of John — The three epistles — The isle Pat-
mos — Persecution under Domitian — The rock of exile — Sabbath morn
ing — The watch tower of the Church of God — The voice on Patmos —
The Lion of Judah — The song of the saints — Succession of Nerva —
Recall of John — The completion of the canon of Scripture — Evening
of life — The last apostle called home— John lies dead in Ephesus —
The paradise of God  606

CAIN AND ABEL.
THE GENESIS OF RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE.  CAIN THE BIGOT
— ABEL THE BELIEVER.

II AN from his narrow outlook over the world studies and
classifies the phenomena of his fellow-men in a hundred
different forms : he talks of races, creeds, colors, and pe
riods ; of Greek and barbarian ; and again divides and
subdivides. The Lord God, with the sweep of infinite vision, regards each
eternity-bound soul with an eye single to its unchangeable destiny..
Before him the countless generations separate into two great bands,
as they shall stand on the mighty day of his last assize ; those who
have accepted justification in the Beloved, and those who have
•clung to their own righteousness, or have "cared for none of these
things." From the very earliest history ofthe race we mark this distinc
tion. When Eve, our mother, had two sons at her side, they were
the types and leaders of these two forever-divergent lines of hu
manity. Of these babes, who learned in the land of Eden,
but outside of the Paradisaic gate, the language of infancy from
the pair who had never been children, one was a saint of God,
the other a rebel sinner.
And, as a picture of what should come to pass in all the history
of the ages, we find the first parents seeing and judging, not as
25

26 CAIN AND ABEL.
God ; and the sinner Cain so comporting himself through a long
course of years that he is accounted a true child of glory. It is
the forever-repeated story — echoed in Samuel's choice among
Jesse's sons, and in the arguments of Job's three friends — of man
drawing his conclusions from his own perverse idea, and from some
shining outward show, and God gazing unchallenged and unde
ceived upon the secret heart.
Adam and Eve, each perfect in kind, but not in degree or
attainment, forfeiting their high estate, passed weeping out of the
Edenic portal and the Edenic dispensation ; beyond them lying four
other dispensations, through which humanity must wander wearily
before the heir of the Universe should come into his own again.
These, our parents, had a glorious promise, the shining sun of
their hope, to light their troublous way, and they looked for its
immediate realization. They could not apprehend that a thousand
of our toilsome, earthly years are to our Father as a watch in the
night; that all time is present to him, while before us it stretches
a boundless future. The sorrowing pair did not know that gene
rations must die like the falling of autumn leaves, and centuries
be added to centuries before the Deliverer should come to enter
into his priesthood by the sacrifice of himself; and centuries more
before he should claim his kingdom and bruise the Serpent unto
death. We are not to suppose that those who had sat under the shadow of
the tree of life, who had talked with God in the garden, and the shrine
of whose Avorship was the glory between the Cherubim, keeping the
way to their lost home, were left to grope blindly in the dark
regarding their Redeemer. They expected a personal Saviour,
divinity in the flesh ; they apprehended the God and man two dis
tinct natures mysteriously united in one personality. This they
knew assuredly by a direct revelation, for they had no God of
history or Providence to look to, and what they knew of him must

CAIN AND ABEL. 27
have been unfolded by himself. We see that they expected the
human flesh and nature in their Jehovah, else Eve would not
have seen him in her new-born son ; while we are equally sure
they apprehended his divinity, because the terms of salvation were
the same for them as for others — there is no name given but that
of the God-man, whereby men may be saved ; and Paul speaks of
the faith of Abel as identical with that of the Church after the
days of Jesus.
But it was not necessary that the long ages of preparation for
his advent should be unfolded ; for it is not for us to know the
times or the seasons which the Father hath kept in his own hand ;
nor was it important that they should be taught the wonder of his
conception ; that was the destined lesson of a later day. All that
was needful they were told. God, co-equal Son of the Father,
coming in the flesh to vindicate his sovereignty, to save the souls
of his chosen, to subdue the revolted earth unto himself. Having
learned this much, our parents' ardent desire outran the stately
progress of the divine intention, and grasped at immediate restora
tion. They did not yet realize the tremendous consequences, the
full importance of their transgression.
The finite has never yet, can never compass an expression for
the infinite : it is not in man to invent a name for his Creator,
upon which that Creator will set the seal of his acceptance.-
No more was such power in her, the mother of the living. God
must first have revealed himself to Eve as Yahveh, Jehovah, the
Angel of the Covenant, before she could so denominate him on
whom her hopes were set.
When Eve first looked upon her man-child, her anxiety was
mother of her confidence, that here was the Deliverer, and she
cried, " I have borne a man, the very Jehovah." It was the
mother love and hope expressed ifi its most unlimited degree.
Mothers even yet have immense hope, and reach immense disap
pointment.

28 CAIN AND ABEL.
We cannot be shocked at Eve's language or expectation when
Ave feel how hef knowledge of time was limited, as well as her
knowledge of the degree in which humanity was to have part in
the person of the Mediator. Her language holds a subjective
truthfulness, and the strong light of her hope. The bitter, the
terrible disappointment of our first parents in this their son was
a sharp portion of their ordained punishment.
But there was no immediate awakening to the truth.
On the birth of Abel we find our first mother in a different
frame of mind. She calls him not the very God, but the perisha
ble! Abel.
We wonder whether by this time the slow physical development,
the weakness, or the traces of human depravity in her eldest-born
had discouraged her ; whether she named her second son perisha
ble, because she esteemed him without the divine element of his
brother ; or whether, having been possessed of the Coming One,
she thought no other worthy of her rejoicing.
We cannot tell ; but we know that here, as elsewhere, God chose
the weak things to confound the mighty, and the despised to put
to nought the pride of men.
There is no doubt that the mother's idea of her two sons entered
largely into their training. God can make use of every foolish
ness of human nature to further his own designs, and in these
brothers he was to set forth a lesson for all coming years.
The primary duty which God assigns a married pair is the
training of their children. It is evident that this is the first affair
of their lives, because of all their possessions to which they can
put their hands the children are immortal, and their training is
work of weal or woe for eternity. Now-a-days Ave find the cares
of business, the la\A's of custom, the diversions of fashion, putting
the education of the children* out of its legitimate pre-eminence.
Adam and Eve had no such cares and customs, and we doubt not

CAIN AND ABEL. 29
that they gave themselves ardently to the culture of the first chil
dren ofthe race.
Here, too, often avc are treated to low views of the mental,
moral, and religious standing of the first household. Forgetting
that the race, like the stream and the Church, is purest nearest its
source, the scholar no less than the homilist has frequently giA'en
currency to opinions Avhich are as opposed to the laAvs of our na
ture as they are contrary to the direct teachings, or the legitimate
inferences of Scripture.
Equally doubtful have been our estimates of their means of in
struction. Theirs Avere the halcyon days of humanity, and they
themselves, regarded in the light of their early promise, and their
unrivalled advantages, ite brightest floAvers.
How then shall Ave account for the character of Cain ? What
was the antecedent preparation Which, despite so many and great
restraining influences, culminated in the ruin of the hopes and
peace of the first family ?
We have spoken of maternal disappointments ; and Ave opine
that Adam and Eve, like many other parents, worked out much
of the destruction of their own hopes. We frequently see parents,
by taking no means or the Avrong means to secure the fulfilment
of their high aims, coming short altogether, and breaking their
hearts over their broken dreams !
In explication of this, Ave must turn to Cain's supposed mission
and the central idea of his earliest education. In this study we
may find perhaps that Cain, like Jacob and some other sons, re
ceived more from his mother than her blessing.
The sorrows of their earthly exile, and the bitter sense of high
offending against their God, filled the lives of Adam and his Avife
with the cry, caught up by Paul, "Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death ? " and stung them to put the most generous
interpretation upon the one promise given for their consolation.

30 CAIN AND ABEL.
Thus they assigned Cain his mission, in their eagerness running
before the face of Providence. Thus think Luther, Philippi,
Tayler LeAvis, Lange, Edwards, and many others.
When the sons grew to manhood, to Cain Avere given the privi
leges of birthright. He, as the eldest born, AA'as the legitimate
proprietor of the earth, and took his father's earliest avocation,
the tilling of the ground. He Avas also trained in expectancy of
the religious headship; and the worship ofthe Lord was the occa
sion of the real unfolding of his character.
" It is Arery probable," says Edwards, " that sacrifice Avas insti
tuted immediately after God revealed the covenant of grace as the
foundation on Avhich the custom of sacrificing was built. That
promise Avas the first stone laid towards this glorious building, the
work of redemption ; and the next stone Avas the institution of sac
rifices, to be the type of the great sacrifice."
Now upon Cain, as the future head of the family, the priesthood
would devolve ; he should lead the Avorship of the household of
earth in this divinely appointed Avay. The position in itself AA'as
sufficient to keep a man humble, reminding him constantly of his
sin and the sin-offering ; but if his over-eager parents taught him
that he was the foreordained seed, to bruise the serpent's head, and
regain Paradise ; if he looked on himself as the strong intercessor,
whose arm should bring salvation to his parents and his brother,
here Avas a false idea, sufficient to insure his ruin and the double
disappointment of parental wishes.
However great the religious privileges of Cain — and they were
incalculable — hoAvever grand his mental superiority, 3'et continuous
training in his parents' belief that he Avas the Promised One, and
its logical sequence of personal holiness and infallibility, would
pervert the highest gifts, and press the rarest attainments into the
service of bigotry.
Whenever Adam, " God's long-loved husbandman," talked of

CAIN AND ABEL. 31
his fair, lost garden ; whenever the mother of men greAV discour
aged with her strange lot, fugitive from Paradise, and in melan
choly Avas " like a spirit strayed who lost the way,
Too venturesome among the farther stars,
And hardly cares, because it hardly hopes,
To find the way to Heaven : "
Avould be suggested to their son his high destiny as their restorer
and avenger. The loftiest aspirations, the most soul-subduing
anticipations, the richest faith and piety left to humanity, would be
thus perverted to minister to the egoism of Cain.
Theudas, Mahomet, Pius IX., and a host of others have risen
to the summits of fanaticism Avith far less claim to a heavenly
mission than Cain could shoAV.
Taught in the spirit of his mother's Avords, and vieAving his
mission in the full sense and solemnity Avith Avhich they announced
it to him, there could be no limit to the prerogatives Avhich in
time he would arrogate to himself. To him would of right belong
the pre-eminence by a laAv of heaven.
Supremacy in morals and in religion, with full authority to
regulate and protect their interests, has eA'er been the slogan of
fanatics. To guide and guard his family in the Avorship of God,
gain his favor, claim and secure the honors of a Deliverer, as pro
jected by poor human reason, and seen in the light of his OAvn
fancy, Avas very probably the fatal ambition of Cain.
Parents often come to realize the fallacy of some cherished idea ;
and bitterly to lament some error in their conduct to and training
of their children, so late that an uncontrollable impetus has sent
those children on a course of evil doing. Long after the parent
has bemoaned his folly or his crime, he is forced to harvest its
bitter increase ; he awakes to truth while his child is blinded still ;
the beloved son is the victim of his father's short-comings, and
revenges it upon that father's head.

32 CAIN AND ABEL.
As Cain greAV to manhood, Adam and Eve, who carried
golden memories of hours Avhen God Avalked Avith them, who knew
what the veiled glory of Deity was like, found in their son only
humanity Avithout divinity ! Lo, he Avas like their fallen and fal
lacious selves ; there may have been no overt act of wrong, but
they Avho had held communion with spirits from on high saAV that
their son possessed the taint of the transgression that had lost them
Paradise ; he was not like God, Avho had questioned and con
demned them, and even Avhile condemning had consoled ! He
Avas not like the angels, bright servants of his will ; he was not
even like themsehres Avhen they dwelt in Eden.
But Avhile they awoke to a realization of this truth, their son
grew more confirmed in misbelief.
Meamvhile Abel, the younger brother, Avas proATing that human
nature thrives best in lowliest places. He had not been taught to
trust-in himself; faith had been the lesson of his infancy, and
faith reaching past his elder brother, took hold on God. His
mother had called him " a vapor," " vanity," " a breath." His
name, instead of croAvning him with glory, like that of his elder
brother, told of the shortness of his life, the insufficiency of his
strength, or the fact that for him, younger brother ofthe all-suffi
cient deliverer, was reserved no mission upon earth. His name,
hoAvever, did not rob him of his immortality ; vanity as he was,
he should endure forever, and he reached after his eternal home,
and rested his love upon the Everlasting Father. Abel, the
vapor, drawn up to heaven as the deAv is exhaled by the sun,
comes again like that dew descending to bless the ages Avith the
record of his faith and his acceptance.
Excluded from the hope of personal honor, as expected by his
brother, and Avhich formed ih that primitive society the only
object of ambition ; Ayith a mind left singularly free to follow the
teachings and worship of the True Deliverer, Avandering alone

CAIN AND ABEL. 33
Avith his sheep, with no care or prospect to drive from his mind
the legends of Eden, the converse of the King of kings, and the
promise ofthe blessing yet to be, there fell to the lot of Abel the
happiest encouragements to faith and humility.
Thus far back on the ATery verge of human history stand two
grandly representative men — types ever after of our own race in all
that is dark and conflicting and holy and peaceful. Educated
and inspired by sights and sounds Avhich Avill probably never be
repeated short of millennial days, they lived and moved and died,
and dying left a personal contrast so sharp and conspicuous that
it is marvellous that all the world under its influence has not been
saved from that religious intolerance before Avhose door lies the
blood of righteous men that has flowed from Abel to the present,
a dark stream " crying unto God from the ground."
To these two brothers belonged traditions undimmed by time,
and unequalled since the morning stars sang together, of their
ancestral Paradise, with its bright river, Avhence flowed four royal
streams in beds of gold and gems. There Avere fruits and flowers
of which Hesperides is but a faintly remembered dream ; pleasures
were there which never palled upon the senses ; conscience un
challenged, and singing SAveetly in the bosom, and above all, and
including all, as the atmosphere in which we live and move, the
benedictions ofthe Father, in his gifts and in his presence.
These memories of their forfeited home, together with the cause
and incidents of their exile, and the promise and means of restora
tion, formed a staple of instruction which others of earth's chil
dren, however favored, haAre never known. Obviously we must
consider their character in the light of their singular parental
training, and their ineffable surroundings.
We are apt to misjudge the character of Eve's first-born in the
light of subsequent events. We see him a murderer, a fratricide ;
the obstinate rebel who will not yield when God stoops to reason
3

34 CAIN AND ABEL.
Avith him ; who does not feel penitence ; who is merely in horror
of consequences Avhen his sin has found him out. We regard him
Avith anger or disgust, Ave condemn him from the beginning, and
neglect to see that if Cain had lived in the present day he would
have doubtless been, until the direful moment of his fall, " a fair
and flourishing" professor of religion.
Until the day Avhen, in fierce wrath, Cain slew his brother, he
had had no great temptation, and had consequently been guilty of no
great sin. In his OAvn way he Avas a religious man ; he had a zeal
for God, he had made up his own mind why and how God ought
to be Avorshipped, and he avbs ready to prescribe rules for men in
their service, and for Deity in his acceptance. We hold Cain the
very prince and exponent of moralists. In his soul lay, planted
maybe by paternal hands, the root of self-righteousness, which
should flower into deadly poison ; but its leafage was goodly to the
eye ; Cain Avas the industrious cultivator of the earth, the preci
sian in Avorship, the self-constituted example for succeeding genera
tions. God, recognising Cain's lofty position as a landmark of
the ages, took the most efficient and summary means to show hoAV
poor a thing is self-righteousness, how cruel, unholy, and heaven-
condemned that intolerant religion of the letter that Avould force
all mankind to its own measure; and how frail is that morality
that is not established upon divine grace.
God had already set forth the grand principle that without
shedding of blood is no remission of sins. There has been sug
gested the fanciful idea that Abel killed the firstlings of his flock,
that wearing their skins for his covering he might typify himself
as clothed upon with the righteousness of his Mediator; but this
is aside from the present theme. Doubtless the dead lamb showed
forth death as the necessary and unavoidable consequence of sin ;
the flowing blood showed that, whereby sin can alone be washed
away ; the innocent victim proclaimed that the sinless might and

CAIN AND ABEL. 35
would die for the guilty. Abel laying his hand upon the lamb
to slay it, laid in spirit his sins upon the Lamb of God : from
time immemorial we find the lamb the ordained sin-offering, and
with such sin-offering, Abel, the sinner, came up before the pre
sence of his Maker.
But how came Cain ?
He came Avith an offering which God afterwards not only per
mitted, but commanded to be brought to his altar; but Cain
brought it in an order of his own. Cain brought the fruit of the
ground, a thank-offering — but he brought it first, and brought
it only. Now a thank-offering is Avell-pleasing unto God, provided it
be preceded by a sin-offering. Our soul should bless the Lord for
all his benefits ; but the benefits must be recognized as flowing to
us through the grace of Jesus, our Saviour, our Sin-offering.
Cain had, as he considered it, no sins to be done aAvay.
At first, as he offered no opposition to his brother's form, and
had doubtless seen it used before, he may have felt perfectly will
ing to have his parents and his brother recognize themselves as
sinners, and shed blood as a token of their guilt, need, and self-
abnegation. Or, Cain may have arrogated to himself the right of
decision as to the mode of worship, and have concluded that its
end was thanks rather than petition ; that the unbloody offering
Avas less cruel, and every way more excellent than the bloody ;
and that man was to be his own judge as to what he should bring
before his God.
Here, then, the two brothers appeared before the flaming SAvord-
symbol betAveen the cherubim keeping the way of the tree of life,
to have the guiding principles of their hearts tested by their
Maker. They are the models and leaders of all who have wor
shipped before God, from that day until the present. Christ
describes their exact counterparts four thousand years later :

36 CAIN AND ABEL.
" Two men Avent up into the temple to pray ; the one a Pharisee,
the other a Publican. And the Pharisee stood, and prayed thus
Avith himself: Lord, I thank thee that I am not as other men
are." Here is the thank-offering, here is Cain. " And the Pub
lican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift his eyes up to
heaven, but stood and smote upon his breast, saying, Lord, be
merciful to me a sinner!" Here is the spirit of Abel, and the
desires for a sin-offering.
The Scripture does not delay, in the very opening of its momen
tous records, to furnish us circumstantially a mere murder case,
such as neAVspapers are rife with. No, it throws, of high design,
into tragic prominence the two representative types of society,
intolerant bigotry, and humble faith ; and we see in this early
record, Avhat history in all ages continues to teach us, and what
Christ plainly set forth in speech — the inexorable certainty with
Avhich religious opinions bring the sword, whenever these opinions
have asserted control over nations or individuals. The conflict
betAveen Cain and Abel was one of religious conviction ; it was a
kind of prophecy, a precursor of what must eA'er be earth's bit
terest chastisement until the end of this dispensation.
"And God had respect unto Abel and his offering," — there
fore the offering of Abel Avas no human invention, nor had it a
finite signification ; it was evidently of Divine prescription. The
true Avorship of God can haA^e no human origin ; to be acceptable
it must be appointed by God himself. " Oh, that I knew where
I might find him ! How much less shall I answer him, and
choose out my words to reason with him," — is the cry of our
humanity. Man could no more invent his way of access to God, than he
could invent the rainbow, or the law of gravitation. " But unto
Cain and his offering he had not respect." The fruit-offering
Avas made in a wrong time and spirit. Cain came before the Lord

CAIN AND ABEL. 37
to offer thanks, Avhen he should have brought repentance ; or, at
best, he came to consecrate himself and his valuable services —
supposing, like many another, that hereby he did his Creator
great honor — when he should have looked to the Mediator, and
craved an atonement.
To this offering God had not respect. We know not how the
Divine choice manifested itself, whether in fire descending, in the
blazing of the cherubim-guarded sword ; whether by the ineffable
smile of the Highest, or a voice speaking to the worshippers.
However it was, the election was made, and Cain, called his;
mother's joyous possession, had lost his birthright and high pre
rogative. Through self-righteousness his sin had been made to
show forth ; through self-confidence he lost his lofty estate. Thus
goes the history of the Avorld, and thus often the blessing of the
first-born becomes his greatest curse; if high honor is not girt
about Avith humility, if loftiness is not twined to lowliness, the
normal blessing is transformed to the prerogative of guilt and
Avretchedness. And Cain was very wroth. There had been a devil couchant,
unnoticed heretofore in his spiritual coat of arms ; in a twinkling
it became a devil rampant and domineered OArer Cain. And hoav
Ave catch a trace of something hereditary. Envy reached up and
overshadowed the whole heart of Cain. We have here a trait
similar to that of Eve. " So when deceived,
She fell by great desire to rise."
Or as Milton represents her, as self-communing, thus :
"In plain then, what forbids he but to know,
Forbids us good, forbids us to be wise ?
Such prohibitions bind not."
The " Book of Wisdom " in the Apocrypha, declares that the first
motive of the first sin Avas envy. The first sin of man came from

38 CAIN AND ABEL.
a demoniacal temptation, and manifestly behind that by some
early demoniacal sin. This does not explain the essential origin
of sin, nor how it could arise in the spirit Avorld ; but it lays bare
its genesis among men; Satan envies against the Highest; he
also envies unfallen man, and plots his ruin ; and the means to
his end is to instil in the heart of Eve envy of the knowledge of
the gods. " Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of the tree ?
. . . For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your
eyes shall be opened ; and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and
evil." Envy is the root of ambition. Eve envied the knowledge she
had not, and from this root sprung up ambition, to be as the gods
knowing good and evil ; from this stem of ambition unfolded the
leaf and deadly fruit of her disobedience and ite train of ills.
" Her rash hand in evil hour
Forth reaching to the fruit, she plucked, she eat !
Earth felt the wound ; and nature from her seat,
Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe,
That all was lost."
Terrible Avas her punishment : the loss of the Eden-home,
the sharpness of the curse, but not the lightest part of it, Avas to
see developed in her son in tenfold strength, her own envy and
ambition !
Every race of man retains the story of our first parent's loss.
The Zendavesta tells of Ahiram bringing death to Rajomord, and
adds the story of Meschia and Meschiane ; the Scandinavians
have the fall of Asen, and the death of Baldur, the beautiful;
the Greeks embalm the same memory in the legends of Prometheus,
and the age of gold. Egypt, Ethiopia, China, and Mexico, have
traces of our heritage and ite loss ; but sweet and simple, clear
and grand in its ungarnished truthfulness, stands the revelation
of the genesis of sin, and its close successor the genesis of reli
gious intolerance.

CAIN AND ABEL. 39
The third chapter of the first book in the Bible gives the archi-
type of the one, the fourth chapter follows with the form of the
other. Cain assumes something for himself which God never
gave him — the right to dictate the manner in which his Creator
should be approached in worship. Cain has no heart worship,
but he brings a ritual of his own, and leaving out that which God
particularly demands, sorrow for sin, and desire for forgiveness ;
he insists upon acceptance. God bends to reason Avith the work
of his hands !
" Why art thou Avroth," demands the Lord, seeing the face of
Cain blackened and boAved down, because of his fierce ambition
to be first, and his en\Ty against the younger brother so strangely
preferred before him.
Nor does the Almighty fail to point out the reason of his rejec
tion of Cain. He has not done well. He has ordained his own
Avay, without taking counsel of God. But now that he has done.
ill, God tells him there is yet a way of escape, i. e. by a Sin-offer
ing, by such an offering as Abel had brought, holding in itself an
intimation of the Redeemer's blood, setting forth in type the
essentials of salvation, atonement by life blood !
Cain's poor offering lay alone, unpresentable, unacceptable,
holding no intimation of his lost estate and the way of restoration
— a religion without Jehovah, the Covenant Angel ! A religion
beginning and ending in thankfulness ! But thankfulness must
come after self-abnegation, after penitent faith. The vieAv God
took of that fruit-offering on Cain's altar was, " this ought ye to
have done, but not to leave the other undone ! "
True Christian thankfulness, the thankfulness accepted of God,
is grounded upon a right appreciation of the person and work of
Jesus Christ.
God continues his argument on this wise: "It is true you have
held yourself as the future head of this human family; the birth-

40 CAIN AND ABEL.
right is yours, but it is no sinecure ; you forfeit it by marking
out your own Avay and worship, and asserting your holiness in the
presence of the Holy One. Do you wish to regain the birthright;
to be accepted and preferred ? Take, then, the only way ; come to
Me in humility Avith a sin-offering in your hand : lay your guilt
on Him Avho shall come — then, and not until then, you shall be
reinstated, your brother shall be your subordinate ; to you shall be
his desire, and thou shalt reign over him."
Here was a plain Avay set before Cain, he could be the ruler of
the coming generation, he could reign over his brother ; but at
Avhat price ?
Only by ruling in humility and in the fear of God. Only by
at every act of Avorship proclaiming himself a sinner, crying after
a Christ. The price was too heavy. The self-righteous Cain could not,
would not pay it.
Instead of humility, hate rose in his heart. His immense pri
vilege of being instructed and reasoned with by God, increased his
condemnation. Thus often do men make their opportunities of
salvation to be millstones about their necks !
He Avould not yield to his brother ; he Avould not admit that
brother's God-given superiority ; he Avould not brook the ever-
recurring insult of seeing a sin-offering made, mutely asserting that
all men are sinners. He would not escape by God's proffered way,
so he chose a Avay of his own ; and lo, the moralist, the self-
righteous one, the man Avho had no sin to cover, becomes a
murderer !
He will not permit this religion of faith, of which Abel is the
personification, to exist. This hated creed ofthe sinful soul saved
by blood-bought grace, by that only, shall not endure. Cain will
blot it out ; he will strike from his path this man, brother though
he is, Avho dares believe and worship in a way different from his own.

CAIN AND ABEL. 41
It Avas no neAV thing that Christ told his disciples, " I come not
to send peace on earth, but a sword." For the first Christ-promise
to the first family Avoke the deadly feud, and Avet the ground with
brother's blood.
This Avas the first Avar, and it Avas a religious Avar. True, there
Avas but one engaged on a side, but that took two-thirds of the
men on the face of the earth ; judged by this comparison, it Avas a
very great war indeed. It also continued until one side — and that
the right one — was completely blotted from existence.
Cain may have considered that in this achievement he had got
ten the better of God, in having destroyed his favored worshipper.
The result was only to shoAv that all power, all resources, are
in the keeping of the Eternal One, and that his cause can never
perish. The voice of Abel's blood cried to God from the ground.
God might have revivified that gory corpse. In place of that,
he raised up another seed to Adam, instead of Abel whom Cain
slew: Seth the righteous, a man in the spirit and power of Abel.
From Abel began the noble army of martyrs. His death Avhich
appeared a defeat, was the inception of victory. The beginning
of Old Testament history is marked by the death of Abel for his
faith ; the NeAV Testament shoAvs us the bloody deed — its counter
part, in a more awful form — the murder of Jesus the God-man ;
thence Aoavs the purple tide of martyr blood across the earth,
but like the Danube streAvn Avith the ashes of Huss, it carries
life wherever it goes ! Every drop of this blood is seed of the
Church. Out of this strife between brothers before the altar of God, in
the land where the sword of the Lord glowed betAveen the cheru
bim, have come the motive and the coloring of all the wars in the
world's history.
The altar, the centre of faith and pious act, from that hour be
came the centre of the terrible and the destructive, for it is the

42 CAIN AND ABEL.
religious idea that in some shape or another is the motive power
of humanity, in even its Avorst developments.
In the Avars of the present day, religion is more an impelling
principle than is generally thought ; unwind the twisted threads
of national ambition and political intrigue, and among them, per
haps strongest of all, if most hidden, Ave shall find the religious
idea. The more clearly Cain has his wrong set before him, the more
obdurate does he become ; the moralist having the saving efficacy
of his morality questioned, changes in an instant to the fanatic.
Here is a right creed, and a wrong creed ; and it is at once ap
parent that they cannot exist in peace together.
It is also noteworthy that the aggression is from the side, from
the creed, that is in the Avrong.
Christ did not say he came " to bring not peace but a SAVord,"
because his followers should push their doctrines by the SAVord.
But because evil cannot permit truth to flourish unassailed at its
side. Error demands all the world as the legitimate territory of
its growth, and attacks Avith the sword the Christ-kingdom where-
ever it lifts up its head.
But though religious Avars are horrible evils in themselves, they
are not necessarily evils in their results. There are some plants
that groAV into best strength and beauty by being thoroughly well
pruned, and Ave find the church striking deep its roots, spreading
and establishing itself under the very influence of religious perse
cution. Thus God turns the Avrath of men unto his oavu high
praise. "It must needs be that offences come, but woe unto that man by
whom the offence cometh ! "
When Cain was wroth his countenance fell. God set his mark
on Cain. There has been much discussion as to what this mark
was. When Cain was angry his lowering brow, and features de-

CAIN AND ABEL. 43
prived of the inner light of peace and hope, revealed his earth-
born passion. When he slew his brother, darker grew the traces
of his misery and sin. Sin Avrites its history on the human face ;
it wrote its painful and pitiful lines upon the countenance-fallen
Cain. " From thy face shall I be hid ! " cries Cain, feeling his birth
right and his celestial inheritance lost forever.
He wanders forth from the Eden-land, but not alone ; for while
his mother rejects him as the destroyer of her hopes, and the
murderer of her son, his Avife cleaves to him and shares his
hopeless exile.
Cain and Abel were not men merely for the age in which
they lived, they were the grand exponential religionists who ap
pear in every generation. Abel is the man who can give up father,
mother, brother, life, everything, for his faith ; who seals his be
lief Avith his blood, and dying rises into higher being. He is the
heroic spirit which shall never perish, which liA'es in many ages,
Avhen it is not called into extreme action. There are men who
could and would die for conscience sake, who are not ordained to
do so; but when occasion demands men to suffer to the bitter
end for a principle, there are men ready to meet the emergency;
just as when Elijah thought the fear of the Lord lost, and lo,
there Avere seven thousand hero souls in Israel who had not bowed
the knee to Baal.
Cain is the relentless bigot, who shall assert himself until the
end of time. He is the man Avho lays down a pattern of his
own, and is resolved to cut all men to fit it. He considers
every variation from his own standard an aspersion cast upon
his judgment, and a doubt of his future safety.
In the present day the spirit of Cain may be by strong measures
repressed for a time, but it is neither dead nor asleep, it is biding
ite opportunity. Though the Cain spirit may not now have the

44 CAIN AND ABEL.
power and the daring to develop as it did when the valleys of
Piedmont were full of corpses; when blood floAved over the
Netherlands like the flood the hardy Hollanders let in from the
sea ; Avhen Philpot and Latimer were led to the stake ; when
Bartholomew's Massacre appealed to Ileaven for vengeance ; or
Avhen it pursued men like wild beasts in the fastnesses of Scotland;
it is still ubiquitous, and shall live until the Son of Man comes in
his glory.
In the study of men and times we must ever estimate this spirit
of religious intolerance, this dominant, autocratic spirit of creed
and form, at Avhat it is Avorth, as a leading idea, and a tremendous
power in society.
The Bible takes up great themes and questions in their order.
Creation is the first grand fact before us, and it is explained as far
as need be. Sin, in ite cause, ite effect and its antidote, is handled
next ; and, third theme, comes the rise, the development and the
animus of religious intolerance. It is set before us as something
ever to be met, to be endured ; to serve us, as Ave may wrest from
it the sharp, sure means of arriving at a purer devotion, a loftier
faith, a more abundant reAvard.
Differences in sect may be needful and beneficial to our motley-
minded human race ; these can exist Avithout the bigotry that
Avould force our creed upon our brother, whether he Avill or no.
The diverse sects may cordially unite in the evangelization of the
world ; in philanthropic work, in deeds beautiful in the sight of
Heaven, the succor of the weak and poor.
" For one in generous thought and deed,
What mattered in the sufferer's sight
The Quaker matron's inward light,
The Doctor's mail of Calvin's creed ?
All hearts confessed the saints elect
Who, twain in faith, in love agree,
And melt not in an acid sect
The Christian pearl of charity 1 "

CAIN AND ABEL. 45
These fifteen verses of the fourth chapter of Genesis mean very
much more to the student than to the casual reader of Scripture.
Take the seventh verse : if here hattoth is translated not sin, but, as
it doubtless may be, sin-offering, Ave get a new light and interest
at once. " Sin lieth at the door," like a Avild beast ready to spring ;
this is the idea of many excellent commentators, and indeed is the
gist of our common version of the clause. Then the latter portion
of the verse refers to sin, and here is a wonderful diversity of
opinion. "Unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt reign
over him."
But read hattoth " a Sin-offering." Then we haA^e the passage
running thus: "a Sin-offering lieth at the door," that is, "a
remedy is at your door; in your reach; the Sin-offering, a
vicarious sacrifice provided by God, pregnant with prophetic
meaning ; the revelation of the " Lamb of God Avhich taketh aAvay
the sin of the Avorld." Here is a method to set Cain at one with
his Maker ; it is his acknoAvledgment of soul guilt, and living faith
in the Coming One. Now if he accepts that Sin-offering he regains
his birthright, and has Avhat he claims, supremacy over his brother.
By serving God, in God's way with a Sin-offering, Cain becomes
spiritual head of the family. " Unto Cain shall be Abel's desire,
and Cain shall rule over him " — the same expression Avhich we
have in Chap. iii. 16; and this meets the idea of Cain, and his
grand cause of provocation. Read Sin-offering instead of " sin "
and we have God preaching a full gospel to Cain ; giving him
great light, and every opportunity of restoration. But if Ave read
merelv " sin " we have God uttering a mere truism, and talking
aimlessly with Cain, without suggesting any remedy in his direful
exigency.

II.
ENOCH.
THE PREACHER OF THE RESURRECTION.

frHE name of Enoch brings before us a very Avonderful page
in the history of the Church and the World. Enoch
lived in the middle period of the antediluvian dispensa
tion ; half way betAveen the fall and the flood. His
dwelling was in Eden — " the land of delight." EastAvard in this
land, the kindly Father had planted his children's blissful
dwelling, "with every tree pleasant to the sight, and good for
food ;" when they had sinned, He, who is just as well as generous,
took the abode from them, for a season. The curse of sin rested
on the Eden territory, causing it to yield its best things only to
the hand of toil, and spontaneously to produce the thorns and
thistles emblematic of the perverted course of nature ; and eAren
yet it was a glorious land. Amid it stood untouched by blight,
the temple, the holy of holies of that day, the garden beautiful
exceedingly ; hedged about Avith thick trees ; guarded at the gate
by cherubim ; shining in the night time in softened glory, like the
pillar of fire, which later came to lead the people in the wilderness ; •
in the day its splendors A'eiled by purple and silver mist, like the
pillar of the cloud : and there the exiled race kneAV their Jehovah
Avalking — He whose dwelling was not then in the flesh, but Avho .
disdains not to tabernacle upon the earth.
The name of Enoch is made to signify the " devoted," the
4G

ENOCH. 47
" mysterious," the " learned : " all of Avhich have a singular fitness ;
but, as says Tayler Lewis, " In general little reliance can be placed
on the etymological significance of these early names." In the
Koran he is called Edris.
The fifth chapter of Genesis contains the " generations of Adam "
from our first parent to Noah. Let us begin by considering that
in this chronology we find embalmed the line of the faithful.
We must not look on it as simply the record of successive first
born sons, but the list of those who received the birthright, in
virtue, rather of faith, than primogeniture. Some undoubtedly
were the eldest born : this explains the unevenuess in the birth
figures, the ages of the father varying from sixty-five to one
hundred and eighty-seven years.
Says Tayler Lewis : " It was the line of the pious, of those who
had the spiritual birthright ; the idea is unAvarranted that each
was a natural first born."
At the head of this chronological table stands God : not merely
as creator, but as parent. So Avrites Luke : " Adam, Avhich was the
son of God." " Not without a purpose," says Gerlach, " does holy
writ record the divine origin at the very apex of the species." If
in all time since the first singing of the morning stars, there had
been no need shown for this clear statement Avhence we came,
such need has been fully developed in the nineteenth century, by
those gross philosophers, Avho throwing aside the glorious prestige
of our likeness to and paternity in the Highest, proclaim man the
development of Simiadss ; as if He, Avho hung worlds in space, and
Avith delicate design wrought the lilies of the field, and the
Avonders of the butterfly's existence, Avhen He came to crown
creation, to set in the midst of his work some one to apprehend
it and groAV by it, could do no better than detail an ape ! But the
theory is no neAV one. Here indeed is man's demon-grotesque,
running on as ever parallel with the grand, or the pathetic.

48 ENOCH.
Again this fifth chapter of Genesis is the great battle-field of
life and death. " He died," repeated and re-repeated after each
name — but one. Under the history running a mighty monotone —
memento mori! as the sound of the sea waves undertones the
lighter echoes of the shore.
Where so fine a place to set the fact of triumph over death
as here, right in the midst of the annals of its sway ? Thus in the
ATcry centre of those, who after fighting for long centuries, succumb
at last to the tyrant of the race, stands one who is conqueror,
through that higher conqueror, the coming Christ.
We have noted the name, time, and dwelling of this shining
light among the patriarchs; now Ave proceed to give some
suggestion of his wonderful surroundings, and adArantages. When
Enoch Avas three hundred years old, he had about him every
Antediluvian Patriarch but Noah. Adam was a hoary old man,
Avithin eight years of his death, and Lamech, Enoch's grandson,
Avas a promising youth past forty.
There are no physiological grounds for demanding so retarded
a manhood for the antediluvians, as some would claim ; that they
lived long, does not force the belief that they matured late. The
blood of the race Avas untainted ; it Avas full of the vigor ite pro
genitor had breathed in under that tree of life, of which, if he had
eaten, he would haA-e lived forever ; the sons of that elder day
pursued their course with no false philosophy ; life was to them a
benediction from God; they cherished it; they enjoyed it; and
these men, whose names are immortalized in the sacred Avord,
were filled full of that faith and godliness which are ever nature's
best preservatiA'e. They were men with a mission, men of high
destiny; there was no time for them to lay down the harness
early, they must live out their dispensation, teaching lessons, and
being in themselves types which even yet we but dimly appre
hend.

ENOCH. 49
Men, in the arrogance of their nineteenth century wisdom, have
been wont to take too low a view of the culture, scientific and
religious, of the people before the flood.
Let us consider first, that they had among them Adam and
Eve, who Avere not only children, but pupils of God himself.
According to the older theologians, Adam was a man of surpass
ing knowledge. Later teachers, very much in the spirit of the
present day, in which the rosy schoolboy feels fully competent to
teach his parents, have inclined to the notion that, in the child
hood of the earth, men were babes in knowledge.
When we consider what advances in learning can be made noAV
by one, who, Avithdrawing his mind from the distracting follies of
life, diligently applies himself to study for twenty, thirty, fifty
years, and that, while health continues, the mind does not deteri
orate Avith age ; but, as say Goethe and Coleridge, " power to con
jure up lively sentiments is in no measure lost as men groAV in
years ; whereas, ability to utter them forcibly is vastly increased ;"
let us imagine Avhat man might do, and how his intellect might
reach high and compass lofty themes, during the study and con
templation of eight, and even nine centuries. To-day, man does
not need so long a period for his intellectual deA7elopment ; he has
not to begin at the beginning of learning ; he finds an easy path,
well trodden by his predecessors ; he has the work of others ready
to his hand ; he needs not first to make his tools and then use
them, but they are prepared and fitted in his grasp. This is
providential, that with so feAV days to labor, labor is facilitated ;
if not, the wisest among modern men would be fools indeed. We
are speaking now of the knowledge which especially concerns and
takes hold upon earth ; and of the advance of this we may catch
a wonderful glimpse in the memorial of some years later — the
Pyramid of Cheops — built 800 years before Moses. This is the
enduring witness of the Avonderful advancement of these early

50 ENOCH.
generations, in the natural and exact sciences. Mathematicians
and astronomers of the present age have gone to study at the feet
of this prodigious monument of the learning of the past ; and such
exhaustive knowledge of abstruse points has it revealed, that there
have been those who have considered the Pyramid of Cheops a
product of especial revelation. Enoch missed Noah by sixty-nine
years. Noah lived to see the Pyramid of Cheops sharply defined
against the skies of Egypt. When we meditate on the opportu
nities and advancement of these men of the earliest antiquity, Ave
must dissever our thoughts from the fact ofthe present, that "one
generation passeth away, and another cometh," and must consider
how successions overlapped ; so that in the chief part of the times
before the flood, these nine cotemporary generations exchanged
their reminiscences ofthe past, their discoveries, their explanations
of things present, and the promises revealed to them ofthe future.
But we must look for a moment at a higher wisdom than that
of earth. In things finite, God gave them time to grow Avise ; to
search out for themselves ; to expand the capacity with which he
had endoAved them. But there is a " pure and peaceable wisdom,"
which can only reach us from above ; it has not its spring in our
spirits; it is the emanation ofthe Infinite; it comes to us only by
direct revelation, — now by the written word ; once by him, the
divine Logos in the flesh ; in this elder history, by the Yahveh-
Elohim, the Lord God, the Covenant Jehovah, instructing his
offspring, as afterwards he taught them from the burning bush ;
in the pillar of cloud and fire ; in the Shekinah on the mercy
seat ; in the glory upon Sinai.
Herbert, the sweet singer, catches a choice vision of this happy
period, and sends forth his yearning in his song :
" Sweet were the days when Thou didst lodge with Lot,
Struggle with Jacob, sit with Gideon,
Advise with Abraham, when Thy power could not
Encounter Moses strong complaints and moan.

ENOCH. 51
" One might have sought and found Thee presently,
At some fair oak, or bush, or cave, or well.
Is my God this way ? No, they would reply ;
He is to Sinai gone ; as we heard tell."
The Greeks and Latins loved to contemplate the fables of the
Age of Gold. We linger, wooed by the sweetness of these sug
gestions of the days when, in the delightsome Eden-land, walked
the nine Macrobii of the primitive time.
Theirs Avas a family life ; they dwelt in households ; they were
united by ties of kindred. It was a religious life ; their chief
teacher AA'as God ; their best recollection, a state of holiness ; their
dearest hope, the coming of a Deliverer from Heaven. The
shrine of their worship, we have every reason to believe, was that
glory, cherubim-guarded at the Paradisaic gate.
The ordinary dealings of ProAridence, reason, and the most
venerable traditions, teach us that theirs was a scholarly life, a life
of intellectual appetites and advancement, of the keenest mental
pleasures, the loftiest pursuits. Who could be a better historian
than Adam, who had learned of Creation from the Creator, who
had seen nine centuries Avith their tragedies ?
The Mohammedans and later Jews hold that Enoch was a man
of remarkable scientific attainments. The fictitious "Book of
Enoch" shows the immense knowledge supposed to have been
reached by this prophet, and the revelations wherewith he was
favored. It was one of the advantages of this primordial school that they
needed waste no time disputing over phenomena or different appre
hensions of things. Facte were facts to them, about which there
was no question. The structure of the earth, the march of crea
tion, the realism ofthe garden, and the meaning and influence of
its wonderful trees, Avere not to be carped over while Adam stood
among men. So many other great matters which have occupied
the years and the tomes of "dentists and theologians since Christ

52 ENOCH.
was caught up from the Mount of Olives, were open as the day
to these ancient scholars.
The record is that Enoch lived sixty-five years and then begat
a son. After that he walked with God 300 years. Enoch Avas an
heir of faith ; he held the spiritual birthright ; he Avas not merely
of the godly Sethic line, as diverse from the heaven-daring
Cainites, but he was of that royal succession, the distinctly named
progenitors of Christ the Lord. We suppose him then from the
daAvn of reason to have been an humble-hearted worshipper of
God, leading a blameless life, the example of his brothers and
sisters, the joy of Jared his father, the choice companion and pupil
of Seth, Cainan, Mahalaleel, and the others of that glorious
galaxy. But after a son Avas born to him, Enoch gained a deeper
knowledge and a better love ; hitherto he had obeyed and adored
his Maker, now he was brought into some blessedness of commu
nion, some singular nearness to his Lord, so that amid the shadoAA'S
of earth, feeling after him he haply found him, and thenceforward
walked with him as a man walks Avith his friend. This change
from the " living," as other good men of the day lived, to the
" walking with God," shows us some marked change in Enoch's
inner spiritual experiences. He now possessed a " permanent vieAV
of the present Deity, and continually followed after his guidance,"
says Lange.
Enoch, the youngest now of these old world patriarchs, became
wiser than all his teachers ; he shot beyond them in the heaven
ward way, and walked there ; but he had by him a companion so
glorious ; a fellow traveller of such ineffable beauty, and super
nal wisdom, that Enoch, in his grand advance of his kindred, was
meekness itself; was humblest among the sons of earth, as best
becomes the highly dowered son of heaven. We think of Enoch
among his seniors, wiser than they, yet modest as Elihu, of whom
in the days of Job we get a brief glimpse. He has a loftier

ENOCH. 53
spiritual knoAvledge than his peers ; he unfolds it, yet prefaces it
Avith humility. " I am young, and ye are very old ; I said, days
should speak, and multitude of years should teach Avisdom. But
there is a spirit in men, and the inspiration of the Almighty
giveth them understanding. Therefore hearken to me, and I also
Avill show you mine opinion."
The phrase, " and Enoch Avalked with God," is twice repeated ;
in the first place it defines his ordinary thought and act for three
hundred years ; in the second it gives confirmation of his trans
lation. He walked Avith God. Here is the assurance of the persever
ance and soundness of his piety. Pie did not flag, nor turn aside;
he did not run one while and creep another ; but he walked on,
in the maturity of his godliness, keeping pace with the will of
God concerning him.
He neither feared his path nor desired another : as Avith Paul,
things present and things to come, Avere all as one to him ; all Avas
SAA-allowed up in the realized presence of his Jehovah. He Avalked
with God not into the wilderness, or the bowers of the garden-
home out of reach of the affairs of his fellow-men, taken from
their cares and society ; he walked Avith God not in some strange
trance, some supernatural experience of his flesh on earth, but he
walked Avith him in the ordinary practical avocations of his daily
life. He was not Enoch the hermit saint, but Enoch the family
saint. He maintained and exemplified that higher Avalk in the'-
bosom of his household, a husband and a father, a glorious proof
that the married estate can and should be holily maintained.
Enoch Avalked with God as his witness : first that there are
degrees of piety ; that, as in heaven there are angels, archangels,
principalities, and powers; so in God's family, the Church, are
some gifted with clearer views, tenderer sentiments, warmer emo
tions, deeper sense of sin, and nearer apprehensions of Christ, than

54 ENOCH.
others. And in this view, it is Avonderfully comforting to realize
that it is not by works of righteousness that we have done ; not
by the blessed knoAvledge bestowed upon us, that we are saved,
but by the blood of Jesus.
Enoch Avas also a witness for that mystical kernel of religion,
its heart of hearts, communion with God.
He also bore in himself, and exemplified the assurance of the
higher everlasting life, the " earnest of the Spirit," that flows out
of a life at peace Avith God.
Again, Enoch was a type of Christ in his divine human walk ;
and to all men he is the exponent of rich personal piety.
All this was Enoch to the Church of that, and of all ages ; in
himself he Avas a revelation from God to the Sethic race. This
was his errand Avhere he dAvelt, where
" Eden stretched her line
From Auran eastward to the royal towers
Of great Selucia, built by Grecian kings,
Or where the sons of Eden long before
Dwelt in Telasser : Not that fair field
Of Enna, where Proserpine gathering flowers,
Herself a fairer flower, by gloomy Dis
Was gathered. Nor that sweet grove
Of Daphne by Orontes, and the inspired
Castalian Spring, might with this Paradise
Of Eden strive."
But beyond this gracious dAvelling Enoch had a mission to an
apostate race ; to the children of Cain, Avho held themselves
diverse from the sons of God, and Avhose iniquity was coming up
like a flood, threatening the virtue of the Sethites — precursor of
the deluge, Avhich blotted out the scars of sin from the sight of an
angry God.
We have the Cainitic genealogy in the fourth chapter of Gene
sis; beginning with a murderer, it also ends with one; Lamech,

ENOCH. 55
the seventh from Adam, Avas the chronological parallel of Methu
selah ; we find him a murderer and a polygamist ; he takes the
musical instruments of his son Jubal to aid his song of self-
justification, when with the weapons fashioned by another of his
sons, Tubal Cain, he had " slain a young man."
From the time when Cain built his city Enoch, and fortified
himself there, trusting rather to the walls his hands had raised, than
to the promise of God for his safety, his descendants had given
themselves to the practice of arts, and the firm establishment of
themselves in their earthly abode. The world-feeling was strong
in them ; they were at home below ; they had no yearning after
the city that hath foundations, built by God. They did not seek
a better country ; this land of Nod was good enough for them.
The idea of the Cainites was culture, of the Sethites, eultus, or
worship. The sons of Cain did well for themselves, and men
praised them ; the children of Seth established themselves by a
calling " on the name of the Lord."
But the elements of the fall worked in the children of Seth,
and already, before the days of Enoch, many of those " sons and
daughters," who are mentioned, but not by name, had begun to
run " greedily after the error of Cain."
In Luke the seventeenth, Christ declares that the occupations
and manners of the people in Noah's day were as those of Sodom
in the time of Lot. He describes the stir and pleasures of a
worldly population : " They ate, they drank, they married, and
were given in marriage."
Now, in the seventh generation from Adam, even in Enoch, the
antediluvian dispensation culminated ; from thence it rushed doAvn-
ward to its destruction. There were fewer and fewer of the godly
to withstand the inroads of evil example. So the time had fully
come, when a Preacher and a Witness should go from God, to
warn the Cainites of the dangers of their way, and call them

56 ENOCH.
to repentance, and to proclaim to the reereant Sethites what judg
ments were at hand.
Behold noAV this wonderful preacher ! He has gotten his lesson
from his God. He believes it with his whole heart; his prophetic
eye beholds the advancing doom; his holy anger waxes high
against the enemies of the God with whom he AA'alks. He trem
bles for the fate of sinners; he yearns after them, and with
righteous indignation he chastizes their crimes.
The Preacher leaves " the land of delight," his kindred, and the
congenial friendship there surrounding him, and first of foreign
missionaries, he goes eastward to the land of Nod, " the land of
desolation and banishment." We know no more of this land
than its name; but Avherever Cain Avent he would have found
only a land of desolate banishment, filled with the demons of
remorse, terror and despair.
We are possessed not only of Enoch's destination in his mis
sion, but of the names of his chief hearers, and the text from
Avhich he preached to them.
Eden Avas a rural, pastoral land ; there they had quiet homes
scattered over the peaceful plain, instead of cities entrenched and
fortified for war. In Eden were altars, in Nod were walled
houses and barricades ; into these entered Enoch in the majesty
of his embassy from above. To hear him came Irad, " the toAvns-
man," and Methusael, "the strong man," Lamech, "the warlike,"
Adah, " the beautiful," and Zillah, " the shadow."
Before these stood up Enoch, strong and fearless in his faith ;
he stretched forth his arms toward heaven, his voice was as the
clarion, calling to battle : " Behold, the Lord cometh, with ten
thousand of his saints ! "
Noav when the race of Cain heard of His coming, which had
been so long delayed, they might lift their frightened eyes, expect
ing to see heaven opened. But no. Their preacher saw it, like

ENOCH. 57
Stephen, in the years to come. They saw nothing but the un
changeable blue, smiling above Cashmere and Armenia, and all
the joyous cradle-land of the East !
But the glorious spectacle unfolded to Enoch was the morning
of the resurrection ; for avIio are these legions that accompany
Jehovah-Jesus ? Not angels, but saints ; and who are saints, but
the spirits of just men made perfect?
He cometh in the glory of his Father and the angels; angels
shall be about him, and his ministers as flaming fires. But nearer
shall be the saints. "Know ye not that the saints shall judge
the Avorld ? " They come, all their earthly pain but a morning
mist, which serves to refresh and brighten the day. They come
to judge those Avho have derided, despised, afflicted, or slain them.
" Blessed and happy is he Avho shall have part in the first resur
rection of the dead." Let every man be "striving if by any
means he may attain thereto ! " Far from the world's faint flush
of dawning, through the heat and blaze of its day, the darkness
of its night of desolation, looks this steadfast prophet, who stands
Avith his face to the east, and he sees the breaking ofthe jubilant,
eternal morning, Avhen the face of the returned Son of Man shall
make the sun as the glimmer of an expiring taper, and shall brighten
with splendor the Avhole circle of the skies.
So Avide a SAveep of celestial vision had God given the man
Avho " Avalked Avith him," that even then he looked on past the
first coming of Christ to Mary's bosom as a babe in all lowliness,
to that tremendous day when he shall come in the clouds of heaven
with hosts of angels at his feet : Enoch beheld his return, like John
the latest of the seers. " He cometh in clouds, and every eye shall
see him ; and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of
him." There stood Enoch between the living and the dead, between
the race of Seth and the race of Cain ; the sabbatic seventh man,

58 ENOCH.
proclaiming the Resurrection ! Oh, ye sons of Cain, there is more
in death than dying. The earth cannot cover you from the eye
of your Maker, he will bring you forth of your covert, and set you
before his face. " Behold, he cometh ! " For Avhat? Here then
is the burden of the first prophet's soul, " to execute judgment."
And noAv Enoch does not fail to proclaim the whole counsel of
God. If there is to be a judgment he will plainly declare for what.
Jabal, " the nomad," may grasp his bow, and Lamech, " the strong,"
may froAvn ; Adah and Zillah, defiant in beauty and in power,
may sneer, but the SAvelling current of Enoch's speech cannot be
stayed. He cometh, "to execute judgment upon all, and to con
vince all that are ungodly among them, of their ungodly deeds
Avhich they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard
speeches, Avhich ungodly sinners have spoken against him."
If at this day, a man should arise in the spirit of Enoch, and
should thus chastise the ungodly with the rod of his mouth, there
are feAv congregations Avho would endure it — even so well as the
Cainites !
But to be just to all, perchance this is because there comes no
man in all this age who stands so near the Lord as did Enoch,
AArho " Avalked Avith him, and Avas not."
Enoch had fulfilled his mission to the Cainitic families ; but he
had the same message to proclaim among the sons of Seth ; for
there Avere many who were Avalking in the ways of the ungodly.
Worldliness Avas groAving up among them, a deadly upas ; they,
sitting under ite shade, forgot the garden-home of the past, and
the eternal city beckoning them towards its golden streete.
Enoch saAV this celestial city ; he had marked well its toAvers
and bulwarks ; he had counted her gates of pearl, and her
"tAvelve foundations fair;" he had seen her King in his beauty in
the midst of her. Walking in faith here on earth, he had sent on
his soul to take possession of that blessed abode. He rejoiced in

ENOCH. 59
(
its light ; to him was borne on every evening breeze the frag
rance of the " royal land of flowers,"
" Whose ageless walls are bonded
With amethyst unpriced,
The saints build up the fabric,
And the corner-stone is Christ.
And through the sacred lilies,
And flowers on every side,
The happy dear-bought people
Go wandering far and wide.
Jesus the gem of Beauty,
The God and Man they sing ;
The never-failing Garden,
The ever-golden Ring."
We are not told what individual converts Enoch made, but he
could not stem the tide of wickedness that was rising up over the
habitations of men. Enoch saw men going farther and farther
astray, he knew that a judgment Avas imminent; he beheld the
end of the dispensation approaching. Of this he doubtless assured
his compeers, and his descendants.
The influence of the saintly Enoch would be first and most
deeply apparent in the hearts of his son, Methuselah, and his
grandson, Lamech. They would treasure up the memory of his
example, of his prophecies, his Avarnings, and his instructions as to
how they might seek the Lord and find him.
But Enoch was to be, not merely God's preacher of the resur
rection, but he was to be a witness of it in himself.
Death and the future existence are questions of the deepest
moment to all men in every age. What can more insure our
happiness than the certainty that when we and our beloved are
lost to earth, it will not be, " dying as the dog dieth," but it will
be the beginning of a better and an endless existence. Doubtless
the antediluvians had been instructed, that dying was but a change
of state. Adam may have taught them that in his " flesh he should
see God." But the Macrobii clung to life, and before them rose

60 ENOCH.
the perpetual "how?" Among them, as among the Corinthians,
were some who would say, " there is no resurrection of the dead,"
and the peevish query, " How are the dead raised up, and with
what body do they come ? "
God Avas to make Enoch a sign of the absolute fact. He Avas
to mark out his most faithful servant by his most distinguished
favor. Men should no longer question as to the reality of the abode of
the blessed, Avhen one of themselves had gone thither. Death is
chastisement, and the bitter fruit of the curse. The disintegration
of the body is no comfortable anticipation. This Enoch Avas to
be spared.
He Avas to stand before all ages a sign of the saving power of
faith. For three hundred and sixty-five years Enoch shared the
consequences of sin, bearing about a corruptible and dying body.
Now through the faith of Enoch Avas to be introduced into the
world, a fuller faith of the life beyond death.
There had come a turning point in the life of the Avorld. The
Sethites now forsook the theocratic pureness of their line, and
married into the curse-loaded race of Cain ; polluting marriage.
They Avedded not with the blameless daughters of the faith ; but
they made sensual beauty their love, and moreover followed the
sin of Lamech, the polygamist, and " took them Avives of all that
they chose."
We come now to the repetition of the important clause, "And
Enoch Avalked with God." Here, it is the preliminary and con
firmation of his translation.
Closer and closer had grown the tie ; nearer the companionship.
There remained now only to lift Enoch out of earth. He was
transformed — perchance " in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,"
he Avas clothed upon with the heavenly garment. He walked with
God on through life ; lo, they came to the gateway between this

ENOCH. CI
world and the next ; a golden portal Avhere none had passed ever
before, and the walking together extended through it to the regions
of the blessed, and on earth Enoch " was not." " Was not, for
God took him."
A strange and solemn protest against the umvorthiness of a
corrupt world. A tender dealing Avith his servant; a Avitness
given by Him who teaches men in the clearest and most excellent
manner all that is needful for them to know.
They sought him, as aftenvards the sons of the prophets sought
Elijah. They searched for that blameless example, and wisest
of all the teachers.
It is the opinion of Luther, that the Sethites believed Enoch
had been slain by the children of Cain, and that they received
an especial revelation concerning what had become of him.
Enoch was the first of three great phases of the revelation of the
Avorld beyond, of the higher and unending life — Enoch, Elijah,
Christ. The first removed Avithout death — absent from earth, present
with the Lord — exhibiting the reality of a future place and state.
Elijah going up in a whirlwind, escorted by horses and chariots
of fire ; seen of his servant ; dropping down his mantle from the
blue distance in which he vanished away.
Jesus, dead, buried, risen, ascending, blessing his disciples, con
versing with them in his human voice, until a cloud receives him
out of their sight, and angels brought a promise of his return.
" He was not," they missed him ; they sought him mourning.
"So," says Luther, " the disciples missed their Lord, and looked for
him weeping." " Where have ye laid him ? " " We trusted that
it had been he who should have redeemed Israel." As the apostles
sought " the living among the dead," the Sethites sought Enoch,
who had been transferred to the land of the living, from among
the dying in this earthly valley of death.

62 ENOCH.
" So shines out, in the midst of this narration of the dead, like a
fair and lovely star, the pleasing light of immortality. Enoch
confesses another life without death, for out of this Avorld's misery,
and Avithout pain of dying, he goes straight to everlasting life."
Enoch Avas the seventh from Adam. Seven is the sacred, the
Sabbatic number. Moses was the seventh from Abraham ; Phinehas
the seventh from Jacob, and they correspond to the seventh day,
the consecrated day of rest. In Enoch, the seventh from Adam,
the grand climax ofthe antediluvian period, there may be a shadow
ing of the seventh of earth's thousands of years ; the seventh mighty
Avorld-period ; and that after six weary lapses of a thousand years,
laden with sin and death, shall dawn a millennial seventh, when
Christ shall rule from the river to the ends of the earth, when his
feet shall stand on Mount Zion, Satan shall be bound, and death
shall be a memory of the past. " Blessed are they who shall be
watching when the bridegroom cometh ! "
Enoch was not permitted to see death. His son, Methuselah,
reached the highest life-period, nine hundred and sixty-nine years.
We find in this, one evidence of his holy life and conversation ; for
faith was the great antidote of death. Rich in poAver, in know
ledge, in physical vigor, in a godly paternity, in children, and in
children's children, Methuselah, like Moses, stood in the breach
between God and men, and prayed back the wrath of the Eternal.
Sixty-nine years after the translation of Enoch, Noah was born,
and Lamech, mindful ofthe prophecies of his grandsire, ofthe ap
proaching end of the dispensation, and of God vindicating himself
among an apostate race, yet evidently not clearly understanding
them, called his child Noah — " Consolation," — saying, " This same
shall comfort us concerning our work, and the toil of our hands,
because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed."
Five hundred years lived Noah, and then God gave to him, as
to his ancestor, a commission as a preacher : not of the resurrection,

ENOCH. 63
but of righteousness, warning men to repent because indignation
had gone out against them.
Hoary Methuselah heard the prophecy, but still prayed on ; the
evil should not meet his eyes. Yet a hundred and tAventy years,
while the ark Avas building, the most venerable of the sons of men
proved the efficacy of prayer. He stood among his brethren, as
Ararat among the Armenian mountains, white with the snows of
centuries. But when the limit of that long, long life was touched,
Avhen the Avhite hair of Methuselah was laid in the dust, and the
voice of his prayer went up no more to the throne ofthe Highest,
there Avas none to " stay his hand," and he called unto Noah,
" Come thou and thy house into the ark ! "
Faithful to the third and fourth generation to those that serve
him ! Enoch seated on the heavenly hill did not see his descen
dants swept away with the floods ordained to avenge the Lord on
the ungodly ; but he saw them floating safe, shut in by the hand
of the Lord, from danger and desolation.
Here end the annals of the Sethic race. From Noah the
current of humanity divides into three streams, floAving far and
wide. Noah and Shem, born in the primitive age, holding in
their blood the vigor of the Macrobians, lived to see the depopu
lated earth repeopled. They lived to see Egypt a kingdom build
ing landmarks for the centuries ; to see Abraham reviving the
ancient piety and God-communing ; to see Jacob, Avho had visions
of angels, and wrestled with God.
There has been a wide misapprehension of the Sethic economy;
it prefigured the NeAV Testament state, and its sons held a faith
kindred to that of the apostles in the Redemption. Says Luther,
of these long-lived, grand, and God-distinguished men : " They are
the greatest heroes that, next to Christ and John Baptist, ever
appeared in this Avorld ; and at the last day we shall behold their
majesty."

III.
ABRAHAM.
A FELLOW-CITIZEN OF THE SAINTS.

N the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, the Apostle Paul
strikes the key-note of the life of Abraham. He was on
earth a sojourner and stranger, travelling to his heavenly
home.
God set this princely patriarch in the world, in order that he
might teach the Church in all coming time, not to expect its
abiding place below, but to find ite citizenship in heaven. In this
lies the true root of happiness ; amid the perplexities, the buffet-
ings, the loneliness of the world, shrinking from ite uncongenial
air, and longing with agony of home-sickness for something dearer
and satisfying, we find true comfort only in this fact, that we have
here no abiding city ; we are pilgrims, and wayfaring men in the
midst of the world. The Church is God's great nomad, and
Abraham, prince of nomads, is her type. The wanderings of
Abraham, their cause, their consequences, all find their antitype
in the Church.
Abraham was the ninth remove from Shem, in whom was
retained the godliness and the spiritual birthright of the line of
Seth. When the three sons of Noah received at their father's
altar of burnt-offering their commission, "Be fruitful and multi
ply, and replenish the earth," Shem and his family settled them
selves in Mesopotamia, extending their line from the Red Sea,
64

ABRAHAM. 65
along the shores of Aden and the Persian Gulf. Theirs were
Ophir and Havilah, "theirs the sacred mountains, theirs the storied
Tigris and the Euphrates. Doubtless Noah remained, in the sepa
ration of his family, with the son likest himself, who Avas indi
cated by God as the heir of his richest inheritance.
In Northern Assyria, at Arrapachitis, the family of Shem in
the covenant line, established itself, but it was emphatically a pil
grim family from its inception. Eber, the great grandson of
Shem, and the progenitor of the HebreAVS, was named " the emi
grant," or " Avanderer ; " he, without doubt, by divine direction,
crossed the Tigris, and straying southward, found a new sojourn
ing place for his family ; but here he was near the children of
Ham, a race cursed like the Cainitic line, Avho worshipped the
deities of their OAvn imagination. Here dwelt Peleg, at the time
the earth was clearly divided between the Avorshippers of God and
of idols, between the theocratic and untheocratic line. In the
name and time of Reu, Ave are taught the friendship of God for
the family he had chosen and dowered Avith blessing. But this
early Church dwelt in dangerous places; in the days of Nahor,
the conflict with the earliest form of idolatry — the adoration of
fire and the heavenly bodies — Avas sharp, and the time for another
migration came with the age of Terah. This household had no
continuing city ; they were moA^ing by slow degrees toAvard Jeru
salem, the city of peace, and to Mount Zion on earth, as the
Church still marches onward to the heavenly city, and Mount
Zion Avhich is above. Close upon the boundaries of Eber's family
pressed the Chaldean fire- worshippers, exalting the claims of their
most subtle creed. They had the traditions of the sword of fire,
and the fire leaping upon the altar. What of all the visible is
more lofty than the marvellous cycle of the heavenly planets, the
sun and the moon pursuing a majestic way, holding the life of
earth in their beams, and drawing the floods by their influence ?
5

66 ABRAHAM.
What more mysterious than fire ? — leaping out of an infinitesimal
spark, kindled often times, men knew not how, by the heat
unseen, towering to a giant, devouring everything in ite reach,
dying aAvay to nothingness Avith its vanished spoil, trembling and
Avaving sometimes a heat line in mid air, that cannot be caught,
or folloAved, or restrained ! The heart of Terah felt the mystic
spell. He had three sons, the chosen of the Lord, and yet the patri
arch faltered in his early zeal and faith, and began to mingle the
service ofthe god of fire and the hosts of heaven with his own.
Thus says the stern Joshua centuries later : " Your fathers
dwelt on the other side of the flood, in old time, even Terah, the
father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other
gods." Not Abraham served other gods, for if Ave take that
vieAV, we must admit that the Lord permitted the holy birthright
line to lapse away from his service, Avhich cannot have happened,
for the doctrine of a remnant must remain ever sure, the little
bands that have stood up for God on the earth — the salt that
has preserved an unrighteous world from destruction. Of this
remnant Ave find Abel, Seth, Enoch, Methuselah, Noah, Shem ;
and Avhen Abraham was a young man in his father's dwelling,
Noah, his mighty ancestor, remained among men : Noah, who
was six hundred years old Avhen he entered into the ark — the
pupil of Methuselah and Jared — who with his sons had gone up
to worship at the gate of Eden, Avho had stood by the graves of
Abel and Adam. With such ancestors and instructors as these
yet living, and more than all, with that choice of God upon him,
we cannot for an instant imagine that Abraham swerved from the
right course of Avorship. With Terah there was a mingling of
the true and the false, and in his better moments he may have
realized this, and struggled with his infatuation. We find Terah
ever weaker than his princely son. God roused this man with a
judgment ; his is the first case on record where a father saw his

ABRAHAM. 67
child die a natural death in his early life. In the Avealthy Chal
dean home, Terah saw Haran his beloved youngest son, sicken
and expire. " And Haran died in the presence of his father, in Ur
ofthe Chaldees, the land of his nativity." Weeping Terah built
his darling's tomb, but he had been Avarned of God by this judg
ment. Doubtless he turned his tear-blind eyes on his remaining
sons, and exhorted them : " Let us go : here we have no con
tinuing city, Ave are called southAvard still, away from this Avor-
ship of fire, aAvay from these seducing children of Nimrod." The
little Church prepared for their hegira. Nahor, the second son,
cleaves to his birth-place ; but Terah takes Abraham, Sarah, and
the orphan Lot, and they go forth together. The soul of Abra
ham rejoices in this exodus, because it is obedience to his Lord ;
but all the fibres of Terah's love cling close about Chaldean Ur. >
Every departing step is pain, his life is rooted in his cradle home ;
there Nahor lives at ease, complacent, yielding a little to his
neighbors' Avorship, and retaining much of his own ; there is that
tomb dewed with a father's tears of anguish. O skies that he has
loved, hills and rolling plains, and fruit bearing trees, and rush
of Avaters, that he has known from life's first daAvn ! He cannot
go. In the conflict between duty and inclination, he gets as far
as a town site on the Chaldean border — some say no more than
twenty miles — there the weary old man halted, and exercis
ing his authority as head of the household, proclaimed a stay.
We call Terah an old man ; he was now one hundred and forty-
fivre ; a child to the Macrobians. Shem was still living. Noah
had recently died, having passed nine and a half centuries in
sojourn below. But the lives of men had shortened rapidly.
Shem saw three and a half centuries less than his father; the
next three generations decreased the life-term by two centuries
more ; in Peleg it shortened once more by one-half, so that
Avell might Jacob, the descendant of these veterans, say, amid the

68 ABRAHAM.
short-lived Egyptians, who marvelled at his one hundred and
thirty years — "FeAV and evil have the days of my life been, and
have not attained unto the years of the life of my fathers in the
days qf their pilgrimage."
Terah, when he gave up the idea of reaching Canaan, withdrew
himself finally from the pilgrim Church ordained by God ; when
he paused he built a Availed city, and full of paternal love and
soitoav, called it from his dead son, Haran. It was no ephemeral
habitation, blotted out by a few years. Ten centuries after this
Haran was a city, capable of a defence, and worthy to be cap
tured, and noted as a A'ictor's trophy. After this settlement
Scripture has no further interest in Terah than to record his age
and death. The birth-right had been passed forward to his
nobler son. The eleventh chapter of Genesis, in its last verse,
reaches onward in the narrative, to note Terah's decease; thus the
history of Abraham may be uninterruptedly pursued. As Noah
passed through the corrupted race, and through the flood, uncon-
taminated and unharnjed, so Abraham passed through the tempta
tions of Chaldean heathenism, and through the semi-idolatry to
which his father's house declined, all untouched, the pure Jeho
vah Avorshipper.
When his parent paused in Haran, Abraham, with a son's duty,
obeyed him, and stayed his step. But here to him came a voice
from heaven, constituting him the head of the family, and bidding
him be on his way.
Abraham, the " High Father " of a race, thou art also Abraham
the passenger* God's exile, homeward bound, be on thy journey.
Terah recognized the divine call. He was relieved that the bur
den of the spiritual birthright fell from his unwilling shoulders
upon his hero son, Avho rejoiced in it ; strong to wander and to
* Tayler Lewis.

ABRAHAM. 69'
endure ; Avhose loves and hopes Avere all garnered in the future ;
Avho Avas ready to go up and down vieAving the inheritance that
should fall to his seed, and be consecrated by the footsteps of his
heavenly son and Saviour.
AVe see that Terah assented to his son's departure, and yielded
to the rights noAV vested in him ; for, unless this had been, he
Avould not have passed Lot, Haran's son, over to his departing
uncle; rather, he Avould have bade him stay, to close his own
dying eyes, and inherit the city called from his father's name.
But no, the line of Eber is a pilgrim line, and it must wander
on, and Lot must go to catch his portion of the descending bene
diction. " He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy
of me," saith Christ.
Abraham, the Hebrew, loved not his oavii life, nor stayed to
bury his father ; but, recognizing the superior claims of his God,
he set out sixty years before Terah's death. In the strife between
filial love and the call of faith, Abraham was true to the higher
duty. Terah had failed, torn betAveen desire, home-loving, and
God-serving ; his son was of a stronger heart.
When Ave behold Abraham thus going on his way, Ave must
remember all that he Avas leaving. The family affection of these
Hebrews Avas strong ; he left all his kindred. The sons of Shem
were distinguished by their Jehovah Avorship from the children
of Ham and Japheth. He Avent forth never to return, going
among aliens and enemies, Aveak-handed entering the realm of
the heathen, a stranger in strange lands, bearing in his bosom the
long, long pain of his childless estate.
The earth Avas at this time no uninhabited desert. When
Ave consider the longevity and the vitality of the period, we
can estimate, in the third century after the flood, a population
of 45,000,000 of souls. Disperse these over the world, and in

70 ABRAHAM.
another century, which marks the time of Abraham, we must
expect to find vast territories overspread with a numerous and
civilized people. Nimrod had established his kingdom in Nineveh
and Babylon; Shechem, Luz, and Kirjath-Arba were built; the
empire of the Pharaohs towered in Egypt. Resen, " the great
city," lifted its Avails between Nineveh and Calah ; Damascus was
already strong, and thence came Abraham's steward Eliezer.
The Syrian plain Avas divided among kings and nations, walled
towns, and clustered villages. Amid these rulers and peoples,
Avho claimed the earth as their abiding place, Avho builded them
selves up in the midst of it, wandered Abraham the nomad ; and
let us not despise his life. The nomadic state is the basis upon
Avhich the highest human culture may rest. In ite quietude and
retirement, lofty, religious minds may grow into the princes of
humanity ; while lower spirits find but opportunity for becoming
more gross and savage year by year. In Abraham the post-dilu
vian dispensation reaches ite highest development. As to its
essence, the faith of Abraham is distinguished from that of his
pious ancestry, in that he has and holds the promise not only for
himself, but for his family, and he has the beginnings ofthe truth
that in him shall all the families of the earth be blessed. The
Sethic race had grown corrupt, and lost itself in the line of Cain ;
Noah alone remaining. Now the line of Shem shows no Avell
defined opposition to all prevailing heathenism ; the taint diffuses
through the chosen race, and Abraham only is pure of infection.
But in all this time, in the households of the apostates, God kept
to himself Avitnesses and servants, as later Ave shall find in Mel-
chizedek. Abel introduced the sacrifice of faith ; Enoch the assurance of
resurrection ; Noah carried faith on triumphant to God's salva
tion in the midst of judgments; and Abraham vindicated his faith
in renouncing this world, and living by the hope of the everlast
ing inheritance.

ABRAHAM. 71
The call came to him in Haran : " Get thee out from thy country,
from thy kindred, and from thy father's house." Next, the
promise of guidance, " to a land that I will shew thee." Then, as
the faith of Abraham Avas Avithout fanaticism, generous and loving
to all — " Thou shalt be a blessing : in thee shall all the families
of the earth be blessed." Here Avas the promise ofthe Shiloh, the
coming One, the Christ, the birthright blessing upon Terah's son.
This is enough for him ; Jehovah and the Celestial City fill all
this man's horizon ; so he departs Avith his wife " and all that he
had," for he means to return no more. "And they went forth to
go to the land of Canaan." That Avas just what Terah had done. —
"And to the land of Canaan they came." — Ah, this was more than
Terah, Avho lingered and remained at the beginning of the journey.
The place Avhere first he tarried was Sichem. It was only to
rest aAA'hile, he had here no continuing city. There his God and
Friend appeared to him, and pointing through the plain of Moreh,
along the SAvelling Jordan, to the slopes of Lebanon, cedar-clad,
and all the beauty of the land of olive, vine, and palm, declared :
" To thy seed will I give it."
Abraham Avas a great altar builder. So was Isaac, his son.
Where Abraham tarried he built an altar of unhewn stone, to
remain token and incentive to the worship of the Lord. He was
a well digger ; all through the fruitful valleys he left wells for
refreshing of man and beast, and so passed on his bountiful way,
as the Church should pursue her course, raising the altars of her
God, and pouring forth streams of blessing on every hand.
Anon Abraham is at Bethel, " House of God," and here his
altar is set up, and still the wanderer moves southAvard.
All is not sunshine and plenty before him. The heavens with
hold their dew ; no shoAvers fall in the valleys ; the corn ceases to
AA-ave in the lowlands, and there is no purple cluster jeAvelling the
SAvells of the upland. God's wayfarer does not find the place of

72 ABRAHAM.
his exile over-fair ; it has its sore pressing Avants ; however, there
is no lack up yonder, where life's transplanted Tree, watered by a
river flowing from the eternal throne, fails not to yield fruit every
month. Before the Avanderer lies Egypt, Nile-enriched, Avhile the
land of his future inheritance is sere and impoverished ; places are
all one to this man, so his God goes Avith him, and he enters the
kingdom of Rameses. The dynasty and residence of this king are
not noAV fully determined ; perchance the ancient of the nations,
gray Egypt, holds among her hieroglyphics this and kindred
knowledge, Avhich shall yet be given to the hand of science. The
patriarch may have reached Pelusium, "the strength of Egypt;"
or "populous No, among the Avaters;" Zoan in the field, or
Moph, the mighty. Quite as much darkness seems to envelop
the proceedings of Abraham in this country. Among the dusky
children of Canaan and Egypt, the fair Sarah, daughter of Shem,
shone like a star ; the fame of her beauty was carried to the palace
of the king. Rameses sought her for his wife. And here some
opine that Abraham acted from coAvardice ; others, " from a simple
exaggeration of faith. " Cah'in says that "Abraham had a good
end in view, but failed in the choice of means." Whichever way
it Avas, Avhether he acted from too bold or too feeble a faith, God
did not fail to take care of his servant, make his power known,
and lead him forth of Mizraim Avith all glory and safety.
By the time Abraham returned to Bethel, he was " very rich "
in all that comprised wealth in his age and clime. He had not
sought the riches of earth; God had heaped them upon him; he
found "godliness profitable for all things." Perhaps this abun
dance Avas a trial of the man's faith, to see if he AArould build a city
or a house for the preservation of his goods ; whether his soul
Avould be beguiled by this accumulation of finite treasure. Not
so ; he remains in tents, a pilgrim still ; and his abundance
abounds to his liberality, for he says to Lot his nephew, " Let

ABRAHAM. 73
there be no strife betAveen thee and me. Is not the whole land
before thee?" The father of the faithful puts himself on an
equality Avith his nephew; he calls him up to some mountain
spur, or broad plateau, and shows him all the future territory of
the beloved nation. Behold the loAver plain of Jordan, fair as that
vanished " garden of the Lord ; " see the cities set in it like gems ;
mark the Jordan, a stream of gold in the setting sunshine ; west-
Avard and southward sweep great seas of bloom ; flocks and herds
stray knee-deep in luscious herbage; all is Abraham's; yet he
forgets the beauties of the earth in the beauty of the upper land,
and he bids Lot take whatsoever he may choose. Lot craved the
glorious plain, thoughtless that it dreAV him far from Abraham,
the head of the house of faith; and Abraham dwelt amid his oak
trees well content.
The character of Abraham is one of the most magnificent in
Scripture. We see him rich in faith ; brave in obedience ; grand
in a holy contempt of the transitory wealth of earth ; noble in his
generosity to Lot ; humble in the quietness of his life in -the oak
groves of Mamre. We next find him wise in diplomacy ; dwelling
in the plains of the Amorites, he becomes confederate with three
princely brothers abiding there ; and next Ave have him bold and
skilful in war ; the righteous defender of the weak.
Lot, wooed by the wealth and pleasure of Sodom, had cast in
his fate Avith its ungodly citizens. He had left his native land to
folloAV Abraham for the service of God ; we learn from the apostle
that he retained his integrity, and was still "just Lot, vexed with
the filthy conversation of the wicked." Yet being found among
these arrant sinners, he suffered with them ; in common with them
he received the judgments of the Lord, and thus his worldliness
was chastised. When a senrant of God finds himself followed by
losses and trials, and sees iniquity spreading in his household, let
him pause and consider whether he is not God's servant dAvelling

74 ABRAHAM.
in the Avrong place, for worldly pride, or greed, or pleasure-
seeking. When news came to Abraham that the four strong kings of Asia
had conquered the feebler rulers of Sodom and the Jordan plain,
Lot being of the captiA-es, swept away Avith his family and his
property in the train of the A-ictorious Chedorlaomer, all the ardent
family affection of the sons of Eber aAvoke in Abraham ; the ex
pression is significant, " Avhen he heard that his ' brother ' Avas taken
captive." The news Avas brought "by one that had escaped," there
fore a member of Lot's family ; for the ordinary fugitive of Sodom
would have appealed to a Canaanite.
We may judge of Abraham's patriarchal state when we find
that on a moment's warning he could arm three hundred and
eighteen trained servants. Servants trained to instant obedience;
trained to family affection, to the service of God, and the practice
of AArar. At the head of these men went Abraham ; and we may
imagine the heroic Sarah, her maidens, and the children of her
retainers, standing under the shadowing oaks, Avatching this band
depart, and with hearts of prayer casting their eyes upon the altar
of God. Abraham is a skilled general ; at Dan (in Gilead) he
divides his force ; he pursues in.the night time. This night the
victory-A'ain Assyrians spend in feasting and mirth, and Lot in
humiliation. As the stars grow pale in the amethystine flush of
daAvn, Abraham sweeps down on the host of the four kings from
the left hand of Damascus, and smites them with his arm of strength.
They are driven away like chaff on the summer threshing-floors.
They leave behind in their headlong flight the captives and the
spoil, and Abraham begins his triumphant return. The monarch
of Sodom comes out to hail the conquerer of kings.
But a greater than this heathen prince greets the ATictor, even
one who has stood before the world a holy mystery, Melchizedek,
king of Salem, but moreover priest of the Most High God. With-

ABRAHAM. 75
out genealogy in his priesthood or his kingdom, he is set forth as
the clearest early type of Messiah, He who came a priest and king,
in each of these Avithout father, without mother, Avithout beginning
of descent or end of days. Christ and Melchizedek had each pro
genitors in their humanity, but in their priesthood and kingdom
they Avere alone. Eminent in office and in piety, this man was yet
a Canaanite ; Apostle of the primeval monotheism ; greater than
Abraham, iu that he was the last shining representative of the
period ofthe primitive religion looking back to the lost paradise;
he stood Avith his face lit with the splendors of that evening sky
Avhich shoots its level rays across the centuries. Pupil of Noah
and Shem, following in the holy Avay of Enoch, he shone a glorious
planet in the night of Canaan's heathenism. Type of Jesus, he
met the Church in Abraham ite exponent, bearing those holy
symbols Avhich Christ diA'ided as his memorials on the night be
fore he died. Not without a purpose, did God send forth this wor
shipper and priest of the pattern found before the flood, to give to
Abraham and his servants the symbols of the Jehovistic covenant,
and the Avorld's last dispensation. He gave them with his blessing;
and the Patriarch confessed the glory of the age to come after the
advent of his eternal Son, by paying tithes to Melchizedek his
type. They reached the plain of Sodom, and Abraham, who had not
fought for spoil, delivered to the lately vanquished people of the
plain all the booty, suggesting only that his confederates should be
given their laAvful portion.
We have in Abraham the earliest hero warrior and his tactics.
From these Cromwell learned the fundamental principles of war
fare ; from him patterned Napoleon, Gneisenau and Blucher, and
a host of other heroes. But they have fallen short of their master,
who lifted up the sword for truth and justice, and scorned the
greed of plunder and demoniac lust. If nations to-day followed

76 ABRAHAM.
the example of the brave, skilful, diplomatic and peace-loving
Abraham, we should not see people of kindred faith and tongue
draAving the sword, each against his brother !
Abraham bore in his heart a heavy grief : " I go childless,
and my heir is Eliezer of Damascus." God came to him :
" Fear not ; I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward ! "
Verily, oh church and child of God, great is the Holy One of
Israel in the midst of thee, therefore fear not. Then God led his
servant out under the star-set canopy of heaven. Those wheeling
orbs, objects of the Chaldeans' Avorship, were but types of Abra
ham's illustrious and numberless seed. Note what follows :
" He believed God, and it Avas counted to him for righteousness."
From God Abraham received a glorious revelation, but it came
to him through " a horror of great darkness."
Symbol again of what must happen in every age of the Church
militant. Out of darkness — light.
" The night is mother of the day,
The winter of the spring,
And ever upon old decay
The greenest mosses cling."
Out of persecution comes the strength of the Church ; out of
trial endurance ; out of the martyr flame the martyr crown ; out
of great tribulation the white-robed throng on high ; from the
crucifixion day the jubilant Paschal morning ; out of the tomb in
the garden the living Christ !
" But who shall so forecast the years,
Or find in loss a gain to match ?
Or reach a hand through time to catch
The far-off interest of tears I '
In the horror of great darkness Abraham learned the dark
age of his descendants ; their weary bondage ; then through the

ABRAHAM. 77
black smoke passed a burning lamp, and Abraham was assured
of the final triumph of his race, coining out of prison to reign,
and the vast extent of their inheritance.
During this night in Syria, under the beam of " heaven's high
twins," and amid the rustle of the oak leaves, Avas foreshadowed
all time to come ; here the fundamental thoughts of Ploly Writ,
righteousness and faith, Avere set forth ; here Abraham stands in the
inward life of justice before God ; here that mighty plant, brought
from heaven and rooted in the earth, salvation by faith, shot forth
its floAver, bloomed in its matchless beauty before the patriarch.
Then came a personal promise : " Thou shalt go to thy fathers in
peace, and be buried in a good old age." Thus, " He who will
not suffer any to be tempted above that they are able," strengthened
his servant in the hour of his need.
When Abraham had been twenty-five years a pilgrim from
his father's house, and still the fulfilment of the promise of an
heir Avas delayed, God again appeared to him and renewed the
covenant. At this time God revealed himself by a new name,
The Almighty God (El Shaddai), and in sign of the closest inward
union betAveen himself, Abraham and Sarah, changed the names of
these great parents of the people Israel. Circumcision Avas given
as a sign, distinguishing the chosen race from all others. Abra
ham, saint of faith as he Avas, had endeavored to anticipate the
movements of God, and in his eager desire for offspring had run
before the face of his leader. Now through thirteen years since
the birth of Ishmael, God kept him waiting, that he might
clearly apprehend that Isaac Avas a promised, a miraculous seed,
showing forth the wonder of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. In
the joy of the renewal of the promise, and the surety of his faith,
Abraham fell on his face and laughed. His is the first laughter
mentioned ; Hagar's weeping in the wilderness is the first record
of tears.

78 ABRAHAM.
After this, Abraham is set before us in tAvo new phases of his
character and work, still typifying the Church and her mission.
In his tent at Mamre he entertains the Lord of Hosts. He comes
to him as a traveller.
" Oh, hope of Israel ! The Saviour thereof in time of trouble,
Avhy Avilt thou be as a stranger in the land, and a wayfaring man
Avho tarrieth but for a night ! "
God comes into the tabernacle of Abraham, and communes Avith
him. Pie enters to no ceiled house in the grand cities spread
abroad in Chaldea, or the Jordan plain ; but goes to him, the
stranger upon earth, who journeys, guided by his hand, and
" nightly plants his moving tent a day's march nearer home."
This is the " Lord who dwelleth in Jerusalem foreA'er."
The Lord dwelleth in Mount Zion. The Holy Spirit dwelleth
in the loAvly and contrite heart ; maketh his home among men,
and the King of the Church is in the midst of her.
Abraham, model of hospitality, seeing first only three tired
felloAV-men, Avith haste addresses himself to the supply of their
wants. But he recognizes in one, a Being loftier than the sons of
earth, the object and centre of his life-long adoration, the Guar
dian and Guide of his pilgrim way. He serves Avith humble zeal
his guests ; he only can wash the feet of these travellers from the
skies clad in humanity; no servant's hands must knead the
cakes; Sarah, the princess, addresses herself to the honorable
task; Abraham selects the food, and serves it Avith his OAvn
hands. So Zaccheus, ages after, entertained the Lord Christ.
The meal OArer, two of the guests passed on before, and God, who
Avould not hide from Abraham the thing which he did, stood face
to face with his servant, and through the fleshly garment beamed
the ineffable glory as on the Mount of Transfiguration.
" The cry of Sodom is great," said the Lord. Here was about
to be a prelude of the last day — the evening of the world had

ABRAHAM. 79
come for the cities of the plain. Wrath had gone out against
them ; Avith the rising morn should fall a shower of fire, as if all
the gloAving planets rained themselves upon them.
Abraham here assumed another office of the earthly Church,
that of an intercessor with God for sinners. Let the ungodly scoff
at the righteous, know they Iioav often their prayers have stayed
the eternal hand made bare for war ? Remove God's Church from
the world, set the households of the saints suddenly into the land
whither they are travelling, and how long would the world remain ?
Abraham reaches the true ideal of intercession. He does not
pray against God's justice, but in behalf of it. " That be far
from thee, to destroy the righteous with the Avicked ! Shall not
the Judge of all the earth do right?" Abraham intercedes with
all the strength of faith. He asked, believing. If the condi
tions which he made had been met, Sodom would haAre been
saved. In his prayer Ave trace not only the humane heart depre
cating the sufferings of fellow-creatures, but the tenderness expe
rienced by benefactors for those they have favored. He had
saved Sodom once by his SAVord, now he endeavors to save by the
voice of petition. Abraham ceased asking before the Lord ceased
granting, but this does not indicate that he ceased asking too soon.
He set a limit for himself, and Avas guided in that by his con
sciousness of right. He regarded first of all the glory of God;
the glory of mercy ; and Avhen mercy is defied, the glory of ven
geance. In his self-limitation he remains an example to the
Church, as to the true position of the Christian in reference to
the corruption of the world. There was no fanaticism, no
phrenzy : he excuses his boldness ; he makes prudent progress in
his requests, and when the Lord says, "I will not destroy it for
ten's sake," Abraham considers the vastness of Sodom, its splendor,
its thronging population — Avhat! not ten in all these? Morally
conditioned, he bows his head, and asks no more.

80 ABRAHAM.
The storm was gathering over Sodom, but the voice of Abra
ham's prayer Avithheld it till the night closed in — the last night
of the guilty city ripe for destruction.
Doubtless for Abraham this was a most solemn night ; he
remembered Lot and his family, and wondered if cleaving to
heathenism they should be lost, or if serving yet the Lord, as his
children, they should find a place of safety. He knew the secret
shared by no other human heart, that the next night-fall would
see the fertile plain a scarred desert ; the proud cities ruinous
heaps ; the jostling crowds mere ashes whirled upon the winds.
Early in the morning he hastened to the spot where he had
talked witli God. Nowhere else dared he meet confirmation of
his horrible fears ; there he Avould be strong. He looked toward
Sodom and Gomorrah, "and lo, the smoke of the country went
up as the smoke of a furnace."
Mythology bears trace of this significant visit of the Lord to
the father of the faithful. In the myth, Jupiter, Mercury and
Neptune visit an old man named Hyricus : he prepares them a
feast, and they bless his childless age with the glad possession of a
son. Again, Ave have the king of gods and men, with Mercury, his
messenger, entering at night-fall the hut of Philemon and Baucis.
This pair extend to them their best welcome; they place the
choicest of their humble fare before those disguised ones, Avho
feast on nectar upon Mount Ida ; then the departing gods carry
off the kindly couple, and a black flood rises up, and covers the
inhospitable dwellings near, and all the dreary moor.
In strong contrast to the lofty character of Abraham, the pil
grim saint, we find Lot, the weak, the covetous, the erring ; who
seeks for himself a portion on earth ; who does not command his
household in the fear of the Lord ; Avho leaves the society of the
father of the faithful for the orgies of the Sodomites ; Avho yet re
tains some spark of the divine life ; who is saved as by fire; pulled

ABRAHAM. 81
out of the jaws of destruction ; who disappears at last, stripped of
wealth and honor ; dwelling in caves like a Avild beast ; parent not
of a race of righteous men, but of two bastard lines, Avho wander
farther and farther from the Light of life. He built his house, but
he counted not the cost.
Unless the Lord build the house men labor in vain. Hoary
Avith a century of wayfaring; sick sometimes Avith hope deferred;
looking forward to the inheritance still, the patriarch entered a
land of laughter ; there was a son born to his old age, the son of
Sarah. Laughter then in the tent of the nomad ; laughter rippling
forth to be shared by all who heard ; by the confederate Amorites,
and the court of the friendly Abimelech in Gerar.
With this Abimelech, a worshipper of God, and king of those
Philistines, who soon after lapsed into idolatry, we find Abraham
making a covenant at Beersheba. They seal the covenant Avith
an oath, and Abraham builds an altar to his God, and sets it in a
grove of tamarisk trees. So should every civil compact have the
recognition and presence of Almighty God, that it may be honor
able and enduring.
Beersheba was the name given the place of this treaty of peace.
There was reared the altar of the Lord before whom they stood ;
there Avaved the evergreen tamarisk trees, emblems of the eternity
of God. Here was Abraham, to Abimelech, the preacher ; he stood
forth to teach the heathen and the partially enlightened, as, on the
place Avhere he talked with God, he became their intercessor.
Three great works are recorded of Abraham. He labored, he
preached, he patiently endured his life-long exile. Truly, if he
had been mindful of the land whence he came out, he might have
had opportunity to have returned thither ; the way was open ; there
would have been a warm welcome in the ancestral home. But,
no • he who puts his hand to the plough, then looks back, is not
fit for the kingdom of God ; his eyes must still be on the heavenly

82 ABRAHAM.
habitation ; his desire must take hold of a better country, and be
cause of this, God is not ashamed to be called his God.
Tried long by exile; by toil ; by poverty ; by riches; by rumors
of war ; by the seductions of heathenism ; tried and found steadfast
still, Abraham had yet to endure another and more searching
test of his faith.
At this point in this most tender and beautiful story, we too often
miss the richest meaning, by considering Isaac as a child. Isaac
laid upon the altar Avas a type of Christ ; this he would not have
been as an unconscious or helpless child-victim ; but, instead, he
was in all the vigor of his young manhood ; probably twenty-five
years old, strong and hopeful ; life bright before him ; power in
his sinews to burst the bands and resist the intention of that gray
old father. But, instead of this, while Abraham is like God the
Father, " who so loved that he gave his only Son," who " did not
spare his own Son but delivered him up," Isaac is like the Saviour,
Avho " laid down his life of himself," who " loved not his own
life unto death."
To Abraham came the command : " Take now thine only be
gotten son and offer him up."
Having obeyed the Lord during all his long life, the good
man does not now hesitate. Fully realizing what it will be to
have this joy of his eyes and staff of his age remoA7ed from him,
he yet also realizes what it would be to have the light of God's
countenance withdrawn ; to lose the fatherly approbation ; to have
the clouds come between his soul and the heavenly city ; to miss
the serene fellowship ofthe immortals.
Isaac is doubtless accustomed to go with his father to offer
sacrifice, on one or another of the many altars which marked the
place of his wanderings. Wood is prepared, the young men-
servants put it upon the ass, and go their way as directed ; Abra
ham and Isaac bid farewell to that loving old mother in the tent

ABRAHAM. 83
door, Sarah, the blonde beauty, still fair and defiant of the ravages
of time; all her youth has been renewed by this beloved son of
the promise. She Avatches him depart, rejoices in his manly form
and active step ; one day he shall bring a wife of the holy He-
breAV family to her tent, and she shall have his children in her
arms. Sarah turns to set tasks for her maidens with her face
bright with hope ; she knoAVS not that her husband goes to Moriah,
the mountain of the Lord, to slay her son !
Meantime, the first thought of Abraham will be of the hour
Avhen he shall return alone, to break the heart of that wife and
mother. The knife in his girdle will stab her heart when it enters
the bosom of her son.
Then he thinks of Isaac; they have worshipped together Avell
pleased before; Avhat will he do now, when he himself must be
come the bleeding type of redemption ? But Abraham knows
the unquestioning obedience, the holy zeal, the intense devotion of
his child ; that son's will has ever run parallel Avith his father's,
and the twin current has flowed in the line with the divine inten
tion. There will be no hesitancy there. Then in his secret thought
he acts and reenacts the soul-thrilling scene ; the strength of his
aged hand must come from Heaven, or it will not suffice to strike
so fatal a bloAv. What ! to see that active frame groAV limp, and
then freeze to death's marble ; to see the blood that now reddens
in the cheek dripping, dripping over that unhewn altar, and deAAr-
ing the appalled earth ; no more to hear that voice in sweet tones
saying, my father ! See how the young man rejoices in his OAvn
exuberant vitality; how he 'looks up to the clear skies ; folloAA'S
the flight of birds ; marks the beauty of groA^es of oak, tamarisk
and palm ; turns well pleased to vine and blossom ; and fixes
often his gaze on the mountains towering against the sky.
".He thoughtof their white raiment, the ghostly capes that screen them,
Ofthe storm winds that beat them, their thunder rents and scars,
And the paradise of purple, and the golden slopes atween then;,
And fields where grow God's gentian bells, and His crocus stars."

84 ABRAHAM.
These glances must grow dark in death ! Then faith spoke :
" In Isaac shall thy seed be called, that seed like the sand grains
numberless." Isaac must live ; children and children's children
could not grow out of his grave ; therefore Abraham remembering
how Isaac had in a manner sprung from death, being born when
human hope of progeny was dead, comforted himself in the hope
that God must and would reanimate the body of his slain son.
Faith believes in the physically impossible. In all the history
of earth there had been then none raised from the dead ; but
Abraham looked past the fact to the power of God ; as, says the
apostle, "accounting that God Avas able to raise him up, even
from the dead ; from Arhence also he had received him in a figure."
This was a consoling faith, but it could not do away Avith the
sad thought of the jtrecedent death. Abraham knew what death
Avas ; he had seen it in Haran his brother ; he had seen the
lamb laid on the stone, and marked the pitiful imploring of its
look. "But oh, 'tis dowier far to see
The wa' gang o' ane the heart gangs wi',
The dead set o' the shining e'e,
That closes the weary warld on thee ! "
Musing thus ; strengthening his heart betimes by calling on his
God, Abraham reached the last stage of his journey. They were
beyond the folds and the flocks, and Isaac began to Avonder whence
the offering would come.
On the third day Abraham beheld the ordained spot, Moriah,
Mount of Vision, where in days to come the marble and golden
splendors of the temple should delight the land. The patriarch
spoke calmly to his servants, though his heart was dying within
him: "Abide ye herewith the ass: and I and the lad will go
yonder and worship, and come again to you ! "
The wood is laid upon Isaac, and with his parent he begins the
ascent toAvard the thicket-crowned summit ofthe mountain. Then
he asks :

ABRAHAM. 85
" My father ! behold the fire and the Avood, but where is the
lamb for the burnt-offering ? "
It is a terrible question for a father in Abraham's position,' but
he replies, Avith holy confidence : " My son, God Avill provide him
self a lamb."
Together they reach the appointed place, they build the altar,
lay the wood in readiness, and the trembling father, natural an
guish contending with obedient faith, unfolds to his son the vision
from the Lord. From that godly heir his faltering spirit receiA^es
encouragement. Isaac at once cheerfully agrees to die. He has
been trained to seek first the celestial inheritance, and Avhile earth
is dear and beautiful, the city on high is fairer still. A last tender
embrace — his love Avith his child is laid on that lone altar ; then,
crowning act of faith and submission, the patriarch took his knife
to slay his son ! Again comes the divine voice, never more wel
come than now : " Lay not thine hand upon the lad ; iioav I know
that thou fearest me ; thou hast not withheld thine only son." Glad
as the trumpet of the angel proclaiming the first resurrection from
the dead ! At this respite the old man's strength is renewed. He
sees a ram caught in the thicket, and recognizes in it his son's sub
stitute. He runs for the new victim ; he offers it Avith an over
flowing heart. Here on the mountain the father and son make a
neAV consecration of themselves ; they have given all to God, even
life, his first gift to them ; thenceforth they are more than ever
bought with a price. But richest experience of all is the unfolding
of the plan of salvation, the mediatorial work, and the doctrine of
substitution. Abraham in old age, Isaac in early manhood, met together the
crucial test of their living faith. Abraham had been tried and
tried again, an ascending series of temptations ; but Isaac met all
his fate at once. This was a sufficient experience for a lifetime ;
after this complete self-immolation, the life of Isaac rolled through
more than a century of peace.

86 ABRAHAM.
Standing together on the Mount Moriah in a rapture of grati
tude and adoration, these tAVO listened to the words of the angel
of the Lord, prophesying of the time to come, and the perpetual
blessing. With this account of the scene on Mount Moriah ends the
spiritual history of Abraham ; his trials and his inward growth.
The narrative passes on to the building up of his household, and
nation. This man had come forth from the furnace as gold : the
Refiner had seen at last his own image clearly mirrored in the
flame-purified spirit; and had said, "it is enough."
Between the journey to Moriah and the death of Sarah, is an
interval of some years. The first portion of this time Abraham
spent at Beersheba, and there he heard of the death of Terah, and
of the prosperity and increase of the family of his brother Nahor,
in Ur of the Chaldees. Later, the patriarch removed to Kirjath-
Arba, and there Sarah- died, her grave becoming the centre and
cradle of the Abraham ic kingdom. She is the only woman whose
age at death is mentioned in the Bible ; and she receives this dis
tinction because, as the mother of the seed of promise, she is the
mother of true belieATers in all the years to,come. Kirjath-Arba
is Hebron, afterwards called El Chalil. from Abraham "the friend
of God."
A sore affliction is this death, entering into the love-united house
hold; we learn the strength of Isaac's tenderness and sorroAv, in
that he is not comforted for three years — not until he sees the
blooming Rebekah established in his beautiful mother's deserted
tent. Sarah was gone; thelifeless body lay in the midst ofthe weep
ing family ; all around the tent spread the beauty of Hebron,
vineyards, olive trees and orchards. From his flocks came the
shepherd prince, and sat down at the feet of her whom he had
loved, to mourn.

ABRAHAM. 87
Then he dre\v near to the gate of Hebron, and addressed the
citizens : " I am a stranger and a sojourner, give me a place where
I may bury my dead ! "
The holy family Avould not mingle its dead with idolaters — the
beloved Sarah was yet Abraham's own, and he would lay her by
herself in solemn state, his most precious treasure. He desires
from Ephron, the lord of the city, that cave famous in history as
the burial place of those names of renoAvn ; the three great patri
archs and their wives, ancestors of kings and of Christ ; and here
we notice that Jacob was placed in Machpelah, not beside Rachel
his best loved, but by Leah, the mother of the royal line of the
house of Judah.
The story of this purchase of Machpelah is one of singular
beauty and simplicity ; each sentence is a well-cut cameo. We
see Abraham in the dignity of his sorrow, courtly, prudent and
decided ; Ephron, elegant and stately, with all the floAvers of
eastern courtesy in his speech ; the children of Heth standing by,
protesting : " Hear us, my lord, thou art a mighty prince among
us ; in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead." Then the
price is fixed, the money weighed, the boundaries and possession
are made sure.
Smith assumes that four hundred shekels, or two hundred and
fifty dollars of our money, a large sum for that time, was an ex
orbitant price for the spot, and marks Ephron as avaricious and
over-reaching ; but to this it is properly replied, that while the
Rabbins describe Ephron as greedy, we cannot decide with them,
while the limits of this purchase, and the ordinary price of land
at that time, are unknown to us.
After this burial comes a bridal. Abraham, anxious to preserve
the purity of his house, sent Eliezer to Mesopotamia, to the city
of Nahor, to bring thence a wife for Isaac. From this union
shone the beautiful family life of devotion and affection which

88 ABRAHAM.
the Jews commemorated in their nuptial benediction. The speech
of Eliezer, the first recorded, is worthy of its place ; it flows sweet
as a poem, every sentence some golden truth ; it sets forth the man
loyal to God and to his master, having duty ever before his eyes,
honest, gracious, dignified. Would that every government had an
ambassador of kindred spirit ! This love story of Isaac and Re
bekah, is the true model for all time. It begins in God fearing
and serving ; it is sanctified by prayer ; it is a blessed theocratic
marriage, the true foundation of a happy, holy household.
There Avere fair maidens in Canaan ; there were such men as
Melchizedek and Abimelech among the children of Ham; but
their light was Avaning ; the curse of Sodom Avas amid them, their
end was decreed ; from the godly line of Shem must come the
Avife Isaac could revere as well as love. He looked first for grace
of heart, and God Avho giveth liberally, sent him also the match
less personal beauty of Rebekah. Nor Avas this charm Avithout its
effect on Isaac's messenger ; the good old man Avas anxious to
crown his mission Avith such a radiant loveliness as he remembered
in his mistress Sarah; and when the glorious perfections of
Rebekah shone on him at the well, he made haste to choose her
from the maidens, and apply the test on Avhich he had prayerfully
decided. This marriage of Isaac removed Abraham's last care on earth.
He lived to see his twin grandsons, Jacob and Esau, reach their
boyhood; then his pilgrim days Avere ended. "He died in a
good old age, an old man and full of years." He had spent his
years day by day in God's service ; now they seemed as days for
shortness ; and he was " gathered to his people," not in that he
merely died, or was laid in his family burial-place; but he had
his citizenship in heaven, he was a fellow-citizen with the saints;
all those from Abel Avere his kinsmen in flesh and faith ; and noAV
at last he joined them. It was emphatically a getting home : he

ABRAHAM. 89
who had no abiding city here, dwelt at last among sure founda
tions, and entered a home eternal. The wanderer found a place
Avhence he should go no more out. He had reached the true
Mount Zion, and had come to the " City of the Living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, the innumerable company of angels, the
general assembly and church of the first-born, whose names are
Avritten in heaven; and to God the Judge of all, and to the
spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator ofthe
New Covenant :" to all this had he come; so shall all those come,
earth's pilgrims and sojourners, who Avith singleness of heart, and
unconquered faith, climb like Abraham the steep and starry road
to the dwelling of the Infinite.
FelloAV-citizen of the saints Avas Abraham, father of the faithful
and friend of God ; such may each one be who sets his affections
on things above, rather than on things below. This citizenship is
that to which we are ordained, and Ave fail of it not by God's will,
but by our own error. The inheritance of the saints in light is for
us; heirship of God is set before us; we see in Abraham how faith
becomes fruition, and yet we are prone to build our nests on some
great place of earth, and desire to rise no higher. But there is a
better Avay. Lay up treasure in heaven, unmindful of the fleet
ing things of time.
" What though unmarked the happy workman toil,
And break unthanked of men the stubborn clod,
It is enough, for sacred is the soil,
Dear are the hills of God."

IV.
JACOB AND ESAU.
THE STRIFE OF NATURE AND GRACE.

JtHE physical, moral and intellectual variations, which exist
between offspring of the same parents, have in all ages
formed a subject of interest and investigation to every
thinker. The father vainly queries why, Avhile one of
his sons, in early maturity, soberly and industriously takes his
place, a man among men ; another is an erratic genius, doomed to
perpetual unrest, a wanderer over earth, or, at home, is ever a
parent's sorrow.
The mother Avonders how it is, that one of her children, reli
gious and loving, forms her chief solace ; and another, with singu
lar moral discrepancies, furnishes a source of continual perplexity
and distress. While these are to the parental heart questions of
vital importance, the philosopher is attracted by them as provoca
tive of deep psychological research.
These diversities in families have been variously explained, as
the result of ante-natal states or impressions ; of physical changes,
or advanced or imperfect mental development of the parents ; and
by altered views and modified systems of the educator. But just
as a carefully fabricated theory is in a state conducive to cheerful
assurance, Nature, in some new product, sets the explications of
reason at defiance.
In the first family we have seen a murderer and a martyr ; an
90

JACOB AND ESAU. 91
heir of heaven and a servant of Belial : in the sons of the saintly
Isaac, Ave behold an almost equal contrariety exhibited in twin-
children ; hereafter, we shall be called to view this singular con
verse, not only in brothers, and offspring of a single birth, but in
one and the same soul and body, in the one individual.
To those Avho scan the laws of inheritance, Jacob and Esau
afford studies of deep interest, dividing and combining, as they do,
the traits of both their parents. The great love of Isaac and Re
bekah Avas doubtless intensified, because each was the complement
of the other. Rebekah was active in nature, Isaac passive ; the
wife was ardent, ambitious, far-seeing ; the husband contemplative,
mild, content. Isaac dealt more in faith, Rebekah in reason ; the
Avoman Avas by far the best strategist, and singularly enough in
the exhibition of parental tenderness, the father gave ear to natural
instinct, and would, in behalf of it, have set aside that Divine
A'erdict Avhich had been the rule of his life : Avhile the mother, be
coming a fatalist, put her will, hope and choice in the line of the
heavenly prediction, and, in accordance with it, anticipated her chil
dren's future.
While each son had characteristics of both parents, Esau was,
on the whole, more like his mother, Jacob like his father. The
elder-born had his mother's bounding vigor ; her ardent tempera
ment, her brave frankness ; but from Isaac he received a contented
dAvelling in the present, an unambitious satisfaction, a hopeless
yielding to the pressure of circumstances, and an innocence of
craft ; Jacob had his father's delicate frame, his domestic, contem
plative habit, his devoutness ; from the mother he had heired the
ability to think rapidly and prudently, an abundant cunning, and,
chief trait of all, a valuing of the future beyond to-day, and an
ambition that did not centre on the spoils of the passing hour, but
reached forward to his children and his children's children, for all
the ages to come. It was a greedy, earthly, human ambition at

92 JACOB AND ESAU.
first, but was capable of being purified by sharp fires of affliction,
letting go ite hold on time, clasping itself about the everlasting
glory, reaching through the aeons of seons, and realizing the
transcendant restoration, the splendors of the NeAV Jerusalem, the
mystery and majesty of the incarnation, and the final consumma
tion and perfection ofthe economy of God.
Between these two was the strife ofthe physical with the spiritual,
the finite with the infinite ; and from the very beginning of their
history we see the active reasoning mind of Jacob, intent upon
the really valuable, while Esau craves chiefly the present good,
however evanescent. At the first flush, Esau was doubtless the
man to enlist liking and sympathy, but Jacob Avould Avear better,
and had Avithin himself the material from which a truly grand
character might be educed. We must consider these brothers in
the light cast by the growing years upon them, in their surround
ings and possibilities. The young, and the cursory reader of Srip-
ture, is ever inclined to take the side of Esau in the contest that
goes on for years ; to consider him by all odds the better felloAV,
very hardly used by brother, mother, and perhaps by his God !
But looking closely into the history, we shall find that Esau got
all that he desired, that he received exactly Avhat he had use for,
and Avhat was best fitted for him ; and that the distinctions of Jacob
would have been a mere burden on Esau's hands. Jacob was
suited to the position to which he was called, Esau to that in which
he was left. When we have examined their motives and their
lives, Ave shall find that the acute Rebekah read her sons aright
from the beginning, find Ave know she judged them by the light
of prophecy. Now there was in the family of Jacob a spiritual
birthright, which had come down from Seth ; there Avas also an
earthly inheritance of flocks, herds, tents and other nomadic Avealth.
The spiritual birthright had ite privileges, and they were these:
its inheritor Avas the priest and intercessor of his family ; he com-

JACOB AND ESAU. 93
muned Avith God ; he Avas directed in his actions by the clear man
date of his Lord and Maker ; and he had the sure hope that from
him, in the direct line of his posterity, should spring the coming
One, Jehovah in the flesh.
The birthright had its conditions. He who received it must be
a pilgrim and stranger on earth; he must be obedient to every
behest, even the most difficult and unexpected, of the divine Voice ;
he must haAre his treasure, his loAre, his dAvelling-place, in the Un
seen ; and he must keep his race pure, making in the fear of the
Lord a sacred, ' single theocratic marriage. Piety, and not the
lusts of the flesh, must be the aim of his life. This was Isaac's
vieAV, drawn from the practice of his ancestors ; alas, soon deviated
from by his heir ! These possibilities, expectations and restrictions,
had Isaac made known to his two sons ; and he designed the privi
leges and the obligations of the spiritual birthright for Esau, his
elder born. But Esau had no moral aptitude for these things.
Esau stood before his father, a model of manly strength. The
mild, philosophic, devout parent regarded Avith wondering pride
the dashing young athelete, the stately hunter, roving fearless of
those Philistines whom his father had ever dreaded; standing
among the tents of the patriarch, a youthful lord. The tempera
ments of the father and son Avere antithetical, and in the vigorous
young prince he had begotten, Isaac took refuge ; here was a de
fender, here Avas he that should drive out the heathen, and bring
in the kingdom ; he was forgetting the prophesied bondage, the
travail of his race in Egypt, the long-delayed empire.
The mother, looking at her eldest son Avith clearer insight, saw
the spirit weaker by far than the flesh ; saw that the sacred birth
right would be a hated burden ; saw her Esau the servitor of him
self; saw that the inheritance this man craved was riches, wives,
power, feastings and revelries. By some subtle law that no one
can explain, the blood of father Adam in Esau had developed a

94 JACOB AND ESAU.
new Lamech, Aveapon in hand, bold, jubilant, and claiming many
wives ; the life of Noah distilled in Esau, aAvoke a second Nimrod,
a mighty hunter, a law unto himself, a rebel to all laAV that did
not acquiesce with his desire ; and still the vital current reaching
through generations had procreated him another freebooting Ish
mael, who Avould go here and there as suited his wild whim, and
did not tremble at thought or sight of blood.
Jacob listening eagerly while his father set before the jolly,
careless-hearing, undevout Esau, the spiritual birthright and its
entailed duties, craved it for himself; he communed of it with his
mother ; he studied with regard to it the history of his ancestors ;
he gained from his father every possible item of information ; he
grew to long for it Avith a passionate yearning that Avould not be
denied ; to regard it as the one thing beyond all others worth
living for ; and without which, life, riches, descendants would not
be worth the having. Studious like his father, he sat in his tent-
door, or slowly wandered with his sheep, pondering of the birth
right in the purely spiritual sense. It was not the greed of
servants and herds, and goodly garments, that possessed him ;
Esau might have them ; but to plead with heaven for his family ;
to commune with the eternal world while yet dwelling in the
flesh ; to have a chosen, consecrated house ; to have the world's
King and salvation, the Divine-human proceed from himself! Ah,
here was a glory, grand and far-sweeping enough to match the
boundless ambition of Rebekah's dearer son.
How he envied his brother that possession ; how he Avondered
at the hunter's lofty indifference to its richer part, and marvelled
Avhen he saw him regarding it as simply a coming into the heaped
up temporal wealth of Abraham and Isaac. This spiritual birth
right he hungered for with inexpressible desire ; his father coolly
ignored his passion of covetousness for the unseen and future ; but
his mother ! Ah ! she understood him ; she kneAV how he longed ;

JACOB AND ESAU. 95
she felt that he Avould live Avith eye single to this glorious posses
sion ; yea, more, she told him that he ought to have it, that Esau
Avould not knoAV what to do Avith it, and that beyond all this, it
had been promised to him unborn, by the voice of the angel.
Rebekah also pledged herself to obtain satisfaction for her son ;
and son and mother alike bent all their energies to wresting from
Isaac — for the first time in his life grown obstinate and self-
willed — the blessing which should confirm the birthright.
Even Avhile experiencing this intensity of craving for a purely
spiritual gift, Jacob was an unconverted man. But in this stage
of their soul-life he and his brother exhibited two distinct varie
ties. Esau's every thought, Avish, ambition, took hold on earth ;
he could not realize or appreciate anything higher. If there AA7ere
anything better than the mad excitement of the chase, pursuing
roe and gazelle, and saArage beast across the plain, and through
the deep defile; if there were anything more desirable than those
daughters of the Hittites, the black-eyed Judith, and the beauti
ful Bashemath, Esau did not care to know it ; he would not hear
nor confess the supremacy of the spiritual.
Jacob, on the other hand, realized a more excellent way, and
desired it; prudent as Rebekah, thoughtful as Isaac, he learned
all that was possible of earth and of heaven ; he sat doAvn and
weighed the original glory with its mere reflection ; he compared
time to eternity ; the celestial with the fleshly ; the future with
the present ; the spirit of grandfather Abraham was in him so
that he elected the better part, and preferred the kingdom of the
future, to the possibilities of to-day. Having seen this, and felt
this, he set himself to obtain what he wanted, and did not take
pains to seek a suitable method. Careful like Isaac, he had not
yet been afflicted into being prayerful. His first idea was to buy
the heavenly birthright; and we have now many men of a
kindred spirit ; their vieAvs are broad enough to take hold of the

96 JACOB AND ESAU.
need of salvation, of changed hope, ofthe life beyond death; they
know there is something better than worldliness ; they mean to
have it if possible. They do not ask God to give it to them, but
they buy it — if they can — by large charities ; and sometimes they
make the matter surer by joining the church ; but these uncon
verted Jacobs are in better case than their Esau brethren, for they
are chastized by continual unrest; and are goaded on until in
some blessed hour of desolation, loneliness and self-despair, they
cast themselves upon God, see a ladder betAveen earth and heaven,
and rise up to build an altar to the Lord.
Esau is the man of impulse ; the man of nature, uncontrolled
by religion ; he is not like Cain, a specious moralist, nor is he
like Canaan an age-despising blackguard ; he is simply the high
est type of the physical, combined with the very loAvest form qf
the spiritual. He has natural affections, natural hopes, natural
desires ; for instance, he loves his father ; he cajoles the old man,
he brings him his favorite venison, and entertains him with tales
of how he pursued the antelope and Avild goat on the mountain,
and made the wandering Philistine quail as he dashed by him on
the plain. We can imagine him casting some of his spoils at his
mother's tent-door; lounging near her to rest; challenging her
admiration for his goodly garments, and the rich perfumes which
he has maybe bought, maybe taken as toll from an Egypt-bound
caravan — for he is a bit of a Sybarite as well as a hunter ; he flatters
his mother ; makes her presents ; jeers a little at her petting of
Jacob ; in his free and easy way considers himself a model son ;
the stay of his house, and fully as affectionate as need be ; but he
never mentions to these parents his love-making in the tents of
Beeri, and in the dwelling of Elon ; he never consults them about
choosing a Avife ; he clearly considers the business none of theirs ;
and some bright day he brings to his tents tAvo Avives, and these
charming idolatresses set up their images and adore their false

JACOB AND ESAU. 97
gods, and are a bitter Avithering, killing heart sorrow to Isaac and
Rebekah. The depths of the individuality of these tAvo brothers Avere
never more clearly shoAvn than in the selling and buying of the
birthright. Esau, in his hour of weakness, becomes a type of all
who give up the greater for the sake of the less ; who exchange
the higher for the loAver, the eternal for the temporal. " Let us
eat and drink for to-morroAV we die," was Esau's motto. But
Jacob kneAv hoAv to prize the promises. Esau, manly, placable,
careless, stands in contrast to his crafty, over-reaching, far-seeing
brother, and the heart instinctively leans to him ; but he is evidently
the reckless child of the hour, utterly unfit to be a patriarch of the
people of the future. And here just Avhere Jacob shows himself
in the least pleasant light, Ave are apt to blame him too severely.
What Esau asked Avas not necessary to his existence ; it Avas
merely the demand of an appetite never restricted ; the indul
gence of Avhich Avas the first thought of his life; he exhibited his
customary gross bondage to sense, and it was impossible for Jacob
to fail to see this. Moreover, Jacob asked Esau to sell him a
possession which was a matter of perfect indifference to Esau; he
did not ask for the temporal but the spiritual birthright ; not for
the property, but the priesthood ofthe family. We see this after-
Avards Avhen Jacob having gotten the blessing, flies staff in hand,
nor pays the least heed to worldly goods ; nor do we learn that
he is ever enriched other than by the blessing of God on his own
industry. Here we see the brothers ; Jacob, domestic and econom
ical, preparing his vegetable food, stooping over his fire, stirring
the red lentil porridge; Esau stands by, holding his bow and
arrows, and leaning on his spear. The question between them is
of future importance, the safety of a world : behind the savory
steam that rises upward, Jacob sees a lengthening vista of years,
a kingdom of earth pud heaven : it is the ruling idea of his life.
7

98 JACOB AND ESAU.
Esau sees nothing but a favorite pottage : Ave behold the reli
gious inclination of the one ; the spiritual superficiality of the
other. " Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage, for I
am faint," said Esau.
Looking up from his occupation, Jacob hastily speaks his ever-
present desire : " Sell me this day thy birthright." Esau knows
which birthright is intended — a something that is little good to
him ; rather of an infliction in fact, demanding self-sacrifice to
Avhich he does not wish to attain. He replies carelessly : " Behold,
I am at the point to die, and what profit shall this birthright
dome?" He is not at the point of death from starvation, but he is
speaking in a general manner : he is a hunter, a rover : he is
daily in danger of death from Philistines, and from wild beasts ;
the priesthood, the future empire, the Messiah among his descend
ants, will do him little good when he is dead : he forgets that
these saved Noah, their inheritor, when a world Avas drowned;
and preserved Isaac his father, bound on the sacrificial altar.
Jacob is amazed and delighted at his brother's acquiescence;
he has shown meanness toward Esau, in asking so much of him,
when he is Aveary and hungry ; meanness ih taking advantage of
his bondage to appetite; but Jacob does what is still more
unbrotherly and condemnable, when he says : " Swear to me this
day ! "
Esau should have resented the idea of an oath to bind the con
tract ; his manliness should have revolted from the imposition ;
but he is placable and easy, as was Isaac when he suffered the
Canaanites to drive him from well after well. He replies : " I
swear unto thee," and thus he sold his spiritual inheritance ; the
one great possession handed doAvn from the days of Seth !
Jacob with alacrity serves his hungry brother with bread and
pottage. By his greater strength Esau could have taken this by

JACOB AND ESAU. 99
force ; but he good-naturedly buys it, at a price Avhich he cannot
comprehend — as a savage gives an ingot of gold for a string of
glass beads, and a diamond for a clasp knife.
In his eager demand for his brother to confirm the sale of the
birthright by an oath, Jacob shoAvs an inborn trait, suspicion,
which was the bane of his whole life. He exhibited it to Laban
Avhen he fled from him secretly ; to Esau again, Avhen, after their
touching re-union, he refused to accompany him on the march.;
to his sons, Avhen he would not suffer Benjamin to go with them
to Egypt; and when he doubted their report concerning Joseph
the Prime minister; to his God, Avhen he cried in bitterness of soul :
"All these things are against me 1 " In fact, this is the penalty
ever paid by the exceedingly Avary and crafty, that they are
always suspecting their fellows of an attempt to overreach them.
" Thus," says the sacred historian, " Esau despised his birth
right ! " It giAres the fact, and makes no comment. We pause
a moment to consider what Esau despised. And here we find
the keynote of his life, utter indifference to matters of faith.
He is the creature ofthe senses.
In this birthright Esau despised the covenant fellowship with
Jehovah ; the future possession of Canaan, a kingdom under God,
a fief of heaven ; he despised moreover the progenitorship of the
Messiah, of Him " in Avhom all the families of the earth should
be blessed." No wonder that for this contempt the Apostle
calls him a "profane person;" while Jacob is praised for rightly
appreciating a benefit set so far in the future, and the invisible.
While Jacob wanders apart to rejoice over this property in the
unseen and intangible, Esau feasts on bread and red porridge.
" Oh, not by bread alone is manhood nourished,
To its supreme estate !
By every word of God have lived and flourished
The good men and the great,
Ay, not by bread alone ! "

100 JACOB AND ESAU.
HaATing obtained by purchase from Esau the birthright, it
remained for Jacob to win the confirmatory blessing from Isaac.
This he was not able to do until he reached his seventy-seventh
year. At this time he was yet unmarried, for Isaac having
resolved upon giving the birthright to Esau — in spite of his
heathen marriages — had taken no trouble to procure a wife for
Jacob ; and Jacob, fixed in his resolution to be the heir of the
spiritual privileges, and knowing what duties belonged thereto,
would not ally himself to unbelievers of the land of his sojourn.
The story of the deception which Isaac's blindness and infirmity
permitted to be carried out, it is needless to repeat. Weak and
old, Isaac expected soon to die ; though in fact his life was pro
longed for forty-three years. The representations of Rebekah, the
prophecy of the Angel, and the evident unfitness of Esau for the
position into Avhich his doting father would thrust him, had no
effect to alter an old man's obstinate resolve.
We come now to a profound tragedy of the patriarchal life,
and see through human vicissitudes, anguish and perplexity, the
Divine Will holding its calm, majestic way.
Isaac, knowing the opposition of his wife and younger son to
his proposed course, intends to bestow the rich blessing in a
shameful secrecy ; and the easy-going Esau is Avilling so to accept
it, for all he knows that it Avill include Avhat he has already sold
with an oath. Isaac realizes what divine afflatus he may expect
at his death hour, making him to choose between his children as
God chooses ; but he will not wait for that.
The old man has on his side human will, wisdom and descent,
without any spiritual certainty. His wife has the advantage of
him, holding on her part divine will, and wisdom, and command
ment ; Isaac is about to utter, as by heavenly dictation, a mere
human caprice ; his error would have been fatal ; in comparison
with this danger, the course of Rebekah was right ; it vras the last

JACOB AND ESAU. 101
desperate effort of a Avise Christian Avoman to preserve the purity
and safety of her household.
But as a consequence of these painful family deceptions, the
dignity and lustre of Isaac's age are obscured ; brothers part in
Avrath ; the mother is deprived of her best solace ; and the son
becomes a poor outcast. It is a sad scene in this dAvelling of the
saintly Isaac ; this deceit and separation among the saints of God.
There are no flaAvless saints this side of heaven ; their pattern
and their future are perfect, their earth life bears the taint of the
earthy. The explication of this portion of the history now demands an
excursus on the apparent contradiction of Esau's contempt and
Esau's tears. Esau despises and sells his birthright to Jacob, and
anon he breaks out into bitter Availing : " Bless me, even me also,
O my father ! "
In the matter of selling the birthright, for the absurd price of
a mess of red pottage, Ave must consider first, Esau's ruling charac
teristic — a living in the present, and an undervaluing of the future.
At that moment all Esau wanted Avas red pottage ; he had tents,
wives, food, servants, garments, all the riches of the nomad ; red
pottage alone he craved at that minute, and to supply that need was
his first desire. He knew that his father had yet probably very many
years to live, and it would be therefore long before the property
came to his heirs; and in the changes and chances of his' hunter,
freebooting life, Esau was quite likely to die before Isaac. Next,
we must remember that while these considerations led him to un
dervalue his inheritance in toto, he fully understood Jacob's pre
vailing passion, and when speaking with him knew that the refer
ence was mainly to the spiritual birthright ; Jacob Avas willing to
take that and resign flocks, herds and other patriarchal wealth ;
Esau so understood it, and absolutely in his secret soul thought
the spiritual birthright more a burden than a profit, and thus
despised it.

102 JACOB AND ESAU.
But noAV when Isaac, grown very feeble, talks of blessing his
sons, the excitable Esau believes his father has had a premonition
of speedy death ; he sees himself now more than likely to outlive
his parent, and his chance of heiring the property becomes a matter
of importance. Moreover, Avhen Isaac speaks of birthright and
blessing, Esau sees that it is in a temporal as well as a spiritual
sense ; the flocks and the tents are going with the priesthood ; the
servants and the Avells of water are to be part and parcel of that
birthright benediction ; the tangible is to be joined to the invisible.
Esau cannot let all go ; what if he did in a limited sense sell out
to Jacob, and swear to the bargain, he Avill now ignore that trans
action, and get the blessing ; he had rather be weighed doAvn with
religious duties than be shorn of temporal Avealth. It is this ap
parent nearness of the disposition and division of the property,
and the fact that finite wealth is to be joined by Isaac with the
strange kingdom of the future, that fires Esau's slothful soul, and
Avakes in him desires which when disappointed gush forth in un
availing cries and tears. It is this which spurs him into wrathful
threats to slay Jacob ; for if Jacob is dead there will be no one to
dispute Esau's sole heirship ; and it is this Avhich causes Esau's
fury to moderate, and thoughts of murder to fade from his mind,
when Jacob has run aAvay to Mesopotamia, Avith only a staff in his
hand. It is this that Avhen Isaac still lingers after twenty years,
but is evidently near death, and Jacob after so long exile seems
suddenly returning to get possession of the property, Avhich caused
Esau to go to meet him with four hundred men ; and only a meet
ing Avith God, and a change of heart, would have changed Esau's
purpose, and have caused him so peaceably after his father's burial
to move to Mount Seir, and leave the land to Jacob ; though Ave
have no doubt that then at least half that was Isaac's Avent with
his elder son ; but by this time both Esau and Jacob had grown so
Avealthy that the land was not able to yield food for the dependents

JACOB AND ESAU. 103
of both, and each had more property than he Avell knew what to
do Avith.
But now, to return to the scene in the tent of Isaac, Avhen Re-
bekah's Avile disappoints her husband's intention. Jacob had re
ceived the parental blessing, and gone out from his father's tent in
a tumult of joy, terror, triumph and shame. Then Esau enters in.
There is no scene more touching in Holy Writ. The disappoint
ment and despair of Esau ; the trembling of Isaac at the indignity
put on him by the deceit, and his consciousness that in this God
had taken the reins from his Avilful and unworthy hands ; and that
exceeding great and bitter cry lifted up by the hunter son, which
has Avoke ite echo in all hearts in all the passing years, form a most
pathetic story.
Esau's cry is another exhibition of his passive, hopeless yielding
to the pressure of circumstances, a trait inherited from Isaac :
" Bless me, even me also, O my father ! " he entreats, and each
heart entreats Avith him, moved by his pathos. He bewails his fate
from his birth hour to the present. He cries, " Hast thou not re
served a blessing for me ? "
The partial old parent had never thought of reserving a blessing
for the subtle Jacob ; and in dismay he enumerates Avhat he has
under a mistake bestowed.
Still with Aveeping comes that prayer: "Hast thou but one
blessing, O my father ? Bless me also, O my father ! "
Then was Isaac enabled to give his hunter son the A^ery bless
ing that suited him best ; the very one he had use for ; the blessing-
of earthly poAver and abundance ; the posssession of families and
treasure ; the deAV of heaven from above ; the fatness of earth be
neath ; the blessing of the strong arm and the glittering sword ;
domination resented ; the yoke broken. The heart of Esau revived,
when he found that in Jacob's blessing the very good he valued most
had been omitted, had been left for him. However, he Avas angry

104 JACOB AND ESAU.
Avith his brother, and treasured up against him the hot memory
of his bitter cry and tears. He consoled himself Avith hope of
vengeance, and turned to his sword to vindicate him. Therefore
Rebekah sent Jacob from her until wrath should be past. With
his usual submissiveness Isaac resigns himself to what has hap
pened. He sees in Jacob his theocratic heir, reneAvs his blessing,
and sends him aAvay, portionless but hopeful.
Esau having found that his marriages haA'e been displeasing to
his parents ; a matter which previously had not presented itself
to his inconsiderate heart; with his natural recklessness, and
entire ignorance of righteousness, or propriety, takes his cousin
Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, for his third wife. Esau
could not see that this but made a bad matter worse ; he thought
the proceeding a beautiful concession to family feeling. It took
pOAverful impressions to make this man understand anything ; in
all these years he had not perceived any Avrong in his heathen
ish marriages. He is the type of the low and earthly mind,
clogged Avith its earthliness, even in its highest ideals.
Jacob fleeing from Beersheba to Haran comes to Luz, and lies
down to rest on the barren stony hillside. Here he meets the
most wonderful experience of his life ; the one which re-creates
him, and sends him on his way a new man.
Behold, say some, the favoritism of God ! Esau, robbed and
miserable, had a much better right to comfort than Jacob. But
not so. This was a kind of comfort that Esau would not have
valued. Jacob had, and cherished capacity for the spiritual.
Esau did not desire anything of the kind. As to favoritism,
during the course of these two brothers on earth, the odds are in
favor of Esau. He remains in his native home ; he serves no
man ; he is rich ; he does just as he pleases ; he lords it royally
over his neighbors, friend and foe; we hear of no troubles in his
family life; five sons become the ancestors of royal lines of dukes,

JACOB AND ESAU. 105
that " AA^ere kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before there
reigned any king over the children of Israel," and who had
" theii habitations in the land of their possession."
The favoritism extended to Jacob visited with chastisement all
his sins, in this life. We behold in him exhibited the eternal and
needful connection between crime and ite penalty. He strove
with Esau, and his twelve sous strove among themselves; he
demanded an oath from his hungry brother, and he saAV his sons
Simeon and Levi despising an oath, fierce in wrath, cruel in
anger, self-AA'illed, and making him odious in the land of his
sojourn ; he coveted Esau's richest possession, and Laban coveted
his goods, and changed his Avages ten times ; he deceived his
father and Laban, and after that his own children deceived him ;
he wore Esau's coat, and had poor Joseph's bloody garment
spread before him; he finds himself cheated in a wife, and re-
soUTed not to resign his idolized Rachel, he yields to the crime of
polygamy, and has in his home the strife of sister-Avives ; the con
cubines and their sons, the diverse children of so many unions,
and the shame and horror of Reuben's defilement. When at last
he gets rest in the cave of Machpelah, it is not by Rachel or his
concubines, but beside the one wife whom God had ordained for
him, Leah, the ancestress of Christ.
The rejection of Esau, referred only to the headship of the
nation, the priesthood and the progenitorship of Jesus. There is
no reason for supposing that God rejected Isaac's first-born from
salvation. "He found no place for repentance, though he sought
it carefully and with ' tears," does not refer to his seeking soul-
safety, and finding none ; but to his great and bitter cry after the
birthright, which he had deliberately sold to his brother. He
sought the first-born's relinquished blessing Avith tears, after it
Avas irretrievably gone from him. God's "loving" and " hating,"
moreover, refer to his sovereign choice between these two for the

106 JACOB AND ESAU.
recipient of the covenant blessing, of ancestorship of Messiah.
We make no reference to any other, or further choosing of the
Divine Owner and Disposer of all things ; we consider but this
case immediately in hand ; and when Esau the hunter and the
careless is older, we find God evidently operating poAverfully upon
his mind, and impelling him to meet his penitent brother with a
roval love and generosity.
Perhaps on the night when Jacob strove at Jabbok, not for
himself alone, but for his brother, Esau obtained such an experi
ence in proportion to his spiritual ability, as Jacob had at Bethel.
Jacob reached Luz the unconverted man, tortured by a know
ledge of some better life than he possessed, yearning for it, and
groping blindly. As he lay on the hill-slope, a stone for his
pillow, and his staff by his side, too Avretched to sleep, the starry
Avorlds sweeping in their infinite altitude above these ripples of
time, mocked in their purity and peace his fever-tossed soul.
Looking up into the solemn and mysterious quietude of that
purple, star-set sky, he realized hoAV far was his life from God ;
hoAV far from the models of Abraham and Isaac; this passion-
tossed adA7enturer cried out for the Lord. He longed with deeper
apprehension of ite meaning, for that holy fellowship Avith Him
who had set the starry feet of Orion to pace their rounds along
the Syrian sky in unapproached splendor : star after star rising
and setting, wheeling out of sight, carried his humbled spirit
along Avith it toward that throne of God, the centre of the uni-
A'erse. Wearied out he slept, and in that blessed slumber came
the celestial vision. He beheld a ladder, the humanity of Christ,
reaching between earth and heaven ; a ladder, type of the Days
man, Avho can lay one hand on the dust-bowed head of his Avor-
shipper, and with the other take hold of the Eternal throne of the
Father; on this symbolic ladder, the angels of God's rich mer
cies passed to and fro ; only by Christ can they come ! Moreover,

JACOB AND ESAU. 107
above this ladder, framed of light, stood Jehovah-Jesus, proclaim
ing and confirming the covenant of Abraham and Isaac. Thus
Jacob recognized the house of God, and here he vowed and
Avorshipped. There is but one great saving work of God — Faith. One sole
saving act — Faith : into this now had Jacob come.
The next tremendous, far-reaching experience of Jacob is, after
more than twenty years, at the ford of Jabbok, on his return to
Canaan from his long exile.
Jacob, the lone wanderer, has become a mighty prince. He has
a countless train of flocks and herds ; oxen, asses, and camels,
Avith servants to care for them, and food sufficient for his house
hold; his camels are laden with tent furniture and goodly
raiment; he has two AviA'es, two concubines, and eleven sons.
With native caution he advances over the lengthening plain. His
youth's sowing of greedy distrust is bringing noAV a harvest of
fear and care. Far out of sight, yet approaching this caravan,
comes the band of Esau from his abode ; Esau, the warrior and
hunter, Avith four hundred armed men at his beck ; every one
strong, bold, and well equipped.
Jacob shows his changed disposition in that he noAV betakes
himself to prayer instead of fraud. He does his best for the
safety of his dependants, then flies to the Strong for strength, to
the Defender for defence.
Jacob has been drawn from Mesopotamia by homesick desire ;
he has received no recall, no intimation that the old time danger
is gone. He sends a propitiatory present, a gift of penitence
and restitution ; this, and his meeting with the hosts of God give
him courage with regard to Esau ; he thereafter strives with the
ana-el for a deeper internal realization of the divine life, and for a
higher spiritual appreciation of the promises. In this struggle his
strength is that very core and heart of his nature — adherence to

108 JACOB AND ESAU.
faith in the future ; as this deep spiritual strife draws to its close,
Jacob's human strength and courage are gone, Avithered by the
angel's potent touch ; but his divine strength rises to its loftiest
altitude in utter self-renunciation ; the crowning purpose of his
soul, the obtaining of the celestial blessing, cries out in speech ; he
clings all the closer for the Avords, "Let me go." The kingdom
of heaven suffereth violence; Jacob is of the violent Avho take it
by force ; and he wrests from his spiritual antagonist a blessing,
and a new name, Israel — prevailing Prince. In the ardor and
boldness of his soul-victory, he seeks more than God Avill grant ;
the name of that man — that Divine Man. "It is secret," says
" the angel of the Lord's face." Later by half a century, he
learned what he sought; and the name of Shiloh was whispered
by the Spirit into an ear dulled to the sounds of earth.
In the hour when Jacob, in the presence of the Angel of the
Incarnation, had made a vast step onward in the spiritual life,
Esau had come to a sense of the glory and need of forgiveness,
and that most miserable day of strife and division in Isaac's
home, when the couch of the patriarch became a second Mount
Moriah, Avhen in the words, " Yea, and he shall be blessed," he
offered as a sacrifice to God his preference for his first-born;
when Rebekah with heroic Avisdom sent forth her beloA'ed to find
a pious Avife — is counterbalanced by this ardent, loving, generous
meeting between these two long-separated brothers. Having
humiliated himself before God, Jacob humbles himself to Esau;
reconciled to God, the brothers are reconciled to each other.
Here Avas the resurrection morning of their life, old things had
passed away, and all things had become new.
At Hebron Jacob and Esau, Avith filial love, closed the long
sightless eyes of Isaac their father ; laying him to solemn rest in
the cave of Machpelah, they stood, as Isaac and Ishmael had done,
friends by their father's grave. Then the wealthy Esau, with

JACOB AND ESAU. 109
the greatest cordiality, moved his vast possessions to Mount Seir,
that he might give Jacob free possession ofthe promised land.
Another tender scene of the history is, when Jacob, in his old
age an exile for the second time — Jacob, who had seen the host of
God at Mahanaim, is set before the king of Egypt. He says to
Aphophis, " FeAV and evil have the days of my life been."
His closing years Avere peace, the troubles of his life died out
like great Avaves Avhen the storms have passed by ; the spirit of
prophecy was in him, and he saAV the future glory arising from
bondage, as morning from night ; he saAV the Redeemer of Israel
and the Gentiles, in his first advent of humility, in his second
coming with poAver.
Jacob, the supplanter, had been the cunning man of strife;
Israel, the prevailing prince, was a man of peace.
In his last hours Jacob does not fall into the grand error of
Isaac's life. Again, God has decreed that the elder shall serve
the younger ; and Jacob recognizing this, when he comes to bless
the sons of Joseph, guides his hands wittingly, crossing his aged
arms, on their Avay to those bowed heads. It is Rebekah's saga
city, shining out in the dying moments of her son !
This Prince with God, Jacob the converted, Jacob the product
of grace, goes to his grave mourned by his kindred, and by the
land of Mizraim.
" Chariots and horsemen, a very great company," go up with
his embalmed body toward the cave of Machpelah. The Canaan
ites see this wonderful mourning as for a king ; the elders of the
land of Egypt Avail at the threshing floor of Atad seven days,
with all the pomp and circumstance of Eastern woe. And thus
the last of the three great patriarchs is gathered to his fathers.

V.
JOSEPH.

THE PROFITS OF GODLINESS.

i>ODLINESS," writes the Apostle Paul to Timothy, "is
profitable unto all things, having promise of the life which
now is, and of that which is to come."
Between the Flood and the Advent, Godliness espe
cially received the promise of worldly prosperity. The rule
that wealth and security should follow a godly life Avas so general,
that Avhen Job, in his hour of trial, became its exception, his
three friends, evidently wise men in their day, could only refer
his troubles to some secret sin, some flagrant dereliction known
only to his God, and by Him chastised.
" Remember," pleads Eliphaz the Temanite, " I pray thee,
who ever perished being innocent ; or Avhere were the righteous
cut off?" If Eliphaz had lived under this dispensation of the
last days, he Avould have found more chances and changes in
heaven and earth than Avere dreamt of in his philosophy. Hoaat-
ever, Avhen this long-bearded, long-lived logician, discoursed of
the righteous, that " he Avould be in league with the stones of the
field ; the beasts of the field would be at peace Avith him ; and he
should come to his grave in old age like a shock of corn fully
ripe," he reasoned very well from the data within his reach.
In those earlier ages, God set before the world his sovereignty,
by croAvning his secants Avith every earthly blessing, that all
110

JOSEPH. Ill
men might recognize Him as the ruler and possessor of the
bounty and richness of the universe. In these later days the
particular promise is for the spiritual gift ; contentment in adver
sity, confidence in the midst of trial; faith in darkness and woe;
and a celestial peace and patience, taking hold on the heavenly.
Joseph, in the early Scripture history, stands forth as a sym
metrical, beautiful, and nearly perfect Christian character. He
Avas one, Avho climbing }ieavenA\rard with swift, sure steps, at the
same time strode up the steep ascent of earthly greatness ; and,
arrived at the height of human pomp and power, Avore his holy
humility and grace about him like the nimbus of the gods ; in
every act and word, shining upon men in the pure and singular
beauty of his godliness.
From the thirty-seventh chapter of Genesis, the history of
Jacob lives on in that of his sons, the heads of all the tribes of
Israel, the chosen race, appointed by God to show his mercy and
his justice, and to type the Church of the Living in all coming
time. The history of Jacob the man, broadens into that of Israel
the people : and the history of Israel the people, swells into
mighty significance as the history of the Church ; a history
gathering and groAving, and rolling on in its splendor and wonder,
through that utterly incomprehensible something, which men
name often — and Scripture but four times — Eternity.
Among these twelve sons, the history of two Avas of the greatest
moment: of Judah, that the genealogy of Messiah might be
traced; of Joseph, because through him came the mightiest
changes, the most important events, in the annals of the nation.
The history of Joseph is a triple cord : there runs through it
the genesis of Israel in Egypt ; the development of special provi
dences bringing good out of evil, and the exhibition of the
Profits of Godliness : the rewards Avhich in this life follow the
practice of virtue.

112 JOSEPH.
Joseph stands at a great turning point in the Israelitish history;
not merely as marking their descent into that bondage which
Avas to prepare the way for the conquest of Canaan, but because
with him the shepherd nomads enter into the splendid civilization
of Egypt. The children of Jacob are for long years the pupils
of the most learned, refined and artistic nation then existing ; and
the Church in Israel lays hold of the Avisdom and culture of the
world as a robe for her adornment. Hereafter the religious
HebreAV spirit is entwined with Egyptian art and literature.
From birth Joseph Avas a marked character — as his father says
long after, he was separate from his brethren. The first especial
mention of this son of Jacob's age re\reals the lad as a person of
Avonderful naivete and simplicity, and also of great moral earnest
ness. He accepts and rejoices in the promises of the future ; and
expects eA'ery one else to do the same ; he hates sin as sin.
Being seventeen years old, the youth is taken from the child-
life he has enjoyed in the tents, and set as a shepherd boy under
his half brothers, the sons of the concubines; his father prefers
Joseph in his heart, but metes out justice in act, giving him no
undue advantage. In the company of these brothers Joseph soon
discerns their evil nature; he sees their ungodly character, and
speaks of it to his father ; thus four of his brothers are turned
against him. After this, Jacob dressed his favorite in a robe of
peculiar richness and beauty ; it has been thought that this garment
Avas a token that he intended the spiritual birthright and family
headship to be bestowed upon this son. This view of the case was
probably taken by the elder brethren, the six sons of Leah ; Avho
by their priority, and from the fact that they Avere the offspring of
the first Avife, resented their father's preference, and revenged it by
Avarring against Joseph. In this manner the ten brothers, and
doubtless their three mothers, Avere rendered hostile to Joseph, and
he found in his own home no friends but his father and the child

JOSEPH. 113
Benjamin. To comfort him in this trial, and give him hope in
the years to come, Avhile he was being matured by privations, he
received tAvo dreams, each tokening his future lofty estate. The
dreams coming from God, and expressing the Divine intention,
were very welcome to this youth devoid of spite or envy, and he
simply expected his brothers to accept the will of God, and admire
the promise as much as he did himself. Although his brothers
could not speak peaceably to him, this genial boy ran to them with
his dreams, unconscious of the malice and jealousy of Avhich the
depraved heart is capable. The brethren again read the sign as
referring to the birthright, an inheritance which with the passing
years was groAving an object of greater and greater moment to the
chosen house. These men, resolved that Avhat each chiefly craA'ed
should not go to the boy brother, undertook to outAvit heaven by dis
posing of Joseph. We see here hoAV wicked men overreach them
selves. Judah was the person to whom that birthright should
descend ; but instead of making common cause against him, they
turned their enmity upon one who was destined to uphold and in
crease the immediate glory and prosperity of the Avhole family.
Jacob with mingled feelings soothed his perturbed elder sons, and
mildly rebuked the younger ; but he hid the portents in his heart.
to see Avhereunto theyT would grow. Jacob had had his experience,
and learned Avhat it is to hasten on before the solemn march of
divine Providence.
Joseph's sagacious condemnation of his brothers' character, and
his straightforward narration of his dream, mark the moral earnest
ness of his disposition. What was right was his first question.
Righteousness Avas the ideal of his soul, the one cherished object
of his life. This moral earnestness Avas the root of his self-reliance
and force of character ; which in every phase of his history marked
him out as the man for high position, great responsibilities, and
therefore great honors. This moral earnestness was a drop of honey

114 JOSEPH.
in his being, Avhile his brothers were permeated with the gall of
envy; most miserable emotion, which, as says iEschylus, in "Aga
memnon," so tortures man that
" Of inward pain the heavy load he bears,
At sight of joy without he mourneth ever."
By Jacob and Moses, Joseph is mentioned as a Nazarite ; a con
secrated or separated one ; and among his turbulent brothers he
stands a boy prophet, uttering presages of the future; simple as a
child; prudent as a patriarch of many days; so generous and
noble, that he is set a precious type of Jesus, the Saviour of a
world. The life of Joseph has three periods: his childhood, in Hebron,
at his father's side, including his first seventeen years ; his servi
tude in Egypt, embracing the next thirteen ; and his eighty years
of splendor, at the helm of state in the kingdom of Mizraim.
In the first period his obedience, purity and earnestness, made
him his father's favorite ; secured him long protection and tender
ness by that father's side, and clad him in the robe of honor, dear
as a sign of parental approbation ; here, also, he received from
heaven those two golden visions which were well-springs of confi
dence for the future. Thus growing in Avisdom and stature in
Hebron, Joseph the boy learned the profits of godliness in the favor
of God and good men.
Between the close of the first era in Joseph's life, his boyhood
at home, and the second era, his slavery in exile, Ave have a truly
Oriental picture. We behold nine of the sons of Jacob seated
under the shade of Dothan's spreading trees to eat their noonday
meal. Their flocks graze in peace about them, wading deep in
the lush, green herbage, sweet with blossoms. Far other than
peace is the emotion of the patriarch's sons ; they look askance at
each other ; remorseless hatred glows upon the faces of the children
of the concubines. Reuben, the firstborn of the house, has left

JOSEPH. 115
them, Simeon and Levi, Avhosc " habitations are cruelty," have
resolved to let an evil deed go on ; Judah is in conflict betAveen
horror of a mighty crime, desire of amity Avith his elder brothers,
and secret displeasure against Rachel's son. Issachar and Zebu-
lun shoAved the spirit their father, years later, indicated in his
blessing; they side with the majority, and noAV the majority is for
murder, for fratricide. Joseph, the son preferred, the dreamer of
dreams, and the Avearer of the gorgeous robe, token of parental par
tiality, Joseph, suddenly fallen from happiness and hope, exhausted
Avith struggles, prayers and fruitless cries for help, is cast doAvn
into a pit near at hand. The agitated elder brothers, as they
make pretence of eating, look here and there; and now one spies
a low, dark line, creeping along the edge of the eastern sky. The
heavens are like a dome of burnished brass, the air quiArers Avith
the hot noon ; beyond the verdant, Avatered plain of Dothan,
stretches a broad dry Avaste; and through it runs the highway
Avinding from Beisan to Ramleh. This creeping line assumes
definite shape ; the brothers see that it is a caravan, bound to
the land of the Pharaohs.
From the balm-dropping forests of Gilead the Ishmaelites
heading their tributary Midianites are going to the granary of
the world, Nile-enriched Egypt, to exchange luxuries for bread.
The camels of these traders are loaded Avith " spicery, balm and
myrrh." The forests of the mountain Gilead have yielded them
sweet-scented woods ; they carry also the world-renowned balm,
which the prophet has chosen as a type forever sacred, of the
heavenly consolation. They have gathered the gum-tragacanth
of Syria, the fragrant rose of the cistus, and heavy weight of rare
spices, craved in Egypt for the embalming of the dead. Removed
from the odorous forest glades and sunny defiles, these precious
spices are carried on the long journey across the scorching plains
to find their last use and hiding in the grim mausoleums of Egyp-

116 JOSEPH.
tian princes. Out of life, out of the realm of blossoming flowers,
the stirring of the perfumed breezes, the murmuring of bees, and
the ecstatic carolling of birds, they are going down to the region
and shadow of death, the dark, rock-hewn, last abodes, of the wor
shippers of Isis and Osiris. But mingled in this advancing train
are dark lithe forms in humble guise ; these Ishmaelites deal in
men as Avell as in balm and spice ; they carry slaves for Egypt's
living princes, when they take her myrrh for her dead. Nearer
and nearer they come ; they will pass not far from the resting and
unrestful shepherds; the tortured transgressors watch the
strangers' motions, with that intent desire the wicked feel to find
some external interest to distract them from the thoughts of their
sins. Suddenly Judah speaks. Reuben has gone away, appar
ently despairing because he may not save his brother; Judah
can not be reconciled to the quick shedding of blood, or the
greater cruelty of leaving the lad to die in the agonies of thirst
and hunger in the dry pit. He sees a third resource : " Come,"
says he, " let us sell him to these Ishmaelites. Let not our hand
be upon him, for he is our brother, and our flesh ; Avhat profit
shall it be to slay him, and conceal his blood ? "
The brothers spring up Avith alacrity ; their difficulty is solved :
the slave in Egypt will never Avin the birthright ; their revenge
Avill be sweet and perfect ; no avenger of blood can dog their foot
steps ; Reuben and Judah can never betray them as murderers.
They cannot sell him in that princely guise ; they tear off the coat,
object of their envy ; they sell the grandson of Isaac to the de
scendants of Ishmael. Slowly the caravan, passing south and
west, winds out of sight, leaving the air sweet with its perfume,
carrying with it one slave more, the weeping favorite of Jacob.
When Jacob's sons returned to their father at Hebron with
their report of Joseph's death, and his bloody robe as their token,
the grief of the old man was inconsolable. There was self-re-

JOSEPH. 117
proach. for sending the lad so far alone ; anguish for loss of one so
dear ; but, bitterest element in the father's grief, Ave see his sus
picion of his elder sons ; suspicions which he cannot and will not
speak, but which, for tAventy-two years, corrode his heart, until
the dark day Avhen Simeon has disappeared, and Benjamin is de
manded, and he cries in terror and pain, " Me, have ye bereaved
of my children." Truly the sting of death is sin. This thought
of sin darkens all Jacob's hope of the future ; he, in his hour of
agony, is no longer Israel, the prevailing prince ; he loses, at the
moment, both the loving endurance which shines in Isaac, and
the hopeful energy of Abraham ; faith and promise, the two cor
related factors of the saints below, are lost out of Jacob's life for
the time, and he cries out, " I will go down into the grave mourn
ing unto my son ! " He will not seek him among the saints re
deemed, whom Enoch saAV in vision, but he will go to him into
that dreary, earthy, unlighted future of the heathen, Sheol, the
land of shadoAvs, to " Hades, awful and unseen."
After this loss of Joseph, while Avith hypocritical sorrow the
sons of Jacob stroA^e to comfort their mourning sire, Judah sepa
rated from his brethren, and went to dwell among the people of
the land. Here falls that singular shadow over the family history
of Judah, the ancestor of Messiah, where the royal heir of Jacob
shoAvs in such dark contrast to the chaste and godly Joseph. But
through temptation, doAvnfall, trial, repentance, and self-conflict,,
Judah reaches that magnificent fulness of character, Avhich marks
him worthy his place in history, sire of a line of kings, root of an.
everlasting empire. Beside this man, whose goodness and glory
bloom late, like an aloe or a century plant, the early spirituality
and placid self-reliance of Joseph, are like the lilies and roses that
croAvn a passing summer.
Meantime, we folloAV Joseph in his exile : lonely and terrified
as he is, the youth, with boyhood's bouyancy, finds interest and.

118 JOSEPH.
consolation in the varied experiences of his journey. He recalls
his father's progress from Laban's Syrian home to Hebron; he
yearns for his loving father and the baby brother — and hoAV deep
that fraternal tenderness is, we can see in those after years Avhen
he falls on Benjamin's neck, and, sobbing, kisses him. But the
beautiful mother is in her early grave, and no craA'ing for her
smile and blessing can intensify the bitterness of the exile's lot.
The land of Egypt is reached, and Potiphar, Captain of the
Guard, selects Joseph, the handsomest of the slaves, as his own
purchase. This man was the " chief of the executioners " — says
Lange, " first of the eunuchs," says Knobel, " chief cook to the
king," pronounces Josephus ; the position first assumed, his au
thority over the prisons, and the captaincy of the executioners, is
doubtless correct.
Joseph had brought his best friend to Egypt Avith him ; the
Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, was ever present to his
youthful servant, and the profits of godliness were patent in all
the lad's life. As Avhen Jacob entered Laban's dwelling, neAV
prosperity flowed in upon the abode of the half-idolatrous Syrian ;
as the Ark of God brought celestial benedictions to the home of
Obed-edom, thus Potiphar experienced new affluence and happi
ness ; and so marked was the period and manner of his unusual
successes, that he attributed it to a divine blessing folloAving the
presence and labor of his Shemitic slave.
Purity and simplicity had adorned Joseph in life's first era, and
he had realized their profits ; in his estate of serfdom and exile he
recognized still more the advantages of a godly walk and conver
sation. He found grace in his master's eyes ; he was like a son
rather than a servant ; he Avas made the ruler of the household,
there Avas none greater than himself, whatever he did was good ;
the Lord blessed him alike in house and field ; all that belonged to
Potiphar was put into Joseph's hand, and none questioned Avhat

JOSEPH. 119
he did. Thus the lad passed ten years, and went from youth to
the vigorous maturity of early manhood. The house of Potiphar
Avas his training school for the prime ministership of Egypt.
Here the son of the nomad learned the arte, the courtliness, the
necessities of those Avho dwell in cities. The home of the Captain
of the Guard AA'as one of Egypt's gorgeous palaces, rich in paint
ings and sculpture, full of feasting and slaves, fragrant with per
fumes, gleaming with gems and gold. Here Joseph had his busi
ness training, and developed the germs of that far-sighted policy
which made him afterwards the king's right hand, and the real
head of Egypt.
" Joseph Avas a goodly person and well favored," says the Scrip
ture. A We of physical beauty was deeply imbedded in the
Hebrew mind ; the instinct of the race was aesthetic and poetical,
and forbidden the pictures and sculptures in which other nations
early excelled and delighted, the Hebrew turned with profound
admiration and joy to charms of person and demeanor. Joseph
Avas the living image of Rachel, long famed as one of the most
beautiful of Avomen ; a creature of such rare type as Rebekah,
Esther, Judith, and Mary of Nazareth. " Joseph sanctum pul-
chrum corpore, pulchriorem mente," says St. Augustine, and it was
this excelling beauty of the mind which rendered the physical
beauty so transcendant. ' Holiness, confidence, peace, love, rayed
from each feature ; frank, upright, joyous, his slavery Avas an un-
felt fetter, his exile was a forgotten pain : his dearer Father was
ever with him ; the Spirit indwelling compensated him for sun
dered fraternal ties ; heaven bent as near the fertile vale of Egypt
as it did over Hebron and Shechem.
But Avhile Joseph experienced the profits of godliness each day,
he was strengthened and ennobled by trials : he had been tried by
unjust enmity, by parental partiality, by great success and pros
perity in a usually painful position ; now he was tried by the al-

120 JOSEPH.
lurements of flattery and lawless love. " The stranger Avhich
flatters Avith her words," met him, " with her much fair speech to
cause him to err." But all that guileful persuasion which Solo
mon had, centuries later, to record, fell unheeded on Joseph's ear.
The judgment of the Lord is the touchstone to which he applies
eA^erything. Like gold the single-hearted probity of the man
shines forth as he says to the bold enchantress, " Hoav can I do
this great Avickedness, and sin against God ? "
From this scene in Joseph's life John Bunyan dreAV his picture
of Standfast and Madame Bubble. This Standfast Avas one who
Avent down into death's mrer amid a great calm, and standing
" easy " in the waters of the stream " that has been a terror to
many," held converse, his feet fixed on " that whereon the priests
that bare the Ark ofthe Covenant stood, Avhen Israel Avent over
Jordan." Another trial comes to refine yet more beautifully the
fine gold of Joseph's character. He should noAV reach the profits
of his godliness through a fire. " For this is thankworthv, if a
man for conscience toward God, endure grief, suffering Avrong-
fully." Thus Joseph suffered. " But if, Avhen ye do Avell, and
suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God."
Thus was Joseph patient ; and from the history we can see that
the sting lay in Potiphar's condemning Joseph, knowing him to be
innocent. Doubtless the Captain of the Guard, with ten years' experience
to guide him, was acute enough to discern right and Avrong be
tween his accusing Avife, and his favored slave. If he had
believed Joseph guilty, the severe laws of Egypt would demand
his death ; but if he, following his conviction, pronounced him
innocent, the sentence would reproach and condemn his own
household. With the calm selfishness of an Eastern despot, he
makes up his mind to sacrifice the servant, Avhose personal attrac
tions doubtless rouse him to some envy. His wrath was kindled,

JOSEPH. 121
the history does not say, against Joseph ; but he had cause for
rage, and the most suitable victim was the foreign bondman.
Yet even here, he cannot carry his fury very far ; he puts Joseph
in prison, deprives him of office and emoluments ; but he puts
him in the king's prison, where great men are put; and there
presently the captiAre experiences the profits of his godliness, for
he gets the freedom of his house of bondage; is given office and
employment, and in the capacity of an unsalaried sub-warden he
is free to exercise the philanthropy and wisdom of his soul.
" Better," saith Solomon, " is a poor and wise child, than an
old and foolish king ... for out of prison he cometh to reign."
This young stranger Avas preparing for the real royalty of the
mightiest kingdom in the world. The prison was to Joseph the
path to the throne ; the destinies of Egypt, and of all the tribes
that cried to her for corn, hung evenly balanced between safety
and destruction, and only the hand of Joseph laid upon the scale
should assure the life of nations.
But for a career of such dazzling splendor, such unlimited
power, a man must be fitly trained in God's School of Tribulation
and Experience, or his success should prove his destruction. To
all the trials gone before — hatred, indulgence, contempt, pros
perity, false accusation, the charms of the Siren that killeth souls,
unjust punishment — was added the cruel sting of ingratitude.
A ray of hope came to the captive when he solaced the misery,
and predicted the joyous future of the king's cupbearer. To him
he told his unhappy story, praying, " Think on me when it shall
be well Avith thee, and sheAV kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and
make mention of me to Pharaoh; and bring me out of this house."
The conclusion of the story of his hope, the fading of its trem
bling ray into despair, is an epitome of the history of half the
benefactors and clients upon earth, " Yet did not the chief butler
remember Joseph, but forgat him."

122 JOSEPH.
It was the last strong flame scorching the true soul in God's
crucible, and it proved, for "two full years," the temper of
Joseph's spirit.
Thus the second era of his life, that of slavery and imprison
ment, passes away. As in his boyhood's home, he had been of
sons most cherished and honored ; so of prisoners and slaves he
had on the whole the happiest history, the most favors, and the
best ameliorations of a trying lot.
One hour swept him from Pharaoh's prison to the side of
Pharaoh's throne ; from being servant of servants, he became lord
of lords. He types in this, as in many other phases of his blame
less life, Jesus, in the hour of his humiliation, and the supreme
ages of his exaltation.
The prophetic, dream-interpreting spirit, with which from early
years he had been endowed, became the means of the grand
change in his fortunes.
One moment he languishes in the prison, sick of heart; pining
for the dear freedom of those Syrian plains ; the simple pleasures
of the tent life ; the flocks of sheep ; the stately droAres of camels ;
the grave old family servants, Avho Avatched, like so many parents,
his buoyant youth; his father's heartful blessing. Oh, to be free!
He cries after freedom like a child's lamenting for its mother.
A stir at the gate. A messenger post haste from the royal
abode of the Hamitic autocrat. Rameses, among his people like
a god, summons the bound soothsayer to read him the riddle of
his dream.
At once Joseph throws aside his weakness of longing, and is a
man. He has lived so long with Potiphar, that he knows how
he shall order himself to approach a king. Nor is Potiphar a
whit behind: he likes Joseph; secretly pities him; he sees in
him now a future possible stepping-stone to greatness; or, alas! a
possible ruin, if the king's whim sets the servant above his whilom
lord, and Joseph is resentful !

JOSEPH. 123
Therefore Joseph cuts and trims the long disordered locks. He
is provided Avith becoming raiment. Those who came for him
are hasty and excited. Joseph, calm in prosperity as in his grief,
meets them with dignity and grace ; and as he had in his niisery
let his hair and beard grow long, after the Egyptian custom of
mourning, he tarries now for a little, that he may go to the king
in the guise of joy.
"And Joseph Avas thirty years old when he stood before
Pharaoh." He was a prince in grace and beauty ; wise as a seer ;
polished like the most accomplished of the despot's courtiers ; so
evidently imbued with divine spirit, that the astonished lord of
the race of Ham asks of his attendants : " Can Ave find such an
one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is ? "
When the Lord's time has come to act, he makes quick Avork
of it. Short space Avas between the black door of the prison and
the court shining in scarlet, gold and blue, those deathless tints,
Avhich gloAV upon our eyes to-day, in their resurrection after
centuries of hiding, in Egyptian sepulchres.
" I have dreamed a dream ! " cries Pharaoh, in terror and
excitement. " I have heard say of thee, that thou canst under
stand a dream to interpret it."
Joseph can never go anywhere unless his God goes first ; he
noAV sets evidently forth the directing providence of the Power
he serves. " It is not in me : God shall give Pharaoh an answer
of peace."
Thus sheltered behind the segis of his Holy One, Joseph is not
dazzled by earthly pomp and displays. His calm soul can fix
itself upon the king's narration ; and, unallured by the magnifi
cence around him, he sets his mind, not on his own liberation or
reward, not on the scenes new to his eyes ; but on the singular
providence revealed in these dreams; on the wonders ofthe divine
plan ; and on the great possibility of saving a nation, lying in the

124 JOSEPH.
most imminent danger. His swift, heaven-instructed thought
takes in all that is needed ; the plan to be pursued ; the demand
for an overseer ; and all the perfection of that simple, yet stupen
dous project for saving half the known world from the jaAvs of
destruction. Mark it, Joseph has been asked for exegesis, but not for exhorta
tion! He has been required to unravel, but not to advise;
without the slightest idea of his own aggrandizement, he makes
haste to charge the mute, amazed king, as to Avhat should be
done to turn this foreknowledge to the best possible account.
Wisdom from above shines through every syllable of that golden
address. No wonder that, bending from the splendors of his
royal couch, Aphophis exclaims : " There is none so discreet and
wise as thou ; thou shalt be over my house ; according to thy
word, shall all my people be ruled ; only in the throne will I be
greater than thou ! "
Thus, by looking steadfast-eyed to the right; regarding- the
good of the Avorld rather than his own fortunes ; setting forth the
honor of his God before all things else, Joseph the prisoner
becomes Joseph the prosperous.
Happy, but indeed seldom to be found among the children of
men, is he who can, in the midst of sudden and unusual prosper
ity, possess his soul in calm humility. He only can do this, whose
heart is stayed upon his God ; Avho has in sore adversity learned
to look beyond the seen, to the Land of Delight, Avhere no
mildew rests on the unfolded blossom of our hope.
Hidden in God's good Providence, in safety during the evil
day, as Noah was preserved in the ark, and David kept in security
in the cave of Adullam, Joseph came from his prison, bearing the
happy fruits of his time of trial ; purified and strengthened by its
painful discipline, as was Moses by sojourn in Midian, David by
exile, and Daniel by his captivity in Babylon.

JOSEPH. 125
He Avent out from the presence of Pharaoh, with the seal ring
of grand ATizier on his hand ; the Avhite byssus robe which marked
his equality with the lofty rank of priests, and the golden collar
of the judge about his neck. Thus was he presented to an
obsequious people ; proclaimed as ruler by a new name. ; made to
ride in the second chariot of state, while before him went a runner,
commanding all Egypt to bow the knee.
Happy now in the confidence of a sovereign ; happy in being a
fountain of good to all the people round about, Joseph makes the
land of his exile the home of his adoption. He has no desire to
return to nomad life in Palestine; a cosmopolite in the best
sense, he does not keep aloof from those among whom he lives ; a
wise ruler, he propitiates his people by being of them ; he adopts
their dress, manners, language; so that nine years later, his
brethren consider him a true Egyptian.
Joseph, at the head of a nation, is now also at the head of a
family ; he marries Asenath, daughter of the chief priest of On.
On is Heliopolis, the city of the sun ; the city and temple were
sacred to Ra ; here by that magnificent temple was the college of
the Priests ; and here were gathered the most learned men of
Egypt, or, perhaps, of the world.
Complaisant to the forms of his new country, Joseph is yet not
lost in them. " Strictly speaking," says Delitzsch, " it was an
assumption of Egyptian modes, by one devoted to the religion of
Jehovah." During the seven years of plenty, Joseph became father of two
sons. The first born he named Manasseh, because he had been
" caused to forget his own people and his father's' house."
For this expression Calvin blames Joseph, while Luther asks :
" Could it be right for him to forget his father's house ? "
The subsequent history fully shows that the forgetting referred
only to his ceasing to pine as an exile; to his having grown

126 JOSEPH.
content in a strange land. That he had not forgotten, is proven
by the tender love that leaps out in the repeated question,
" Doth my father yet live ? " and in his beautiful filial service in
that father's age.
The name of Joseph's second son indicates an increase of his
contentment to joy : " God," he says, " has made me fruitful in
the land of my affliction."
Even this expression : " The land of my sorrows," shows a
mournful tenderness toward Palestine, the promised inheritance
of his race.
The history of Joseph's reconciliation with his brothers extends
through four chapters ; this particular account shoAvs that it is of
great moment to the Church in all time. Indeed, as a record of
human hopes, fears, struggles, repentance, chastisement, forgive
ness, light beaming out of darkness, it is most wonderful and
beautiful, appealing to every heart. But it is more especially
valuable as typing, in a variety of forms, the history and philoso
phy of Redemption.
The tAventy odd years of absence, in which the early piety of
Joseph has grown so matured, and the change in his appearance
and worldly circumstances has been so great, have not been with
out their influence on Joseph's brothers.
God has evidently visited in mercy the disunited house of
Jacob, and has bowed and harmonized those turbulent sons of
many wives.
We left the brothers in the field of Dothan, murderous, deceit
ful, cruel, envious, timid — cowards in the right ; braggarts in the
wrong. We find them now — when two years of famine haA'e
added to the lessons of the other years gone by — humble and
obedient to their father ; penitent for their conduct to Joseph ;
helpful and anxious for family safety ; true as steel to each other ;
and every strong man among them a second parent to the youthful

JOSEPH. 127
Benjamin. They have laid aside their insane prejudice against
Rachel's son ; they rejoice ih him as the comfort of their beloved
father's declining years.
This change which is manifest in them, is a thing unknown to
Joseph ; and perhaps is not fully appreciated by the doating old
parent. Luther, Keil, and many more, consider the course of Joseph
toAvard his brothers as one merely of trial ; that he may, by learn
ing their present dispositions, ascertain hoAV much kindness he
may shoAV them, and hoAV he can best benefit his father and Ben
jamin, and promote the family interests. Kurtz, Lange, and
others, view his words and acts as a strife betAveen anger and gen
tleness ; and declare that to show Joseph as calmly, in the midst
of his forgiveness, studying' the characters of his brothers, would
be to ascribe to him a superhuman holiness and perfection, quite
above that intended in the Old Testament account. It is con
sidered that Joseph only by severe struggles reaches forgiveness
toward them ; and that his wavering decisions and postponement
of judgment shoAV the tremendous moral contest in his oAvn
breast. We must however remember, that from the beginning of his
career, Joseph Avas not merely human but godly ; that he had in
him largely-developed holy charity, that suffereth long 'and is
kind; that he had the fruits of the Spirit, love, peace, joy; that
every step of his life had been the development of a grand reli
gious nature. Moreover, the prudence which could SAvay all the
varied and intricate affairs of Egypt, would teach him to move
very cautiously in an affair so delicate and momentous. If these
men were bad men, to give them countenance, power, wealth,
would be to increase their means to do evil. Joseph yearned
toward them as his brethren in the flesh ; but before he bade them
Welcome to his adopted home, he must know that they were

128 JOSEPH.
brethren according to the spirit. Else, they might work ruin for
themselves, disgrace for him, confusion in all the land of Pharaoh.
Besides this, in the keeping of these brothers were the feeble old
father and the helpless youth, Benjamin ; to secure a separation
of these two and a transfer to his own care if needful, demanded
even all the Avisdom for which the discreet Joseph Avas famous.
But if the ten brothers were true men, far be it from Joseph to
divide them ; he would clasp them all to his great heart of love.
Joseph had seen so clearly the leading hand of God in the
persecutions and troubles of his early days, and had reaped so
rich a reAvard for all his sufferings, that we .cannot suppose that
he retained anj'' resentment toAvard those who, instead of being
the occasions of his ruin, had proved to be only the foundation
stones of his greatness. Lifted to the pinnacle of power in Egypt,
blessed Avith all and everything that earth could bestow, Joseph
had no need to sigh over the steps which led him in his upward
way. It may be hard to forgive while suffering wrongfully ; it is
easy, when that suffering has been the footstool to a throne!
If the brothers had come when Joseph languished in the prison
house, and then, in his dark trial, he had forgiven them, we
should call it a " superhuman perfection beyond the Old Testa
ment standpoint," reaching to that of Stephen, kneeling at the
moment when, under the blows of his death missiles, he was
being rapidly carried forward to the perfection and complete
sanctification of the saints in glory.
Standing as Joseph did, a godly man, whose bondage had
blossomed into the primacy of the greatest realm on earth, we can
easily understand hoAV forgiveness filled all his heart.
They had come ! journeying from Palestine, dusty, worn, and
travel stained; the anxieties of famine written on their faces;
every step of their way had been a step in fulfilment of that long

JOSEPH. 129
lost brother's early dreams. If instead of coming from Hebron
or Shechem, they must needs have made their journey from the
remotest bounds of earth, from the shores of the Eastern Sea,
from the hot slopes of farther India, or the heights of distant
Thibet, they would yet have been brought on their way by the
irresistible drawings of that Divine decree, that they must come
and bow themselves down before Joseph, the godly one.
They were late indeed ; at least twenty-three years had elapsed
between the dream and ite fulfilment; they come, not because
Joseph dreamed, but because God inAvove his decrees in those
visions of the night. So in the hearts of men, slumber, stir,
aAvake, groAv, and come to floAver and fruitage, the germs of
destiny. The ten stand before the ruler of Egypt. At his gracious and
dignified presence, not only their knees bow, but their hearts ;
they make not merely a ceremonious and compelled, but a volun
tary and most hearty obeisance.
" They knew him not." Years had moulded that boy brother
to a princely manhood. The slender, weeping, struggling, plead
ing slave has developed to a maturity of self-conscious power.
They have envied him the many-hued coat ; noAV he wears the
fine linen of Egypt, worth its Aveight in gold ; and a kingdom's
ransom of gems gleams upon the person of Pharaoh's favorite, not
adorning him, but by him adorned.
"And Joseph saw his brothers, and knew them."
Every lineament of those haughty faces is written on his heart.
The noble figure of Reuben, the eldest ; the kingly bearing of
Judah, the chosen Prince with God ; the fiery countenances of
those twin spirits, Simeon and Levi, hasty alike in ill and good ;
the subtle eyes of Dan ; the indolent grace of Issachar ; Naphtali,
with his melodious, persuasive tongue; Gad, strong of arm
and swift of step, a desert king ! How Joseph's forgiving soul

130 JOSEPH.
yearns to them, as they prostrate themselves before his royal
seat. But he is not a madman, to accept them unquestioned and
unknoAvn ; if their spirits are lawless and cruel as in days of old,
let them go back to kindred natures, descendants of Ishmael and
Edom. But, lo, they speak to him with reverence, discretion and self-
respect. When they are falsely accused, and cast into prison, he
hears them, in self-reproach and humility, acknowledging the
crying guilt of the past ; lamenting it as those who full often had
bemoaned it in secret conference ; and recognizing, with submis
sive spirits, the punitive justice ofthe Lord.
These words are a balm to Joseph's heart ; yet more is he
consoled and encouraged by all that he learns of them, until that
croAvning hour, when he sees them as one man returned to share
Benjamin's fate. Instead of hating their younger brother, and
striving to be rid of him, they plead his cause ; and Judah, type
of his Divine descendant, stands up as Benjamin's surety, and
offers to suffer in his room. Then is the cup of Joseph's happi
ness full to the brim with sweetness unalloyed.
Where, in any human history, can be found a parallel for that
grand speech of Judah ?
In this narrative the portraiture of Judah gathers brightness
with each successive touch. To his father he is forebearing,
gentle, firm ; to Joseph courteous, true, logical, earnest, self-sacri
ficing ; he has risen to a heroic grandeur, worthy his lofty place
in history.
In this story, Ave have very many types of Christ in his work
and character; Jacob, Reuben, Judah, Joseph, Benjamin, all
serve in their turn. There was heavy guilt resting on the chil
dren of Jacob ; it was purged aAvay only by Jacob's delivering
up the beloved, only remaining son of his Rachel ; by Judah's

JOSEPH. 131
offering to suffer — the innocent for the guilty ; by Benjamin, the
gracious, standing a reconciler between his offended and offending
brothers. There are choice points Avhere the student of this early Avorld
life loves to linger. Joseph has found the true root of peace,
content, forgiveness, joy, every blissful emotion, Avhen he has
learned to see in each event of his life not the cruel, marring
hand of man, but the Avise, loving, guiding hand of God. In
God all discords are lost, as in his home of perpetual peace.
What must have been the tender flood of recollection sweeping
over Joseph's soul, when he handled that present sent by his
unconscious father to a stranger son? Those choice fruits of
Canaan ; connected Avith his childhood, his home, his beautiful
mother : balm, honey, spices and myrrh, nuts and almonds : noble
gifts of the heaven blessed soil of the land to be made forever
sacred by the footsteps of the Son of God ! To the exile ruler in
Egypt how they appeal, recalling the bliss and wonders of his
youth, the glories of his native land.
The influence obtained by the godly Joseph in Egypt is espe
cially seen in the Avelcome, for his sake, extended to his brethren,
and the benefits heaped upon them. Thus for the sake of the
Church, the world is blessed.
Behold the scene when that gorgeous " second chariot in the
kingdom " is made ready to go and meet Jacob. Ite gold and
purple splendors flash under the sun ; before it run dark slaves ;
the horses are caparisoned in silver and scarlet, and nodding
plumes ; it is attended by a noble escort. So it goes up to Goshen,
and there the long parted parent and son are re-united; and
Joseph, in a passion of tenderness, " fell on his father's neck, and
wept on his neck a good while."
As prime minister of the kingdom, Joseph is more and more
acceptable; as in Potiphar's house, everything prospers under

132 JOSEPH.
his hand; he accomplishes in the realm a bloodless revolution;
and becomes alike the saviour of monarch and people.
It is Joseph who, after seventeen years of tender ministrations,
closes his beloved father's eyes. Israel's dying is not, as once he
said in his despair, a going down into the shadoAV mourning;
but it is the setting forth for a higher life ; he is laying doAvn
infirmity and age, to be clothed Avith deathless vigor.
" Now purified at last, with hope revived,
For life's new goal he starts."
The glorious spirit of Prophecy irradiates his dying bed.
Grand visions are, like Elijah's fire chariot, to bear him upward.
His blessings had " prevailed above the blessings of his progeni
tors, unto the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills."
To the end of his life, Joseph was doubtless prime minister of
Egypt, filling that lofty station for eighty years. In that time
he had not forgotten Palestine, nor failed, Hebrew-like, to live in
the promise of the future. He seals his godly trust, and his
hope in the Coming One, by the oath he exacts from his descend
ants to carry up his bones Avhen they return to the heritage of
their fathers, the land of Israel's possession.
Until that grand Exodus, Joseph the HebreAV lay in state in
the tomb of kings ; swathed in costly linen, wrapped up in price
less spices, his sarcophagus encrusted with gold, and painted with
the impervious colors of the early orientals, slept the once slave
boy. The burial was not too costly and honorable for this expo
nent of godliness — this fair model for all men.
"All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
Cased in cedar and shut up in sacred gloom !
They reigned in their lifetime, with sceptre and diadem,
But thou excellest them ;
For life doth make thy grave her oratory,
And the crown is still on thy brow ;
All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
And so dost thou."

VI.
PHARAOH.
EGYPT AGAINST HEAVEN.

ov/N the period of time comprised between the fifth and
)11 tAvelfth chapters of Genesis, Moses, the Israelite, and
Sethos IL, the Egyptian, are described as pitted against
each other in a desperate struggle. Moses stood the
divinely appointed leader of the Church of the Lord ; and thus
God, and not Moses, Avas the real antagonist of Sethos, the
unlimited despot of the greatest kingdom of the Avorld.
The strife Avas between Earth and Heaven — between the ser
vants of God, acting under his orders, and the highest civiliza
tion, the greatest wealth, and the chief military skill then existant.
The extreme rationalistic view of Baron Bunsen is : " The
Palestinians in Egypt struck a grand blow to avenge liberty —
others of their race came from Syria to help them ; and the day
when they united forces, was the great Sicilian Vespers in which
Asia avenged herself on Africa."
The Chevalier, like Pharaoh, leaves God out of the record. In
direct opposition to this human vieAV, and liberty theory, is the
Scriptural statement of the strife and its ulterior causes. Liberty
was indeed avenged ; but only because it is good, and, like all
good, is wrapped up in the furtherance of the Divine glory.
" I Avill send all my plagues on thine heart," proclaims the Lord
to Pharaoh ; " and on thy servants ; and on thy people, that thou
133

134 PHARAOH.
mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth. For now
Avill I stretch forth my hand, that I may smite thee, and thou
shalt be cut off from the earth ; and in very deed for this cause
have I raised thee up, to show in thee my power, and that my
name may be declared through all the earth."
Pharaoh deliberately challenges Jehovah to the conflict. " Who
is the Lord, that I should obey his voice, or let Israel go? I
know not the Lord ; neither will I let Israel go."
Jehovah enters into the lists Avith braggart humanity, enters as
Defender and Vindicator of his Church, to teach man in all time
that " his people shall dwell safely ; their place of defence shall
be the munitions of the rocks," and Avhoso strives against them
shall not prosper. Thus the Lord ansAvers the boast of the
Egyptian : " Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh, for
with a strong hand shall he let them go ; and with a strong hand
shall he drive them out of his land."
Our first care in pursuing this theme will be to learn something
of the royal splendor and power, the training and habit of
thought, Avhich moved this Pharaoh to assert his strength against
the Almighty.
Sethos IL, the Pharaoh of the Exodus, was the grandson of
Sesostris-Rameses, the Pharaoh " who knew not Joseph," i. e.,
Avho did not choose to recognize the compacts and conditions
between the throne and the Israelites.
This Sesostris-Rameses united all Egypt under his sceptre.
Thebes Avas the centre of his power, and after a reign of forty-four
years he bequeathed to his successor a united kingdom at the
climax of its glory.
Sethos II. found himself possessed of a kingdom reaching from
the Delta to Syene, from Baal Zephon and Migdol to the Great
Desert. Never a broad land in extent, but most magnificent in
its resources; it was the world's granary; it was filled with

PHARAOH. 135
populous cities, and Avith vast momuments and art treasures ; it
had horses and chariots; it was the grand depot for all the
traders on earth ; it Avas rich and cultivated beyond all lands in
the early history of the world ; and memorable as the abode of
four millions of Plebrew slaves. This immense force of serfs was
busy upon great buildings, the treasure cities, Pithom and
Rameses. This Avork during the reign or regency preceding
Sethos had moved slowly, but the newly enthroned tyrant pushed
it with all his cruel pride and poAver.
These Israelitish slaves were settled in Goshen, "the land of
floAvers" — a region of country lying between Canaan and the
Delta, a frontier province of Egypt.
The land of Mizraim was "the land of ancient kings." The Egyp
tians belonged to the Hamitic race, a line Avhich heired the cul
ture, the warlike spirit, and the genius for building, characteristic
of the Cainites of the early-world period. The land was covered
with stupendous monuments of human greatness, destined to be
come equally the monuments of the avenging Avrath of heaven.
Earliest and most magnificent of these monuments, standing
lonely and peerless on the dim borderland of pre-historic life, is
the great pyramid of Cheops. Around it settle the mists of ob
scurity ; from these it has loomed out in proportions, which, in
strength, completeness and indestructibility, seem to hint for it
some lofty origin. The waves of time, of doubt, and questioning
and theorizing have dashed against ite impassive feet, and rolled
back broken. Before the wisdom locked in it, the world has stood
waiting and groping these thousands of years. The age of con
summation shall discover the key, and shall learn the meaning of
" The mystery hid
Under Egypt's pyramid."
Other pyramids there were, lesser copies of the first. There
Avere also the obelisks, and the temples ; temples built for every

136 PHARAOH.
city, and wildernesses of tombs ; " there was not a wall, a plat
form, a pillar, an architrave, a frieze, or even a door-post in an
Egyptian temple, that Avas not carved Avithin and Avithout,"
says Lepsius.
" Egypt," cries Bunsen, " Avas the monumental land of the
earth, and the Egyptians Avere the monumental people of history."
The southern limit of Egypt was Syene, a city of enormous
extent, surmounted with a massive wall. The tower of Syene is
called by the prophet, " the pride of Egypt's poAver." And here
Ave find ruins of cities Avhich have groAvn and flourished and fallen
on this ancient site, like successions of primeval forests. In the
vicinity of Syene were the red granite quarries, whence the mighty
engineers and architects of Egypt cut obelisks and pillars, Avhicli
should astonish all the generations to come.
Moving towards the Delta, Ave find the city of Thebes. Says
Nahum to Nineveh, "Art thou better than populous No, that
Avas situate among the rivers ? that had the Avaters about it,
whose rampart Avas the sea, and her wall Avas from the sea?"
Of all the desolate cities of antiquity, this is, in its destruction,
the most stupendous ; no pen or pencil can compass the matchless
grandeur of this sovereign city, even in her desolation. Here Avas
the seat of the Pharaohs' power, the stronghold, the jeweled throne,
the glowing pavilion of that royal line who held themselves the
climax of the ascending series of humanity ; who claimed that the
Egyptians excelled all other men, and the king stood with all
the Egyptians beneath his feet. Of Thebes, old Homer sings :
" The world's great empress on the Egyptian plains ;
That spreads her conquests o'er a thousand states,
And pours her heroes through a hundred gates."
At Thebes was the temple of Rameses the Great, with the pil
lared Memnonium about it, built of black Nile brick, and stuc
coed. For their building the Egyptians used brick, porphyry,

PHARAOH. 137
basalt, granite, sandstone and limestone, which, in the dry atmos
phere of the country, are nearly indestructible.
Another gorgeous capital under Sethos, was Moph or Memphis,
a city of fifteen or twenty miles in circumference. Here Avere the
greatest and most ornate repositories of the dead ; here the under
ground galleries ; the cenotaphs of Apis ; the colossal statue of
Rameses; and, chief over all, the grea: pyramid.
South a little is the Sphinx, whose stony lips yet hold the riddle
the Avorld has failed to solve, and Avho lies an awful sentinel guard
ing the solemn sanctuary above, yet keeping on its benignant
features a genial promise of some good to come. Thebes is the
vast necropolis of a vanished kingdom.
Pharaoh also stretched his sceptre over On — Heliopolis — " the
sacred city of the sun," of Herodotus, the Bethshemesh of Jere
miah. Here one lone obelisk towers, to mark where the Libyan
desert has buried kings and palaces in a common grave. When
Abraham Avent into Egypt, this obelisk Avas pointing its lofty
spire to the Heaven Avhich Avas fading from the mind of the Egyp
tians like a morning dream. When Sethos reigned, at the feet
of this monument Avere gathered toAvers and palaces and shrines ;
artizans and traders, caravans and armies ebbed to and fro about
it. All are gone, and the desert sand has for a thousand years
been their sepulchre.
Another choice jewel of the royal croAvn Avas Tahpanhes, called
Daphne by the Greeks; here, in Jeremiah's day, Israel was
Avooed to the Avorship of the sun and moon, and all the heavenly
host. This city was on the Pelusiac arm of the Nile, Avhere it
could gather into its lap the treasures of land and sea.
Sixteen miles from Daphne Avas Pelusium, " the strength of
Egypt." It Avas, in its day of glory, the key of the land ; the
bulwark of ite frontier, a place of lofty importance, strongly forti
fied, noted for extent, Avealth, and the vigilance and number of its

138 PHARAOH.
garrison. Almost every historian of ancient times has a Avord in
its praise.
Thirty miles from Pelusium Avas Zoan " in the field." It Avas
on the eastern branch of the Nile, in the midst of the richest
alluvial plain in all the Delta. It was one ofthe royal cities; and
remains of temples, toAvers, columns, walls, obelisks, fortifications
and statuary yet attest the lavish beauty of its prime.
While Thebes was the capital of upper Egypt, Memphis was
the royal city of the middle and lower kingdom.
BetAveen all these vast toAvns and those "treasure cities,"
Pithom and Rameses, were stretched chains of smaller towns,
none Avithout its temple and its rock tombs. Around all lay the
fertile plains which Nile has redeemed from Saharah. These
fields " stood thick Avith corn." The river-fertilized earth brought
forth more than an abundance of wheat, barley, flax, millet, and
all varieties of vegetables. Groves of date palms lifted their leafy
croAvns against the clear sky ; the beautiful lotus garlanded all the
land ; the fig, date, grape, melon and pomegranate abounded ; the
flocks and herds were scattered through the rich pastures. In the
marshes of the Delta the papyrus flourished, giving its stalks for
boats, and its delicate leaf for paper. The Nile and the lakes
swarmed Avith fish ; purple pigeons wheeled in the air, swalloAVS
found their homes among the temples, the stately Ibis Religiosa
and the stork loved Egypt for their home. Even the slaves could
not complain of poverty, for the Israelites held great Avealth in
the province of Goshen, OAvning flocks and herds ; and when they
reached the wilderness of Sin, they murmured after the flesh-pots
of Egypt, saying, " Would to God we had died in the land of
Egypt, Avhen we sat by the flesh-pots, and did cat bread to the
full ; " and again, " We remember the fish which Ave did eat in
Egypt freely, the cucumbers and melons, the leeks and the onions
and the garlic .... who shall give us flesh to eat, for it was Avell
with us in Egypt."

PHARAOH. 139
The country was also rich in building materials ; manufactures
flourished, the pottery was famous, the fine linen was Avorth its
Aveight in gold ; here the Israelitish women learned the elegant
Aveaving and embroidering " in blue, purple, and scarlet and fine-
tAvined linen," on which they labored for the tabernacle. Aaron's
making the calf at Horeb, and Moses' destruction of it, are suffi
cient proof of Egyptian proficiency in the arts.
With these hints of the affluence and strength of the kingdom
as it came into the hands of Sethos, we turn to glance at his train
ing, and the habits of thought, which made him such a daring
opponent of Heaven.
The priests of Egypt Avere the tutors of the heir-apparent, who
always belonged to their rank ; they taught him in all their wis
dom ; but the beginning and end of every lesson was, that the
people Avere created for the king ; that he was master and disposer
ofthe souls and bodies of the commou horde. He Avas instructed
in cruelty as a fine art ; and was made to feel that his own desire
was to be his ultimate law.
Says Piazzi Smyth : " Self-justification was a leading principle
of the race. The poAver and right of an Egyptian sovereign, not
merely to justify himself against men, but against God, was an
essential part of their system. They Avove this arrogant self-
righteousness with other threads of bad religion and perverted
morality, until it proved a veritable cart-rope for drawing the
national ruin."
The ritual of the Egyptian " Book of the Dead " taught every
Egyptian to stand up to confess his own holiness ; through seventy-
four distinct enumerations, the AA'orshipper cleared himself of every
suspicion of every knoAvn and unknoAvn sin. " I have not done,"
was his protestation in regard to all evil. "Hence, the more re
ligious the Egyptians greAV in their own fashion, the more they
rebelled against the God of Heaven." Therefore, the hour of

140 PHARAOH.
their highest religious development mast be the hour of their
greatest antagonism to God, and of their consequent ruin ; while
the man, Avho was the supreme impersonation of the Egyptian
idea, Avas the most truculent mutineer against the King of kings.
Man in Egypt thus vindicating and justifying himself, became,
in a measure, his own deity ; but he also served a complete pan
theon ofthe most monstrous creations of his debased imagination,
and loathsome beasts elevated to the shrine of divinity.
Says Clemens Alexandrinus : "The temples are surrounded
with consecrated groves and pastures; their courts are infinite
numbers of columns; their Avails glitter Avith foreign marbles and
the richest paintings ; the shrine is resplendent Avith gold, silver
and precious stones from India ; the adytum is veiled with cloth
of gold. But Avithin is no god, but a cat or a crocodile, or some
such brute — the Egyptian deity — a beast rolling himself in a
crimson coverlet." Such being the gods, such the moral and re
ligious ideas of the Egyptians — "for a while this Pagod Figure
grew and flourished mightily on earth; but, in- the hour of its
greatest apparent strength, it Avas touched by a more than mortal
hand, and calamitous ruin then supervened and has never yet
ceased." This ruin came in the reign of Sethos IL, in the direful hour
when he matched himself against the Highest, and was blasted
by the breath of his Adversary, before Avhom the sons of earth
are as the small dust in the balance.
Sethos II. ascended the throne a graceless profligate ; no
sooner did he grasp the reins of government, than the groans of
the oppressed rose to heaven, appealing for vengeance.
Says Osburn : " In spite of the loving care lavished on him by
his Regent-aunt, and the 'special books Avritten for his sole use
and behoof, containing all the good deeds of his ancestors,' he
turned out an exceedingly bad and abandoned character."

PHARAOH. 141
Sethos found himself a being raised above all law ; his courtiers
and soldiers Avere mere puppets in his hands, avenging angels on
all his foes. No one addressed him save with " O King Sethos,
living forever ! " as both exordium and peroration for their speech.
Wherever he turned his eyes, on temple, tomb, palace and monu
ment, he saAV the debasing records of his religion in the grotesque
animal-headed gods ; for, as says Renan : " Egypt had been in
vaded by a Avhole pantheon, numerous, and accompanied by fictions
horrible, and at the same time the most silly that the human brain
ever conceived."
According to the same authority, Sethos was the son of a race
A\rho Avere mentally on a uniform dull level, " where never appeared
a great Avarrior, a great philosopher, a great poet, a great artist,
nay, not eA7en a great minister; for Joseph, Avho Avrought such
Avonderful changes, was not a native."
While this tyrant, dull of brain, cruel of heart, and strong of
hand, was in the full flush of his power, there appeared before
him a man of' the Israelites, long an exile in the land of Midian,
once his rival to the throne, a man indeed who had refused this
throne, and who had been predicted by the astrologers as one who
should build up Israel on the ruins of Egypt.
Sethos had hoped this man Avas dead, had believed that he had
perished in the wilderness ; but now, at eighty years of age, he
stood before him, vigorous and ardent like one endowed with
immortal youth. Beside him was his brother, another grand
model of humanity; and they came vested Avith supernatural
powers ; " Surely," had God said, " I will be Avith thee."
The king of Egypt had never receiA^ed a command from any ;
it Avas to him a neAV experience, when these two HebreAvs stood
before him, and in authoritative tones addressed him : " The Lord
God of Israel saith, Israel is my son, even my first-born : and I
say unto thee, Let my son go that he may serve me, and if thou

142 PHARAOH.
refuse to let him go I will slay thy son, even thy first-born.
Thus saith the Lord ; let my people go, that they may hold a
feast to me in the wilderness."
Wrath blackened the monarch's countenance ; his eyes flashed
baleful fires ; he AArould now have had these men slain in his sight,
or, as shoAV the many paintings, have struck off their heads with
his oAvn royal sword ; but some poAver, Avhich he could neither
resist nor comprehend, held him back. He replied, in high indig
nation, " Who is the Lord ? I know not the Lord ; neither will
I let Israel go."
The Hebrew brothers were fain to argue the case, and thus pre
sented a singular spectacle in the Egyptian court.
The sovereign vented his malice on the multitude of Hebrew
serfs ; doubling their burdens ; berating and beating them, until
" for anguish of spirit and for cruel bondage," their hearts died
Avithin them ; and they hearkened not to the encouragements of
their heaven-sent deliverer.
The grand battle now commenced ; from first to last it was an
ascending series of judgments, directed against the idolatrous king
•and people, through the Arery gods they worshipped.
Wm. Osburn criticises these plagues most minutely, showing
that each of the first nine were " particular intensifications of
natural features of country or climate, as if the Almighty especially
intended to shoAV " that the gods of the nations are vanity, and to
prove to the Egyptians the inefficiency of the divinities which
they had set up over the elements, and over the animal and vege
table kingdoms.
We are apt, in reading this account of the plagues in Scripture,
to imagine them compressed into a few weeks ; but in fact, as
Osburn carefully shows, they were extended through very nearly
a year. And this not only gave the immense host of the Israelites
time to complete their preparations for their departure, but it

PHARAOH. 143
marked the deliberation and determination of the Divine mind,
giving each plague time fully to impress itself on the Egyptian
heart, and to warn them of the consequences of rebellion ; permit
ting the better-inclined part of the people time to repent, fear God
and save themselves and their property from that untoAvard gene
ration, that the whole nation perish not. To this cause we may
assign the preservation of any part of the Egyptian Avealth and the
conser\~ation of the empire ; so that, though broken and foreA-er
Aveakened, it yet existed, a lasting memorial of the power of Al
mighty God, and of the utter futility of human opposition to the
Divine will. As we shall see, in tracing these plagues, some part
of the Egyptians were Avarned, and by obedience and humility,
preserved a portion of their flocks and herds ; Avhile even the magi
cians and courtiers were forced to admit that here was " the finger
of God," and to plead Avith their monarch to submit himself to one
stronger than the sons of men and the gods of the heathen.
The whole country of Egypt is a Donum Nili; as the river has
shrunken, and as the hand ofthe Lord, according to his prophecy,
has " made the rivers dry," and has been against Egypt and her
rivers, and the streams of outlet in the Delta have diminished,
Egypt has become a "hissing and a desolation."
The Egyptians Avorshipped as a god the river which had given
them their country, and upon whose overflowings their food and
wealth depended. The river was a sacred mystery ; high up as
they could trace it, it floAved the same ; ite sources were hidden in
the storied realms of equatorial Africa. If Nilus, in displeasure,
withheld his life-giving floods, the land grew black with starva
tion ; if in wrath the god-river swelled beyond benign limitations,
the inundation swept homes and villages and crops away, and
shrieks of terror and despair re-echoed on his borders.
No wonder, then, that among an idolatrous people such a river
was worshipped.

144 PHARAOH.
Now, in the very season when this stream is most clear, the
outstretched rod of Moses brought upon it the first plague — the
plague of blood. Not only this, but all the fish in the river —
those fish on Avhich the people largely depended for food, and
probably also those crocodile-gods, before which they bowed the
knee, perished in the singular visitation. Not only was the
country distressed and impoverished, in a very great degree, by
this plague, but it was also deeply humiliated ; because in it, its
gods Avere put under the feet of Moses. The plague began in
stantaneously " in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his
servants," at the moment when the king and his court Avent
early in the morning to bathe and Avorship, at the sacred stream.
Seven days this plague lasted, and Avas then removed.
Smith, in his Bible Dictionary, appears to indicate that the
second plague followed immediately on the first ; but there Avas
doubtless a respite ; not only as the Lord Avarns before he strikes,
but it is far from him to destroy the righteous Avith the Avicked ;
and he permitted the more thoughtful of the people time to con
sider their ways, and renounce, if they Avould, the ungodly prac
tices of their king.
As the history moves on, Ave see this leaven of fear and
repentance working in the nation.
Again came the Avord to Moses, after an interval, and with
Aaron, his mouthpiece, he returned to the presence of the irate
king. His message of command and warning was unheeded. Pharaoh
was of the line of priest-kings, and the religion of Egypt was
wrapped up in his sovereignty. The jealous priests saw in the
success of Moses the downfall of their own domination ; and in
their different grades of magicians, astrologers and temple priests,
they gathered about the monarch to strengthen his heaven-daring
resolution and pride; to beguile him Avith their enchantments,

PHARAOH. 145
and to confirm him in a belief that the gods of Egypt could equal
Jehovah in the strife.
Among these divinities was Hekt, the frog-headed goddess.
The frog abounded in Egypt, and being sacred, must needs be
unmolested ; one comfort had always been, that these loathsome
reptiles kept in the damp places about the streams, and the
people Avere able to be out of their way.
When " The potent rod of Amram's son " Avaved over the Nile,
out of it came up countless hosts of frogs, Avhich, like an imrading
army, took possession of the Avhole land. Forsaking their natural
instincts, they SAvarmed evren in the driest places ; disputed posses
sion of beds, cooking utensils, ovens and kneading troughs, the
frogs suddenly became inhabitants of the houses, ousting the right
ful OAvners; but these hapless Avretches found themselves no
better off Avhen they had resigned their abodes in favor of their
disgusting gods, for they were overrun Avith the troops of them in
the streete; and Pharaoh himself found his couch, his throne,
his robes of state, and his royal dishes, infested with his hopping
deities. Never was there such an opportunity for the study of
Batrachia !
The piety of Pharaoh Avas not proof against such an intimacy
with his gods.
He yielded a little ; he sent for the Hebrew brothers and said :
" Entreat for me, that the Lord may remove the frogs, and I will
let Israel go."
Moses, with the greatest courtesy, asked when this should be.
The Avary monarch set the next day; he did this as secretly
hoping the frogs Avould before that take themselves off; yet
assured that if they did not, twenty-four hours longer of their
presence would be the extreme limit of his endurance. Moreover,
he wished to try the power of Moses, by giving him a set time in
which to Avork.
10

1 46 PHARAOH.
Respite came: sudden death smote the frog-gods, and their
Avorshippers gathered their putrid bodies into heaps. The land
Avas emptied ofthe plague, but. all the foetid air kept it in remem
brance. Finding himself thus relieved, the king gracefully forgot his
pledge; the Lord waited for a time to make it evident that
Pharaoh intended to break his promise, and that the odium of
the next plague should rest on its regal provocative.
Suddenly, while Pharaoh congratulated himself on getting his
own way, the rod of Aaron Avas stretched forth, and smote all the
dust of Egypt into a horrible, crawling life.
"This plague," says Smith, in his Bible Dictionary, "does not
seem especially directed against the superstitions of Egypt."
Let us consider this point. Chief goddess of Egypt was Isis,
wife of Osiris; similar to Scandinavian Bertha, and Ephesian
Diana, the universal mother. "Isis," says Anthon, "Avas the
earth, or sublunary nature in general ; to them the soil of Egypt in
particular." Now this, their great goddess, became transformed
to the foul vermin which devoured her children. She had been
the fond mother Avhose bountiful breasts fed their veins, and
whose beauty was their pride. They called her Lady, Mis
tress, Mother, Nurse ; yet now she had died doubly, and become
corrupt, and loathsome plagues crept on them from her corpse.
Until this time the Egyptian magicians had been able, either in
fact or in seeming, to keep pace Avith Moses in his miracles, in so
far as producing the plagues Avent ; though they had been utterly
helpless about removing them : in this act the power of the
prophet shining forth supreme. In the third plague the magi
cians, whom the Egyptians looked upon as filled with the spirit
of their divinities, found themselves unable to contend with the
Hebrew brothers, and said to Pharaoh : " This is the finger of
God." Not of Apis, Osiris, or any other of the Egyptian

PHARAOH. 147
Pantheon, but of some superior Deity such as the Greeks con
fessed — "The UnknoAvn God." Thus ignorantly have the
heathen ever been compelled by the voice within them, to own a
Lord aboAre their own lords.
Josephus says that there was found no wash or ointment to
stay the raATages ofthe third plague; and that from it many of tho
Egyptians miserably perished.
The third plague accomplished its mission : the people of Egypt
had begun to fear and tremble, and to desire the departure of tho
Israelites. Pharaoh and his nobles were yet resolved to hold
fast that multitude of slaves, which were building up Egypt from
one end to the other. "And the heart of Pharaoh Avas hardened."
A terrible resume- of this king's life, and not alone of him can
it be written ; how many have their hearts hardened in a long
course of iniquity and chastisement ? Not always
" Sweet are the uses of adversity."
Each morning Sethos and his court Avent doAvn to the river to
bathe and to worship. Full often as the despot turned to the
green swelling bank of the stream, he was met by that man of
majestic beauty, stern as an avenging angel — the man who had
outlived fear, Moses the Prophet, denouncing the A'engeance of
the skies upon the land of Mizraim.
Thus as a prelude to the fourth plague came these sons of Levi,
Avith the often repeated mandate : " Let my people go : else, Avill I
send swarms (ar6b) upon thee . . . and all the houses of the Egyp
tians shall be full . . . and the ground Avhereon they are. And I
will sever in that day the land of Goshen, where my people
dwell ... to the end that thou mayest know that I am the Lord in
the midst of the earth. And I will put a division between thy
people and my people."
Josephus indicates that these " swarms " were all manner of
known and hitherto unheard of beasts, which invaded the land,

148 PHARAOH.
" by whose means men perished ; and the land became destitute
of husbandmen." Others have considered these swarms to be of
the common house-fly, Avhich are ever singularly plentiful in
Egypt, and a terrible infliction. Oedmann advanced the opinion,
supported by Dr. Hawkes and many others, that the Blatta orientalis,
or Egyptian beetle, is indicated by drob, and in this case we see
the people again chastized through one of their own idols, for the
beetle was sacred.
Sethos had stubbornly endured the lice, but the clouds of Scara-
bsei conquered him. He reluctantly sent for Moses, and proposed
that if worship Avas his object, -the Hebrews should hold a grand
religious festival for the propitiation of their God, in Goshen..
The ambassador of Heaven would not abate one jot of his de
mands. Pie replied with the utmost calmness : " It is not meet so
to do ; for Ave should sacrifice the abomination of theEgyptians . . .
lo, will they not stone us ? "
The ordained sacrifices of Israel AA'ere lambs, cattle, goats,
and doves. These would be the abomination of the Egyptians in
various ways.
The cow, the sheep, the goat, and the bull apis Avere especially
sacred to the Egyptians. Some of these animals Avere Avorshipped
as gods ih themselves, others as the symbols of divinity.
The superstitions of this people Avere most deeply rooted. Di
odorus tells us that when the humbled people were most anxious
to propitiate the Romans, all their fear of the dominant nation
could not prevent the destruction of a Roman soldier, who had
thoughtlessly killed a cat. Whoever laid violent hands on a
sacred animal was doomed to death. So great was the reverence
for their holy beasts, that their bodies were embalmed. The cat,
now starved, beaten, hunted, killed and flung out upon the high-
Avay, has had in ite history a golden age, when ite tastes were
gratified; when it dwelt in kings' palaces; was nourished and

PHARAOH. 149
respected, and found a burial superior to that of half its human
servitors !
The Avord " abomination " refers not to the vievv taken of the
animal itself, but of the act of ite slaughter. Oxen might some
times be offered, as the loftiest act of worship ; but it must be a
perfectly red ox, one single black hair rendering it unfit for sacri
fice. Coavs Avere consecrated to Athor, and could never be slain.
The exception taken by Moses to the king's proposition was
so just, that even Pharaoh gave it heed, saying : " I Avill let you
go . . . only .go not very far aAvay."
He meant to have them Avhere they could be environed by the
royal armies, and driven back to servitude.
" Entreat for me," cried Sethos.
" I Avill entreat that the SAvarms may depart to-morrow," re
plied Moses.
At this promise, a gleam of exultation lit the face of the regal
liar, and the prophet read it well ; he knevv that the king meant
to play false. Therefore he turned and said, in mingled Avarning
and scorn : " Let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully." The Egyptian
standard of morality was not \Tery high, and the sovereign Avas
little abashed at this reproof.
He coolly carried out his intention ; and being res6ued from
trouble, refused to fulfil his pledge. Egypt has ever been an
unchiA^alrous land, lost to all idea of honor.
Each plague was ordained to be more severe than the one pre
ceding it. The fifth visitation Avas the murrain, Avhich fell very
heavily in tAvo Avays. Death reigned among both the sacred and
the useful animals. The enumeration here is very valuable : cattle,
horses, asses, camels, oxen, sheep.
It Avas long objected, by the despisers of the Bible, that this
record was at fault ; that Egypt had no camels, as there were none
pictured on the monuments. We cannot understand the claim

150 PHARAOH.
that the pictures of Egypt must contain the whole circle of Egyp
tian zoology ; but, even admitting it, it does not militate against
Scripture, for the camel is several times repeated in pairs of heads
and necks on the obelisk at Luxor.
Taking the brutes enumerated as the especial victims ofthe fifth
plague, we have, first, those sacred : cattle (kine), oxen and sheep.
We have then the most useful animals : horses, asses, camels, their
beasts of war and burden.
Egypt was ever famous for horses and chariots ; the horse was
extensively used in all the land, and its loss would be a crowning
calamity. The ass and the camel Avere chief beasts of burden ;
and the ox, besides being sacred, was Avidely used in draAving up
the river Avater for purposes of irrigation.
The Egyptians were an agricultural people, and we can under
stand the wide ruin occasioned by the destruction of their domestic
animals ; while, as in the other plagues, they suffered in their re
ligious idea.
To prove the truth of Moses' declaration, that a division should
be made between his own people and the Hebrews, the king sent
into Goshen to see hoAV it fared Avith the dAvellers there. " Of the
cattle of the children of Israel, died not one."
The effect was only yet further to harden his adamantine
heart. The sixth plague was accomplished, not by the sign of the rod,
but by sprinkling toward heaven the ashes of that furnace, wherein
the bondsmen toiled. The act Avas one of deep significance. God
had covenanted Avith Abraham, that he would bring his seed out
of the strange land, after four hundred years ; judging the cruel
nation, and bringing forth the captives Avith great substance. At
this time, Abraham had seen a " smoking furnace, and a burning
lamp." Egypt was the furnace of affliction wherein the Lord
would try Israel ; from that furnace had their God promised to

PHARAOH. 151
bring them forth, and this sign was to remind Him of his cove
nant, and that the time had come.
The important feature in this plague of boils Avas, that it
touched the sacred persons of the scrupulously clean priests and
magicians. Manetho calls the Hebrews a " nation of lepers ; "
he strives to make it appear that the Egyptians drove out Israel,
because of their uncleanness ; and calls their departure the leper
exodus. We see in this the falsehood of a prejudiced enemy,
making history the vehicle of his slanders ; nor is it only in an
cient times that history has been made more false than fable !
Apion roused the wrath of Flavius Josephus, by stories of a
national taint and a " leper exodus," as we see in " Josephus
against Apion."
This sixth plague brought a form of leprosy on the priest-caste
(of which was the king), and on all the holy magicians, shaking
the faith of the people in their power and purity ; and showing
them unable to contend with the God ofthe Hebrews.
Still the heart of Pharaoh grew harder ; and now again, " early
in the morning," Moses appeared like a wraith on the track of
the king. The sun rose bright over Nilus, and the sacred droves
went to the god-river to drink. Impotent were all these divini
ties of Egypt ! Moses lifted up his cry : " Thus saith the Lord
God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me.
Now will I send all my plagues on thee  Thou shalt be cut off. . .
For this cause I have raised thee up ... . To-morrow will I send a
grievous hail, such as hath not been from the foundation of Egypt
until noAV."
The haughty king set his face as brass against this declaration.
Moses then turned from him to warn the deputies, magistrates
and officers who stood by. As Goshen was spared for Israel's
sake, now all who feared God among the Egyptians, all Avho had
been turned from their evil ways by the exhibition of Almighty

1 52 PHARAOH.
power, should have an opportunity to save their property from
the impending judgment.
This visitation had a remarkable effect on Sethos.
The skies of Egypt are cloudless and stormless. The tempest
which followed the uplifting of Moses' rod, was not merely a storm
such as for intensity Avould haA'e been appalling anywhere in the
tropics, but was in Egypt unnatural and unprecedented ; no land
on earth Avould have been so smitten with consternation at such
meteorological displays, as the valley of the Nile. Egypt Avor-
shipped the heavenly constellations, and looked to the planets for
favoring breezes, and fair weather ; her gods deserted her. Thun
der pealed through the sky, rending the heavens, and shaking
the earth. The hail rattled doAvn furiously, killing man and
beast ; cutting off leaf and herbage, Avhile the roused winds snapped
the stems of the palm trees, moAvecl doAvn orange, pomegranate
and fig, and scathed the vines. More than this, Avild lightnings
leaped from the clouds, and, instead of passing Avith a swift flash,
seized on grass blade and grain stock, on melon and cucumber
vines, as their food, and ran in ominous flames along the ground.
All the splendors and terrors of " heaven's dread artillery " were
let loose on Egypt. Men, women and children wept, shrieked
and trembled. Pharaoh quaked in his palace ; he sent in haste
for Moses and Aaron. Heaven preserved his messenger; and,
unmoved amid all the awful wonders of the tornado, the sons of
Amram came before the royal throne. New and strange confes
sion for an Egyptian king, Pharaoh cries : " I have sinned, this
time." It was not penitent confession, but merely an admission
of folly : he had erred in matching himself against an adversary
too strong for him ; and must hoav cry for quarter. But even so
he Avould reneAv the strife, and take advantage of a truce to strike
some unexpected blow. He was a complete coward, and Avould
stoop never so far to gain relief. He sees he must concede yet

PHARAOH. 153
more, and he says to Moses : " The Lord is righteous, and I and
my people are wicked." But he has no intention of being any
better. Pie will try his Machiavellian game yet the third time :
" Entreat the Lord, for it is enough, and I will let you go ; and
ye shall stay no longer."
" The goodness and severity of God " shall be displayed by re
moving the plague ; but Moses knoAVS full well what the effect
will be. Fixing his piercing eye on the shivering catiff before him,
he says : " I will spread forth my hands and the thunder shall
cease, that thou mayest knoAV that there is a God. But as for thee
and thy servants, I knovv that ye will not yet fear the Lord."
And the event justified his assertion ; for Avhen this seventh
plague Avas stilled, there Avas no permitting the bound to go free.
The eighth plague came, after some little interval ; and was
preceded by a warning, giving king and people twenty-four hours
in which to avert it, by obedience to the command: "Let my
people go."
The besotted monarch preferred to brave the coming judgment ;
but his courtiers and advisers pressed about him, demanding
angrily : " How long shall this man be a snare unto us ? Let the
men go, that they may serve the Lord their god. Knowest thou
not yet that Egypt is destroyed f "
They had been Avarned of locusts ; and no visitation is more
dreaded in the east. At different times Egypt had suffered, in a
measure ; and if they came, fierce and numerous, increased to a
miraculous multitude and voracity, hoAV should anything in Egypt
stand before them ?
Says Denon : " The locusts make the land bald. They devour
every green thing ; Ave looked on them, and all the plain seemed to
move, or to be covered Avith a dark, sluggishly rolling stream."
By this time, the nature of the contest between the king of
Egypt and the King of Heaven Avas obvious to all. Hebrews and

1 54 PHARAOH.
Egyptians stood looking on, waiting for the result ; the labors of
the bondsmen had ceased; preparations for their going forth
hastened among them; and they anxiously turned to each new
plague as the signal of deliverance.
Faltering a little in his stubborn resolution, before the angry
representations of his subjects, Pharaoh called for Moses and
Aaron, and proposed a second compromise : The adult males
might go ; the children and their mothers Avere to be left behind,
as hostages for the speedy return of the valued slaves.
When Moses had rejected this half-concession, he was driven
from the royal presence Avith contumely.
Only Avhen the land Avas naked of vegetation ; when the SAvarms
of this miraculous cloud of locusts blackened the face of the
heavens ; when there remained not any green thing in the trees
nor herb in the field through all the land of Egypt, did Pharaoh
fear famine, and perhaps revolt in his dominions, and too late,
sent in hot haste for the Prophets.
Again barren promises, and heartless confessions ; and again
that hardening of the heart.
The ninth plague breaks upon Egypt without warning. The
people worshipped the setting sun ; from the far plain of Shinar
they had brought this portion of the Chaldaic faith. They poured
out, also, incense to the queen of heaven. The sun and the moon
were objects of profoundest adoration. But now, lo, these their
gods seemed blotted out from their orbits. A new night fell on
the land ; a night Avithout a star ; when morning forgot to return ;
when the brooding blackness Avas like the face of chaos before
God spoke light into being. " There was darkness in all the land
of Egypt, even darkness that might be felt." Three days, stupe
fied with the neAV horror, sat king, priests and people. They
made no note of time ; the long anguish seemed years of solemn
desolation, Avhen no man saw his neighbor ; when the babe could

PHARAOH. 155
not find consolation in the face of its mother, Avhen none rose from
his place ; food, sleep, hope, comfort, all Avere gone, commited to
that black burial. The land Avhere Death Avas soon to reap his
greatest harvest, Avas clad in a premonitory pall.
After the record of this long, long, terrible night, comes the
shining sentence : " And all the children of Israel had light in
their dAvellings."
When God Avars with the Avicked, his people sit in peace in the
beauty of his presence.
When the day of vengeance is in his heart, and the year of his
redeemed has come, they are called to shelter :
" Come, children, to your Father's arms,
Hule in the chambers of my grace :
Till the fierce storms be overblown,
And my revenging fury cease.
My sword shall boast its thousands slain,
And drink the blood of mighty kings,
While heavenly peace around my flock
Stretches its soft and shady wings."
Darkness terrified Pharaoh to a little further yielding. He called
Moses, and consented to the departure of the nation, provided the
property Avere left behind.
" There shall not a hoof be left behind," retorted the resolute
leader of the people.
All the hatred of Pharaoh's heart broke forth. He shouted :
"Get thee from me! In the day thou seest my face, thou
shalt die!"
We may here pause to consider that Pharaoh had not dared to
put Moses to death, because only through his intercession could
plagues be withdraAvn. It Avas this salutary fear, also, which pre
vented the impoverished Egyptians seizing the flocks, herds and
beasts of burden belonging to the HebreAvs, to make up for their
own losses.

156 PHARAOH.
Moses did, however, enter the presence of the king once more,
with his last and most tremendous threat, and then the Prophet
and not the king was enraged, and Moses " Avent out from
Pharaoh in great anger."
The last blow Avas to be struck. The passover, type of the Avon-
derful passion of our Lord Christ, was instituted. All through
the land of Goshen, there was, on door-post and lintel, a sanguine
stain, emblem ofthe atoning blood; and by this, all Israel should
be saved.
The exhausted land of Egypt lay in midnight sleep ; some of
the impoverished people yet, for a few brief hours, forgot their
care and fear ; others waked and watched ; for the rumor of that
heavy prophecy of him who had never threatened in vain, had
gone abroad.
Sethos in his palace hugged his pride ; he despised the threat.
Life and death Avere in the keeping of the immortal gods, not in
this HebreAv's hand. Like unbelievers of the present day, Pha
raoh sought to attribute the nine great plagues to natural causes,
and to sever them from any interference of the Lord.
At the very beginning of this conflict, God had said : " I will
slay thy son, even thy first-born."
In the execution of this most terrible judgment, God thrust
forth his OAvn arm from behind the veil of nature, and her laAvs,
and himself struck the fatal blow.
That angel whom the Lord, centuries later, commissioned as
the messenger of his Avrath on Israel ; Avhom David saw standing
between heaven and earth Avith a draAvn sword in his hand
stretched out over Jerusalem, went abroad in all the kingdom
of Mizraim. When the Divine Babe fled from Herod's rage,
all the Bethlehemite mothers Avept for their children ; and
Israel fled from Pharaoh amid the lamentations for the first
born.

PHARAOH. 157
"At midnight the Lord smote the first-born in the land of
Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne, to
the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon, and all the
first-born of cattle. And there was a great cry in Egypt; for
there Avas not a house where there was not one dead."
Now was the pride of Sethos broken into pieces beneath the
feet of his Adversary. In that extreme hour he drove forth his
slaves, and they, in going, demanded and received the reward of
years of servitude.
At this time Israel numbered probably four millions. Although
for so long they had been preparing for a remove, Ave can only
account for their speedy and entire exodus by a special interven
tion of Providence. As says Wm. Osburn : " This departure of
the HebreAvs Avould be impossible in our day ; but Ave must
remember, it Avas a continuation of the several great immigrations
of the human race, Avhich had been directed and assisted by the
finger of God."
Once more Egypt lifted her head to renew the combat with
heaven. On the third day, king and people realizing that they
had lost slaves and wealth, and burning for vengeance, determined
to pursue the Hebrews.
Pharaoh himself headed the attacking host : he was followed
by "six hundred chosen chariots;" horsemen, captains, and
foot soldiers, and Avent in haste to carry on his war with
God, with earthly weapons. Eusebius, quoting from Manetho,
says that "this great army was accompanied by the sacred
animals." " In these Mosaic times," says Hereen, " the Avarrior caste first
appeared in Egypt." And Herodotus states that the towns in the
Delta Avere well garrisoned, and names the sixteen and a half
nomes, or provinces, in that region, where the standing army of
Egypt Avas stationed. Thus in haste a host could be summoned

158 PHARAOH.
and set forth. They followed Moses and the Israelites blindly
and madly, even into the very midst of that Avonderful Avay
Avhich God had opened for them in the midst of the waters.
" The Palestinians," says Bunsen — and it is a grand admission
from him — "were messengers of the Lord. The courage and
judgment of the Egyptians failed before the moral faith of the
Prophet of God. An army despatched to attack the departing
multitudes perished in the waves."
A heathen would not Avrite in favor of Christian truth ; but
Diodorus Siculus states that he had collected from the traditions
of nations near the Red Sea, " that once its waters retired and left
the bottom dry, then returned with great fury."
The Egyptian chronologer writes : " It is said, that fire flashed
on the Egyptians from in front, and destroyed them."
Moses himself records that at this final point in the strife
betAveen Egypt and heaven, " In the morning watch the Lord
looked on the hosts of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire
and cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians ; and took off
their chariot-Avheels. And they said, Let us flee from the face
of Israel, for the Lord fighteth for Israel. And the Lord over
threw the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters
returned, and covered chariot and horsemen ; and there remained
not so much as one of them . . . And Israel saAV the Egyptians dead
upon the shore."
" Egypt Avas humbled as never before," says Bunsen, who
explains the tenth plague thus : " The Palestinians swooped down
on Egypt, and slew all the first-born, even to the king's son in
the palace, and from this blow the land never recovered."
Here the Chevalier stultifies himself, for how could an invading
horde knoAV how to select the first-born ; or wish to confine
slaughter to them ? The erring king would have been slain be
fore his son, had men been dealing with Egypt. But God's ways

PHARAOH. 159
are not as our ways, and He had beaten his defiers small as the
chaff on the threshing floor. Flocks, herds, grain, fruits, sacred
animals, chariots, horses, army, first-born, king — all were gone;
the rebellious land was left wasted and bare.
Here this tremendous battle, this long warfare of Egypt against
Pleaven ended ; and as it closed amid prodigies of nature, and a
terrible harvest of death, we pause to consider the character of
this most daring of mortals, who openly and deliberately entered
the lists of combat with the skies. Pharaoh was the product of a
godless culture. Egypt, like that glittering Pandemonium which
fallen spirits built in hell, towered high, made broad her shining
battlements, and multiplied her palaces, but in every stamped
brick, in every sculptured frieze and painted Avail, defied the One
True God. Pharaoh was the very acme and exponent of Egyp
tian cultivation ; he had absolute and perfect confidence in him
self; he put the world under his feet, and claimed parity Avith
Heaven. A creature of unfaltering cruelty and boundless pride,
loving himself only, seeking his own gratification as the one object
of his existence, he was placed Avhere he could give free rein to
every inordinate passion. Men he treated as his toys ; he moved
them like puppets at his will ; he had no one on earth to curtail
or oppose his power, and the perversity of his fallen nature
rejoiced in finding One with Avhom to contend.
In his mad phrenzy he still fought on, when he was in each
encounter stripped of something wherein he had exulted; his
wealth, the prestige of his sacred caste, the heir of his throne,
Avere taken from him : stripped of all his jeAvels, suddenly, in
the chill, gray daAvn, he found himself amid the boiling sea,
tossed, struggling and gasping on the wave ; and then the waters
Avashed the dead body of Pharaoh to the feet of Moses. On that
supreme night history was born, and Egypt died.

VII.
MOSES.
FAITH IN ACTION.

HE heroes of Faith are the true heroes of the world ; yet
more, they are the heroes of the immortal life.
They may be broadly divided into tAvo classes : the men
of patient endurance, and of vigorous action. Of these
last have ever been the long line of the Reformers, whom God
has commissioned to arouse and purify his Church, and lead it on
to a higher destiny. They are men Divinely moulded to their
time, fitted singularly to the exigencies which have demanded them.
Great type of these was Moses, Israel's God-sent "ruler and
deliverer;" Moses, the laAv-giver; Avho left his impress not on
the Jewish polity alone, but on the world. His exploits and his
judicial enactments have changed the face of all succeeding time.
The family of Jacob was doomed to a long bondage in Egypt.
Thus for a while the blessing of Noah was reversed, and Shem,
in whose tents his brethren were to dwell protected, became a
servant to Ham.
Says Piazzi Smyth (Royal Astronomer of Scotland) : " The
Egyptians undoubtedly fled from before a judgment in the land
of Shinar ; but arrived on the banks of the Nile, unrepentant and
unsubdued." When the Lord scattered the nations abroad on the face of the
Avhole earth, flying before Omnipotent wrath, Mizraim, the second
160

MOSES. 161
mentioned of the sons of Ham, carried the standards of his host
across the desert to the valley of Egypt ; while Canaan, his brother,
spread himself over the land Avhich thereafter bore his name.
Among these the knowledge of the true God was doubtless long
preserved; their worship becoming corrupted by degrees. We
know that Abraham Avas met by Melchizedek, a descendant of
Canaan, and priest of the Most High God.
In Egypt Abraham found the Great Pyramid of Cheops com
pleted ; and the Egyptian tradition has always been, that this
Cheops, or Shofo, was no respecter ofthe gods of Egypt; and that,
therefore, his remains Avere desecrated in later years by the priests.
Thus not only do we find Shofo an anti-idolatrous sovereign,
setting up on the borders of his kingdom that mighty mystery of
the centuries ; but, singularly enough, we find that in his labor
he was helped by one Philitis, a shepherd king, who fed his flocks
in that locality.
So great a share in this work did Philitis have, that one tradi
tion runs that he, instead of Shofo, was the builder of the
Pyramid. Over this Philitis, the students of Ancient History have lin
gered long. John Taylor, of London (author of " Our Inheritance
in The Great Pyramid ") is disposed to imagine that the name
Philiton " holds a remembrance of the expiatorial feasts,, wherein
is a shedding of blood for sin ; a characteristic of the religious
idea of Abel, the first shepherd."
" He looks," remarks Piazzi Smyth, in " Life at the Pyramid,
" exceedingly like a Scriptural character. No man of humble
origin or station would have been thus allowed a separate interest
or identity among the Egyptians."
Jacob Bryant ("Dissertations on Ancient History") says:
" The Philitian Shepherds retired from Egypt to the land imme
diately south of that afterwards occupied by the tribe of Judah,
11

162 MOSES.
and later AvithdreAV into the upper part of Mesopotamia, whither
the ten tribes Avere driven after their dispersion."
When we consider that the life period of Noah's sons extended
to six hundred years, or thereabouts, and that his grandsons and
great grandsons, in one line, reached the good old age of four
hundred aud thirty odd, and four hundred and sixty odd years,
Ave might not be far astray in supposing that Cheops, or Shofo,
Avas the Hamitic parallel of Eber or Reu ; as Mizraim was of
Nimrod and Arphaxad ; and that Philiton, the shepherd king, Avas
Melchizedek himself, Avho, later in his long and godly life, led
his subjects out of apostatizing Egypt, and at Salem met Abraham
and blessed him.
King Shofo left his memory built in imperishable stone upon
the face of the earth forever. The land of Egypt made rapid
strides in grandeur and culture. Climate, soil, position, all were
in its favor ; learning flourished ; the arts Avere cherished. Living
among themselves, going little beyond their own boundaries, these
Chinese of antiquity, believing that nothing was good that was
not Egyptian, as they fell more and more into their abominable
idolatries, their kingdom grew rotten at the core, while it was out
wardly fair and flourishing. At the height of ite grandeur, Apho-
phis, or Appapus, swayed the sceptre. In his time Joseph came
into Egypt, and from being a slave, was made prime minister.
This Aphophis was a gentle sovereign, called to royalty in his
childhood, and reigning nearly a century. Before him the vener
able Jacob boAved himself in unfeigned respect.
The Bible, having nothing to do with the line of Egyptian
sovereigns where they are not mingled with the history of the
Church of God, next mentions the "Pharaoh who knew not
Joseph." After the death of Aphophis, the government became an
unlimited despotism; and all the circumstances of the monarch's

MOSES. 163
life tended to make him a tyrant to the last degree, fearing not
God, neither regarding men. The Israelites, Avho had been most
tenderly planted and nourished in Goshen by the good Aphophis
and Joseph, were more and more persecuted and degraded by his
successors, until arose Sesostris-Rameses, of Biblical mention,
who deliberately trampled on all their ancient rights and chartered
privileges, and ground them into the dust the most abject of
slaves. By the character of this Sesostris-Rameses, Baron Bunsen seems
entirely carried away. He makes him out a mighty conqueror,
by sea and land (though Avhere he could have gotten wood for
his navies is a matter of curiosity), and says that he carried his
conquests through Arabia, India, Persia, and all the world of
Central Asia.
On the contrary, Osburn, Renan and Smyth, show that Bun-
sen's Sesostris-Rameses and his deeds of valor, are priestly myths.
The Sesostris Avho really lived had one conquest, one battle, one
aim ; he conquered the Memphian sovereigns of Lower Egypt, in
one fight, bringing all the land under the Theban sceptre.
He devoted his life and treasures to memorials. He painted
and carved his one conquest over all the palaces, tombs and tem
ples in his kingdom (thus deceiving some little Avhile later Baron
Bunsen !), and was in all respects a braggart, and most truculent
knave. Like other boasters, this king was a terrible coward to
the unseen ; he was the slave of priestly threats and superstitions ;
in this like Philip II. of Spain.
While Sesostris Avas exerting his authority over the Israelites,
and making their lot most miserable, he was startled by a
prophecy ; from one of his astrologers, says Josephus — while the
Targum of Jonathan says, by Jannes and Jambres, afterwards
Moses' opponents.
The sacred scribe foretold that presently a child would be born

164 MOSES.
to an Israelite, who would bring the Egyptians low, and exalt the
Hebrews. This, says Josephus, was the mainspring of that terrible edict
for the destruction of the male children.
Sesostris-Rameses lived in Upper Egypt ; the Hebrews were
nearer Memphis, the seat of the Xoite dynasty. After his con
quest of the Delta, Sesostris married his daughter Thuoris (Jos.
Thermuthis) to the two year old heir of the Xoites, Sipthath ;
and sent her to be regent of Memphis for this child husband.
Thuoris seems to have been a gentle and learned woman, the
very opposite of her royal father.
Josephus tells us that God, in a night vision, showed Amram
the future of his expected child, and encouraged him to rear him
in hope, as the Deliverer of the nation. The jnanner of the
infant's birth, and his singular strength and beauty confirmed the
Divine prediction ; and after three months, Amram, thinking his
concealment a distrust of Providence, and likely to prove an
injury to the child, committed him in faith to the river in a
fragile ark of rushes. This ark was placed among those luxuriant
reeds which have now nearly disappeared from Egypt. The
mother departed, unable to endure the sight ; yet clinging to the
promise of the Eternal. Paul, in Hebrews, speaks of the faith
of Moses' parents, antecedent of the faith of their illustrious off
spring ; it was to him a most glorious heritage, and valued above
a throne. As the child lay in his bed of reeds, Thuoris, queen regent,
came to the river, and moved by womanly pity, and the craving
of her childless heart, as well as by the wonderful beauty of the
deserted babe, adopted him as her son.
By the directing care of Providence, the child was brought up
to years of discretion in the home of his own parents, and thus
received that bias of devotion to the cause of his people which
distinguished all his after life.

MOSES. 165
" He Avas," says Josephus, " by the confession of all, as well as
by Divine prediction, the best of all the Hebrews ; being the
seventh from Abraham our Father. His tallness at three years
old Avas wonderful ; and no one seeing him was so impolite as to
disregard the beauty of his countenance ! "
" He was exceedingly fair," cries Stephen in his speech. And
the writer of the Antiquities, delighting to dwell on the picture
of the leader of his nation, explains that Thuoris presented the
child to her father Sesostris, saying : " I have brought up a child
of divine beauty and most generous mind. I received him as the
gift of the river, and have adopted him for my son and heir."
The historian also declares, that at this time the child despised
the dia"dem of Egypt, casting it from his brows ; and Jannes, the
astrologer, reneAved his prediction of ruin, directing it to Moses
as the instrument, and striving to kill him, which the Lord pre
vented. Thuoris, therefore, educated Moses " in all the wisdom of the
Egyptians," lavished on him the love that could not be called
forth by her cruel father, or imbecile husband ; and expected to
make him her successor in the kingdom.
Sesostris-Rameses died after a reign of forty-four years. His
only son succeeding him, reigned two years ; at his death, Thuoris
became sovereign of Upper, Middle and Lower Egypt.
Josephus and Irenaeus state that during the regency of Thuoris,
Moses, at her request, and that of the king, took command of the
troops in a war with the Ethiopians ; besieged and captured Saba,
afterAvards Meroe, which was delivered up to him by Tharbis, the
king's daughter, Avho fell in love with the splendid appearance
of the General of the Egyptians, and offered him the city and her
hand, both of which were accepted. Perhaps this expedition and
victory Avere referred to by Stephen, when he said that " Moses
was mighty in words and in deeds."

166 MOSES.
The story of the surrender of the city is exactly that enshrined
in the fable of Minos, king of Crete, and the siege of Megara,
Avhen Scylla, the king's daughter, fell in love with the enemy,
and delivered up to him the city, and the fated purple lock of
Ninus. At the age of forty, Moses refused the position of heir apparent
to the crown offered him by Thuoris. He " refused to be called
the son of Pharaoh's daughter, preferring rather to suffer affliction
with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a
season." Doubtless feeling in the vigor of his manhood great internal
power, which would fit him for the deliverer of his race, Moses at
that time expected to be recognized by his people as the messenger
of God, and to lead the house of Jacob out of their weary captivity.
But the Lord's time had not yet come. The Israelites them
selves besottedly turned against their ardent compatriot, and
Moses, heartsick and hopeless, fled into the land of Midian.
Thuoris, having lost the cherished son of her adoption, devoted
herself about equally to the building of a grand mausoleum for
herself and her husband, and to the education of her brother's
only son and heir, Avho should succeed her in the empire. This
nepheAV Avas Sethos IL, Avhose character and history are developed
in the preceding article on "Pharaoh."
Manetho tells us that Moses Avas born and educated at On, or
Heliopolis, and Avas instructed in all the learning of Greek,
Chaldee, and Assyrian literature ; and " was especially trained in
mathematics, to prepare his mind for the reception of truth."
He taught Orpheus, and was thence called by the Greeks Musseus,
and by the Egyptians Hermes. (For these statements see Philo
V. M. i. 5.)
The Egyptians made frequent conspiracies against the life of
this distinguished Israelite.

MOSES. 167
While Moses has ever been noted as the meekest of men, he
AA'as a person of vast courage. The fire of patriotism in his heart
prompted him to slay an aggressing Egyptian, and also to be the
peacemaker between his brethren. Flying from the assassin into
the land of Midian, for forty long years Moses Was lost to his
countrymen, to his friends, and his foes ; and apparently to his
Avork. Moses, continuing his flight in Midian — here first mentioned
in history — arrives probably at the peninsula of Sinai, inhabited
by the Arabians. Here he married Zipporah, the daughter of a
priest, his first host in the country.
During these forty years of Moses' exile, King Sethos Avas
AA-ringing out to Israel the bitter dregs of their cup of misery ;
the enslaved nation Avas being prepared by affliction to welcome
deliverance; and chiefly, Moses was being moulded and perfected
for his future greatness by the hand of God.
The lonely shepherd, leading his flock on the confines of the
desert, had time to apply the garnered knowledge of his life to
the problems in the history and need of his people. In the
seclusion and simplicity of his servile life, the learned courtier
became endued with the prophetic spirit. Removed from the
glaring splendor, and the rank idolatry of the Egyptian court,
this Moses grew in spiritual graces. Divided from earthly cares
and enchantments, his soul fixed itself in a passion of devotion
first on his Lord, with whom he pleaded afterward : " I beseech
thee, show me thy glory ; " and next on his people, for whom
his love grew so strong and pitiful, that he could cry : " If thou
Avilt not forgive them, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book,
which thou hast written ! "
Year after year of desolate exile rolled on. When a son was
born to him the wanderer sighs his name — Gershom, " for I have
been a stranger in a strange land."

168 MOSES.
It was his whole history wrapped up in a single word. He
was born a stranger in the foreign land of Egypt ; Midian was
his second abode of exile ; long was the wandering in the Avilder-
ness, and or ever his pilgrim feet had touched the blessed shores
of Canaan, the true home of the Hebrews, he must die upon
Nebo. A pilgrim and a stranger, he knew no fatherland, until
he entered the "city that hath foundations, whose maker and
builder is God."
When this forty years of probation had passed, Moses received
his distinct call as the prophet leader of his people. God's time
had come. While once the man had been eager to assume his
place, he is now sorely distrustful. His self-distrust passes out
of humility into absolute weakness, and thus kindles the wrath
of God.
Such a Avonderful experience as had been vouchsafed to
Abraham beside his sacrifice, and at his tent door ; and to Jacob
on the hill Bethel, and by the ford Jabbok, came to Moses on the
back of the desert, in the plain of Horeb, the mountain of God.
Here the Angel of the Covenant appeared to him as a flame of
fire. This was such a flame as had blazed at the gate of Eden
between the cherubim then, as afterwards on the mercy seat —
" Thou that dwellest between the cherubim ! " Meeting Abra
ham, Jehovah was the " God of Glory," as says Stephen ; and
from the burning, yet unconsumed bush, the Angel proclaimed
himself the " God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob." Here begins a singular argument and struggle of Moses with
God. The wondering prophet drew near to see the strange sight
of a thorny acacia, which, glowing with the Divine presence, was
an unquenchable, inexhaustible torch. He recognized the Holy
One, and put off his shoes before he trod upon the sacred ground.
But even Avith the voice of God sounding in his ears, this prophet

MOSES. 169
of eighty, hearing the glorious promise of deliverance, seeing the
Avonders wrought in his own person, commended by the Lord of
his life, yet pleads and protests, groAvn for the first and last time
a coAvard. " Who am I, that I should stand before Pharaoh ?
The people Avill not believe me. I am slow of speech. I am not
eloquent . . . send by the hand thou shouldst send."
But just here Ave touch the secret of all Moses' future bravery;
we learn how he can stand firm before despotic Pharaoh ; and
undaunted before the raging mob of the Israelites. " The Avrath
of God Avas kindled against him." Its instantaneous blaze con
sumed all his resistance and self-will, and left him plastic in the
Divine hand ; but after that sudden exhibition and experience of
Almighty fury, Moses could see nothing human to fear.
He saAV the glory of God, and Avould remain forever undazzled
by the splendors of earth. He saw the Avrath of the Lord, and
when that passed by him like the lightning's flash, he had for
gotten hoAV to be afraid.
Going forth to do the bidding of the Lord, Moses was met by
Aaron at that holy mount.
The brothers Avere eighty, and eighty-three years of age ; but
time had perfected, instead of marring them.
Their lofty bearing, firm and eloquent speech, and resolute
gaze, marked them as leaders, born and trained for their position.
The history of the ten plagues, and of the passage of the Red
Sea, has been already given ; and Ave next find Moses in Shur, at
the head of that mixed and turbulent host, Avho had gone three
days' journey into the wilderness, and found no AA'ater.
This multitude did not consist merely of men, brave of soul
and inured to hardship. There Avere thousands of babes, Avhose
wailing cries would melt the stoutest hearts; there were frail
women, whose neAV privations Avould crush the spirits of fathers
and husbands ; there were the old, trembling on the brink of the

170 MOSES.
grave; and flocks and lowing herds, the riches of a pastoral
people, who, in losing them, would lose their all. The Israelites
were, beyond doubt, sorely tried ; and, save in a few instances,
they have ever shown themselves a faithless nation ; they have
been glorified Avith such names as Abraham, Moses, Samuel,
David, Daniel, Gedaliah, but as a people have not been so noble
of soul as to prefer death to slavery ; nor to be able to cry :
" Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him ! "
From the moment when the high-hearted Moses ended his song
of deliverance on the shores of the Red Sea, he Avas forced to
contend with a rebellious, unbelieving and idolatrous people;
Avith the envy of friends and family ; Avith ingratitude, disobedi
ence, and the grossest misapprehension of those Avho should have
best understood him.
For forty years after the Exodus, the history of Moses is the
history of Israel. Some have so misconceived the character of
this Avonderful man, as to consider him rather a passive than an
active instrument in the Divine hand ; as though he bore no con
scious part in actions or messages, but that they floAved through
him as through some soulless implement. This is a low view of
the man ; of his ruling motive ; and of his Master.
He was a hero of marvellous gifts, highly endowed by nature ;
Avonderfully tutored by experience; filled with wisdom that is
from above; and brought into a closeness of intercourse with
God, such as was never vouchsafed to any other Old Testament
character. Of him the Lord said : " If there is a prophet among you, I,
the Lord, Avill make myself known to him in a vision, and Avill
speak unto him in a dream. But my servant Moses is not so,
with him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and
not in dark speeches ; and the similitude of the Lord will he
behold."

MOSES. 171
Moses, as a leader, Avas the most discreet, energetic, decided,
long-suffering, and self-sacrificing that the world has ever known.
As a general, he had military talents of the first order ; as his
campaigns against Sihon and Og fully prove. We are apt to
forget that, at the time of his death, Moses was as great in warlike
renoAvn, as Joshua ever became.
As an orator, his last address to Israel proves him most elo
quent ; if he were indeed " slow of speech " in Midian, his defect
must have been done away on Sinai.
His songs show him one of the most rapt and felecitous of all
the glorious line of Hebrew poets.
As a judge and law-giver, he must have been wonderfully
eminent, even if Ave leave out of the account the grand code of
laAvs Avhich he received on the mountain; for Jethro, his father-
in-laAV, found him bearing the burdens of all that mighty host
encamped in Rephidim ; busy from morning unto evening in
adjusting the differences, and settling the grievances of six hun
dred thousand men. The greatest jurist of modern times Avould
not pretend to such a position.
When Ave consider Moses as a prophet, it will suffice us to
remember that he was the high and shining centre of a great
prophetic circle ; and that the Lord himself proclaims of Moses,
that there arose not like unto him a prophet since in Israel.
Moses Avas singularly free from all selfish ambition. God
never offered a man such an opportunity to aggrandize his family,
as he did to Moses, saying : " Let me alone, that my Avrath may
wax hot against them, and that I may consume them : and I
will make of thee a great nation."
Never has there been exhibited such an instance of the power
of God's saints in staying his hand, and lengthening out his
mercies and forgiveness to the ungodly, as when Moses cried out :
"Remember thy covenant! Why should the Egyptians say,

172 MOSES.
For mischief did he bring them out. Forgive them ... or blot
me out of thy book."
"And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do."
While thus living in his nation's good, bearing its woes, repent
ing of its sins, clinging fast to ite promises for the future, MoseS
was not of a stolid nature which cannot be aroused to strong
feelings. He slew the aggressing Egyptian : he went out from
Pharaoh in great anger; his anger waxed hot when he saw the
calf and the dancing, and he cast those precious sapphire tables
from his hands — tables traced Avith the golden finger prints of God.
He was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, because they had not
eaten the sin-offering in the holy place ; but when Aaron explained
their sufficient reason, at once he was content.
Alas, he was also filled with anger, and this, in an unholy
manner, in Kadesh, and crying fo Israel, " Hear noAV, ye rebels,
must Ave bring you water out of this rock ? " lost his entrance
into the promised land.
The self forgetting of this man shines out very beautifully
when he says to Joshua so tenderly : " Enviest thou for my sake f
I would God, that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that
the Lord Avould put his Spirit upon them."
When that supreme moment comes, and the Lord warns him :
" Get thee into Mount Abarim . . . thou also shalt be gathered to
thy people, as Aaron thy brother was gathered." Then the soul
of Moses speaks eagerly, not for himself, but for others : " Let
the Lord God ... set a man OA^er this congregation . . . which
may lead them out and bring them in ; that the congregation of
the Lord be not as sheep Avhich haAre no shepherd."
Moses has been celebrated as the meekest of men, from the
passage : " Noav the man Moses Avas very meek, above all the men
that were upon the face of the earth."
Perhaps, if meek had been rendered disinterested, or long

MOSES. 173
suffering, or unselfish, Ave should come nearer the true meaning
of the original ; and have a better exposition of the chief trait of
the man.
Another eminent characteristic was his reliance on God. To
God he resorted in all his private troubles ; in all his anxieties
for his people ; in every difficult question.
When Shelomith's son blasphemed ; when Zelophead's daugh
ters claimed their inheritance ; when a man gathered sticks on the
Sabbath day, Moses ventured on no unassisted judgment; but
appealed for the verdict of the Lord. When accused by Korah
and his company of arrogance, all his reply Avas to fall on his face,
and pour forth the silent anguish of his soul to his Maker.
At his OAvn request, seventy of the elders of Israel received pro
phetic spirit, and executive power; and when Jethro advises him
in a plan for a division of the administrative functions, he at once
agrees, and gives the honor of the plan to its author.
The life of Moses was full of beautiful and wonderful types,
and lessons for the saints in all ages. We are able but to hint of
a feAV, that seeing the richness of the treasure to be gained from
the study of this history, each may pursue it for himself.
At Marah bitter waters mocked the thirsty and fainting people.
Children wailed to their mothers for drink ; fever parched the
fair faces of the women ; the strength of the strong man failed ;
and the eyes of the herds grew red, and their tongues hung from
their mouths for thirst. They looked for help in Marah, and lo,
the nauseous and poisonous tide renewed their pains. Then
Moses cut a branch from a tree which God showed him, and cast
it into the cruel stream, and the water became sweet.
Thus Christ, fair branch of life's immortal tree, is cast into the
bitter streams of this painful, unsatisfying world, and man's
sojourn below becomes his stepping-stone to heaven ; becomes the
preparation for his everlasting rest ; and is no longer a bane, but
is a boon.

174 MOSES.
At Rephidim, again the people cried out for water, the grand
need in a desert. At the word of the Lord, Moses smote the rock
in Horeb, and water flowed forth — an unfailing supply. As says
the Apostle: "They drank of that spiritual rock Avhich followed
them : and that Rock was Christ." Here the Apostle renders
the Old Testament symbol so plain, that he may run who
readeth it.
In his intercession Moses is a type of God's Church. The
Church delays the destruction of a world, heedless and unthank
ful for her power. Over how many a godless man's way have the
prayers of a mother, which are lying not unheeded before the
throne, brought blessings. Hoav many dangers have a Christian
father's pleadings averted from his children ; how many souls
have been given as an answer to importunate prayers.
How have pestilences been removed, Avars ended, famines pre
vented, by the strong cryings of God's beloved for mercy. "Let
me alone, that my anger may wax hot," said God. " Remember
Abraham, Isaac and Israel, thy servants," replied Moses, standing
fearless in the breach.
As a Prophet, the Lord himself holds this Moses as a singular
type of the Mediator God-man. " They have well spoken ... I
will raise up a Prophet from among thy brethren, like unto thee."
The people dared not abide the terrors of the law, they prayed
one to stand between them and the great fire ; the Almighty voice.
So God would for the fearful majesty of the law give them the
tenderness of the Gospel, through a Prophet like unto Moses.
Lest this promise might be in any manner misapplied, Stephen
develops it in his inspired address before the council.
This brings us to another point in which Moses was a type of
Christ. " Like unto thee," says God. " Moses was exceeding
fair," says Scripture; "of divine beauty," say traditions. He
was of the comeliest, noblest, most striking and glorious bearing ;

MOSES. 175
when he died, at the great age of one hundred and twenty years,
his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. We have no
sympathy Avith the proclamation of a physically marred, feeble,
imperfect Jesus. We believe that Moses types him in being
"fairer than the children of men;" "grace is poured into thy
lips ! "
He was the " fullness of the godhead, bodily ; " the " express
image " of the Father's person. He Avas the "strong son of God,"
incorruptible, untainted, perfect, physically, as Adam before he
fell. He bare our sicknesses as he bare our sins, in the profound
knoAvledge and sympathy and tenderness of his infinite soul.
" There arose not a Prophet since in Israel like unto Moses."
He Avas Avithout a peer, until there walked forth a man in Galilee,
one "chiefest among ten thousand," "altogether lovely," "his
head like fine gold," " his countenance as Lebanon, excellent as
the cedars." " This is the Church's beloved, and this is her
friend, O daughters of Jerusalem."
Moses typed the Church of God when he was hidden in the
cleft of the rock, and covered by the Almighty hand.
" I beseech thee, show me thy glory," was the outpouring of
the sensuous Egyptian worship, diverted to the channels of grace.
The Lord replies : " Thou canst not see my face, for no man
can see me and live. Behold there is a place by me, and thou
shalt stand on a rock, and it shall come to pass while my glory
passeth by, that I will put thee in the cleft of the rock, and
cover, thee with my hand."
Thus from the storm of God's Avrath, from the consuming
splendors of his face, from all- the terrors of the judgment day,
the Church of the Living shall be secure ; standing like Moses
on a rock, hidden in a cleft, covered by the Lord's hand ; for
Rock, and Cleft, and hiding Hand, shall be none other than the
Jehovah Angel, the Man Christ Jesus !

176 MOSES.
" 'Tis he, the Lamb 1 to him we fly
When the dread tempest passes by ;
God sees his well beloved's face,
And spares us in our hiding-place."
For forty days, upon two separate occasions, Moses abode on
the mount, and did neither eat nor drink.
Elijah and Christ alone have partaken of such an experience.
When Moses returned from his long communion Avith God, his
face shone, and he "wist it not." There is many an humble
believer, of Avhom all men take knoAvledge that he has been with
Jesus, but he does not realize the radiant beauty of his daily life.
Intercourse Avith Christ sets its bright seal upon men ; and here
below they shine with a reflection of the beauty of the upper
Sanctuary. Moses, in the wilderness, lifted up the brazen serpent ; standing
between the living and the dead, like Aaron with the censer, and
staying the plague. " Look and Live," was the word ; it was a
whole Gospel in three syllables. Christ shows its meaning to
Nicodemus : "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so
shall the Son of Man be lifted up."
In these all too cursory and unsatisfying glances at the life of
Moses, we come to some of the points where his active faith is
exhibited, and close with the unparalleled hour, when that faith
reaches ite highest development, and becomes the choice legacy of
the Church forever.
Upon some of these salient points, the Apostle Paul seizes in
his Epistle to the Hebrews. " By faith, Moses, when he was
come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter."
This is no idle story ; no record of small sacrifice ; it tells us of a
man who, in the prime of his power, at an epoch when the actual
ities of life are most potent, when the lust of glory is most ardent,
turned his back on the grandest throne beneath the sun ; on
Heliopolis, school and patron of art and science; on Egypt,

MOSES. 177
fairest, richest, most fertile kingdom ; on a croAvn whose lustre
outshone all others then on royal broAvs, and chose poverty, con
tumely, proscription, Aveary travail, all because it was better to
suffer affliction with the people of God for a while below, and
enter with them the rest that remaineth, than to enjoy the
pleasures of sin for a season.
" By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king."
He was a favored courtier, he became the tutor of slaves ; yea
more, himself the servant of. Jethro, the shepherd. It Avas no
small thing to dare the Avrath of Pharaoh, in an effort to redeem
his serfs from bondage.
" By faith he kept the Passover, and the sprinkling of blood,
lest he that destroyed the first-born should touch them."
Perhaps Ave should have passed this over in the list of mighty
works, had not inspiration especially directed attention to it.
But consider the faith which could stand up, and, in face of
friend and foe, predict that most Avonderful visitation — the death
of every first-born of man and beast in all that great nation ; and
then should propose by death to save from death : by the slain
lamb to rescue the HebreAV first-born, and standing in the full
splendor of an Egyptian day, should strike blood on the door
post as a sign for that invisible destroyer, who Avas to pass by in
the solemn darkness of night. This was faith indeed.
Was it a natural or ordinary occurrence, the refluence of the
sea waves, that for miles of. dry pathway nearly a million of
people might go through in safety ? But Moses, with the clamor
ous host of triumphant Egyptians pressing on the rear of the
terrified Israelites, speaks to his people that they " go forward,"
go on when the land's limit is reached; and stretching out his
rod expects and obtains a path such as mortal foot never before
trod and sees the wall of waters tovrering up on either side, clear
and firm as the crystal battlements of the neAV Jerusalem.
12

178 MOSES.
It AA'as a deed of loftiest faith to lead into the Avilderness a body
of six hundred thousand men, besides the mixed multitude, the
women and the children, Avithout provisions for the journey, in a
Avaste destitute of water, when their progress would necessarily be
very sIoav, and all that lay at the end of the Avay was the
promise of exterminating a strong people, Avho Avere of unusual
physical development, skilled in war, and dwelt in cities " Availed
up to heaA7en."
The Philistines Avere a race of soldiers ; the HebreAvs of shep
herds. They Avere naturally about as equally matched as a lion
and a lamb. Yet the strong faith ofthe leader assured his people
that they should enter in and possess that land, because he had
seized firm hold of the truth that Jehovah would be their Captain,
and nerve every arm Avith his own eternal strength.
What a steadfastness of faith was required to lay dovra to that
dissatisfied, envious, rebellious people of Israel, a code of laAvs
and Avorship so different from the customs they had learned in
Egypt ; so severe upon the idolatry with which they were most
deeply tinctured ; forbidding them all images, paintings and
similitudes, because they had seen no manner of similitude on the
day when the Lord spoke to them out of Horeb.
Every occasion on which Moses promised his people flesh,
bread, water, in the wilderness, drew upon him for a faith greater
than that possessed by all the million of the Israelites.
Every judgment which he pronounced, every punishment
whereby he vindicated the outraged honor of his Lord, required
such grand faith as has ornamented the martyrs ; for before him
stood the enraged people like wild beasts at bay, yet making
ready to spring in a last paroxysm of fury : they " Avere ready to
stone him ; " murder glared from their eyes, as " they chode Avith
him." All his prayers for help in direful extremity ; all his pleadings

MOSES. 179
for mercy in the midst of "plagues and burnings;" all his
battles, bringing his undisciplined horde against their superior
foe, were achievements of faith. This faith stayed the wrath of
the Eternal, and procured the presence of the Angel.
Behold his faith's last triumph in the victory over death. Life
Avas strong in his A'eins ; his foot was swift as the roe on the
mountains ; his hand Avas steady ; his eye Avas like the eagle's ;
his form Avas erect as the cedar ; age had scattered no hoar-frosts
on his broAV, written no lines on his cheek ; the clarion tones of
the leader rung out full and clear as Avhen he, at life's prime,
refused the throne of Egypt.
In all this abounding strength he Avas called on to make ready
to die. He might not lie down in his tent, surrounded by chil
dren and friends, counselling and blessing them : alone he Avas to
climb the mountain of Nebo, and standing on the brink of his
lonely grave, look his last on earth, in the midst of some great
silence. This desolation and loneliness would be the limning of natural
imagination. But the supreme faith of Moses saAV something
very different. He saw that from the fullness of strength in this
life, he should step into the immortal vigor of the life to come.
His last sight would be the length and breadth, the splendid
future of the land of Israel's inheritance, even unto the coming
of the Son of Man. The Lord God would be Avith him in the
valley of the shadoAV of death. No sepulchre built for the sons
of men ; not the grandeur of the Pyramids ; not the Theban
tombs ; not the gorgeous mausoleums of kings ; not the burial
place of Hephtestion, whereon Alexander lavished his fortune;
not the jewelled Taj, or the sculptured splendors of Greek and
Roman crypts and shrines, could be compared to the last resting-
place of Moses — for " The Lord buried him in a valley in the
land of Moab, over against Bethpeor, and no man knoweth of his
sepulchre unto this day."

180 MOSES.
The faith of Moses sufficed him for all the emergencies of this
life, and for the exigency of death.
To that solemn burial, perchance, came the hosts of God to
perform funeral rites. Angels, archangels, and cherubim may
have looked on the sacred dead, whom no human eye saw, and
laying the clods of that Moabite valley over his clay, accompanied
his soul into the city of God.
We hear of Moses, the exponent of the law, accompanying
Elijah, Prince of Prophets, to the holy mount where the Christ
of the Gospel shone, transfigured into his heavenly beauty.
Jude tells us that, about the body of Moses, the Devil disputed
with Michael. Perchance that evil spirit held then what he has
ever loved to teach, that " there is no resurrection of the dead."
The word of the Lord to Moses was : " Thou shalt be gathered
to thy 2^eople, as thy brother Aaroii was gathered to his people."
" God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." " The
people " of Moses were the souls of just men made perfect ; the
redeemed in the upper sanctuary, the Church of the first-born :
to these Moses was to go. He was to be gathered to his people.
This, his last joyful assurance; his last object of faith, re-union _
Avith his saved and sanctified brethren, was his legacy to all
believers to come. The dying believer has no dreary void, no
unknown waste before him. But he shall see Jesus as he is, and
seeing be like him. Where Jesus is, there also shall his ser
vants be.
Bright vision that dawned on the last hour of Moses; his
Avarfare was accomplished; his iniquity was pardoned; he went
to join, and be one of his people, those cherubim near the throne,
who cry : " Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the
seals, for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy
blood." " There arose no Prophet like to Moses." He was a giant in

MOSES. 181
all that captivates the human heart. Wondrous in personal
power and beauty ; a pure unpurchasable patriot ; a Prince of
statesmen ; a most unselfish benefactor to his race ; purged of
private ambition. He could command the forces of nature ; pray
open the Avindows of heaven ; control a whole nation in a tempest
of passion ; vindicate the right, punish the wrong ; sympathize
with all sorrow ; subdue armies of foes, and leave the impress of
his admirable wisdom and virtue on all coming time.

VIII.
MIRIAM AND DEBORAH
THE THEOCRATIC STATUS OF WOMAN.

" I read before mine eyelids dropt their shade
' The Legend ot Good Women,' long ago
Sung by the morning star of song, who made
His music heard below •
" Dan Chaucer, the first warbler, whose sweet breath
Preluded those melodious bursts that fill
The spacious times of great Elizabeth
With sounds that echo still."
HUS the " Legend of Good Women " was Avritten, and
later the " Dream of Fair Women," by another master in
the art of song ; yet have they left unsung tAvo, Avhom the
Scripture sets before us as glorious types of womanhood,
both in domestic and public life ; tAvo who teach us the status of
woman before her God ; and in these times when the questions of
Avoman's rights and position occupy so much attention, it is Avell to
go back to the fountain of all truth, and draw our lesson thence.
Miriam and Deborah, separated by nearly three centuries, Avere
twin souls, animated by the same high genius, by the same lofty
patriotism, by the same ardor of self-sacrifice, by the same prophetio
impulse. The traditions about Miriam differ, some asserting that she was
a JeAvish vestal, the vigin governess of the Israelitish Avomen ; and
the Talmud tells some singular stories of her office, poAver and
182

MIRIAM AND DEBORAH. 183
achievements. Josephus, on the contrary, states that she was the
Avife of Hur, of the royal family of Judah, and grandmother of
Bezaleel, the divinely-gifted craftsman of the tabernacle.
Hur Avas associated with Aaron on several especial occasions, as
on the Mount he stayed up the hands of Moses ; and was left with
Aaron in charge of the people during the absence of Moses on
Sinai. We do not read that either Miriam or Hur consented to
the idolatry of the calf.
Miriam is first mentioned as the eldest born of the wonderful
family of Amram the Levite. Through all her life she retains
that ascendancy Avhich in childhood she took as her natural right.
Doubtless a young child at the important hour when the babe
Moses Avas committed to the Nile, she was yet deemed capable of
AA'atching alone that frail bark and its most precious freight, whereon
hung the destinies of a nation, we may say of a world.
Artists have loved to paint the loveliness of that earnest child-
face ; the dark PlebreAV beauty, the shade of a neAV care mingled
Avith the sunny bouyancy of her childhood ; mother, sister, guardian
angel, all in one, peering through the tall reeds by the river. She
is too full of her parents' faith to believe her brother will perish ;
she has heard of the vision foretelling the babe's destiny, and awe
mingles Avith her tender looks ; there is pity too for the forlorn
ease of the nursling ; fear lest it should suffer ; Avonder as to what
¦will happen. The enthusiasm and imagination of the child-Avoman
are wrought up to the highest point ; she has been nurtured in
Egypt, a land teeming Avith fable ; and perhaps expects now some
Avonderful spiritual manifestation. When the princess takes the
babe, the Avatching Miriam fully justifies her parents' trust in her
capacity. Recognizing the human saving agency, she at once
boldly projects the return of the babe to its mother's bosom ; and
shrewdly Avorks for it. We see her plan groAving in her mind ;
6he is not over-hasty; she permits the child to cry, and the princess

184 MIRIAM AND DEBORAH.
to compassionate for a while ; Avith wonderful self-repression she
gives no sign of recognition, or personal interest ; she speaks to the
point, strong common sense ; and when she goes for her mother,
most likely she indicates to Jochebed the part that is to be played ;
and Jochebed receives it as a heavenly inspiration.
These traits, thus early shining forth, Avere only strengthened
Avith the strength of Miriam's advancing years.
" Miriam, the prophetess," is her acknoAvledged title at the time
ofthe Exodus, and she is the first person in the sacred household
to Avhom the prophetic gift is directly ascribed. This inspiration
took the same form in Avhich it displayed itself in Samuel, David,
and others — poetry, accompanied by music and processions.
The sister evidently shared the unusual personal beauty, and
more particularly the remarkable physical vigor and long-ex
tended youthfulness of her brothers. Though at the time of the
Exodus she must have been nearly ninety years of age, she takes
her timbrel and goes forth before all the Avomen of the Hebrews,
leading their triumphal procession, singing and dancing in the
joy of the deliverance. Clear over all the host rang the Avords
of her praise, which they caught up and repeated, echoing them
over desert and sea, as the Avavcs rolled their dead foes to their
feet. " Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously !
The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea."
Miriam also must have shared the superior culture of her
brothers, for she is ever mentioned as their peer; and she ever
maintains toAvard them an independent and high position. In
Numbers, twelfth and first, she is mentioned before Aaron as the
leading spirit avIio SAvayed his judgment; Avhile Micah the prophet
names her as one of the three deliverers of the HebreAvs : " And
I sent before thee Moses, Aaron and Miriam." This last passage
suffices to fix her position as one of high honor and leadership.
This princess of the Hebrews was a proud woman, and her na-

MIRIAM AND DEBORAH. 185
tional zeal was boundless. The Cushite Avife of Moses found little
favor in her eyes. Perhaps she felt the pure blood of the priestly
race polluted by union Avith one Avho had not Abraham to her
father. Perhaps the daughter of Jethro defied some of the na
tional customs, or undervalued the national privileges of the He-
breAvs. She certainly appears in a most unfavorable light in the
journey from Midian to Egypt. Miriam failed, hoAvever, in that
she did not yield to the inevitable. Respecting the sanctity of the
connubial tie, she should have felt that the marriage of her brother
Avas a fixed fact, Avhich could in no Avise be bettered by arousing
strife, and expressing dissatisfaction. The Cushite wife Avas a wife
in very truth, and as such it behooved Miriam silently to accept
her. But in her family and national pride, Miriam urges her feelings
on Aaron, until he is brought to the same indignation as herself,
and together they attack Moses. The fashion of the onset is sin
gular, they say : " Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses ?
Hath he not spoken also by us ? "
Here Miriam claims a parity Avith Aaron, which he does not
dispute. The High Priest and his sister assert the same prophetic
gift in equal ratio ; and the Lord does not challenge their claim.
He only makes it plain, that Avhile they may be inspired, and that
equally, they are far below the measure of his servant Moses, like
whom there is none other.
When the Lord in anger had rebuked them and departed, lo
Miriam, as the prime leader of the Avrong, Avas covered Avith the
abhorred Egyptian leprosy.
The proud prophetess could not have received a greater blow,
and the cry of horror Avhich at once rises from her two brothers,
attests the lofty dignity of her station, and their own ardent love
for her.
Not only this, but the whole nation is bowed in silent grief ;

186 MIRIAM AND DEBORAH.
and during the seven days of her ostracism from the camp,, the
host of Israel abode in Hazeroth in keenest sympathy, Avaiting
for the restoration of their prophetess.
Miriam died in Kadesh, in the Avilderness of Zin, in the month
Xanthicus, in the fortieth year of the Avanderings, says Josephus.
In the same year died Aaron, aged one hundred and twenty-three,
an age Avhich his sister surpassed by some years. Josephus tells
us that the people made Miriam a great and costly funeral, and
mourned for her thirty days, as they afterwards did for Aaron. The
Arabians claim that her sepulchre is yet extant in Petra, as also
that of Aaron.
We see from the history of Miriam, that when God called the
people of Israel out of Egypt, giving the nation manners, laAvs,
customs, exactly such as were pleasing to him, he made it evident
in the position which he accorded Miriam, that Avoman was
neither a slave, a plaything, nor a household drudge; but was
meant by her Maker, as man is meant, for any station, public or
private, where she was needed. Womanhood suffered in Miriam
no degradation in occupying a public place, because there was a
demand for her in that place. God chose one especial family to
lead his Israelites to freedom. He found in that family a daughter
as Avell as tAvo sons ; and he used her as he used her brothers, in
some particular part of the leadership. Aaron did not do the
Avork of Moses, nor Moses of Aaron ; neither of them did Miriam's.
One says, "but she Avas especially inspired." Yes; and so were
Moses and Aaron. It was a particular emergency. Every age is
full of particular emergencies.
" But she sinned, in regard to the marriage of Moses." True,
she did sin ; God Avorks beloAV, by imperfectlj7 sanctified instru
ments. Aaron sinned when he made the calf; Moses, at the rock
in Horeb. We do not hear that Miriam's integrity failed on
either of these occasions.

MIRIAM AND DEBORAH. 187
The gift of Miriam sIioavs that the spirit of prophecy, like
genius, has no sex. However, in these days Ave find many — and
that of both sexes — Avho undertake to prophesy having received
no afflatus but in their oavh imagination.
There Avere many men in Israel Avho rose up to strive Avith
Moses and Aaron for the leadership. We do not read that the
women of the nation ever made such an attempt, to Avrest power
from Miriam. This speaks well for their common sense. Miriam
had been gifted and trained for her position ; she Avas equal to it,
and that capacity vindicated her divine right to occupy it.
Women, it has been said, have no right to interfere with
government ; it is not their part to rule nations. Possibly the
Lord thought differently, Avhen he cut off all the male heirs of the
crown of England, and put Victoria upon the throne. Just as
evidently he has never given any woman a call to the Presidency
of the United States. If He ever does, he will make it so plain
that no one can dispute it, more than they can dispute his call to
other rulers.
France has Salic LaAv; England has none. Salic LaAV de
livered France over to the long line of the dissolute Louis, and
the Revolution ; absence of that laAV in England made Elizabeth
sovereign, and the land Protestant.
Theories have been advanced, asserting what a woman may
and can do ; what she may not, and must not do. These asser
tions, on both sides of the Woman's Status question, are called
" Divine principles : " they are directly antagonistic to each other,
yet each is claimed as taught by human instinct, and the revela
tion of heaven !
We do not understand that God has hedged himself in by any
of these rules ; He has shoAvn that He gives men and women mis
sions, irrespective of sex. There Avas nothing but Divine inten
tion to hinder Amram from having three sons, instead of a

188 MIRIAM AND DEBORAH.
daughter and tAvo sons. But the Divine intention proved a great
matter ; and if that intention had been to teach that the status of
women Avas ever and undeniably to be domestic privacy, and
entire separation from public life, cares, action, and the great
deeds of the Avorld, the Lord took a most singular fashion to teach
the lesson, in setting Miriam, Deborah, Jael, Huldah, Priscilla,
and others in Holy Writ.
There is no disputing that all the great deeds which God has
performed by the hands of Avomen, he might have performed by
the hands of men. When he has made Avomen rulers, prophet
esses, and Avarriors, he might have placed men in those positions
instead. His employing Avomen as he has, for such labors, has
shoAvn that there is no divinely ordained incongruity between
women and any of these offices. In general terms, God has
assigned men one line of Avork in the world, and women another ;
in physical conformation, he has fitted them for their grand and
customary departments of labor ; but he has made it no sin to go
out of one sphere into the other, if there is necessity for it.
Women rear babes, and guide the house; men till the soil, and
strong-armed defend the home. But there have been some small
muscled men, and some A7ery large muscled Avomen. As a general
principle, men had better guide the ploughshare; but there' have
been Avomen Avho have handled that implement excellently well,
because there Avas a necessity.
" Necessity knoAVS no law," is a frequent saying. Let us alter
it to " Necessity makes a law."
This law of necessity is developing new phases of feeling.
" The spirit of the age has always kept pace with facts, and out
stripped the statutes." Let us say, that " the spirit of the age "
is nothing more than the recognition of the necessities evolved by
that age; let us also add, that as nothing is ever gained by run
ning before Providence, so nothing is ever made by going with a
loud clamor before the call of necessity.

MIRIAM AND DEBORAH. 189
Progress is not made by flying before demand, by becoming an
avant-courier, like Malise bearing Clan Alpine's cross of fire.
Best Avisdom Avaits prepared, like Roderick's " plaided warriors
armed for strife," until need gives the signal. Not the messenger
henchman, but the waiting host, was to gain victory. When
once the rash and blatant age has learned the true Theocratic
Status of Woman, they will see that God set her as man's equal,
as he has made men equal one with another. BetAveen man and
man, as between man and woman, there are muscular and intel
lectual variations. The first Divine Right of Woman is, to do
her OAvn duty in her own particular sphere ; and the second right
is, to be Avise enough to Know when she has the call and capacity
to fill any other sphere.
But this legitimate position of Avoman has broadened Avith the
broadening energies and culture of all the Avorld ; and the Avoman
who now lives but to sew tapestry, make love, and forget her
alphabet ; or the Avoman Avho sets her whole mind on knitting
and spinning, is behind her age; as much as the general would
be who should go into battle, clad in armor, carrying boAV and
arrows, and riding in a war chariot ofthe days of Alexander.
The Bible is a book for all time : developing the thought of
God for all human history. Miriam and Deborah Avere, per
chance, women before their age ; Avomen suited to the growth of
later centuries, and showing what place woman could lawfully
occupy. We turn to Miriam's sister soul, Deborah, the Prophetess and
Judge of Israel, and there are some salient points in her history.
Under that solitary land mark, the palm tree in Ephraim, later
called Baal Tamar — the sanctuary of the palm — dwelt Deborah,
the wife of Lapidoth.
Ehud and Shamgar Avere dead : the long peace conquered by
those. men of valor was at an end; and Israel's sin had sold them

190 MIRIAM AND DEBORAH.
to be slaves to Jabin, king of the Canaanites, who dwelt in Hazor.
The right arm of Jabin's strength was Sisera, captain of the
host; a very A'aliant man, Avho maintained an almost royal state
on the spoils of his victories.
Besides foot soldiers and horsemen, Sisera had in his command
nine hundred chariots of iron. Very likely these were armed
Avith scythes, and as they swept over the battle field, mowing
doAvn men like grain, they were indeed formidable implements of
Avar; and a people Avho could only equip themselves Avith bows
and javelins, Avould easily be overborne by such a force.
At this time God put his spirit upon Deborah, a Avoman of
Ephraim, the Avife of Lapidoth, and Israel recognizing her pro
phetic gift, Avent to her for judgment. From her lips they
received instruction, advice, exhortation, reproof. To her they
unfolded their griefs and difficulties, and from her they learned
the error of their ways, the wrath and the forgiving mercy of
their God.
The high position of Deborah, as a judge of her people, did not
militate against her true Avomanliness, or her domestic life. She
judged Israel, but she exercised her office as the Avife of Lapidoth,
dAvelling in the sanctity of his home. She did not go up and
down the land to proclaim ner abilities ; to call the people to her
standard; to inquire into their Avants, or their Avrong doing; to
exhibit her gifts and poAver. On the contrary, she dwelt under
her palm tree, and when she Avas Avanted, the people went to her.
In courage, faith, patriotism, self-sacrifice, and humility, she
was the very person suited to Israel's dire extremity ; this fitness
in herself secured her the dominion, and that dominion she exer
cised just as circumstances demanded.
For tAventy years the people of Israel Avere punished for idol
atry, and were led back to their ancient faith, by cruel slavery.
They had groAvn cowards exceedingly, because they were sinners

MIRIAM AND DEBORAH. 191
exceedingly. Jabin's iron yoke bowed the necks of the once free
and holy people ; and they were Aveeping tears of blood.
A Avoman of unusual faith, Deborah must also have been a
Avoman of prayer, and under her palm tree, day and night, she
had cried to her God for the salvation of her people. She mourned
before the Lord, as aftenvards she sung jubilantly to him. It
was this woman's faith and prayerfulness which made her a
prudent ruler ; this, her godliness, was her crown and her shield.
At length the answer to her prayers came. She Avas informed
from heaven that God Avould lead out Sisera and his host to the
river Kishon. This should be the river of death to the army of
Jabin, and its mighty Avaters should SAveep away the oppressors
of the Hebrews.
The chariots and foot soldiers should perish ; the proud head
of Sisera should bow doAvn under the clods of the valley beneath
Tabor. Plere Avas military glory waiting for some one, but
Deborah did not seek it.
It was Avritten in her destiny that she should lead that line of
Avarrior women who shine on the historic page ; but a true woman,
she did not C0A7et such renoAvn, and would Avillingly have waited
for another victor, to sing his achievements beneath her palm.
She sent for Barak, the son of Abinoam, a dweller in Kadesh-
Naphtali. The tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali, lying near the territory
of Jabin, felt most keenly his oppression ; it was meet, therefore,
that they should bear the brunt of the Avarfare.
Barak promptly obeyed the summons of the prophetess, and
appeared before her. Deborah addressed him in Avords of fervent
faith and patriotism, which Avould have stirred the most sluggish
soul: "Hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded, saying, Go
and draAV toward Mount Tabor, and take Avith thee ten thousand

192 MIRIAM AND DEBORAH.
men of the children of Naphtali, and of the children of Zebulun ?
And I will draw unto thee, to the river Kishon, Sisera, the
captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude ; and
I will deliver him into thine hand."
Listening, Barak had more faith in the rapt prophetess than in
his God ! Deborah's grand courage drank ite strength from the
fountains of the Infinite, but Barak dwelt more in the seen.
The enthusiasm of Deborah fired him ; she grasped the promise
of the coming triumph, and her holy confidence rang in every
tone. " Her warbling voice, a lyre of widest range,
Struck by all passion, did fall down and glance
From tone to tone, and glided through all change
Of livliest utterance.
" When she made pause, I knew not for delight :
Because with sudden motion from the ground
She raised her piercing orbs, and filled with light
Tue interval of sound 1 "
This woman could command vdetory, thought Barak, even in
the face of six hundred armed iron chariots.
And straightway he spoke his thought : " If thou wilt go with
me, I will go : but if thou wilt not go with me, I will not go ! "
We can imagine the look that swept over the noble face of that
mother in Israel. Indignation, surprise at the faith in flesh and
lack of confidence in God, half scorn, and abundant self-sacrifice.
She had not sought to lead the army; she had avoided it, but
the fate of Israel rested on her heroism. It was needful for her
to lead the advance of the ten thousand Hebrews ; this being so,
she could do it.
There AA7as reproof in her answer. " I will surely go with thee :
notwithstanding the journey which thou takest shall not be for
thine honor ; for the Lord shall sell Sisera into the hand of a
woman."

R

P

MIRIAM AND DEBORAH. 193
Even this prophecy and reproach did not alter Barak's resolu
tion. He probably reasoned that as her prophetic gift was so
well knoAvn, her presence in the army would be a pledge of
victory. Zebulun and Naphtali were much more likely to come
at his summons, if their beloved Judge Avere Avith him.
As he in no Avise abated his demand, " Deborah arose, and went
Avith Barak to Kedesh."
"And Barak called Zebulun, and Naphtali to Kedesh ; and he
went up with ten thousand men at his feet ; and Deborah Avent
up Avith him."
There were men enough in Israel to judge the people and
exhort Barak ; there Avere Avarriors, priests, legists, and the princes
of Judah ; but God called this Avoman to stand in the breach, to
destroy Jabin, free_ the tribes, and judge them. She had such
inspiration and fitting for her office as Gideon and other judges.
We see her grandly suited to her position ; she is never in ad
vance of demand ; never behind it ; she keeps majestic pace Avith
necessity. When the hosts of the Canaanites and Hebrews Avere arrayed
against each other, Deborah gave the signal of battle, saying to
Barak : " Up ! for this is the day in Avhich the Lord hath de
livered Sisera into thine hand ; is not the Lord gone out before
thee?" It Avas a glorious announcement ; it nerA'ed the arm of Barak,
and thrilled e\7ery one of the ten thousand hearts in his camp.
They rushed forth assured of victory. " The Lord discomfited
Sisera." The A7ery stars in their courses fought for Israel. The
soul of Barak rose to meet the hour; the clash of the battle
electrified him ; he pursued the flying host of the enemy unto
Harosheth, dealing death, and foes fell before him like leaves cut
off by the frosts. "And all the hosts of Sisera fell by the edge
6f the sword ; and there was not a man left." Those six hundred
13

194 MIRIAM AND DEBORAH.
chariots of iron were abandoned on the field ; wildly dashed the
horses, their leaders lost, and the tumult of the strife in their ears.
Kishon, rolling seaward, carried SAVollen corpses, spears, shields,
and flung up Avarlike equipments upon its banks.
Among the multitude of the dead, the Hebrew soldiers sought
for the hated body of Jabin's general. Barak knew well that the
prediction would be verified; that no AArarrior's SAvord or spear
AA'ould be found to have cut doAvn Sisera ; in some retreat he had
surely been slain, by the hand of a Avoman.
So it Avas. Heber, the Kenite, a descendant of Jethro, the
father-in-law of Moses, a princely nomad, Avas living in his tents,
at peace Avith Jabin. Heber had his dwelling in Zaanaim, "the
oaks of the wanderers." In the heart of Jael, this Bedouin's wife,
gloAved a friendship for the people of God. When she saAV their
oppressor lying asleep in her tent, the cries of women and chil
dren Availing for fathers and sons whom he had slain, seemed to
fill her ears. This Avas the man Avho had seized Hebrew maidens
to croAvd his harem ; here was he Avho had reaped the fields he
never soAved; the proud idolater, Avho had contemned that One
God Avhom Moses wrote of, and whom Jethro served. Her soul
burned to revenge the sorrows of the kindred people.
A moment, the nail and hammer did their work, and Sisera
passed out of sleep to sleep's twin brother — death, and lay all
lifeless at Jael's feet.
A daring deed ! The enemy of Israel was slain !
And yet, as the next chapter closes, with that Canaanite mother's
watching for her stately son ; as one moment her maternal pride
swells high, and next her fears prevail, and we think ofthe white
corpse on which Barak gazes in Heber's tent, and know this
mother's heart must sicken and perish in its hope deferred, we pity
her. She is a Avoman who has leaned from her lattice, with her
wise ladies about her, and for more than three thousand years has
challenged and received the sympathy of a world !

MIRIAM AND DEBORAH. 195
The day of slaughter closed with song. Deborah and Barak
meeting Avhen the oppressor was vanquished, and their people Avere
made free, burst forth into the praise of God. Instead of self-
gratulation there Avas Avorship. " Praise ye the Lord ! " "I will
sing praise to the God of Israel." This began the psean, and when
the gloAving numbers ceased, they ceased in praise. " So let all
thine enemies perish, O Lord ; but let them that loA7e him be as
the sun, when he goeth forth in his might."
After this deliverance " the land had rest forty years." The
passing of each Hebrew generation seemed to mark a new lapse
into idolatry.
Behold this Deborah ! her piety, her discretion, her Avisdom, her
patriotism, are an inheritance for a Avorld.
She greAV up at her birthjjlace ; there she married ; there when
called to lofty station she still abode ; and Israel Avent up to her
for judgment. Her high jjosition and mighty deeds did not unsex
her ; she was not a king, but a mother in Israel. The trouble-
tossed, worn, grieving, penitent people, needed a mother, and that
mother was Deborah. She sang them songs of salvation and of
patriotism comforting them. Hers was no feeble lullaby ; she sang
gloriously as David, Isaiah and Habakkuk. That swelling
triumphal ode seals her a prophet.
The history of Deborah, of her prophesying, judging and Avarring,
shows us that in the thought of God there is no unfitness in wo
man's undertaking those toils, and filling those positions, if need
be, which more ordinarily belong to men. There are times Avhen
a woman can do a man's Avork .more nobly and fitly than he can
do it himself. When that time has come let her do the work as
God has called her. And Ave shall see that the Avomen thus needed
and thus employed are not the women Avho have been loudly vaunt
ing their fitness and demanding opportunity ; but those Avho with
souls intent on duty, rather than renoAvn, have gi\-en their hearts

196 MIRIAM AND DEBORAH.
to each toil as it found them ; and having been faithful in least
were found to be equally faithful in much.
Since before women under Divine government lie these possi
bilities, we Avork in the line ofthe Divine intent Avhen women are
educated, as men are educated, in the ratio of their capacity. The
capacity of Avomen for learning is, on the Avhole, the same as that
of men. More than half of each sex is unequal to a liberal educa
tion. Given unlimited opportunities, each growing mind will by
natural selection receive that for which it is best suited, and which
Avill in the end be found to be a proper furnishing for the
exigencies of its future.
Not every Paduan maiden could have become professor of six
languages in the university, as did Elena Cornaro ; and, as was
proven by the fact, not e\7ery Paduan lad ; for she found none to
compete Avith her.
Fenclon taught that feminine purity was as incompatible with
learning as Avith vice. God being the great fountain of knowledge,
Ave do not presume that he has ever fashioned a creature so holy
as to be defiled by Avisdom.
Dr. Channing is horror struck at AA7oman's meddling Avith theo
logy. The excellent divine would not have had Miriam pro
phesy; Deborah deliver the oracles of God; or Priscilla be one of
the professors of theology, of whom Apollos the eloquent learned.
The good doctor is not the only man who has been wiser than
God. There has been much prating about Avoman's intuition and in
stinct, and her Aveakness being her strength. Woman's Aveakness
is not her strengh ; for her as for man knowledge is power. Intui
tion is no more the peer of education than the dog's instinct is the
equal of his master's knoAvledge. Instinct and intuition are well
enough when they are all that can be had — and no longer.
Given a sound religious, moral, and mental training, and we

MIRIAM AND DEBORAH. 197
think other problems will Avork themselves out — when it is time.
It took many years to teach men that there is a better implement
than the SAVord ; and that Avoman could manage anything beyond
her spinning Avheel ; and the lesson in either case is yet far from
Avell learned.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of all Avisdom. The
Creator bestows this on Avomen as he does on men. He demands
of each the best exercise of the talents, Avhether feAV or many,
Avhich he has bestoAved. In proportion as the soul and brain are
educated, Avomen will appreciate the dignity and extent of what
is eA'idently their first sphere, the sphere of home. When they
go beyond this, it Avill be because their home Avork demands less
than their capacity ; because outside work calls for the surplus
poAver ; because they are equal to the new demand made upon
them. In considering this " woman question " most people ignore the
fact that marriage is the God-implanted instinct of the race. The
majority of men and Avomen will marry. Unconquerable nature
Avill then set the claims of husband, children, home life first in the
heart of every educated and godly woman. Therefore, there need
be no more masculine trepidation lest Avomen usurp the pulpit and
the gubernatorial chair, the general's star, and the sea captain's
floating kingdom, because wifehood and motherhood Avill interpose
their mysterious ban. There may be no legal disability, but there
Avill be in general the natural disability and disinclination. When
there is an exception, it will be so fitting and so necessary that, as
in the case of Deborah, Miriam and Huldah the prophetess, no one
will wish to condemn. For any body of men to legislate against
the entrance of woman into any honest sphere, we hold to be action
running before the face and Avill of God, Avhich will be forced to
run back again.
Woman shines fitly in her home, as shines a jeAvel in a ring ;

198 MIRIAM AND DEBORAH.
but, as says John Quincy Adams : " Women are not only justified,
but exhibit the most exalted \7irtue, when they do depart from
the domestic circle, and enter on the concerns of their country,
of humanity, and of their God." For the first specification, we
see a bright array of those who have been Avarriors, rulers, martyr-
patriots. We admit the vast incompatibility between Avoman-
hood and war ; that, hoAvever, is an argument against war and not
against the sex. We see an incompatibility betAveen God's minis
ters and Avar ; betAveen all good men and war. Leaving home,
women haA7e blessed the earth, as nurses and teachers — as mis
sionaries, and the sustainers and pioneers of missions.
" Times change, and we change with them." The nineteenth
century has demanded more of and for women than any precedent.
The next century may do more, but loud outcry, and wild de
mands for that, for Avhich the fulness of time has not come, Avill
not hasten the years, slipping like sands from the hand of the
Creator. The status of Avoman under the Divine Government is a mental
and spiritual equality Avith man. Add to this piety, and only
in those exceptional cases Avhere there is a clear need and call Arill
woman trench on the office work of man.
The honorable Avomen of the centuries, whose names are written
in light, have not been those Avho clamored for great honors in
public places, but Avho, doing whatsoever their hands found to do,
grew into fame Avithout intending it. If there is a loftier good,
a higher sphere for woman, she will reach it by showing herself
equal to all the emergencies of the present.
If the day comes when the affairs of State government, diplo
macy, and politics need her guidance, she will find herself stand
ing quietly at her post, lifted there because she was needed.
In such need, Avhile manhood ignores the sentimentalism of a
Dunois, it will possess the unselfish recognition and reverence of

MIRIAM AND DEBORAH. 199
Barak, for one whom God has animated and moulded for the
occasion. " If Barak had believed like Deborah, he would have been
as near to God as she was," says Lange. Faith was the measure
of valor. Not legions, but prophets, guard the kingdom of our
God. God has called his prophets from either sex as it pleased
him ; but in the main the duties of the prophetic office have been
suited rather to the physique of the man than the woman.
When all men and Avomen have faith, Avhen all are Christians,
then all fear of mutual aggression and oppression will be done
away. The scriptural assertion of the unity of their flesh is the
assertion of their equality ; to claim equality is not to deny a dif
ference. In religion only these two find their true oneness, their
highest destiny :
" As Heaven's high twins, whereof in Tyrian blue
The one revolveth : through his course immense
Might love his brother of the damask hue,
For like, and difference.
For different pathways evermore decreed
To intersect, but not to interfere ;
For common goal, two aspects, and one speed,
One centre and one year."

IX.
ACHAN.
THE SINNER IN THE CHURCH.

Pit N the annals of the Church of God the same elements have
)T entered into every dispensation. The history of the
«x-, Church militant is a unit. Those phases of character ;
those diverse elements ; those rhapsodies, and declensions ;
those Avarm-hearted labors, and strange apathies, which wake our
wonderment now, puzzled Shem ; preyed on the soul of Methu
selah ; astonished Abraham ; and discouraged Moses, until he
cried, " Kill me noAV, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found
favor in thy sight, and let me not see my wretchedness."
Christians now-a-days feel religion disgraced, and sinners tri
umph to see so many in the Church, who are evidently not of it.
It is common to hear people remarking that though this is pain
ful, it is nothing new — " Judas Avas one of the twelve." Judas
was only a central figure in a long line of " fair and flourishing
professors " Avho have proven themselves false. There were many,
beginning Avith Cain, before Judas ; there have been many since.
Christ has plainly declared that thus it shall be until the world
ends, and the angel reapers go forth : " Let them both grow
together until the harvest."
Such a vast concourse of evil doers have doubtless exhibited
the hardness of the unregenerate heart, in every imaginable form
of sin ; but after all, ninety-nine hundredths of the false professors
200

ACHAN. 201
sIioav their spiritual idiosyncrasies in one and the same form —
covetousness. If a member of any evangelical church breaks the third, sixth,
seventh, or eighth commandment, he is pretty certain to be ex
scinded at once. If he trespasses on the fourth, fifth, or ninth
sections of the moral law, let us hope that he is invariably re
proved and exhorted. But Ave must aver that cases where any
exception is taken to the infringing of the tenth commandment by
" church members in good standing," are so few and far between,
that none seem to be on record. This is, when well considered,
the more singular, since he Avho breaks the law against coveting,
evidently has at the same time broken those most solemn statutes :
" Thou shalt have no other gods before me." " Thou shalt not
bow down to them nor serve them." We see that a covetous
Christian should be an impossibility; alas, he is hardly an
anomaly. Before the Christian's eye should be ever, as in the legend, the
crucified Christ, saying : "All this for thee ; what hast thou
done for me? "
If it is possible for the saved soul entering the better Avorld,
to feel Avonder-struck and bitterly repentant for his past, it will be
in proportion, Ave think, to the amount of his covetousness. The
covetous Christian is, like covetous Lot, saved so as by fire.
In nearly every church there is to be found a very lofty, self-
assuming and thoroughly self-satisfied individual, Avhom the Lord
has never converted ; and Avhose covetousness and self-content
keep equal pace one with another.
In studying Biblical characters, Ave have come now to Achan,
a man of this type, and shall, for a little time dwell upon the
individual, his influence, and his destiny. There had been men
of his stamp before him. Milton goes still farther back, and tells
us of a covetous spirit among the rebelling angels :

202 ACHAN.
"Mammon led them on ;
Mammon, the least erected spirit that fell
From Heaven ; for e'en in Heaven his looks and thoughts
Were always downward bent, admiring more
The riches of Heaven's pavement, trodden gold,
Than aught divine or holy, else enjoyed
In vision beatific."
The name Achan is more properly, as Josephus has it, Achar
— a troubler. He Avas the fourth generation from Judah ; a
prince of a princely house.
The city of Jericho Avas given to Israel by the direct interposi
tion of God. The people marched around it to the sound of their
sacred music; and when the ordained signal was given, the
mighty wall fell inwards with a great crash, and all that each
HebreAV had to do Avas to go up straight before him, to seize the
captives and the spoil.. The city of Jericho was especially
accursed ; it had, like Sodom, sinned exceedingly, and was to be
left a monument of the destroying wrath of God upon high
handed idolatry. Therefore, before its mighty bulwarks Avithered
and fell beneath the touch of God's finger, Joshua had strictly
commanded the people, saying : "And ye in any wise keep your
selves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed,
Avhen ye take the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a
curse, and trouble it. But all the silver and gold, and vessels of
brass and iron, are consecrated to the Lord : they shall come into
the treasury ofthe Lord."
This was an exceedingly plain, impressive Avarning. We must
remember that it came immediately after the miraculous passage
of the Jordan ; the solemn celebration of the passover at Gilgal ;
the neAV circumcision of the people; the ceasing of the manna,
the angel's food which had nourished them for forty years ; and
the appearance of the Covenant Angel, Captain of the Hosts of
God. We see the tremendous impression made on the minds of the

ACHAN. 203
Israelites by these events, and by the prohibition delivered to
them, in the fact that among all those millions there was found
but one man Avho dared to disobey. Indeed, Ave feel it a matter
of amazement that even one should have ventured so much, when
to reach his forbidden prize he must pass over those strangely
smitten walls, beholding the destruction God dealt to his foes, and
seeing how, when his reckoning time comes, he requireth all the
past. Achan Avas an honorable man, of a most honorable family ; he
was doubtless highly respected by the people, and had no little
esteem for himself; when the royal banners of Judah led the
advancing host of Israel, he went Avith them, feeling himself a
credit to his nation.
He had nourished a great vice in his bosom. A man, in
a sudden burst of passion, may be betrayed into a sin, of
Avhich he has never dreamed; but selfishness is a plant of slow
groAvth ; it only, by culture, attains strength ; it is not like
Jonah's gourd, a thing to grow up in one night, and wither in
another. The whole manner of Achan's crime shoAved that covetousness
was a habit with him. He Avas so secret, so Avary, so presistent,
so utterly obstinate about his deed.
As he Avent up, sword in hand, over the prostrate Avail, he came
to the dAvelling of a great man of Jericho, perhaps even to the
palace of the king. The greedy eye of Achan Avas alert for
plunder. He had not laid it to heart that Jericho Avas accursed,
and all its gold and silver Avere consecrated to the Lord, and were
to be brought into the sanctuary, purged by fire, and converted to
sacred use.
The Avealth of Jericho was the gain of vice and oppression.
Its treasures Avere sacred to Baal and Ashtaroth : now the wrath
of man Avas to redound to the glory of the God of Heaven, and

204

ACHAN.

the spoils of the idols Avere to decorate the sanctuary of the King
of kings.
Looking eagerly about him, keeping guard neither over his
eyes nor the lusts of his heart, Achan saw a noble trophy. Be
fore him lay a right royal robe, a Babylonish garment. Even
when he is about to die for its sake, it is so precious in his eyes
that, with a miser's relish, he calls it " a goodly Babylonish gar
ment." " It Avas," says Josephus, " woven entirely of gold, fit
for a king." Near this garment were two hundred shekels of
silver, probably in some Avrought purse or bag, and a wedge of
gold, in weight fifty shekels.
Achan at once desired these for his own possession ; he did not
consider how worthily they Avould grace the Tabernacle; he did
not remember that they Avere already the Lord's, and that the eye
of their Owner Avas fixed on him.
" Will a man rob God ? But ye have robbed me, saith the
Lord of Hosts."
We see that Achan was a true miser, one Avho loved treasure
for ite own sake, not on account of what he could do with it.
There is a vast difference between these two classes. The world
unites in execrating men who get gold to gloat over it in secret ;
to cherish it, and cling to it, and love it like a human thing.
Others gather money Avith equal avidity, but they get it as the
means of amassing treasures of art and literature; of securing
education, and lavishing beautiful gifts on their families and
friends. If they add to this, that as they get they give; that
their money is a fountain whence flow a hundred rills of blessing
to the needy, and which make the waste places of the Church
bloom like the rose, then men rejoice in their success, as the
securing of a positive good.
Achan loved the golden garment, the silver shekels, and the
shining wedge, for themselves. He at once appropriated them

ACHAN. 205
to his OAvn use, and made all speed to his tent to hide them.
His family, as Ave learn from the sequel, Avere like-minded with
himself. They shared his doom ; and, as God is just, it is evident
that they shared his crime. A trench Avas dug in the earth under
the tent of Achan, and there they hid away God's property, the
consecrated firstfruits of the spoils of Canaan.
Achan had plenty of time to deliberate, to repent, to make
restitution, but he had no idea of doing either ; he gloated over
his booty.
Before long he began to see the effect of his sin, for his people
Avere smitten at Ai ; and instead of coming again in triumph, the
defeated army returned, rending the air Avith their cries, and
bringing the dead bodies of thirty-six Avarriors.
Shame and confusion of face Avere Israel's portion. In thirty-
six tents the Availing women took up the lamentations for. the
dead. The "hearts of all the people melted, and became as
Avater." Joshua, Avith torn garments and dishevelled locks, lay Aveeping
on his face before the Ark of God.
The seventy elders of Israel put dust on their reverend heads,
and refused to be comforted.
Achan kneAV why this bloAV had fallen : he saAV the chiefs of
his own tribe, Nahshon and Zabdi, lamenting thus before offended
God, and he knew Avell that the root of all this bitterness Avas
golden, and planted in the earth in the midst of his tent. Still
he did not repent. It Avas open to him to confess and to restore ;
but no, he A7alued his treasure more than the lives and happiness
of his people, more even than the fate of his nation.
His sin cannot be hidden, and God becomes his Accuser. The
meaning of the disaster is made plain, there is a sinner in
Israel. The inexorable lot pointed its ghostly finger directly to
the culprit.

206

ACHAN.

Achan stood confronted with his Avronged, indignant people;
before his grieved, astonished leader ; before the tabernacle of his
outraged God.
Not till then ; not until vengeance had taken him by the throat,
and cried, "Thou art the man," did he confess; then, driven to
the Avail, he ma.de a statement qf fact.
Suddenly the hidden garment, the gold and the silver, gave
tongue against him ; when the trench Avas opened, the trembling
messengers beheld the fatal ingot, the shining of the folded
cloth of gold, and under all the silver shekels. They brought
them forth, laying them as silent accusers before the Lord.
That is a solemn scene in the doleful valley, thence called
Achor. Achan, his family, his tent, his goods, his flocks and
herds all make one mighty funeral pyre.
Joshua says to the culprit: "Why hast thou troubled us?
The Lord shall trouble thee, this day."
Doubtless as Achan looked upon the fruits of his crime, when
he saw garment, Avedge and shekels, they seemed a strange thing
to die for.
" They stoned them Avith stones." Thus Israel cleared them
selves of all complicity in the iniquity. They burned them Avith
fire, emblem of the fierceness of that anger Avhich had gone out
against Jacob. Then they raised over them a great pile of
stones — a memorial of the sin, and punishment of covetousness
" Wherefore the name of that place Avas called Achor," that is —
trouble. This is the brief and bitter history of the man. His epitaph is
written in the Book of Chronicles. "Achar — the troubler of
Israel." Thus is he set on the page of history forever.
The baleful influence of the man is to be noted. His sin had
impregnated his Avhole family. If there is a sin which is heredi
tary in its essence, we think that sin is covetousness. In this the

ACHAN. 207
son is very apt to be like his father. Close, narrow dealings,
neglect of charities, the Avithholding ofthe Lord's tithes, are traits
handed doAvn too often from one generation to another. Hardness
of the fist is more apt to be perpetuated as a mental than a
physical characteristic.
Not only did Achan ruin the moral character of his household,
but he Avas the cause of their violent destruction. Beyond this he
was the troubler of his Avhole nation. Pie brought military dis
grace upon Israel, and made them the mock of the heathen. He
Avas the real murderer of thirty-six valiant men ; and AvidoAvs and
orphans Avhom he had made, come near to behold his doom.
The influence ofthe covetous man poisons society. This cove
tousness it is Avhich makes envies and heartburnings in families ;
foments a hatred of the poor against the rich, and aAvakes the scorn
of sharp-witted Avorldlings, who see the vast incongruity betAveen
some church members' profession and practices. There is full
many a man Avho prays missionary who will not give missionary.
The destiny of Achan Avas temporal and eternal infamy. Such
destiny lies before any one who goes regularly to church every
Sunday, and considers ofthe state of his finances, Avhile in all ap
parent rectitude he is waiting for the elements to be passed at the
communion. Such an one readily partakes of the bread and
wine and fails to see the contribution plate at the close of the
service !
We would that Achans were as scarce in the modern church as
they were in Israel at the sack of Jericho. People seeing a church
in difficulty, in a cold, dead, unhappy state, are apt to say : " Alas,
there is a Jonah there ! " If they should say an Achan, they would
come much nearer the mark. The Jonahs are the fearing Chris
tians, the Achans are the covetous professors, and they are by far
the more numerous.
It sometimes seems that if Ave should sift out of the church all

208 ACHAN.
the Lots, and all the Achans, there would be hardly anybody left,
so has this sin of covetousness grown among us. Troublers of
God's Israel, they sit in their places, and the arm of the Lord is
stayed. The helper of Israel will not reveal himself. The cause
of Christ languishes ; devout souls cry like Joshua : " Ah, Lord,
what shall I say when Israel turneth their backs before their
enemies ! "
The answer of the Lord is iioav as then : " Get thee up ; where
fore liest thou upon thy face ? Israel hath sinned ... for they have
even taken of the accursed thing . . . and they have stolen and dis
sembled also."
Covetousness is no doubt the crying evil of our time. With in
crease of means have come increase of luxuries, and the more men
have the more men crave. Very good people Avho desire the pros
perity of the Church, and the glorious return of their Christ, must,
like Israel in the day of Amos, be at ease in Zion ; must live luxu
riously, and feast and sing and be jubilant, until there is little left
for the Lord's cause.
In these days the whole world is open to the entrance of gospel
light; opportunities abound; there is a cry for help going up from
all the dark places ; if it Avere not for covetousness, there would be
men and means in abundance, and suddenly from the open win
dows of heaven should rain doAvn spiritual plenty; blessings
making rich all the earth with true riches. The trouble is, men
are too covetous to hasten the second advent of their Beloved.
The increase of this horrible vice of covetousness may possibly
be owing to a laxity of church gOA'ernment. If this sin like
others, considered more flagrant, but truly not so deadly, were a
matter of church discipline, a very great improvement might take
place. People would be led to examine themselves, to try their
spiritual temper, and see if they really loved money more than
the name of Jesus.

ACHAN. 209
To us has come in Holy Writ the prohibition of covetousness,
just as clearly as came to Achan the forbidding to touch the spoils
of Jericho. " Abhor coA'etousness." " Let it not be so much as
named among you." " Covetousness which is idolatry." We
have held up before us the terrible fate of Achan, of Demas, of
Ananias and Sapphira, and yet — O strange perversity of our
hearts ! — Ave covet still.
The warning comes to the covetous man as to Achan. He goes
on and sins like Achan, he robs God. He sees the disastrous
effects, the sneers of the world, the grief of holy souls, the hinder-
ance of gospel work, the perversion of his own family, as Achan
saAV it. He is obstinate and clings to his greed as Achan clung.
Then in the midst of his sin, or perchance after a long success in
it, at the hour of death, the Lord becomes his accuser, and he meets
the doom of Achan.
Beggared and hopeless, the soul reaches eternity, and stands a
stranger at the gate of a city where no friends or kindred in spirit
are dAvelling ; Avhere none knoAV the comer's name ; Avhere no surety
has been bespoken, no advocate retained to plead its cause, no
treasure sent before, no mansion prepared. The glorious accents
of that far-off land are all unknoAvn to the tongue that has
hitherto only made the bargains and counted the gains of that dim
planet Earth, Avhich noAV has faded out of sight.
There is, to be sure, remaining a name on the church rolls ; the
modern Achan has removed to a land where they do not receive
" church letters of dismission " from this lower sphere, but where
they have a divine test beyond all the crucial skill of the church
on earth.
Would it do any good to bury Achan with a placard on his
breast, that when the resurrection angel comes he may know this
dust and ashes once professed to be a Christian ? Alas, no !
Achan's hpur for repenting and doing better has passed by. When
14

210 ACHAN.
he comes forth in his grave clothes it will do no good to profess :
" Lord, we have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast
taught in our streets."
Who can abide hearing that reply freighted with doom? "I
tell you, I know not whence you are ; depart from me, all ye workers
of iniquity."
From the history of Achan let us take this lesson home : flee
covetousness, which is idolatry; for ye cannot serve God and
Mammon. And ours is a God which searcheth the reins and trieth
the heart, and will accept nothing less than entire consecration to
himself.

X.
SAMSON,
A SAINT OF IRON AND CLAY.

p'ijlN the world of Nature and Providence Ave frequently
)1| admire seeing a need met by an exactly suitable supply.
AVe note effects, and superficially Avonder hoAV they arose,
and whence came their nice fitness to an emergency;
their causes may be deep as the glowing centre of the earth, or
dwell high up among the stars.
In the records of Scripture Ave are shown the cause lying far
back of the effect ; we see God through successive years preparing
for the exigencies of his children. This long preparation is no-
Avhere more prominently developed than in the book of Judges.
If ever there was a people stiff-necked and rebellious and
besottedly set against learning anything by experience, it was the
people of Israel. God had selected them to show7 forth in their
history, and beyond all controversy through time and eternity, the
magnificence of the riches of his mercy, and the abundance of his
long suffering. We doubt if ever sons of Moab or Ammon or
Canaan could have made more tremendous drafts on the Divine
patience, or tempted more presumptuously Almighty wrath, than
did the descendants of favored Shem and faithful Abraham.
" These be thy gods, O Israel ! " had been the cry at the foot
of Sinai, which had sounded the death-knell of three thousand
men. The .smoke of the sacrifices to Baalpeor had proved the
2U

212 SAMSON.
funereal pall of four and twenty thousand of the Avayward and
chosen race. Yet in spite of such experiences, with the thunder
of Horeb and the curses of Ebal ringing in their ears, Israel still
followed after strange gods. For such high treason against
Heaven, the bitterness of bondage had been decreed by a law, of
Avhose immutability the unaltering statutes of the Medes and
Persians were only the faintest shadow. God foresaw after the
chastisement the deep repentance, and then the SAvift smile of his
forgiveness, and through long trains of years he again and again
prepared the men Avho Avere to be his right hand in working sal
vation for his people.
Even before Israel corrupted themselves with those Moabitish
idolatries which sold them into the hand of Eglon for eighteen
years, the wife of Gera, a left-handed Benjamite, nursed on her
bosom the ordained deliverer of her nation, and the unconscious
earth yielded the metal that made his two-edged dagger.
When Israel cried mightily unto God because of Midian, that
arm had already groAvn strong in beating out wheat, which should
sweep away the oppressing Amalekites, like the chaff of summer
threshing floors.
"We have sinned," Availed the loved and AvayAvard nation,
smarting under the hand of the Zidonians. Then the soul of the
Lord " Avas grieved for the misery of Israel," and lo, he Avho had
been driven out of his father's house, and inured to all hardships
and trials as a harlot's son, was ready to grind Zidon and the
Maonites like dust beneath his heel, and sit a strong judge over
the desolated and trembling tribes.
" And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the
Lord ; and the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philis
tines forty years." But God forekneAv that at the end of the forty
years, Israel would humble themselves with deep self-accusations
before his righteous throne — would be forgiven — would need an

SAMSON. 213
avenger to stand up for them ; and Avhile this repentance Avas yet
unstirred in the hearts of these sinners, the King of kings fashioned
for himself the man Avho as a sharp SAvord should divide asunder
the strength of Philistia, and smite to the earth the pride of the
heathen. As has often happened, to especially mark the Divine interfer
ence, the coming deliverer Avas to be the child of one long barren
among Avomen — Manoah's Avife.
Manoah was of the tribe of Dan, and dwelt in Zorah, a part
of the inheritance Avhich had fallen to that tribe, when the land
of Canaan Avas divided by lot among ite new possessors. Dan
was the fifth son of Jacob, borne by Bilhah, and receiving from
Rachel the name of Dan, or judging. We find Dan prophetically
described by Jacob, and by Moses, as a judge, a serpent, an adder,
and a lion's Avhelp. A little later than the time of Manoah and
his son, Ave find the Danites, a band of marauders, knowing no
law but their oavh power.
Dan in Manoah's day was as deeply imbued with idolatry as any
of the tribes of Israel, but through all the nation were scattered
families who lived in the fear of the Lord, and maintained the
pure worship of him who had led his people through wilderness
and sea by fire and cloud.
" Among the faithless faithful only found " were these tAvo, who
doubtless lamented together the sin and sorrow of their people.
The home was lonely Avithout the faces and voices of young chil
dren ; there had been a promise left long ago of Jehovah, a God
clad in flesh, and this daughter of Dan had had her longings for
a maternity that should make her most happy among Avomen.
Her hope had never had fruition ; her husband tilled the field, she
toiled in the house alone. So as she toiled, musing perhaps on
happiness that might have been, there came to her the Angel of
the Lord — the Jehovah of the old dispensation — the Jesus of the

214 SAMSON.
new. She knew him not, his name Avas secret ; the Israelitish
woman had not reached to the grandeur of the revelation that the
Ransom of the race, he who should hereafter lie, divinity and dust,
on a JeAvish mother's knee, Avas here on an errand of mercy to his
beloved nation, now as ever the shepherd and care-taker of his
Avandering flock. Manoah's Avife beheld this stranger differing
from all men that ever she had seen, a man of God, his countenance
very terrible, even with ite splendors softened to meet her feeble
sight, bearing impress of the skies.
In the brief and magic touches of sacred writ we have a very
clear picture of Manoah and his wife, and the chief traits of their
character. Faith shone in them like a star : " A man of God came to me,
but I asked not whence he Avas," says the Avife, and her husband
prays, " Let the man whom thou didst send come again unto us."
Then the angel returns, and the grace of humility clothes this
pair : " How shall we order the child, and what shall Ave do unto
him?" Holy reverence is like a crown to them ; they made an offer
ing, fell on their faces, and worshipped.
Then the man's fears awoke : " We shall surely die, because we
have seen God."
Then the Avife's grand common sense shone out : " If the Lord
were pleased to kill us, he Avould not have received a burnt-offering
and a meat-offering at our hands ; neither would he have shewed
us all these things, nor Avould, as at this time, have told us such
things as these."
A splendid piece of logic this. They were decreed to be the
parents and tutors of one Avho should deliver Israel from the hand
of the Philistines. The dead could not bear nor bring up chil
dren ; so it was evident that their lot Avas to live even after that
wonderful vision of God.

SAMSON. 215
When Ave follow the history of the strong man of Dan, we can
not but Avish he had inherited this sturdy sense, this reasoning
force of the mother, who comes before us with no name but " Ma
noah's wife."
So Samson was born; child of such promises that it needed no
infant exhibition of strength to indicate his future.
William the Conqueror grasped a handful of straws with such
unyielding tenacity that his nurse foretold that he should grasp
and hold kingdoms ; but these Danites needed no sign to show to
them in their boy the scourge of Philistia, for they had the word
of the Angel of the Covenant.
Now, as her son grew daily in the "camp of Dan, between
Zorah and Eshtaol," a glad young Nazarite before the Lord,
Manoah's wife Avas prouder and happier than ever the " Berecyn-
thian mother in her turreted chariot, joyful in a race of heroes;"
her hero's course should wax brighter and grander, like the sun,
and shine over the Avorld in the glory of his faith forever.
Yet, if we can predicate anything of Samson's boyhood from the
record of his manhood, the lad must have exhibited discrepancies
of character sufficient to appal the stoutest mother-heart that ever
beat. No man that has been held up before men in the clear
light of history presents more glaring inconsistencies than Samson.
He Avas weak just in proportion as he was strong ; his humanity
was of the feeblest, and the grace that was in him, that throbbed
in his mighty veins, and knit his sinews like bands of steel, was
strong as an archangel's ; there was no limit to his strength but
the limit set by his own irresolution. He who Avas to send the
story of his prowess singing down the centuries like an arrow from
a prodigious bow, was to send also the story of his folly and his
shame. It is the old tale, so often repeated, of energies running to waste
and power misapplied, and a lofty mission trailing ite.banners in

216 SAMSON.
the mire. God gave this man a destiny, to the grandeur of Avhich
he never fully rose. The reservoir of his strength was in the
Almighty, and no demand on poAver would have exhausted his
supply. We cannot calculate the grandeur of the deliverance he
might have Avrought for his people had he fixed his unflinching
gaze in high patriotism on his country's greatest good. As it was,
he made great spirts of strength and courage, and then lay back
on his oars, conscious of reserve force ready Avhenever he chose to
exert it.
Whatever religion Samson had was of the intensely muscular
variety. These are the days when the gospel of muscularity has
everyAvhere had its apostles and adherents. Beginning in a wise
appreciation of the fact that spirit itself may be ennobled if its
home of clay is fair and comfortable, desiring simply mens sana in
sano corpore, this wish has outgrown its legitimate limits, and men
have developed body at the expense of brain, have seemed to seek
only to make of a reasonable being — a magnificent brute. Men
seem to be reverting to the old days when nations flocked to watch
the athletes struggling and racing in the public games. We cross
continents and traverse seas, and devote days to see men making
so many motions per second, and being bet on like the fast horses
of the turf. It is being questioned whether this extreme develop
ment of the physical does not destroy the balance of a perfect man
hood, does not deteriorate mind and conscience, and put man down
to the level of some splendid beast that he emulates. Not that
we would depreciate physical strength ; it is a glorious gift ; but
mind should still be master over matter, and he who develops
bodily prowess should still see to it that reason is lord over all.
" But what is strength without a double share
Of wisdom ? Vast, unwieldy, burdensome,
Proudly secure, yet liable to fall."
The boy of Zorah grew apace, mocking at that which made

SAMSON. 217
other men weary ; finding men and brutes and all the strong things
of this Avorld toys in his grasp of power. He was of a buoyant
spirit, fond of frolic and of practical jokes doubtless. He Avho told
riddles and tied firebrands to foxes' tails in maturer life, probably
kept " Mahaneh-Dan " on the qui vive as to what he might do next.
We may imagine Manoah rejoicing greatly in the youngster's
hardihood, Avhile the mother, amazed, perceiA7ed that the future
deliverer loved his OAvn pleasure in the same proportion as he
hated the oppressors of his people ; that he Avas nothing loath to
do evil on excuse of good to come ; and that to persistent be-
guilings the easy spirit in a giant frame could not say No !
That subtle thing spirit is moulded by nature and by circum
stance; Ave are to a great extent the product of our surroundings;
the sons of the hill countries have been ever brave and hardy.
The poet sings :
" For the strength of the hills we bless thee,
Our God, our fathers' God ;
Thou hast made thy children mighty,
By the touch of the mountain sod."
The tribe of Dan had received in the great plains of Shefelah
and Sharon one of the most fertile portions of Palestine, but the
Amorites contending for their olden possession, " forced the children
of Dan up into the mountains." It is thus that we read that
Samson goes down to Timnath Avith ite vineyards, and to the placid
valley of Sorek, and that he goes up to his father's house. We
are also expressly told that he had his dwelling between Zorah
and Eshtaol, at Mahaneh-Dan, that is, at the fortified camp of
his Avarlike people. We may judge something of these Avarrior
companions of Samson's youth from what we read a little farther
on in the history, Avhen the camp of Dan furnished six hundred
men appointed with weapons of war ; the record is very emphatic
about these armed and trained soldiers. Not only this, but they

218 SAMSON.
Avere as arrant freebooters as ever existed ; bold, sagacious, grimly
humorous ; wanting more room for themselves they spread
abroad over the land, with admirable coolness, to select what best
pleased them. Laish, a fair city, dwelt secure, and they captured
the place with fire and sword, and built their own homes over the
corpses of the slain ; not only this, but they stole a priest and all
the paraphernalia of worship, like the pious bandit who fasts on
Friday and murders the passing traveller. When Micah goes
after them, crying, heart-broken, — " What aileth thee ? " amiably
asks the freebooting Danite.
Micah thinks he has abundant cause of complaint, and the
leader of the band, the earliest of Robin Hoods, confidentially
advises him : " Let not thy voice be heard among us, lest angry
felloAvs run upon thee ! "
Here is the sardonic humor of Dan, which Samson largely
shared. Such men were the friends and tutors of his youth, and
in them Ave must not overlook a very prominent characteristic of
Dan in these rude elder days — a deep religious feeling. When
they saw a Levite exercising priestly office, the rude warriors
besought him : "Ask, we pray thee, counsel of God, that Ave may
knoAV whether our Avay which Ave go shall be prosperous." Then
when they would build up a new city for themselves, they
seek this son of Levi out : " Go with us, and be to us a father
and a priest." When Laish lies before them, what say they?
" God hath given it into your hands." Manoah had not forgotten
the faith of his fathers ; he offered on the rock a sacrifice acceptable
unto God.
In this camp of Dan a new element entered into Samson's life,
the " Spirit of God began to move him at times." Hitherto he
had heard his high destiny -from his mother's lips; from earliest
childhood he had been told of the " man of God" who had twice
appeared to predict his birth and mission. He had groAvn up

SAMSON. 219
different from the other Danites, a Nazarite unto God, consecrated
from his natal hour, no razor touched his head, no unclean food
passed his lips; the grapes of Timnath might yield their wines
for others, but not for him ; meat from the flocks, and the fruits
of the field sustained him, Avhile the cool waters of the noble
fountain of Zorah filled all his veins Avith strength. Every grand
athletic exploit that Avoke the applause of the camp of Dan, was
the sign that God had not forgotten him. Now came the divine
power, moving within him, lifting him up to a new greatness ;
these Avere hours Avhen the soul matched the might of the body,
and he felt truly strong. Hitherto we have seen him with
unreined physical vigor, an impulsive, ungoverned and ungovern-
ing soul in him, " of wisdom nothing more than mean ;
This with the other should at least have paired,
These two proportioned ill, drove me transverse."
Samson Avas like nothing so much as the feet of the image seen
in Nebuchadnezzar's vision, iron and clay. " Strong as iron ; for
asmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things ; " but
like those feet, he was partly strong and partly broken ; " foras
much as iron was mixed with miry clay ; " but they could not
"cleave one to another." The divine grace, that was the iron of
his strength ; the human Aveakness and self-serving, following his
own pleasure, and giving free rein to his besetting sin, this was
the clay. Strong to do, not to resist ; valiant against foes Avithout,
weak as a babe to the foes within. Loving his country well, him
self better ; Avithout the wisdom to direct his strength or the
humility to suffer it to be directed by others. God had ordained
him to avenge and deliver his people ; Samson could not defeat
the divine will, neither could he alter it a hair's breadth ; but it is
evident that if his life, his passions, and his energies had been
consecrated to God, had he been a Nazarite in soul as in body, had

220 SAMSON.
his will run like a joyous young angel in the line of God's wiTl,
then his life would have grown in gladness and beauty unto ever
lasting day. As it was, the Lord's way was Avorked out in dark
ness and in pain, the Avork was accomplished, the instrument Avas
broken. With wine this Nazarite could not be tempted ; forever proof
against the allurements of strong drink, which, like Minotaur,
devours so many of the young men and even maidens of our day.
"But what availed this temperance, not complete
Against another object more enticing ? "
" Give not thy strength unto Avomen," was the counsel of King
Lemuel's mother, but Solomon fell a prey to the princesses of the
heathen ; so in this earlier day, Samson yielded to the enchant
ments of the daughters of the Philistines.
Among the vineyards of Timnath dwelt an idolater with two
daughters, each fairer than the other. The dark eyes of the elder
sister shining on Samson through the vine-leaves, lit a new fire in
his easily stirred bosom. Lips redder than the wine she pressed
from the grapes beguiled God's strong young Nazarite. He would
possess this Avoman at all hazards ; but he remembered doating
Manoah and the loving mother np in the mountains of Dan, and
he would not be false enough to them to marry Avithout their con
sent ; but Avith his usual inconsistency he meant to force that con
sent, — a fashion of proceeding not entirely ignored by sons and
daughters of the present time. Manoah, not being like his son in
love Avith that charming and treacherous idolatress, very reason
ably inquired if love and beauty were vanished from among the
homes of Israel, that a Nazarite must ally himself with a wor
shipper of Dagon.
Here the clay nature asserted itself: " Get her for me, for she
pleaseth me well."

SAMSON. 221
Whatever other argument he might have brought to bear on the
subject, he deemed none so decisive as his oavh pleasure.
Out of all this God AA'as to find an occasion of chastisement to
those idol worshippers, and we trace the lengthening chain of
events from the not unusual circumstance of a hungry lion roar
ing in the desert places, to the discomfiture of the Philistines, and
the Judgeship over Israel through tAventy years of national safety.
"A young lion roared against him." He had nothing in his
hand ; but instead of thoughts of slaughter, his mind was full of
his loAre-making as he Avent down to Timnath. For Samson to
exercise his strength in these Avays beyond the strength of ordinary
men, Avas to exercise his faith, and draw on heaven for power
suited to the emergency. No sooner did he make the needed
effort than all his nerves and sinews Avere strung Avith superhuman
might. He darted at the threatening lion, and seized its yaAvning
jaAvs ; " the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him ;" he rent
the great beast like a kid, and flung it back beside the road.
Any young man might be pardoned for boasting of such an
exploit ; but Samson Avas no boaster ; he did not even tell his
admiring parents of the deed.
Samson made no long wooing; the next time he Avent down to
Timnath, Avas to take the beAvitching Philistine to wife. His
parents had gone before him, probably to make arrangements for
the nuptials. Time enough had elapsed for the bees to take pos
session of the bleaching carcass of the lion, and already the combs
dripped with honey — here vras another link in the chain of cir
cumstances. Samson took honey and went on eating, royally
bestowing a portion on his parents, who were reluctantly taking
their part in the marriage.
Thirty young men were feasting with the hero for seven days.
To make the merry time yet merrier, Samson put forth a riddle,
secure of its not being divined, and expecting by means of it to

222 SAMSON.
add to his oavii possessions and plunder these foes of his people,
Avhom he hated in his heart. It was the cropping out of the
shrewdness and humor of Dan.
But Samson was to show forth forever the danger of strange
marriages, of being unequally yoked with an unbeliever. The
Philistine wife had no sympathy with her HebreAV husband ; her
cares Avere for the sons of her people, not for the servant of Jeho
vah. Here another weakness of this weakest of strong men comes
out. Unable to resist importunity, he feebly denies her pleading
for a time, and conscious in his heart of her faithlessness, on the
last day of the feast he yields to entreaty, and unfolds the mean
ing of his riddle. This is apparently to defeat all plan of punish
ment to his enemies, and to force Israel yet further to contribute
to the pride and pomp of their oppressors. But no ; a tempest
of wrath wakes in Samson's soul, he SAveeps down on Ashkelon
like a tornado ; thirty of the Dagon servers lie dead before him ;
he goes back to Timnath to pay his wager to his comrades, and
flings at them in bitterness the spoils of their brethren. His
whole soul gloAvs with passion at the treachery of his bride ; the
fragrant plain and the honey-dropping -vineyards of Timnath are
noAV hateful in his eyes. He goes up to the mountain fastness
Avhere his anxious parents dwell, and leaves behind him his
traitorous wife, Avho speedily giA7es herself to his former friend.
Here is another link in the chain ; for visions of bright eyes and
luring smiles flit through Samson's dreams ; his hasty passion,
that has been no righteous indignation, no zeal for God or coun
try, dies, and doAvn he goes with a present in his hand to visit
his wife.
He finds himself betrayed. That fairer younger sister cannot
lure him ; wrath burns hot as a volcano in his heart. The Philis
tine land is green with standing corn, fragrant with wine-full
vineyards ; the olives are in their prime ; the hope of the winter

SAMSON. 223
is in orchard and in field ; the wealth of the nation is between the
nourishing earth and the deAv-dropping heaven. Vengeance he
will have that shall cry out of its completeness through all coming
years ; yet, Danite that he was, he makes the tremendous punish
ment a ghastly jest ; three hundred foxes are his messengers of
Avoe, and bear black desolation over all the Philistine plains.
The fair valleys from which the Amorites drove the sons of Dan,
lie scorched and smoking ; they may cry to Dagon in vain, for
the dead roots shall send up no stalks again, and the scarred,
cracked earth has no nourishment for her children. But was this
enough ? No. When the Philistines flocked together enraged at
the ruin, and burned the false Avife and her false father, Samson
fell on this multitude, executing ancient lynch law, and "smote
them hip and thigh with a great slaughter." What then ?
He grew Aveary of working before his strength had failed. He
hesitated in the deliverance of his people. " I will cease," he
said, and first of hermits, weary of strife, of passion, of gratifica
tion, and applause, he climbed to the bald top of Etam to abide
alone. His hermitage was in the boundaries of Judah, the tribe lying
next to Dan. In years gone by Judah had helped the chil
dren of Dan to maintain themselves; they had heard of Sam
son's strength, his punishments of the heathen foe, but hitherto
he was the hero of Dan alone ; he was not the champion of a
united .Israel. It was a pitched battle now — Samson entrenched
in Etam, and all the host of Philistia came up like locusts over
the inheritance of Judah, to seize their enemy. The men of
Judah cannot sacrifice themselves to Samson ; but three thousand
of them go up and speak mildly to him. " What hast thou done
to our rulers, the Philistines?" ask the faint-hearted men of
Judah. "Just Avhat they did to me," replies the champion.
One cannot but smile at three thousand warriors begging permis-

224 SAMSON.
sion to bind this one lone man on Etam. Their request Avas no
floAver of eastern courtesy — it was the absolute expression of their
awe. Samson seemed bent on jesting even in the most critical expe
riences of his life. He permitted these friends to bind him with
tAvo neAV cords, and lead him captive. Over this captive, brought
bound to them at Lehi, the Philistines shouted too soon ; when
that cry of triumph went up toAvards heaven, the Spirit of the
Lord filled the deliverer of penitent Israel, and Judah looked on
amazed Avhile Samson Abdicated his leadership, not of Dan alone,
but of all the descendants of Jacob. It had seemed a slight thing
that a weary creature of burden here had died, and the yet moist
jaw-bone from Avhich beasts had torn the flesh, lay on the ground ;
it Avas a weapon prepared for a valiant hand, and armed only thus
Samson laid a thousand Philistines dead at his feet.
This famous Aveapon not only conquered his enemies and con
firmed the allegiance of his friends, but Avhen the victor, warm
Avith the battle, fainted from thirst, God, who ever preserved him,
touched the hollow of the bone, and from it sprung such pure
and life-restoring Avaters as blessed the eyes of Hagar in the Avil-
derness, Avhen all her hope and love lay perishing in her dying
Ishmael. The devoutness of his Danite blood appeared in his
call upon God in his extremity, and in the name of the well by
Avhich he perpetuated the memory of his deliverance.
After these vicissitudes came the palmy period. Our ordinary
Biblical chronology makes Samson at this conquest over Philistia
scarcely twenty years old. For twenty succeeding years he judged
Israel, and by the terrors of his name kept their foes in awe, and
made the subjection to the Philistines merely nominal.
Samson's strength well directed Avould doubtless have extermi
nated the Philistines, and haA7e united Israel in one government;
measureless in strength and poor in purpose, we find him govern-

SAMSON. 225
ing only a portion of the tribes of Jacob, and in the latter part of
his life, that other Nazarite was raised up — Samuel, in whose day
the JeAvish Theocracy became before all nations the very crown
ing type of government.
We see Samson, " Whose strength, while virtue was her mate,
Might have subdued the earth,"
governing in a conquered peace for twenty years. But in this his
mission was not fulfilled ; it was his to deal mightier bloAVS on the
followers of Dagon. In peace and prosperity he would not rise
to the greatness of his destiny ; like Ephraim, he " settled on his
lees," content with lower happiness than the fulfilment of a lofty
purpose. Again, he coveted a heathen beauty : a girl of Gaza, fair in face
and free in manner, won the roving eyes of the Judge of Israel.
With their enemy shut safely within the walls of the strongest of
all their fortified cities, the Philistines were sure of their prey, and
eagerly watched for the morning light, which was to gild their
triumph. Gaza was the key to the southwest country, and its
gates and walls were so strong that ite siege occupied Alexander
the Great for five months. The vrary Samson did not wait for
daybreak; at midnight he rose, took the "doors of the gate,"
probably such "two-leaved gates" as we find mentioned in Isaiah's
prophecy of Cyrus, and not only took the gates, but the " two
posts with the bar," and, putting them on his shoulder, carried
them " to the top of the hill which is before Plebron," — "no journey
of a Sabbath day," says Milton in his " Samson Agonistes."
Samson had never failed to be deceived by heathen women, and
yet he always suffered himself to be beguiled by them.
The valley of Sorek possessed a graceful, bold-eyed enchantress
named Delilah. And when we come to this part of his history, we
are more than ever amazed at the utter folly and weakness of the
15

226 SAMSON.
strongest of men. No more a boy, but a man in the splendid
maturity of his poAvers, he wilfully put himself in the Avay of
temptation, yielded, saAV clearly the net, and yet deliberately
Avalked into it. He knew that this woman had sold herself to do
the bidding of the lords of her people ; kneAV that she kept men
lying in Avait to capture him in some hour of weakness ; and thrice
deceived, he yielded at last to the siren's tears and entreaties, and
betrayed not merely his OAvn secret, but the secret of God, the
secret that Covenant Angel had told to Manoah and his wife,
the secret of that strong spirit Avhich worked in him mightily.
Samson's power was truly a treasure in an earthen vessel ; iron
and clay from babe to boy, from boy to man ; and now a tempta
tion shattered him, drove those diverse parts of his nature asunder,
and left the hope of Israel a wreck in the hands of his foes.
Where now is Samson ? With the dropping of his shorn locks
on Delilah's lap his strength fell from him : the spirit of God de
serted him : the Philistines put out the dark eyes that had blazed
Avith the lightning of his fury against them ; they bound with
brazen fetters the hands that had smitten them at En-hakkore-
Lehi ; Samson, the glory of Israel, grinds Philistine corn, and all
Gaza scorns and taunts him Avho carried off her gates. " Strongest
of mortal men," " man on earth unparalleled," " heroic, renowned,
irresistible Samson," fallen from the topmost pinnacle of earthly
glory, he whose name should shine in holy writ, and should echo
through the finest tales of all the mythology of heathendom. Was
his mission ended ? No. The Almighty will had not yet been
Avrought out in him. He might have done God's bidding, rising
in grand strides from glory to glory. He had served himself in
equal measure as he had served his God ; he had followed his own
pleasure even before his country's good. Noav in darkness, in cap
tivity, in pain, God vrould eliminate the weakness of his na
ture, Avould beat out, break up, drive away the clay, and weld

SAMSON. 227
the iron over into a true weapon for his service. Hoav many a
man, hoAV many a nation, that Avould not rise to the splendor of
their possibilities, has thus been Avrought anew in the furnace of a
merciful Avrath, that burns but to improve. Months of serfdom
passed ; once more the long hair of the Nazarite hung over his
shoulders : he had repented before his God ; we know this because
he Avas forgiven. Now in poverty and humility of spirit, faith
grew in him, a grand overtopping emotion, which should make
him a hero before God. Himself, like his country, in bondage,
Samson learned that glorious patriotism that Avill offer life itself
a free sacrifice for the nation's good ; he learned how not alone to
be a ruler or a Avarrior, but a martyr. He Avould not now turn
aside from Avaging the battle of God against Dagon. From the
mornless night of his dungeon God heard Samson, like Ephraim,
bemoaning himself as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. " Thou
hast chastised me, and I Avas chastised : turn thou me, and I shall
be turned. I repented : I was ashamed ; yea, even confounded,
because I did bear the reproach of my youth."
Then did the Lord " earnestly remember " his fallen Nazarite,
even as he remembered that other rebellious son ; and the grand
hour of Samson's deliverance alike from the bondage of the Phil
istines and the bondage of sin dreAV near.
The heathen believed that Dagon, their god, had delivered this
greatest of their foes into their hand, and a day of high festival,
kept in honor of their idol, was to shine in double splendor, when
Samson came with feats of strength to make sport for his masters.
We watch him led to the temple by his guard : we see the son of
Dan recalling the ghost of his former frolic humor to wake the
laughter of his foes. The craft of Dan shines out in the Avily en
treaty, "Suffer me to lean upon the pillars whereon the house
standeth." Then the hush of expectation, the sightless Samson
cries to his God in his heart : he offers himself freely on the altar

228 SAMSON.
of his country and his faith. He feels no strength in himself; he
remembers all his feebleness ; when he is weak, then is he strong.
" I pray thee, this once, O God ! " Here is his faith taking hold
upon the mighty. " Let me die with the Philistines." Here is a
most magnificent self-immolation. No more to sit at thy threshold,
father Manoah : no more to join thy tumult of joy and arms, O
camp of Dan. But, as he grasps these pillars, already the glory
of the everlasting morning beams before his sightless eyes ; abo\7e
the din of heathen rites he hears the chorus of angels welcoming
the hero of Israel ; the Angel of the Covenant smiles forgiveness
and help upon this servant, who in all his life had been so erring,
and only at life's close had learned to serve his Maker and forget
himself. " He bowed himself with all his might ; " a loftier than
mortal strength is within him ; the pillars snap like reeds, the
walls are rent in sunder, the roof crashes down on the glory and
flower of Philistia ; Avhat was but now a rejoicing host, defiant
of the Most High God, has become a mass of quivering human
clay, and fragments of architectural splendor ; the strong son of
Dan lies in the midst of the slain, like a thunder-smitten tree, and
seeing now Him who is Invisible, and bought him Avith His blood,
Samson rises before the throne of God, where all those wailing
shades of idolaters have gone up for judgment.
" So the dead which he slew at his death Avere more than all
that he slew in his life."
" How died he ? Death to life is crown or shame."
He who had shamed himself so often died well, was crowned;'
in death a Christian patriot, a hero of faith. " They buried him
in the burying-place of his father, between Zorah and Eshtaol."
Almost twelve centuries later, Samson's name is set on the
sacred page among those faithful " of whom the world was not
worthy, who obtained a good report through faith."
On the page of fable, the traditions of Hercules are probably

SAMSON. 229
reminiscences of Samson. The slaying of the Nemean lion ; his
slavery to Omphale, when he lived effeminately and spun wool
with the maidens ; and his death, through the agency of his wife,
mark a Avonderful connection between the pretended son of Jove
and the strong child of Manoah. But fable holds sometimes faint
shadoAA's of the loftier truths of religion. When Hercules laid
himself down on his own funeral pile on (Eta, only the earthly,
material part could perish : the divinity of Zeus within him was
immortal. How this reaches our theme ; he was earthly and
heavenly; he was the imperishable iron and the frailest clay; the
fire consumed the one, and left the other unsubdued. So, in
Samson, the weakest of the many Aveaknesses of our humanity
clogged divine life ; in the furnace of his affliction he was fashioned
over, fit for higher uses. How often since has this been seen not
only in the book of revelation, but on the page of secular history,
and in the society of our OAvn time. " What," we say, " is such a
man God's instrument? Why is he, then, so weak?" Is this
man a son of the Highest ? Behold he errs like a son of Belial. Is
he one ordained to a grand mission, hoAV does he then dally on
his way? Such questions are offsprings of our weak human
judgment. We reason thus : the gospel and its Source being ab
solutely perfect, we ought to receive it at the hands of a perfect
messenger. How often are we proved false in our most careful
reasoning! Science itself puts its votaries to shame. The chemist,
from the analogy of experiments, would predicate that when he
had poured together a solution of permuriate of mercury and a
volatile alkali, he would obtain the precipitate of the red oxide
of mercury. But what does he find ? Ih apparent contradiction
of law, a white sediment is his result. If nature will not bear out
the reasoning we base upon her laAvs, how much less will our
Creator, in the lofty realm of spirit ?
We say that the fulness of divine grace ought to be unfolded

230 SAMSON.
to us by one complete in that grace ; but the magnificent compre
hension of the Divine eye sees for us something better : grace in
action, grace conquering temptation, grace giving strength for re
pentance, grace laying hold of God, believing that he Avill forgive
seventy times seven offences. In the eternal city Ave shall see
grace triumphant ; here we are to see it Avarring, sustaining the
shock of battle.
As it seemed good to God that the Captain of our salvation
should be made perfect through suffering — that the Divine Son
should not take upon him the nature of angels, but the seed of
Abraham — so it seemed good that that " treasure," " the light of
the knowledge of God," should come to us in " earthen vessels,"
" that the excellency of the poAver might be of God, and not of us."
Were the preacher of righteousness a glorious archangel, is there
any reason to suppose that we would do less than John on Patmos,
who fell doAvn to Avorship him ? If Jesus, having been tempted,
knoAvs how to succor them that are tempted, shall Ave not suppose
that the shameful backsliding and cursing of Peter were made to
subserve some high moral use, that he went to the erring and
faltering with an especial fitness for his errand? Can Ave not
believe that Avhen Samson, the sinful and self-serving, came out
of prison in one high act to assert his faith victorious over fear of
death, to rise and reign with God, that patriotism and piety were
lifted grandly before all Israel ; and that when the falling crash
of Dagon's palace, and the death cry of his votaries, Avere caught
up and echoed at Mahaneh-Dan, the shackles of fear and idolatry
dropped from Israelitish spirits, and they returned again to their
allegiance to Him who ih the fires of his judgments had burned up
the earthly evil, and wrought aneAV in strength his serA7ant who
had for forty years stood before them a Saint of Iron and Clay ?

XI.
SAMUEL.
RELIGION IN GOVERNMENT.

P|| N the history of Samuel we are impressed not so much by
na the man himself, as by the ruling ideas, the leading
thoughts of his time. These concerned questions of
government, and to this day they possess deep interest.
He lived at the hour when the Theocracy Avas in a measure lost in
the monarchy ; Avhen the government of Israel became in all out-
Avard appearance, like that of the nations round about. To
understand the reasons of this change, and to be able to weigh ite
advantages or disadvantages, Ave must take a brief review of the
political history of Israel, from the establishment of the nation ;
and the political is inseparably the religious history.
The first form under Avhich the coming Christ was revealed,
was that of an Avenger upon the serpent. Jehovah, he Avho should
come, Avas to be the Restorer of Paradise, and the Deliverer from
sin and death. Thus Eve expected him ; thus Enoch beheld him
from afar, with ten thousand of his saints, whom He had rescued
from their graves.
Jehovah, the soul's Saviour, was the Morning Star of hope,
from the hour of exile from Eden ; but Messiah as King, as the
Anointed Ruler, first beamed upon the prophetic eye of Jacob.
The old man prophesying, lies on his dying bed ; when he turns
to Judah he gets a new revelation. Shining beyond the son, he
231

232 SAMUEL.
sees the coming King, he cries out in triumph, " Judah, thou art
he whom thy brethren shall praise. The sceptre shall not depart
from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh
come. And unto him shall the gathering of the people be."
It is a brief vision, accorded to one who has suffered much ; it
passes in the mists of death, and for weary centuries of servitude
returns no more. But the time came for the unfolding of this idea,
the kingship of Christ. Christ had been exhibited as an inter
cessor, in his priesthood, his mediatorial work ; probably with far
more clearness than we, puffed up Avith the wisdom of our later
day, are Avilling to admit. When the Israelites reached Sinai, the
hour had arrived Avhen should be laid the foundations of Christ's
kingdom upon earth. To this end Avas constituted the kingdom
of Israel ; a kingdom without a visible king ; in a Avord, a pure
Theocracy. Behold then, in the Avilderness before Sinai, a scene
without a parallel. Here we find a great people, let us say four
millions strong ; they are rich ; they are seeking for a promised
seat of empire ; they are among their foes ; and they have no
king like the nations round about. God gives them the first
specimen of an elective sovereignty. To the people waiting
before the mountain is submitted the question whether they
will have God to reign over them, Avhether He, who had
with a strong hand brought them out of Egypt, and had gone up
before them in the luminous cloud, who now thundered from the
rocky height, and shot the glistening arroAVS of his lightnings
atliAvart the sky, should be forever their acknowledged king;
whether they Avould bring their tribute to him as their suzerain.
The question was put with entire clearness and particularity.
" Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and Iioav I bare
you on eagle's wings, and brought you unto myself. Now, there
fore, if ye Avill obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then
shall ye be to me for a peculiar treasure unto me above all people :

SAMUEL. 233
for all the earth is mine. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of
priests, and a holy nation."
When Moses had delivered this message, the people with one
accord took up a shout : "All that the Lord hath spoken, will we
do ! " It Avas a unanimous vote ; ay, more, it was a most solemn
and binding obligation to fealty ; it Avas a holy infrangible cove
nant; it was a constitution composed of one article, one provision,
that Jehovah should be their King, and they his people ; and they
Avould cleave solely and jmrely to the religion which he ordained.
In token of his thus entering into supreme possession of them, as
their King, by their own electi\re choice, they presently gave him
seizin, Avhen they brought of their choicest property, gold, silver,
brass, purple, blue, scarlet, linen, skins, and cedarwood, to build
him a house.
Israel thus became literally Christ's kingdom on earth ; a type,
we take it, not only of his spiritual regnancy, but of the coming
day, AA'hen he shall be a true King over all the Avorld, and his sub
jects shall delight themselves in the abundance of his peace.
God, the sole Head of the Jewish Theocracy, administered his
government by prime ministers chosen, and spiritually endoAved
by himself. Of these Moses was the first, and he Avould in a
year's time have safely established the HebreAvs in the land of
Canaan, had they not rebelled against their sovereign, refused to
enter that country, and almost immediately insisted on so doing,
Avhen plainly assured that God's presence Avas withdrawn, and
consequently, with it was taken away all hope of their success.
At the end of forty years' Avanderings, the people Avere placed
under the care of Joshua, and bidden to cross the Jordan, and
take possession of the land of the Philistines. This order com-
in°- to them, Avhen their hearts were softened by grief for the loss
of Moses, Avas humbly obeyed. The manner of their crossing the
river, and the immediately subsequent events, produced in the

234 SAMUEL.
whole nation a deep religious feeling. They Avere at this period
loyal to their King; they had full confidence in his poAA7er, desired
nothing so much as his approbation ; looked for his guidance, and
implicitly obeyed him. At this happy juncture, all the Avorld,
and all its best possibilities lay before the HebreAV nation. Their
human strength was wedded to Omnipotence ; they were endowed
Avith an immense moral poAver, before Avhich the peoples of the
heathen fell prostrate. No good thing would have been kept
from them, if they had held fast their allegiance to their King.
Jehovah the sovereign of Israel Avas present, their leader in bat
tle ; as such he appeared visibly to Joshua, as we may see in the
wonderful story : "And it came to pass Avhen Joshua Avas by
Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, there
stood over against him a man with his sword draAvn in his hand :
and Joshua Avent unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us or
for our adversaries ? And he said, Nay ; but as captain of the
host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face
and did Avorship. . . . And the captain of the Lord's host said unto
Joshua : Loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for the place where
thou standest is holy." From this Ave see that He Avho appeared
to Joshua is He Avho appeared to Moses in the bush that burned
unconsumed. The destruction of Jericho should have humbled Israel, inas
much as it Avas notAvrought by an arm of flesh. The aAve Avhich
spread through Canaan, hoAvever, began to make the Hebrews
vainglorious, as Ave see in the report brought that two or three
thousand men Avould be enough to smite Ai. This assertion shows
that they were trusting to their OAvn valor, and not to the accom
panying power of their King. The defeat at Ai humbled them,
but ite conquest inflated their pride ; for they at once became so
self-sufficient that without consulting the will of their sovereign,
they entered into a covenant with the Gibeonites. The insult

SAMUEL. 235
aud enormity lying in this unalloAved compact Avill be seen, when
it is considered, that they held the same kind of obligation to God
that subjects acknoAvledge to a lawful earthly ruler ; and that they
had no right to administer their affairs Avithout the royal sanction.
It is a monarchical myth that the king never dies. " The king is
dead, long live the king." The incumbent may perish, but the
office is immortal. The difference betAveen the King of the Jews
and the kings of other nations, Avas that the head of the Theocracy
Avas immortal, eternal, and invisible in his oavu person ; the only
Avise God our SaA'iour, to whom be glory and poAver.
This treaty of peace Avith some of the inhabitants of the land
Avas the soAving of a deadly seed. By this act Israel had relin
quished a portion of their promised inheritance ; they incurred
the wrath of their King ; by friendship Avith idolaters, they laid
themselves open to temptations before Avhich they frequently fell ;
and as they had begun to take their affairs into their OAvn hands,
God, offended, suffered them for long periods to proceed in their
own Avay to their ruin.
If they had not been traitors to the covenant solemnly entered
into ; if they had not broken the laws, and despised the high
privileges of their Theocratic government, there Avas no shining
pinnacle of success to Avhich this nation might not have climbed.
They had a code of laAVS upon Avhich the noblest and most refined
nations have since built their judicial statutes; they had the high
prestige which their departure from Egypt, their ATictories in the
wilderness, and their entrance into Canaan, had purchased for
them. As long afterward the Aztecs looked for the Children of the
Sun, a golden-haired race of insurmountable bravery, the offspring
of Quetzalcoatl, to come and subdue them; so the Philistine
nations looked to the children of Jacob as their destined con
querors.

236 SAMUEL.
Even after they had shorn and Avell nigh ruined their pros
pects, the HebreAvs had such military triumphs as clearly
evidenced Avhat they might have attained, if they had been true
to their constitution, and had not incurred the anger of their King.
Five kings and their armies Avere destroyed in the going doAvn to
Beth-horon, at the time Avhen Joshua commanded the sun and
moon to be stayed in the heavens. SeAren kings more were slain
in their fenced cities ; their toAvns Avere sacked, and their lands
became a possession to Israel. At the waters of Merom, Joshua
again obtained a grand victory ; he SAvept the country from Seir
unto Hermon, and cut off the Anakim in their mountains.
Thirty-one kings are named as subdued and slain by Joshua,
before he had obtained the half of the land which had been
devised by the Lord to Israel.
Of the Avonderful victories of Joshua, Ave have trace in profane
history. Moses, of Chorene, an Armenian historian, has Avritten :
" When Joshua Avas destroying the Canaanites, some fled to Agra,
and sought Tharsis in ships." This appears from an inscription
carved on pillars in Africa, Avhich is extant even in our own
time, and is of this purport : " We, the chiefs of the Canaanites,
fleeing from the robber Joshua, haA7e come hither to dAvell."
Procopius, the secretary of Belisarius, thus expresses himself,
Avhile mentioning Tigisis (iioav Tangiers), " Where there are two
columns made of Avhite stone, near the great fountain, having
carA7ed on them Phoenician letters, Avhich read thus: 'We are
they Avho fled from the face of the robber Joshua, the son of
Nun.' "
Again, Suidas, the lexicographer, says : "And there are up to
the present time such slabs in Numidia, containing the following
inscription: 'We are the Canaanites, Avhom Joshua the robber
drove out.' "
These records seem entirely those of eye-Avitnesses, and the

SAMUEL. 237
epithets they apply to Joshua are those naturally given by
enemies ; and evidence that they have not a Jewish origin.
The Hebrews had laid a glorious foundation of empire at Sinai,
when they sent up that shout for the Lord as their King. A
little later they laid the foundation for sore national disasters,
when they took idolaters as their allies ; and after the death of
Joshua, they began to suffer the consequences of that ill doing.
In Kings (1 Kings vi. 1), the period from the Exodus to the
Temple is stated as four hundred and eighty years.
Paul calls the government of the Judges "about the space of
four hundred and fifty years." There are in the history periods
unaccounted for, as the interval between Joshua and Shamgar,
and the judgeship of Shamgar ; other periods may overlap each
other. We find, hoAvever, that between the death of Joshua, and
the birth of Samuel, there Avere one hundred and eleven years of
abject servitude to the Philistines ; when homes were invaded ;
grain fields were ravaged ; Avhen there Avas not a smith in all the
land of Israel ; Avhen the people were utterly disarmed, and for
fear of their enemies must gather fruit, and thresh grain with the
utmost secrecy.
This was the fearful result of their rebellion against God, their
Sovereign : the fruit of their broken covenant.
The last servitude of Israel Avas in the time of Samson. The
iron hand of the " giant judge " broke finally the oppressor's power.
The lives of Samson and Samuel 0A7erlap each other. Samson
was probably captured before the death of Eli, and the seizure of
the Ark of God. The Ark was in the hands of the Philistines
seven months; its return marked the cessation of the plagues
sent on the cities of the Philistines, and they may have simultane
ously celebrated their relief from these torments, their conquest
of Samson, and the completion of their fated temple of Dagon, on
that day when the blind giant brought down ruin on himself and
them.

238 SAMUEL.
Samuel is set before us as the child of many prayers ; a child
of the covenant. His history, like that of Moses and of many
shining lights of later days, begins with a mother's faith.
The descent of his father, and the place of his birth, are among
the vexed questions of sacred genealogy and geography. Elkanah
is called an Ephraimite, and a Levite. He Avas probably a
Levite, Avho had his dwelling in a city reserved from the inherit
ance of Ephraim, when each tribe made an appropriation of toAvns
for the dwelling ofthe priests.
At the time of Samuel's birth, his father was living in Rama-
thaim-Zophim — 'Ramah being a contracted form of the same
name ; and Samuel seems to have clung lovingly to that place,
for there he lived, built an altar, died, and Avas buried.
Hannah, the mother of Samuel, Avas a woman of unusual gifts
and godliness. From her reply to Eli in the Tabernacle, we may
gather that she was almost a Nazarite in her practice ; her gifts
Avere those of a prophetess, as Avas fitting in the mother of him
who was to form the first in the long unbroken line of prophets
Avhich ended in Malachi ; having filled a period of seven hundred
years with revelations of the will and intentions ofthe Lord.
The time in which Hannah lived, Avas the great age of vows ;
thus, when beyond all things else she desires a son, she voavs that
the child shall be a Nazarite to God. Perhaps she had in her
mind that other Nazarite, Samson, Avhose mother had been so
long childless. The prayer of Hannah in the sanctuary is. the
only instance ofthe kind on record.
It was a passion of devotion, a long agony of voiceless entreaty,
when, with her eyes toward the Holy of Holies, the sorrowful
woman forgot all surroundings ; saAV no one who was near her ;
had no thought in her heart, but her great Avish, and Him who is
the Hearer of Prayer.
Hannah next appears at the Tabernacle, Avhen she comes to

SAMUEL.

239

consecrate her son to God, that he may dwell in the house of the
Lord, as she says, abiding " there forever." She makes a full
dedication of her son to her Maker. She shows her ardent faith
in the name she gives him, and in her address to Eli : " For this
child I prayed ; and the Lord hath given me my petition which
I asked of Him. Therefore, I have lent him to the Lord ; as
long as he liveth, he shall be lent to the Lord."
The song of Hannah on this occasion is akin to that of Miriam,
Deborah, and Moses. Until the day of Samuel, the prophetic
office had shone out occasionally. The three great patriarchs had
been prophets ; Joseph also had spoken of things to come ; per
haps Ehud had shared the Divine inspiration. The three wonder
ful children of Amram had possessed it ; Ave see it now gleaming
in Hannah, and anon it gloAvs in her son Avith celestial radiance.
After him it is like a beacon fire, springing from peak to peak ;
before it dies in one, it reappears in another, until comes at last
that dread silence and darkness of nearly four centuries. But
Avhen the fire of inspiration blazes up once more across that gulf
of blackness, the light is in the home of Zacharias. Mary the
Virgin it is Avho prophesies, and her song is singularly like that
of Hannah at the dedication of Samuel.

HANNAH.
" My heart rejoiceth in the Lord :
my horn is exalted in the Lord."
"The bows of the mighty men are
broken, and they that stumbled are
girded with strength."
"They that were full have hired
themselves out for bread. The Lord
maketh poor and maketh rich. He
bringeth low, and lifteth up."

" My soul doth magnify the Lord ;
and my spirit hath rejoiced in God
my Saviour."
"He hath scattered the proud in
the imaginations of their hearts : He
hath put down the mighty from their
seats." " He hath exalted them of low de
gree. He hath filled the hungry with
good things, but the rich hath he
sent empty away."

240 SAMUEL.
All that we hear further of this mother is her faithful love, in
coming yearly to see her consecrated child, bringing him a little
coat; and also that for the child whom she lent to her God, she
had given her three sons and two daughters. We knoAV not
Avhen, nor hoAV she died ; but we know that she had accomplished
a great mission for her people, Avhen she doAvered her son Avith
her faith, and set him to minister in the sanctuary.
Scripture sharply contrasts the youthful sanctity of Samuel
with the profligacy of the sons of Eli. The boy-priest had his
duties in the holy place, attending to the lights in the seven-
branched candlestick, and opening the doors at sunrise. His
whole time Avas passed in the Tabernacle ; he seems to have slept
in the sacred court. Here he must have seen one of those name
less prophets, Avho come forth in Holy Writ, deliver their message
and disappear, showing that the Lord kept to himself witnesses
who are not recorded on the inspired page. A man of God came
Avith a word to Eli. We imagine the holy child standing
appalled as he listens to the doom denounced on the unrighteous
priests : " There shall not be an old man in thy house forever,
all the increase of thine house shall die in the floAver of their age."
With this denunciation ringing in his ears, with this scene of
the Avarning prophet, the grief-struck, remorseful, yet submissive
Eli, present in his memory, Ave wonder that in his own old age
Samuel repeats Eli's error, and suffers his sons to do Avickedly,
provoking the people ofthe Lord to sin.
Samuel Avas in his early youth called to the prophetic office in
a vision. He also was made the bearer of a doom to Eli, the
foster father, whom he loved.
From this hour, when he had heard the A7oice of God, the
Israelites recognized in him their leader and teacher. They
came up to him to the Tabernacle, and, as says the Scripture,
" the Lord Avas Avith him, and did let none of his words fall to

SAMUEL. 241
the ground. Aud all Israel, from Dan to Beersheha, knew that
Samuel was established to be a prophet ofthe Lord."
For a long time, the indignant King of Israel had Avithdrawn
himself, and Avould hold no communication with his rebellious
people. He now turned Avith favor to them, and chose Samuel as
his prime minister.
Samson had groAvn to manhood, his physical exceeding his
spiritual strength. He had failed to rise to the greatness of his
mission ; and noAV God chose another man, and glorified him
spiritually ; and in the manner in which the son of Elkanah sur
passed the son of Manoah, living long, guiding the people,
building up the kingdom of God on earth right gloriously, Ave
see " how wisdom excelleth strength ; " we see Iioav true strength
is in spiritual rather than physical development.
Once more Shiloh, the place Avhere the Tabernacle was pitched
and the Ark rested, became the real capital of the nation. There
God, returning to his people, throned himself between the cheru
bim on the mercy seat ; there again the Sovereign answered by
Urim and by Thummim ; there he spoke with an audible voice
to Samuel ; the golden age of Israel was begun. A shadoAV was
yet to fall, on account ofthe sins ofthe house of Eli.
Over the dawn Avhich had broken gloriously Avith the beginning
of Samuel's prophetic career, came a cloud and a storm. In a
pitched battle, the Israelites were defeated by the Philistines.
In their dismay, they turned to the Ark of the Covenant, rather
than to the God of the Covenant. They brought this Ark up
from, its sacred resting in the Holy of Holies. To rebuke this
incipient idolatry, the enemy was again permitted to triumph, the
Ark was carried off as Philistia's trophy, the two traitor priests
Avere slain, and Eli, after a judgeship of forty years, broke heart
and neck, when he heard that the Ark was taken.
When' the Tabernacle at Shiloh was desecrated, Samuel dis-
16

242 SAMUEL.
appeared. He never afterwards is exhibited in connection with
the Tabernacle. For twenty years he is lost to sight. His early
precocity Avas, in retirement and devotion, nurtured to that strong
faith, that Avisdom, that prudence and self-abnegation, which
fitted him for his subsequent long and stormy public life.
From the hapless hour Avhen Eli's sons brought the Ark to the
battle field near Aphek, it was divided from the Tabernacle until
late in the reign of David. Thus the Throne and Royal Palace
of Israel's King were dissevered. He withdrew his face, till
suddenly becoming conscious of their desolation, they "lamented
after the Lord."
Now Samuel returns to them: like Moses, he has learned
much in his seclusion. He left the people in his youth, perhaps
before his twentieth year ; he returns in the meridian of life, after
tAvo decades of absence.
He came in poAver, proclaiming pardon to the penitent. The
people had given themselves to the lewd worship of Ashtaroth.
Samuel cried to them to put away their strange gods, and prepare
their hearts for the Lord, who would return in poAver to them.
Long trial had softened these erring hearts ; the people remem
bered him whose child face had glowed with Divine inspiration,
whose early years had been devoted to God, who had been the
mouthpiece of their King. From one end ofthe land to the other
spread a revival. Baalim and Ashtaroth Avere put away, "and
they served the Lord only."
This teaches us how, in these days, to secure the Lord's pres
ence, and his reviving grace. Let us put away our false gods ;
cease to worship Mammon and pleasure, serve the Lord only, and
haply he may return to us, and usher in his kingdom with power.
Samuel appointed a great National Convention at Mizpeh.
During the Theocracy religion was politics; politics was also
religion. It is very different now-a-days. For the nation to

SAMUEL. 243
come together, re-affirm their Covenant, re-accept the Constitution
proclaimed on Sinai, and cry after their King, Avas at once their
highest religious, and soundest political act.
The people looked to Samuel as an intercessor, Avho had pecu
liar faA'or with God ; his prolonged shout or cry for help seemed
to possess grand poAver in draAving down that help. At Mizpeh,
the people Avept, fasted, and poured out water before the Lord,
crying, " We have sinned ! " " Samuel judged the people at
Mizpeh." He probably rehearsed the law; pointed out their
errors and shortcomings ; made peace betAveen man and man, and
put aAvay their strange gods.
While thus occupied in the renovation of the body politic and
the re-establishment of the Theocracy, it was found that their
ancient enemies, the lords of the Philistines, were coming up in
strength against them. The enemies of the Lord chose a poor
time for attack, coming thus in the midst of the ardent zeal, self-
sacrifice, and faith of a revival.
The people evidenced their renewal in their exhortation to
Samuel : " Cease not to cry unto the Lord for us, that he will
save us." This Avas Israel's harvest of wrath. Now they
learned what the nation could do Avhen their King was with them.
Every arm AA7as strong; every heart was high; as they flung
themselves on the advancing foe, the Lord shot forth the arrows
of his lightnings. He thundered against the heathen ; the solid
ground reeled under the feet of the Philistines ; their souls grew
faint from fear. As Philistia faltered, Israel renewed strength.
The battle became a Avild rout of the heathen, who were smitten
as they fled, and the glorious times of Joshua seemed restored.
So complete Avas the subjugation ofthe insolent Philistines, that
they gathered head no more in all the days of Samuel.
This seems to be Samuel's only military enterprise. His
achievements were in the fairer fields of peace. He had secured

244 SAMUEL.
for his country the restoration of all the cities which had been
captured from them ; he made peace with the Amorites ; and then
devoted himself to the establishment of pure religion, the enforc
ing of the ancient laAvs, the developing of the resources of the
land, and the culture of the people. We can see the immense
Avork which Samuel thus performed, when we contrast the condi
tion of Israel shortly before his day, Avith that of Israel shortly
after his death. About the time of Samuel's birth the tribes Avere
without a common centre or judge; the Danites Avere freebooters;
the Benjaminites were nearly destroyed ; they Avere without arts
or education, without Aveapons of AA7ar, or the ordinary imple
ments of husbandry. At the end of probably tAventy years after
Samuel convened the people at Mizpeh, Saul Avas made king of a
united nation. We soon find him with an army; Avith palaces;
and all the usual equipages and splendors of a king. Forty years
more, and the dominion of David is the acme of Israel's glory.
For this rapid and wonderful prosperity, Samuel, the judicious
judge, laid the foundation.
The fear of this Avarrior prophet rested on the Philistine nations.
The diplomacy of Samuel is exhibited in the restoration of cities
which he extorted from his humbled foe; his systematic execu
tion of his duties, is shown in his yearly circuit through the land,
Avhen he held his court in the three cities of Bethel, Gilgal and
Mizpeh. In this yearly circuit he saw that justice was dealt
to the least and to the greatest ; that every beginning of idolatry
Avas destroyed ; that the laAV Avas honored ; the Sabbath observed ;
the will of the Lord was inquired for. A godly nation is a pros
perous nation ; godly prosperity insures national happiness. Says
Vattel : " Felicity is the legitimate object of all men." Plenty
in the State is not sufficient for the happiness of a nation. A
nation must first provide for ite necessities ; it must then provide
for its true felicity. To succeed in this the people must be

SAMUEL. 245
instructed to seek felicity where alone it can be found. Virtue is
the purest source of felicity, but nothing so assures virtue as piety.
" Piety is that disposition of soul which leads us to have a view
of the Divine Being in all our actions." A nation should then
be pious, and it should be the care of rulers to teach the nation
piety. " If all men ought to serve God, the entire nation in its national
capacity is doubtless under obligations to serve and honor him."
States being moral persons, the duty of serving God rests on them
equally Avith private individuals, and a failure in that duty is sure
to be chastized like the corresponding failure in the single indi
vidual. "Plenty and virtue," argues Vattel, "secure the perfect happi
ness of a nation." God had promised plenty to his Israelitish
subjects, so long, and in proportion as they held fast their allegi
ance to him. When Samuel, the Lord's vicegerent, saw to it
that his nation held pure their ancient faith, he took the A7ery best
and shortest means of building up the prosperity of the nation in
all points.
A valiant general ; a Avise and honorable jurist ; a firm, far-seeing
ruler; Samuel was also an example of godliness in his OAvn per
son. He had established his dAvelling at Ramah ; there he set up
an altar to his God. It is strange and sad, that after the warn-
in f experiences of his youth, Samuel should have fallen into the
sin of Eli. While governing the nation well, he forgot to govern
well his own household. ' He had two sons whom, with parental
partiality, he made judges of the people, and established them in
Beersheba. Their course sIioavs the dangers of hereditary authority.
The high position of their father made these young men arrogant
and grasping. The entire history of the Scripture is against the
laAV, and so-called right of primogeniture. Primogeniture asserted
ite claim on the race of Cain, and in the next dispensation in the

246 SAMUEL.
line of Ham ; but in the Theocratic succession it was steadily put
aside; first-born sons, no oftener than other sons, received the
birthright. Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Ephraim were not first-born.
So later, David and Solomon Avere younger sons.
Samuel made his sons judges when he began to feel the feeble
ness of age. He was now past sixty. The reign of Saul Avas
forty years, and Samuel lived nearly to its close ; he must haA'e
almost reached one hundred years. Kitto gives the age of Samuel
as ninety-two.
As Ave come to the time when the Theocracy was merged in the
Monarchy, it may be well to glance for a moment at the period
of the Judges. It AA'as certainly by no means a barbarous age, as
some Avould have us suppose ; neither Avas it Avhat Heeren calls it,
"an heroic age." Not only by the HebreAvs themselves, but by
all surrounding nations, God Avas recognized as the King in
Israel. The history of the seven months' sojourn of the Ark
among the Philistines, proves this. During this period of the
Judges all the varying fortunes of Israel Avere so many sensible
proofs of the poAver and dominion of God their King; for just in
proportion to their faithfulness, their loyalty to him, was their suc
cess. They were prosperous just in the degree that they were
pious. And this ratio of prosperity and piety is not confined to
that age or nation. We may apply it to-day to ourselves. When
the HebreAvs were united under their King, Jehovah, they gained
splendid victories, and the heathen became their vassals. When
they followed false gods, transgressing the conditions of the
national constitution, they became the servants of their foes.
Jephthah, Samuel, and others of the judges Avere called to their
position by the electoral voice of the people, Avho perceived that
God had endoAved them with especial gifts for that office. Some
of the judges, as Gideon, Avere taken from very humble station,
others Avere high priests, military men of renoAvn, or prophets.

SAMUEL. 247
The first duty of the judges Avas to administer the laAArs, of the
Mosaic code, in the fear of the Lord. In emergency of war, the
command of the army fell to them as the highest executive
officers. Their authority was limited by the divine laAV alone,
and in cases of perplexity they Avere directed by the holy Oracle.
There seems to have been for the judge no salary, no state, no
retinue. In Avar he may have had a larger share of spoils than
other men, and the people brought them presents, as to Samuel
and Saul. That they should take bribes or pay for administering
justice, Avas a token of unusual depravity, as we see in the case
of the sons of Eli and Samuel.
According as the judge was the servant of God, the zeal
ous upholder of his Avorship, and the defender of truth, his
judgeship Avas long and successful. We find these judges men of
faith and prayer ; men of noble, magnanimous character and lofty
patriotism ; Avho sought their country's good, and did not, as Wil
liam of Orange said of Egmont, " fill their own purse Avhile
ignoring the need of the State." Under the Theocracy, religion
and patriotism were so welded together, that to be religious was to
be patriotic, and vice versd. In these suggestions of the judges
and their office we have folloAved the thought of Jahn in his
survey of this period.
The Judgeship Avas not hereditary. When Samuel gave his sons
the office to exercise in Beersheba he erred ; it may be ignorantly.
Perhaps he did not apprehend the true character of his children.
If he did, he treated their sins too leniently, and bitterly did he
rue it. The increasing feebleness of Samuel, and the rampant
wickedness of his heirs, turned the thoughts of Israel to having
" A king like the nations round about."
While the venerable Judge Avas rejoicing in the prosperity of his
people, and predicating great glory for their future, if they held
fast the principles of the Theocracy, he was filled with anguish

248 SAMUEL.
by having them come before him, in the persons ofthe elders, with
the astounding request : " Make us a king to judge us like all the
nations." The bitterness of his grief was increased by the reason
they gave : " Behold, thou art old, and thy sons Avalk not in thy
ways." Alas, he had neglected the government of his children, that he
might apply himself to the government of the nation, and noAV his
undisciplined sons Avere ruining that nation.
The Theocracy ofthe HebreAvs might have been perpetual while
the Avorld endured ; their monarchy was the beginning of their
national dissolution.
As in the day Avhen Adam took of that fateful fruit and did eat
he began to die; so in the hour when Israel's elders came up to
Ramah saying: "Give us a king," they began to disintegrate as
a commonAvealth. This inception of decay Avas not at first visible;
as in autumn, dying nature covers herself Avith tenfold splendor,
so under David and Solomon the history of the JeAvs increased to
a singular magnificence, the nation shone in its scarlet, purple and
gold, but under all was the deadly touch of the finger of decay.
All the prosperity attained under the three first kings could have
been gained under a consistently maintained Theocracy, for in dis
cussing this subject further Ave shall see that only as the kings were
Theocratic were they successful. Success under the Theocracy
would have been permanent; under the monarchy it Avas
evanescent. God had his own plan to Avork out, the typology of the kingdom
of his Son to carry forward even by means of this rash demand
of Israel's elders. The losses and troubles of the HebreAA7s had
arisen, first, from national cowardice and effeminacy ; second, from
tribal jealousies. But cowardice arose from want of faith in their
King ; their jealousy from lack of love to him, which would have
extended itself to his subjects, their brethren. Thus their disasters

SAMUEL. 249
were occasioned by treachery to the fundamental principles of their
Theocratic government ; and the remedy they proposed Avas a yet
further divergence from those principles.
Samuel was highly displeased. Too shocked and indignant to
reply to the demand of the elders, he carried the case in prayer to
God. The proposition of the people greatly angered the Lord,
because in ite intent it Avas a direct violation of the constitution
framed at Sinai. They Avere rejecting Jehovah as formally as they
had elected him. Moreover, the demand of the people Avas for
"a king like the nations;" that is an unlimited king Avith autho
rity to frame and execute laws. In regard to the request for a
visible king God saAV fit to grant that, for his intention Avas to
choose a godly monarch, and giA7e him a perpetual kingdom in
making him the progenitor of Messiah. A Theocratic king, a king
Avho felt himself God's deputy, his satrap, governing under him,
carrying out God's laAvs, and paying him tribute, the Jews might
haA7e. But first they Avere to see the folly of their oAvn request in
having for a space a king — like the nations. The reply of God
to the praying Samuel Avas : " Hearken unto the voice of the peo
ple. They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that
I should not reign over them. . . They have forsaken me, and
served other gods, so do they do to thee." This is akin to what
Christ told his disciples : " The disciple is not above his master,
nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that
he be as his master ; and the servant as his lord." This comforted
Samuel, and it Avould be well if AA7e all of us laid it to heart in
many of the storms and vexations of this earthly life. " They
have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me." "It is enough
for the servant to be as his lord."
Samuel convened the people, and taking their request as they
made it, described the king Avho should be to them as the kings
of neighboring nations, the sovereigns of Damascus, Zidon and

250 SAMUEL.
NineA'eh. Wildly rose up the one-voiced shout of the rebels :
" Nay ! but we will ha\7e a king."
The people stood before their Judge. He was showing them
on the one hand Jehovah their anointed King, on the other the
human despot. It Avas such a scene as angels looked upon amazed
a thousand years later, Pilate standing before the tumultuous as
sembly and giA7ing them their choice between the Lord of glory
and a murderer, and led on by their chiefs, they doom their race
by their criminal demand : " Not this man, but Barabbas."
The Judgeship of Samuel did not end with the election of a king.
"He judged Israel all the days of his life." His greatest anxieties
and labors were yet to come. These are so entwined Avith the
lives of Saul and David that vre leave them for consideration under
their separate monographs.
At Gilgal Samuel formally presented the new sovereign to the
people, and in an eloquent address rehearsed the way the Lord
had led them, and sketched his own administration. The Lord
answered his protest by thunder, and all the people trembled.
That thunder in wheat harvest Avas a sound ominous to the new
government. Thus, after about four hundred years, the Theocracy
was apparently superseded, and Israel had " a king like unto the
nations."

XII.
SAUL.
GOVERNMENT WITHOUT RELIGION.

JHEN God acceded to the request of the Hebrews for a
king, he reserved to himself the right of choosing a man
firjTs for that high position. The Lord meant that the desire
for a human sovereign should fall in with his own pur
poses, accomplish bis own designs, and unfold the Messianic reign.
The king of Israel must not, like the kings of the heathen, arro
gate to himself the right to make laws, or to offer sacrifices. The
headship of the Church Avas at once dissevered from the crown.
So long as God alone was King in Jewry, Church and State Avere
indissolubly united. When a man came to the throne, then the
Church was separated from the State ; the High Priest Avas su
preme in his own functions, and never more should there be, with
God's consent, a union of Church and State in one person, until
the feet of the Returned Christ should stand upon Mount Olives.
Thus, because the king of Israel was chosen by the Lord ; be
cause he exercised the sovereignty under God ; Avas obedient to his
pleasure, and removable at his will, he w7as styled : " The Lord's
Anointed." And we shall see in the case of the first Hebrew
monarch that when he assumed for himself more than the Lord
allowed, he was cut off. The first man whom God raised to the
throne of Israel was Saul, the son of Kish. Kish was a powerful
and Avealthy Benjaminite, living in Zelah. The tribe of Benjamin
251

252 saul.
was the most Avarlike of the tAvelve. Old Jacob well described it
Avhen he said-: " Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf; in the morning
he shall pursue the prey, at evening he shall divide the spoil."
Fierce, AvayAvard, fitful, laAvless, the whole tribe was very like its
crowning blossom, the man Avho came out of it to be first king
of Israel.
The territory of Benjamin lay between Judah and Ephraim ;
the possessions of Dan shut off Benjamin from the Philistines ; it
was bounded on the east by the fertile valley of the Jordan ; in
luxuriant plains and beautiful dells it SAvept along to the dark-
wooded slopes of Kirjath-jearim. Lofty eminences afforded posi
tions of advantage in Avar, and the valor of the tribe made each
one historic ; the table-land Avas fertile ; the valleys Avere capable
of. being admirably defended ; the Avater courses were abundant ;
in the centre Avas the delightful plain of Jericho, the city of palm
trees. There Avere many places of note Avithin the boundaries of
this ttibe. The ark after ite captivity remained at Kirjath-jearim
in Benjamin ; here also Avas Bethel, one of the most ancient sanc
tuaries in Palestine; Gibeon, "the great high place;" Mizpeh,
Avhere were held the assemblies of all Israel ; and here also Avas
Gilgal Avith its grand associations.
Of all the young men in Benjamin, Saul the son of Kish was the
most princely ; yet more, it is said that in the twelve tribes he had
not his peer in beauty. Like the heroes of Homer, he Avas of
exceeding height and strength ; the historian of Scripture tells us
that he Avas "a choice young man, and a goodly, and there Avas not
among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he; from his
shoulders upAA'ard he Avas taller than any of the people."
When Ave first find Saul he is as remarkable for humility and
simplicity as for splendor of appearance and exceeding bravery.
When God showed this young man to Samuel as the future king
of Israel, the aged seer experienced for him a fatherly affection.

saul. 253
The nature of Samuel Avas aesthetic, with true IIcbreAV ardor he
doated on personal beauty; we see this in his unconcealed admira
tion of Saul, and yet later Avhen his eye rests Avell pleased on
the seven stately sons of Jesse, and on the boyish beauty of
David. Saul Avas privately anointed king by the prophet. At a pub
lic meeting in Mizpeh he Avas pointed out by lot, and Avhen
Samuel presented him to the multitude, saying : " See ye him
whom the Lord hath chosen, that there is none like him among
all the people," the easily impressed multitude shouted Avith joy.
Nevertheless, rioters arose, disputing the claim of the newly
elected king ; and as the time for his inauguration had eA'idently
not come, Saul Avent home to Gibeah. That he departed out of
wisdom, rather than fear, is proven by his immediate attack on
the Ammonites, and the great valor he there displayed. By this
act he conquered the homage of his neAV subjects, and Samuel,
taking advantage of his protege's popularity, convened the nation
at Gilgal to SAvear allegiance to the neAV monarch.
Gilgal was memorable for the pillar of tweh7e stones set up by
Joshua, after the miraculous crossing of the Jordan. There cir
cumcision Avas reneAved ; there the grand first j^assover after the
AA7anderings Avas held ; there the manna ceased ; there the Captain
of the Lord's host appeared ; there they camped Avhen God smote
Jericho; Avhen Ai Avas taken; when Achan sinned; Avhen that
fatal covenant with Gibeon soAved an eternal discontent in Israel.
Here, on this storied plain, rich Avith some of the loftiest memories
of their people, Avith ruined Jericho lying in the distance, stood
Saul and Samuel before the assembled nation.
" Behold," said the aged seer, pointing to his companion, " your
king walketh before you ! And I am old and grey headed . . .
and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day."
He next formally took the people to witness the purity of his

254 saul.
life, and the strictness of his justice in all his OAVn administration.
With one voice they bore testimony to his probity and benevolence.
He laid a heavy charge against them. After rehearsing the
way in Avhich the Lord had led them, he said : " And ye said Nay,
but a king shall reign over us, Avhen the Lord was your king."
Samuel had already laid doAvn the laws of the kingdom, " writ
ten them in a book," and read them to king and subject. As he
noAV continued his address, the bright summer sky grew ominously
dark ; unusual clouds croAvded like armies the horizon ; cold
winds surged from the distant mountains, chill with unmelting
snows ; a Avinter storm broke upon the assembly ; the thunder pealed,
and Avhirling rain dashed into the awe-stricken, up-turned faces.
It Avas an hour of evil omen for the coming reign.
After this exhibition of the Divine Presence, Samuel assured
the people and the neAv-made king that the only danger of the
future lay in forgetting the Covenant of God ; in failing to acknoAV-
ledge Jehovah as Supreme Ruler. So long as Saul and his subjects
remembered their subordination, that JeAvry Avas only a satrapy
of the sky, so long should prosperity attend them. " God for
bid," said the prophet solemnly, " that I should sin against the Lord
in ceasing to pray for you."
This calls to our minds how God entwines his OAvn cause and
honor in that of his people. " They shall prosper that love thee,"
sings the Psalmist ofthe Church. Christ says : " Inasmuch as ye
did it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto
me." From the protest of Samuel, we see that it is a sin against
God to cease to pray for the prosperity of the Church. The scene
closed Avith a fearful Avarning : " But if ye shall still do wickedly,
ye shall be consumed, both you and your king."
Samuel in relinquishing the government to Saul remained still
the Prophet of God, the prime minister of the kingdom ; and, as
before, expounded and carried out the Mosaic laAV.

saul. 255
There is something very tender and pathetic in the feeling be
tAveen Samuel and Saul. The Seer doats on the king as on a son ;
the beauty of Saul, his bold, ardent temper, his strong affection
and reverence for the prophet, bind the old man closely to him ;
while in all Saul's perversion, and mad, downward career, he
cleaves with pitiful longings to the sanctity of Samuel, as if it
could save him ; he depends on his intercession to avert the ruin
which only his OAvn penitence could hinder ; and mad or sane, he
receives with humility the prophet's rebukes.
Saul was one of the many characters Avho are safest and most
beautiful in a private station. When he was lifted to the dizzy
height of royalty in a manner so unexpected, he knew not how to
control his passions and ambition.
He had been made The Lord's Anointed. This he should have
considered his choicest designation, his highest honor. The
beginning, the cause, and the completion of his aAvful failure in
government was, that he forgot his vice-regal position ; he failed
to apprehend his true estate, and regarded himself rather as an
independent monarch, than as the Viceroy of the Sky. Instead
of being holden by the grand fundamental principles of the
Hebrew constitution, he assumed the autocratic state of the despots
of the heathen. Having inaugurated this error, and begun this
real rebellion against his King, God Almighty7, Saul went from
bad to worse. The anguish occasioned by the accusations of a
naturally tender conscience ; the self-reproach for the ruined
prospects of his children ; his terror of a doom which he could at
times see looming up from the darkness of his future, and the
unnatural excitement of his strife against heaven, begetting
jealousy, distrust and hatred of men, worked havoc with the
originally noble nature of Saul, and poisoned "the sweet and
gentle current of his blood."
The tendency of Saul to establish a rule " like the nations,"

256 saul.
Avas exhibited in his gathering a standing army at the very begin
ning of his reign. In less than tAvo full years he also erred
vehemently in assuming to himself the right of leading the wor
ship of the nation in the offering of sacrifice. The Israelites
being assembled at Gilgal to fight with the Philistines, only waited
for the prophet to come and secure for them the benediction of
their God. This Avas the hour to test the obedience of Saul, and
to decide the light in which he looked on his royalty. The test
was a severe one, for Saul was a heroic m£fh, his patriotism, natural
spirit, and kingly pride, were all enlisted in the approaching con
flict ; and in every hour of waiting for the prophet's tardy feet the
cowardly Hebrews were deserting their ranks, and the forces of
the Philistines Avere augmenting. HoAvever, Saul had been warned
by Samuel of the exigencies of this hour, and if he had been firm
to his duty as a rock, obeying like a true soldier the orders of
his Great Commander, he Avould have had his kingdom assured
to him forever. Misjudging his real position, the vassal of heaven
assumed supreme rights. The bold hand of Saul laid on the altar
a burnt-offering, and presented it an unblessed sacrifice to God ;
he offered a peace-offering to inaugurate the Avar between himself
and his Liege ! Scarcely had the blood of the victims ceased to
floAV and the smoke to ascend than Samuel appeared.
Saul, aAvare of his sin, endeavored to excuse it. Heavy Avas
the task assigned the prophet ; to pronounce vengeance on him
whom he loved as a son. " Thy kingdom shall not continue."
Immediately after this sentence, the rashness of Saul's character
appears in the interdictive curse laid on any Avho should taste food ;
a curse Avhich nearly resulted in the death of Jonathan ; raised a
tumult in the army, and caused the starving people to transgress,
in eating the bleeding flesh at evening, contrary to the law : " And
the blood, Avhich is the life thereof, thou shalt not eat."
From that hour, Saul had fits of madness or melancholy which,

saul. 257
as he advanced in years, came at shorter and shorter intervals, and
wrought him to Avilder phrenzy.
" O what a noble mind is here o'erthrown I
The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's eye, tongue, sword ;
The expectancy and rose of the fair state,
The glass of fashion, and the mould of form,
The observed of all observers, quite, quite down !
Now see that noble and most sovereign reason,
Like sweet bells jangled out of tune and harsh,
That unmatched form and feature of blown youth,
Blasted with ecstasy I "
With the self-will and toAvering pride of Saul, a religious and
prophetic spirit Avere strangely blended. This poAver of prophesy
ing first came upon him as he left Ramah, after the anointing
oil had been poured on his head.
We see the mind of Saul tossed to and fro like a rudderless
boat on SAvelling waves. One hour the king appears prophesying
before the Lord ; in another he is an arrant liar ; Ave behold him
building altars, and anon Avith cruel eye approving the slaughter
of the priests of the tabernacle.
During the first eleven years of his reign the kingdom of Saul
became strongly established by many victories. He was a AA'arrior
of whom his people might well be proud. Moab, Ammon, Edom,
and Zobah submitted themselves to him.
Josephus says of him : " Saul had many chariots and horse
men, and against whomsoever he made war he returned conqueror,
and advanced the Hebrews to a great degree of success and pros
perity, and made them superior to other nations."
By this time the king had assumed a royal state of living ; hav
ing palaces, body guards, and all the luxuries and ostentation of
the Eastern despot.
About the end of the eleven years, Samuel went to the king
with a message from God : " I remember that which Amalek did
to Israel  Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all
17

258 saul.
that they have, and spare them not ; but slay both men and. wo
men, 'infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass." Here
we see the command was absolute and explicit ; it left no loop
hole of escape for Saul ; no excuse for doing his own will. The
order came from the Supreme Ruler to his Viceroy, and all that
remained for him was to obey, or openly to rebel.
In passing cursorily over this point, we remark, Iioav though the
vengeance of the Lord may slumber awhile, it is never forgotten.
When he has laid up of his wrath for any people, it will break
upon them in a terrible tempest, although it may be long delayed.
God never forgets.
" Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small ;
Though with patience he stands waiting, with exactness grinds he all."
When the hour of retribution had come for Amalek, the doom
was — entire destruction.
Saul rejoiced to receive this command ; his was not the joy of
the obedient heart, but the joy of the warrior when he may un-
sheath his sword.
By this time the army of Israel was numerous and well equip
ped. Abner, the son of Ner, Saul's cousin, Avas the chief captain
under the king. Abner the ill-fated, and Saul " the gazelle of
Israel," were men well matched either in peace or war. They
went up elate before the host ; they smote Amalek utterly. Two
hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah, were
the soldiers numbered in Telaim. These overran the Avhole ter
ritory of the Amalekites and laid it waste. This victory added
to the dangerous pride of Saul. The thought seized him to have
a king for his state prisoner, like the kings of the nations. It
Avas a favorite idea of monarchs then to grace their train with
captive sovereigns. Agag, a man of lofty height and royal port,
was therefore preserved alive, and disobedience to God began;
Saul spared also the finest of flocksj herds and beasts of burden.

saul. 259
" What Avas vile and refuse that they destroyed." Thus Saul had
deliberately despised the authority of his Chief and King. After
this conquest he Avent home to Gilgal.
This Avas the turning-point in Saul's history ; from that fateful
day, his life Avas one long tragedy. The Lord forsook him, and
the unchained demons of his OAvn nature grew rampant. He is
an instance of what every man Avould be ; even those Avhom Ave
set the highest for graciousness and probity, if the Lord should
AvithdraAV his Spirit from them. How little does that man Avho
boasts his morality, Avhile he knoAvs himself to be unconverted,
realize that his virtue, in Avhich he prides himself, is the product
of God's grieved Spirit lingering about him still, chained, per-.
haps, by some good man's prayers ?
Thus far in the history, Samuel, potent Avith his God, had held
the erring king of Israel up into the light of heaven, on the strong
arms of his intercession. Now in the night, God came to him,
saying : " It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king :
for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed
my commandments."
Nothing can add to the pathos of what follows: "And it
grieved Samuel, and he cried unto God all night."
We note the debasing effect on Saul of the quick withdrawal
of God's Spirit, in that the king comes out and meets the prophet
with a lie on his lips.
" Blessed be thou of the Lord : I have performed all the com
mandment of the Lord."
The answer of Samuel is most pertinent. " What meaneth
then this bleating of sheep in mine ears; and the lowing of oxen
Avhichlhear?" The blush of shame must have crimsoned Saul's cheek at this,
but he added another idle falsehood : " The people spared the
best of the sheep and the oxen to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God."

260 SAUL.
Mark, Saul did not say "our" or "my" God, but "thy."
There is nothing which will more provoke a righteous indigna
tion, than to have religion quoted as the cover of baseness.
When the Avord of the Lord is made a cloak for injustice, evil
seems tenfold more shameful.
Doubtless the gray, majestic prophet eyed the king with anger,
scorn, and Avonder, blended with pity and grief for the fall of one
he loved so sincerely. Solemnly he spoke: "Stay, and I will
tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night."
Quelled, the king bent his haughty head, answering : " Say on."
The address of Samuel began Avith the question Avhich sug
gested the great beauty and reAvard of Saul's early humility,
" When thou Avast little in thine OAvn sight, wast thou not made
head OA7er the tribes of Israel? and the Lord anointed thee king
over Israel." This reminds the king to Avhom he OAves fealty.
Here Ave see a striking difference between Saul and David.
Saul needs to be reminded of his loAvly origin ; David himself
recalls his own, glorifying God. Samuel next rehearses the plain
behest concerning Amalek.
Saul reiterates his defence. He saved for sacrificial use.
" Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices
as in obeying the voice of the Lord ? Behold, to obey is better
than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion
is as the sin of Avitchcraft ; and stubbornness is as iniquity and
idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the Avord of the Lord, he
also hath rejected thee from being king."
It is an important lesson ; one we Avould do well to heed. It
is one we could suitably call to mind in some grand church,
beautiful Avith gilding and frescoes, carved Avood, stained glass;
marble and damask ; with spire nearer heaven than the hearts of
its Avorshippers ; where a rich-toned organ fills the intervals of
the prayers of highly reputable, wine-drinking, card-playing,
Mammon-serving Christians.

SAUL. 261
Smitten with terror and anguish, Saul cried: "I have sinned!
Pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the
Lord." His evident intention Avas a reversal of his sentence. Samuel
so understood it, and replied : " I will not return ; for thou hast
rejected the word of the Lord ; and the Lord hath rejected thee
from being king over Israel."
So saying, Samuel made an effort to depart, when Saul, in a
passion of despair, laid hold of the skirt of his mantle, and in the
violence of his detaining effort rent it.
This mantle was a characteristic garment whereby the last
judge Avas known through all Israel. Perhaps Hannah's loving
hands had designed the fashion of it, for her boy Nazarite ; and
in tender remembrance her son copied it, for his garb in all his
life. Looking on the rent, the Prophet used it as a sign. " The
Lord hath rent the kingdom from thee this day ; and given it to
a neighbor of thine, that is better than thou. And also the
Strength of Israel Avill not lie, nor repent."
This word Avas decisive. Saul felt now that he was hopelessly
rejected. He ceased his prayer for the future, and only asked
an outward honor before the elders of Israel. On this ground
of present courtesy, Samuel turned Avith the remorseful king, and
worshipped. An act of vengeance remained to be performed. Said Samuel :
" Bring ye me hither Agag, the king of the Amalekites ! "
Agag came Avith pride, and mincing delicacy ; he flattered him
self that the bitterness of death was passed, and that he could
live in luxury, Saul's captive king, to grace his royal pageant,
and eat at his board in golden chains. He was a murderer and a
tyrant, against whom was a black record written in the book of
doom. Short shrift was allowed, him. The gray-beard seer was an

262 saul.
old athlete. His wrinkled hand was strung with thews of steel.
He dropped his rent mantle from his unbent shoulders, furnished
himself with a well-tempered sword, perhaps from Saul or Abner,
and pronouncing sentence thus i —
"As thy sAvord hath made women childless, so shall thy mother
be childless among women." He hewed Agag in pieces before
the Lord. King and courtiers stood mutely by, as the Prophet
thus vindicated the justice of him who had long ago pronounced
this sentence on the royal Amalekite.
Thus they parted, Saul and Samuel ; between them ran the red
tide of Agag's blood ; Saul's sword was wet with the retribution
the seer had Avreaked ; Samuel's mantle had been rent by the
hand of Saul, and thus torn had become prophetic of a kingdom
rent away.
SloAvly the old man went back to Ramah; his heart Avas sore
and heavy ; wildly in his palace did the king strive to Avake
mirth, and maintain pomp ; ever in his ears rang the words :
" The Lord hath rejected thee," and before his eyes waved the
torn mantle ofthe man of God.
They met no more in the flesh. Withdrawn from him, whose
downward career he could no longer stay, Samuel mourned apart.
The depth of his love for his king, and the sincerity of his
sorrow, are shown in the rebuke of the Lord, fifteen years after
these events : " Hoav long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I
have rejected him ? Fill thine horn with oil, and go ; I will
send thee to Jesse, the Bethlehemite, for I have provided me a
king among his sons."
Here enters an important element into the life of Saul, his
acquaintance with David, and the tender love, the bitter hate for
him, which battled in the half mad monarch's soul.
As Saul's anointing came in the midst of Samuel's life, and
Saul the king, superseded Samuel the judge, Avho yet lived on,

saul. 263
and Avhose life and AArork were entwined in that of the new made
monarch ; so now, Avhen Saul's reign is little more than half over,
David is secretly anointed, is brought to court as a harper ; be
comes a Avarrior, and as heir apparent of the throne by the decree
of God, fills a large space in the annals of Saul's unhappy reign.
The Spirit of God departing from the rebel Saul, rested richly
on the loyal heart of David. This redounded to the advantage
of the miserable king, for David became the champion of the
kingdom, and, moreover, by his divine gifts, soothed and solaced
the perturbed soul of his sovereign.
Saul, the ardent and humble young man ; Saul, the bold war
rior, must ever Avake our warmest admiration. All the best traits
of Saul shine out in the rarely beautiful character of Jonathan,
than Avhich a nobler is not embalmed in Holy Writ. Jonathan,
the pious, the brave, the patriotic, the unselfish, the ardent, shoAvs
us what Saul might have been had he consecrated his life and his
sovereignty to the Lord.
It would be Avrong for us to suppose that the three or four acts
of disobedience detailed in Scripture were the only errors of Saul;
or that for them solely he lost the kingdom. These instances are
merely given out of many, which clearly showed that Saul was
incapable of appreciating his true mission or status. As the first
king of Israel, he occupied a position of note ; if he went on, un
checked in arrogating to himself poAver to direct the national affairs,
and trample on the ordinances of Jehovah, there Avould be no
hope for the nation or its future rulers. Saul must be made an
example of, lest bad rules and evil precedents should be estab
lished for future reigns. Had Saul been permitted to go on un
checked, the principles of the Hebrew state, and the object of its
foundation, would have been utterly annihilated.
It was about the date of the anointing of David that Saul's
mental malady so greatly increased on him, that friends and cour-

264 saul.
tiers began to seek for remedies. The peculiar susceptibility of
the king to SAveet sounds, occasioned them to seek for a skilful
musician to calm his perturbed spirits, and thus David was sent
for to come to court, and the king and his successor stood face to
face. Saul's need not be supposed a case of demoniacal possession ;
once let the spirit of God be Avithdrawn, and a man needs no other
tormentors than the unloosed demons of his own disposition to de
throne reason, and goad him to most exquisite anguish.
From the time of this meeting with the son of Jesse, Saul was
tossed betAveen extremes of love and hate. He admired the mu
sician and the hero. He listened, lulled to unwonted calms, to
the singing of some of those matchless strains which have been
alike the cradle songs, the battle cries, and the martyr hymns of
the Church for ages. He exulted in the courage and high faith
which cut Goliath doAvn, and in a little while, the praises of the
Israelitish women, the favor of the court, and the thought of the
future royalty, stung him to such a phrenzy of rage and hate,
that he was thirsty for David's blood.
In these black moods Saul often sought the life of David ; he
also tried to kill his own son ; he ordered the slaughter of the
priests, even eighty-five of them in one day ; he perverted the
married faith of his daughter ; broke his own covenants • bribed
his people to gross treachery ; and at the head of his army pur
sued from fastness to fastness his most loyal subject and faithful
friend, the unoffending son of Jesse. In the midst of these mad
pranks Saul Avas sustained in his throne by the faithfulness of the
members of his father's house ; the fraternal loyalty of the tribe
of Benjamin, and the prestige of his valorous past. So daring and
successful a warrior had firmly established himself in the hearts
of the people of Israel.
Thus passed twelve tempest-lashed years. One while the re-

saul. 265
morseful monarch Avould weep and be reconciled to his • " son
David." Again he set a price on his head, until David fled the
land, and, an outlaw, took refuge with his country's foes, but even
there remained true to his nation.
The fierce, Avild acts of Saul were multiplied ; Samuel died
and was buried in his own house at Ramah, mourned by united
Israel. Until he died there had been a fountain of justice, an ad
ministrator of the laAV in the kingdom ; when he was gone, virtue
and piety seemed perished ; the kingdom Avhich Saul's valor had
established Avas tottering to its fall ; its centripetal force was gone,
and it began to drop asunder of its OAvn Aveight. Thus will any
kingdom where God is not, begin to perish. It may endure very
much longer than this of Israel, but its ruin is inevitable. Thus
the Roman nation fell ; thus Spain and France in our own day
have lost their high estate. Whenever a nation leaves God out
of its account, that nation is condemned already, and over it, as
over Troy, shall be Avritten, Fuit.
The Philistines, elated by the death, long delayed, of their arch
enemy Samuel, and seeing the Aveakness of the kingdom, under
its maniac ruler; knoAving that David the champion was in exile,
gathered head once more, and marched up to the plain of Es-
draelon, and with horses and chariots and Aveapons of war, made
a formidable array, defying Israel. Along the slope of little
Hermon by Shunem Avere pitched the myriad tents of Philistia.
Saul, like an aged Avar horse discerning the battle from afar,
organized his forces, and went up and encamped in Gilboa.
Three noble sons went with him ; for a Avhile the fire of heroism
brightened the royal soldier's eye. He had established himself
on historic ground ; here Avas a spot made glorious by the faith
and achievements of Gideon. It Avas by the spring Harod, Avhence
the youthful judge had sent back all who lacked his OAvn grand
faith in the coming event. The name of the spring, Harod —

266 saul.
trembUng — was a fateful augury for Saul. An emotion hitherto
unknown took possession of him : " When Saul saAV the host
of the Philistines he Avas afraid, and his heart trembled
greatly." Samuel was dead. God had departed from him : " And an-
SAvered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by the
prophets." In this horrible premonitory silence, Saul grew desperate. Once,
in his zeal, he had rooted out of the land wizards and sooth-.
sayers ; now to them he turned, Avhen earth and heaven alike
were deaf to his cries. Alas for the man who has shut upon
himself the gate of mercy, and stands without, bemoaning to the
darkness !
Ever a wayw7ard mixture of religion and superstition, Saul
disguised himself, and, accompanied by tAvo faithful servants,
Avent at night to Endor, to consult a Avoman dwelling there,
Avho claimed to have converse Avith a familiar spirit. On the
scene Avhich folloAVS volumes have been written, discussing Avhether
the apparition Avhich appeared Avas real or an imposture ; whether
the Avoman had an evil poAver or had none ; whether she was
surprised at the result of her OAvn incantations, was playing a
part, or expected an ansAver to her spells. It matters little ; the
salvation of the soul is not wrapped in questions such as these.
The important lesson lies in the thought of Saul, who might
have risen so high, Avho fell so low ; Avho might have touched
the verge of life full of years and honors, and as he lost sight
in death of his weeping courtiers, might have met a convoy of
angels. His humility would have been his exaltation ; his arro
gance Avas his sore defeat.
As Saul stood waiting for the witch-woman to bring him an
answer as to the issues of the morrow, she beheld a godlike figure
rising in threatening majesty before her. An aged man wrapped

saul. 267
round Avith that sacred, peculiar mantle, which she, as well as all
living in Israel, knew as the garb of Samuel.
Alas, the mantle of the vision had an ominous rent, the token
of the lost kingdom.
When Saul had received a description of the Appearance, he
boAved Avith all his old time reverence for Samuel.
There is nothing more Avonderful in Scripture than the conver
sation Avhich ensues : " Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring
me up ? "
That painful answer : " God hath forsaken me, I am sore dis
tressed." That close inquiry : " Wherefore dost thou ask after me, seeing
God hath departed from thee, and become thine enemy ? "
Surely in the dying hour, no beloved saint in glory, no Chris
tian friend or relative, no man of God, can help the soul which is
not stayed on Jesus. In Christ alone is provision for the hour,
when flesh and heart shall fail.
"To-morrow, thou and thy three sons shall be with me.
God shall deliver Israel into the hand of the Philistines."
The only intimation here is of death ; the king and his sons
should have passed out ofthe land ofthe living, into Sheol.
At these dread Avords, Saul's gigantic form boAved, and he fell
fainting upon the earth. At last his servants and the Avoman
forced him to eat, and before daAvn he returned to the camp.
He had made up his mind to die, and, like a brave man, he
would die sword in hand. His pristine courage returned; if the
decree had not gone out against Israel, his valor would have
redeemed his people that day. He saAV his army scattered ; on
Gilboa those three goodly sons fell down slain. Above their
dead bodies, exposed to the onset of the archers, stood Saul,
fio-hting like a lion at bay, " sore wounded of the archers," and
striving still amid blood and pain. His sqns were lost; his

268 saul.
kingdom was lost ; hope was lost ; but he would sell his lifo
right dear.
When the ranks of the Philistines Avere closing in, and cap
tivity was imminent, Saul, having asked death as a favor at the
hand of his armor-bearer, fell on his own sword and died. His
devoted attendant followed his example. Saul lay there, frozen
in all the majesty of death ; his crown on his brow, his royal
bracelets on his wrist, his gleaming armor girding him, his sword
hilt clasped by his self-destroying hand. " The beauty of Israel
is slain upon thy high places. How are the mighty fallen ! "
The triumphant heathen set up a shout of joy over that princely
group, the hero father and his three hero sons, lying slain upon
Gilboa. "How are the mighty fallen, and the Aveapons of war
perished ! "
The armor of these royal soldiers was sent to the Philistine
lords, and hung up for a trophy in the Temple of Astarte in
Bethshan ; over the walls of this city were suspended the stripped
corpses, while the heads, whose splendid projects had desolated
Philistia, Avere sent to the Temple of Dagon at Ashdod.
But almost forty years before Saul had cast bread on the waters,
he had done a noble deed, now to be recompensed. He had de
livered Jabesh Gilead from Ammon, and now by night, the
grateful citizens, who had since their rescue loved him well, arose
and secured the insulted bodies of Saul and his sons ; carried
them to Jabesh, made for them a royal burning, and buried them
Avith due honors under a Tamarisk tree. Still later, mindful of
his early friendship, David removed the inurned ashes of Saul
and Jonathan to a tomb in their native city, Zelah of Benjamin.

XIII.
DAVID.
A GREAT SINNER AND A TRUE SAINT.

HE most flourishing period of Jewish history commences
with the reign of David, and lasts eighty years, " until
&&, *'ie kingdom, like the cloak of Jeroboam, is rent asunder."
This bloom-time of the nation is about as long as the
later glory day of the Babylonian Empire.
At the death of Saul, the reign of David began in Hebron,
over the tribe of Judah alone; after seven years, he became
sovereign over all the tribes, making Jerusalem, and the strong
hold of Zion, the trophy of his valor, his capital.
At the time when the anointing oil, poured on his head by
Samuel, consecrated him Saul's successor, he was but fifteen years
of age. In probably no more than five years from that time, he
became the object of Saul's envious hate, a fugitive and an outlaAV,
until at thirty he was relieved from his chief troubles, by the
death of his unhappy foe.
Glancing at the ancestry of DaA7id, we find two very famous
women — Rahab, named by the Apostle among the heroic vindi
cators of their faith ; and Ruth, who shines forever in Scripture,
a model of self-devoted affection.
David heired the high soul, the far-seeing wisdom, and the
burning faith of Rahab ; the beauty, the humility, and loving
heartedness of Ruth, fairest of gleaners. He is best known to us
269

270 DAVID.
of any old Testament character, his life being given us with much
minuteness of detail ; and in his Psalms we have the record of
the trials, the falls, the temptations, the victories, the joys and
Avoes, of his soul.
In David, Judah the brave, the rash, the ardent, the eloquent,
seems to live again, endowed with a double portion of God's
Spirit ; and never Avas there a man Avho needed a double portion
more, to contend Avith the madness of his passions. Types of
character are forever reproducing themseh'es ; as in David, Judah
seemed to live aneAV, so since David, there have been those Avho
have found in his traits and experiences an amazing similarity to
their own.
Davrid had a rare genins for music and poetry; he had an
unusual talent for government, being able to Avin and control the
hearts of men ; his soldiers experienced for him an ardent affec
tion. Remarkably bold and successful in war, he yet cultivated,
with equal enthusiasm, the arte of peace ; he could make treaties,
and chastise enemies Avith the same facility. He seems to have
had strong family affection, as evinced in his care for his aged
parents, and for his nephews. He was the child of his parents'
old age, and probably trained up with his nephews as his com
panions. His rashness is shown in his march against Nabal, and
in many Avarlike achievements; his humility, in the readiness
Avith which he accepts the advice of Abigail and Nathan.
In personal appearance, David was fitted to attract the admira
tion of his beauty-loving countrymen ; he was remarkable for
comeliness of countenance, and grace of manner. The brightness
of his eyes, and his strength and agility, are noticed in Scripture.
Swift as a roe of foot, his strong arms could break a bow of steel ;
his hand was sure in throwing sling-stone or javelin, and in
Avielding the sword. He lived in a troublous day, and was a man
of war ; he fought with giants, and yet his chief Avars, his fiercest

DAVID. 271
enemies, his strongest giants, were fought in the battle ground of
his soul, and he Avas full often Avorsted in the strife.
Perhaps no character delineated in Scripture, unless it be that
of Jacob, has excited so much amazement. The sins of David
were so tremendous, his falls seemed so great, even to the very
loAvest depth of hell ; and yet he is called the " man after God's
own heart." He has led in enraptured strains the Avorship of the
Church for centuries ; he has risen to lofty heights of love and
devotion ; has had such wonderful revelations of Divine glory
and mercy, and yet has blackened the story of his life with so
many crimes, that men stand astonished before this complex
character — one of the Avorld's greatest sinners and greatest saints,
Avelded into a single human soul. Add to all this, while he was
a man avIio sinned most and yet Avas most saintly, he was also a
man Avho suffered and enjoyed far beyond ordinary mortals.
There are tAvo passages in Scripture Avhich unravel for us the
mystery of David's life. " I dwell in the high and holy place,
with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive
the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite
ones." David was as remarkable in his repentance, as he was in his
erring. His contrition was profound as the depth of his guilt;
there was never a man more humble before God ; he was strong,
not so much in resisting temptation, as in sorroAV for sin ; and in
the complete casting of himself on the mercy of God. "To
whom much is forgiven, the same loveth much." Very much
was forgiven to David, and the ardor of his love was like a
seraph's. As we shall see in tracing the story of his life, his eminent
characteristic Avas his childlike loAvliness toward God.
The history of his saintly and sinful life naturally divides
itself into three parts. His childhood at home ; his vicissitudes

272 DAVID.
from his appearance at court to the end of the life of Saul ; his
reign. The first two periods are of fifteen years each, the last of
forty. We knoAV little of his early days, save that he served in
the menial office of a shepherd ; that alone and almost unarmed
he slew a lion and bear who attacked his flock, becoming in these
instances a type of his Glorious Descendant, who made himself a
servant of servants, and who was the faithful shepherd, ready to
lay down his life for the sheep, and losing none of all those which
the Father gave him. The last and favorite child of his parents,
he was called David, " the beloved," " the darling," and was des
tined to become alike the darling of the nation and the darling
of the skies.
During his second period of persecution and of favor, an April
day of storms and sunshine — one while in court, chief favorite,
another hour hunted like a partridge or a hart upon the moun
tains — David developed his soldierly bravery, a loyalty which
made him worthy to reign, a patience which is rarely joined to so
much boldness, a devotedness of friendship, " passing the love of
woman," and a craftiness that was all his own. In this period come
those tender episodes of his sparing Saul's life, his covenant and part
ing with Jonathan, his thoughtfulness for his parents, his rescue of
Keilah. Those darker records follow of his falling into polygamy,
one of the grand errors of his life ; his freebooting career, his high
handed manner toAvard Nabal, his artful feigning of madness at
Gath, his deliberate lie at Nob, which Avas the cause of death to
eighty-five priests and Levites, and his remarkable course of deceit,
slaughter, and robbing at Ziklag.
During this period David was sometimes counselled by Samuel,
who dwelt with him a while in Naioth. As Samuel's life drew
near its end, God sent another prophet, Gad, who was for years
David's mentor.
As this second period of his life closes, David appears most un-

DAVID. 273
lovely. He had become to a great extent a bold freebooter.
Nothing can justify his false and cruel conduct toAvard Achish,
Avho, in his honest confidence, saying, " Thou art good in my sight,
as an angel of God," makes all David's friends blush for him.
This portion of his history closes with the wild scene at Ziklag,
Avhere his laAvless folloAvers, driven to despair by the loss of their
families and property, seek to stone David ; and after mutual
Avrath and upbraiding, the voice of Abiathar, the priest, falls like
oil on the tossing waters of strife, and David redeems all which
the Amalekites have carried aAvay. While flushed Avith this vic
tory, rejoicing in recovered fortune, and in the renewed loyalty of
his adherents, David received the news of the death of Saul and
Jonathan. Here the magnanimity of his character shines forth
resplendent. Jonathan he loved as a brother, Saul as his king.
He did not pause to consider that their death had paved for him
a short road to the throne; he forgot the injuries received at
the hands of Saul ; he remembered only what Avas good, and
bursts forth into such a lamentation as has seldom embalmed the
memory of king or kaiser, or crowned a tomb with imperishable
beauty. His song Avas Saul's best epitaph.
Not only this, but the Amalekite, who brought the news, ima
gining that it would be welcome, strove to glorify himself as the
slayer of Saul, exhibiting the diadem and bracelets, rifled from the
dead body, as the proof of his tale. In noble indignation against
one Avho had presumed to slay the Lord's Anointed, the gray old
Avarrior Saul, David ordered the man to be slain. The Amalekite
had unwittingly pronounced his own death warrant.
Thus, at the end of his fifteen years of Avandering, the better
nature of David shines forth ; he appears once more as worthy of
his hio-h place in the Church and in the world, and fulfils the
generous promise of his beautiful youth.
During this long period of probation, there had appeared in
18

274

DAVID.

David one lofty virtue — his willingness to await the time of the
Lord ; the humility with which he sought to have all his steps
directed. Again and again might he have slain Saul, or raised
the standard of a successful revolt ; but his reply to all tempta
tion Avas, " Who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's
anointed and be guiltless ? As the Lord liveth, the Lord shall
smite him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall descend into
battle and perish. The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth
my hand against the Lord's anointed." It was thus that David
Avas content to let the Lord lead the way. If all Christians pos
sessed this characteristic, they might be sure of being more com
fortable and more successful. There is a deal of time lost by good
people in going where the Lord has not gone before them. They
find no thoroughfare, and must needs return, and always more
weary and despondent than when they set out.
While in the grand affairs of his life he took counsel of God,
David often fell into difficulty by neglecting this precaution in
other matters. He did not go to Gath by direction of God. This
was the time of David's life Avhen he was especially a learner.
By all his trials, his errors, his success, he was being trained for
forty years of kingcraft. His disasters, his follies, his victories
ripened his mind and enriched his heart. Through all these ad
versities he became not only a great king, but a psalmist AA7hose
Avritings have been as the diary of religious life in all ages since.
How many tempest-tossed, distracted, overwhelmed souls have
found their deliverance through some of the experiences of David?
After the death of Saul David went up to Hebron, where he
was formally anointed king at a gathering of the tribe of Judah.
The family of Saul had set Ishbosheth, the last of Saul's four sons,
on the throne. David's crossing over to Achish had worked
"against him in the minds of Israel. Ephraim was ever envious of
Judah, and Benjamin naturally clung to the house of Saul.

DAVID. 275
When Saul Avas dead all his virtues were remembered, his sins
were forgotten ; the heart of Israel turned to him as one martyred
in their defence, and they would have paid their debt of gratitude
by yielding their allegiance to his son. Again David waits. Seven
of his manhood's best years pass by while in Hebron he kings it
over Judah, and patiently abides the Lord's time.
Hebron was a city of note, a very ancient place. In the time
of Abraham, Ephron the Hittite was lord of the town. Here the
patriarchs and their Avives were buried ; here the spies gathered of
the fruit of the land ; here Caleb had his portion. It was one of
the cities of refuge, a Levitical city, in the midst of one of the
most fertile districts of Palestine. Hebron lies in a deep rich
valley, twenty-two miles to the south of Jerusalem, and is yet,
after that capital, the largest city in Palestine.
At the end of several years, the violent deaths of Abner and
Ishbosheth left no claimant to the kingdom but David. Doubtless
during these years David had vindicated his patriotism and his
ability to rule. The peace and prosperity of Judah had won the
admiration of the remaining tribes, and with one acclaim they
hailed David as their king. For the third time he Avas anointed
and crowned, and for three days the joyous people celebrated the
happy event. The little band of exiles who had hidden in the
caves of the hills had become " a great host, like to the hosts of
God." Now was fairly inaugurated that glorious reign when foes
were held in awe ; Avhen rivals made treaties of peace with Israel ;
and when the internal prosperity of the kingdom was such that
Avant was unknown, and perfect order reigned throughout the
land. The nation under David reached its acme by direct favor of God.
Never a very large domain in extent — indeed only a little territory
like Wales — hemmed in by the immense empires of ancient Egypt
and" Assyria, Palestine was the theatre of the most momentous

276 DAVID.
events in the world's history, the battle ground of centuries, and
for eighty years wielded a power second to none on earth. The
land possessed a wonderful variety of climate and vegetable pro
ductions ; it had also a diversity of inhabitants, from the valiant
dwellers in the hills to the luxurious and aesthetic inhabitants of
the valleys ; its SAvarming millions Avere architects, artiste, agricul
turists, shepherds, scholars and soldiers, finding in themselves
capacity to develop the singular resources of their small but beau
tiful land.
The first exploit of David, after his final coronation, was the
capture of the fortress of Jebus. With wonderful prescience, David
coveted this stronghold to his capital, and began to fortify and en
rich the city which became the choice jewel ofthe Avorld. A little
later he undertook an expedition Avhich is preserved for us in pro
fane history. Eupolemus and Nicholas of Damascus, the friend
of Augustus Ceesar, chronicle David's conquest of the Syrians from
Damascus. " At the Euphrates," says Nicholas, " David of Judea
fought and vanquished the monarch of Damascus ; Avho in the
battle proved himself a most valiant king."
This victory probably confirmed Hiram, the monarch of Tyre,
in his admiration of David, and his design of becoming his ally.
Noav Tyre, the gorgeous queen of the Mediterranean, first appears
in sacred history. Hereafter this empress of the Levant moves
through the record in her gold and purple an unchallenged splen
dor ; until Avithered by the curse of the prophets she shrinks back
to her throne by the sea, and the chroniclers of the heathen show
hdAV the dwel ling-place of her glory became a barren rock, where
starveling fishers dry their nets.
Pliram sent to David Avorkmen and cedar Avood to aid in build
ing palaces at Jerusalem. Right royal abodes rose as if by magic;
the new metropolis became the rival of Tyre, Sidon, Damascus,
and even Babylon, in beauty, though so far inferior to them in
size. No city has stood such terrible sieges as Jerusalem.

DAVID.

277

The religious idea largely predominated in every act of David ;
and so as he began to beautify his neAV capital, he desired especially
to make it sacred, and with many imposing ceremonies and general
jubilation, he brought up the Ark and the Tabernacle and placed
them there, that once more the people might have a centre of wor
ship, and come up together to keep their feasts and serve their
Lord. David is one of those rare creatures who are unspoiled by prosr
perity. Before his God he was as a child in happy humility.
Laying aside the robes and insignia of royalty, in that spirit which
inspired the Avords : " I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house
of the Lord than to dAvell in the tents of Avickedness," David
girded himself Avith a linen ephod and led the procession of priests
and people, shouting, singing, and dancing " before the Lord with
all his might."
There are those who think it a sad sacrifice of their dignity to
express an enthusiasm in the service of the Lord. Not thus felt
the son of Jesse.
After this David devoted himself to the internal organization
of his kingdom. He arranged for the services of the Lord's house ;
this was his primary thought; he provided for the stated public
worship of all the people ; for the administration of laws and preser
vation of order in every part of his dominion ; for the maintenance
of the royal household and the standing army ; for commerce with
nations near and far off. While the united empire lasted less than
a century, this organization of its resources and the regular ad
ministration of court and camp remained until the final extinction
of the monarchy. David became a king on the grand scale of
the sovereigns ofthe Orient; like those of Egypt, Nineveh, Baby
lon and Tyre. He was the founder of a dynasty Avhich Avas un
broken through every chance and change, until like an aloe tree
it bloomed late and most beautiful, into Christ the Crown of hu
manity, very God and very man.

278 DAVID.
In the record of David's court we find the most polished civiliza
tion. Joab was the minister of Avar ; Abishai the general ; Ahitho-
phel and Jonathan Avere secretaries of state ; Hushai was chief
councillor ; Adoram Avas minister of finance ; Sheva was keeper of
the records ; Jehoshaphat Avas historian. Pie had revenue officers
and boards of trade !
About him were envoys and ambassadors from neighboring
poAvers, and Gad and Nathan stood in loftiest honor as ambassadors
of the skies.
The High Priest and his assistants upheld the rites and prin
ciples of religion, and David showed himself the " man after God's
own heart," in being a truly Theocratic king. He shunned the
error of Saul, admitted and gloried in his vassalage to heaven, and
took his orders from his Liege. Tribute to the Highest he never
forgot to pay. The Lord's tithes Avere gladly yielded by king and
people, and all the gorgeous and solemn pageant of the Tabernacle
service Avent on from week to week.
Rational piety is the firmest support of lawful authority. In
the heart of the people it is the pledge of loyalty, in the heart of
the king it is the assurance of national safety. As all men ought
indisputably to serve God, and as all states are moral persons, it
is equally indisputable that all states, entire nations in their na
tional capacity, ought to serve Him. The original obligation of
man to his Maker is not lost when man unites Avith his neighbors
in forming a nation. The will of the nation is the result of the
united will of the citizens, and remains subject to the same lavrs
which governed the separate individuals. As it is the duty of
a nation to be pious, it is the duty of rulers to teach the nation
piety. This can be done, and is only properly done, Avithout a
Union of Church and State.
David reached the true ideal of a righteous ruler ; in his example
*s a worshipper, his humility and zeal, he set forth the importance

DAVID. 279
of righteousness to his people. And here, perhaps, it would be well
to suggest that the greatest crime of David, as an individual, the
one which brought doAvn the heaviest judgment on his house, was
probably knoAvn to but very few men of his own time.
David not only set an example of a religious life, but he up
held such laAvs as should conserve religion among his people.
While a ruler has no right to compel acceptance of any dogma,
or prescribe the opinions of his people, he is under an obligation,
laid upon him by his position, to make such laws as will further
the interests of, and opportunities for, religious observance. For
instance, it is the duty of the Executive to preserve the sanctity of
the Sabbath, to stop the ordinary course of traffic, and amusement,
that there may be no interference Avith the religious exercises of
those Avho Avish to Avorship.
David Avas a man after God's own heart, because he kneAV so
well how to be humble and repentant ; he Avas also a king after
God's OAvn heart, because he remembered his allegiance to the King
of kings ; because he never perverted public justice ; because he
sought the good of his people; because he upheld religion in
example and precept.
The highest glory of David, however, lies, not in being king of
Israel, but ancestor ofthe Messiah. This fact turns our thoughts
to his family relations, and here unfortunately we see his most
egregious errors, and his greatest woes.
David in his family life committed two grand mistakes. The
first Avas that he married many wives ; the second that he did not
choose them from the daughters of the faith, but made marriages
with idolatresses. We see the evil influence of this, not only in
the distractions and family feuds which tormented even his dying
bed but in the effect of this example on Solomon, who folloAved
his father's Avays until he himself fell into idolatry, and caused the
division of the children of Jacob, and the destruction of the
empire.

280 DAVID.
David's first wife Avas Michal, Saul's daughter ; Saul took her
from him, giving her to Phaltiel ; this was perhaps David's ex
cuse for marrying Ahinoam of Jezreel, the mother of Amnon, his
eldest and most wicked son. He next took the prudent and beau
tiful Abigail. These two shared the last years of his exile, and
Avent Avith him to Hebron when he was made king of Judah. At
Hebron he married four wives more; probably to strengthen him
self in his kingdom, and to add, as was the custom of the day, to
the lustre of his regal state, for the first wife whom he espoused in
Hebron Avas the daughter of the king of Geshur ; in birth arid
beauty she was superior to the other wives, which probably is one
reason for the audacity of her son Absalom.
The Plebrew tradition is, that Eglah, the mother of David's
sixth son, Ithream, was no other than Michal Avhom Abner re
stored to him; and therefore this Eglah is called in the narrative
David's wife, as the first and lawful Avife. The haughty daughter
of Israel's first king could not brook the presence of the other
wives, nor the respect paid to Amnon as the eldest born son of
David. Fourteen years of separation had turned her heart from
one Avhom she regarded as her father's rival, and perhaps she
looked back Avith regret to Phaltiel, and her life east ofthe Jordan
among her kindred. The bringing up of the Ark from the house
of Obed Edom was made the occasion of a quarrel, which Avas never
settled between David and Michal.
In the strifes betAveen these many wives and their children, and
in the idolatry practised by some of them, the peace and piety of
David's household perished.
The ardor of David's zeal for religion, and his gratitude to God
who had "chosen him from the sheepfolds " to be a king, were
the sources of his wish to build for the ark and for sanctuary ser
vices a most glorious house, more rich and elaborate than the tem
ples of the heathen. " See noAV," said David to the prophet, " I

DAVID. 281
dwell in a house of cedar, but the Ark of God dAvelleth between
curtains." His example might well be laid to heart. Christians
are not unknoAvn in these days, who never think that because their
oavii dAvellings are beautiful and costly, the church in which they
worship should at least be decent ; they are content to sit out ser
vices, in a building which is a disgrace to the cause of Christianity,
and be ministered to by a hapless man in a seedy coat, Avithout a
roof to live under. Let them remember David who thought that
because he lived in a cedar house the ark should be 'at least as well
sheltered. The fact is, in modern times, that because people live
in so fine houses the house of God must often be left unprovided.
For this pious Avish and intention of David concerning the sanc
tuary, God greatly blessed him. " Thine house and thy kingdom
shall be established forever before thee ; thy throne shall be estab
lished forever," said Nathan to the king.
On hearing this promise David went into the tabernacle " and
sat before the Lord." His prayerful meditation is of singular
beauty and devotion ; his humility appears so fair, even in the
sight of men, that Ave can no longer wonder that " Whoso huni-
bleth himself shall be greatly exalted."
David during all his life maintained his eminence as a man of
war. We may judge of the magnitude of his victories when Ave
learn that at one time he captured a thousand chariots, seven hun
dred horsemen and tAventy thousand footmen. At another time
he sleAV in one campaign twenty-two thousand Syrians. Many
kings became tributary to him and sent him gifts, and it is re
corded that David " dedicated to the Lord " the gold, silver and
brass which he received from subject nations and from allies. This
treasure was laid up for enriching the temple and filling its trea
sure rooms, so that for many generations these trophies of David
became a vast reservoir from Avhich his falling house dreAV succor ;
thus returning to the heathen Avhat had been taken from them and
devoted to the Lord.

282 DAVID.
David taught his people the art of war much more thoroughly
than he taught his sons to be masters of their passions ; and this
error Avas so great that it occasioned in a later reign the dismem
berment of the empire, and the misery and degradation of his
descendants. With Joab and Abishai to lead his armies ; and with Hushai
and Ahithophel, " whose counsel was as if a man had inquired at
the oracle of God," David reached the height of earthly power
and magnificence ; there Avas never a more popular sovereign, and
reasonably, for it is written of him, as can be Avritten of few crowned
heads, that he " Executed judgment and justice unto all his
people." In the narrative in Scripture we get. one or two hints of the
character of the man, which bring him clearly before us. He
not only gives Saul and Jonathan royal burial, but he remem
bers his covenant with Jonathan, and seeks out Mephibosheth,
setting him among his OAvn sons and treating him as a royal
prince. When Nahash of Ammon died, David in the kindness
of his heart said : " I will shoAV kindness unto Hanun the son
of Nahash, even as his father shoAved kindness unto me." But
it Avas an evil day for Ammon Avhen they despised the envoys
of David. In the ardor of battle David Avas so rash that his ser
vants finally insisted on his remaining at home, lest in some un
toward moment the hope and bulwark of the kingdom should fall
in the person of its king.
When Joab sent his messenger to tell of a repulse at Rabbah,
he said to him : " And if so be that the king's wrath arise and
he say unto thee, Wherefore approached ye so nigh the city when
ye did fight ? kneAV ye not that they would shoot from the Avail ?
Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubesheth ? did not a Avo
man cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, that he
died in Thebez ? Why went ye nigh the wall ? " We have a

DAVID. 283
very complete picture of the king. We see the bold man versed
in the history of his country, in the arts of Avar, and the annals
of sieges ; firing up at thought of waste of his soldiers' lives, and
at the shame of defeat roundly reproving, and that with historical
parallels, the failures of his generals.
But for all this Avisdom and strength and bravery, as David
greAV old, he has proved, as many another king has done, that
there may be a poAver behind the throne, greater than the throne ;
that the king may be the servant of some crafty mayor of the
palace, or iron-handed head of the armies, and we hear him cry
ing out : " The sons of Zeruiah are too strong for me ! "
We have noAV reached the grand tragedy of David's life, from
Avhich came all the exceeding sorrows of his declining years. The
blessing; of the Lord had hitherto been about him like the nimbus
of the gods ; noAV a SAVord should hang like that of Damocles, for
ever 0A7er his head, and over his household.
The splendor of the conquest of the Ammonites half veiled a
black and painful story from the eyes of men, but in all its shame
it lay naked and open to the eye of God. David suddenly trampled
upon that Divine law which he had cherished. Carried aAvay by
a mad passion he coveted his neighbor's wife, and possessed him
self of her.
Over the unfaithful spouse noAV hung the legal penalty of death ;
and shame awaited David. To aA'oid these dire consequences he
sacrificed the life of Uriah, and to conceal that murder, was forced
to involve several soldiers in the brave captain's fate. Greatly re
lieved at his escape from exposure and danger, David brought the
beautiful Bathsheba to his palace, and she became his favorite Avife.
It was a crime such as Avas often committed by an Oriental des
pot but should have been far indeed from the Lord's Anointed.
We see in it an alarming fall from those days of David's virtue,
when his heart reproached him for having cut off the skirt of Saul's

284 DAVID.
mantle. Now he can cut off life, and that of his devoted friends,
and feel no compunction until Nathan comes to him with his
parable and its application : " Thou art the man ! "
Would that all ministers of God possessed Nathan's tact, sin
cerity and moral courage. Hoav eminently qualified Avas he to
deal Avith the sinning and unrepentant heart.
David pronounced judgment on himself under this guise of
another. The man who hath done this thing shall die : " He shall
restore four fold."
" The sword," said Nathan, " shall never depart from thy house."
The hearty penitence of David ; his humility under Nathan's
rebuke ; the anguish of his conscience at the thought that he, whom
God had so richly blessed, had " given the enemies of the Lord
great occasion to blaspheme ; " the exceeding grief which he feels
Avhen for his sin Bathsheba's little babe lies dying on her knees ;
the coming of his household and friends about him to comfort him,
are scenes that belong to David the beloved, David the Lord's
Anointed, not to the heathen kings whose sins he had copied.
" Four fold shall be restored," had David said, and from his own
sons he paid the price he named. The young child of Bathsheba
was smitten of the Lord. The umvritten poetry of its little life
should never groAV to tragedy or epic ; it was only a lark's song
borne SAviftlj7 upward, and lost in the sunny spaces of the eternal
morning. In the palace sat Bathsheba gazing with anguish and remorse
at the marble face on her knee. In the corridors whispered the
courtiers, fearing to tell the king that the child was gone. The
eye of love is quick. David saAV that vengeance had fallen, he
boAved to the will of his God in a manner characteristic of himself,
and comforted his heart, as many a parent since : " I shall go to
him, but he shall not return to me." " Four fold " had David
6aid ; this was but one reprisal, his OAvn verdict Avas executed when

DAVID. 285
Amnon fell in the hour of his pride by a brother's hand : Amnon,
the haughty elder born, whom even David seemed to fear ; Absa
lom, the beautiful and favored one, Avas cut off in his prime ; and
Adonijah as a stirrer up of sedition Avas condemned to death ; thus
the blood of Uriah was repaid four fold.
In his Psalms, David poured forth his penitence, and before
long he expressed in them the troubles of his house. For a brief
time the birth of Solomon, long before predicted as his most illus
trious successor, threw a joy-beam on his path ; but presently fol-
loAved the sin of Amnon, the disgrace of Tamar, famous among
the virgins of Israel for her loveliness ; and then the brooding
vengeance of Absalom. In two years more came the murder of
Amnon and the expatriation of Absalom ; and then David for a
long Avhile pined for the son who Avas dead, and for him Avho A\7as
outlawed. It Avas five years before the breach Avas healed and
Absalom saAV his father's face. In this time Solomon had doubt
less been publicly designated and honored as the heir of the king
dom. At the time of his reconciliation with Absalom, David was
approaching sixty years of age.
The story of the revolt of Absalom, his death, and David's re
turn to the kingdom, will be treated in another article. Wv should,
however, particularly notice the temper of David in his troubles.
He takes his sorrows as a deserved chastisement from God, and
they lead him to deeper and deeper repentance. He feels no
enmity toAvard men, the instruments of the Divine wrath. When
Shimei cursed, and Abishai, in loyal zeal for his unhappy king,
Wanted to take off the enemy's head, David forbade it, saying
pathetically : " Behold my son seeketh my life ; how much more
may this Benjamite do it? Let him alone, the Lord hath
bidden him."
When Zadok would carry out the ark to accompany the exile,
David in noble faith says to him : " Carry back the ark into the

286 DAVID.
city ; if I find favor in the eyes of the Lord he will bring me back
again and show me both it and his habitation. But if he say, I
have no delight in thee ; behold here im I, let him do to me as
seemeth him good." Never Avas there a more complete example
of humility before God, of entire submission to the Divine will.
When Ittai Avould share his exile, David unselfishly advises
him to remain and make peace with the new king. For all devo
tion and loyalty shown him he cherishes most profound gratitude,
and toAvard Absalom he expresses the deepest paternal love, the
most hearty forgiveness. In fact, in his trials the godly character
of David shines out like fine gold.
There was indeed in David's life much of moral failure; it is
well, therefore, not to condemn him causelessly, as has by some been
done for the death of Saul's descendants, who were delivered to the
Gibeonites. These Gibeonites, according to the lex talionis, had a
right to demand blood. The death Saul had occasioned in their
households must be recompensed by the blood of the house of
Saul. David offered them blood money, a fine which they re
jected with scorn. There then remained, according to JeAvish
law, nothing for him to do but to give up to the avengers of blood
the lives they demanded. This concession was needful for the
national good, for noAV three years of famine had expressed the
anger of the Lord against unchastized crime. Two of Saul's sons
by a concubine, and five sons of Merab, the sister of Michal,
Saul's grandsons, were the ordained victims. The text in Second
Samuel gives Michal as the mother of the five doomed brothers,
but every probability is that they were her nephews. The lonely
watch of Rizpah on the hill by her beloved dead, is one of the
most pathetic of pictures. It touched the gentle heart of David,
and now that the manes of the slain Gibeonites Avere appeased, he
gave the hapless children of an evil doer royal burial.
Next great event in the history is a battle with the Philistines,

DAVID. 287
where, as Philistines loved to do, they brought gigantic champions
into the field, but, as ever, they fled before the prowess of David
and Joab.
Finally, we find David, the Theocratic king, rising up against
his God, planning and executing for himself; opposing the ex
pressed Avill of his King. David not only made a sudden re
volt against the authority of God, but against the respectful
domination of his Avarrior cousin, Joab. Hitherto he had felt
himself obliged to Avink at the great captain's ill doings ; noAV,
for once, David persisted in his own way, and yet was wrong
where Joab was right.
The king shoAved the instinct of the man of Avar, relying on
the numerical strength of a nation, where all who had groAvn to
man's estate had been practised in arms. He exhibited also the
obstinacy of an old man in the execution of his design.
Joab, Avhen he obeyed David in numbering the people, obeyed,
as Avas his custom, rather as a matter of courtesy than necessity.
After arguing the question, and finding the king resolute, he
went out to number the nation ; but as the order Avas " abomina
ble " in his eyes, he counted only part of the tribes, leaving Levi
and Benjamin out of the enumeration. In this affair, Joab
seems to have had a true appreciation of David's offence, the lack
of faith displayed, and the imminent wrath of God. His answer
to David is pertinent : " The Lord make his people a hundred
times as many more as they be. But are they not all my lord's
servants ? Why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel ? "
This census was evidently taken with a design of increasing
the standing army, by forcing the people into military service.
Hitherto the HebreAvs had been numbered by the priests, who
thus registered the joyous increase and prosperity of the house
hold of God. David sent the military leaders to take the
statistics, and we can only infer from the narrative, that the act

283 DAVID.
was repugnant alike to soldiers and civilians; probably being
looked on as threatening the liberties of the people.
Considered as an act of deliberate intention, of arbitrary power,
and of failing faith, it is the most reprehensible of David's reign,
savoring more of Saul and Rehoboam, than David, the beloved
of the Lord.
As the Avork of numbering went on, marks of Divine indigna
tion alarmed Joab and his assistant captains, and stirred the easily
awakened conscience of the king. We hear him crying, not as
Saul, or Pharaoh, or Judas, but in David's oavh hearty, thoroughly
repentant tone : " I have sinned greatly, because I have done this
thing. Now I beseech thee, do aAvay the iniquity of thy servant,
for I have done very foolishly."
David's childlike spirit is continually revealing itself; never
did he leave a better portraiture of himself, a more perfect
spiritual photograph, than in the soft cadences of his Psalm :
" Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is
weaned of his mother : my soul is even as a weaned child ! "
This humble casting of himself upon the Lord is again speedily
shoAvn when God goes to David, offering him his choice of three
evils. War, famine, pestilence — a terrible trio. David pondered;
in vision he saw the troops of his foes for three months ravaging
beauteous Palestine, and revenging themselves of David's forty
years of victories. Then another picture rose : three rainless
years ; a parched earth, and a brazen sky ; dry water courses ;
lean, fevered flocks and herds ; leafless trees ; fields unsown ; the
black, wan, haggard faces of men, women and babes, looking
curses on their king !
Again, a picture of terror — the sweep of the pestilence through
the once happy realm. Cries from every house; the winding of
burial trains over all the verdant champaign ; the hill-sides
black with those who buried the dead in rock-hewn tombs;

DAVID. 289
depopulated cities; grass grown villages, where once had lived
and been happy the peasant subjects ; the royal palace half empty;
friends, kindred, children, wives, dead for David's sin, himself
walking alone amid the ruin he had wrought, feeling himself a
murderer ! No wonder that he cried out to God :" I am in a
great strait. Let me noAV fall into the hand of the Lord ; for very
great are his mercies ; but let me not fall into the hand of man."
David had lived long enough to distrust his race ! The choice
of the Lord for David AA'as a pestilence. In three days, seArenty
thousand men of Israel had perished of this horrible visitation.
Joab had returned to the king lists of five million tAvo hundred
thousand souls, according to the usual proportions of population.
That is, he had found one million three hundred thousand adult
males, without enumerating Levi and Benjamin, both large tribes.
There must, therefore, have been a population of at least six
millions of all ages.
When we read of the frightful ravages of this plague that fell
upon the people, we are inclined with our usual haste to, accuse
the Lord of injustice in this chastisement; as if he visited upon
the innocent the guilt of the guilty. It is, therefore, advisable to
stay for one moment to inquire into the guilt of the nation in this
matter. Let us first consider that the people of Israel, having entered
into a covenant with God as their Sovereign, owed their first
allegiance to him, and to the laws of his kingdom. They were
bound to behold their earthly monarch simply as the viceroy of
the Heavenly Ruler, and to yield their first obedience to the
higher law. They were covenanted to see to it, that their king
did not exceed his delegated authority. Therefore, the people,
with one consent, should have prohibited the numbering ; and in
yielding to it, they had aided the satrap to revolt against the fixed
decree of his liege lord.
19

290 DAVID.
Again, the law of Moses was : " When thou takest the sum
of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give
every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when thou
numberest them, that there be no plague amongst them when thou
numberest them."
This last clause is worthy of especial attention. When David
sent by the hand of Joab to number the people, he did not
provide for the collection of the soul ransom. This was his sin.
His neglect did not relieve the people of the duty of paying their
ransom to the priests at the Tabernacle ; that they failed to do it,
Avas their sin.
And here let us add, that the guilt of sustaining a ruler hi
legislation opposed to Divine laAV is characteristic of ungodly
nations, and is a grand cause of their disintegration.
Nations are punished for the sins of their wicked rulers,
because they support their rulers in their sins. People should
obey their rulers in the Lord, just as children should obey their
parents in the Lord.
Family government is the primary type of all government; the
household is the original root of the State, and child and subject
OAve their first duty to the Lord, and to parents and rulers, in the
Lord, and not one whit outside of his laAvs and ordinances.
Let a king or a governor trample on the constitutions and
charters by which men have hemmed in his power, and the most
probable result will be a great popular rising and protest. Let
the king or governor trample on the Divine law, and people are
very sorry — some of them ; but in effect shrug their shoulders,
get about their business, and cry, " Let Baal plead ! "
Then the Lord does plead his cause, but as he did to Israel,
with the rod of his wrath.
Catherine de Medicis and her effete son held a Bartholomew, at
which France trembled ; but the French, as a people, never dis
allowed that act.

DAVID. 291
In 1871, the Lord began his reprisals, and held His Bartho
lomew, at which all the Avorld stood aghast, crying : " Behold the
bloody city ! "
The scene Avhere the Angel of Destruction stands in midheaven
Avith his draAvn sword in his hand to smite Jerusalem, and the
Lord from his central Throne repents of the evil, and cries in his
compassion : " It is enough, stay hoav thy hand," has its parallel
only in Apocalyptic ecstasy. Then David and his court, then
Araunah the Jebusite, and his four sons, saAV the Heavenly vision ;
then was consecrated with prayer and acceptable sacrifices that
Holy Mount Avhereon the Temple Avas to stand ; becoming from
the hour Avhen Israel's plague was stayed, a place sacred in the
eyes of men and angels. At that moment, the Sun of Righteous
ness, delaying so long his coming, shot a herald ray across the
night ofthe ages, and kissed into glory the hill of Zion.
David had now reached his seventieth year. He had reigned
forty years, and long toils and cares had worn his mind and
body. As he crouched in his palace in the chilliness and languor
of age, the reins of government dropped from his numb fingers.
Adonijah, his fourth son, and probably the eldest then surviving,
a man possessed of beauty, tact and ambition, like Absalom's,
determined to possess himself of the kingdom in time to crush the
claims of the youthful Solomon, then about twenty years of age.
Joab, who had so long maintained the cause of David in glory
and adversity, Avas drawn into this rebellion, as was Abiathar the
priest. The prudent counsel of Nathan the prophet, and the energy of
Bathsheba, mother of the heir apparent, frustrated the attempt of
Adonijah. These two, with Zadok and Solomon, roused the
energy of David to its olden vigor. Once more he could plan
wisely, and execute suddenly. PJe at once provided for the coro
nation of Solomon, and abdicated in his favor. It was the last

292 DAVID.
flicker of expiring strength. When Solomon, the goodly and
gracious youth, was established in his kingdom, David felt that
his own hour had come to die.
He survived the coronation of Solomon but six months. On
his dying bed, the Avise old king gave his successor various
charges, which shoAved his acute reading of character, and his
far-seeing policy. Various acts of justice which, in his age, he had
been too feeble to perform, he left as a legacy to his royal son.
It was the great misfortune of some of David's enemies that
they survived him ; had they died sooner, they would have died
easier !
When his last charge was given to Solomon, this noblest of
monarchs left an heirloom to all men Avho should be kings after
him. Had all the sovereigns of earth regarded and cherished it
as their best crown jewel, their annals would not so frequently
have been written in blood and tears ; croAvned heads would less
often have fallen on the scaffold ; royal hearts would not have.
been pierced by the assassin's knife.
" The anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet Psalmist of
Israel said: He that ruleth overmen must be just, ruling in
the fear of the Lord. And he shall be as the light of the morn
ing when the sun riseth, even as a morning Avithout clouds."
But however interesting the varied record of David's life, it is.
his ethical history which especially commends itself to us, after
all these years. Here is a Saint who conducts himself more vilely
than many sinners. What then is a Saint ; what is a sinner ?
A Saint is a free moral agent, whose standard of duty is the
Divine law, and who desires to perform that duty. He is one in
whom the dispositions and intentions which lie anterior to moral
action, run in the channel of the Avill of God. He is subject to
moral and mediate influences of grace on the will, which are
common to all men ; these influences Ave find the Saint of God on

DAVID. 293
earth, at times resisting through the law of sin remaining in him.
But there acts Avithin him another influence of grace, which is
most efficacious, because it carries the will spontaneously with it ;
and so he desires to obey God ; he feels and acknowledges his
errors, repents and forsakes them, and does not quarrel with his
Maker on account of bitter, personal retributions which flow from
them. What is a Sinner ? He is one whose permanent habit or state
of mind is aversion from God. He has an absence of right dis
positions toward God, Avhich, in the onward sweep, the momentum
of the spiritual nature presses him into absolutely Wrong and
sinful dispositions toward God. It is the disposition toward God
which makes the moral character of a man, and by Avhich he wil'l
finally be judged.
The right or wrong of an act rests not in the outward develop^
ment, but in the actual intention.
This is an ethical principle, which lies at the base of all civil
law ; of all our judgments of our fellows ; and is the foundation
principle of God's government.
From some predominance of caution, of prudence, of coolness
of passion, of selfishness, self-control, or ambition, the man whose
heart is all Avrong toward God, may maintain a greater propriety
of demeanor than his neighbor who loves God with all his heart,,
and falls at his feet in an agony of remorse for the errors into
which indwelling sin has betrayed him. For this let not the
godless moralist plume himself. His superiority will last him
just long enough to be Avritten on his tombstone : —
"Thrust high to whiten in the graveyard sun."
But on that dread day of assize to which all other days are
tending as waters toward the ocean, God will sweep aside all
sophistries, and will cut to the root of all acts, with sole eye to the
thoughts and intents ofthe heart.

XIV.
ABSALOM.
MAN'S CAPACITY FOR FAILURE.

[F there is one thing Avhich has been thoroughly developed
in the history of the human race, it is man's capacity
for doing ill Avhateoever he undertakes. Failure is the
rule ; success the exception. It seems a hard sentence to
pass on humanity, but it is the verdict compelled by the testimony
of six thousand years, each one of which comes up to the tribunal
of investigation, and bears witness Avith uplifted hands, that man's
capacity for failure is his predominent characteristic.
God put man in Eden, and he failed to keep it. He was turned
out into the world, and instruction and encouragement in the
way of righteousness Avere given him, but he failed to pursue holi
ness, and the flood washed the earth clear of ite iniquities and
presented it a fair page whereon man might Avrite the story of his
future ; that story Avas failure, as far as man could compass it.
In building up nations, in making laAvs, in advancing culture,
man has failed again and again, and has reached success only
over multiplied disasters. That general is called most able in the
art of war Avho knows how to use a defeat. The Christian is
that man among other men, who knows hoAV to reach eternal vic
tories through his present failures, who climbs to heaven on the
ruins of his best designs.
In religion, which is the highest theme man can reach, he has
294

ABSALOM. 295
made his most egregious blunders. Set a man to alter, or fashion,
a religion to suit himself, and alas, poor wretch, he makes one
Avhich is not fit to live by, nor fit to die by !
He is like one Avho has built a house so pervious to Avind, sun
and rain, that it Avould only be an endurable dwelling — provided
it did not have to stand out of doors !
God has mercifully taken the making of a religion out of man's
hands, and man is left to some other field for the display of his
chief ability.
No where has the capacity for failure been more broadly mani
fested than in domestic government, in the training of children. Here
some of the best people have made prodigious mistakes. There
have been some most magnificent theories, some most miserable
practice. The promises of our God to faithful parents are im
mutable ; but there have never been promises so maligned, misin
terpreted and despised as these. Men seem able to believe almost
anything but that, if their children are covenanted to God, and are
trained for God, they will indubitably belong to God and be owned
by him.
Men forget that they must be faithful in act and in feeling ;
they must be faithful to their children, and have faith in God.
To demand an absolutely perfect management, is to predicate the
absolute perfection of the parent. What God requires is a hearty
endeavor to train the children for heaven, and an implicit, un
questioning reliance on his promise. Here, above all, Avill Ave be
dealt with in the measure of our faith : "According to your faith
be it unto you." If faith makes solemn covenant with God for
the neAv-born soul, then, though from ignorance, men may fail in
outward act, the Lord will not fail, and he will "supply all our
need ; " " make up our lack of service."
David, the glorious king of Israel, made his grand failures in
life in the rearing of his numerous children ; he brought them up

296 ABSALOM.
to be his curse. " The evil that men do lives after them." David's
mistakes survived him to ruin his empire. In Germany the field
of blood became a field of flowers, Avhere crimson poppies grew a
mass of bloom above the bodies of the slain — beauty Avas the heir
of death. David's lot was to bring ruin after glory ; the beauty
of his own life and reign was followed by the sins and miseries of
his children ; by means of them the fair and fertile land of Pales
tine became an Aceldama. David lived to see but part of this
ruin. The course of Absalom Aveighed down the old king's de
clining years Avith sorrovs7, and the story of David and his son has
become a landmark for the ages.
David's mistake began, like that of many another man, in his
marriage. Pie had many wives, and he chose them rather because
they were pleasing to his own eyes, than in the eyes of God. As
the first error of David, his polygamy, is not the danger of the
present day, Ave pass it by, to dAvell on the thought of the danger
arising from irreligious marriages.
Godliness should ever be the foundation of the family. God
united in Eden a pair whose faces were set toward immortal holi
ness and happiness, alike his children, into whose joint home his
presence came — Avho, fallen and driven from the Paradisaic gate,
cherished still the worship ofthe Eternal, and waited for the coming
Christ. The man or woman who, professing righteousness, makes a mar
riage with one who neglects godliness, has started most likely a
wave of evil which will widen and widen with all the Avidening
ages of eternity. Godless marriages have peopled hell.
Learn, young men and maidens, as from a parable, from the
early story of our earth. When the sons of God united with
the children of men, there came a race of giants that Avere not
of the race of heaven. When the sanctity of the household Avas
desecrated by a union of God's friends and foes, irreligion spread

ABSALOM. 297
abroad, type and precursor of the flood, and the world was
doomed. Soon after his coronation at Hebron, David espoused the daughter
of the king of Geshur ; she Avas Maaeah, an idolatress. Doubt
less her beauty as Avell as her gentle birth attracted David, for
Ave find frequent mention of the loveliness of her tAvo children,
Absalom and Tamar.
We infer that she maintained frequent intercourse with her
own kindred, because when Absalom lies under his father's dis
pleasure he promptly takes refuge Avith his maternal grandparents,
and is Avell received.
In considering the history of Absalom we must recognize three
facts : First, that in Oriental nations the sons Avere heirs according
to the estate of their father at the time of their birth. If a man
had children before he came to a throne, those children were heirs
of their parents' private station ; and a son born to him in the
kingdom Avas preferred as the inheritor of the crown. This
was a common but not invariable custom.
Next, it must be remembered that where there is a plurality
of wives, the rank of the mother in her own right has much to
do with the future of her child; a Avoman nobly born, then,
expects that her son shall take precedence of his elder half-brothers,
whose mothers may be of plebeian extraction. This feeling is
dominant in Oriental nations in the present day. For example,
in Persia, Abbas Meerza Avas, during the present generation, pre
ferred to the throne, because his mother was nobly descended,
while the mother of his elder brother was a merchant's daughter ;
and the reason was deemed a legitimate one in all the Orient.
A^ain. we must notice that the throne of Israel Avas not a
hereditament to be left by laAV of primogeniture, or by Eastern
custom ; it Avas a fief of Heaven, and the Lord claimed and exer
cised the right of nominating a successor, each time that the
reigning life lapsed.

298 ABSALOM.
The claims on the Throne of David were these — Amnon, the
first-born, expected it from his position in the family, claiming
the honors of the eldest son.
Chileab, the second son, probably died in childhood.
Absalom, the third child, based his claim on two strong points;
first, that, on his mother's side, he was royal ; and second, that
he was to be preferred to Amnon, because Amnon was born when
David was a private individual, and Absalom when his father
was a croAvned king.
When Amnon and Absalom Avere dead, Adonijah claimed the
succession as the eldest son living, and as having been born after
David Avas made a king. Finally Solomon could urge the
superior plea that he was born to the united kingdom, after his
father reigned over Israel and Judah, while Adonijah at best
could only plead a sovereignty over Judah. Besides, Solomon
was the divinely appointed Theocratic king. Jehovah had the
right to dispose of the royalty of Israel, and He gave it to
Solomon. At the time of Absalom's rebellion, Adonijah may never have
pressed his claim ; but Absalom knew perfectly well the inten
tions of David concerning Solomon, and the reasons for those
intentions. As far as David himself was considered, if the choice had been
left to his love, he would most likely have bestowed the splendid
and coveted inheritance on Absalom, Avhom he loved with extra
ordinary fervor. This was peculiarly likely to have been the
case after the death of the arrogant Amnon, who had a certain
prestige as the first-born.
The culpable indulgence of David to his children is very
plainly exhibited in Scripture. In all their follies, they proceeded
unchecked. When they sinned with a high hand, he failed even to reprove,

ABSALOM. 299
much less to inflict the penalty of the Jewish law — a law which
was made by the king's King, and which David and all his sub
jects Avere equally bound to obey.
Amnon, for the forcible injury he inflicted on his unhappy
sister, Avas, by Mosaic laAV, guilty of death. David, as a king, if
not as a father, was bound to avenge the wronged ; but though
" very Avroth," took no action in the matter Avhatsoever.
When Absalom slew Amnon, JeAvish law ordained the shedder
of blood to death, but after a time David received his son into
full favor.
When later in the reign, Adonijah began to assume royal state,
and indulge in great extravagance, having horses and chariots and
runners; David offered no remonstrance, but permitted him in
everything to take his OAvn Avay.
We see that early in life, David gave his sons separate estab
lishments, and abundant means of support. Amnon and Absalom
had houses of their own ; and Absalom had an estate at Baal-
hazor, Avhere he made a grand sheep-shearing festival, which
seemed a not unusual occurrence. At this time, these sons could
not have been much more than twenty-one years of age.
Absalom Avas famous for his beauty, his grace, and an urbane
manner, highly prized in the courteous East. He displays many
admirable, and many evil traits of character. Naturally, he was
fitted to delight the Israelites. Beautiful, artful, daring, ambi
tious, high spirited, lavish in display, fluent of speech, warm in
all his feelings, his animus Avas the animus of the Jewish nation.
We hear little of Absalom until after the sin of Amnon. Then
we see him cherishing his unhappy sister with a brother's tender
love. By eastern custom, a brother by the same mother is a
woman's natural protector, even in preference to the many-wived
father. Absalom was Tamar's legitimate defender, and having
received her into his home he consoled, and prepared to avenge her.

300 ABSALOM.
That he possessed a very tender love for his sister, we see in
his naming for her his only daughter, who heired the fatal
beauty of her aunt and father, but achieved a happier destiny,
and was mother of one of the queens of Israel. Besides this
daughter "of a fair countenance," there were born to Absalom
three sons, Avho died early.
Absalom finding himself without an heir to keep his name in
remembrance, buried his children in the King's Dale, which was,
perhaps, among his possessions ; and set up over them a grand
pillar or monument, intending to be buried by it himself, and
expecting the tall and costly structure to hold in the memory of
the nation, Absalom, the peerless in beauty, who had, " from the
crown of his head to the sole of his foot, no blemish in him."
The King's Dale Avas memorable in JeAvish history as the place
where the king of Sodom met Abraham, after the slaughter of
Chedorlaomer, and Avhere Melchizedek came out with bread and
wine to bless the victorious patriarch.
The pillar of Absalom became one of the many memorials of
human failure. It told the story of a ruined house and perverted
life. Gloriously as Avas Absalom endowed by nature; popular as
he was among the people, he might, if he had cultivated the
virtues of his father, have become the greatest general, or minister
of state, in Israel. Instead of being remembered only as a rebel
subject ; an ungrateful son ; a Avould-be parricide ; a man stained
with a brother's blood, he might have shone in history a worthy
son of David, and brother of Solomon. It is painful to remem
ber that laxity of parental rule served to encourage the evil and
check the good in the character of Absalom.
The silence of David over the crime of Amnon awoke a sullen
anger in the soul of Absalom. Suddenly the love of the brother
and the son became antagonistic. The chivalry of Absalom fixed
him on the side of the wronged woman, rather than of the

ABSALOM. 301
powerful king. During the two years in which he cherished rage
against Amnon, his heart first grew cold, and then opposed to his
royal father.
The sons of David had a very evil counsellor in Jonadab,
their cousin — a son of David's brother Shimeah, called in
Scripture a "very subtile man." This Jonadab it was who
encouraged Amnon in his crime, and was the silent confidant of
Absalom's revenge.
When the servants of Absalom fell upon Amnon, the other
brothers sitting at his feast imagined that this was an attempt to
destroy the seed royal, and secure the reversion of the crown, a
proceeding not unprecedented in the Orient; therefore being
unarmed, they fled in haste.
The ill news fleAv fast, and gathered terrors as it went. Instead
of the murder of the eldest son, David heard that all the princes
had been assassinated ; thus rumor grows.
" viresque acquirit eundo :
Parva metu primo : mox sese attollit iu auras,
lngrediturque sol >, et caput inter nubila condit."
Hearing such frightful news, David arose, rent his garments,
and flung himself weeping on the earth, while all the court stood
about him with marks of woe, bewailing the ruin of the hopes of
the empire.
Here the crafty Jonadab, Avho had known and concealed the
plot, came in Avith the cool remark : " Let not my lord the king
suppose that they have slain all the young men, the king's sons ;
for Amnon only is dead : for by appointment of Absalom, this
hath been determined from the day that he forced his sister
Tamar. Now, therefore, let not my lord the king take the thing
to heart."
Meanwhile, his plot executed, Absalom made all speed to the
protection of his maternal grandfather at Geshur. The watch-

302 ABSALOM.
man on the palace tower presently saw a train of people pressing
toward the city. They came in disorder, Avith dishevelled locks,
torn and dusty garments, and affrighted faces. They were the
princes of Judah and their attendants ; mere boys many of them,
having but lately left the innocent seclusion of their mothers'
apartments in the royal harem.
" Behold," said the matter of fact Jonadab, " as thy servant
said, so it is." He had a singular idea of consolation, bringing it
in the news that one son Avas a murderer and an outlaAV, and
another was murdered, cut off —
" grossly, full of bread ;
With all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May,
And how his audit stands, who knows, save Heaven ? "
The princes hurried into the presence of their father, and tell
ing their tragic tale " wept ; and the king and all his servants
wept very sore."
What a beautiful touch of nature comes in this narrative :
" And David mourned for his son eA'ery day. And the soul of
king David longed to go forth to Absalom ; for he was comforted
concerning Amnon, seeing that he was dead."
The father submitted himself to the inevitable ; Amnon he could
not bring back from the shadows of death ; but he yearned to call
from Geshur that goodly prince Absalom, his favorite son — a man
like Saul in heart and person, like Saul, alas, loved all too well !
The plan by which Joab gratified the secret wish of his royal
cousin and secured the return of Absalom is detailed in Scripture
at great length. It is given so much importance, in order to ex
hibit a fact, which we seem more and more inclined to ignore :
namely, that the plan of salvation was fully developed and under
stood before Christ. God preached a full gospel to men from the
time of Abel, and if from the time of Abel, doubtless also from
the time of the exile from Eden. The terms of salvation are for-

ABSALOM. 303
ever the same, and God made them known freely in every age to
men. Joab was an able and headstrong soldier ; there is not the least
reason to suppose that he shone as a theologian, or had unusual re
ligious light ; he knew Avhat all the people knew, and no more.
The Avise Avoman of Tekoah, called to the aid of this rough war
rior, was no prophetess, and probably not without her peer among
the women of Israel. But these tAA'O, warrior and Avoman, laid
the scheme of Redemption fairly before David ; recalling Avhat he
kueAV of God's dealings, and exhorting him to folloAv in the foot
steps of the King of kings. " For we must needs die, and are as
water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again ;
neither doth God respect any person ; yet doth he devise means
that his banished be not expelled from him."
For two years after the return of Absalom David refused to
admit him to his presence. During this time Absalom's secret
hostility increased. He mused with himself that David had not
refused his countenance to Amnon even when he had committed
a crime worthy of death ; but noAV that Absalom, avenging his
sister's honor, had executed on his brother the sentence of the
Mosaic law, David forbade him his presence. Absalom's anger
gathered intensity from the fact that Solomon was now set before
all the other princes as heir to the throne, a position which the
ambitious Absalom claimed as his right.
There has here crept into our Scripture text a gross corruption.
In Second Samuel we read, " after forty years " it came to pass, etc.
It cannot be that this means after forty years of David's reign, for
the whole reign was but forty years, and Absalom's rebellion Avas
some time before the close of the reign. But it is still more absurd
to consider that the forty years date from the last event, to wit,
the reconciliation, for Absalom at his death is called a young man,
and if he plotted forty years he would have been over sixty when

304 ABSALOM.
he died in battle ; besides, the suggestion of the whole length of
David's monarchy, which is given with exactness in several places,
applies here. Josephus doubtless gives us the exact chronology ;
he says that Absalom plotted for four years after his reconciliation
with his father. With this coincide the Septuagint version, and
the Armenian translation.
The history of Absalom's treason shows us the work of a very
crafty man, one who knew well how to manage men and take ad
vantage of every weakness of the human heart. He stole away
the love of the nation ; he simulated piety, justice, energy, business
diligence. While the old king rested late in his palace, and men
Avaited at his gate for justice, Absalom rose early, sat in a public
place, heard causes with brotherly interest, and greeted petitioners
with the kiss of peace. His manner of leaving the city, and
taking with him two hundred men, perhaps royal guards, who
" went in the simplicity of their hearts not knowing anything,"
shows us the depths of his guile. Craft Avas a family trait
among the descendants of Jesse. Absalom was cousin of Jonadab
who advised Amnon ; cousin of Joab who planned with the Avo
man of Tekoah ; son of David who beguiled Achish twice, once
as insane, once as a pretended friend !
We cannot readily understand hoAV the revolt of Absalom should
gain head so rapidly under a government so popular and poAverful
as that of David. We have to recall, first, that this rebellion
Avas part of the punishment of David for his sin against Uriah.
Very likely also, as David grew old he grew feeble and forgetful
of that exact justice which he haa t once rejoiced to mete out
among his subjects ; and was less able to hear those civil causes
Avhich occupy so large a portion of the time of an Eastern
monarch. Absalom was so attractive, so outAvardly congenial to
the Israelitish spirit, that he captivated their affection ; and, be
sides this, they looked on him as the laAvful heir.- From his going

ABSALOM. 305
to Hebron, we divine that as David had sought to conciliate all
Israel, the haughty tribe of Judah felt that under his rule they
lost much of their supremacy ; they did not wish to be merged
into a nation on an equality with the lesser tribes; the king be
longed to them, and they wanted him to realize it, and treat them
Avith especial honor. After the battle, Ave see David recognizing
the secret animosity of Judah in his message to them : " Ye are
my brethren, ye are my bones and my flesh ; wherefore then are
ye the last to bring back the king ? "
" The conspiracy was strong." " The people increased con
tinually to Absalom."
David had no safety but in flight. He Avent forth from the city
with his household; from that beloved capital where he had
reigned so long and well, and been so happy and so honored.
From the fortress which he had captured by his warlike arm ;
from the palace Hiram built him as a pledge of peace ; from the
ark and tabernacle of his God, went the gray king and his house
hold, weeping toward the wilderness, fleeing from that idolized
and parricidal son.
Absalom coming, mad with triumph and gratified ambition, to
Jerusalem, Avas met by Hushai, who cried lustily : " God saA7e the
king ! "
Hushai was David's bosom friend, and Absalom saAV the incon
gruity between his past professions and his present attitude. He
said, sneeringly : " Is this thy kindness to thy friend ? Why
Aventest thou not with thy friend ? "
Here was Satan reproving sin, most assuredly. The reply of
Hushai was a very triumph of sophistry ; it beguiled the artful
Absalom, and saved the Throne of David.
The deliberate intention of Absalom was to kill his father.
That counsel was most pleasing to him which tended toward this
end. When we compare the son's deadly, bitter, settled hate,
20 •

306 ABSALOM.
with the father's yearning love, for "the young man Absalom,"
" the son Absalom," for Avhom he mourned and longed for five
dreary years of absence, the blackness of that son's ingratitude
comes clearly before us.
Here began a fearful civil war. Father against son ; Hebrew
pitted against Hebrew ; dark Aveight of sin was on the soul of
Absalom, avIio soAved this discord over all the smiling land.
Absalom headed his army in a parricidal fury : thirsty, like a
wild beast, for blood.
David, on the contrary, stood at the gate of Mahanaim, and as
the troops filed past him, uncovered and looking with more than
filial love on their cherished king, he said to each band earnestly :
"Deal gently, for my sake, Avith the young man, even Avith
Absalom ! "
The army Avound out of sight, going to the battle field in the
great plain, hard by the forest of Ephraim.
David, with his few attendants, was left in the city, to aAvait
the issue of the day. He stood by the double gates of famous
Mahanaim, where Jacob had met the Hosts of God. It AAras a
Levitical city, of much sanctity and importance, well fortified ;
and here Ishbosheth had lived out his short and feeble reign.
Fatal Avas that day to Absalom. The blessing of the Lord
never rested on the undutiful son.
David had respected the Lord's anointed when he was a
stranger and a deadly foe ; Absalom had armed himself against his
lawful sovereign, his too indulgent father.
The adherents of the prince were sorely defeated. The battle
field proved ill chosen for them ; " the wood devoured more that
day than the sword."
Flying from the lost field, Absalom dashed under the low
branches of an oak or terebinth tree, and Avas dragged from his
mule, the favorite riding animal of kings and princes in those

ABSALOM. 307
days. The affrighted beast rushed on Avith the rout of the fugi
tives, and Absalom Avas left suspended — "taken up between
heaven and earth."
Here he was seen by one Avho loved David too Avell to slay
Absalom, yet hated Absalom too sorely to rescue him. This
soldier Avent and told Joab how Absalom Avas held captive.
The unscrupulous captain quickly demanded : " Why diclst
thou not smite him ? I Avould have given thee ten shekels of
silver and a girdle."
" Though I should receive a thousand shekels," quoth the
honest soldier, " I Avould not put forth my hand against the
king's son." And added : " I should then have Avrought against
my OAvn life, and thou thyself wouldst have set thyself against
me." It gives us a fine idea of the estimation set by an honest fellow
on the probity of general Joab !
The great captain felt the thrust, and could not deny the charge.
He turned on his heel, saying : " I cannot tarry thus Avith thee."
The argumentum ad hominem is apt to call to mind a press of
business !
Accompanied by his staff, " ten young men, who bare Joab's
armor," Joab hastened to the oak tree, and struck three darts
through the heart of the living Absalom, his beautiful and Avicked
cousin. The young men hacked the hanging body with their
weapons; then dragged it to the ground, and, as at the call of
Joab's trumpet the victorious army crowded back from the pur
suit, they cast Absalom's body in a pit, and covered it with a
great heap of wood and stones, like the burial of Achan. He Avas
fated not to lie under his lofty pillar in the King's Dale.
Thus ended a life of failure — failure begun by a parent,
completed by his child. Foolish indulgence on David's part,
gross ingratitude — the chief characteristic of the pampered child —

308 ABSALOM.
on Absalom's part, making together a tragedy such as has seldom
been paralleled.
Doubtless with Absalom perished the happiness of David's life.
When he wept, " O Absalom, my son, my son Absalom ! Would
God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son," his heart
had gone down into Absalom's dishonored grave.
Joab's sound rebuke roused him from the exhibition of his
intense grief, but sorrow so deep does not soon pass out of an old
man's life. The young may find other loves and other joys ; but
when gray hairs come, grief eats into the heart, and cannot be
driven out of it.
Like Jacob, David could say, " I will go down into the grave
to my son mourning." And probably, as over his loss arose no
golden morning of restoration as was Jacob's case, he did so go
down. His was the mourning for eternal as Avell as temporal
death. What worse fate than that of Absalom, —
" Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,
Unhousel'd, disappointed, unanel'd ;
No reckoning made, but sent to my account,
With all my imperfections on my head."

XV.
SOLOMON.
HEAVEN'S EXPOSITOR OF THE WORLD.

[ O man has ever so thoroughly impressed himself upon the
history of the world as Solomon, the son of David.
His name lives in all the most gloAving legends of the
gloAving East.
Jew, Christian, and Mahommedan hold his name in loftiest
honor. Persian, Hindoo, African, Egyptian, Arabian and Euro
pean, entAvine his character in their most fantastic tales. We
have the gross superstitions of the Saxon, the Teuton, and the
Gaul, setting him forth as the chief of magicians, the leading
figure in a wild Apocrypha. The JeAvish Targum shows him
feasting Avith Rabbis, and teaching them wonderful arte. The
Hindoo tells us of spirits and charms, and power to heal disease ;
a paradise of palms, and cinnamon groves, goblin planted. In
the desolation of the desert, the Bedouin breaks the silence of the
bivouac Avith some weird romance of Solomon, who imprisoned
the Afrites, and cast them into the sea; who wore the magic
ring ; to whom, for his piety's sake, God had given the winds as
a chariot, and flying birds as a canopy.
In the hot depths of some African forest, the traveller, or
missionary, is startled by a name Avith familiar syllables, and
hears of him, whose ivory throne was the shrine of Sheba's queen.
He Avho seeks Persepolis is told that the Jinns built it for
309

310 SOLOMON.
Solomon ; and at Shiraz, one is led to the tomb of Bathsheba —
Meder Suleiman.
Yet of one apparently so Avell knoAvn, little is known. When
A\re sift the mass of legendary lore, but few grains of authentic
history remain ; and out of these we vainly endeavor to recon
struct, Avhat is to us most important, the moral character of the
man. Is the cry to the law and to the testimonies ? On the very
threshold of such investigation, Ave are met by the difficulty that
every statement for or against this man is met by another, which
is its antipode.
"The Scripture compresses the account of Israel's most splendid
/sovereign into eleven chapters of the book of Kings, and nine of
Chronicles ; Avhile these are devoted chiefly to his genealogy, and
to descriptions of the magnificent buildings, the pride of the
Jewish race, Avhich Avere the product of his Avealth and his luxuri-
jjus tastes.
This Biblical history of Solomon is made up of excerpts from
four works, namely : " The Book of the Acts of Solomon," " The
Book of Nathan the Prophet," " The Book of Ahijah the Sliilon-
ite," " The Visions of Iddo the Seer." None of these belong to
the canon of Scripture; they perished Avith the crumbling of the
parchment, or papyrus rolls, whereon they Avere Avritten. But
from them the inspired historian compiled a life Avhich the Lord
thought Avorth preserving for the Avarning and instruction of
coming ages.
Besides these parte of biographical books, cast into one con
nected narrative, Ave have three books written by the king him
self, during the three great periods of his life, which unfold to us
some of his inner history. They are the Song, the Divine Opera,
the gloAving Celestial Epithalamium of his poetic, peaceful, un-
fallen youth, Avhen he Avas in character like that rare boy, the son
of Jesse, who stood by Goliath slain.

SOLOMON.

311

Next come the Proverbs, the garnered wisdom of him avIio Avas
given"aAvise and understanding heart: so that there a vas none
like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto
thee." /But these Proverbs Avere the Avork of one Avho, in the meridian
jof his life, had tampered Avith his OAvn spiritual purity, who
stood snared by temptations of his OAvn providing ; Avho tottered
on the verge of failure; Avho had learned that "much wisdom is
much grief; and he that increaseth knoAvledge, increaseth sorroAV."
Lastly comes to us from his pen Koheleth, Ecclesiastes, the
Preacher ; and on the date and character of this book only, can Ave
base any real knoAvledge ofthe eternal record, the closing spiritual
phase, the salvation, or the doom, of Solomon.
We shall, therefore, take up first those singularly diverse
statements of the moral status of Solomon, given us in Scripture.
Next Ave must collate his history from the Bible narrative, and
from collateral data ; then Ave turn to Koheleth, and seek among
the twisted strands for an evidence of faith and repentance.

The Saintly Character of
Solomon.
1 Kings, Chap. iii.
Probably the work of Nathan the
Prophet.
"And Solomon loved the Lor;l,
Avalking in the statutes of David his
father." "And the speech pleased the Lord,
that Solomon hau asked this thing."

"And he came, and stood before
the Ark of the Covenant, ofthe Lord,
and offered burnt-offerings and peace-
offerings, and made a feast to all his
servants."

The^Sinful Character of
Solomon.
1 Kings, Chap. xi.
Probably from the Book of
Ahij j.h.
"And Solomon did evil in the sight
of the Lord, and went not fully after
the Lord, as did David his father."
"And the Lord was angry with
Solomon, because his heart was
turned from the Lord Ood of Israel,
who had appeared to him twice."
"For Solomon went after Ashto-
reth, the goddess of the Zidonians ;
and after Milcom, the abomination
of the Ammonites."

312

SOLOMON.

"In Gibeon the Lord appeared to
Solomon in a dream by night ; and
God taid, Ask wnat I shall give
thee. And the Lord appeared a
second time to Solomon, as he had
appeared in Gibeon."

" The Lord hath performed his
word, that he spake, and I am lisen
up in the room of my father David,
and sit on the throne of Israel, a*
the Lord promised, and have built a
house for the name of the Lord God
of Israel."

"And if thou wilt walk in my
ways, to keep my statutes and my
commandments, as thy father David
did walk, then will I lengthen thy
days." " On the eighth day he sent the
people away : and they blessed the
kfng, and went unto their tents joy
ful and glad at heart, for all the
goodness which the Lord ha 1 done
for David his servant, and for Israel
his people."

"But Solomon loved many strange
worm n, together with the daughter
of Pharaoh ; women ofthe Moahites,
Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians,
and Hittites ; of the nations concern
ing whom the Lord had said to
Israel : Ye shall not go in unto
them." " Then did Solomon build a high
place for Chemosh, the abomination
of Moab, in the hill which is before
Jerusalem ; and for Molech, the
abomination of the children of Am
mon. And likewise did he for all
his wives which burnt incense and
sacrificed unto their gods."
" Forasmuch as this is done of thee,
and thou hast not kept my covenant
and my statutes which I have com
manded thee, I will surely rend the
kingdom from thee."
" The people said to Rehoboam .
Thy father made our yoke griev
ous ; now, therefore, make thou the
rievous service of thy father, and
his heavy yoke which he hath put
upon us lighter, and we will serve
thee."

Nathan the Prophet Avas the friend of David's later years, the
tutor and adviser of Solomon. His record is that ofthe graciou?,
learned and liberal-minded young sovereign, Avorthy his paternity,
and the favoritism of heaven. He exhibits to us the godly
young man, endoAved Avith every rich blessing of earth, and with
the blessing and revelation of God.
Ahijah, the Shilonite, lived in Solomon's last days, survived
him, beheld the reckless career of Jeroboam, and threatened him
with the punishment of his sins.
Ahijah, therefore, was the grieved witness, and the historian

SOLOMON. 313
of Solomon's shameful fall into idolatry. He saw the Saint
degenerate tothe idolater ; the wise man to the slave of hist] the
benignant jnJer_toJJi£.de.spotj_ and he chronicled the ruin of the
moral nature of Solomon, and the despair of Israel.
And since these two portraits dnnvn of the same individual,
by two great masters, are so amazingly unlike ; since they are as
that artist's work Avho dreAV a heavenly image of baby purity,
and Avaiting forty years to draAV despair, found for his model a
wretch doomed to the gallo\Ars, Avho Avas only his child subject
groAvn into manhood and vice, we must finally turn to Ecclesi-
astes, to fill up the great reach betAveen the time of these portraits,
when the change in Solomon Avas wrought, and to lift for us the
veil hanging over his future.
When the history of the Avorld had climbed high enough for a
man set in it to be a beacon light to his felloAvs, God chose one
person to show the uttermost value of human love and human
possessions. That man Avas Solomon. If he got nothing Avorth
having out of this Avorld, Ave may be sure no one else ever shall.
If he found the last residuum of pleasure and ambition to be
"vexation of spirit," it Avill remain that to all mankind forever.
If Solomon's resume of his achievements and honors A\-as " all is
vanity," then vanitas vanitatis must be ceaselessly the Avail of the
worldling, as he gropes betAveen the cradle and the tomb, Avhich
for him lie all too far apart.
At the birth of Solomon, David Avas fifty years of age. He
had been a man of Avar from his youth ; had made some vast con
quests, suffered some sore defeats; had loved, and hoped, and
aspired gloriously; had sinned very grievously; had repented
very bitterly. He had come to an age when the chief longing of
the storm-tossed soul is for rest.
When the loving father looked on the peaceful face of his
youngest born, the calm beauty of the babe suggested his name.

314 SOLOMON.
Here Avas the child foretold, the pacific monarch of an unvexed
nation ; • his Avish Avas father of his belief, he called Bathsheba's
infant, Shelomoh — the peaceful one.
Nathan the Prophet came presently to congratulate his friend
and king ; and when he blessed the child, called him Jedidiah,
" the Lord's beloved."
Nathan had already a namesake among the sons of his royal
friend, and noAV David gave a reneAved proof of his love, in
making the prophet the tutor and guardian of Solomon's early
years.
 -The three grand influences on the forming character of Solomon
^see these : his father, his mother, and his teacher, Nathan.
David Avas growing old ; his heart Avas still greatly engrossed by
love for Absalom. Before long, severe family troubles weighed
him down. In anxieties for those elder children, Avho had groAvn
up around him so beautiful, so fascinating, so reckless, so fierce in
passion, his thoughts Avere frequently distracted from the Theo
cratic heir, the slender boy, training in scholarly seclusion.
Bathsheba Ave see as a radiant, proud, ambitious, energetic aa7o-
man. From an humble dAvelling she had stepped into a palace ;
of plebeian birth, she had become a king's favorite Avife, and had
taken precedence of princesses. The steps by Avhich she reached
this high estate are such that the less Ave say about them the better
for Bathsheba. She had already learned that her son Avas the
future king, and, very much younger than her royal husband, she
looked forward to the grand position of queen-mother.
Nathan the Prophet of the Lord was, as Ave see from the history,
devotedly attached to his pupil ; ardent by nature, gifted with un
usual tact, Avith a keen eye to all that Avent on about him, most
probably a man of poetic talent and studious habits ; the early years
of Solomon bore the impress of his gentle, earnest nature.
The desire of David was to separate his heir from all the

SOLOMON. SI 5
distracting influences Avhich had marred his own life ; no hard
ships, temptations, dangers or hates should disturb the serenity
of the coming king.
His ideal of the future kingdom and ite monarch Ave find in
the seventy-second Psalm, Avhere, under the type of the approach
ing glory of Solomon, he depicts the more distant reign of the
Lord Christ.
The youth of David had been pure, humble and content
" among the sheepfolds ; " his successor's early days Avere as dif
ferent from this as possible; petted in the harem, nurtured by an
ambitious mother, taught all the learning of prophet, priest and
Levite, and receiving additional lustre from the incoming cul
ture of Phoenicia.
Despite his father's precautions, Solomon's youth passed through
tAvo great storms of revolt, each of which threatened to deprive
him of the throne. Absalom and Adonijah each resented his
supremacy, but after Adonijah's speedily-crushed rebellion, Solomon
found himself firmly seated on the throne.
Here the current of the history divides itself, and Ave must fol
low first the scanty history of his external life, and then the more
important revelation of his moral character. jW'hen "Solomon becamrf
king, the JeAvish nation was for the first and last time among the
chief monarchies ofthe earth. The young sovereign found at his
disposal the almost boundless treasures accumulated by the pru
dent and successful David. His people were thoroughly loyal,
and Avere all outAvardly faithful to the religion of Jehovah. The
arte and sciences had under David's liberal sway received a neAV
impetus, and were being carried forward to the highest perfection
of Avhich that age and race were capable. At once two poAverful
allies offered themselves to Solomon ; Hiram king of Tyre, chief
ofthe Phoenician races, and Pharaoh king of Egypt, Avho cemented
the friendship by giving him his daughter to wife. This AA7as the

316 SOLOMON.
first friendly 0ATerture between the Egyptians and the Israelites
since the Exodus, a period of nearly five hundred years.
^/Solomon had already during his father's lifetime married Naa-
mah, an Amraonitess; by whom the year before his accession he
had a son, Rehoboam, who inherited the kingdom. The marriage
with the Egyptian princess was one of state policy, and of very
poor policy, for it had in it no safe religious element.
The general prosperity, the abundance, the learning, the morality
of the Jewish nation at the beginning of this reign ; the unmatched
wisdom and prudence of Solomon, the orderly administration of
his affairs, and the magnificent indulgence of his opulent taste, ex
cited the admiration of all the kingdoms about him, and filled his
court Avith ambassadors and princes Avho came to be witnesses of
his wisdom and glory.
" All this infinite prosperity had been secured to him by the
single influence of David, because he had scrupulously conformed
himself to the Theocracy qf the Hebrew State," says Jahn.
The result of his foreign alliances, especially with Tyre, was a
great change in the Jewish policy. Hitherto they had dAvelt shut
np in their OAvn land, noAV they suddenly spread themselves abroad,
and developed that amazing genius for trade which has made the
HebreAV from that day to this the pilgrim of commerce, Avhose foot
traverses every land, seeking Avealth, the shining Mecca of his soul.
In ships built along the coasts of Joppa, Ezion-geber and Elath,
the Israelites joined Avith the Phoenicians in voyages of traffic, the
Mediterranean was covered Avith their sails, and every port of the
Levant was occupied Avith their commerce. More than this, the
ships Avent down the iElanitic Gulf into the Indian Ocean, and
found new lands to lay their tribute at the feet of Solomon.
But the commercial spirit once aroused did not content itself
with traffic by the sea, it Avas carried on by caravans wherever
there Avere articles coveted in exchange.

SOLOMON. 317
Wherever these traders Avent they spread the story of the wisdom
and splendor of their king, until the name of Solomon became a
household Avord, through all the "cradle lands" ofthe East.
David had left to Solomon the charge of building a most glorious
temple to the Lord. He could have assigned him no duty more
congenial. The king had largely developed architectural tastes.
He Avedded the building instinct of the Hamitic race to the reli
gious proclivities of the Shemites ; just as he united the arrogant
despotism of the heathen to the Theocratic duty of the HebreAv.
Ages have celebrated the Temple, of which the rich beauty, like
its sacred design, was superior to any other building that has ever
graced the earth. Its chief artizans, like those of the tabernacle,
Avere peculiarly inspired, and it Avas modelled after that holy tent,
Avhose pattern Avas shoAved to Moses on the mount of God. After
three years of preparation, the foundation was laid in the fourth
year of Solomon's reign ; after a space of seven years and six
months, the completed building stood on Mount Moriah. During
all these years no clamor of labor had disturbed the stillness of
the holy city —
"No hammer smote, no ponderous axes rung,
Like some tall palm, the mystic fabric sprung."
On the day when Avith prayer and sacrifice this temple Avas
consecrated to God, when the priests broke forth into paeans to
the Lord of Hosts, the divine glory filled the Holy Plouse and
marked the acceptance of the place of Jehovah's rest. When the
sacrifices were laid on the altar, fire Avhich no mortal hand had
kindled flashed up to consume them. This was the culminating
day of Jewish history ; already in this grand hour the causes of
destruction were hidden in the heart of the empire, and from
thence it moved doAvmvard, first by imperceptible degrees, then
faster and faster until Jerusalem was destroyed by Titus, and the
hapless JeAvs were dispersed in every nation under heaven.

318 SOLOMON.
Besides the Temple, Solomon built a palace for his Egyptian
AAufe, Avho had brought him cities as her doAver. This house he
7 O
placed outside the holy city of David, on account of the idolatry
of its mistress. He also built for himself a house so elaborate
and magnificent, that its erection occupied thirteen years. He
had also a house of the forests of Lebanon, Avhich seems to have
been modelled after Assyrian palaces; besides these Avere the
porch of pillars, and the porch of judgment, each of Avhich Avere
costly and extensive structures. He built the wall of Jerusalem ;
many cities and treasure magazines ; also " fenced cities Avith bars
and gates," and Bethhoron and Tadmor in the wilderness.
The wealth and glory of Solomon are celebrated by the his
torians, Eupolemus and Theophilus. He reigned, they tell us,
over subject nations from Euphrates to Egypt.
His works, as they are exhibited to us in Scripture, are very
singularly impressed Avith the spirit of his day. The idea Ave
form of his palaces, as they are described by the sacred historian,
is of exactly such buildings as have been excavated at Susa and
Persepolis. His ivory throne is such as those ivory carvings,
fragments of some similar royal seat, Avhich have been brought
from Mesopotamia ; the lion's feet are like those on which stood
the thrones ofthe Assyrian monarchs. Even those pillars, Jachin
and Boaz, which have excited so much attention, have their
duplicates in profane history, in the golden pillar Avhich Hiram
set up, containing a full length golden image of his daughter ;
and in the two costly pillars Avhich stood at the doorway of the
Temple of the Phoenician Venus.
But feAV data remain to us from Avhich to construct a continuous
history. We learn of the alliances made ; of some few conquests;
of much development of the national resources ; of the number
and splendor of public buildings erected, and of the forty years'
length of the reign. Presents, tribute, the emoluments of com-

SOLOMON. 319
merce poured into tho kingdom; silver Avas like stones for abun
dance, and Avas nothing accounted of; the costly cedar became
common as sycamore Avood to the luxurious nation. But luxury
Avas never the alma mater of piety.
" So Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and
Avisdom." "All the drinking vessels of Solomon Avere of pure
gold. . . . Every three years came the ships of Tarshish, bringing
gold and silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks ; . . . every man brought
his present — vessels of silver and A7cssels of gold, and raiment,
harness, and spices, horses and mules, a rate year by year."
Of his throne : " There Avas not the like made in any king
dom." He had " four thousand stalls for horses ; a thousand and
four hundred chariots; and tAvelve thousand horsemen."
In this splendid state and success, Solomon reigned over Israel
for forty years.
Closing our glance at the externals of this reign, Ave consider
that no nation could support the extravagant taxation, and inor
dinate expenses of a government like Solomon's.
Solomon had departed from the Theocratic purity of the
HebreAV national constitution ; he had defied all the fundamental
principles of the commonAvealth ; he had allied himself Avith the
enemies of God, his King ; he had created an immense standing
army ; he had countenanced and practised idolatry.
His kingdom had thrived on his OAvn personal fame ; it had
grown great in the greatness of the monarch, and had no inherent
A7igor to keep pace with and support its rapid rise — it had
emphatically outgroAvn ite strength.
We turn now to trace the moral career of Solomon, and Ave
begin with him at his coronation.
In his filial character he Avas especially beautiful. He care
fully obeyed the last commands of his father, and guided himself
by his advice.

320 SOLOMON.
One may say these commands Avere such that private vengeance,
or a thirst for power, would prompt him to fulfil them. But
beyond being the instrument of punishment to those who had
disturbed his father's reign, and might overthrow his OAvn, we
find Solomon rewarding those who had served his father ; choosing
the dead king's councillors as his own ; remembering Nathan the
Prophet Avith tenderness, taking Nathan's son for his principal
officer and best friend ; and at the dedication of the Temple, he
ascribes to David all the praise : " It was in the heart of my
father David, to build a house for the name of the Lord God of
Israel." Among the Eastern nations there is no woman who outranks
the queen mother. This naturally arises from the practice of
polygamy. Among the many Avives, some more influential, some
more nobly born, some dearer than the others, one cannot publicly
and invariably take precedence; but the queen mother stands
above them all, and often assists at the councils of state. Such
place the ambitious Bathsheba held, and Solomon gave her loving
reverence. When she entered his presence, he " rose up to meet
her, and boAved himself unto her, and sat down on his throne,
and caused a seat to be set for the king's mother ; and she sat at
his right hand."
When she speaks he replies : "Ask on, my mother, for I will
not say thee nay."
Some have commented on this narrative that the king falls into
a A7iolent and unreasonable passion, and uses scoffing and abusive
language to his mother at her request.
We cannot understand the passage in this light; fe wary king
sees a plot which the discreet Bathsheba had been unable to
detect. In calm but clear language, he shows her all the meaning
hidden in that apparently simple petition, and denies what it is
impossible to grant.

SOLOMON. 321
All through the book of Proverbs runs this golden vein of
filial love and reverence ; the cherishing of parental counsels, and
setting them in a prominent place.
The second characteristic Avhich Ave are brought to notice in
Solomon is his high appreciation of wisdom. The favorite and
diligent pupil of the best man of his day, by the time he has
entered into his kingdom, has learned enough to know that he
has but touched the very beginnings of wisdom ; he is able to see
and to desire the treasures that lie beyond.
He values Avisdom above riches, warlike conquests, or long life ;
all those things Avhich other men crave passionately fade for him
before the surpassing glory of wisdom. It is evident also that it
is not merely earthly wisdom which he covets ; it must be that
Avisdom which has its foundation in the fear of the Lord, because
he asks for it Avith a right motive, and to use for doing good, and
his request pleases the Lord. If it pleases Jehovah, it must be
very right indeed.
The Lord, therefore, gave him a wise and understanding heart,
and added riches and honor as a token of approbation. He also
promised him long life conditionally. "If thou wilt Avalk in my
Avays, to keep my statutes and commandments as thy father
David did walk, then will I lengthen thy days."
If Solomon had not ceased to sen7e the Lord, he might have
reached his century, and died " full of years and honors, in a good
old age." As it was, this matchless king among men, died about
his sixtieth year.
Solomon's reverential, religious spirit is strongly marked. He
celebrated religious festivals Avith a lavish abundance of offerings,
such as nowhere else appears in either sacred or profane history.
NeAV mercies were the occasion of renewed worship ; the joy of -
his heart found expression in the praise of God. He was favored
twice with direct communication with the Lord of Hosts. God
21

322 SOLOMON.
6poke to David by the mouths of Samuel, Gad and Nathan, but
to Solomon he appeared twice in visions of the night.
Thus was Solomon at the beginning of his reign ; heir of a
wealthy and prosperous kingdom; nobly doAvered in intellect;
rich in the Divine gift of song ; the idol of his subjects ; the
cynosure of surrounding nations ; remarkable for personal beauty
— his face bright and ruddy like David's in his youth; his raven
locks lit with a golden gloAV in sunshine; his eyes "like a
dove's " in his gentler moods ; his sympathies large ; his humor
ready and genial ; his heart elate and full of jocund hope — this
Avas the man whom God had anointed with the oil of gladness
above his fellows.
But now we turn to the darker underlying shades of character,
Avhich gradually destroyed the noble beauty of the moral man ;
and Ave have yet to see whether he drifted into eternity a hopeless
wreck, or whether Koheleth tells us of a penitent soul, come back
to shelter in the bosom of its God.
The first evil trait sullying this goodly character of Shel6moh is
his inordinate loATe of magnificence. Scripture tells us of the
extravagant expenditure of his household. He resolved to make
his reign a gala day, a long, joyous festival. Lo the picture,
painted by inspiration : " Judah and Israel were many, as the
sand which is by the sea for multitude, eating, and drinking, and
making merry." At the head of this revelling nation was the
royal court — " officers provided victuals for king Solomon, and
for all that came to his table, every man in his month : they
lacked nothing."
"He had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots."
Each province in turn was bound to provide for the king's exten
sive and luxurious household. The total amount of gold paid
yearly into the treasury was six hundred and sixty-six talents,
Avhile the value of the payments in kind must have been even
greater.

SOLOMON. 323
Indeed, the amounts expended in building the palaces, courts,
porches, temple and cities, defy calculation. Dr. Prideaux esti
mates the treasures left by David at eight hundred million pounds
— about the amount of the national debt of England. David
must have been a financier, to put all modern speculators, brokers,
and Chancellors of the Exchequer to the blush.
But when we consider that Solomon covered walls, steps and
pillars with gold ; that he made every vessel in his palace of gold ;
that his armory was furnished Avith the same metal, two hundred
targets, and three hundred shields of beaten gold hanging on its
walls, Ave see first that David's mass of treasure must have been
as a drop in a mighty sea, that we have no idea of the relative
value of gold in those days, and that whatever it was, Avhen Ave
consider the taxes paid in live stock, fruit, olive oil, cereals, and
game, no nation, no financial system could have stood for a long
period the strain of such enormous outlays.
This taste for magnificence led Solomon into imitation of the
heathen kings of Phoenicia, Assyria and Egypt. It was a fatal
mistake to abandon the simplicity of the kingdom as laid doAvn
by Samuel. Ou^ofAese- magnificent tastes grew —
'Personal ambition. To increase Kis~grandeur, he created, as.
'Saul had begun to do, and as David had numbered the people to
do, a standing army. "He had twelve thousand horsemen."
Josephus tells us that he had a bodyguard of archers, Avho Avere
clad in costly Tyrian purple, and whose hair Avas sprinkled Avith
poAvdered gold. He had fourteen hundred war chariots, each of
which was purchased in Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver ;
Avhile a pair of horses for it cost three hundred shekels. This
ambition was the cause of his alliances with heathen, particularly
jgjth the Egyptians; and standing armies and heathen allies
were alike foreign to the principles ofthe Theocratic kingdom.
More than this, ambition entered into Solomon's seeking for

324 SOLOMON.
knowledge. At first it had been a pure and laAvful desire, a wish
to make the most of the mental gifts bestowed upon him ; to get
Avisdom, and use it to benefit his race. But Avhen fame, of his
learning spread abroad, and the wise men of all nations came to
applaud, Solomon's right desire degenerated to curiosity, to an
avarice for unlaAvful secrets ; he coveted the tabooed arcana of hea
then lore.
The Biblical account of his learning — Avritten, probably, in his
early, gracious days — is, "And God gaA'e Solomon Avisdom and
understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as
the sand that is on the sea-shore. And Solomon excelled the
Avisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the Avisdom
of Egypt. For he Avas Aviser than all men ; than Ethan the Ez-
rahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darcla, the sons of Mahol ;
and his fame was in all nations round about. And he' spake
three thousand proverbs, and his songs were a thousand and five.
And he spake of trees, from the cedar of Lebanon even to the
hyssop that springeth out of the wall : he spake also of beasts and
foAvl, of creeping things, and of fishes."
Of all this great mass of Solomon's proverbs, poesy, and natu
ral history, very little has been preserved. Therefore very little
¦was worth preserving. What was throAvn away Avas doubtless
rejected very much to the advantage of Solomon's reputation.
When the king began to meddle with the superstitions of heathen
ism, his mind began to degenerate.
In these days of materialism we are prone to reject all that
savors of the supernatural. We are realistic to such an extent
that we argue away miracles, wonders, revelations, wherever we
possibly can.
We expect, some day, to see Tennant's trance referred to an
accidental OArerdose of opium !
It has become necessary to assert that the tremendous fabric of

SOLOMON. 325
the Chaldaic and Egyptian and Hindoo astrology, divination,
magic and wonder-working, was sleight of hand, or an airy no
thing. It makes very little difference, inasmuch as our salvation
in no Avise depends on the question ; but the "fantastic fables "
woven about the name of Solomon are worthy of a second
thought. They are so worthy, because they are so Avide spread.
They represent the general belief of the nations nearest him in
both time and space. A popular belief, especially a belief that is
common to varied and Avidely scattered nationalities, deserves con
sideration, and has often grains of truth in it. We point Avith
much complacency to the Avide-spread traditions of the flood.
, The East assigns to Solomon strange kno\yledge of unholy
mysteries. He knew spells to subdue and cast out evil spirits ;
he had charms and incantations to cure disease and work miracles ;
he understood the language of beasts, birds, and fishes ; the secret
virtues of gems and herbs ; he Avore a magic ring, Avhich opened
to him the past, present, and future. Josephus religiously credits
the most of these tales ; he relates that he himself saw one Eze
kiel, a JeAV, cast out and command demons, by means of the spells
and name of Solomon, in the presence of the Avhole Roman army.
But the unfortunate case of Josephus, the toady of the Csesars,
is, that we believe him, quote him, rely implicitly on him, Avhen,
in our judgment, he is telling the truth; and scorn, reject, and re
proach him, as Avildly unreliable, Avhen, in our opinion, he is tell
ing a lie. We use or cast aside the unlucky historian, just in
proportion as he suits or fails to suit our theories.
/"jffter all, as we survey the character of Solomon, we feel that
^doubtless he forsook the Avisdom which* is from above, the legiti
mate pursuit of knoAvledge, and turned aside to those themes
which are, in themselves, unholy and disalloAved of God. It is
"the natural and often fatal impulse of the human soul. Says
HoAA-son, in his Life of Paul, " We can hardly wonder, when the

326 SOLOMON.
East was throAvn open — the land of mystery, the fountain of ear
liest migrations, the cradle of the earliest religions — that the
imagination, both of the populace and the aristocracy of Rome,
became fanatically excited." Tiberius sat upon a rock, cum grege
Chaldceo, says Juvenal ; and Tacitus tells us that astrologers Avill
forever be jeered and retained.
Solomon would never have found such wisdom as he craved
in a request that was Avell pleasing to God : " vexation of spirit "
a " \veariness to the flesh ; " " no profit under the sun." In
deed, in Ecclesiastes Ave find Solomon telling us of two kinds of
wisdom, one is apples of Sodom, bitterness unspeakable, and a
weaning of the soul from God, a barrier to immortal life. The
other is everlasting " profit ; " is " strength ; " is " better than
weapons of Avar ; " full of " gracious words."
Doubtless this Solomon knew much more than Ave give him
credit for. Pie was called a Avise man, say we, but he knew
nothing of the electric telegraph; he never saw a train of cars,
nor a needle gun; now-a-days the little boys in our schools
could tell him things to astonish him ; he Avas very well for his
day — but not for ours.
Probably Solomon had a Avisdom so far beyond his day that
even yet we fail to appreciate it. There are Avonderful scientific
truths hinted at in Koheleth, Avhich Ave do not fully grasp as he
meant them. He had a Avisdom that took hold on the precious
things of the everlasting hills; which understood the mighty
economy of the ages; Avhich summed the value of the finite, and
drank at the fountain of the Infinite. He Avas like a glorious
young cherub, strong to run his intellectual race. Among men he
was like him Avhom Satan
"Saw within kpn a glorious angel stand,
The same whom Jo n saw also in the sun,
His back was turned, but not his brightness hid ;
Of beaming sunn., rays a golden tiar

SOLOMON. 327
Circled his head, nor less his locks behind
Illustrious on his shoulders fledge Avith wings
Lay waving round ; on some great charge employed
He seemed, or fixed in cogitation deep."
Thus Avas Solomon seeking Avisdom as God wills.
But perchance he wandered into other fields, and A\7as led aside
into false deductions, and began to doubt the Avord of the Lord,
and to Aveigh his Maker in balances of his own poor devising,
and limit him with lines of his OAvn drawing. Perhaps he pre
ceded Darwin and Huxley and Renan and Strauss in their
heaven-rejecting fields of thought, and found this vexation of
spirit, and self-weariness and folly, and vanity and despair ; and
out of those painful regions of unbelief he came, as similar modern
prophets are like to come, to gross idolatry. As Dean Howson
says : " Unbelief, when it has become conscious of its weakness, is
often glad to give its hand to superstition," and it is a sentence
worthy to be held in perpetual remembrance.
And so out of this personal ambition of Solomon we reach
the time when he Avas weak enough to become an idolater, and
we turn our attention for a moment to the immediate provocation
to that idolatry /^Solomon, like most people Avho are magnificent
in their tastes, Avas inordinately self-indulgent. Let a man give
free rein to his passions, beginning even at one Avhich is not par
ticularly evil, and anon he will be swept aAvay in a Avhirlwind of
reckless indulgence. Gratifying his extravagant tastes, Solomon
Avould increase his harem to add to his glory, and before long the
purity and dignity of his character were lost in a torrent of licen
tiousness. " But Solomon loved many strange Women ; and it came
to pass that Avhen he was old his wiA7es turned away his heart after
other gods."
Now sunk in base idolatry, the king of Israel, the peaceful one,
the beloved of the Lord, went to bow at the horrible shrine of
the Assyrian Venus ; abased himself before the outrageous altars

328 SOLOMON.
of bloody Molech, and offered incense to Chemosh the abomination
of Moab, and Milcom the idol of the Ammonites.
Having thus forsaken his God, we cannot be surprised at seeing
him despise human justice. He who is a traitor, is apt to be a
tyrant. Solomon forsaking his religion developed an unscrupu-
lousness Avhich had perhaps ever been in some activity, but which
piety had restrained. Very likely the king trampled on some
private hopes, some domestic affections, when he took the sixty
tallest and strongest men of the nation for his body guard ; he
was like Frederick the Great in his loA7e for grenadiers ! He re
duced the " strangers in the land," the remnants of the Canaanites,
the relics of that fatal covenant with the Gibeonites, to a wretched
race of unpaid helots, to serfs Avho wailed in " bitter bondage."
Long after, there lingered about the temple a clan of laborers
called, " Solomon's servants." These foreign slaves he treated as
creatures Avithout souls or natural affections. He forced one hun
dred and fifty-three thousand of them from their homes, their little
ancestral acres, their family burial places, and sent them to the
quarries and the forests of Lebanon. Augustus did no Avorse Avhen
after the civil Avar he tore the inhabitants of Mantua and Cremona
from their homes, and gave their possessions to his soldiers. Many
a stranger, Avho had become part and parcel of the Hebrew com-
momvealth, might have wailed like poor Melibasus :
" I Avonder if in coming years; my little realm, my eyes
Shall see above thy Avaving corn my turf-thatched cottage rise."
During the earlier parts of his reign, Solomon laid these cruel
burdens on foreigners, and not upon Israelites. It was an iniqui
tous but national proceeding. Later, he oppressed all alike ; mi
litary service, serfdom, taxation, all made the Hebrews groan,
until they could cry to Rehoboam : " Thy father made our yoke
grievous ; now therefore ease thou somewhat the grievous servitude
of thy father, and his heavy yoke."

SOLOMON. 329
The people hated Adoniram who Avas over the tribute ; their
allegiance to Solomon greAV cold; dark looks and murmurs of re
volt greeted the once popular king. Thus he had fallen ; he was
growing old ; God Avas not with him ; the Levites, prophets and
priests Avho had stood like bands of angels about his throne, now
shrunk aAvay, beAvailing, and denounced the vengeance of Heaven,
as they saAV temples of Baal, and Astarte and Molcch, proudly
fronting and facing the Temple of the Lord God. Enemies Avere
stirred up against him. Hadad the Edomite arrayed himself as
an adversary. The alliance Avith Egypt Avas broken. Shishak,
or Seshonk, the king of Egypt, aided the foes of Israel. Rezon
the king of Damascus Avas another opponent ; and Ahijah, sent by
the Lord, symbolically gave ten parte of the kingdom of Israel
to Jeroboam son of Nebat, and Jeroboam raised a revolt Avhich
shook the already tottering throne. The reign of Solomon, as nar
rated in First Kings, begins Avith the attempted usurpation of
Adonijah, and ends Avith the rebellion of Jeroboam.
In these dark days of his adversity Solomon wrote Koheleth,
or Ecclcsiastes. Very many of the German critics stoutly maintain
that Ecclesiastes is not the production of Solomon. The argu
ments are, many of them, based on rationalistic theories and inte
rests; and a stronger one on verbal evidence — the numerous
Chaldseisms in the Avork. " The deep and difficult things of Scrip
ture," says Taylor Lewis, " are oftentimes better comprehended
by the spiritual than the critical mind." But we have both criti
cal acumen and spiritual discernment in favor of the long-main
tained belief that Solomon alone wrote " The Preacher." There
is one argument which can only be classed as most atrocious and
irreligious, namely, that the JeAvs knew nothing of the future life
until they derived the knoAvledge of it from the Persians during
the captivity, Avhich will be more properly referred to in writing
of the Prophet Daniel.

330 SOLOMON.
We cite a feAv sentences from Professor Tayler LeAvis, on
the Solomonic authorship of Ecclesiastes : " Notwithstanding the
plausible arguments of Zockler, and the authorities Avhich he
quotes, the antiquity and the Solomonic authorship of Koheleth,
are not lightly to be given up. The rationalistic interest contra
dicts itself. Once set it loose from Solomon's time, and there is no
other place Avhere it can be securely anchored. The internal evi
dence ofthe Solomonic authorship, Avhen vieAved by itself, Avithout
reference to later words or Chaldseisms, is very strong. It is just
such a series of meditations as the history of that monarch Avould
lead us to ascribe to him in his old age, after his experience of the
vanity of this life in its best earthly estate, and that repentance for
his misuse of God's gifts in serving his OAvn pleasures, which
Avould seem natural to his condition." Here the learned commenta
tor strikes the key note of Ecclesiastes — experience and repent
ance. When Solomon had sifted all earthly pleasures, had gratified loA7e,
pride, ambition, curiosity, lust, every emotion of the soul ; when
he had sinned profoundly, Avhen he had tried all Avisdom, he sat
down to write the history of his mental and moral experience.
His first Avish had been for Avisdom, therefore he wrote of wis
dom first, and shoAved, in the first and second chapters (as they are
divided in our English Bible) that " the theoretical Avisdom of
men directed to a knoAvledge of the things of this Avorld, is
vanity." He might have added that the theoretical Avisdom of
men directed to Biblical criticism is also very often vanity ; and
it is a pity that many of the German rationalistic commentators
could not lay the idea to heart. " Human effort confined to the
conditions of life, and the knowledge of this earthly Avorld," can
gain no lasting happiness. This Avas Solomon's lesson from expe
rience. In the latter verses of our second chapter, Solomon sIioavs
that this earthly Avisdom is not only unproductive of good, but if

SOLOMON. 331
it is not affiliated to a higher wisdom, it is of itself a burden ; and
he gives his own case as an example. Next, the monarch shows
Avhy temporal acts and happiness are restricted, and that the true
essence of human happiness is gratitude to God. He finds, also,
that all human deeds are temporal and evanescent, in proportion
as they lack the element of godliness. The misfortunes of men
next engage him, and here, as elsewhere, he dreAV from his OAvn
heart and life history7. He found that " the race of men is like
the race of leaves," their loves, hopes, hates, joys, woes, are as le
gends Avritten by the Sibyl on the leaves in her cave, and lo, the
light Avind carries them aAvay. .Allhuman life is vanity. But
Solomon has learned, by dire experiences, the means of advancing
and retaining human happiness. He sees these means to be, de
votion to God's worship, " abstaining from violence and injustice
and avarice, and maintaining a temperance in all enjoyments."
Alas ! for Solomon, he had felt the ills of idolatry, despotism and
lust ; he had proven in himself how they embitter all fountains
of peace. .
Then he arrives at the theme of True Wisdom, and shows that it
does not clasp itself on earthly happiness, but reaches upward into
the region of eternal love. He Avho loves earth, loves vanity, and
pines over a constant loss, but True Wisdom despises lust, and
cleaves to patience and the fear of God.
Then he Avarns against irreligion and the lusts Avhereby he
himself has fallen so Ioav. In his day of folly he had commended
mirth, as the best good under the sun ; groAvn wiser noAV, he calls
it vanity — a vapor. In this book, also, we find the expression of
Solomon's penitence for his lapses from the allegiance due Jeho
vah, the true Sovereign of Israel. The king should be obeyed, as
in regard to the oath of God, as the legate of heaven ; therefore
the kinc must Avork the will of heaven, he must be subject to
the kings' King. Therefore, reasons Solomon, than whom none

332 SOLOMON.
can reason better, though earthly wisdom perishes, and is consola
tory neither in living nor dying ; let us strive after supernal wis
dom, by Avhich we live Avell and die happy.
The destiny of man is full of dark places ; God's will and his
dealings in Providence are unfathomable ; but Ave are pointed to
the Avisdom Avhich is from above, as a clue to lead us through these
labyrinthine Avays, and Avhen Ave have reached a higher life, the
dark places Avill be made clear.
For in Koheleth Ave have the certainty of the immortal life,
continuance of being after death; the Preacher sees, after the tur
moil of living, " a tranquil, holy, conscious rest, under the shadow
ofthe Almighty." Perhaps, also, he catches a divine glimpse of
the glorious and beloved Hermes of the Church, of Plim who be
longs both to the living and the dead, to both worlds, the buried
and risen one, Redeemer of our flesh and spirit. Koheleth shows
the vast difference between the wise man and the fool ; betAveen
the saint and the sinner. He can do that very Avell, for he has
played the fool himself, and has had but a poor time of it. Then
he shoAvs the beauty of a holy life ; the happiness of the heart at
peace Avith God and men ; the advantages of religion and human
ity. He has come to the conclusion that " the only true Avay to
happiness in this Avorld and the world beyond, consists in benevo
lence; in fidelity to one's calling, a calm and contented enjoyment
of life and unfeigned fear of God from early youth to advanced
age." Here, indeed, is the Noble Lesson, the true Golden Legend, the
absolute Wisdom of Solomon.
Himself, an old man, prematurely old, because he has not pre
served that temperance and chastity which he has learned, too late,
to value, Solomon draws a most wonderful picture of old age. He
has followed the later maxim, "Look into thine heart, and then
write." He has very likely found those eternal veracities, Avhich

SOLOMON. 333
Carlyle says are needful to being a poet, for here Solomon breaks
forth into a rare, beautiful, pathetic song, poesy of the highest
order. Old age, old age indeed ; draAvn Avith wonderful fidelity,
but it is the old age of one Avhose youth Avas spent in self-indul
gence ; Avho left the service of his Lord to serve himself. He
represents an old man dAvelling in the midst of luxury, surrounded
Avith Avealth, servants, entertainments; enjoyment dead; his very
heart burnt out to ashes : it is a very pitiful picture, especially
Avhen Ave set it beside that of Moses, Avho, at one hundred 'and
tAventy years, found not his eye dim nor his natural force abated.
Set Solomon's old man beside the old man Moses, and they Avill
preach such a lesson of the profits of godliness, as Avill startle
every soul.
At last, his arguments, his heart-history, his self-upbraiding
ended ; Solomon reaches the conclusion of the whole matter :
" Fear God, and keep his commandments : for this is the whole
duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment,
with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be
evil." Here Solomon sets forth his expectation of a coming judgment,
a grand and aAvful Avorld assize, as he has previously set forth the
immortal life and the eternal home.
This analysis of earth and its honors, this loyal speaking forth
for God, represent to us Solomon as at last repentant. He had
sinned, he had been chastised, he had humbled himself; he had
cast himself anew on the long-suffering and forgiving mercy of
our Lord. Perhaps, for the first and only time, he was right
toward God. He may, in his beautiful early youth, have been
the moralist, the product of parental restraint and religious educa
tion, without the stamina of true piety ; then he may have fallen,
a sinning soul, wholly estranged from God ; and late have learned
regeneration, repentance, conversion. Or be may have been God's

334 SOLOMON.
true servant in early life, then have yielded to the indAvelling sin,
and then turned to seek, Avith tears, self-upbraiding and self-dis
trust, the Father's face. " Better," said Solomon, " is a poor
and Avise child than an old and foolish king." The temper of
childhood is needful to salvation. At last, when all the world was
exhausted, Solomon was ready to enter heaven as a little child ;
and this Avas indeed the only frame of mind in Avhich he, or any
one, could get there. When he came to cast himself on God in a
child spirit, he Avas safe. Blessed thought ! " The difficulty is
never on the side of God. The Divine pity never lags behind
any genuine human sorrow."

XVI.
JEROBOAM.
IDOLATRY THE RELIGION OF THE NATURAL MAN.

' THEISM is not an indigenous product of the human
soul. Indeed one is inclined to wonder if Atheism can
! ever be more than a braggart theory; whether it is in
any case an absolute belief; for danger and death seem
ever able to shock the A7aunting Atheist out of his creed of nega
tions, and set him calling upon a higher power, until the cause of
terror is removed, or breath fails him.
Religion is natural to man ; idolatry is the religion of the natural
man. Man has two natures, the physical and the spiritual. The neAv-
born babe cries for food, opens its mouth, and swalloAvs eagerly
ite nourishment. The religious instinct is the clamoring of the
spiritual nature for the food needful for its life and perfection.
Boucher de Perthes, in his volume on " Innate Ideas," says :
" It is impossible for man to extinguish in himself the conviction
that there is a God. It has been said that children derive their
idea of God from the instruction of others ; that it is never origi
nal. I am convinced of the contrary. I myself Avas a child when
religion (in France) was proscribed ; when one did not venture
even to allude to it ; yet the intuition of God was within me."
But though this idea, this feeling after -a higher poAver, may be
inborn, may be the demand which God implanted for the greatest
335

336 JEROBOAM.
good, and which he intended to supply, we must never forget
man's very existence began with an inspiration, a reA'elation Avhich
became the grand tradition of the race. God walked in the garden,
and those " Avalking hours " became the golden age, set forever
in the memory of even the most degenerate scions of the human
family. Cain received from the lips of his parents, and from his
OAvn experience of the glory betAveen the cherubim, a positive know
ledge of a higher overruling poAver.
There has been much discussion of the " gradual development
ofthe religious idea ; " as if man left to himself will spontaneously
grow into a knowledge of his Creator, and the life of faith. The
history of the race proves that man, beginning with a distinct
revelation, as soon as he resisted the teaching Spirit of God, and
set up his OAvn Avill and ideas, as in the case of Cain, began to go
astray from the knoAvledge of the Eternal ; and while he could
not eradicate the belief in a God, speedily perverted his belief in
the One God, who had created man and taught him in Eden.
" It has been the glory of the Semitic race," says M. Renan,
" that from its earliest days it grasped that notion of Deity Avhich
all other peoples have had to adopt from its example, and on faith
of ite declarations." '" Of the Semitic race, hoAvever," adds Baring-
Gould, " but one small branch, JeAvdom, preserved and communi
cated the idea ; every other branch of the Semitic race, like the
other races, sank into polytheism."
Evidently the Shemite, the JeAV, did not preserve and communi
cate this idea through his OAvn peculiar, natural, moral force and
intellectual strength ; for in morals and intellect the uninspired,
unregenerate HebreAV has never proved the superior of other
nations. It Avas simply because God chose the Sethite, then the
Shemitic race, then its branch the HebreAV, to preserve his name,
his idea, his religion, pure upon the earth. He kept a remnant.
He left not himself Avithout human Avitnesses, and he chose them

JEEOBOAM. 337
in one especial line. When he let go his hold on other races and
nations, Avho in rebellious perversity were struggling to be free of
him, they " sunk into polytheism ; " they developed idolatry — the
religion of the natural man.
Idolatry is the only religious idea Avhich man, unassisted by
Heaven, is capable of developing. At first it was a simple form
of idolatry, fire worship, Bel-worship. As idolaters became more
and more separated from the divinely-enlightened line of Shem,
their idolatry became more and more gross and complex. Nimrod
the rebel, on the Chaldsean plains, Avorshipped fire and the god
Bel. After the dispersion of the families of earth from the toAver
of Babel this worship of Bel was disseminated over all the world;
and because idolatry is so much more congenial to the natural heart,
than the pure, spiritual worship of a one, true, holy God, it began
to gain a foothold even among the chosen children of Eber.
Bel, the ancient tutelary divinity of Babylonia, the deity wor
shipped by Nimrod, was the chief god of all the Chaldaic nations.
Cushites and Shemites, all save the line of Arphaxad, adored him ;
and when Abraham was called out of Ur of the Chaldees there
Avere added to the worship of Bel the Sun, the fire god, other idola
tries, and the moon was the tutelary divinity of Ur.
This Bel, or Belus, represented the one supreme Being whose
existence was an ineradicable idea. He pervaded the Avorship of
all nations, becoming associated with other gods, until he was
one deity in a mighty pantheon. He was the Osiris of Egypt,
the Helius of Greece, the Apollo of the Latin.
The Assyrian idea of their supreme being, of beauty, was not
form, but strength. Their sculptures always reach after the ma
jestic. To-day their winged bulls stand in stately solemnity
above the dust of their worshippers, the ruins of their temples.
Belus was sculptured as an enormous bull with knotted muscles
standing firm and hard ; the very impersonation of power. This
22

338 JEROBOAM.
idolatry, and this form of the idol, spread through all Syria.
Says Rawlinson : " Could Chedorlaomer (who warred with the
kings of Sodom, and whom Abraham conquered) have returned
from his grave after fourteen centuries of sleep, he would have
found little difference betAveen the idolatries of his own day and
of Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar — save in splendor of offerings
and an increase of music in the worship." So well did this
Baal worship suit the genius of the Orient, so impossible was it
even in the space of fourteen centuries for that genius to attain
anything higher, unhelped by the Spirit of God.
The descendants of Mizraim flying from the plain of Babel,
took the idea of Baal Avith them, and worshipped him under the
similitude of the sacred bull ; he Avas to them Osiris, the father
of all. In Egypt the captive children of Abraham imbibed their
notion of calf-worship, which seems to have clung to them Avith
amazing tenacity. The most tremendous judgments of God failed
to destroy their secret veneration for Baal. This developed at
the very hour when they became an independent nation. As they
stood at the foot of Sinai, impatient at the delay of Moses, they
clamored for gods to go before them ; and their idea of divinity
was a golden calf. There has been a question whether this calf
meant Jehovah, being a cherubic representation of him; or
whether it was an Egyptian god. It seems rather a confound
ing ofthe God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob with Baal, or Osiris,
and the choosing the calf as the legitimate representation of him.
Baal means lord, master, owner, ruler, and was first referred to
the sun, the giver of warmth and light, without which nothing
can exist.
Whenever there was set before the Israelites any temptation
for Baal-worship, they at once relapsed into it as a nation ; haA7ing
among them exceptions, God-servers, the witnesses of the Holy
One. Afflictions brought back the people to their allegiance to

JEROBOAM. 339
the true God ; and anon they fell away. During the one hun
dred and forty years from the beginning of Samuel's judgeship
to the coronation of Rehoboam, the religion of Jehovah had been
sedulously and consistently preserved by all the tribes. We have
come iioav in their history to a time Avhen ten tribes voluntarily
forsook the revealed religion, and took instead idolatry, the religion
ofthe natural man.
Idolatry was the religion ofthe natural man from Cain to Jero
boam ; it has been the religion of the natural man from Jeroboam
until to-day ; and by this time a large portion of idolaters have
got back to the exact form of Cain their archetype — self-righte
ousness, self-justification, intolerance.
When a man does not Avorship the Lord his God, it makes
very little difference in his guilt whether his idol is Baal, the
sun Avheeling in heaven, the golden calf-god, or — himself!
Milton embodies the idea of Baal in the lines —
" Than whom
Satan except none higher sat, with grave
Aspect he rose, and in his rising seemed
A pillar of state ; deep on his front engraven
Deliberation sat, and public care ;
And princely counsel in his face yet shone,
Majestic though in ruin ; sage he stood
With Atlantean shoulders fit to bear
The weight of mightiest monarchies ; his look
Drew audience and attention still as night,
Or summer noontide air."
Jeroboam, the immediate instrument of this change in Israel
itish worship, is first presented to us when Solomon Avas building
Millo, and repairing the wall of the city of David. Jeroboam
Avas then a young man, the son of an Ephrathite named Nebat.
His father Avas already dead ; fortunately taken from the sight of
the fatal grandeur of his son. His mother, Zeruah, lived, and
doubtless prided herself not a little on her boy. " He AA7as," says

340 JEROBOAM.
Scripture, "a mighty man of valor." So prominent was he
among his kinsmen and felloAV-Avorkers, that Solomon at once
noticed him, and selected him from the rest, for especial dignity.
"And Solomon seeing the young man, that he was industrious,
he made him ruler over all the charge ofthe house of Joseph."
He " Avas a mighty man of valor." We can imagine him in
his prime ; the dashing athlete, who would soon show that he
feared neither God nor man.
One who mocked at toil and hardship ; who Avas incapable of
fear; Avho knew Iioav to control his fellow-men; to beguile their
hearts; Avho Avas just the rash, ardent, exuberant Saul-like
nature, to delight the men of Israel. He stood at the head of
" the house of Joseph " — of those mighty tribes, Ephraim and
Manasseh. He was in the very position to exercise influence;
for Ephraim Avas a proud, turbulent, rebellious tribe; ever jealous
of the supremacy of the house of Judah, and ever but half
smothering revolt against the family of David.
Years passed on, Avhile Jeroboam, the mighty captain, was
prominently before his people, and they Avere becoming accustomed
to his authority, and to seeking his advice.
During these years, Solomon had degenerated to an idolater,
and God had already, by the mouth of the prophet, announced the
division ofthe kingdom.
Jeroboam Avas the man chosen by God to bear rule over the ten
tribes. And Ahijah, the Shilonite, Avas the prophet to make this
royal future known. Warned of God, Ahijah went forth toAvard
Jerusalem, to meet the future king. Impelled by that power,
which, often unrecognized, guides 'the smallest events of our lives,
Jeroboam in Jerusalem projected a journey.
Perhaps he was going forth on business.
Perhaps filial love called him to the village home of his
widowed mother, Zeruah ; maybe he AA7as bent on loA7e making,

JEROBOAM. 341
and some dark-eyed maid among the daughters, awaited his
coming in an olive orchard on the sunny slopes. Poor soul, if
this were so, the girl to whom this goodly captain should tell his
tale of love, would have dark days and very heavy tidings, sore
sorrows of wife and mother, as Jeroboam's queen.
Whatever was the cause of his going, he went well clad. He
bought a new garment, and walked forth gaily, proud of his
array ; little thinking that the royal purple, the monarch's crown,
aAvaited him in the future. Down he strode from the hill Zion
into the field, and saw coming towards him a well-known form,
Ahijah, the old seer; avIio of late, with darkling brows and lifted
hands, had cried out Avoe and vengeance,. because of those temples
of crime to Molech, Baal and Ashtoreth.
Very likely Jeroboam gave the prophet good greeting; we
imagine him to haA7e been one of those politic men, who never
throw away an ally, never lose an advantage, however dimly
foreshadowed. The prophet responded singularly enough. They were together
in the field, and he laid hands on Jeroboam like a highway
robber, and seized his neAV garment. Then he behaA7ed like a
madman. He tore the cloak in pieces, but there was a singular
rnethod in his madness ; for the torn stripes were tAvelve. He
turned to the Avondering captain, and holding out the fragments
of the neAV cloth, said : " Take thee ten pieces : for thus saith the
Lord, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom from
the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee."
Never Avas a new garment spared so easily. For the ten torn
strips of his gay apparel, Jeroboam should receive ten mighty
tribes for his kingdom. Before his eyes swept instant visions of
the coming glory ; he Avould be grand as Solomon ; allied to kings ;
wedded to royal princesses ; conqueror of nations ; founder of a
dynasty. His heart was so lifted up, that he hardly heard the

342 JEROBOAM.
stem voice of the prophet detailing the causes of Solomon's for
feiture of the kingdom. If Jeroboam had but heard and laid to
heart this part of the message, his fate would have been very
different : " Because they have forsaken me, and have worshipped
Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh, the god of the
Moabites, and Milcom, the god of the children of Ammon."
Unfortunately for Jeroboam, he Avas one of those who never
learn anything from the dealings of Providence with other men.
Another very important fact was stated by Ahijah, namely,
that God said : " I will not take the Avhole kingdom out of his
hand : but I will make him a prince all the days of his life, for
my serA'ant David's sake. . . . But I will take the kingdom out of
his son's hand, and will give it unto thee, even ten tribes."
Here it Avas distinctly explained, that so long as Solomon lived,
Jeroboam AA7as quietly to stand among those who served. His
controversy Avas to be with Rehoboam. To say one word, to lift
one finger to obtain royalty before Solomon's death, Avould be
rank rebellion.
Still the prophet's speech, flowed on : "And it shall be, if thou
wilt Avalk in my Avays, and do that is right in my sight, to keep
my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did,
that I will be Avith thee, and build thee a sure house, as I built
for David ; and I will give Israel unto thee."
Here was made a condition, a promised reAvard, and there was
also set a model. Jeroboam had now no reason, outside of his
own unregenerate heart, to go astray. He kneAv all JeAvish law ;
he kneAV the dangers and the crying iniquity of idolatry ; he knew
what David's life had been, and that this Avas the life he must
Jive in childlike humility before his God ; and the reward would
be a sure kingdom for all his posterity.
The prophet went his way. From that hour Jeroboam was a
different man ; a change had passed over his spirit. He began

JEROBOAM. . 343
to question of his future, of his present position. He suddenly
felt himself a king — every inch as great as Solomon ; yet here
he wandered unattended on the public way, uncrowned, throne-
less and sceptreless. He must wait until Solomon Avas dead,
and who could tell hoAV long Solomon might live? Perhaps
until Rehoboam and Jeroboam were gray, old men, shorn of
ambition, all pleasures palling on their senses.
There Avas Solomon, nourished and cherished and pampered,
shut out from danger, guarded on every hand ; and here Avas he,
Captain Jeroboam, jostled rudely by the Avorld, an accident or an
enemy might make avray Avith him any moment, before eA7er he
became a king. Pie forgot that he was immortal until his work
was done ; and that he Avas assured of the kingdom in the promise
of the Unchangeable One : " And I will take thee, and thou shalt
reign according to all that thy soul desireth, and thou shalt be
king over Israel." It Avas utterly impossible for Jeroboam to die
before that Avord Avas accomplished ; floods could not drown him ;
fire could not destroy him ; no arrow could find out a joint in his
harness before he reigned, filling all his desires ; the prophet hinted
of his long envy and ambition ! A thousand neAV cravings were
struggling within him. Josephus tells us that after this prophecy
Jeroboam " could not keep quiet," and that " he endeaArored to per
suade the people to forsake Solomon, to make a disturbance, and
to bring the government to himself."
Solomon had already been Avarned, probably by the prophet
Gad, ofthe future division ofthe kingdom, the consequence of his
idolatry. Doubtless he heard of the prophecy of Ahijah, of which
Jeroboam would make vain-glorious mention ; and noAV when the
young captain began to urge his kinsfolk, and the malcontents,
which are in every nation, to revolt, Solomon endeavored to kill
him. Jeroboam found that his efforts to secure an immediate authority

344 JEROBOAM.
were doomed to failure. God was not with him ; he had only
shown his own insubordination and unbelief in endeavoring to
press on before the Lord's time. Abandoning a cause Avhich he
could not maintain he fled into Egypt.
Since Solomon had married an Egytian princess, a neAV king,
hostile to him, had taken the throne of Mizraim. This king,
Shishak, offered an asylum to all the enemies of Solomon ; before
David died, Hadad, the Edomite, and his folloAvers had thrown
themselves upon the protection of Egypt. Hadad Avas then but a
child, but he had groAvn to man's estate, married into the royal
family, and was noAV aided by Shishak to resist the poAver of Solo
mon. In Egypt Jeroboam remained until the death of the king.
When he heard of that event, and probably a fleet courier carried
at once the long-wished for neAvs, he returned from Egypt to Pales
tine ; but mindful of his former bootless haste, and groAvn wiser
Avith the passing years, he retired to his own city, Zared, to aAvait
the course of eA7ents. Jeroboam Avas in no wise improved by years;
he was more prudent, more crafty, but far less honest and religious
than Avhen he stood the simple, indefatigable superintendent of
Solomon's building operations. During his long residence in
Egypt, there is every reason to suppose, from the character of the
man, that he yielded homage to the Egyptian gods, and took part
in all the disgusting Egyptian idolatries. He Avas never the man
to do as well as he knew how ; he had a plenty of worldly, very
little heavenly Avisdom.
On him, however, the eyes of all Israel were set. He was to
be their leader in the coming political strife. They kneAV he was
bold and sagacious ; they remembered the prophecy of Ahijah.
Therefore, as preparations were made for the solemn coronation
of Rehoboam, Israel held back, and let the tribe of Judah take
the initiative, making preparations for the gorgeous ceremonial.
Judah was of the king's family — his kinsmen in the flesh. The

JEROBOAM. 345
capital, beautiful Jerusalem, Avas in Judah's territory. The coro
nation, hoAvever, Avas to take place at a central city of Ephraim,
Shechem, famous in JeAvish story, and very frequently mentioned
in the Bible. There the children of Israel had renewed, after the
capture of Ai, their solemn covenant to be the Lord's.
One sad monotone running through Koheleth we have left until
noAV — a father's disappointment. He Avhose harem held a thousand
AviA'es and concubines, could leave but a " fool " to sit on his
throne. He pours forth his distrust of the coming monarch, and
Rehoboam fully justifies that distrust. In the first part of his
reign he plays the fool indeed.
Yet after all, in some respects, he seems to the full as Avise a
man as his father. Solomon had succeeded in disintegrating his
OAvn poAverful empire ; Rehoboam kneAV, after his first mistake, how
to make the best of a bad bargain, and prop a falling kingdom.
Solomon came into his royalty under the most favorable cir
cumstances, and left all things crumbling to their fall; Rehoboam
heired anarchy, and he managed to reign peaceably and leave his
son as much power and Avealth as he secured for himself.
Hardly Avas the most splendid and powerful of the Hebrew
monarchs laid in his tomb, than the oppressed seized the oppor
tunity ofthe coronation at Shechem,' and rose in a terrible tumult.
They crowded to Rehoboam for redress of grievances. We are
apt to think of him as a boy, but he Avas forty-one years of age.
Prudence, urbanity, benevolence on his part, would have saved
him the loss of more than half his realm ; braggart defiance, auda
city and despotism, reduced him to be a petty prince, lording it over
a corner of the territory Avhere his father had swayed the sceptre.
Yet poor Rehoboam is what we might expect him to be ; there
had been far too much gold in his early surroundings. Gold
couches, gold dishes, gold caparisons for horses, gold armor, gold
poAvder on his hair ; he was a far-off HebreAV Miss Kilmansegg ;

346 JEROBOAM.
and like that unfortunate, he was ruined by a surfeit of the precious
metal. There is more truth than fable in the story ofthe miseries
of king Midas.
¦ Already were the wishes and welfare of Judah and Israel seen
to be diverse. If Judah should come up to Shechem strong in
a lineal successor of the late renowned king, Israel Avould come
with the valiant Ephrathite, who could plead the promise of the
Lord by the mouth of Ahijah. Therefore the ten tribes sent to
Zared to call Jeroboam to appear as their head and spokesman at
Shechem. Rehoboam was not Avise enough to concede at once what Avas
respectfully and reasonably demanded. Neither Avas he prepared
instantly to refuse. He asked three days for consideration ; these
days he spent rejecting the advice ofthe Avise old councillors, who
had added lustre to his father's reign, and listening to the flatteries
and braggardism of his younger comrades. These days Jeroboam
no doubt Avas Avise enough to use in strengthening himself in
the hearts of Israel, and in encouraging the tribes to persist in
their demand ; at the same time, stirring up their jealousy against
Judah. At the end of three days, the gross taunts, the insane defiance
of Rehoboam infuriated the disaffected tribes. Soft Avords, honest
promises Avould have destroyed the influence of Jeroboam, and
made them loyal ; but this Avas not to be. No sooner Avas Reho-
boam's reply given — and we can imagine how the old men blushed
and trembled at ite idle boasts — Avhen a shout arose from the ad
verse camp ; the ten tribes had taken up their song of insurrec
tion — the HebreAV Marseillaise. As the Bourbons quailed at the
sound of " Allons, enfans de la patrie ! " so the line of David Avas
made to tremble at the cry : " To your tents, O Israel ! "
Rehoboam heard it, and it was the signal of his defeat. Israel
was no longer a great kingdom of the earth.

JEROBOAM.

347

Jeroboam at once proceeded to strengthen himself. He probably
retired to Zared for a short time until the people Avere in a mood
to receive another king, and had fairly separated themselves from
the house of David. Rehoboam meantime retired to one of his
country seats, and resolving to ignore the late action of the tribes,
sent Adoram to collect tribute. This tribute had been the chief
source of contention. It Avas cruelly heavy, aud was ruining the
poAver of the nation ; the imposts Avere so great that agriculture
and commerce Avere suffering terribly through all the land. The
people cordially hated Adoram, because he was the officer who
levied these taxes ; and forgetting that if their wrath Avas due to
any one, that one Avas the king, and not his unhappy treasurer,
they stoned Adoram to death. On hearing of the fate of his officer
Rehoboam Avas filled with terror ; fled to Jerusalem, for safety be
hind its mighty fortifications, and called together an army of one
hundred and eighty thousand men.
Seeing these preparations to reduce them to submission, the ten
tribes resolved to resist, and felt that their first Avant was an able
commander. They therefore sent deputies to Jeroboam, and
probably brought him to Shechem, and there formally croAvned
him king.
The tribe of Benjamin had ever been especially favored by
David, aa71io sought to conciliate the family and friends of Saul,
the first king; Benjamin therefore clung to Judah, and remained
faithful to Rehoboam. All the families of the Levites Avere also
]0yal — for the altar and temple of their faith Avas at Jerusalem ;
Rehoboam was nominally faithful to the religion of Jehovah, there
Avas little reason to expect that Jeroboam Avould be so. The division
was therefore nine tribes against three, but still numerically the
people Avere almost equally divided, for Judah and Benjamin had
ahvays been among the most powerful tribes, and only Ephraim
could in any wise compete with them.

348 JEROBOAM.
Jeroboam at once established himself in Shechem, making that
the seat of his government, his capital. The city lay between the
mounts Ebal and Gerizim, which towered high above it ; some of
the dAvellings climbed the grape-clothed slopes of these two moun
tains ; all around lay the fertile and beautiful plain of Moreh.
Groves, orchards, gardens, verdant fields, girdled the ancient city
with loveliness.
Jeroboam, like the rest of his nation, had an eye for beauty; a
warrior, he properly estimated strength and a capacity for defence.
His capital was in every way Avell chosen ; it Avas central, strong
and fair. It had also the aroma of holiness lingering about it ;
for it had been a Levitical town, and one of the six cities of
Refuge. The Avords in Kings, "Then Jeroboam built Shechem, and
dwelt therein," mean that he enlarged and improved the city :
added to its fortifications, and, perhaps, built there a palace.
He also built a toAvn called Penuel, Avhich has vanished from
the earth.
In the mean time, Shemaiah, a prophet of God, went to Reho
boam Avith the message : " Ye shall not go up to fight Avith your
brethren, the children of Israel : return every man to his house ;
for this thing is from me."
The prompt obedience of Rehoboam, in disbanding his army, is
the best thing which thus far we have heard of him.
Jeroboam, taking counsel with fear rather than faith, began to
think that if his people Avent up to Avorship at Jerusalem, the
loyal Levites would lead them to return to their allegiance to the
house of David, and he would lose his kingdom ; forgetting that
for a specified reason it had been given him by the Lord ; and on
one condition assured perpetually to his family. In all his his
tory, Jeroboam appears as an entirely faithless, irreligious man.
He determined, therefore, to have holy places in his own

JEROBOAM. 349
domains, and to give the people a form of worship differing from
that at Jerusalem ; free from Levitical influence, and of a nature
to attract and retain them. What more natural than that he
should turn to Baal Avorship? The Israelites had full often
served Baal ; he had been a household word to them for genera
tions ; and their evil hearts yet longed for his seductive rites.
It was the religion they had seen practised in Egypt ; Jeroboam
himself had lately been a worshipper before the sacred bulls in
Heliopolis. He was disposed to be very complacent to his people, to indulge
them in everyway. Shechem, in Ephraim, was his royal dwelling.
In Gad he had built the city Penuel ; now he chose Dan and
Bethel for places of worship ; Dan was the ancient Laish, settled
in the limits of Naphtali by Danites. Choosing this town as a
principal seat of worship, the Avily Jeroboam secured a place very
far from Jerusalem, and one in which Dan and Naphtali were
alike interested.
Bethel, the other high place, had ever held a historic sanctity.
Here Jacob had dreamed and vowed. The town belonged, in
Jeroboam's day, to Ephraim. Samuel had been wont to hold his
court of justice there, in his annual circuit; it was near enough
to Jerusalem to lie in the way of many going up to the Temple,
and thus to beguile them. From the day when Jeroboam chose
the spot as a place for his idolatries, Bethel, the House of God,
was polluted by Baal Avorship, for three hundred years.
Jeroboam now made two golden calves, such as were Avor-
shipped in Assyria, and were sculptured and painted in Egypt ;
such as Cushite and Shemite had adored since the days of Nimrod.
These he exhibited to the great congregation of the people, saying
— with what simulated and dangerous kindness — " It is too much
for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold thy gods, O Israel, which
brought thee up out of the land of Egypt."

350 JEROBOAM.
Is it thus a king should be a father to his people ?
The gods who had brought them- up from Egypt? Truly
these Avere gods, such as they had Avorshipped with music, feasts
and dances, at the foot of Sinai ; and so the faithless nation ran
greedily after their monarch's sin, and Avorshipped in Bethel and
in Dan.
The Scripture notes tAvo important facte in connection with
Jeroboam. First, his instituting for his new 'kingdom a new
national Avorship : formally taking Baal for their god in the place
of Jehovah, and second, his ordaining a new national festival.
The feasts of the Israelites were especially ordained for them
by the Lord. They were in number three — the Passover, the
Pentecost, the Feast of Tabernacles. The National Fast, the only
one, was the great Day of Atonement, five days before the Feast
of Tabernacles. The Passover Avas celebrated betAveen the four
teenth and tAventy-first days of the month Nisan — the first month
of the religious year. Pentecost was kept fifty days later, Taber
nacles came in autumn, after the gathering of the harvests.
Jeroboam set apart a new day for observance, " the fifteenth day
of the eighth month, even the month Avhich he had devised in his
own heart." He was evidently doing all that he could to oppose
the laws and ordinances of God.
The heart of Jeroboam is several times mentioned. It was
open to the scrutiny of God, and that God had seen his passionate
craving for royal power, when Jeroboam was only superintendent
of the public Avorks. The Lord kneAV all his vain castle building
of what he would do if he Avere king. He sent by Ahijah, and
told him he should reign according to all that his heart desired.
A sad privilege, for his heart desired very little that Avas good —
and in this respect Avas not very different from many other
hearts. Here again he is spoken of as devising out of his own heart a

JEROBOAM. 351
new time for a neAV festival. The historian is careful to make it
evident that the hand of the Lord was not Avith Jeroboam.
For these, his ungodly and idolatrous doings, Jeroboam got a
name that has ever clung to him. He is ever mentioned Avith
the expressive phrase — " he who made Israel to sin."
To sin in one's OAvn proper person is bad enough ; to drag
others into crime is infinitely worse, and adds tenfold to one's con
demnation. He Avho carries Avith him, in his sinful career, souls
who but for him Avould have lived in peace and well-doing, piles
up for himself a tremendous weight of iniquity. It would be
better for such an one, in the very beginning of his history, to
have a millstone hanged about his neck, and be cast into the sea.
At this feast which Jeroboam devised, he, like other idolatrous
kings, acted as chief priest, offered the sacrifices on the altar, and
burnt incense. It Avas a privilege not allowed to Theocratic
kings. At one of these feasts at Bethel, where Jeroboam Avas officiating,
he Avas arrested in his impious work by a message from the Lord.
It Avas not a joyful errand on which the prophet, a nameless,
unhappy, and ill-fated man of God, came.
Jeroboam, in royal statCj uniting the offices of priest and king,
offices divorced by God's decree since the days of Melchizedek,
stood by his altar offering incense to the golden calf, Baal.
The prophet cried out against the altar, and uttered one of
those singular prophecies, over Avhich unbelievers have thought
fit to distress themselves — as in the case of the prophecy about
Cyrus — calling a man by name long before he and his parents are
born. The prophet named Josiah, who was croAvned king some
three hundred years later. A very hard thing in man's view —
nothing to Him before Avhom thousands of ages are a little
space. The nameless prophet cried and said : " O altar, altar ! Thus

352 JEROBOAM.
saith the Lord, Behold a child shall be born unto the house of
David, Josiah by name ; and upon thee shall he offer the priests
of the high places that burn incense on thee, and men's bones
shall be burnt on thee."
He paused. It would be easy for an enthusiast from Judah to
speak thus, these idolaters might think, they must have a sign ; there
fore, the poAver of Jehovah over their altar must be evidenced.
The man of God held out his hand. " Behold, this is the sign
which the Lord hath spoken ; behold the altar shall be rent, and
the ashes that are upon it poured out."
The Avrath of the interrupted king and idolater rose high at
these words; stretching forth his arm in command, he cried:
" Lay hold on him ! " But as the royal guards sprang to obey,
the king's arm withered and stiffened, still held out in an attitude
of defiance; and "he could not pull it in to him again." At the
same moment the altar was rent, and brands and sacrificial ashes
Avere scattered far and near upon the ground.
The life of Jeroboam was full of telling situations ; this was
one of them. The only man who could heal his paralyzed arm
was now roughly held in custody by the guards.
Jeroboam need not entreat a god who could not save his own
altar ; here was a man stronger than Baal, and he was forced to
humiliate himself before him.
When his hand is restored, something of the old time, free and
easy, soldier disposition of Jeroboam flashes out ; he forgets anger
in gratitude, and he invited the man of God to his palace, pro
mising refreshments and a reward.
Not only the prophecy, but the sudden and violent death of
the prophet, would have been calculated to arrest most men in an
evil course ; but the record of Jeroboam is that he went on in sin,
and to his inaugurating the worship of Baal, and intercalating
feasts, he added the crime of taking vile persons and consecrating

o-

:-,}

P =3

JEROBOAM. 353
them for priests. Thus as king, he made himself the absolute
head of this idolatry, assigning the object of worship; establishing
the festivals ; offering sacrifice ; and elevating to the priestly office
Avhomsoever he Avould.
Jeroboam was by no means at rest in his kingdom ; for between
himself and Judah there Avas constant disturbance, probably a
sort of guerilla Avarfare, as Ave read of no pitched battles during
Rehoboam's life ; unless Jeroboam aided his old friend Shishak.
Hearts which may not be reached by the prophecy of a coming
evil, are sometimes softened by a present sorrow.
Jeroboam seemed to have in his life almost every opportunity;
every variety of training, "but was nothing made better, and
only grew worse."
The king had established for himself a dwelling in Tirzah, a
place long famous for its beauty. Solomon remembers it in his
Song, " Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah ! "
The city stood to the north of Mount Ebal, in the midst of
sheltering olive groves. Here the queen and her children lived,
and this suggests one virtue which Ave may remark in Jeroboam.
Despite the example of the kings of Judah, of David and Solo
mon ; and despite his OAvn reckless nature, Jeroboam seems in all
his life to have retained a sturdy matrimonial virtue. We read
of no harem and no concubines, but we haA7e instead the touching
story of these two royal parents, anxious and weeping at the
bedside of their first-born son, the gracious Abijah. The heir
AA7as better than his parents. Perhaps his grandmother, Zeruah,
Avas a godly woman, and had trained him in holiness ; perhaps
Ahijah, the Shilonite, had prayed for him and instructed him.
God Avas remembering the pious prince, and Avas calling him from
the evil to come. The father and mother cannot give him up,
and Jeroboam, in his anguish, remembers that noble old man,
Ahijah, who foretold for him the kingdom. He hopes that, as
23

S54 " JEROBOAM.
once before, some good word will come from the prophet. He
forgets that he has' despised warnings and advice, and has done
all those evil deeds Avhich must inevitably draAV down on him a
curse. Perhaps he thinks that the pitying prophet will intercede
for that beloved child's life.
In their hour of distress, how often do wicked men seek refuge
in the piety of some one whom in prosperity they have neglected,
and Avhose Christianity they have despised.
Disguised, sorrowing, reluctant to be one moment absent from
her sick son, yet hoping much from her embassage, and anon
fearing much, as she remembers their ill desert, the wife of Jero
boam reaches Ahijah and receives heavy tidings. The blind
prophet sets before her all the sin of her godless household. She
has called to her mind the abundant mercy of God, who exalted
Jeroboam from the midst of the people to be a king ; an example
Avas furnished him, which he would not follow. The exceeding
iniquity of Jeroboam is set forth, then vengeance is denounced
against him and his family until " all be gone." Violent deaths,
dishonored corpses, bleaching skeletons in street and plain ; these
pass before the hapless Avoman, as if the prophet's Avords were some
hideous panorama. Yet more, the fate of all Israel, the apostate
people, is shown the queen ; and then she hears the fatal words :
" Arise thou therefore, and get thee to thine own house ; and when
thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die."
We can imagine that mother's A\roe ; she was not to close her
child's eyes ; never to see him in life again. With her every home-
Avard step, there was for him one pulse beat less, one shortening
breath ; and as she entered Tirzah's gate, the child gave up his
spirit, the one saved soul in the house of Jeroboam.
A man can never sin for himself alone ; like Jeroboam, he causes
the death of his children, the anguish of his wife, the destruction
of all connected Avith him, or dependent upon him.

JEROBOAM. . 355
In the eighteenth year of Jeroboam, Abijah, the son of Reho
boam, being king of Judah, attacked him as a rebel. The fate of
battle Avas against the worshipper of Baal ; Jeroboam lost all the
flower of his army, fled ignominiously, and was forced to yield
several cities to his conqueror, among them Bethel, the high place.
In four years more he died : " Struck by the Lord ; " died a hope
less death, leaving Nadab, his son, a vile idolater, to hold the
kingdom for two hapless years, which should end with his assassi
nation. " For I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the
iniquities of the fathers upon the children, to the third and fourth
generation of them that hate me."
Jeroboam exhibits the heart left to ite own devices. " Thou
shalt reign according to all that thine heart desireth," was said to
him, and his first acts Avere rebellion against God, and idolatry.
Paul, in Romans, teaches us that the idea of one Supreme Being
is implanted in every soul. The pagans know in their hearts that
there is but one God. This knowledge does no good unless the
man has a holy belief in the God whom he knows.
Man is a religious being by nature, at the same time he is a
fallen and sinful being ; he is averse from God, and as his nature
impels him to have some sort of religion, he betakes himself to
idolatry, lifting up the creations of his own imagination, or the
forms of nature, betAveen himself and the God whom he both fears
and hates. " He invented idolatry," says Professor Shedd, " and
all those gay religions full of pomp and gold, in order to blunt
the edge of his sharp spiritual conception of God, which was
continually cutting and lacerating his sensual heart."
And no one need wonder that races of men developed idolatry
so soon, for even now we see in one short human life space for
the innocent, religious, tender-hearted child, to become the bold
unbeliever, mocking at judgment and the future doom ; declaring
Nature to be God, and himself her prophet. " Man," says Pro-

356 JEROBOAM.
fessor Shedd, " so distorts and suppresses the consecrated idea of
the Deity, that some speculatists assert that it does not belong
to his constitution ! "
Other speculatists assert what is equally abhorrent to religious
common sense, namely, that a knoAvledge of God, of immortal
life, of right and wrong, of the necessity and manner of salvation,
Avas gradually developed in the human soul. All history teaches
the ingenuous mind that the only religion the human soul can
develop is idolatry. Whatever is better than that comes from
Heaven, by direct revelation. As man cannot invent for the One
God a name which He will accept, so he cannot develop a plan of
salvation, or religious belief which He will accept. Those who
do not believe that God in the very beginning of man's life
upon earth preached to him a full gospel, must believe that the
terms of salvation are not the same for all men ; that God varies the
terms of his salvation to suit the changeful eras of this lower world.
Or, they must believe that up to a certain point in religious de
velopment very many generations were irretrievably lost, because
they had not developed far enough. Accepting neither of these
theories, they are forced to a third, that is, that the religious
knoAvledge at which men have noAV arrived is redundant ; very much
more than is needful to everlasting safety ; that a small part of
what he knows as truth will be enough to save him ; and of this
part, our religious development men seem to think that every
individual may select for himself what he shall intellectually
believe, and what he shall rest upon as a means of salvation.
Not so ; in the first hour of our danger and exile, God made
knoAvn salvation through a Redeemer ; through Divinity in flesh ;
to him a line of believers looked as the Coming One for four
thousand years until he came. They were enabled to hold fast
their faith, only by the influence of the Ploly Spirit. Whom the
Spirit did not thus instruct, fell into idolatry ; first a monotheistic

JEROBOAM. 357
idolatry, then polytheism, until their monstrous pantheon made
each soul a Gehenna.
For almost two thousand years, the pilgrim church, journeying
worn and travel-stained down the ages, has carried the memory
of her Lord, the God-man, died, risen and ascended ; and yet, as
in her earliest days, looks with longing eyes for her Coming One,
who shall return to her in power, and bring her to Himself.

XVII.
JEZEBEL AND HER DAUGHTER.
THE STATUS OF WOMAN WITHOUT RELIGION.

fIFTY years after the death of Hiram, king of Tyre, the
friend of Solomon, Eth-baal, the father of Queen Jezebel,
reached the Tyrian throne, by the murder of Phelis. Eth-
baal was one of the most depraved of Phoenician sovereigns.
The friendship of David and Solomon, the close intimacy Avith the
Jews, and the diffusion of Jewish knowledge and religious light, had
done much to modify and purify the belief and customs of the
Tyrians. In the half century that had passed since those happy days, vice
and idolatry had more and more abounded, and the iniquities of
the Zidonians culminated, when Eth-baal, the chief priest of As-
tarte, the Phoenician Venus, became unlimited monarch. Eth-
baal had reigned for twenty years, when Ahab, son of Omri, be
came seventh king of Israel. Weak and wicked, not Avithout
some good impulses, the slave of his OAvn desires, and the tool of
whoever of those near him was strongest, Ahab lives in history to
show us, that weakness is often the worst kind of wickedness.
The capital of Israel Avas now Samaria, a city built on a hill by
Ahab's father, Omri. For six years, Omri lavished all his
wealth and ingenuity upon this city, and, thus suddenly grown up
into magnificence, it became a capital sadly famous in Syrian his
tory. Ahab, from his childhood, Avas accustomed to the idolatry
358

JEZEBEL AND HER DAUGHTER. 359
instituted by Jeroboam, the Avorship ofthe golden calf. This calf
Avas undoubtedly Osiris or Bel, but it represented the earliest
and simplest form of idolatry, a monotheism ; with this calf-wor
ship Avere entAvined many Jewish ideas, and it was iii Israel, until
Ahab's day, divested of the shocking rites and additions which it
had already gained in Chaldea, Phoenicia, and Egypt.
Into this calf-Avorship Ahab entered cordially, because other
people did. But he Avas soon to exceed in wickedness and idolatry
all Avho had been before him.
His first care AA7as to strengthen his position by an alliance with
some poAverful nation. This Avas the more needful, as the rival
kingdom of Judah was ruled by Asa, whose " heart Avas perfect
Avith God all his days," and Avhose government was strong, flourish
ing and peaceful.
At this time, there was in the court of Eth-baal, his eldest
daughter, a princess noted for wit, bravery, and beauty, Jezebel.
The Biblical account of Jezebel is confirmed by Menander, the
Tyrian historian. The only exception which can be taken to the
Scriptural narrative by the captious is, that Eth-baal is called king
of the Zidonians. It must be remembered that this name, Zido-
nians, Avas the generic term applied by the Jews to all Phoenicians,
and that now the poAver of Zidon was waning in the greater glory
of imperial Tyre, as the morning star pales its " ineffectual fires"
before the rising sun.
Born after her father became a king, Jezebel had been reared in
luxury, and from her earliest years the priestly office of her
parent had drawn her passionate spirit toAvard the Avorship of his
gods. The Tyrians Avere a luxurious and culti\'ated people; the
early life of Jezebel Avas one gorgeous pageant. She dwelt among
those " princes of the sea," who sat on thrones Avearing " broiclered
garments;" accompanied by a chorus of singing maidens, Avho
kept time to the oars of the roAvers, she floated about the harbors

360 JEZEBEL AND HER DAUGHTER.
of Tyre, in one of those gorgeous galleys, Avhich Ezekiel de
scribes, which spread forth embroidered linen from Egypt for their
sails, from Avhich floated upon the waves blue and purple drape
ries, brought from distant isles; Avhose benches Avere carved ivory,
whose boards and masts Avere cedar.
The princess walked- through the city ; lo, here were the busy
fairs, where men traded in all manner of riches, " brass, silver, tin,
ivory, ebony, horses, emeralds, linen, coral, agate." She saAV the
men of Arvad set in Avatch upon the Avails, their glittering armor
gleaming against the back-ground of sky or sea. From tower to
tower called the Gammedim night and day, and their shields
covered the walls. Ambassadors, seeking the royal city, brought
gifts to the princess of the house; and, among the rest, came sons
of Israel, Avith presents and soft words, to seek a queen.
It Avas better, thought the ambitious Jezebel, to be a queen in
Samaria, than a princess in Tyre. Therefore she went forth in
glorious state, a proud, resolute, unscrupulous girl, to begin a
career of crime; to immortalize herself in vice.
Over swelling hills, through fertile valleys, across broad floAver-
streAvn plains, swept the royal cortege, the princess and her escort,
the trains of servants; the camels and mules laden Avith the
bride's treasures ; the shoAvy groups of dancing Avomen ; and among
all, conspicuous in their sacred garments, Avith cruel, sensual,
dark faces, the priests of Baal and Astarte, Avhom the Avicked and
fanatic princess took with her to increase the corruption of her
future subjects. Through the fertile territories of Asher, yielding
fruit and corn ; across the fields of Zebulon ; among the vineyards
and olive groves of Manasseh, and into the domains of luxurious
Ephraim, the seat of the kingdom, Avent Jezebel. From Samaria
Ahab came forth to meet her in a procession, Avhere music and
eongs and flowers expressed the Avelcome of the stranger queen.
From that moment of meeting, the yielding and sensuous

JEZEBEL AND HER DAUGHTER. 361
Ahab resigned himself to the dominion of his audacious, self-
reliant, cruel Avife. Daughter of a royal priest, and wife and
mother of kings whom she ruled, Jezebel was the Catherine de
Medicis of ancient days.
Her entrance into Samaria AA7as a turning-point in the history
of Israel. Her husband was a puppet in her hands ; her reck
less licentiousness spread a torrent of vice over the land. This
Oriental queen, shameless as the goddess Astarte, was stern and
strong as Bel himself; her fierce, masculine nature kneAV no
thought of pity, no softening hours ; her rage blazed up into those
fearful vows, by which the Shemitic leaders have become so terri
ble. From this Avonian, wild, gaudy, luxurious, fearless, fierce
and conscience-seared, all the Clytemnestras, Bloody Marys,
Lady Macbeths, and Cleopatras, of history have caught their
tone. Almost the first act of Jezebel in Samaria was to remodel the
religion of the state. The more morally depraved an idolater is,
Avhether that idolater is a South Sea Islander, a Hindoo, a Ro
manist, or a Mammon worshipper, the more zealous does he be
come in his idolatry, because thus he best can Iicav and hammer
every tracery of God out of his soul. Professor Shedd, speaking
of pagans, says, "The contrast between the Divine purity, and the
sinfulness that was Avrought in their heart and Avill, rendered this
constitutional, inborn idea of God a very painful one."
Immediately after the arrival of Jezebel, Ahab built in Samaria
a temple to Baal, after the fashion of the one in Tyre, where his
father-in-laAV Avas priest. Here Baal was Avorshipped Avith all the
ceremonies of those gross conceptions which had struggled forth
from the perverted original idea of God. Besides this temple of
Baal, Ahab " made a grove ;" that is, an oracular grove to As
tarte, Avhere her image Avas set up.
So infatuated was the queen with her idolatry, and so imbued

362 JEZEBEL AND HER DAUGHTER.
with the Phoenician ideas of splendor in worship, that she enter
tained at her own table as part of her household, four hundred
and fifty priests of Baal and four hundred of Ashtaroth.
" With these came they, who from the bordering flood
Of old Euphrates to the brook that parts
Egypt from Syrian ground, had general names
Of Baalim and Ashtaroth.
For those the race ol Israel oft forsook
Their Living Strength, and unfrequented left
His righteous' altar, bowing lowly down
To bestial gods. With these, in troop
Came Ashtaroth, whom the Phoenicians call'd
Astarte, queen o! Heaven, with crescent horns ;
To whose bright image, nightly by the moon,
Sidonian virgins paid their vows and songs."
For these idolatries, the historian thus sums up the ways of
Ahab : " And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for
him to Avalk in the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, that he
took to wife Jezebel, the daughter of Eth-baal, king of the Zido-
nians, and Aventand served Baal, and Avorshipped him."
" And Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to
anger than all the kings of Israel that Avere before him."
" But there was none like unto Ahab, Avhich did sell himself to
work Avickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife
stirred up."
Three children of Ahab and Jezebel are mentioned in Scrip
ture; Ahaziah, Jehoram, and Athaliah. Children, who were Aveak
as their father, cruel and Avicked as their mother.
While Samaria Avas the seat of Government and the headquarters
of idolatry, Ahab's favorite residence was Jezreel. Here the
royal family made their abode; here the three unhappy children
of godless parents passed their early and only peaceful years.
Ahab had a taste for splendid architecture, and though he

JEZEBEL AND HER DAUGHTER. 363
built several cities, palaces and temples, he exhibited his
proclivities principally in Jezreel. This beautiful city stood in
the plain of Esdraelon; and, as palace, tower, park, seraglio, and
pleasure-garden rose to ornament it, it became the Versailles of
Israel. One man, one character alone, made the reign of Ahab note
worthy. But for this solitary name, the reign and doings of Ahab
and Jezebel Avould have been Avritten most probably in a single
sentence. When the land AA7as overspread Avith the abominations
of Phoenician Avorship, a man hated by Ahab and Jezebel above
all others appeared upon the scene — the Prophet Elijah. He
denounced a famine as the punishment of sins against the Lord
of earth and heaven, and for three veais and six months neither
rain nor deAV fell from the pitiless sky. Josephus tells us that
this famine spread far beyond the confines of Israel. The Bible
story refers to it as impoverishing Zidon, Avhere, in Sarepta, Eli
jah took refuge. Menander also mentions a terrible drought
during the reign of Eth-baal. Perchance Avherever Baal and
Astarte were Avorshipped this dearth prevailed.
Three years of poverty and suffering broke the rebellious spirits
ofthe children of Israel ; their neAV gods Avere impotent, they re
membered Him Avho had threatened famine as the penalty of de
parture from him. The king also began to tremble; he kneAV the
holy worship that prevailed in Judah ; he had heard the traditions
of the people Israel ; his kingdom Avas soavii with monuments of
the power and glory of the Eternal. Being a rational intelli
gence, unable to unmake himself, " he could not unmould his im
mortal essence, and eradicate all his moral ideas." He feared the
One God, and he feared his Prophet. Therefore, Avhen, myste
riously as he had appeared and disappeared, Elijah came again,
Ahab, at his command, and at the glad promise of rain, gathered
together the priests of Baal and Astarte, to contend Avith the Lord

364 JEZEBEL AND HER DAUGHTER.
on Carmel. In his call, Elijah mentions eight hundred and fifty
false prophets ; again he appeals to Israel that he stands alone
against four hundred and fifty.
There Avere hundreds of thousands in the cities and tribes of
Judah ; among them all were only seven thousand Avho had not
boAved the knee to Baal.
Ahab collected priests and people for a grand trial of strength
betAveen God and Baal. The nation looked on to see fair play,
caring very little Avho Avas victor. They feared Elijah because
they had felt the Aveight of his prophecy ; they have forsaken
Jehovah, and Baal has deceived them ; with true Eastern indif
ference they are ready to shout for the strongest, without a care
which that may be.
Meantime, Ahab, rejoicing in hope of rain, and in the prospec
tive safety of his mules and horses, established for himself a pa A7i-
lion, and got ready for a feast Avith a feAV chosen friends. He was
an easy-going man ; he dared not kill Elijah, though he hated
him; the eight hundred and fifty prophets were more expensive
and less profitable than horses or architecture; let Jezebel look
after her favorite Avorship ; if Baal Avent noAV into ignominious
obscurity, the golden calf at Dan Avas left to Ahab still.
Meantime, Jezebel, sixteen miles off, in the seraglio in Jezreel,
is unconscious of the danger of her prophets. Perhaps she may
be marking, with ambitious pride, the child Athaliah, and already
forecasting a royal alliance for her.
The dread day Avears to evening. Baal's sacrifice is uncon-
sunied. The sun god has sent no kindling ray upon his altar,
but, leaping from heaven, celestial fire has devoured on Jehovah's
shrine, sacrifice, wood, stones, and Avater in the trench, and the
admiring people have sent up a great shout, " The Lord, he is
God ! "
It is the death-knell of Baal's prophets. Ahab is feasting,

JEZEBEL AND HER DAUGHTER. 365
drinking and singing, careless of their fate ; Jezebel is painting
her face aud tiring her head in Jezreel. The excited people hem
them in like a wall of fire, and strong arms deal death, until
Kishon runs red with blood, and, as in Deborah's time, the ene
mies of the Lord are swept away by " that mighty river, the river
of Kishon."
Night Avas falling Avhen Ahab reached home : he had bad neA\-s
to tell, and might as Avell be done with it. He Avent to his Avife's
apartment; perhaps she sat before a mirror, adorning herself with
jewels Avhich were to snare somebody's soul. He told her the
prophets AA'ere slain. It was Elijah's Avork; he, Ahab, had had
nothing to do Avith it; no, he was feasting in the joy of his heart
for coming rain, and eA'en now the sound of the rushing wind,
the SAvirling of the rain against the casement, and the thought
that the hea\-en Avas black with Avater-freighted clouds, drove
from him the agonies and despair and death-shrieks of the pro
phets of his gods.
Jezebel thought of her priests rather than of the end of the
famine. She turned in a fury from Ahab, and summoned a fleet
messeno-er. She took one of the terrific oaths scattered through
history : "So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not
thy life as the life of one of them [the prophet-] by to-morroAV
about this time." This was her message to Elijah, and we are
simply left to wonder why she informed him of her intention,
and whv she did not commission the messenger to kill instead of
threaten her enemy.
The next revelation of Jezebel's character which comes to us,
is in the famous history of Naboth's vineyard. Here the weak
ness of the king, and the wickedness of his wife, are especially ap
parent. Denied the vineyard which he covets, Ahab throws
himself on his couch, and refuses to eat. News of this umvonted
dejection goes to Jezebel, and forthwith she marches to his apart-

366 JEZEBEL AND HER DAUGHTER.
ment and demands the reason. As he unfolds it, the proud
Tyrian listens with unmitigated scorn. She looks on Ahab as a
Aveak boy, idly fretting for an advantage which he should boldly
grasp. With lofty irony she asks him, " Dost thou noAV govern the
kingdom of Israel ? " Her idea of government is, that it is for
the benefit of rulers and not of the ruled. She believes in no
limitations of power : kingcraft to her means despotism over body
and soul. " Arise ; eat thy bread, and let thy heart be merry : I
will giA'e thee the vineyard of Naboth."
Here Ave see what is often remarked, that while a bad man may
find some bounds to his wickedness, a thoroughly bad woman dares
everything, and will scale the very heights of heaven to compass
her designs, like " Moloch, sceptred king," —
"No, let us rather choose;
Arm'd with Hell flames and fury, all at once,
O'er Heaven's high towers to force resistless way."
Jezebel broke every commandment ofthe moral law, command
ments not written on the sapphire tables alone, but on the fleshly
tablets of the heart, just as remorselessly as she broke off the
scarlet clusters of pomegranate flowers to deck the flowing masses
of her hair.
In this matter of Naboth, she shows her unscrupulousness.
She Avants a vineyard, and the easiest way to get it is to murder the
OAvner. She will kill poor Naboth that Ahab's appetite may re
turn before he is hungry. Her power in the state is shown in the
forged letters and the possession of the king's signet-ring. Her
craft is seen in making use of Jewish laAV, a law which she de
spises, to obtain her end. She hates God, and Avould slay his
servant, one of those sacred seven thousand holy souls doubtless ;
and she does it under pretence of honoring God. Divided by ages

JEZEBEL AND HER DAUGHTER. 367
and by continents, this Jezebel must have been twin-soul to Ham
let's mother.
Now, when the evil deed is done, and Avord has come to Jezebel
that Naboth is dead, aud his lands are forfeited, without one
thought of remorse, the queen goes to Ahab elate, saying, " Arise,
take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, Avhich he
refused to give thee for money" — (alas ! poor Naboth, this Avasall
thy crime) — " for Naboth is not alive, but dead."
Ahab, hoAvever, is just as bad as his Avife. Too weak to exe
cute, too dull to plan, he yet takes adA7antage of all, and with
alaority rejoices in the spoils of sin. Ahab's joy was suddenly
turned to terror, for, as he Avalked exulting in the vineyard of
Naboth, Elijah, Avith his hairy garment and leathern girdle, ap
peared before him. The guilty king started back in mortal terror
— this prophet came and went like some angry phantom. Ahab
gasped : " Hast thou found me, O mine enemy ? "
" I have found thee ! " cried Elijah. " Him that dieth of
Ahab in the city, the dogs shall eat ; him that dieth in the field,
the fowls ofthe air shall eat ! "
No sooner Avas the curse pronounced, than Ahab humbled him
self; " he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth on his flesh, and
fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly."
Then the Lord spoke again to Elijah. " Seest thou how Ahab
humbleth himself before me? Because he humbleth himself I will
not bring the evil in his days."
This shows us that our merciful Father regards the prayers
and the repentance of wicked men ; and though their repentance
is not unto life, he removes from them judgments and saves them
out of trouble when they call on him.
From the slaughter of the wicked prophets at Kishon, the Avor
ship introduced by Jezebel had not recovered strength : the pre
sence of Elijah and his school of prophets, and the friendly inter-

368 JEZEBEL AND HER DAUGHTER.
course that Avas resumed with Judah, did much to check the
spread of gross forms of idolatry.
During Ahab's reign, Ben-hadad, king of Damascus, made tAvo
campaigns against Israel, and in each Avas defeated with great loss.
Three years after his last victory, Ahab and Jehoshaphat, the godly
king of Judah, entered into an alliance, and Jehoshaphat went in
state to Samaria to make a visit. Here he saAV his future daugh-
ter-in-laAv, the curse of Judah, the princess Athaliah, probably the
youngest of Ahab's children ; a Avoman, in boldness and Avicked-
ness, exactly like her infamous mother.
Jehoshaphat had a young son, Joram. This prince had already
been led astray by the Avorship of Baal, still practised in groves
and high places by many of the people. This Joram was proba
bly already married, and had a daughter, Jehosheba, who was
afterwards united to the Pligh Priest of the Temple. Jehoshaphat
had been prospered beyond any of his predecessors since the days
of Solomon ; his fear rested on all the nations about. Philistines
and Arabians brought him tribute ; his army AA7as Avell-equipped,
every soldier was " a man of valour." " He had riches and honor
in abundance." This made him a most desirable ally, and when
he went to Samaria, Ahab and Jezebel received him with every
mark of affection. They feasted Jehoshaphat and his followers,
killing "sheep and oxen in abundance," and consulted him on all
affairs of state. Jehoshaphat, in turn, AA7as very cordial; he most
likely informed Ahab of his plans for the future ; Iioav he should
richly endow his six younger sons, and establish each in a fenced
city, while the kingdom should be the portion of Joram.
All these plans were repeated in the apartments of the queen
Jezebel, in the ears of young Athaliah ; her daring mother sketched
for her a royal future. To be sure the way to it lay through
seas of blood, but Avhen did the house of Ahab shrink from that?
As Queen Catherine de Medicis planned, in secret conclave, the

JEZEBEL AND HER DAUGHTER. 369
slaughter of the Huguenots, years before it took place ; so did
Jezebel suggest those cold-blooded murders which should well
DO
ni°>h exterminate the roval familv of Judah.
Meanwhile the friendship of kings was cemented by marriage
betAveen their children. Jehoshaphat was to go to Avar Avith
ihab ao-ainst Benhadad, and Joram was to come to Samaria for
his bride Athaliah.
Very likely the wedding was among the festivities of Jehosha-
phat's greatly prolonged visit ; AA-hile the hum of Avarlike prepara
tions mingled with the songs and revelries of the marriage guests.
Joram and Athaliah going to Jerusalem, assumed royal state.
Joram AA'as, perhaps, regent during his father's absence, and for
aught Athaliah kneAV, her gracious father-in-laAV might be killed
in battle. The plan of the exchange of armour betAveen Ahab
and his ally, savors of the craft of Jezebel.
The war ended in disaster. As the fatal day closed in, Israel
was seen scattered like sheep without a shepherd, flying here and
there in panic. Judah had heard the proclamation : " Every
man to his OAvn country, and every man to his own house," and
gladly were they going homeward. Ahab, wounded unto death,
had stayed himself up in his chariot Avith grim resolution,
Avhile from between the treacherous joints in his borrowed armor
the blood ran doAvn into the floor of the chariot — an ominous
pool. " Turn thine hand," faltered the dying king, and the chariot
driver turned toward Samaria. The \-ictorious Syrians moved
before the king's failing sight, like the clouds in the sunset sky —
strange, airy forms ; faintly to his dull ears came the trumpet
notes, sounding retreat ; far off over the hills went ths hosts of
Judah, and he saw them dimly as trees walking. Long gone
scenes were before him ; — jocund youth ; his marriage day ; the
priests of Baal and Astarte, Avith their odious rites ; the weird
24

370 JEZEBEL AND HER DAUGHTER.
figure of Elijah foretelling doom; the stern fierce face of his
Phoenician queen ; his children, in their baby SAveetness, and in
their reckless, cruel youth. There Avould be no one to weep for
him. His strength groAvs less, the chill of death is on him, his
hand relaxes ite grasp on the chariot. The sun is going down,
and shoots a last level ray betAveen the sheltering hills, and across
the oval plain, in the midst of which rises the city, the nation's
watch tower. With a groan the king sinks down dead in his
bloody chariot, and on pressed the driver up the steep ascent, and
calling the servants of his lord, they carry in dead Ahab, and lay
him at the feet of Jezebel.
While they buried Ahab, and proclaimed Ahaziah, Jehoshaphat
had reached his own kingdom, and was met by the prophet Jehu,
Avith the close question : " Shouldst thou help the ungodly, and
love them that hate the Lord ? "
This is a question which Christians should lay to heart. He
who loves the Lord should never ally himself in any manner with
the foes of his Master.
The seer's question referred to the late marriage as Avell as to
the battle. The question stirred up the king to renewed zeal for
his God ; but while he did much for the conversion of the nation,
he could do nothing for Joram and Athaliah ; for already, as her
mother before her, Athaliah had gained unbounded influence over
her husband, and Avas, following still the maternal example, " his
counsellor to do wickedly."
Meantime Jezebel, as queen-mother, had lost none of her pres
tige. Her Aveak-minded son yielded even more completely to
her dominion than his father had done. He was a worshipper
of his mother's gods ; base, cowardly, superstitious.
Only two years of reign were allowed him; having fallen
through a lattice, he became very ill, and in his extremity finding
his own gods did not restore him, he sent to ask aid of Baalzebub,

JEZEBEL AND HER DAUGHTER. 371
god of Ekron. Like his father, he was met by a prophecy of
evil froih Elijah, the ordained opponent of his house, and in a few
days died, leaving the kingdom to his brother, so that Jezebel was
still queen-mother, "first lady ofthe kingdom."
Jezebel maintained close and dangerous intercourse with her
daughter Athaliah ; she had exulted in the birth of Athaliah's son,
glad that descendant of her own should lord it over Judah.
The kingdoms of Judah and Israel were now cursed by the
SAvay of Jezebel and Athaliah, ruling through the yielding son and
husband. The worship of God languished; idolatry lifted its
head ; famines and pestilences Avalked abroad ; Avars and rebel
lions were on every hand ; poverty, anxiety, secret hate, and open
vice, made either kingdom a gate of Gehenna.
At this time Jehu, the avenger upon the house of Ahab, Avas
anointed king. Jezebel had now been a widoAV, reigning through
her sons for fourteen years. Her son Joram being wounded in
battle by the king of Syria, had gone to his mother, at beautiful
Jezreel, to be healed. Ahaziah, the son of Athaliah, went doAvn
to Jezreel to visit his wounded uncle, and his royal grandmother.
He left Athaliah, his mother, as queen-regent at Jerusalem ; for
Avithin the year Joram, her husband, had died of a horrible dis
ease, sent as a curse upon him by the Lord. After two years of
sore sufferings, the unhappy king died, and was denied a royal
burial. He was hastily entombed near Jerusalem, but not among
his kingly ancestors, and Athaliah found herself one step nearer
the throne. She sought to be absolute monarch in name as well
as in power. When her son Ahaziah left her, to go on a visit to
his like-minded relations, Athaliah, accorded regal honors, and
holding the helm of state, fouud how good a thing it is to reign !
She Avas served not by love, but by fear; the eyes of her subjects
glared hate upon her. They saw her white hands ever red with
blood. Who but Athaliah had counselled the cruel murder of

372 JEZEBEL AND HER DAUGHTER.
those six princely sons of Jehoshaphat, and their friends among
the princes of Judah ?
For this hate, so long as she could curb it with a strong hand,
Athaliah cared not; she held levees, and sat in judgment, and
betimes walked through the places, and so walking heard her
grandchildren shouting at their play. They Avere young children
all, but their baby laughter woke no tender womanly feelings in
Athaliah's bosom ; she hated them every one, because out of them
should come a king for Judah, and then some stranger would fill
her place, as queen-mother.
At Jezreel, Joram, son of Jezebel, was recoA7ering, and was
entertaining right royally his guest and nepheAV, when Jehu,
driving furiously, with his army at his back, Avas spied, by the
Avatchman on the toAver of Jezreel, sweeping, like a war cloud,
across the plain.
Surmising evil, Joram sent forth two messengers to demand the
cause of Jehu's coming; each went over to the enemy. The
tAvo kings of Israel and Judah then each made ready his chariot,
and Avith a small retinue Avent out to overaAve the rebel captain.
Face to face were they placed, Joram and Jehu, each standing
in his chariot.
" Is it peace, Jehu ? " falters the monarch, made a catiff by the
burden of his crimes.
"What peace," thunders Jehu, "so long as the Avhoredoms
of thy mother Jezebel and her Avitchcrafts are so many ? "
At these bold Avords Ahaziah and Joram turned to fly. They
Avere in the bloom-lined Avay along the royal gardens of Jezreel,
the fatal plot of ground for which Jezebel had murdered Naboth.
Jehu, the mighty captain, draAving his boAv Avith his full
strength, shot an arroAV at Joram, Avhich entering , between his
shoulders Avent out through his heart. The king fell dead, and
his chariot stopped.

JEZEBEL AND HER DAUGHTER. 373
"Bidkar," said Jehu to his chariot driver, "take him up and
cast him into the portion of Naboth, the Jezreelite ; for remember
Iioav that Avhen thou and I rode together after Ahab, his father,
the Lord laid this burden on him."
But Jehu could not' forget that the accursed blood of Jezebel
ran in the veins of Ahaziah, of Judah; therefore, he pursued him
flying, and dealt him his death bloAV at Gur. His servants
carried him to Megiddo, and there he died.
Passing through the country to establish himself in his neAV
kingdom, Jehu entered Jezreel.
This was one of the chief places of the kingdom ; here Ahab
had built his ivory palace, and here Jezebel maintained the
temple of Astarte. The palace Avas on the eastern side of the city,
and the tOAver ofthe seraglio was at the gate of entrance.
Jezebel kneAV that as queen-mother, the most eminent person
age in the land, she Avas the especial mark for the vengeance' of
Jehu ; she resolved to brave danger, and to make a last effort to
maintain her power. If she must now die, she would die royally ;
she would face her destroyer as became a Tyrian queen.
Still there Avas for her one last hope ; to establish himself more
firmly, Jehu, according to eastern usage, might take her for his
Avife, especially if she could Avin his admiration. Jezebel was
beneath or above the refinement of hesitating to marry the mur
derer of her son !
She had but little expectation of this however, and with iron
resolution decked herself to meet a probable death. She painted
her eye-lids Avith antimony; put false bloom upon her pallid cheeks ;
braided her dark locks as in her younger days of pride, and
crowned herself with a regal diadem; on neck and arms and
hands, she put jewels of the costliest work of Tyre ; her robes
were of blue and purple, from far-off isles ; the embroidered linen
of Egypt, the Avoven gold of Damascus; in all her glory, the

374 JEZEBEL AND HER DAUGHTER.
ancient princess stood the rival of her own dauntless, brilliant and
most wicked youth.
Like Cleopatra, she Avould cry, —
" Give me my robe ; put on my crown ; I have
Immortal longings in me—
I am fire and air, my other elements
I give to baser life."
Jezebel was not unversed in the history of her adopted land.
She knew how to taunt, and she called to mind the story of
Zimri, Avho usurped the throne, and reigned but seven days.
As the chariot of Jehu rolled in at the city gate, folloAved by a
great train of friends, the crowned and painted " descendant of so
many kings "leaned from the window of the seraglio tower and
called to him : "Had Zimri peace, who slew his master?"
Behind her at the Avindow gathered her eunuchs, and court
ladies. Jehu looked up, undazzled by the brilliant decorations
of the idolatress whom his soul loathed, and cried, " Who is on
my side. Who ? "
Several eunuchs behind Jezebel made signs to him.
" Throw her down," said Jehu, bluntly. And they flung the
queen from the tower. She fell directly before the foaming and
champing horses of Jehu's chariot ; her blood flying up over the
wall, and over the gaily caparisoned steeds, as they trampled her
under feet, and the heavy wheels rolled over her, crushing costly
robes, and jeAvels, shapely limbs and face of mocking beauty, into
an indistinguishable mass.
When Jehu had feasted, he remembered his last victim. He
called his servants, saying : " Go see now this cursed woman and
bury her, for she is a king's daughter."
But Jezebel was to have no burial. "Dogs shall eat Jezebel
in the portion of Jezreel," had been the word of Elijah, and now
it was fulfilled ; for while Jehu ate and drank in the ivory house,

JEZEBEL AND HER DAUGHTER. 375
the dogs of Samaria devoured the flesh and even the bones of
Jezebel, daughter of Eth-baal, king of Tyre.
Athaliah, in her palace at Jerusalem, received the tidings of
the death of her mother, son, and brother, at the hands of Jehu.
The news was as a war cry to her. She was athirst for blood ;
mad for power.
BetAveen her and the crown were only the lives of some half
dozen or so of little children, a paltry consideration to Jezebel's
daughter. She has two enemies in the land that she knoAvs, the holy
high priest, Jehoiada, and Jehosheba, his wife, Athaliah's step
daughter. Piety in Judah is now at a discount ; Athaliah has
managed to trample out nearly every vestige of goodness or
patriotism ; she has been afraid to kill the high priest ; she has a
superstitious dread of him and of his God, so she lets him alone
in his house, while she calls guards as ferocious as herself, and
leads them into the harem nurseries to slaughter the innocents.
Poor babes, they are cursed for the drops of her blood in their
veins ; for the life tide of Jezebel, princess of Tyre !
We all know how Jehosheba was before the queen, hiding and
saving one little year old babe, her pretty half-brother, whose
young mother was Zibiah, a girl from Beersheba.
Athaliah has six years of triumph : six years of royalty
according to all that her heart desires ; pomp, luxury, debauchery,
idolatry. She has had Jezebel for her pattern and teacher, and
proves an apt scholar.
Six years she riots, and is fiercely glad, while all around her
the smothered hate of her subjects rages like fires in a volcano,
until the day of eruption — the day for the lava tide of wrath and
reprisals is come.
When that day came, a great, glad shout, and a wild clash of
music rent the air : a new sound in the miserable city. Another

376 JEZEBEL AND HER DAUGHTER.
cry, the acclaim of a neAV monarch ! Out of her palace, across
the court, rushed Athaliah, in her bedizened robes, in a towering
rage, ready to proclaim a hundred deaths, and fill the city with
rebel blood. The people stand about the Temple, they give her
way ; she enters the outer court, and is face to face with that calm
seven year old boy, who stands by a pillar with the crown of
Judah on his brows.
Athaliah is her mother's daughter ; she is Tyrian in face and
heart. The boy before her is a Jew ; Jehoshaphat and Zibiah are
copied in his features, where years after shall crop out a line or
tAvo of Jezebel.
" Treason ! Treason ! " cries Athaliah, rending her gold-sprin
kled garments. There has been a terrible treason years ago.
There is a long account of unavenged murders, brothers-in-law
and grandchildren, to be settled. They that use the sword must
perish by the SAVord. Therefore, they drag her forth into the
common way and dispatch her, and because she is ofthe blood of
Ahab and Jezebel, she may have no burial.
The earth is rid at last of Jezebel and her daughter. These
are women Avithout religion. Here are samples of womanhood
set free of God's laAvs and worship. For a woman to cut herself
loose from God is not for her to lose poAver ; no, but it is for her
to have and to Avield power like a devil. Eternal law places
woman by man's side. Is she godly, then she helps him on
toward Heaven ; is she godless, lo, she is " his counsellor to do
wickedly." Says a pleasant Avriter in a recent pamphlet : " I venture to
assert then that woman's social inferiority in the past has been, to
a great extent, a legitimate thing. To all appearance, history
would have been impossible Avithout it, just as it Avould without
an epoch of war and slavery. It is simply a matter of social pro
gress — a part of the succession of civilizations. The past has been

JEZEBEL AND HER DAUGHTER. 3/7
inevitably a period of ignorance, of engrossing physical necessi
ties, and of brute force — not of freedom, philanthropy and
culture." This is the statement of a fact. We can go back of the fact for
its reason. Why has an era of social bondage and of war been
necessary ?' Why has the past been an epoch of ignorance and
brute force ? Because humanity cut itself loose from God ; be
cause of irreligion ; because the impiety of the Cainitic and Harn-
itio races rose up like a flood, and carried aAvay purity and justice
and godliness, almost Avholly from the earth. Where impiety has
abounded, woman has been debased, has been made a bond-slave,
has been, too often, denied a soul.
But, say some, this was the fact even in the Shemitic line, in
the Hebrew nation ; Avhat Saxon woman now Avould Avish to ex
change her status for that of the Avomen of Palestine two thousand
years ago ? Now Ave think that under the Theocracy the position
of Avoman Avas very much more one of social and intellectual
equality than is generally conceded. Sarah, " my princess," and
Rebecca her daughter-in-laAv, seem to have had and used as many
rights and privileges as any one would desire.
Certain agitators of the present day Avould fancy they had
made a vast stride forward, if they could lift a woman into the
Presidential chair of the United States ; but, after all, they AA-ould
be no farther on in social progress than the year thirteen hundred
and tAventy before Christ, Avhen Deborah judged Israel. " Ruth
and Naomi could not read ! " cries Sylvain Marechal. We have
the same, no less and no more, reason for asserting that Boaz could
not read. The accomplishment was neither so needful nor so uni
versal in those days.
Mr. Gladstone, speaking on the Marriage Amendment Act,
says, " When the Gospel came into the world, woman was ele
vated to an equality with her stronger companion." This is the

378 JEZEBEL AND HER DAUGHTER.
spirit of the Gospel, but Avhile the spirit of the Gospel may be the
theory, it is not always the practice ofthe day. Let the Gospel be
in the heart as Avell as in the head, let Gospel intention mould the
letter and practice of laAV as Avell as sentimental discussion, and there
will need be no more outcry about disabilities.
Says Jean Paul : " Woman, both before and after being a mother,
is a human being, and neither the maternal nor conjugal relation
can supersede the human responsibility, but must become its means
and instrument," and the first grand aud chief demand in virtue of
this human responsibility, is godliness. A Avoman OAves it to her
self, to her sex, to the age in which she lives, to be religious. In
proportion as she is godly, she does her part toward solving that
knotty problem of the day, " What is woman's position, and what
her Avork ?"
In godless days and nations, where one Avoman toAvers high in
poAver, as did Semiramis, Jezebel, and Athaliah, her sisters lie in
abject misery and shame. This powerful and godless Avoman does
nothing to lift others up; her elevation is not the elevation of her
sex, of the human race, scarcely even of her own family, for god-
lessness is selfish, and neither Avorks nor hopes beyond its OAvn im
mediate advantage.
In a godless age, a woman may be seen, like one in France,
dragged about the streets in a chariot and worshipped as a god
dess, as a living impersonation of " Reason," so-called. But while
this is being done, before her eyes, one portion of her sisters are
led to the guillotine, and another, amid shame and slaughter in
the streets, are turned to fiends.
People prate to some extent about women's unsexing them
selves. Nothing so thoroughly unsexes a woman, so eradicates
her finest qualities, and destroys her claim to being respected, as
ungodliness. When the Countess of Richmond and Lady Bartlett were Jus-

JEZEBEL AND HER DAUGHTER. 379
tices of the Peace ; Avhen Mistress Rowse sat on the bench at as
sizes and quarter sessions gladio cinctqt, when Countess Pembroke
was hereditary Sheriff, and Christina was a queen, woman was
not so unsexed as by those against whom Isaiah cried, and has
kept on crying until to-day, " The daughters of Zion who are
haughty, and walk with stretched -forth necks and wanton eyes,
walking and mincing as they go ; " women devoted to " the
bravery of tinkling ornaments, — chains, bracelets and mufflers,
bonnets and ornaments, headbands, tablets and earrings ; change
able suits of apparel, mantles, wimples, and crisping pins."
Because of women like these, Israel was well-nigh destroyed;
Avhile the prophecy of Huldah moved the people and their king
to a new covenant with the Lord.
" Success silences." " There is nothing so successful as suc
cess." Those women who have conquered prejudice, Avho have
taken and have held a noble place in the world, who have truly
elevated Avomanhood, who have helped to bring woman back to
that moral, spiritual equality Avhich God gave her in the begin
ning, have been godly women. It is true, there have been very
great and shining lights in art, science, literature and civil govern
ment, among women Avho had genius without religion ; but their
work Avas for themselves, their renoAvn Avas their own ; they nei
ther taught nor helped other Avomen to be Avorthy of their creation.
This broad work has been left for godly women, has been often
pursued in such silence, that all we see of it is its result, as Ave
can trace some hidden stream by the lush verdure and beauty of
the meadow through Avhich itfloAvs.

XVII.
JONAH,
THE STUMBLING SAINT.

MONG those whom the Prince of Dreamers saAV going on
ij a pilgrimage, Avere Mr. Feeble Mind, and Mr. Ready to
A Halt, Avho limped along in company. Good people in
© the church have frequently found themselA7es unable to
compassionate their often-failing brothers ; but the patience of the
Lord is great, and he bears with those whom men would soon cast
out ; even sometimes choosing them to do for him an especial task.
The Lord does not always work with strong, bright, well-tempered
instruments. One of these timid, querulous, selfish brethren, Avas sent on an
important errand to Nineveh, and his name and character are pre
served for us in Scripture, not only because he is one of a numerous
class, but because in his history Ave ha%7e illustrated the singular
benevolence of God's dealings Avith men.
Children seize upon the story of Jonah, as a fragment of a
legalized fairy land ; he seems like a figure which has stepped
out of the Arabian Nights, with the added glory of having been a
real personage, and one whom they may read and speculate about
as much at they choose. ' To children of an older growth, like
himself, Jonah has furnished a curious study in mental philosophy,
his character is so full of contradictions; he is one moment absurd,
selfish, callous to human suffering, dastardly; and anon is honest,
380

JONAH. 381
fearless, and generous. HoAvever, on the Avhole, Jonah is a man
doomed to make a very unpleasant impression upon the Avorld at
large ; and will never become a hero, or a popular idol.
The history of Jonah is so unique, contains so many startling
revelations, and is so different from the ordinary progress of
human events, that many critics, Avho have set themselves up as
censors OA7er God's Avord, have been inclined to reject the whole or
a large part of the story as fable. Many of the German critics call
the supposed improbabilities of this narrative mere fictitious or
fanciful ornaments, as if God, in his Book, pandered to a de-
praA7ed human taste for the extravagant and impossible : others
claim that the unparalleled incidents related are simply allegorical,
or parabolical in origin and design.
We are prohibited any of these conclusions by the fact that
Scripture never beguiles its readers by offering a fable in the guise
of an absolute historical truth : and, moreover, by the express
words of our Saviour, Avho confirmed the most wonderful part of
the Prophet's experiences, and made them typical of himself. Of
this, Wordsworth says admirably : " Here is an observable instance
of the uses of the Gospel in confirming the Old Testament. By
this specimen of Divine exposition, our Lord suggests the belief
that whatever we may noAV find in the Old Testament difficult to
be understood, will one day be explained, and perhaps seen to be
prophetic and typical of the great mysteries of the gospel : and
that, in the meantime, it is an exercise of our faith, and a trial of
our humility, — a Divinely-appointed instrument of our moral
probation. And it is because they are strange and marvellous,
that such histories as those of Jonah and Balaam are the best tests
of our strength of faith."
Jonah was probably of the earlier prophets. He lived after
the reign of Jehu, and prophesied before or during the reign of
Jeroboam the second ; his date is most likely about eight hundred

382 JONAH.
and sixty before Christ. He Avas some three-quarters of a century
later than Homer and Hesiod, and perhaps a cotemporary of Dido,
the foundress and queen of Carthage.
Jonah was the son of Amittai, and his birth-place Avas Gathe-
pher, a town of Zebulon. The Territory of Zebulon bordered on
beautiful Lake Gennesaret, and Jonah's early years were spent in
scenes afterward made sacred by the presence of the Sou of Man,
as he lived in Nazareth, Capernaum, Cana and Nain.
The first prophetic mission of Jonah was congenial to one who
was by nature a time-server, and in whose bosom very much ofthe
old leaven of unrighteousness strove Avith in-dwelling grace. The
mission, moreover, would have been most pleasing to any patriotic
and benevolent soul, for he Avas to bear to Jeroboam Second the
word that God saw the loss and bitter affliction of Israel, and that
the people had no helper; therefore, lest the name of Israel be
blotted out, the Lord would return to them, and save them by the
hand of their king. Agreeably to this prophecy, the king Avas
enabled to reconquer the ancient territory ofthe nation, " from the
entering in of Hamath to the sea of the plain."
The great Avork of Jonah's life, however, Avas one against which
he rebelled with all his strength. He was no fiery, zealous Elijah,
his whole soul kindled into courage by his loA'e for his God. He
was no patient, earnest, unflinching Jeremiah, who would speak
his message, come Avhat might. He was only Jonah, who one
hour recognized the power and greatness of his God, and the next
believed that he could outwit him, or get beyond the reach of his
arm ; he was only Jonah, who felt as if his own pitiful life were
worth the lives of a hundred thousand of his felloAV men ; only
Jonah, Avho regarded his OAvn credit as a prophet beyond the
safety of souls ; only Jonah, whose weak vision full often could
reach no further than the narrowing horizon of this earthly life.
His errand was to Nineveh, " the bloody city," whose mer-

JONAH. 383
chants were "multiplied above the stars of heaven," whose
crowned ones were like the innumerable hosts of locusts, and
whose armed men were like grasshoppers for numberless myriads.
Nineveh, like Babylon, had been founded by Nimrod. That
mighty hunter, having established one city on the banks of the
Euphrates, went north some three hundred miles, and built Nine
veh on the Tigris. This city aftenvards became the great rival
of Babylon in wealth and splendor. As Babylon was the enemy
and the victor over Judah, Nineveh was the arrogant master of
Israel. Like Babylon, Nineveh was as notorious for wickedness as for
strength ; it matured earlier in power and in iniquity, accomplished
its race, and sank into so profound and starless a night, that for
twenty-five hundred years no eye of man rested on its buried idols
and palaces, and no stranger's foot disturbed the stillness of those
paved ways, where chariots once raged in the streets, where valiant
men walked in scarlet, where had sounded, day after day, " the
noise of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of wheels, and of
prancing horses, and of jumping chariots."
Among its sovereigns Nineveh numbered Sargon the cruel,
Shalmaneser the warlike, Sennacherib, and Sardanapalus the mag
nificent. According to the computation of Bonomi, the city Avas but nine
square miles in area less than Babylon, and was almost tAvice as
great in extent as London. Layard supposes it to have been an
oblong, thirty-four miles in its greatest diameter. Its ruins now
comprehend parks, temples, fortified enclosures, and stupendous
palaces, each of which was probably capable within itself of
sustaining a siege. The population of NineA7eh, in Jonah's day,
may be estimated by the fact that there were " more than sixty
thousand infants there, unable to distinguish betAveen their right
hand and their left."

384 JONAH.
The Avickedness of the " great city " had now come up before
God, and Jonah was commissioned to go and " cry against it."
On receiving this command, instead of preparing himself to
obey, Jonah began to consider what to do. He who hesitates is
lost. When we begin to bring up our own vie\A7s and preferences
against the performance of plain duty, Ave are on dangerous ground
indeed. Jonah had but one fault to find Avith his Divine Master, and
that was, that the Lord is " gracious and merciful, sIoav to auger,
and of great kindness, and repenteth ofthe evil." He had heard
this character of God from the days of Moses ; he had seen it ex
emplified in past history and in his OAvn day, and without pausing
to consider that to these very qualities of Omnipotence he owed
his life and whatever hopes he might have of the future, he began
to believe them very much in the way of his OAvn renown as a
prophet. The intense selfishness of Jonah is something wonderful to be
hold, even among selfish humanity. His pride had been greatly
gratified by the fulfilment of his prophecy concerning the con
quests and success of king Jeroboam Second. He now reasoned
concerning Nineveh, first that at his prediction the city would be
greatly alarmed; next, that fear Avould bring repentance, then
that repentance Avould obtain mercy from a gracious God, and
that consequently Nineveh would be saved in spite of his pro
phecy. This, one would suppose, a consummation devoutly to be hoped
for ; but not so. To go and prophesy destruction upon the invin
cible city ; to wait and behold the ruin ; to return home while
every ear was tingling, and every heart was quailing at the tre
mendous judgment announced by his mouth, Avould be a mission
worthy of Jonah's powers ; but to be the means of the repentance
of Nineveh, and a lengthening out of the probation of that city ;

JONAH. 385
to be the instrument of mercy rather than of Avrath, was a degra
dation in Jonah's eyes. Go to Nineveh and stultify his OAvn
predictions? Not he. He did not object to travelling, and he
meant to get himself out of reach of his Master as soon as possible;
one thing was certain, he would not go towards the Tigris.
In Jonah Avas very largely developed that characteristic of the
Jewish nation — exclusiveness. The JeAV claimed salvation as his
right; the favor of God Avas one of his hereditaments. He con
sidered it beneath the dignity of Almighty God to be interested
in any creature save an Israelite. The farther the nation fell from
its high estate, the more widely it departed from God, the more
paramount became ite contemptuous hate for other nationalities.
Abraham, the father of Avhom they boasted, Avas a shining exam
ple of religious brotherhood ; he had Abimelech and Ephron and
Melchizedek for his friends; his descendants became narrower in
their vieAvs as they became less spiritual in their experiences.
Never AA'as there a narrower- minded saint than Jonah ; he preferred
death rather than being the instrument of salvation to Nineveh.
He would, if possible, have forbade the sun to light or rain to
refresh a Gentile, and he meant to do his part to keep the sun of
Divine truth and the reviving of Divine grace from the aliens
from Jacob. Just here he was to learn his lesson, God's father-
hood, his creating and providing interest in all the Avorks of his
hands. It Avas a lesson that the apostles and Paul had also to
learn. God shoAved Jonah that he nourished not only the Rose
of Sharon and the cedar of Lebanon, but the Avild gourd of Assy
rian plains.
Far off, in the Spanish peninsula, was a city called Tarshish ;
thither the Phoenicians sent their trading vessels. The son of Zebu
lon had heard strange tales of this land; it AA7as an earthly para
dise full of Avonders ; thither he would go ; it Avas quite on the
other side of the Avorld from that fated city of Nineveh. The
25

386 JONAH.
port of departure for him Avould be Joppa, whence since Solomon's
time vessels had gone out to trade along the Mediterranean
coast. He arose, therefore, and fled with haste through the western
territory of Manasseh, across Ephraim, Avith its croAvded villages,
into the narroAV seacoast country Avhich the Philistines had held
for years against all the forces of Israel ; where, swarming in
Gaza and Ekron and Gath, they Avorshipped Dagon, and whence
they SAvept forth to ravage the land of Jacob. At the extreme
northern limit of this territory, Solomon had built Joppa, when
he Avas trading in company with Hiram, king of Tyre. Since
then Joppa had been a busy port, and here Jonah, to his great
delight, found a vessel about to sail so far aAvay that it seemed to
him that it AAras going even beyond the reach of Heaven. Alas
for Jonah, if it could have been so !
The prophet does not seem to have lacked means ; he paid his
fare, was entertained on the vessel as an honored passenger; and
as the ship spread its white Avings to fly away as a dove, Jonah
stood on the proAv, seizing the blue distance Avith his eager eyes,
and imagining that he Avas going out of the presence of the Lord.
When the armies of Damascus asserted that the God of Jewry
reigned over the hill countries only, they Avere soon taught that
he AA7as equally strong in the valleys ; and now Jonah Avas to find
that his arm stretched out over the sea ; that he " held the Avaters
in his fist," and " taketh up the isles as a very little thing."
Before long a furious gale arose. "There was a mighty
tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken."
We have here a very vivid picture. The ship tosses on the
Avaves at the mercy of a constantly increasing storm. The sailors
and captain are at their Avits' end : they cast out the cargo,
because all that a man hath will he give for his life; and as the
laboring, creaking vessel seems every instant likely to go down,

JONAH. 387
they address themselves to preparation for death, and each man
calls upon his god.
Tyrians are there, Avho shriek to Astarte, fair Venus, offspring
of the sea ; Zidonian mariners, who cry out after Belus, king of
men, and guardian of the day ; there are Philistine estrays, Avho
howl to Dagon, the fish-god ; Egyptians, Avho remember great
Isis ; the sons of the isles and Iberians, avIio now despair of ever
again seeing the pomegranate groves of lovely Spain.
Amid the babel of voices ; amid adjurations to that strange
pantheon man has preferred to his Maker, the ship-master sud
denly perceived that one tongue was silent; one suppliant Avas
absent, one God Avas unsought. Pie remembered that a HebreAV
of noble aspect had taken passage on his ship ; and he had heard
that the God of the HebreAvs possessed singular poAver, and Avas,
in a very especial manner, an answerer of prayer.
Strange to say, this HebreAV AA7as in the loAver part of the ship,
sound asleep amid the tumult of the elements, and the Avild con
fusion of human tongues. A long journey and great mental
distress had exhausted Jonah, and he slumbered profoundly;
perhaps also the poor wretch, Avho had never before seen salt
water, Avas sea-sick. If he Avere not, he richly deserved to be.
"What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God,
if so be that God will think upon us, that Ave perish not ! "
Thus adjuring him, the ship-master brought him forAvard, and
they found the creAV and passengers prepared to cast lots — the
ancient fashion of determining vexed questions.
The lot having fallen upon Jonah, the prophet was at last con
vinced of his error, and frankly told his history.
A great awe of the Lord and of his recreant prophet fell upon
the listeners. But noAV the violence of the tempest increased ;
the waves leaped up as if to snatch a victim ; the Avinds hoAvled
like unappeased demons.

388 JONAH.
" What shall we do to thee, that the sea may be calm?" asked
the seamen.
For once Jonah plays the man. " Cast me forth to the sea.
So shall the sea be calm unto you ; for I knoAV that for my sake
this tempest is upon you."
The conduct of these heathen sailors is most admirable. The
sea seems a nurse of noble qualities in human souls. The
mariners "rowed hard to reach the land." They stroA7e, but
vainly; for, unconsciously, they were contending against God.
Seeing the futility of their efforts, they prayed the Lord to forgiA'e
the deed they did, and as their last resort cast Jonah into the
boiling Avaves.
The prophet yielded himself Avith firmness to his fate. When
he sank under the foaming billoAvs, lo the sea ceased from its
raging, and all Avas calm and placid as a summer noon.
The waves fell ; the winds Avere held in leash again ; softly
from the proAV slipped the Avaters ; light kissed the distant hills,
and lay on the sparkling brine ; and they were speeding on toAvard
Tarshish, as if their course Avere aided by the compelling of in
visible hands.
They looked over the hushed sea in amaze ; the man they had
cast forth did not once- struggle, gasping to the surface; some god,
they thought, had seized him, a desired victim, and carried him
down to pearl and coral caves, where Tritons and Mermaids
dwell. They could have imagined nothing more wonderful than what
really occurred, for "The Lord had prepared a great fish to
swallow Jonah ; " Avherein he should be conscious for three day7s,
and from which he should escape unharmed.
Over this part of the story, many men have proven themselves
as great stumblers, as AA-as Jonah at his very Avorst. Those repro
bates, who think that the words of the Lord are to be received

JONAH. 389
like those of many men, cum grano salis, have made very great
difficulties over the adventures of Jonah.
The fish does not necessarily mean a Avhale, (as the E. V. has
it,) but any sea monster. Doctor Philip Schaff says : " We sup
pose it Avas a shark — the Avhite shark — Squalus carcharius, also
called lamia, Avhich is found, to this day, in the Mediterranean,
sometimes as long as sixty feet."
Heubner relates an instance of a sailor Avho, in an inauspicious
hour, went down the yawning throat of one of these monsters, yet
Avas preserA7ed, and lived to tell the talc.
Heubner's account may be perfectly true, but Ave put infinitely
more confidence in the story of the Prophet Jonah.
The prophet here becomes a type of One far greater than him
self — even ofthe Son of Man.
It is very seldom that in flying from duty one reaches his
loftiest honors ; here the Lord shows us " that it is neither of him
that runneth, nor of him that Avilleth, but of God that showeth
mercy," that Ave arrive at any good. Jonah was for three days
buried in the sea ; Christ for the same time was inhumed in the
earth. Jonah emerged from the depths to preach repentance;
Christ rose from his grave to bring life and immortality to light in
the Gospel.
Trouble sets those men praying who have in them any spark
of the Divine life. The Lord acknoAvledges poor, selfish, stum
bling Jonah as his servant, and now Ave see him in his calamity
callino- upon God. He fecund that the long-suffering and mercy
of God were his only hope ; he had thought them over-abundantly
exercised to the Gentiles ; he realizes at last that even prophets
have sore need of the lovingkindness of the Lord.
Being cast safe upon the " beloved land," Jonah took leisure to
recover himself; and yet made no motion to go to Nineveh.
Another time came the command : "Arise, go to Nineveh, that
great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee."

390 JONAH.
Warned by past experience, Jonah went upon his errand, and,
entering into the gate of the city, he cried aloud : " Yet forty days,
and Nineveh shall be overthrown ! "
The AA'ord of the prophet came with poAver; conviction Avas
carried to the hearts of all. The charioteers and warriors in the
busy Avays ; the Avorkmen plying their tasks ; the shop men in the
streets; the guests at their feasting; the courtiers in the palace;
the king on his throne; eA'en the beggars, who, in Avan-eyed
misery, paced the narroAV lanes, believed the word, and Avere in
terror at the coming overthrow.
The warning entered the palace, and the king came doAvn from
his throne, rent his robes of broidered Tyrian purple ; cast aside
his jewels, Avrapped, himself in sackcloth, and, like Job, sat in
ashes. This fast and repentance at Nineveh teach us how the knoAV-
ledge of the JeAvs' religion, and the fear of Jehovah, had spread
abroad ; . the Ninevites knew that the God of the Jews had threat
ened; their humiliation Avas in the Hebrew form; they did not
sacrifice to their own idols, nor entreat their OAvn divinities; the
account of their season of confession is such as Ave might have had
of Jerusalem or Jericho.
Here Ave see, as in many other places in Scripture, not only that
the prayer of a righteous man aA7aileth much, but that the kind
ness of God goes beyond his covenanted mercies, and accords those
favors sought by the evil and impenitent. There is another im
portant point to be considered, namely, .that the ruin of Nineveh
Avas only delayed. The sinner by an external reform, and by prayer
for favor, may avert temporal judgments, or delay his imminent
doom, but only by repentance unto life can he secure his final sal
vation, or prevent the horror of that extreme hour Avhen he shall
feel that all indeed is lost.
As God findeth no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but de-

JONAH. 391
sires exceedingly that the sinner may turn from his iniquities and
live, those his ministers Avho proclaim his truth should be, and
indeed generally are, like minded, aud experience the greatest
satisfaction when men " cry mightily unto God," and " turn every
one from his evil way and from the violence that is in their
hands." Jonah Avas of a vastly different temper ; his bitter spirit de
manded the destruction of these aliens from Jacob ; he gloated over
the idea of the magnificent ruin that might come as unto Sodom ;
he valued the fulfilment of his oavii word above the lives of so
many thousands, and above the glory of God. His prayer is the
most amazing on record ; probably never before had a man in set
terms reproached his Creator for his most glorious attributes.
Because he could not return to Zebulon covered Avith strange glory
as the means of the fall of that proud capital, which defied kings,
and which armies could not subdue, Jonah preferred and requested
to die.' The Lord kneAV that he Avas in a very poor frame of mind
to leave this Avorld^ and Avas more merciful to him than his
request. How calm the question to this turbulent, cruel, malicious,
passion-tossed spirit : " Doest thou well to be angry ? "
After this, Jonah fell into the most notable fit of sulks recorded in
history. He Avent out of the east gate of the city, and seeking prob
ably some eminence where he could view the mighty panorama of
life in Nineveh, he built a booth, and sat doAvn with a lingering
hope that the blow threatened might fall ; that his anger might
outweigh the prayers of a repentant nation ; and that he should
have the supreme satisfaction of seeing his prophecy accomplished.
Never did man look on a sight more glorious than this Avhich
lay at the feet of Jonah — the imperial city of Assyria. CroAvded
palaces of enormous dimensions gloAved in barbaric splendor,
each seeming to rival its neighbor in sculptures and paintings
of most vivid dyes. In courts and temples stood groups of

392 JONAH.
stone deities, where the eagle-headed Nisroch contended with the
Avinged bull of Babylon and subdued it. There was the lofty
temple of Nisroch, where aftenvards Sennacherib A\7as assassinated
by his sons. Brick buildings Avere faced with alabaster; pillars
fluted and carved stood thick as forest trees ; carnelian, agate and
marble of the finest polish united in the decorations of the houses ;
the luxurious people delighted to array themselves in costly
fabrics of the richest hues ; the remains of painting and sculp
ture show that blue, purple, scarlet, and embroidery Avere used
for clothing ; and that gold, silver and gems Avere la\7ishly dis
played. The streete looked like some gorgeous masquerade ;
musicians Avith instruments inlaid Avith ebony and pearl gathered
in the courts of the nobles ; the markets Avere crowded Avith traders
of every nation, Avhile bands of soldiers constantly went and came;
for these fierce Assyrians made their conquests by might and held
them Avith a strong and cruel hand ; fear, not love, Avas the ruling
motive, of the day.
He Avho framed the Avorlds, and fashioned each evanescent flower
of grass; Avho keeps the stars moving orderly in their mighty cir
cuits, and watches each little bird Avhich having lived its tiny
span drops lifeless to the earth, had glorious leisure still to teach
his Aveakest servant a Avonderful lesson. Jonah was such a crea
ture of the senses, such an obtuse spirit that only an object lesson
could reach him, and that God gave him.
While the prophet slept, a gourd Avith miraculous rapidity of
groAvth broke the soil behind his booth, clambered over the frail
structure, draped it with greenery, and Avhen day broke, by its
broad palmate leaves shut out the hot beams of a southern sun
from the fainting prophet. Thus all through the hot tropic noon
Jonah sat under the shadow of his Avonderful tree with great de
light. Night fell Avith its sudden darkness, and its deAA7s, which
the prophet fondly trusted would increase the luxuriance of his

JONAH. 393
gourd. But at the root of the fair vine lay a worm, which gnaAved
the stem, and fading as swiftly as it greAV, in the morning, lo,
only dry, dead stalks clung upon Jonah's booth, and were twisted
and SAvept away by a " vehement east wind." This hot wind
parched the prophet's veins ; his flesh felt scorched with the fervent
heat ; the pitiless sun smote him ; pain racked hirn. BeloAv him
in that hated city were cool retreats ; Avere deep shadoAVS filled
Avitli the SAveet sounds of falling fountains ; he had no shelter from
Avind and sun, no Avater to cool his lips ; he fainted in the fierce
blasts of midday, crying out that he would rather die than live.
" Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd ? " asked the Lord.
And Avith matchless audacity Jonah retorted : "I do well to be
angry, even unto death."
Then the Lord took up his parable, a lesson to teach us patience
and pity, and the value of human life and happiness. "Thou
hast had pity on the gourd for which thou hast not labored,
neither madest it groAV ; which came in a night and perished in a
night. And should not I spare NineA7eh, that great city, Avherein
are more than six score thousand persons which cannot discern
betAveen their right hand and their left hand; and also much
cattle?" All revelation does not contain a more wonderful picture of
God's tender care, infinite consideration, and everlasting goodness
to all that Pie has made.
At this point the story leaves Jonah as suddenly as it introduced
him. One tradition tells us that he returned home, and Avas buried
where he was born, at Gath-hepher ; another account is that he
died at Nineveh, and a mound called Nebi-Yunus, opposite the
ruins of Mosul, is pointed out as his sepulchre. The words of
our Saviour, and the phrase " the Avord of the Lord which he spake
by the hand of his servant Jonah," tell us that this much-erring
prophet Avas one of the children of the kingdom. The prophet's

394 JONAH.
prayer, in the second chapter of the book of Jonah, sIioavs the deep
repentance and humility of which he Avas capable ; perhaps after
his lesson at Nineveh he brought forth better fruits.
The story of the prophet may have given rise to the myth of
Arion, Avho being cast by sailors into the sea, was at once received
by a fish, who carried him to land, and he presented himself in
the palace of the king ; though Avith the usual poetic additions of
mythology Arion OAves his escape to his music. As Spenser says :
"Arion with his harp unto him drew
The ears and hearts of all that goodly crew ;
Even when as yet the dolphin which him bore,
Through Hie iEgean seas from pirates' view,
Stood still by him, astonished at his lore,
And all the raging seas for joy forgot to roar."

XIX.
ISAIAH,
THE HERALD OF THE MORNING.

« m ¦ m .

HE history of the world is the history of ite religion. Re
ligion is the supreme power of society; it is also the
measure of ite elevation or debasement. The chronicle of
the religious idea is the chronicle of men on the earth.
As man's soul is his chief part, the record of the development of
his soul is the highest and most comprehensive history ofthe man.
Jesus Christ is the grand centre of history ; in him all lines of re
ligious thought conA7erge ; from him every form of benevolence, of
wisdom, of good, radiates. From Paradise to Bethlehem ; from
the sin of Eve to the maternity of Mary, the Avorld toiled on
ward lighted in its gloomy night by the constellations and the
daybeams, Avhich Avere the heralds of the Sun of Righteousness.
From Calvary until to-day, the Christian Church pursues her
pilgrimage, expecting her rest and her refreshing only in the
high noontide of our Lord's return.
When sudden night enshrouded the fortunes of the race ; when
the lately brilliant destiny of the children of Adam was forfeited
in an evil hour, a promise of a Deliverer Avas given, else human
hearts could not have endured their Aveight of woe. This pro
mise was the common property of all the descendants of Adam ;
hoAvever they defiled it by their debased imaginations, however
they misapprehended or misapplied it, they all clung to it in one
395

396 ISAIAH.
poor fashion or another, and the Egyptian carved on his obelisk
" The Begotten of God ; the all-radiant One ; " the Persian Avrote
of Ormuzd, the pure eternal light, and fountain of perfection ; and
the poetic Greek cherished the story of Prometheus, half human,
half divine, suffering for the sake of men.
Christ, God in flesh, seed of woman, destroying the serpent and
restoring the pristine happiness of man, was revealed to Adam.
With lapsing years, Christ in his person, work and offices, was
more and more clearly presented. Types of Him were an ascend
ing series ; becoming constantly more complete ; Adam, Enoch,
Job, Abraham, Jacob, all the goodly galaxy of ancient worthies,
as they strode on toward the hour of his appearing, saAV brighter
and brighter tokens of his rising.
As man drifted farther and farther from the primitive know
ledge of the coming salvation, lost like Cain in the mists of his
own theorizing; as by indulgence in evil passions humanity be
came obtuse, it Avas necessary that the Lord of Life should be more
and more revealed in type and shadoAV. The sensual heart needed
sensible images to instruct it.
It Avas not that the system changed. Christianity is not neces
sarily self-developing ; from its inception it was like MinerAra, full
groAvn and equipped. It appears to be gradually developing, be
cause man has become so debased, his apprehension has been so
dulled, that to give him as much light in one age as in another,
that the knoAvledge of the third and fourth world-period should
be equal to that of the first, types and prophecies of the Redeemer
and his Avork, became more numerous and distinct. The revela
tion ofthe Infinite has mercifully kept pace with man's advancing
depravity. The soul groAvs on the same pabulum from age to
age ; Enoch, Noah and Moses were as full-groAvn saints as Isaiah
or any who came after him ; they had not had as minute or ex
plicit word-teaching, but less had gone a longer way in conveying

ISAIAH. 397
knoAvledge to them. Our Lord in every age has been careful to
supply all our need, and demand has been great, for, in spite of
philosophers, since the fall man has been, when let alone by God,
not an appreciating but a deteriorating animal.
Different prophets exhibited different phases of the Messianic
reign ; various types revealed various graces and offices of the
Coming One. The Revelation ofthe Infinite Avas giA'en to minds
of diverse mould, and took their impress, just as light is colored
by the medium through which it passes. Streaming through a
rose window, the rays are blue, green, crimson, golden, according
to the shade of the glass which transmits them, but the light
itself holds all hues, and every exhibition of it is a legitimate part
of the whole.
One prophet, burning with the wrongs of his nation, sang of
a coming Avenger, a strong arm of the Lord, a consuming fire
to devour the offenders; another, gentle and complaisant, tuned
his harp to the name of ShelomSh the gracious, the pacific Prince ;
a third, fired with patriotic ambition, foresaw the King, the
Mighty Potentate in Zion, Avhose sceptre should sway all the
earth ; yet another, weary and oppressed, beheld the Burden-
bearer, the Saviour from self and sin, the Mediator before God,
the Priest presenting the prayers of humanity in an acceptable
hour. Again, we must remember that to some prophets was given a
wider range of vision than to others. Daniel saw as far as John ;
the reA'elation by the Hiddekel Avas of that man who on Patmos
walked in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. The " man
greatly beloved," and the " disciple whom Jesus loved " each
beheld the final consummation of all things.
Other prophets had no revelation beyond the first coming of
our Lord. Some of the seers wrote both of the first and the
second Advent of the Son of God ; and here the Jew became con-

398 ISAIAH.
fused, and by reason of not setting himself to understand the
Avord ; by accepting the easiest and most agreeable interpretation,
the son of Israel ignored the fact of an earth life of sorrow, and a
vicarious death for his Messiah, and chose rather to expect
Him, Avho would come in the clouds of heaven in poAver and
splendor. None among all the gifted seers of old read so clearly the
character and Avork of his Lord, as Isaiah, the son of Amoz.
His was one of the most sublime and noble minds which the
Holy Spirit ever employed to pour forth Plis Voice unto a listen
ing Avorld. His intellect Avas " a lyre of widest range, struck by
all passion." Full of the glowing imagery of the Orient, he
painted the most tremendous scenes of the AA7orld's history, with a
magnificence worthy of each theme.
Israel and Egypt ; Tyre and Ethiopia ; Moab and Damascus ;
Babylon and Syria ; the golden isles of the Gentiles ; the free
booters Avho dwelt in the desert; Nineveh, Avith ite astrologers;
all Avere exhibited in the pride of their glory, and were followed
from the zenith of their splendor to the dark grave of forgetful-
ness, Avhence the legend of their imperial power, stealing doAvn to
coming generations, should be but as a dream of a dream, " the
memory of a night vision."
Bearing thus God's messages of doom to the nations, Isaiah had
one joyous refrain running through every "song of the sword" —
the coming of The Christ. " Immanuel, God Avith us," Avas the
favorite burden of his speech. The Branch from the Root of
Jesse ; He who came " glorious in his apparel," the Redeemer of
Zion ; " The God of Israel the Saviour," — this Avas the darling
thought of the ecstatic seer.
In the outpourings of his prophecy, he preached a full gospel ;
precious beyond speech are his delineations of the fatherly good
ness of God, and the redemptive work of the Divine Son of Man.

ISAIAH. 399
The prophet had seen the Lord of Hosts, and his lips had been
touched by a live coal from the altar, so that he was enabled to
behold and declare those golden millennial ages, which, like the
freeness, fulness and simplicity of salvation, are felt by many too
good to be believed.
The materials of Avhich Ave can reconstruct the personal history
of Isaiah are feAV indeed. His lineage and birthplace are not pre
served to us, but the probability is that he Avas of the house of
Judah. It is enough that he Avas born endowed for a transcen-
dant mission ; that he belonged to the race of holy prophets, and
whether he had his paternity in Levi, Judah or Ephraim ; AA7hethcr
his infancy was cradled in Benjamin or Zebulon, he Avas the
" chosen vessel " to bear the grace of the everlasting Father to the
weary and groping sons of men ; he Avas the artist Avhose brush
Avas dipped in celestial light and color, that he might limn for
humanity the Christ, " Strong Son of God, Immortal Love."
Isaiah entered upon his prophetic office in the reign of Uzziah.
As he continued his prophecies until nearly, or quite the close of
Hezekiah's reign, he must have first appeared in a public capa
city at an early age, and during Uzziah's closing years.
The vision of Jehovah Jesus, enthroned in the earthly tabernacle
and served by seraphim, occurred in the year of Uzziah's death.
During the sixteen years of the reign of Jotham, there seems to
have been no public prophecyings by Isaiah.
The seer dwelt in retirement, sorrow devouring his heart, be
cause of the sins- of his nation and the judgments Avhich Avere
hastening upon them. He had cried of Avoe to the people, and
the woe Avas to him a continual presence, a " Priestess in the vaults
of death." But his sorrow was not hopeless; he cherished a
sweet assurance of the blissful dawn; a resurrection from this
grave ofthe nation's holiness and happiness.

400 ISAIAH.
Nor Avas the seer left alone to his griefs and his hopes ; in his
OAvn household God sent him companionship.
Isaiah's wife Avas one of that splendid succession of Avomen,
Avho, from Eve to Mary, graced the line of God's chosen people.
Like Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, and Huldah, she Avas a prophetess.
God gave his serA'ant, Avho must bear the burden of life, pro
claiming the burdens of the chief nations of idolaters, and who
o 7
must, Avith anguished eyes, vieAV the coming desolation of his
kindred and nation, a companion soul, lofty as his own, to help
him heaA-enAvard. The tAvo Avere married hearts and intellects,
and stood Avith the "children God had given " them, as signs
before the Avorld.
In the reign of Jotham, this prophetic pair Avere given a son,
Avhom they named Shear-jashub — a remnant shall return; the
name was the Ioav moan of their sorroAV, and Avhispered a sugges
tion of their solace.
The remarkable prosperity Avhich attended the fifty-tAVO years
of Uzziah's reign, had continued through the sixteen years when
Jotham occupied the throne. These two kings, ruling in the
¦fear of the Lord, secured the present felicity of their dominions.
Of Uzziah, Ave are told that " he did that Avhich Avas right in
the sight of the Lord." One great sin he committed, his sacrilege
in the Temple, and for that he Avas sorely punished in his leprosy.
Jotham also "Avas mighty, because he prepared his Avays before
the Lord his God."
Jotham Avas folloAved by the Aveak and wicked Ahaz. This
king turned aside from the path of his fathers, and " made images
to Baalim."
Early in his reign, Israel became confederate Avith Syria, and
the combined forces marched against Jerusalem. At the com
mand of the Lord, Isaiah, taking with him the child of mystical
promise — Shear-jashub — went to Ahaz.

ISAIAH. 401
The prophet and his boy met the armies of Jndah where the
Lord had especially ordained the conference — " at the conduit of
the upper pool, in the higlnvay of the fuller's field."
This place Avas southwest of Jerusalem, in the Valley of Gihon.
Here Solomon had been anointed king ; by the pool there was a
living fountain — type of the everflowing mercy of God toward
Jacob. Where Solomon had received the croAvn in peace, his
descendant, in the eleventh generation, heard a cheering message
from the King of kings: "Take heed and be quiet; fear not,
neither be faint-hearted."
For some time after this, Isaiah Avas as one engaged in a deadly
hand to hand combat. The wicked king, trusting in man and
forgetting God, Avas resolved to make an alliance with Assyria.
He became tributary to Tiglath-Pileser ; stripped the Temple of
its treasures to send him presents, and even A'isited him in con
quered Damascus as his vassal.
More than this, he sought help from false gods. Pie wor
shipped Molech, and offered his own children to the monster
deity ; he consulted Avizards ; sacrificed to the Syrian pantheon ;
brought an altar from Damascus for new worship in Judah ; and
erected on his housetop altars to the heavenly hosts.
By word and by sign, Isaiah sought to aAvaken the remorse and
terror of his apostate nation ; to drive them from their idolatries,
and to prevent alliances Avith enemies of Jehovah. The king and
court clung to the treaty Avith Tiglath-Pileser ; but many of the
people Avere inclined to unite with humbled Damascus, to throw
off the Assyrian yoke.
" Fear none but Jehovah," cried Isaiah ; but cried in vain.
" God was not in all their thoughts."
"Ask," said the agonized prophet to the besotted Ahaz, "a
sign of the Lord thy God : ask it either in the depth, or in the
height above." 26

402 ISAIAH.
" I will not ask," replied Ahaz ; " neither will I tempt the
Lord." " Hear now ! " exclaimed Isaiah, stretching forth his arms to
Heaven. " Is it a small thing to you to weary men, but will ye
Aveary my God also ? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you
a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and call
his name Immanuel."
This Avas a sign far off; there was another for the present.
The prophetess bore a son, and her husband called him, as his
brother, by a mystic name.
Before court and people they brought the babe for a sign.
Uriah and Zechariah were faithful witnesses, chosen to make
record of the prophecy. The young infant smiled, sleeping in its
mother's arms ; " Lo," said the prophet, pointing to the little one,
" before this child shall have knoAvledge to cry my father and my
mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be
taken aAvay before the king of Assyria."
Such Avarnings fell on heedless ears. Ahaz was given over to
strong delusion ; he could believe in the oracles of the heathen,
but not in the words of one who was the voice of the Living God.
The people partook of the gross unbelief of their sovereign.
Isaiah had written the name borne by his infant son upon a
" great roll," and set it up before the nation in a public place.
As they Avent to and fro on business or pleasure, the ominous word
" Speedspoil," stared them in the face.
To Isaiah and his faithful witnesses, it meant the direful hour
Avhen Zion should be trampled under foot by the heathen. To
the majority of beholders it was nothing but a madman's babble.
The Avords of the prophet were heeded by some few chosen
souls throughout the kingdom ; the remnant, salt of grace, whose
children's children, far aAvay, should be the returning families to
plant aneAV the nation of Judah.

ISAIAH. 403
We can picture to ourselves the seer, " rapt Isaiah," in his
home, pouring forth his visions, Avhile, Avith awed faces, his faith
ful scribes and Avitnesses record the Avords, trembling Avith the
Aveighty import of the prophecy.
No other poet ever uttered so magnificent an ode as that in the
fourteenth chapter of Isaiah. Babylon, the queen of nations, on
the Chaldean plain, shook back her golden locks, and, wrapped
in purple, smiled supreme at suppliant natious croAvding to her
feet — queen of a world. That obscure man of Judah, who should
be a household word Avhen Babylon's very ruins had been SAvept
aAA'ay like chaff from a summer threshing-floor, stood on the
crumbling walls of Zion, looked toAvard the regnant city, and
spoke of her glory as already a thing which had passed away.
Higher .and higher rise the notes of his jubilant song. They Avere
lent him from heaven, and like the smoke of the incense, and the
prayers ofthe people, they speed to their celestial home. "All the
kings of the nations lie in glory, even every one of them in his
own house. But thou art cast out of thy graA'e." "Hell from
beneath is moved to meet thee at thy coming."
Since this Avas sung, all the rhetoricians of the ages, all the
aesthetic critics Avhom literature has nursed, haA7e come to learn at
the feet ofthe son of Amoz.
After sixteen years of profligacy and of disaster, Ahaz died, and
as he dreAV his last breath, the nation broke into a jubilee. They
Avere free from their chief curse — a godless king.
They refused him burial in the sepulchres of his fathers, and
placed upon his throne Hezekiah his son, a man Avho AA-as in all
things unlike his parent ; one in whom the goodly type of David
returned. His mother Avas Abi, daughter of Zachariah, probably
that Zachariah whom Isaiah chose as his friend and "faithful
Avitness." Hezekiah entered upon a long and happy reign of
tAventy-nine years. He was one of the three most excellent kings

404 ISAIAH.
of Judah, the chief of that royal trio, for says Scripture, " After
him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor
any that were before him."
The reign of Hezekiah began with the opening and repairing
of the Lord's House. His proclamation to the people and the
Levites is marked Avith the godly simplicity of his character ; and
Ave can imagine what hearty response it awoke in the bosom of
Isaiah. He had noAV a monarch who would honor his office and
heed his counsels. Ahaz, the unbeliever, had been bitterness to
his spirit ; Hezekiah Avould become his consolation.
Elijah had felt himself alone upon the earth. " I only am
left," had been his plaint; Isaiah had a happier lot, in that
he heard about him the clarion A7oices of brothers, who, like him
self, bore messages from the Eternal.
His cotemporaries among the prophets were Joel and Micah in
Judah, Hosea and Amos in Israel. The life of Hosea seems to
haA7e covered about the same period as that of Isaiah — the
reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. Micah prophesied
during the reigns of the last three; and as the voices of these
great witnesses reA7erberated among hills and valleys, each seer
strengthened his brother's faith.
King Hezekiah leaned upon Isaiah as his counsellor and friend ;
he regarded him as the chief bulwark of the kingdom ; when war
from Assyria burst upon Judah, when the resistless hosts of
Sennacherib, Avith cruel taunts and lofty boasts, summoned Jerusa
lem to surrender, before calling out his armies, Hezekiah sent his
lord chamberlain, the chief of the priests, and Shebna, most honor
able of scribes, robed in sackcloth, to Isaiah, to ask his prayers
and counsels.
Hezekiah had gone to the right place for comfort. " Be not
afraid," said Isaiah to the weeping monarch. " Behold, I will send
a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and return to his

ISAIAH. 405
OAvn land, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own
land." The almost countless host of Rabshakeh lay before Zion spread
like SAvarms of locusts over the fertile plains, and upon the sunny
olive-clad slopes ; Sennacherib himself had been for a long time be
sieging Pelusium, but according to the prophecy of Isaiah, he
"heard a rumor." This rumor Avas that Tirhakah, King of Ethi
opia, was coming to make war on him. The mighty Assyrian
saAV that he must join forces with his most powerful general, and
hastened to unite with Rabshakeh. While the king was draAving
near to his general, the angel of the Lord, Avho smote the first
born of Egypt, and Avhom David saAV standing above the thresh
ing-floor of Oman, passed, clothed in terrors, through the camp
Avhich besieged the holy city. On the very first night of the
siege, a hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrian soldiers,
Avith their captains and generals, were smitten in a single hour.
In the morning, .when Sennacherib effected a junction with his
lieutenant, he found all the host in confusion and dismay ; the
dead Avere more than the living, and in an agony of dread the
Assyrians began a rapid and disorganized retreat. The last clause
of the prophecy remained to be accomplished. Sennacherib, having
returned to NineA'eh, entered the house of his favorite god to
worship, and there, before the eyes of his idol, his two sons assassi
nated him.
Though given later in the narrative, chronology makes it proba
ble that the sore illness, and miraculous recovery of Hezekiah,
Were a year prior to the invasion of Rabshakeh.
By Isaiah was sent to Hezekiah the prophecy of his approach
ing death. At that time there Was no heir to the throne, and the
affairs of the kingdom were in a troubled condition. The tears
and prayers of the righteous king procured for him a lengthening
of his days, which grace was announced by Isaiah, who doubtless

406 ISAIAH.
came Avith alacrity upon so joyous an errand. The king lay in a
chamber opening upon the court of the palace — a paradise of
beauty. Here the fig tree and the pomegranate Avere burdened
with their luscious fruits; flowers of splendid dyes Avere refreshed
by the Avaters of a cool fountain, which flowed in grateful music
through all the tropic day.
In the midst of the court Avas " the sun-dial of Ahaz," a trophy
of his intercourse with the astronomical Assyrians. It is a pity
that all fruit of that intimacy had not been so innocent and so
useful. " This shall be a sign unto thee from the Lord, that the Lord
•will do as he hath spoken ; behold I will bring again the shadoAV
of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun-dial of Ahaz, ten
degrees backward," said the prophet.
The languid gaze of the king fixed on his father's favorite dial-
plate. Would the winged hours which he had spent in prayer
and tears return ?
The shadoAV, which had crept over the dial-plate, slid slowly
back. The flowers, Avhich had drooped for the coming of the
twilight, Avere conscious of a hotter noon ; never had the people
of Jerusalem knoAvn the time so long from rising to sun-setting:
it Avas a day Avhich left its trace upon history, like its mate, the
day Avhen Joshua commanded sun and moon to stand still. The
priests of Heliopolis, the astrologers on the toAver of Belus, the
star-gazers of Nineveh, on the top of the house of Nisroch, looked
to the heavens and to each other in amaze; the reason none could
understand, none but one — the seer of Judah ; he knew it Avas a
sign from the Lord his God.
David Avrote, " Before I was afflicted I went astray ; " Hezekiah
went astray after he Avas afflicted. Merodach Baladan, king of
Babylon, heard of Hezekiah's illness ; but what proved of more
interest to him Avas the astronomical wonder connected with it.

ISAIAH. 407
It had become knoAvn that the miraculous lengthening of that
mysterious day had been ordained at Jerusalem as a sign from the
Lord of Hosts.
To gratify the curiosity of the learned men of his kingdom was
one object of the gorgeous embassy noAV sent from Chaldea to the
City of David. The king, hoAvever, had another object in vieAV.
Sargon, king of Assyria, was very powerful, and threatened to
absorb all monarchies in his OAvn, and Merodach Baladan desired
to become confederate Avith Judah and Egypt to resist his rival of
Nineveh. Elated by the honor of an embassy tra\relling in such splendid
state, and Avith the offer of friendship from the king of mighty
Babylon, Hezekiah Avas eager to conclude a treaty. To impress
his guests with his OAvn greatness he displayed to them the temple,
palaces and fortifications of Jerusalem ; and all the treasure which
the goodness of God had permitted him to accumulate.
The guests soon departed for Egypt, and when they were gone,
Isaiah came to the king, asking with a severe countenance what
had been shoAvn them. The exhibition of Avealth had been vain
glorious, not comporting with Christian humility ; but it had been
more than this. Hezekiah, the viceroy of Heaven, had put him
self on a par with idolaters, appearing to them as one who trusted
in armies, silver and gold. Besides this, he had stooped to feel
honored by an alliance Avith a heathen poAver, as if he, the Theo
cratic king, were inferior to the Avorshipper of Belus ; and, more
over, the laAV forbidding confederation with the enemies of Jehovah
had never been annulled, and such a coalition was in itself a
treason against the fundamental principles of the JeAvish govern
ment. To Isaiah's questioning, Hezekiah made honest ansAvers worthy
of himself. The judgment that was pronounced upon him seems,
at first sight, heavy, but we must consider the circumstances and

408 ISAIAH.
aggravations of the offence, and moreover that this sin was merely
one of a long series committed by the kings of Judah, each of
which had been heaping up judgments ; and that the people had
run greedily in the evil ways of their masters, and incurred in
their own proper persons the vengeance of Heaven.
This embassy from Merodach Baladan appears to have been in
713 before Christ. The same year Sargon, aAvare of the Baby
lonian attempts to make common cause with Egypt and Judah,
sent a host under his son Sennacherib to besiege Pelusium, the
strength of Egypt, while Rabshakeh advanced against Jerusalem.
As these armies moved southwest, the tireless Sargon himself
made haste to attack Babylon. He overcame Merodach Baladan,
Avho fled to a foreign island, having reigned twelve years. Sargon
himself died almost immediately, and Sennacherib occupied at
Pelusium found himself king of Nineveh. Then came the rumor
of Tirhakah's federation Avith Egypt, the union with the dismayed
hosts of Rabshakeh, and the hasty return to Nineveh. Some
years after, Sennacherib was assassinated, as has been said, by
his sons.
Merodach Baladan, in whose proffered friendship Hezekiah
vainly exulted, remained in his exile for some time; anarchy
ruled at Babylon, and at last Merodach returned and threAv off
the Ninevite yoke. His second reign lasted but six months ; being
again dethroned, he took . refuge in a strange land, passing out of
the memory of his countrymen, and dying in loneliness and exile.
From the prophecy after the illness of Hezekiah, Isaiah seems
more and more occupied with visions of the kingdom and coming
of his Lord Christ.
Once he turns aside from the Messianic prophecy to cry out
against Bel and Nebo, but even that strain ends in a promise :
" My salvation shall not tarry ; and I will place salvation in
Zion for Israel my glory."

ISAIAH. 409
Once also he calls to the daughter of the Chaldeans : " Come
down aud sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon," and
utters the curse reserved for the " Lady of kingdoms."
But Christ, the God and man, redeemed Jerusalem, the re
stored city ; the fulness of the Gentiles, the ransomed of the Lord,
singing themselves along the road as they return to Zion with
everlasting joy ; Jesus the smitten and wounded One, satisfied Avith
his soul's travail, and dividing the portion with the great, and
rescuing the spoil of the strong ; these are the jubilant themes
which hold the soul of the aged prophet transported Avith joy.
Age has not quenched his enthusiasm, nor untuned the flowing
numbers of that heavenly oracle. Never sung soothsayer so SAveetly
where "Nightly trance or breathed spell
Inspires the pale-eyed priest from the prophetic cell."
John, the latest seer, saw no more gloAving image of the New
Jerusalem than daAvned upon the fading eyes of Isaiah, when he
cried : " I will lay thy stones Avith fair colors, and lay thy founda
tions Avith sapphires ; and I will make thy windows agates, and
thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones."
When unbelievers mocked and foes derided, the prophet pro
tested : " For Zion's sake I will not hold my peace, and for
Jerusalem's sake I will not rest." Plis soul labored forever in
the fire for the sake of his people, but the hour of his resting dreAV
nio-h. The Lord giveth his beloved sleep. At the accession of
Manasseh, Isaiah must have been about ninety years old. When
that son of Belial entered on his reign, the noblest of his subjects
was called " where the wicked cease from troubling and the
weary are at rest."
The nearer the grand old prophet approached the end of his
earthly pilgrimage, the deeper insight did he gain of heavenly
mysteries. The unalterable decrees and transcendent power of

410 ISAIAH.
God shone upon him in their glory ; the benison of peace Avas
on his hoar head, and he called to his people that the Lord would
extend to them " peace like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles
like a flowing stream." He foresaAV the painful journey of the
Church through a desert Avorld, and sent a lay of cheer : " As
one Avhom his mother comforteth so will I comfort you." And
the reason of the Church's comfort the prophet holds to be the
coming of her Lord in judgment. A perverted idea has been
impressed upon Christians, as if they must fear and dread the
coming of Christ ; must wail of the " dreadful day," and of the
" hour of terror." This was not Paul's \7iew; he Avas looking for
and hastening unto the coming of his Lord, as the bride longs for
her bridegroom.
Beyond the judgment, Isaiah beheld that fairest vision, the neAV
heavens and the neAV earth, Avhere from moon to moon, from Sab
bath to Sabbath, all men shall worship in the joy of the Lord.
Warning transgressors to the very last, Isaiah sends after them a
shout ofthe doom that must overtake them, wherein the righteous
shall of necessity justify God. Thus, threatening and imploring
sinners, Isaiah laid doAvn the burden of his mortal life, and went
into the presence chamber, to behold the " King in his beauty, in
the land that is very far off."
Had he perished in his youth's glowing morning, he would have
been set chief of sAveet singers by the soft symphonies of his lyric
of the vine : " Now will I sing to my beloved, a song of my be
loved touching his vineyard ; my7 well-beloved had a vineyard in a
very fruitful hill."
Added years only added to his glory and to his usefulness. His
mission grew in greatness with the growing decades of his life ;
his book, while it cannot fail to be a glorious monument of the
author's genius, yet hides the prophet and the man, in the rare
fulness and perfection of its matchless delineation of Jesus our Lord.

XX.
JEREMIAH.
GLORIFYING GOD IN THE FIRE.

^

¦BOUT the year 640 before Christ, during the reign of
Manasseh, a child was born to Hilkiah, the Priest, in
Anathoth, who Avas destined to hold an immortal place in
the history, not only of the JeAvish Church, but of the
Church universal.
Anathoth was a village in the portion of Benjamin ; it belonged
to the reservation of the Levites, and was about three miles from
Jerusalem. The Israelites dedicated to their Lord, and to the use of his
servants, no starveling portion, but the best of their possessions.
Anathoth was an important and beautiful toAvn.
Its priestly owners enriched it by their labor and wealth.
The fortifications of the place were strong and extensive ; to this
day, its quarries supply Jerusalem Avith stone ; and the memory
of the sons of Levi lives yet in grain fields, vineyards, and olive
orchards, which once Avere cultivated by their hands.
Hither Abiathar, the priest who joined the conspiracy of Adoni
jah, Avas banished by Solomon to his own "fields." Here
Abiezer, one of David's captains, and Jehu, one of his mighty
men, were born ; here, long after Jeremiah's death, the men of
Anathoth returned, under Zerubbabel, to build up their waste
places. 411

412 JEREMIAH.
It has been thought by some, that Hilkiah, the father of Jere
miah, Avas that high priest Avho zealously aided Josiah in his work
of reformation.
From his birth, Jeremiah was chosen of the Lord ; even before
his birth, God tells him that he Avas called and sanctified.
The boy greAV up in Anathoth among the priests ; living so
near Zion, he heard continually of the abominations of Manasseh,
that hoary old sinner, Avhose long reign Avas dedicated not to god
liness, but to idolatry.
Amon, succeeding his father, and bearing his sins with his
sceptre, reigned but tAvo years.
The boy of the Levites, perhaps, Avent up to the city of David,
to see the croAvn placed on the broAV of that other boy, the child
of Judah, eight years old Avhen he entered upon his inheritance.
There was now a sudden end to the abominations and cruelties
practised by the minions of idolatrous kings. Peace came to the
Aveary nation ; glad lips told of the piety of that young monarch,
Avho, unallured by poAver and flattery, had turned his face to seek
the Lord his God.
Meamvhile Jeremiah, remaining at his early home, pursued
those studies natural to his position, and congenial to his sanctified
spirit. By his parents and teachers, he AA7as carefully trained in
the ordinances and traditional precepts of the LaAv; the precious
books of Moses, and the sacred songs of David, the records of the
earthly kingdom, and the ecstatic visions of elder seers, of the
Divine Ruler and his heavenly realm, were day and night the
study of the youth, Avho revolved high themes beyond the ken of
his teachers.
Doubtless, he questioned much of old men who had seen Isaiah,
concerning the looks, acts and words of that notable prophet,
whose mantle had fallen upon himself.
His eager spirit also turned tOAvard the gifted wife of Shallum,

JEREMIAH. 413
who, dAvelling in Jerusalem, Avas the oracle of God to men ; and
in the midst of that grand renaissance of Josiah's reign, was thus
far alone in speaking the Supreme Will by direct inspiration.
Living so near Zion, going, as Avas his joy and duty, so often
to the Temple, it Avould not be wonderful if the youthful Levite
lingered often in " the college," at the home of Shallum, to seek
counsel and instruction from Huldah, to Avhom a king was not
ashamed to appeal in his extremity.
In the tAvelfth year of Josiah, the purifying of Judah and Jeru
salem began. At the age of tAventy, Josiah, full of fervent zeal,
a royal iconoclast, headed the bands of those Avho " broke down
the altars of Baalim, and the images that were high above them."
With kindling eyes, he watched his servants cut doAvn " groves,
carved images, and molten images."
It was a grand day ; it had been foretold before the smoking
altar of Jeroboam, and now Josiah, the son of prophecy, cleansed
Judah and Israel of all their idols.
The year after this exhibition of righteous zeal, Jeremiah
received his call to the public office of a prophet.
The wrongs heaped up by two base kings ; the religious enthu
siasm of Josiah; the devout spirit of Huldah; the friendship
AA7ith the pious family of Neriah ; the Levitical training, and a
childhood and youth of spiritual contemplation and profound
study, had nourished in Jeremiah all the traits of a religious,
fervid, Avrapt ascetic. Conscious with an intense humility of his
own weakness ; wearing his body as a clog and burden to his
struggling soul ; sensitive to every look and every Avord ; keenly
susceptible to all emotions of joy and pain, but finding much
more pain than joy in a world framed for ruder spirits, Jeremiah
entered upon a life-long martyrdom when he was called to a
public place.
Left to himself, remaining unknown and unnoticed in "Ana-

414 JEREMIAH.
thoth," the man might have done some unobtrusive reforming
work, might have shone in the mild radiance of a good example,
and have gone down to his grave in peace. But an irresistible
Voice called him to come from seclusion, and stand before kings.
The thoughts and feelings of a holy man, Avhich he Avould have
cherished as secret treasure in his OAvn bosom, must be dragged
forth as Aveapons, and used against priests, kings and people.
" I have ordained thee a prophet to all nations," said the Voice
of the Potent Ruler.
The announcement filled the shrinking listener Avith strange
pain. "Ah, Lord," he mourned, " I cannot speak, I am a child."
" Be not afraid of their faces, for I am Avith thee to deliver
thee," replied the Lord.
From that hour calm and pleasure lay behind the prophet.
Green were the fields of Anathoth, purple hung the clusters ofthe
vine, golden greAV the olives in the sun ; but Avhile other youths
might gather fruit and bear home the harvests, he must go out
into that Avorld, Avhose Avrath and lust, whose hate and scorn and
hardness of heart, were like scorching furnaGe fires, blasting the
joyous springtime of that young prophetic soul.
Five years passed, and the gentle prophet, speaking as he was
bidden by the Lord, had not yet been fully recognized by king or
nation. The memorable eighteenth year of Josiah came, and when
the Book of the LaAV was found hidden in an obscure and neglected
corner ; when the dust Avas brushed from the parchment, and the
Avords of the mighty God flashed forth red fires like long-hidden
rubies, the alarmed king, seeing hoAV much had been required,
and how little had been performed, sent his committee of five
eminent priests and officers, not to Jeremiah, but to Huldah, to
ask the mind of the Lord.
The book, the reply of the prophetess, and the public reading
of the re-discovered statutes of the laAV, could not have been unno
ticed by Jeremiah.

JEREMIAH. 415
Such themes as these had fed his soul from infancy ; every
Avord of his God Avas precious ; studying the book of the laAV, he
learned a terrible truth. This recent reformatory work in the
nation Avas surface Avork ; it Avas external.
The hearty godliness of the king, and some of the people, had
made piety popular ; it Avas an honorable thing now to be a
devout JeAV, and thousands Avho had cried, " Great is Baal," and
Avould cry it again on occasion, Avere shouting, " The Lord he is
God ! "
The case of Judah in Josiah's day finds its parallel in the nine
teenth century. We are fallen upon times Avhen piety is the
proper thing ; Avhen a certificate of church membership has a flavor
of respectability about it, like a family pedigree. If storms of
trouble should arise, if persecution should light its fires, our
churches would be reduced by very many. The reduction in num
bers might be an addition to their vital strength ; those that would
be left Avould at least be whole-hearted.
Pursuing his office as a priest and his work as a prophet, Jere
miah was more and more impressed with the consciousness that
the religious life of his nation was rotten at the core. Strange
visions sent to him from Heaven, convinced him that the judg
ments ordained would hasten, and his voice of prophetic Avoe rang
out like a dirge over the careless nation. While Josiah Avas his
friend, he Avho could warn and upbraid so incessantly had bitter
enemies. The hostility of Avhich he was the object Avas anguish
to his tender spirit. He dared not refrain from speaking the
Voice of the Lord, which was as a " fire in his bones," but when
he spoke the multitude gnashed upon him, and would have done
him violence. He cries, out of his tribulations, " Woe is me, my
mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and of contention
to the whole earth ! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have
lent to me on usury, yet every one of them doth curse me."

416 JEREMIAH.
While threatening, Jeremiah also entreated ; he held forth the
righteousness of Christ; he pleaded for God with a rebellious
generation. Heart-sick and lonely, Ave hear him plaining in the
night Avatehes — " O hope of Israel ! the Saviour thereof in time
of trouble, Avhy shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and
as a Avayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night ! "
False prophets SAvarmed through the land; Huldah Avas dead;
during Isaiah's lifetime the kingdom of Israel had been swept
aAvay by the floodtide of Assyrian Avrath ; there Avere no brother
prophets to echo Jeremiah's voice, he Avas like the lonely bittern
sounding her cry through the desolate land.
Noav came another trouble ; the good Josiah fell in battle. The
king had, probably by the advice of Jeremiah, attached himself
to the neAV Chaldean kingdom ; and in an attack on the king of
Egypt, in behalf of his neAV allies, the gracious and godly soAre-
reign lost his life. Here the prophet might indeed feel deserted,
and ask if the loA-ing-kindness of the Lord Avere gone forever.
" Thy Avords Avere found, and I did eat them," he says, probably,
of the book of the law found in the Temple ; " I sat not in the
assembly ofthe mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy
hand," he pleads. " Why is my pain perpetual ? " he queries ;
" wilt thou be to me as waters that fail ? "
Then, into the pitiful gloom Avherein he sat, stole the Voice of
consolation : " I am Avith thee to deliver thee," saith the Lord.
The prophet was doomed to dAvell alone ; the Lord said to him,
" Thou shalt not take thee a Avife, neither shalt thou have sons or
daughters in this place." But there Avas mercy folded up in the
decree, for the Lord added, " concerning the sons and the daugh
ters that are born in this place they shall die grievous deaths, and
shall not be lamented."
To Josiah succeeded Shallum, whose short reign lasted but three
months ; he was deposed by Pharaoh Necho, and this sIioavs that

JEREMIAH. 417
he pursued the line of policy favored by Jeremiah, which was
anti-Egyptian: Jeremiah speaks very touchingly of the captive
king : " Weep not for the dead, neither bemoan him, but weep
sore for him that goeth aAvay ; for he shall return no more, nor
see his native country. He shall die in the place Avhere they have
carried him captive, and shall see this land no more."
Already Jeremiah was enduring persecutions ; one of the chief
priests was Pashur, the son of Immer ; he Avas so enraged at the
prophecy of the coming desolation of Jerusalem that he " smote
Jeremiah and put him in the stocks." He seems to have been a
life-long enemy of the man of God, for we find him petitioning
the king to put Jeremiah to death.
After Shallum, reigned Jehoiakim for eleven years ; he was an
ally of Egypt, an enemy of Jeremiah. In this reign rose up
Urijah the prophet, with Avords of warning ; the king endeavored
to kill him, but he fled into Egypt. There the royal hate pursued
him ; he was captured, and brought back to Jerusalem, where, by
order of the monarch, he was killed with a sword, and refused
honorable burial. Jeremiah would have shared the same fate for
similar offences. At the end of a public prophecy the mob seized
him, saying, "Thou shalt surely die." The priests and false
prophets joined in the outcry, and appealed to the princes for his
condemnation. Jeremiah, brought before the court, boldly re
peated his words, and declared that they would prove true. He
bade his judges amend their ways or they should perish ; and
added, that, as he was helpless in their hands, they would do as
they chose with him ; but that, if they put him to death, God
would avenge his blood.
By the powerful influence of his old friend Ahikam, Jeremiah
escaped ; the friendship of this prince Avas one of the few allevia
tions of his unhappy lot in life.
At this time the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, had con-
27 ,

418 JEREMIAH.
quered Pharaoh Necho, and had made Palestine tributary to
Chaldea ; he came up against the city Jerusalem and captured
it after a short siege. Here occurred the interesting episode
of the Rechabites, who, ha\7ing with other inhabitants of the open
country, taken refuge in the royal city, were made use of as a sign
by the prophet.
Baruch, the son of Neriah, Avas the scribe and chosen friend of
Jeremiah. When Jeremiah was unable to go to the Temple to
read the roll of his prophecies in the fourth year of Jehoiakim,
Baruch fearlessly took his place ; the king hearing of the threaten
ing deliA7erances, Avould have killed both seer and scribe, but
Avarned by their few friends in poAver, they fled, and the sovereign
solaced his wrath by cutting up the parchment in a childish rage,
and throwing it in the fire.
Nebuchadnezzar carried from Jerusalem many of the vessels and
ornaments of the Temple, and numerous notable captives, of whom
Avere Daniel and his three friends. The restiA7e conduct of the
JeAvish king, who vainly hoped to throw off the Chaldean yoke,
brought on him the armies of Babylon ; siege, pestilence, famine,
Avere upon the doomed city with all their horrors. The king and
the chief treasures of Zion were carried off by Nebuchadnezzar,
and Jehoiachin enjoyed a three months' royalty. Zedekiah then
vras placed on the throne by the Babylonian despot.
Zedekiah seemed, at first, willing to be guided by the prophet;
he sent for him to come and counsel him, and asked the aid of his
prayers : Avicked men are often more willing to be prayed for,
than to pray.
Set up in the kingdom by the power of the oppressors of the
land, Zedekiah was but a poor shadoAV of royalty. He hated the
Chaldeans, his masters ; he desired the aid of Egypt, and was en
raged that it was so feeble or so long Avithheld ; he feared his OAvn
princes and counsellors, was false to the God who Avould have been
his help and his shield.

JEREMIAH. 419
A poAverful host having come out of Egypt, the Chaldeans at
Jerusalem were too prudent to risk a battle, and Avithdrew ; Jere
miah Avarned the JeAvs that the departure Avould be for but a short
period. " The Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this
city, and burn it Avith fire."
So great Avas the popular indignation at this announcement, that
Jeremiah resolved to fly from the noisy city, and take refuge for
a season in the fair inheritance of Anathoth, where his kindred
dAvelt. He naturally7 left Jerusalem at the gate of Benjamin, but there
Irijah, captain of the ward in charge of the gate and defences on
that part ofthe city, recognized him, and putting his quiet depar
ture Avith his Avell-known advocacy of submission to the Babylo
nians, charged him thus : " Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans."
" It is false," replied Jeremiah, " I fall not aAvay to the Chal
deans." The pretext for imprisoning an unpopular man was too precious
to be let slip ; the prophet was at once confronted with the angry
princes. They had made the house of Jonathan the scribe a prison for
political offenders, and there Jeremiah was to be in close duress;
but, more than this, they gratified their hatred by smiting him,
and putting him in the vilest and most painful AA-ards ; " in the
dungeons and the cabins for many days."
The strong hand of God prevented them from killing him ; and
against their cruel wish the man — immortal until his work was
done — survived his dungeon discipline. We pause to consider
that no persecutions^ no deprivations, no sore bereavements, when
it seemed to human vision that God might have helped him and
would not, ever made Jeremiah flinch one hair's breadth frOm the
path of duty. The prophet was fashioned of the stuff that mar
tyrs are made of; he belonged to the goodly army, AA'hich from

420 JEREMIAH.
the smoking altar of Abel, unto the altar of God in heaven, have
marched through this world, a glorious host ; who have loved not
their own liA'es unto death, and whom the Lord will avenge.
A hero in his chains and starvation, Jeremiah still, like Job,
held fast his integrity ; until he, in a measure, wore out the malice
of his foes. Zedekiah sent for him, and in a private conference
asked, " Is there any word from the Lord ? "
" There is," replied the man, strong in weakness, the sensitive
spirit, which in calm scorn of his OAvn tortures, daily bore Avitness
amid sharp fires; " thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the
king of Babylon."
He then protested against the cruelties practised upon him ; ap
pealed to the fulfilment of his prophecies as an evidence of his
divine commission, adding, "Let my supplication be accepted be
fore thee ; that thou cause me not to return to the house of Jona
than the scribe, lest I die there."
Moved by his remonstrances, the king gave orders that Jere
miah should be kept in the court of the prison rather than in the
dungeon, and that a piece of bread should be given him " daily
from the bakers' street," until all the bread in the city AAas spent.
This suggests the extremity ofthe people in their present state of
siege, and the obstinacy of their resistance.
Even in the court of the prison Jeremiah uttered reneAved pre
dictions of disaster, and a deputation of the hostile nobles waited
on the king, requesting that he should be put to death.
" Behold," replied the puppet sovereign, " he is in your hand,
for the king is not he that can do anything against you."
Even now, when, to all appearance, these enemies might have
torn the prophet to pieces, God restrained them, and they cast him
into a dungeon. But what a dungeon ! Horrible as any the in
quisition could boast ; far worse than that Avhere the " prisoner of
Chillon " Avore out his doleful days. The only communication

JEREMIAH. 421
with " upper air " Avas a trap-door in the roof; through this they
let down the inspired Levite of Anathoth, by cords. The
bottom of this v#ile place was covered deep Avith foul mire, and
into it the prisoner sank. There was no water to supply his
thirst, nothing but that slimy ooze. Here he must die. But still
he Avould concede nothing. He had spoken the truth, and must
continue to do so with his latest breath.
A friend yet remained to him — Ebed-Melcch an Ethiopian ;
one of the eunuchs of the king's household. This man, hearing
of the seer's doleful condition, Avent in search of the king. Un
happy Zedekiah, beset by foes without and foes within the city,
a monarch lacking poAver and Avealth, with no reliance on God,
no promise for the future; but dragged, like one standing on
quicksands hour by hour, to a horrible fate, Avas even more to be
commiserated than Jeremiah. Ebed- Melech found the king sit
ting in the gate of Benjamin, and urged upon him the instant
need of a rescue of Jeremiah, for, said he, " he is like to die for
hunger in the place Avhere he is ; for there is no more bread in
the city."
Moved to tardy compassion, Zedekiah ordered the Ethiopian
to take with him thirty men, and release the captive. From that
day until Jerusalem Avas taken by the Chaldeans, Jeremiah and
Baruch, his friend, abode in the court ofthe prison.
At last the overthroAv of the holy city Avas complete, after a
year and a half of siege and famine, the defences Avere carried, the
victorious Chaldeans rushed into the stronghold of Zion, burned
houses and palaces ; overthreAV the shattered Avails ; pillaged, mur
dered and carried captiAre, until the " city had become solitary that
Avas full of people." Her Nazarites lay at the head of every
street, black unburied corpses ; the Temple Avas sacked, and then
destroyed, while Zedekiah, who had made the most miserable of
failures in king-craft, had the death-throes of his children for his
last sight on earth.

422 JEREMIAH.
One gleam of light falls across the dark picture of a nation's
ruin : Nebuchadnezzar gave particular charge concerning Jere
miah. " Take him and look well to him ; do him no harm, but
do unto him even as he shall say to thee."
Jeremiah Avas accordingly given up to the care of the new gov
ernor, Gedaliah, one of the noblest characters sketched for us in a
few7 salient touches by the pen ofthe inspired historian.
Gedaliah's father, Ahikam, had long been the prophet's friend;
rest seemed at last to have come to this troubled-tossed spirit : he
went to fair Mizpeh, a town perched on a lofty height, some four
miles northAvest of Jerusalem. Hence Gedaliah swayed the vine
dressers, and herdsmen, the " poor of the land," by a law of love.
The blessed calm lasted but tAvo months : then Gedaliah was
murdered. Jeremiah and Baruch escaped the massacre AA7hich
had been plotted to exterminate all the adherents of the governor.
Ishmael, the murderer, carried them off in his train, but they
were rescued by Johanan. Noav only'one friend Avas left the seer
— Baruch the scribe.
Johanan added to his other iniquities that he brought Jere
miah and Baruch prisoners to Egypt, to Tahpanhes. This
city, the Daphne of profane history, Avas on the Pelusiac arm
of the Nile.
Jeremiah had ever been the enemy of Egypt and its abomi
nations; yet here the immortal author of the Lamentations,
a kingdom's elegy, Avas compelled to dAvell among a race of apos
tates ; beholding their idolatries, as " they poured incense to the
queen of heaven."
For forty years of his full intellectual and physical strength,
Jeremiah, eating the bread of affliction, prophesied for the Lord
"in the midst of an evil and adulterous generation." If he
wrote the last few \7erses of the book of Jeremiah, recording the
end of the captivity, he must then have been more than a hun-

JEREMIAH. 423
dred years of age. The tradition of the early Christians is,
that he Avas stoned to death by angry renegades at Tahpanhes.
An old Alexandrian story relates, that Alexander the Great,
venerating so pure a life and so marvellous a prophet, brought his
bones to the city Alexandria, and entombed them there.
The Jews, on the contrary, affirm, that when Nebuchadnezzar
conquered Egypt, Jeremiah and Baruch accompanied the victo
rious army to Chaldea, and spent their last days in .peace, comfort
ing: the exiles.
Cassandra of prophets, this man forever foretold the coming
evil, and was forever unbelieved. Other seers were sent to
cry "Turn to your God, and be strong in him ;" but it was borne
in upon the shrinking soul of Jeremiah, as upon Phocion, that
there Avas no safety but humiliation ; no help but entire submis
sion ; Judah's day of grace Avas past.
But amid hatred, scorn, vice and treachery, from which his
mimosa-like spirit shivered aAvay in acute agony, the man had a
grand consolation.
The Divine face of Christ shone upon him through the dark
ness; he saw the thorn-crowned and glorified head of the Re
deemer ; as his earthly pathway wound into deeper and deeper
night, the voice of a God clothed in humanity, filled and solaced
him ; a hand, a Brother's hand, pierced, yet strong and loving, led
him up the steep ascent, the blackness of his Sinai, cloud-hung
and thunder-girt, yet bearing on its heights the pavilion of the
All Radiant, " the God of Israel, and there was under his feet a
paved work of a sapphire stone, as it were the body of heaven for
clearness." Into that glory the worn and weeping prophet passed
at length, and all Avas glad. Through his earthly life he was pe
culiarly a type of a suffering Saviour, despised and rejected of
men, bearing alone the burden of the Avorld.
A lower comparison presents itself between the writer of the

424 JEREMIAH.
Lamentations and the sweet singer of the Divina Commedia, the
man of Anathoth and the Florentine. In every age, aye, in every
generation, these sorrowing, devout souls, lonely in a crowded
world, appear ; for these hundreds of years they have mourned in
the strains of the Levite of Anathoth, their great prototype. Of
him they learn to hold fast a good confession of their faith, and
look for rest, where rest is only to be found, in the fair land Avhere
" God shall wipe away all teaks pkom their eyes."

XXI.
NEBUCHADNEZZAR.
THE FALL OF THE HEAD OF GOLD.

IX hundred and four years before Christ, there entered
j$|l into peaceable possession of the greatest monarchy on
earth, one whom God himself calls "a king of kings, to
whom the Lord of heaven had given kingdom, power,
strength and glory " — even " Nebo, the protector against misfor
tune" — Nebuchadnezzar, the magnificent.
This sovereign stood on the very apex of human splendor ; all
the empires before him formed an ascending series, culminating in
him; all that came after him slowly declined from his glory,
which none could equal.
If, with modern self-sufficiency, we Avere inclined to question
this ; to point to one or another most potent nation, which has
formed one of the mighty landmarks of time, and claim for that
the supremacy, Ave should yet be silenced by the fact, that when
He, before whom all realms from the Deluge to the Second
Advent were present facts, framed a vision which should express
his estimate of the relation of the successive dominions of earth,
he set the kingdom of the Chaldeans as its crowning point, and
Nebuchadnezzar as its Head of Gold.
The first assured notice which we have of this prince in history
shows him chastising the insolence of Pharaoh Necho, ruler of
Egypt. This is the dayspring of the young Chaldean's power ;
425

426 NEBUCHADNEZZAR.
here, in the camp of the Assyrians, shines forth the morning
splendor of the king of the fire worshippers, and Nebuchadnezzar
begins, like the day god of their adoration, to run his race.
" The Babylonian Empire," says Rawlinson, " lasted only
eighty-eight years ; nearly half of that period, it was under the
dominion of Nebuchadnezzar, their greatest monarch. It is
scarcely too much to say, that but for him, the Babylonians would
have had no place in history."
Nebuchadnezzar Avas not only born great, heir of a throne, but
he achieved greatness for himself. He Avas a man Avhose splendid
genius has never been paralleled. In him almost every form of
greatness united, and in every gloriously developed talent, he had
no peer but himself. Nebuchadnezzar, the unrivalled military
strategist, found no equal on earth but Nebuchadnezzar, the sove
reign diplomat; Nebuchadnezzar, the artist, had no rival but
Nebuchadnezzar, the architect; in grandeur of aesthetic concep
tion, and in skill of mechanical construction, this man stood Avith
the greatest builders of antiquity at his feet.
He was a conqueror, Avho Avould have laughed in the face of
Cyrus and Alexander ; and when he had spread his conquests so
far that he kneAV no limit to his kingdom but the boundaries of
earth; he was so high of soul, that he recognized the grand
regions of art as new fields for his achievement, and found no
barrier to his advancement, but his own mortality.
He was a true oriental ; he comes before us, evoked from the
solemn splendors of the past, in all the romance of the storied east.
A tiger lies half asleep in his veins ; one moment it is a creature
of strange grace and beauty, the next it darts somewhither like a
lightning flash, and is drinking blood !
This Nebuchadnezzar was a despot the most unlimited that the
world has ever seen ; because, while living in a land where laAV is
the Avill of the sovereign, he Avas doubly entrenched in the abject

NEBUCHADNEZZAR. 427
fear and unbounded love of his subjects. At once their tyrant
and their benefactor, the Avhole heart of the empire beat in his
pulses, and was SA\7ayed by his thought.
He Avas a being of moods as various as the climes under his
dominion. Frosty Caucasus, corn and peach bearing plain, and
burning Avild that scorched all life, found their antitypes in his
soul. High above other men as the sun is high above earth ;
generous as the sun Avhich blesses; relentless as the sun which
blights ; and as the sun unchanged, shining on, perfecting both
death and beauty; glorious as the sun sweeping from rising to
setting in unchallenged state, Avas Nebuchadnezzar, the Head of
Gold. There AAras but One higher than the king of Babylonia,
and that One covered with darkness his magnificence, as some
day he shall darken all of earth's unholy splendors.
Hardly had Nebuchadnezzar, the young warrior, wrested the
conqueror's laurel from Pharaoh Necho, Avhen the dying hand of
Nabopolassar yielded him, from the Babylonian palace, the impe
rial diadem.
Kingdoms, in those days, were apt to be disputed inheritances.
The first on the spot, provided his hand were strong enough,
grasped, and held the glittering prize.
The funeral obsequies of Nabopolassar had already been cele
brated, before his hero son arrived at the capital ; but at the eagle
glance of the heir, opposition sank palsied, and Nebuchadnezzar
gained that firm seat, whereon he afterwards withstood so great a
shock, as Avould have rent the throne of any other oriental king.
Isaiah, the most eloquent of the HebreAvs, seems to hesitate to
choose speech that shall befit his theme, Avhen he prophesies of
Babylon, the centre of Nebuchadnezzar's power. He calls it
"Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees'
excellency ; the golden city ; Lucifer, son of the morning ! exalted
above the stars of God."

428 NEBUCHADNEZZAR.
The foundations of this city had been laid by Nimrod, the
heaven-defying rebel of the days of Shem. Nabopolassar advanced
it to be the capital of his kingdom, and Nebuchadnezzar so gar
nished, enriched and glorified it, that no creation of finite hands
has ever touched the hem of its splendors. Beside this Babylon,
Rome would have been a bauble ; Paris, in her hour of pride, a
fragile toy. Herodotus gives it an area eight times as great as
London ; it held in its bosom adornments which would have
graced whole continents; beside its wealth, the abundance of
Solomon was poverty. Compare Babylon as we may to other
cities, we shall still be in the case of the shepherd Tityrus, who,
likening great things to small, compared Rome to Mantua, and
making his pilgrimage to the seven-hilled empress of lands,
found that — " Verum hsec tantilm alias inter caput extulit urbes,
Quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressi."
To this city and empire, Nebuchadnezzar was Avhat was Solo
mon to JeAvry ; he built, enlarged, strengthened, adorned, rendered
beautiful and terrible, until the kingdom was Nebuchadnezzar,
and Nebuchadnezzar was the kingdom.
Immediately around this capital lay the province Babylon, one
of the most fruitful, enchanting and salubrious regions of earth.
Herodotus says of it: "All this country is like Egypt, well
watered ; no part of the knoAvn Avorld produces so good wheat ;
and it so abounds in corn, as to yield two or three hundred fold.
Wheat and barley carry a blade four digits in breadth ; the palm
tree grows over all the plain, bearing fruit, whereof they make
bread, wine and honey."
In a district so fertile, this oriental despot fortified and embel
lished a city which has long been the theme of historians and
poets ; whose surprising grandeur, when it passed into darkness,

NEBUCHADNEZZAR. 429
was as if a planet had forever robbed the skies by its decay, and
the very heavens were become mutable.
" O sirs, O sirs 1 a light is quenched afar,
Look up, my masters, Ave have lost a star ! "
Berosus says, in his third book on Chaldea : " To the old city,
Nebuchadnezzar added a neAV one, and adorned the temples in
the most magnificent fashion ; he Availed the city in a becoming
manner, and decorated its gates gloriously. It would be too
much for me to attempt to describe the vast height and immense
riches of the palaces."
Megasthenes, another ancient writer, records : " This Nebuchad
nezzar, in his fortitude and the greatness of his actions, exceeded
Hercules." Writes Josephus : " He surpassed, and Avas more fortunate than
all the kings which ever went before him."
Pausanias says of Babylon : " It was the greatest city that ever
the sun rose upon."
In this city were the tower and temple of Belus, the Chaldean
Jupiter, of which the furniture in the sacred chapel was solid gold.
On the summit of this toAver Avas the great observatory, where
the Babylonian astronomers, Avho excelled all others of their time,
watched the rising and setting, and all the solemn evolutions of
the heavenly hosts ; and wrought the problems of their astrology.
Even when the kingdom AA'as waning to its fell, this temple
yielded twenty-one millions sterling in gold to the spoiler Xerxes.
The walls of the palaces were encrusted with precious stones and
paintings, glowing in deathless tints, that mock a burial of tA\ro
thousand years. The . floors were marble, the pillars alabaster,
jasper, agate, lapis lazuli, and sardonyx; sculptures of infinite
variety, representing every form of animal life, decorated corridors,
stair Avays and porticoes.
Not the least of the wonders of this capital were the hanging

430 NEBUCHADNEZZAR.
gardens, the most magnificent love gift ever offerred or received.
Nabopolassar had married his son to Amyitis, the daughter of As-
tyages, the Median king. Nebuchadnezzar received his bride with
ardent affection ; all the wealth of his kingdom Avas at her feet.
When she pined in the broad Chaldean plains for the wood-
crowned hills familiar to her childhood, the genius and devotion
ofthe royal husband created these wonders of the world ; moun
tains covered with forests, floAvers, shady groves, fountains, plea
sure houses ; prodigious structures, which the Greeks were never
weary of celebrating.
To Babylon floAvedthe spoils of Egypt, Nineveh and Palestine; all
that Avas most precious on earth ; thither, pilgrims from the falling
empires of Mizraim and Phoenicia, journeyed the arts and sciences ;
there also flocked the philosophers of the west for instruction.
But while creating a capital such as it had never before entered
into the heart of men to conceive, this monarch of Chaldea did
not fail to extend his boundaries, and beautify his kingdom to its
remotest outposts. He was the conqueror of Tyre, famous for
merchandize ; whose traders were princes, whose beauty was like
the garden of the Lord : Jerusalem and Egypt became his vassals,
and recovered Syria yielded him its treasures.
Megasthenes says, "He subdued Africa, Spain and the Ibe
rians;" indeed, this author goes farther and gives his hero-
monarch power over the shores of the Euxine Sea, betAveen Ar
menia and the Caucasus ; thus making him reign undisputed
from the Atlantic to the Caspian, from the frost-white mountains
to the burning Sahara ; from sea to sea, all climes and nations
were bringing tribute, up to the glorious city ; and throned in its
midst, was Nebuchadnezzar, supreme over all, the Head of Gold.
Enthusiastic in architecture as he Avas bold in Avar, this sove
reign, besides the temple, gardens, Avails and palaces already enu
merated, undertook other labors and improvements, each one of

NEBUCHADNEZZAR. 431
which would have secured earthly immortality. He constructed
the grand Reservoir of Sippara, one hundred and forty miles in
circumference; and the Nahr Malcha canal, between the Eu
phrates and Tigris ; he founded the city Teredon ; Avhile a hun
dred sites near Babylon bear on their bricks to this day the story
of the wealth, power, and far-reaching wisdom of this indefatiga
ble king.
The Arabs are ever recounting his glory and valor ; they as
cribe to him or his wife, the building of the canal Kerek Saideh,
and others without number ; also the reservoir in the city of
Babylon. Thus briefly viewing his achievements, we see that this was a
man at the pinnacle of earthly power. If ever a man had reason
for pride and vain-glory, it Avas this one : high birth ; great ge
nius ; unexampled success ; the adulation of a world, these com
bined to provoke pride and self-sufficiency. In him came a grand
lesson to mankind that God will not brook pride, even in the
loftiest. A haughty heart he will not suffer. In the eyes of
Jehovah, angels are chargeable with folly, the heavens are un
clean, and wheeling worlds, to which our sun is a wan spark, are
as the dust beneath his feet.
We have sketched the external splendor and circumstance of
this royal Chaldean ; we would now gain a few glimpses of his
inner, spiritual life : the oriental nature was never more fully de
veloped than in Nebuchadnezzar. Pie was deeply religious, but
variable as to his creed : he " feared the Lord, and served his own
gods." " Of a truth," he says to Daniel, "your God is a God of
gods, and a Lord of kings ;" and anon he makes a mighty image
of gold for his master, Belus, before which all men shall fall down
and Avorship.
In aAve and adoration, he exclaims : " Blessed be the God of
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego ; come hither, ye servants of

432 NEBUCHADNEZZAR.
the Most High God ! " Finally, he reaches that grand declara
tion and testimony — " I praise and extol and honor the King of
heaven ; all whose Avorks are truth and his ways judgment."
Like a true despot, he feels that in him is vested a right to
govern the thoughts and religious dispositions of men ; his sub
jects' faith must be submissive to his ; he may define their creed
and alter it ten times.
He begins by being a worshipper of Belus, and all his people
kneel before his god ; after this, for Daniel's sake, the Lord of
eternity is admitted to equal honors with Bel. Next, he bids
every one AArorship and serve his gods, and adore the great golden
image, which he has set up ; but the sun of that day does not go
doAvn before he makes a decree that no man must open his lips
against the Jehovah of the JeAVS, Avho is undoubtedly Highest in
earth and sky. Thus, over the religion of his people, Nebuchad
nezzar sits like Olympian Jove :
" He spoke, and awful bends his sable brows,
Shakes his ambrosial curls and gives the nod,
The stamp of fate, and sanction of a god.
High heaven with reverence the dread signal took,
And all Olympus to the centre shook."
Like the supreme divinity of the Hellenic nation, this king
would throne himself in majestic repose, and rule nations by a
nod ! In wrath he is violent as a tiger ; " cutting men in pieces,
and turning their houses to a dunghill," is his favorite threat. If
the Chaldean astrologers could not tell him his dream, which had
fled from the royal mind as an image reflected in a pool flees when
its original departs, they should be " cut in pieces and their homes
made a dunghill ;" the same fate Avas reserved for all Avho did
not worship the God who had delivered the three Hebrews. The
prince of the eunuchs, Melzar, pathetically tells Daniel that if he
fails to grow fat and beautiful, he will endanger his tutor's head

NEBUCHADNEZZAR. 433
to the king. With the most admirable sangfroid, the tyrant
threatens a burning fiery furnace to those whose faith is stronger
than their fear of him ; has it promptly made ready for the con
tumacious, and, unmoved, beholds the most mighty men of his
army consumed in executing his commands.
Nebuchadnezzar, as a conqueror, puts to death one captive king,
Jehoiakim, and blinds the eyes of another, Zedekiah. These be
ing the ordinary proceedings of A'ictors in his day, Ave may partly
excuse them, but Avhat apology can be offered for that refinement
of cruelty Avhich insults the gory corpse of Jehoiakim, and makes
tho murder of his sons Zedekiah's last sight on earth? This
glorious Head of Gold is subject to fits of insane rage : " He was
angry and very furious, and commanded all the wise men of Baby
lon to be destroyed." To the three Hebrews, " He was full of
fury, and the form of his visage Avas changed." After these
paroxysms of passion, he could be humble, de\7out, and grateful.
He " fell on his face and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that
they should offer an oblation and SAveet odours unto him." Obe
dient to Daniel's suggestion, he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-
nego as provincial governors ; and, unasked, made Daniel himself
chief over wise men and rulers. To his whole empire he makes
proclamation of his folly and his fall, his sin and repentance.
While he can be cruel as Sargon, he is the fondest of lovers to his
Median wife. Though he is arrogant beyond expression, he ex
hibits toward Daniel a faithfulness of friendship like that of
David for Jonathan.
God showed this monarch especial favor in all his reign ; not
only in crowning him with glory and prosperity ; but by impos
ing a tremendous judgment ; and yet earlier in placing among his
servants four sons of Judah, who were of sterner stuff than the
Assyrian courtiers. These four men did the splendid despot a
favor seldom accorded to men in his position, they freely spoke
28

434 NEBUCHADNEZZAR.
their minds, and set before him ungarnished truth. Besides this,
the great learning which Nebuchadnezzar himself cherished in his
wise men, struck the shackles from their spirits, and they stand
before him saying, " There is not a man upon earth that can shoAV
the king's matter ; therefore no king, lord, or ruler hath asked
such things at any time from any magician, or astrologer, or Chal
dean ; it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none
other that can show it to the king except the gods, whose dwel
ling is not in the flesh."
After this manly speech, Ave feel highly pleased that Daniel
saves these Avise heads.
The three princes of Judah also gave the monarch a splendid
specimen of free speech : " O king, we are not careful to answer
thee in this matter ; be it knoAvn unto thee that we will not serve
thy gods, nor worship the golden image Avhich thou hast set up."
But Daniel, as befits his lofty character, goes beyond the rest,
into such rebuke and exhortation as it has not often been the good
fortune of an Eastern king to hear : " O king, let my counsel be
acceptable unto thee ; and break off thy sins by righteousness, and
thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor ; if it may be a
lengthening of thy tranquillity."
To Nebuchadnezzar came three grand experiences superior to
any granted to other heathen. The first was in answer to his
earnest desire to know Avhat might be in the kingdom after him.
Before him was set a vision of the great empires of earth ; the
marvellous splendor of the dream suiting the exuberant imagi
nation, the vigorous thought, and the ardent ambition of the
mind before which it was painted upon night and sleep. The
dreaming sovereign of Assyria beheld his own mighty empire,
himself its Head of Gold ; he saw the lesser glories of the Persian
poAver, and that third kingdom which under Alexander should
bear rule over all the earth. Before him rose Rome, the iron

NEBUCHADNEZZAR. 435
dominion, strong, breaking in pieces and subduing all things ;
Rome pagan, " breaking and bruising." He saAV Rome pagan
lapse to Rome papal, Church and State mingled in such poor
union as iron and clay, AA'hich cannot be welded together ; dividing
into ten kingdoms, each a diverse interest, like, yet different. Then,
lo, before him rose the kingdom of our Lord Christ ; a stone, cut
out of the mountain without hands, falling first on the feet of tho
image ; crushing clay, iron, brass, silver and gold ; until all Avere
like the chaff of the summer threshing floors, carried away by a
whirlwind of the Avrath of God ; Avhile the stone became a moun
tain, and filled all the earth, a kingdom that should stand forever.
Thus, such a vision as Avas accorded to Daniel, Ezekiel, and John,
the latest seer, was given to Nebuchadnezzar, the idolatrous
Chaldean. Surely it betokened some signal mercy of God toAvard
him. After this came in the very acme of his pride, cruelty and false
worship, a yet more marvellous revealing. He who has been
taught that his will was to sway all souls like the breath of God ;
he who has never by suffering learned pity, looks with eyes of
triumphant rage toAvard that blazing fiery furnace, heated to seven
fold fury. He looks, and the obsequious servants round his foot
stool direct their gaze with his ; but the hand of the angel Avhich
touched the eyes of Elisha's young man in Dothan cleared earthly
film from the vision of Nebuchadnezzar, and rendered him capable
of the sight celestial. Divine discernment became his : " Lo, I see
four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no
hurt ; and the form of the fourth is like the Son op God."
He had heard the Jewish exiles telling of their Coming One. He
had heard of Him by the hearing of the ear, but now his eye saAV
Him; he beheld a human form, and was given power to discern
one fairer than the sons of men, the divine effulgence shone through
the fleshly veil ; it was his, as it was Manoah's, to see God and live.

436 NEBUCHADNEZZAR.
By this Avonderful revelation Nebuchadnezzar's idolatry was
rooted out. We hear of him no more as a worshipper of false
gods. He proclaims, " There is none other God that can deliver
after this sort."
BetAveen this proclamation, and his penitent history of the
greatest experience of his life, Scripture leaves the narrative of his
exploits to profane history ; the only hint of his doings that we
have in Holy Writ is Daniel's monition : " break off thy sins by
righteousness, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor."
From this, Ave judge that the monarch had been carrying matters
with a high hand ; indulging himself extensively in whatever he
desired, and wringing the price of his magnificent surroundings
from a helpless and overburdened people.
The king, moreover, records of himself that he was " at rest in
his house, and flourishing in his palace ; " there was none to stay
his hand ; no foe Avithout, no traitor Avithin. None dared wag the
head against Nebuchadnezzar. This prosperity was feeding his
arrogance ; his heart Avas more and more haughty ; he likened
himself to that King of Day whose blaze never was hidden from
his empire ; the cries of sufferers neA7er entered his gorgeous
palaces ; he saw sapphires and lapis lazuli and the jeweled spoils
of Tyre, but no piteous tears nor coursing blood of his groaning
serfs ; it was all the old story of despotism :
" The people here, a beast of burden slow,
Toiled onward, pricked with goads and stings ;
Here played a tiger, rolling to and fro,
The heads and crowns of kings."
But a watcher, and a Holy One, had eyes on this royal tiger,
and would bring him to " a man's heart." Conviction had come
to Nebuchadnezzar when he beheld the Lord of earth and heaven
Avalking in the furnace with his saints ; conversion came to him
out of a terrible judgment. Strong natures demand strong mea-

NEBUCHADNEZZAR. 437
sures. The judgments of the Lord do not fall unannounced, like
lightning from a clear sky ; God Avarns before he strikes.
All the bondage, the famine and pestilence, and bitterness of
servitude Avhich visited recreant Israel, were foretold by the
prophets late and early, and Avere cried aloud upon Mount Ebal.
David " saw the shadow ere it fell ; " Nineveh had space for
repentance; Egypt Avas Avarned again and again. Before the un
godly, the Lord unfolds the advancing doom. So, Avhen for the
pride of Nebuchadnezzar's heart, vengeance Avas prepared, a vision
came as its avant courier. No human poAver caused the king to
tremble, he laughed his enemies to scorn ; but in the midst of his
glorious ease came a sign from Heaven, and he was afraid. To
his trouble the magicians, astrologers and soothsayers, whom he
summoned from their watch in the toAver of Belus, brought no
comfort. If they had any dim guess of the intention of the dream,
'they dared not utter it.
There Avas one man in Chaldea " in whom resided the spirit of
the holy gods," ever the king's refuge in perplexity, and to him he
appealed. Daniel had received no forewarning; and when, as
the king's speech flowed eloquently on, describing Avhat he had
6een, a flood of grief and consternation poured over the prophet's
soul. Daniel " sat astonished for one hour."
From his friend's dismay the monarch gathered courage. His
high heart rose to meet the emergency. Evil was threatened to
his house, but he says bravely and kindly: " Belteshazzar, let
not the dream, nor the interpretation thereof, trouble thee." He
is not like Ahab Avho condemns Micaiah to prison, to the bread
and water of affliction, because he had a vision of all "Israel
Scattered on the hills as sheep without a shepherd." " I saw a tree
In the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great,"
says Nebuchadnezzar. He bends forward, and intense anxiety is
written on every feature. "It is thou, O king," replies the

438 NEBUCHADNEZZAR.
prophet, " that art grown great and strong ; for thy greatness is
groAvn and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion unto the end
of the earth."
The gloom of the advancing desolation darkens on Nebuchad
nezzar's face ; ruin had in dream SAvept over that goodly tree.
But he is no coAvard, afraid to learn his fate ; and in earnest tones
be proceeds with his dream, awaiting ite explication.
" I saw a Avatcher and a holy one come down from heaven, and
he cried aloud, Hew doAvn this tree, and cut off his branches,
shake off his leaves, gather his fruit; let the beasts get away
from under it ; and the foAvls from his branches."
Here was utter desolation decreed the leafy monarch of the
forest. Nebuchadnezzar had doubtless, on his campaigns, seen
some tremendous tree rush to its fall, under the Avood man's stroke;
dragging doAvn all lesser groAvths, and shaking the earth with its
ruin. Solemn is the prime minister's reading of the omen. They
AArho visited the oracles of Dodona, Delphi, Jupiter Ammon, and
the Sibyl, and received answers from the rustle of the sacred oaks,
from the intoxicated Pythia, or Avritten upon leaves, were ever
left in doubt by interpretations capable of varied reading. Be
tAveen diA7erse ansAvers, they were quite as much in the dark as
before they approached the shrine. But Daniel's interpretation
of his monarch's dream is capable of no misconstruction. " This
is the decree : they shall drive thee from the dwellings of men . . .
thy abode shall be Avith the beasts of the field . . . and seven years
shall pass over thee . . . until thou knoAv, that the Most High ruleth
in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to Avhomsoever he Avill."
This is the grand lesson to be learned by the wayAvard and
vain-glorious despot; and Avas through him to be taught to all
the earth. Strange, Ave say, that having it so plainly set before
him, he did not lay it to heart then and there.

NEBUCHADNEZZAR. 439
But this is a marvel common to the perverse human soul.
Christ cries: "I am the Avay," "There is none other name
given," " He that cometh not in by the door, is a thief and a
robber." But in spite of that, men have ever since been going about to
find Avays of their OAvn — have sought to establish their OAvn
righteousness, and have risked appearing before the judgment seat
as thieves and robbers.
Those tAvo men — Formality and Hypocrisy — Avhom Christian
saAV " come tumbling over a Avail on the left hand of the narrow
way," were not the only specimens of their kind. And although
these tAvo, and all their successors, shall be " lost in the great
wood — Datnger," or "stumble and fall amid the dark mountains
of Destruction, and rise no more," they will have followers in all
time to come.
There was yet a glimmer of hope in Nebuchadnezzar's dream :
"Leave the stump in the earth," proclaimed the holy watcher.
" Let it be Avet Avith the deAV of heaven . . . until seven times pass."
" Thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee," reads the seer ; " after
that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule."
Here is a repetition of that one lesson, which the king found it
so hard to learn ; and which the Almighty was resolved to fix
upon his mind.
After such a portent, one would think the royal dreamer would
have humbled himself and taken warning, at least for a time.
Instead of this, in a tAvelve months, he provokes the fulfilment of
the vision.
But when had human heart so much occasion to be puffed up?
Every breeze bore to him the submission of conquered nations;
the praises of his poets ; the flatteries of his subjects : he heard
hammer, axe, and troAvel ringing, the music whereby arose wall,
palace, and toAver, as great Thebes rose to the swelling strains

440 NEBUCHADNEZZAR.
of Amphion's golden lyre. AVherever he looked were the crea
tions of his hand, the trophies of his power.
Thus it came to pass, that on a summer's day he walked in the
palace of the kingdom of Babylon ; probably upon the lofty
terraces of the hanging gardens, constructed in the court of the
favorite palace. All the wealthy province lay spread at his feet.
The plains Avere covered with waving crops, that could laugh at
threat of death; between them ran the broad Euphrates, from
which the corn drank ite strength. The feathery palm trees,
with their crimson clusters of honey-dropping fruit, were set
against all the sky. Here wound a caravan coming up from
Egypt bearing linen, wine of Helbon, and treasures of art;
yonder the train of camels, drifting in like ships from the wide
sea of the Sahara, were laden Avith spices and fragrant gums, and
tropic fruits. Here Tyre sent her purple, ivory, precious stones,
gold, chests of cedar filled with rich apparel. Syria entered at
the western gate, with her store of " emeralds, purple, and broid-
ered work, fine linen, coral and agate." Here hung banners
captured from Africa, Armenia, and distant Spain. There Avere
the Greek scholars passing along the streets, who had come to
learn wisdom of the Avisest. In yonder prisons, kings were lying
captive. Chariots jostled each other in the crowded Avays ; batta
lions of armed men went forth for assured conquests. Elephants
from India were kept to swell his train of state ; he had horses,
on whose crimson bridles rang bells of gold, whose hoofs were
shod with silver. His eye ran along the mighty wall, " five hun
dred million solid feet of masonry," says Rawlinson. SlaA7es
toiled on the sides of the hanging gardens, those mountains of
beauty. From the court of the harem below rippled up laughter
from the loveliest of the lovely of all the beauty-rich east, who
bowed at the feet of Median Amyitis.
Then SAvelled the monarch's bosom with new access of the pride

NEBUCHADNEZZAR. 441
hateful to high Heaven. He lifted his face to the dome of the
sky, and challenged the King who sitteth on the circle of the
firmament : " Is not this great Babylon, Avhich i" have built for
the house of the kingdom, by the might of my poAver, and for the
honor of my majesty ! "
"His trust was with the Eternal to be deemed
Equal in strength, and rather than be less
Cared not to be at all."
Delay was ended ; swift came the answer, " even while the word
was yet in his mouth ; " destruction SAvept upon him sudden as
the coming of the Son of Man, " like the lightning that shineth
from one part of heaven even unto the other ! "
" O king Nebuchadnezzar, unto thee it is spoken ; the kingdom
is departed from thee. . . . Seven times shall pass over thee, until
thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men,
and giveth it to Avhomsoever he Avill."
This king of kings Avas to learn that he was only a vassal of the
sky, and must render the homage of his heart to Him from whom
he held his dominion in fee.
A horrible form of mania seized the despot. Lycanthropy, a
madness that levels man to a brute, took supreme possession of
him, who had built great Babylon.
In the hour "when his heart was lifted up, and his mind
hardened in pride," he was deposed from his kingly throne,
and they "took his glory from him. And he was driven
from the sons of men ; and his heart was made like the
beasts, and his dwelling was with the Avild asses ; they fed him
Avith grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of
heaven." Thus, in after years, Daniel describes this insanity, and its con
sequences, to Nebuchadnezzar's grandson, Belshazzar. And again
the important lesson is repeated : " Until he knew that the most

442 NEBUCHADNEZZAR.
high God ruleth in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth
it to Avhomsoever he Avill."
This fact of an ever-present, jealous, all-ruling God, dividing
and disposing the affairs of men great and small ; feeding the
raven, and meting out crowns and sceptres, is the grand doctrine
men should lay to heart. If it AA'ere made a first principle in the
tuition of kings, perhaps there would not now be sixteen throne-
less monarchs remitted to the charities of Europe.
Mad ; no more a man and a sovereign, but a beast in human
form, Nebuchadnezzar tore off his gorgeous robes and the glitter
ing insignia of his poAver. Strange hunger seized him ; he craved
the grass and rank Aveeds of the field for food ; his human speech
Avas exchanged for the cries of a brute. He groA7elled on the
earth ; refused the shelter of the palace dome with its' painted
splendors, and the luxury of his couch ; and Avandered out into
the dew-Avet plain, under the shining stars.
There were no mad houses in those days ; had this maniac
been a common man, they might have cut his throat, or
chained him to a pillar, to starve his fury and his life out to
gether. But no one could coerce the Babylonian despot, even
Avhen he Avas lost to his humanity ; he must have his OAvn Avay,
mad or sane. Medicine, in those days, Avas the least understood
of the sciences. The royal physicians had no remedy for this
case, but a hope that like Avould cure like; and that being
turned adrift among his beastly compeers, he Avould soon get
enough of it.
Another king might have here lost all his future ; some usurper
Avould have seized his abandoned state, and have put an end to
the rabid sovereign. But the care of this man's dominion was
with God, and the decree was that the kingdom should be sure
unto him. He had sinned in a high place ; he was to repent, and
do better on the same lofty eminence.

NEBUCHADNEZZAR. 443
The Lord works by natural causes ; he had girt the royalty of
'-Nebuchadnezzar Avith the love of his subjects, the devotion of a
high-spirited wife, whose hands were not too weak to hold the
reins of government ; a prime minister such as Daniel ; and
a sure prophecy that seven years should end the direful visi
tation, and restore the man, not only to himself, but to a nobler
estate. Thus the Scripture records, " Pie Avas driven from men ; and did
eat grass Avith the oxen, and his body was Avet Avith the deAV of
heaven, till his hairs Avere groAvn as eagles' feathers, and his nails
as birds' claws."
Ah, how the Head of Gold had fallen ! Who that came by,
Avould believe that this was Nebuchadnezzar, chief of the
kings of the earth? When was royalty so debased, so shorn
of its beams ? The nations may now look upon him narrowly,
and say, "Is this the man that made the earth to tremble,
and did shake kingdoms? All the kings of the earth lie in
glory, even every one of them in his oavh house, but thou art
cast out like an abominable branch, as a carcass trodden under
feet." He who would have set his throne among the stars was cut
doAvn ; his courtiers could cry :
" If thou beest he, but oh, how fallen ! how changed
From him who, in the happy realms of light,
Clothed with transcendant brightness, didst outshine
Myriads though bright ! "
Seven years thus pass, Avhen as suddenly as his reason fled, it
returns in full strength. His last mental act had been self-
glorification ; his first use of returned intelligence is adoration
of God ; truly affliction had Avorked in him some very excellent
fruits. Wisdom and voice came back together. He is alone in the

444 NEBUCHADNEZZAR.
wild. Beasts are his only comrades; Avinds whisper, leaves.
rustle, the skies shine over Babylon ; he lifts his eyes, his heart
rises to heights of joy before unknoAvn, he sees his fallen estate and
appreciates his coming exaltation ; and he cries aloud, " blessing,
praising and honoring the Most High who liveth forever, whose
dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom from
generation to generation." He has reached noAV the fulness of
the lesson set him. He acknoAvledges, "He doeth according
to his Avill in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants
of earth ; and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What
doest thou?"
The last words of this king recorded in Scripture are a
glorious outpouring of penitence and praise : " I extol and
honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his
Avays judgment : and those that walk in pride he is able to
abase." It Avas worth a terrible experience fully to have learned this
lesson; having laid it to heart, we may hope the throne of Chal
dea was to this grand monarch the stepping-stone to a higher king
dom ; and that the close of his reign on earth marked the begin
ning of his reign with God.
During the sovereign's incapacity his wife held the power for
him; his son and successor made an effort to forestall his future
inheritance, but the revolt was suppressed. Nebuchadnezzar found
ready for him a kingdom which, during the seven years of his
OAvn aberration, had only grown in strength and glory. The
remainder of his reign was but added prosperity ; the sun
which had risen so bright, Avhich had had so glorious a march
through heaAren, obscured but by one swift tempest, which rolled
aAvay and left the sovereign orb in full effulgence, wheeled
to setting with unshorn magnificence, and went down without a
cloud.

NEBUCHADNEZZAR. 445
After a reign of forty-four years, Nebuchadnezzar died, aged
eighty. With him perished the real strength and glory of Chal
dea. His tAvo successors, Aveak and Avicked, lost what their royal
parent had gained. Foes besieged the city, the Euphrates itself
turned traitor; conqueror after conqueror passed his hosts
through glorious Babylon but to spoil and destroy. None
Avho Avent against the golden city, Avent in vain. He who
stood Avhole nights on his Avatchtower, "saAV a chariot Avith a
couple of horse-men, and he answered and said, Babylon is
fallen, is fallen, and all the graven images of her gods are
broken to the ground."
Babylon, as foretold by Jeremiah, " has become an astonishment
among the nations. Her cities are a desolation, a dry land and a
Avilderness ; a land where no man dAvelleth, neither doth any son
of man pass thereby."
Isaiah d3liA7ered a kindred prophecy, which is e\7ery whit ful
filled : " The Avild beasts of the desert shall lie there ; and their
houses shall be full of doleful creatures ; oavIs shall dwell there,
and satyrs shall dance there ; and the Avild beasts of the islands
shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant
palaces." At this day, Babylon is a place of deserted heaps ; the Arabs,
full of superstitious fear, will not camp upon the spot accursed.
The mighty fabric of empire raised by Nebuchadnezzar has
melted aAvay like cloudy tower and battlement, painted on a sun
set sky. To her half-forgotten site wanders the lonely antiqua
rian, to question of the past. On scatttered bricks and broken
base and pilaster ; on crumbled Avail and ruined aqueduct and
arch, he reads the name which once bowed the knees of nations —
Nebuchadnezzar. He hears the bittern cry, and the owl hoot
'along Birs Nimroud'; he turns, with his pick, the earth, piled
into strange tumuli, and he finds these hillocks the grave of a

446 NEBUCHADNEZZAR.
nation, the sepulchre of a once regnant race. Above them grow
bending grasses with evanescent floAvers, and small blue and
starry blossoms, and as they bloom they Avrite the kingdom's
epitaph :
"LO THIS IS THE NATION THAT MADE NOT GOD HER TRUST ! "

XXII.
DANIEL,
THE SAINTLY COURTIER.

jfpOD never puts a man in a position so trying that it is
beyond the power of divine grace to sustain him. The
Strengthening Spirit is infinite ; the cares, vanities, trials,
and seductions of earth are finite. With every temptation
there is opened a way of escape. The reason of so many failures
is, that men will not see or accept the opportunity of safety. One
man proclaims that if he were not so persecuted, tried and baffled,
he would be a shining light among Christians. Another cries out,
that he has been forced to a position so eminent, is so laden with
cares of state, the exactions of society, and the expectations of the
public, that he cannot find a calm hour to make his peace Avith
God, nor a quiet path wherein to walk, as he truly wishes he
might do, toward heaven.
There is a man in Scripture, Daniel by name, who shows us hoAV
the most persecuted, threatened, distracted human soul, can cast
its cares on God, and walk with him, serene on lofty heights in most
glorious fellowship. And by a turn in his fortunes, this same man
exemplifies how no sounding honors, no pomp of circumstance, no
beguilings of sin, no braggart voice of society, can hedge out the
heart from that garden of peace, the constant presence of the Lord ;
can quell the high spirit seeking duty only ; can make the dross
of earth outweigh the fine gold of the city that hath foundations. 447

448 DANIEL.
The scene of this story is Babylon in Chaldea; the time about
six centuries before Christ.
At this period, Babylon was the most luxurious and cultivated
city upon earth. The foundations of Babylon were laid by Nimrod,
the mighty hunter and rebel before the Lord. The metropolis
stood upon the plain of Shinar. Like fairest fruits, it matured
sloAvly ; Erech, Ur, and Ellasar outstripped it at the first, but
these were blotted from the earth when stately Babylon was
queen of nations. After the foundations of the tower of Babel
were laid, the plain of Shinar Avas the scene of the most tremen
dous revolution in all the history of the world. There were
gathered the descendants of Ham, and very many of the children
of Shem. Probably the family of Arphaxad remained in upper
Mesopotamia Avithdrawn from the builders of the plain.
A paragraph from William Osburn's " Ancient Egypt " gives
a vivid picture of the terror and the inward compulsion when God
drove asunder the nations ofthe earth. " The fathers of Ancient
Egypt first journeyed thither, across the Isthmus of Suez, taking
with them the Avorship of the setting sun. How is it possible to
resist the conclusion that they came thither from the plains of
Babel, at the first dispersion of mankind, and that the civilization
of Egypt Avas derived from the banks of the Euphrates? They
marched westward before the mysterious impulse which drove
them from the fertile plain of Shinar. They fled before it, nor
dared to tarry on the grassy slope of Jordan, nor in the shady
valleys of Judah, nor by the waters of Shiloh which flow softly.
The voice of a greater than man sounded in their ears ; the terror of
an invincible power aAved their spirits, and they dared not disobey.
They braved perils and privation's over an unknown desert before
the same fearful impulse, nor were they ever allowed to rest, until
they had reached the uttermost borders ofthe land which He who
pursued them had destined them to people."

DANIEL. 449
Thus also fled the Canaanites, and the people Avho filled
Ethiopia and Havilah. At Babel were left those avIio spread
themselves over Mesopotamia, founded Nineveh, and peopled
Assyria. Speaking of the Scriptural account of the tower of Babel,
Hereen says : " There is perhaps noAvhere else to be found a nar
rative so venerable for its antiquity, or so important in the history
of civilization, in which Ave have at once preserved the traces of
primeval international commerce, the first political associations,
and the first erection of secure and permanent dAvellings."
On the plains of Shinar the descendants of Asshur, the second
son of Shem, united Avith the children of Ham. The Elamitic
was emphatically the building race, as the line of Cain had been
before them. While other nations wandered far and long, the
early Chaldeans remained in their first home, and filled the land
with cities. Slow of groAvth as Babylon itself, the Chaldeans
reached by degrees a poAver, strength and culture Avhich made
them lords of the Avorld. They were a progressive people ; in all
their works they made sure advancement. Egypt, on the con
trary, suddenly blossomed into its best, and then degenerated.
The Babylonians used the arch ; made aqueducts and tunnels ;
understood the lever and roller; engraved jeAvels; manufactured
glass ; were acquainted with the lens ; and practised the arts of
enamelling, inlaying and overlaying metals; they liA7ed luxuriously;
they Avere bold in war ; learned in sciences ; prosperous in Avealth,
strength, commerce and resources.
O 7
While thus far cultivated and enlightened, they Avere in other
respects barbarians ; their government was rude and despotic ; their
religion grossly sensual ; their art materialistic. They served their
day, and the purpose for which God made them a nation ; they
by their very errors prepared the Avay in the East for centralized
government; and Avere God's scourge upon Israel.
29

450 DANIEL.
Executing their mission of wrath against Judah, in the third
year of Jehoiakim, Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem, and took
with him to Babylon many of the noblest families.
Among the captives was a youth named Daniel. We know
nothing of his parentage, except the hint that it Avas royal, or
very noble ; for the order of the king of Babylon was, that " from
the king's seed and the princes " should be chosen certain espe
cially bright and beautiful children, to be trained " to stand before
the king."
Among the children so selected was this Daniel, of gentle
blood, fair face, and noble intellectual endoAvments.
Some careful parents must have cherished his infancy; for when
taken from his home, he kneAV the JeAvish laAV, and purposed to
keep it.
Among other- rare traits, the youth possessed, in a high degree,
the poAver of pleasing ; a courtly grace, a happy faculty of express
ing himself; an engaging frankness, and a most wonderful gift
of persuasion, seem to have more than justified the choice of
Ashpenaz, when he took him to be trained from his early days as
a courtier. The atmosphere of courte has never been deemed conducive to
piety, particularly in the young. Of all courts, that of Babylon,
the arrogant, luxurious and idolatrous, was least likely to be the
nurse of holiness.
Early privations and sufferings may mould a soul into patience,
humility, faith and obedience ; but to be early served, and pam
pered, and flattered, is far less likely to develop good moral
qualities. Out of long tribulations, a man may come matured and
purified, enabled to resist temptations, and hold fast his integrity.
To be taught in childhood paganism, despotism, and how to
gratify the ear of kings, is a strange preparation for a manhood
of sobriety, industry, and the fear of God.

DANIEL. 451
Alone — separated from familiar faces, far from the Avise mentors
of infancy; shut out from the hearing of the laAV of his Lord,
Daniel not only preserves the integrity of his spirit, but grows in
heavenly Avisdom, prays Avithout ceasing, speeds onward in the
Avay to Heaven, and takes with him those dearest friends, his felloAv
captives, his kinsmen, according to the flesh no doubt, who fol-
loAved all the heavenward leadings of his stronger spirit.
Martyr souls were they, ready to die, if need be, for their faith,
yet able to live and maintain that faith in the midst of the most
voluptuous court in the world.
It was a common custom of Assyrian kings to forcibly remove
the Avhole, or most important portion, of the population of con
quered nations to distant parte of their kingdom. The city
Babylon overflowed Avith Jews, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Syrians
and Moabites. The Babylonians were themselves a mixed race,
and this continual introduction of foreign elements fully justifies
the term Jeremiah applies to them — " the mingled people."
The education of Daniel first attracts our attention. The com
mand of the king was, that during three years he should be
carefully instructed " in the learning and tongue of the Chal
deans." This includes also the Chaldean manners, customs,
beliefs and prevailing ideas — none of which, in a human view,
appear suitable pabulum for the mental and moral development
of a prophet of the Lord.
The Chaldeans were deeply religious; their Bel worship was
part and parcel of every thought and act of their lives. This is
indicated by the size of their temples ; the devices of their seals
and signets; the remains of their painting and sculpture; the
names of their children ; even by their banquets, Avhere they sang
the praises of their gods over their wine cups.
The life of Daniel at Babylon was initiated by a change of his
Hebrew name to one compounded Avith that of Bel, the ruling

452 DANIEL.
divinity of Chaldea. Doubtless the high soul of the Jewish boy
rebelled sorely against this imposition.
One of the principal themes of instruction at Babylon Avould be
the Assyrian religion. Next after this would come the national
morals. Nicolas, of Damascus, says that the Babylonians especially
cultivated tAvo virtues — honesty and calmness; both of these would
commend themselves to Daniel, and Ave see the fruits of an early
training in them, in his after life.
In astronomy, the Chaldeans were the teachers of the world;
and to this grand science Daniel doubtless devoted much of his
time. We can imagine the beautiful Hebrew youth standing
among the ancient sages on the summit of the mighty tower of
Bel, watching the evolutions of the planets in the midnight sky,
and tracing the constellations. Each star he is told has its influ
ence on human des-tiny ; each one possesses some strange power
upon our mortal life; the Heavens are divided into houses; the
instant of an individual's birth Avas a theme; and from the starry
house, and its planet lord, a man's life was to be forecast.
Daniel listens submissively, but there is a song in his heart — the
song Avhose glorious cadences echoed once through the temple.
" When I consider the heavens the Avork of thy fingers, the moon
and the stars which thou hast ordained, Avhat is man that thou
art mindful of him, or the son of man that thou visitest him ? "
David, watching his sheep on the Judean plain, grew in the
knowledge of his God ; and the prisoner Daniel, on the Tower of
Belus, shall use the lore of David as his armor against the
enchantments of a false faith. "The Heavens declare the glory
of God, and the firmament shoAveth his handiAvork : day unto
day uttereth speech, and night unto night shoAveth knowledge."
And then Daniel remembers the laAV of the Lord, which is per
fect, sure, and holy. " Praise him, ye sun and moon : praise him,

DANIEL. 453
all ye stars of light. Fire and hail, shoav and vapour, stormy
Avind, fulfilling his word."
Thus Daniel kept his heart Avhile he Avas the pupil of the
priests of Belus. " These priests," says Diodorus Siculus, " Avere
devoted to the pursuit of learning. They guarded the temple,
served the gods, studied the skies, read omens, explained visions ;
and no man questioned of their Avisdom."
We see from the narrative in the Scripture, that Daniel was
made a member of one of the Babylonish sacred orders, and here
the ignorance of unbelievers has raised a loud outcry. A Jew
become a member of the Chaldaic priesthood ! Impossible. The
story is a romance !
Not so. In Babylon, as in Persia and Egypt, there was a
peculiar class of priestly philosophers to Avhich foreigners Avere
admitted, if learned enough to attain the highest privileges. A
body at once sacerdotal and learned, they studied history, astron
omy, chronology, grammar and laAv; but chiefly astrology.
For admission to this order, Daniel Avas three years in training,
that he might stand an accomplished astrologer before the king.
Beauty, hoAvever, was a qualification almost as necessary to a
Chaldean courtier as learning; therefore, the teachers of Daniel
devoted themselves to his physical training as assiduously as to
his mental culture.
The diet of the Babylonian court Avas luxurious : fruit, milk,
vegetables ; fish, game and choice meats, with unlimited quanti
ties of wine, Avere daily served at the king's board ; and from
thence a portion Avas sent to the captive pupils of the priests, that
they might grow " fat and fair," and that their " countenances
might be in good liking."
Daniel, however, kneAV that idolatrous ceremonies and conse
crations were supposed to have made the king's food more nutri
tious ; and also that there would be mingled with it such food as

,454 DANIEL.
Avas unclean to a Hebrew, and especially that the flesh would
have been killed in a manner to render it impure to an observer
of Mosaic law.
These matters he laid before his companions, and with wonder
ful self-denial they resolved to abstain from royal dainties, and
eat such common food and fruit as Avas beneath the pampered
appetites of Chaldean rioters.
Melzar was tutor of these four Hebrew lads, and the affection
Avhich they excited- in his heart, together with the earnestness,
piety, and discretion of their appeal to him, show us these lads as
already singularly mature and attractive.
A blessing followed their pious resolve : they were favored with
unusual health of body and cheerfulness of heart : quiet con
sciences shone in the beauty of their faces, and Avith untroubled
spirits and untainted blood, their minds Avere left free and active,
so that, at the end of three years, the four Jews stood peerless
before the king ; Aviser than all their teachers, brave, ready, acute,
yet gracious and persuasive; " and in all matters of Avisdom and
understanding that the king inquired of them, he found them ten
times better than all the magicians and astrologers that Avere in
his realm."
Daniel entered upon his life as a courtier after three years of
captivity. All the temptations and false teachings of these years
had in no wise sullied the simplicity and purity of his spirit.
His calmness in danger is shoAvn in his gentle and reasonable re
monstrance with Arioch, captain of the guard, who at the order of
a furious despot, had come to behead him. His Avinning elo
quence stays the hand of the executioner, and gains a reprieve
from Nebuchadnezzar. His prayerful faith, his entire dependence
upon the God of his fathers, are exhibited in his consultation with
his three comrades, and the night of prayer that ensues. His as
cription of praise to God, Avhen his supplications are answered, is
evidence of the most ardent piety.

DANIEL. 455
Thus the youthful exile entered upon the trying duties of his
manhood, eminent in holiness. Of his religion he made no secret.
He says to the king plainly, " There is a God in heaven that re-
vealeth secrets and maketh known to king Nebuchadnezzar what
shall be in the latter days." This, his God, he elevates at once
over Belus and his mouthpieces and servants, the magicians and
astrologers. And as he immediately gives proof ofthe supremacy of
the God Avhom he adores, Nebuchadnezzar accepts it humbly.
He preaches the coming dominion of the God of heaven, who
shall reign over the conquered empires of the earth ; and preaches
it with such eloquence, simplicity and sincerity, that the truth is
fully impressed upon the mind of the king. There is no ring of
ihe coAvard in the brave Avords :
" And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set
up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed : and the kingdom
shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and
consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever."
Never Avas a courtier so honored in the beginning of his career
as this Daniel ; for, impressed Avith his divine wisdom, Nebu
chadnezzar, the greatest potentate of the earth, " fell upon his face
and Avorshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an
Oblation and sweet odors unto him." Treated thus as a god,
Daniel did not for one moment lose his sobriety, humility and
frankness as a man ; and he had instant need of every virtue
which humanity can possess, for the king loaded him with gifts,
and then made him ruler over the royal province of Babylon, and
chief of the governors of the Magi. Firm in his friendships,
Daniel took but one advantage of this bountiful kindness of the
king ; he remembered the graces and learning of his three dear
friends, and petitioned for their advancement. Nebuchadnezzar
at once gave them lofty positions in the state, but kept Daniel in
his palace, to counsel him in every emergency.

456 DANIEL.
We find that Daniel passed much of his time at Susa, or
Shushan, a royal city, where was a favorite palace of the kings
of Babylon ; and he may haA7e been administering the affairs of
that part of the kingdom, at the time of the famous trial of the
integrity of the three Plebrew princes, Avho would not obey king
Nebuchadnezzar, " to Avorship the golden 'image which he had set
up." The friendship of Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar seems to have
been very sincere ; it is especially shown in the interpretation of
the king's sadly significant dream of the fallen forest tree.
This dream occurred probably within the last twelve years of
Nebuchadnezzar's life. The reign of Nebuchadnezzar lasted
forty-four years. Daniel was carried into captivity during the
first or second year of Nebuchadnezzar. Pie seems to have been
absent from Babylon, doubtless acting as governor or viceroy for
his king", when that fatal dream disturbed the royal peace, and
Daniel, the gifted, Avas called to relieve his sovereign's perplexity.
During this long period of his public life, Daniel had groAvn in
grace and holiness, for Ezekiel, Avhose captivity and prophecy
occurred Avithin this time, mentions him tAvice as conspicuous for
purity and knowledge ; setting him with Noah and Job, those
great types of godly living, and favorites of HeaA7en. " Though
these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, Avere in it, they should
deliver but their OAvn souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord."
The scene Avhen Nebuchadnezzar narrates his dream is one of
surpassing interest. The tAvo friends, the mighty king and his
chief counsellor, are alone. When the vision has been told, excess
of grief keeps Daniel for one hour speechless. It is not fear that
binds his tongue, as we shall soon see, but it is anguish of soul,
that one Avhom he loves, and for much admires, has, by his sins,
incurred the so heavy wrath of Heaven, that he must noAV unfold
and presently witness this sore affliction.

DANIEL. 457
The king, seeing his friend's trouble, comforts and encourages
him : " Belteshazzar, let not the dream, nor the interpretation
thereof, trouble thee." " My lord," says the gracious Daniel, and
the true love of the friend rings through the suavity of the cour
tier, " let the dream be to them that hate thee, and the interpreta
tion thereof to thine enemies."
For more than forty years Daniel Avas in the court of Nebu
chadnezzar. At the death of that great monarch, the most
troubled period of Daniel's life began. Evil-Merodach, the son
of Nebuchadnezzar, succeeded to the throne. There are various
traditions of this unhappy prince. One account is, that during
his father's insanity, Evil-Merodach attempted to seize the govern
ment, and was cast into prison, where he contracted a friendship
for Jehoiachin, Avhich resulted in his delivering that king from his
long captivity as soon as he had poAver to do so. There is also a
tradition, that from intercourse with Jews and other strangers in
his land, Evil-Merodach had begun to think lightly of his own
religion, and despise the priests, whose hatred he aroused by cur
tailing their poAvers and privileges. The circumstance of his par
ticularly honoring Jehoiachin and making him his faA7orite com
panion, may have given rise to suspicions that he was departing
from the ancient policy of the kingdom, and was giving prece
dence and authority to strangers instead of to his legitimate sub
jects. After a reign of two years, Evil-Merodach was deposed
during a revolt headed by Nerigilisser his brother-in-laAV.
This man had acquired popularity and prestige in three Avays :
he was the son-in-law of the famous Nebuchadnezzar, and, in
Chaldea, princesses had royal rights, and not unfrequently came
to the throne ¦ he was an experienced warrior, and had conducted
the siege of Jerusalem, which is mentioned by Jeremiah as begin
ning in the ninth year of Zedekiah. He had also gained influence
as a Rab-Mag, which is chief ofthe magicians.

458 DANIEL.
This Nerigilisser reigned four years, and dying, left the empire
to his son, Laborsoracus, a poor, unhappy boy, who paid Avith his
life for his father's usurpation of royal authority. This luckless
creature reigned but nine months, and is said to have been put to
death by torture. Thus, after a period of seventy years, the king
dom left the family of Nabopolasser.
Nabonadius now succeeded to the throne ; he was a conspirator,
who had also been Rab-Mag, and bricks are now found among
Babylonian ruins where this title is appended to his name.
There is reason to suppose that he married a daughter of Nebu
chadnezzar, very likely the Avidow of Nerigilisser and mother
of the murdered boy king.
Thus Daniel saw the reign of five Babylonian sovereigns, the
last four following one another in quick succession, amid the
uproar of conspiracies and revolts.
For many years the foes of the Bible made a grand difficulty of
the story of Belshazzar and his reign in Babylon. The monu
ments, they cried, the bricks, the stamped cylinders, mention
no such king, and the history of his rioting and death was a gross
fabrication to exalt the name of Daniel.
The researches of RaAvlinson gloriously vindicated the statements
of the Scriptures. The bricks and cylinders after a burial of cen
turies came forth from their graves, to testify against those who
appealed to them to destroy the truth of God. These exhumed
records ofthe Chaldeans shoAV that Nabonadius had by his wife —
probably the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar — a son Belshazzar, or
Bil-shar-uzzar, who was therefore by his mother's side a grandson
of Nebuchadnezzar. This prince, Nabonadius early associated
with himself in the government; gave him the title of king, and
established him at Babylon, with his mother for his chief adviser.
While this young, inexperienced and dissolute prince was in
possession of royal authority at Babylon, Cyrus came to besiege the

DANIEL. 459
city. Nabonadius hastening to the rescue of his son and capital,
was defeated by the Persian army, and forced to retire to Borsippa.
We have now reached the time of Belshazzar's feast, and the
return of Daniel to the story of the kingdom. Belshazzar, aided
by the counsels of his mother, and experienced ministers of State,
and supported by a numerous and well-disciplined army, for a long
time defied the besiegers. The strength of Babylon seemed im
pregnable, its resources inexhaustible; through all the city the
tide of life and its ordinary avocations floAved on, careless of the
presence of the mighty host at the gates.
Since the death of Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel, already past middle
life, had apparently retired to a private station. The ribald con
spirators, and jealous magicians who seized the kingdom saw no
thing desirable in that grand life which, bent on duty only, pursued
its steady way, " Like some calm planet shining thro' the night."
Removed from the distractions of the court, Daniel iioav doubt
less Avas living the happiest part of his life. Ambitious men would
have fretted over loss of power and honor ; worldly men would
have looked back with longing to those " flesh-pots of Egypt,"
the glitter, luxury and mirth ofthe palace. Daniel, dismissed by
earthly sovereigns, devoted himself with renewed ardor to Avaiting
upon the King of kings. The neglected courtier of Babylon be
came more than ever the courtier of the skies ; he who once gov
erned the royal province, and made law7s for " the mingled people,"
now gave himself to strengthening the hands ofthe exiled Israelites ;
animating their faith ; and reviving their love for Zion, city of
God, Jerusalem the joy of the Avhole earth. Dearest and brightest
memory of Daniel's life was the city of David ; the glorious temple
of Solomon, noAV fallen in- ruins ; the towers and bulwarks, the
porches and gardens, the groves and houses of cedar, which orna-

460 DANIEL.
mented the home of his fathers ; and whose glory had been the
theme on which their lips had best loved to dwell.
The splendors of Babylon, her imperial purple, crimson and
gold, had never outvied the lovely radiance of those scenes of
childhood. The old man remembered Jerusalem, and as he re
called each walk aud way, he heard again the sound of the silver
trumpets, and the glad chorus of singing priests ; he heard the
prayers, saw the smoke of the daily sacrifice ; saw the fragrant
clouds of incense, the symbolical robes, and listened to the voice
of benediction. He heard the SAvelling of the Songs of Degrees,
and saw the multitudes thronging to the Holy City for the
festivals. Oh happy days which should come again to those young men
and children of Judah Avho now dwelt in Babylon ; never to him
the exiled prophet, the saintly courtier, who had groAvn old and
gray in his captivity. He Avent among his people infusing his
OAvn loving, faithful spirit, Avherever he spoke of the approaching
restoration ; he instructed them to pray looking to Jerusalem, as
Solomon had taught at the dedication of the Temple. The great
mind which had administered the affairs of millions, iioav was oc
cupied in cultivating piety and patriotism in his countrymen. The
prophecies of release from captivity after seventy years ; of the
sudden surprise and fall of Babylon, and of Cyrus as a deliverer,
were kept before the Jews by Daniel.
For the most part, the Jews Avere well treated in Babylon ; many
of them amassed Avealth, and Avere advanced to high positions.
But in the heart of the JeAV religion and patriotism were closely
wedded ; Zion Avas a spot so sacred that no other could be like it;
there the blessing Avas to descend on the nation ; there prayer was
especially heard ; there shone the glory of God ; there only the
JeAV could Avorship in the manner of his fathers. From all those
captives by the Euphrates Avent up the voice of lamentation :

DANIEL. 461
" May this right hand, whose skill
Can wake the harp at will,
And bid the listeners' joys or griefs in light or darkness come,
Forget its godlike power,
If for one brief dark hour,
My heart forgets Jerusalem, fallen city of my home I "
And noAV for two years, Cyrus the son of prophecy, whom God
had called as his " Shepherd " more than a century and a half be
fore his birth, had been investing the city Babylon, and storming
her froAAming AA7alls.
GroAvn reckless in his confidence, Belshazzar remitted his Avatch-
fulness and gaA7e himself to revelry.
A fatal night came, in Avhich he made a feast to a thousand of
his lords. " The king and his princes, his Avives and his concu
bines," are enumerated as drinking together at this feast. " They
drank Avine and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass,
of iron, of Avood, and of stone."
All this is in strict accordance with what we learn elseAvhere of
Assyrian customs. Ahasuerus (Xerxes I.) made a feast for all
his nobles and princes, Avhich lasted one hundred and eighty days ;
at the conclusion of which he feasted all the citizens of Susa for
seven days.
It Avas the custom at feasts to celebrate the praises of the gods
in songs, as they drank their Avine. The Babylonians Avere greatly
giA'cn to excess in drinking ; in banquet halls elegantly furnished
they reclined on Avorld-famous carpets ; Avere clad in gorgeous gar
ments of silk, linen, woolen and cloth of gold ; they wore jewels
and trinkets Avithout number; shone in all. the dyes of the rain
bow ; and to the sound of music, Avhich accompanied every feast,
they rioted for hours. Ctesias says that one nobleman entertained
his guests with the songs of one hundred and fifty Avomen Avho
sang in chorus. At these Assyrian feasts Avomen were abvays pre
sent, and instead of being a check upon the confusion, they drank

462 DANIEL.
as deeply as their companions, and added to the wild abandonment
of the Bacchinal.
In the midst of such a scene, Belshazzar saAV upon the opposite
wall the hand of an uninvited guest, tracing Avords that none could
read. Across the brilliant paintings on the Avail ran lines of livid
light, a ghostly presage of doom. Above the din of revelry rang
the Avild cry of the frantic king, calling for his magicians, astrolo
gers and soothsayers. Before that terrible inscription they stood
dumb ; and noAV an awful silence filled the banquet room, and
pallid faces Avere lifted toAvard the -writing on the Avail.
There Avas one person in the palace who had held aloof from
the ribald and inauspicious glee of that night.
The queen-mother, in her OAvn apartment, brooded OA7er memo
ries of the past, and nursed fears for the future. In her early
days she had seen much of Daniel, her royal father's friend. She
had heard of the Lord God of Israel, Avhose word never fails, and
she kneAV Avhat his prophets had spoken of the fate of Babylon.
She remembered that after the fall of the " Head of Gold,"
another inferior kingdom should arise in its stead, and now the
mighty fabric of Chaldean poAver seemed hastening to decay.
In the midst of her anxious musing comes to her Avord of the
supernatural appearance in the hall of feasting. A spectral hand,
with a pen dipped in fire, writes ceaselessly four Avords, that none
can read. The wise men are helpless ; the courtiers are aghast ;
the wives and the concubines are phrensied with terror ; the king
trembles like an aspen, cannot rise from his couch, and with
pallid lips cries out for some one to interpret the mystery.
At once the royal mother hastens to her son. With tenderness
she reassures him ; she has maternal love for this base, riotous
youth, the victim of her own godless training : " O king, live for
ever. There is a man in thy kingdom in whom is the spirit of
the holy gods . . . and in the days of thy father, light and under-

DANIEL. 463
standing and Avisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in
him." She, therefore, sends messengers to the humble home of the
ex-courtier, and with haste they bring him before the affrighted
king. Belshazzar had evidently never met Daniel. He looks at the
old man, clad in a plain JeAvish garb, and wonders if this is he
who ruled provinces; SAvayed the counsels of Nebuchadnezzar;
governed the Magi, and had an oblation offered unto him as if he
were a god.
"Art thou," he cries, " that Daniel which art of the children
ofthe captivity of Judah, whom the king, my father, brought out
of JeAvry ? I have heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in
thee." Belshazzar knows of but one ruling motive for the human soul
— self-interest. He endeavors to excite this in Daniel, that he
may serve him well. He details his perplexities, and finally adds :
" Now if thou canst read the Avriting, and make knoAvn to me the
interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed in scarlet, and have a
chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be third ruler in the
kingdom." Daniel had loved and revered Nebuchadnezzar, his benefactor
and friend, who had had some lofty virtues ; this effete Belshazzar,
this drunken debauched viceroy of Nabonadius, who has this very
night offered gross and deliberate insult to the King of Heaven,
in that he has taken the holy vessels of the ravished Temple of
Jerusalem, and given them to harlots, that in them they may
drink to Belus and Ashtoreth, Daniel's soul abhors. He replies,
with lofty calmness : " Let thy gifts be to thyself, and thy reAvards
to another."
Daniel knoAvs well that when bad men reign, "the post of
honor is a priA7ate station."

464 DANIEL.
Standing before that eager, gorgeous, fearful throng, the thou
sand lords, the Avomen of the harem, the myriads of servants, and
before the quailing, awe struck king, Daniel rehearses Nebuchad
nezzar's sin and fall. He then reproaches Belshazzar for his
crimes, culminating in this defilement of the holy utensils of the
house of God.
Then turning to the wall, he sees the Avriting hand Avithdrawn,
and the four Aveighty words left, that contain the doom of Babylon.
In a profound hush, Daniel read the message from on High.
Belshazzar Avas Aveighed, and found wanting; his kingdom was
already divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
Already obsequious slaves had brought the ordered reward..
They Avrapped about Daniel the scarlet robe, hung upon his neck
the golden insignia of office, and leading him forth from the
palace, proclaimed him third ruler in the kingdom.
An empty honor — for already the treacherous river had betrayed
ite trust ; a tide of human life flowed through its bed ; the armed
heels of Medes and Persians rang on the paved ways ; their steel-
cased forms climbed the Avaterside stairs, and pressed a silent and
triumphant host toAvard that banquet house, Avhere they would
pour out Babylonian blood more freely than wine had flowed into
the golden cups sacred to Judah's God.
Morning daAvned. The Mother of Kingdoms, the Glory of the
Chaldees, had changed rulers. Belshazzar was dead ; his people
Avere conquered ; his courtiers AA7ere banished ; his servants owned
another lord. Darius, the ally and satrap of Cyrus, reigned on
the throne of Nabopolassar.
Perhaps the fame of Daniel had spread through Media and
Persia ; perhaps the strange story of that night of doom reached
the new monarch's ears ; perhaps the queen-mother, Avho had
remembered Daniel, Avas taken into the confidence of Darius, and
spoke to him of her great father's favorite friend.

DANIEL. 4C5
HoAvever this may be, Darius at once set about remodelling his
kingdom, and Daniel was suddenly restored to all his former
glory ; becoming second ruler in the kingdom.
Darius set over his neAV domain one hundred and tAventy
princes; over these three presidents; and of these presidents,
Daniel Avas first. "This Daniel Avas preferred above the presi
dents and princes, because ah excellent spirit Avas in him ; and the
king thought to set him over the Avhole realm."
A child, in captivity and temptation, Daniel had been firm and
pious; a man in the allurements of a court, flattered, wealthy,
surrounded Avith heathenism and immorality, he had been diligent
in business; humble before God; brave for truth, and pure in
life. Cast suddenly from wealth to poverty, from splendor to
obscurity, from honor to neglect, Daniel pursued the even tenor
of his way ; was righteous in the eyes of his Maker ; stood apart
from sin; was content; Avas simple in manner, and religious in
practice, neither desiring nor accepting rewards.
Now swept from this quiet nook, where his virtues had thrived
in secret, he is carried at once to the very pinnacle of poAver.
The heart of the king Avas set on him ; he lived in the sunshine
of royal favor ; a hundred and tAventy provinces took their laAV
from his lips ; he dwelt in the palace ; and those who Avould win
favor with the monarch, must seek it through Daniel.
In all this business care and royal display, he finds — as few
men do — time to be religious. He does not hide his piety • his
is an unpopular religion, not the gorgeous worship of Bel, but the
austere service of a captive nation ; the adoration of that Invisible
One, whose children have languished in bondage these many years.
Wonderful concession is this of his enemies ! Here is a public
man, whose integrity and industry are such that his foes say of
him : " We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel,
except we find it against him concerning the law of his God ! "
30

466 DANIEL.
Daniel knows the machinations of his foes. He has lived for
God, now he is willing to die for Him.
There are occasions Avhen concealment is a crime. Here is one
of them : and Daniel, as is his wont, kneels three times a day
with his face toAvard beloved and desolated Jerusalem, and cries
to God for help in all his need. From this Supernal Source, the
saintly courtier gained his Avisdom, his benevolence, his probity,
all which made him invaluable to the state. He knew that that
open window about Avhich enemies waited, was as the open
mouths of hungry monsters, yawning to destroy him.
Kneeling there, God was with him. Just as a little time
after God Avas with him in that fearful den of lions, where
he sat safely shadoAved by the King of kings ; and while
Darius, the Mede, Avept in his palace, and the sounds of mirth
Avere hushed, Daniel, in peaceful contemplation, had foretaste
of the time when none shall hurt or destroy in all God's holy
mountain. Thus tried by persecution, Daniel was steadfast still, and after
this the Scripture tells us he prospered until the reign of Cyrus.
Thus Avas Daniel in Babylonia under seven kings, maintaining
through eA7ery strange change in his circumstances an unvarying
righteousness of Avalk and conversation.
Most honored of courtiers, he was also one of God's great
triumvirate of typical holy men ; and as a prophet united the
gifts of his cotemporaries in the Old Testament, with the Apoca
lyptic visions of John, the latest seer.
The first vision which this prophet records, came to him in his
retirement, during the first year of Belshazzar ; the revelation
was a mighty bridge of light, built from the days of Daniel, spring
ing with a glorious arch the stream of time, and completing its
span Avith the glory Avhich shall be revealed when the Son of Man
shall have come into his kingdom.

DANIEL. 467
In the third year of Belshazzar's reign in Babylon, Daniel
seems to have been for a time at Susa, perhaps engaged in some
business for king Nabonadius, Belshazzar's father. Here he had
another vision, in which events are set forth with such clearness
and precision that they appear rather as a history of what is past
than a prophecy of the future.
In the first year of " Darius the Mede," (Cyaxares II.,) Daniel
tells us that he set himself to a careful study ofthe books of Jere
miah Avith a view to ascertain the length of the captivity, and the
"time of the end." This study he accompanied with humiliation,
fasting and prayer; making confession for himself and for his
people, and beseeching the favor of God.
In Daniel's prayerfulness was his strength. We see him praying
in prosperity and in adversity ; in joy and in danger ; in doubt
and in the midst of business. He prays when the decree has
gone forth to slay him ; in the den of lions ; in the palace ; about
the king's business ; in the midst of siege, and in the silence of the
night. His mission to Darius is not the ordinary mission of courtiers,
he stood before the king " to confirm and to strengthen him."
This was his idea of his office to Nebuchadnezzar also, and to Cyrus,
mighty despots, before whom a world trembled. He showed them
the right way, upheld the law of his Lord, and dared exhort them,
"Break off thy sins by righteousness." Such was his influence
that he made these monarchs preachers of holiness in their domi
nions. Nebuchadnezzar did public honor to the "King of
heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment."
Darius made a decree that, " in every dominion of my kingdom,
men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel ; for He is the
Living God, and steadfast forever."
Daniel never seemed distressed "by any of his OAvn varied for
tunes, but for the afflictions of his nation he fasted and Avept ; his

468 DANIEL.
countenance was changed as he foresaAV their final dispersion.
" He fainted and was sick," as he beheld afar off the cruelties
practised by Antiochus Epiphanes. The last recorded vision of
Daniel is in the third year of Cyrus. Two years before this had
gone forth the famous decree for the return of the Jews and the
rebuilding of the city and Temple.
At this time Daniel must have been nearly ninety years old :
too aged to undertake the long journey across the plains from Eu
phrates to Judea, and doubtless also more needed by his people
as their friend in power, their advocate beside the king, than as
their companion on the Avay to Jerusalem.
The city of Zion to him should be only a memory, like his
mother's face, vanished Avith those innocent delights of childhood,
before he became a stranger in Chaldea. But what of this ? A
voice celestial had sounded in his ears, " O man, greatly beloved,
fear not : peace be to thee ; be strong, yea, be strong."
Then had he taken heart of grace and made ansAver : " Let my
Lord speak ; for thou hast strengthened me."
" Blessed is he that waiteth," had the Lord said to Daniel ;
" but go thy way, till the end be ; for thou shalt rest and stand
in thy lot at the end of the days."
After a life so long and so busy, rest was sweet; he found
it in Assyrian soil, but he had reached the true Mount Zion,
the glorious Land, the City of the Living, the Jerusalem whose
Temple is the Lord her God.
The Life of Daniel shows us that there is no situation,
whether lofty or lowly, where it is impossible for men to main
tain the fear and service of their God. Daniel, during his
long life, filled almost every possible position, a prisoner, a prime
minister, a private citizen, a prophet; and in all he kept unsul
lied his Christian character, and shed abroad the light of a pure
and devout spirit.

DANIEL. 469
There is nigh to every man a fountain of help and strength
sufficient to his need ; there is ever open a hearing ear, and out
stretched a guiding hand, for all the sons of men in life's tor
tuous way ; and, after the tumult, toil and pain, come to the
trusting, patient spirit, the everlasting rejoicing, the rest in the
presence of the King of Glory.

XXIII.
NEHEMIAH.
THE PATRIOTISM OF RELIGION.

I 'HE history of Nehemiah must begin with a glance at the
Jewish fortunes from the days of Daniel. The first year
of the reign of Cyrus at Babylon was signalized by that
great act for which God had especially called him to the
kingdom — the Restoration of the Jews.
Agreeably to its usual policy, the Chaldean nation had so well
treated the captive people, that only a remnant of the great tribe
of Judah returned to desolated Jerusalem. This remnant was un
doubtedly the very flower of Israel, the most pious, patriotic and
enlightened part of the exiles. There still remained in Assyria
many noble families of Jews, who maintained their OAvn worship ;
and felt themselves a part of JeAvry rather than of Chaldea ; even
while voluntarily abiding in a foreign land. The probity, learn
ing and business tact of these men, caused them to be advanced to
positions or high honor under the Persian government, and they
used their influence ever in behalf of that brave band, who led the
forlorn hope of Israel in re-establishing the nationality in the
teeth of tremendous difficulties and opposition.
Cyrus lived for seven years after the restoration, and was suc
ceeded by his son, Cambyses.
Several of the Persian rulers were called by the Jews Ar
taxerxes, a title of honor, meaning great king : many kings were
470

NEHEMIAH. 471
also named by them, Ahasuerus. In Ezra the fourth chapter and
sixth verse, an Ahasuerus is mentioned avIio is doubtless Camp
byses, the Aveak and Avicked successor of the mighty Cyrus. The
reign of this Cambyses lasted seven years. Amid the tumult
and anarchy occasioned by his outrageous despotism, it Avas very
easy for the enemies of the JeAvs to obtain a reversal of the edicts
of Cyrus ; and thus the building of the Temple was stopped, and
the city Avas left Avithout walls.
Cambyses Avas succeeded by the usurper Smerdis the Magian,
who endeavored to personate Smerdis, the son of Cyrus, Avho had
been privately murdered. This Magian is called Artaxerxes ' in
Ezra, fourth chapter and seventh verse. His reign lasted only
eight months, but during this time the active foes of Israel ob
tained from him a decree against the work at Jerusalem, Avhich
still further embarrassed and discouraged the returned people.
The treachery of Smerdis having been discovered, he was assas
sinated, and Darius, the son of Hystaspes, Avas made king.
Darius Avas a disciple of Zoroaster, the reformer of the Magian
religion. The school of Zoroaster had imbibed many of its opinions
from the Jewish captives. Hystaspes, the father of Darius, had
been a favored officer of King Cyrus, and could not possibly have
failed to know Daniel, the chief minister of state, and archimagus,,
or governor of the Magians. Indeed, the wisdom of Daniel had
passed into such high repute that, as we see from Ezekiel, it ber
came a proverb, " Art thou wiser than Daniel ? "
To the office of archimagus, Hystaspes himself succeeded on
the coronation of his son. !
Thus Darius, by early associations, by religious preferences, and
by his just desire to emulate the great Cyrus, was disposed to
favor the Jews.
The prophets Haggai and Zechariah encouraged the leaders of
the people to resume their work at the Holy City, as God had raised

472 NEHEMIAH.
Ihem up a friend in the ne%v sovereign. The leaders of the Resto
ration had been Zerubbabel, as civil ruler, and Jeshua as High
Priest. The people had noAV been about fifteen years struggling
to rebuild their homes.
An appeal against the JeAvs, made to Darius, caused him to
search the records of the kingdom, and find the edicts of Cyrus ;
animated by the example of that benevolent ruler, Darius reproved
the hostility of Tatnai and his confreres ; and decreed to the JeAvs
not only liberty to rebuild, but money, cattle, timber, and any as
sistance Avhich they might need.
The book of Ezra is not a continuous history. BetAveen chap
ters sixth and seventh, there is a hiatus of probably fifty -six years.
This period begins Avith the seventh year of Darius, and reaches
to the seventh year of his grandson, Artaxerxes Longimanus.
During this time in Persia had reigned Xerxes, the son of
Darius, Avho is called Ahasuerus in the book of Esther. Some
IiaA'e considered Artaxerxes Longimanus to be this Ahasuerus,
but the Aveight of testimony is in favor of Xerxes, as the king
who divorced Vashti, and married Esther.
In this fifty-six years, Zerubbabel and Jeshua had died at Jeru
salem ; many, even of the Levites, had married strange wiA'es;
public order relaxed ; the services of the sanctuary fell into dis
repute; Avhile misery and humiliation Avere the portion ofthe disor
ganized people. In the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus,
the son of Xerxes the Great, the Lord stirred up Ezra the scribe,
of the house of Levi, to go to the aid of his brethren. Though
born in Assyria, Ezra Avas a Jew in heart ; he Avas scrupulously
exact in the performance of Mosaic laAV, garnered at Zion the
dearest hopes of his heart, and like all the sons of the faith, for
more than three thousand years, looked " for the consolation of
Israel." Obtaining royal consent to go to Judea and strengthen his

NEHEMIAH. 473
brethren, Ezra, by means of a permissive decree, collected a host
of JeAvs, principally of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi,
to return and establish themselves in the dAvellings of their fore
fathers. Artaxerxes, also, Avith his court, gave a liberal present
of gold and silver to Ezra, and allowed him to invite gifts from
all the province of Babylon. The departing Israelites Avere per
mitted to carry with them all their property ; the descendants of
Levi Avere decreed to be free from taxation, and the provinces be
yond the Euphrates Avere ordered to pay to Ezra a tribute of sil
ver, wheat, oil, Avine and salt. The conclusion of this generous
edict is notable : " Whatsoever is commanded by the God of
heaA7en, let it be diligently done for the house of the God of
heaven ; for why should there be wrath against the realm of the
king and his sons?"
Ezra Avas a descendant of that Hilkiah, who was High Priest
in the reign of good Josiah. The character of the scribe is one
of great beauty ; his enthusiasm for his religion, and for the land
of his fathers, Avhich leads him to abandon court favor and pros
pect of preferment, and to de\'ote himself to building up the im
poverished cities of Israel, an enthusiasm Avhich could fire the
souls of so many of his countrymen, and cause them to cast in
their lot Avith his, gives us a fine picture of the JeAV of the resto
ration. His high place in the court and in the favor of the
monarch, and the entire confidence placed in his character, are
evinced by the liberal donations entrusted to him.
His humility appears in his earnest ascription of praise:
" Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, which hath put such a
"thing into the king's heart."
His faith is shoAvn in his simple statement that, at the river
Ahava he proclaimed a fast, to seek protection from the Lord
during the journey to Jerusalem ; " For," he says, " I was
ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen

474 NEHEMIAH.
to help us against the enemy in the way ; for we had spoken to
the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good
that seek him." Thus was Ezra zealous for the honor of his
Lord, and his confidence in the heavenly protection was not dis
appointed. Ezra undertook the task of renovating the religious life of his
people. He was not a reformer content with clipping off little
twigs of error and letting radical Avrongs alone. He set himself
at the roots of iniquity among the JeAvs, and made himself an
example of thorough work, for all reformers yet to come.
He was hoAvever simply a religious ruler ; the Jcavs had no one
to organize their state ; no one to combat the public enemy, no one
to administer civil laAVS, or keep them in good odor Avith their
Persian rulers.
We have no account of the duration of Ezra's work at Jeru
salem, nor ofthe time and place of his death. It is probable that
he died during the first absence in Susa of Nehemiah, who returned
to Artaxerxes after twelve years. In that time Ezra had done a
great Avork, in turning the hearts of the people to the Lord ; in
reforming abuses, and in preparing a way for the energetic admin
istration ofthe Tirshatha.
Among those JeAvs yet remaining in Assyria, Avas the family
of Hachaliah, a man of Judah. He had been prospered in the
country of his sojourn, and in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes
Longimanus, Nehemiah, the son of Hachaliah, stood before the
king as his cup-bearer, and favorite courtier.
In the character of Artaxerxes Longimanus, distinguished in
history as a benevolent, just and discreet sovereign, Ave see traces
of the bountiful influence of Esther and Mordecai. Artaxerxes
Avas ever a friend of the JeAvs, and evidently a respecter of the God
of Israel.
In the tAventieth year of this king, certain JeAvs from Jerusalem
visited Susa, at that time honored by the royal abode.

NEHEMIAH. 475
One of these was Hanani, a kinsman of Nehemiah.
These men called upon the cup-bearer, and he at once ques
tioned them closely upon the state of affairs in Palestine, and the
prosperity of the Jews.
The travellers had ill neAVS to tell. " The remnant," said they,
" that are left of the captivity are in sore affliction and reproach.
The Avail of Jerusalem is broken doAvn, and the gates are burned
Avith fire."
With their capital thus defenceless, in a hostile neighborhood,
the Jews Avere in a sorry case.
Nehemiah Avas a Avise statesman, as well as a favored courtier ;
and he perceived at once that the hope of his people was in fortifi
cation. It is noticeable that the decrees of Cyrus, Darius, and Artax
erxes had had reference to rebuilding the Temple, returning the
Jews to their own land, and to their olden religion ; but had given
no liberty to do what was, in the circumstances, especially impor
tant, namely, to build the city walls. The people needed
headquarters, a rallying point, a strongly fortified capital, looking
doAvn upon and guarding their vineyards, olive orchards and
wheat fields.
Over the picture of the desolation of his fatherland, the heart
of Nehemiah grew sick.
Religion is always patriotic, as it is always filial. Religion is
the nurse ofthe noblest emotions ofthe human soul — and of these
patriotism is one. The good man's father is God, his home is
Heaven ; of these his earthly parent and his earthly home are pre
cious types ; they are the stepping-stones whereon he climbs to the
unseen. The word of God carefully nourishes filial piety, and in each
heart God plants the emotion, which his law is to foster as with
sunshine and sluwer ; so also is patriotism set in the soul, and

476 NEHEMIAH.
precept and example are given in Scripture, to bring the generous
impulse to a noble growth. Subordination to just authority ; the
upholding of righteous laws ; the regarding of God as the Chief
over nations, and the spirit of self-sacrifice, Avhich looks first to
the greatest good of the many, are urged upon us in Holy Writ.
Especially AA7as the Jew called to be patriotic, because Avhen his
land Avas formally bestoAved on Abraham, the father of the race,
the promise of Messiah among his sons was also given, and the
land, and the coming Divine Prince, Avho Avas to be born in it,
were inseparably associated in the JeAvish mind. Moreover, the
one true religion — the ordained system of types and shadoA\7s pre
figuring the Redeeming Monarch — was planted at Jerusalem ;
there Avas the house of God ; there Avere festivals and fasts to be
kept; there offerings to be laid on the altar, and there vows to be
paid. The JeAA's' patriotism and the Jews' religion were as indis-
solubly united in him as his physical life Avas wedded to the
beatings of his heart.
For four months Nehemiah considered the sad case of his
people ; laid his plans, and prayed for a blessing upon them.
During this time, a growing sadness, born of sympathy with
suffering brethren, of high resolve, and of secret anxieties, had
subdued Nehemiah's countenance.
This change in his cup-bearer called the attention of the king ;
and after waiting for some time for the sadness to pass aAvay, and
seeing it only deepen, Artaxerxes kindly inquired the reason of
his trouble.
Now as royalty is courteously supposed never to die, and never
to do wrong, so it is supposed never to know that it holds its state
in a weary and painful world ; and human suffering was pro
hibited exhibition before kingly eyes.
King Artaxerxes was sitting at a banquet, and Nehemiah was
serving him with wine, when the amiable despot demanded :

NEHEMIAH. v 477
" Wliy is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick ? This is
nothing else but sorroAV of heart."
At " these words, Nehemiah Avas " sore afraid." He had been
wont to be cheerful in the presence of his master ; but hoav, knoAV-
ing the Avoes of his brethren, he could not rejoice ; and the fate
of his nation trembled upon his tongue. One umvise word, and
all was lost !
With a swift-sent thought to Heaven for help, Nehemiah made
honest answer : " Why should not my countenance be sad, Avhen
the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the
gates thereof are consumed Avith fire ? "
There Avas something lying back of this speech, so the king to
discover it asked : " For Avhat dost thou make request ? "
The decisive hour had come. For this the cup-bearer had
planned and prayed for four long months. He now paused a
moment, " praying to the God of heaven."
Then he said, calmly : " If it please the king, and if thy servant
have found grace in thy sight, that thou Avouldst send me to
Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may
build it."
Not for the Temple did he make request, but for the city ; for
walls and towers and palaces. Nehemiah Avas a building genius ;
on him was laid the burden of planting aneAV the commonAvealth.
He looked at the musing king anxiously; but caught an
encouraging smile from a gracious presence by the monarch's side
— the queen.
Presently the king replied favorably, Avith the question : " For
how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return?"
This plainly shoAVS the friendship of the king ; he cannot deny
his favorite's request ; he is unwilling to lose him altogether, and
he has confidence in his promises of return.
At this intimation of favor, Nehemiah gathered courage to ask

478 NEHEMIAH.
for orders, enjoining the enemies of his nation to leave him unmo
lested ; and to request aid in timbers and building material, to
restore the demolished Avails.
Artaxerxes conceded all ; and making no delay, with a few
friends Nehemiah set out for Jerusalem. He did not go unat
tended, for the king sent horsemen and captains Avith him, and
probably, following the usual royal custom, gave him presents of
gold and silver ; Avhile it Avas the practice of the JeAvs in Assyria
to send gifts to their struggling brethren, and the Tirshatha must
now have been the bearer of such tribute.
" It grieved them (the Horonite and Ammonite) exceedingly,
when they heard that a man Avas come to seek the welfare of the
children of Israel," says the story.
For three days Nehemiah rested quietly at Jerusalem, giving
audience to the chief men ofthe nation. Then, Avith a feAv friends,
he set out by night to make a circuit of the city ; to view the
broken Avails, and lay his plans for building. Nehemiah rode ;
his companions Avere on foot. Under the bright shining of the
Syrian moon, this small band of patriots Avent around their be
loved and unhappy city.
" I went out," says Nehemiah, " by the gate of the valley, even
before the dragon well." There is a singular fascination in this
scene : we have the broken and ruined city, so long scorned by its
foes ; the Temple, incomplete and lonely, rises in ite midst, and
about it are the homes of those Avho have preferred Jerusalem
above their chief joy, and Avho have chosen rather to be door
keepers of this unfinished and impoverished Temple, than to amass
Avealth in Chaldea.
The distant hills stand dark masses of shadow, their tops kissed
by Avhite light ; the plains lie in silver sheen, crossed by cones of
darkness cast on them by the adjacent heights; the subduing
moonlight lends a tender romantic beauty to fallen column, broken

e
2

2 ©

NEHEMIAH. 479
arch, and shattered pilaster; ruins of fire and Avar; outside the
broken ramparts Avanders that little group, too sad to speak^
beholding the desolation, and questioning if " the mercy of the
Lord is clean gone forever."
They left the city by the gate of the valley on the eastern side ;
before them lay the green slopes ofthe Mount of Olives; beneath
their feet descended the banks of the Kidron ; folloAving the line
of the wall southerly, they came to the fountain of the dragon,
and rounding the southern point of Ophel, looking doAvn upon
the valley of Jehoshaphat, they sought the gate of the fountain,
and then the king's pool ; in each instance finding the ground so
encumbered Avith debris that it AAras impossible for the beast Nehe
miah rode to pass. In the stillness of the advancing night they
turned north, and folloAved up the course of the brook Kidron,
vieAving the broken wall of the city of David, and the more recent
fortifications of Jotham and Hezekiah. Alas ! gloom and decay
Avere Avritten everywhere. The sacred city, celebrated by her poet
sons as the excellency of the earth, the joy of many generations,
sat dreary and solitary ; haggard empress of a realm of desolation.
" Reft of thy sons, amid thy foes forlorn,
Mourn, widowed queen ! forgotten Zion, mourn !
Is this thy place, sad city, this thy throne,
Where the wild desert rears its craggy stone ;
Where now thy pomp, which kings wilh envy viewed,
Where now the might which all those kings subdued ?
No martial myriads muster at thy gate ;
No suppliant nations in thy temple wait."
Returned from his melancholy tour of inspection, Nehemiah
shoAved his friends his commission as Tirshatha, and the edict of
the king, permitting the rebuilding of the city Avails. This ani
mated their sorroAving hearts, and they cried, " Let us arise and
build." Nehemiah had to contend with foes without. "Tobiah the

480 NEHEMIAH.
Ammonite, and Sanballat the Horonite, and Geshem the Arabian,"
united against him, despised him, laughed him to scorn, and ac
cused him of rebellion against the king. These enemies even
attacked the builders, so that Nehemiah organized a defence; and
his Avorkers Avith one hand Avrought on the Avail, and with the
other held each his weapon. The Tirshatha encouraged them,
saying, " The God of heaven will prosper us ; " kept up his OAvn
heart by crying, " Hear, O our God, Ave are despised."
The adversary used craft, sending to the governor, saying,
" Let us meet in one of the villages of the plain of Ono." But
the Avise cup-bearer responded, " I am doing a great work, I can
not come doAvn."
Nehemiah Avas also sorely tried by the hardness of heart and
rebellion of his OAvn countrymen. They held their brethren en-
slaved, and defied JeAvish law. But the Tirshatha had come
armed with civic power ; he was strong to administer laws ; he
held the reins of government Avith a firm grasp, and while he
tenderly persuaded the people, they knew that the right to enforce
justice Avas in his hands.
This noble heart Avas also distressed by a knoAvledge of the
treachery of those whom he had come to aid — as he Avrites :
" Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters
unto Tobiah . . . for there Avere many in Judah sAVOrn unto him . . .
also they reported his good deeds before me, and uttered my
words unto him."
Nehemiah has in modern history his parallel in William the
Silent, Prince of Orange. What Nehemiah Avas to Judah, was
William to Holland. These two hero patriots are similar in
largeness of heart and brain ; a noble devotion that knew no
thought of self-aggrandizement; in stern resolution which tri
umphed over the greatest difficulties; in faith- which drank vigor
from a celestial source ; in firmness under scorn, treachery, flat
tery, and secret hate.

NEHEMIAH. 481
Had Nehemiah been one Avhit less upright, less entirely faithful
both to his countrymen in Judah, and to his king Artaxerxes in
Persia, the cause of Israel Avould have been lost.
When the Avail of the city Avas rebuilt, Nehemiah set up the
gates, repaired the houses and palaces, numbered the people ac
cording to their genealogy, and appointed the priests and Levites
in their courses of service in the sanctuary. He then established
the different families in their OAvn cities ; appointed them to come
up for the ordained feasts, and, to confirm them in their faith and
observances, had Ezra publicly instruct them in the laAV. With
this act of national Avorship, Ezra reappears in the history. During
the feAV years previous he may have been in Persia, and his death
probably occurred during the absence of Nehemiah, when, accord
ing to his promise, he returned to Artaxerxes.
When the cup-bearer had first asked leave of absence, he had
set tAvelve years as the limit of his stay. To this Artaxerxes had
agreed, and the sequel shows the friendship of the monarch ; for
at the expiration of these years the cup-bearer Avas just as Avelcome
and as honored in his office as before he intermitted it. In tAvelve
years Artaxerxes had not beert able to find a more gracious, dig
nified or trusty attendant than this exile JeAV.
During the twelve years in Avhich he had sen7ed as Tirshatha,
Nehemiah had refused to receive any tribute or payment from the
people, but had maintained his own establishment and exercised a
large hospitality. If the accusations of Sanballat and Tobiah,
Avhen they charged him Avith an intention of rebelling and setting
up a kingdom for himself, had had any effect on the mind of
Artaxerxes, he soon convinced himself of the uprightness of his
servant. After again enjoying the luxury and pleasure of the
royal court for a season, Nehemiah got leave to return to Pales
tine to spend the remainder of his days. His office of governor
was restored to him, and he took a final leave of the splendors of
31

482 NEHEMIAH.
Shushan. It was not that he wanted poAver, for his position as
cup-bearer AA'as loftier than that of governor over the feeble JeAA7s ;
but his heart Avas not in the Persian court; it abode in the deser
ted sanctuary, and Avith the sepulchres of his fathers ; his hopes
Avere set not on foreign potentates, but on Him, the coming One,
the Jehovah, Christ, who was to spring from the line of David.
Nehemiah lived eminently in the light of the future life. He
measured all temporal and finite good by the greatness of the
infinite. He had his eyes eArer fixed on that Day for which all
other days Avere made, the day of account. He Avished so to live
as to stand before his returned Lord a faithful ser\7ant. His cry
was, "Remember me, O my God, for good."
It was this judging eA7er Avith a righteous judgment Avhich kept
him firmly in the best Avay, and delivered his feet from falling
into the snares laid by his adversaries. When Tobiah sent for
him to come to Ono, there Avas a determination to assassinate him.
Of this Nehemiah was ignorant, but he reflected that his present
duty was to build the Avail of Jerusalem. His post Avas among
the sons of Jacob; and the Lord could deal Avith Israel's enemies.
This thought caused him to reply, " I am doing a great Avork, and
I cannot come doAvn;" therefore he unconsciously saved his life.
Again Shemaiah was hired to betray him to Tobiah. Pretend
ing to be a friend, Shemaiah revealed an imaginary plot, beseeching
the Tirshatha to escape by taking refuge in the Temple. Nehe
miah possessed that blessed Avealth, mens sibi conscia recti ; the
sanctuary Avas often made the refuge of the flying criminal ; the
just governor had done no Avrong, and should fear none. He re
plied calmly, " Should such a man as I flee ? " And Avho is there
that, being as I am, Avould go into the Temple to save his life ? I
will not go in." Then he perceived that God was not Avith his
interlocutor, but that he AA7as dealing deceitfully.
On his return from Susa, Nehemiah carried forward the work

NEHEMIAH. 483
of establishing the nation in ite ancient form of Avorship and civil
rights. He insisted on a proper maintenance ofthe tribe of Levi,
Avecded from the chosen race the foreign element which had groAvn
up into it; and again pitted his strength against the mighty
and evil influence of Tobiah.
The vitality of the JeAvish nation has ever been a matter of
Avonder. No race has been so persecuted, so trampled upon, yet
it has appeared even to thrive upon the efforts made to extripate
it. From Pharaoh, to Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain, ungodly
rulers have expended on Israel their fury. Egyptians, Philistines,
Syrians, Persians, Chaldeans, Macedonians, Romans, fought
against the sons of Abraham ; murdered them by millions ; tore
them from their land and carried them into captivity, sought in
every Avay to eradicate their religion, their mother tongue, their
ancient customs, and to absorb the nation. Yet never has a peo
ple maintained so distinct a nationality.
Wrenched from their beloved land and flung out to die in the
world's higlnvays, suddenly they took root aud throve everywhere.
Pilgrims of commerce, they traversed eA'ery soil and eA7ery sea ;
given even the poorest- foothold, and they greAV rich and strong,
became a poAver to be felt, climbed unexpectedly to high places
of the state, and everywhere and at all times AA7ere JeAvs in heart
and feature. Mingle never so much Gentile blood in their veins,
and the drops of life distilled from Jacob are paramount, so that
the beauty Avho enters the salon, and the broker in his office, may
bear any name and speak any tongue, and still an unmistakable
something proclaims the seed of Abraham.
Establish a JeAV in a palace, pour Avealth upon him, flatter him,
honor him; you cannot bribe him to forget Jerusalem, though
mayhap he has never seen the City of David. Speak to him of
Mount Zion, and every fibre of the JeAV nature thrills responsive.
He cannot help it; the impulse was born in him, Avill only die

484 NEHEMIAH.
Avith him. His devotion to Palestine, his clinging tenderness to
the site of his temple, and his passionate memory of the traditions
of his race, are a part of his religion; out of Zion light is tq
shine for him; his Star is to beam from Jacob; there the
Anointed shall reign over a ransomed people in a glorious land.
Let him reach Christianity, the very consummation of his hoary
creed, and lo, his land and his brethren are dearer still. Messiah
lias made every spot of Jew7ish land sacred. There, says the
JeAvish convert, Avas He born, there Pie died and rose, and shall
return my Brother according to the flesh. Patriotism is his re
ligion, and his religion is patriotism ; and the history of the nation
is such, that Avhile religion and patriotism are in any race closely
Avedded, in the JeAV they are one.
We give a hasty glance at Nehemiah as a reformer.
He Avas a shining example of the virtues he Avould inculcate.
He Avas logical in argument against an evil course ; left the sinner
no loophole of escape, and Avas especially happy in presenting the
highest motive. He says to the people, " Ought ye not to Avalk
in the fear of our God, because of the reproach of the heathen
our enemies?" The glory of God Avas the first thought of his life;
it Avas to him an incentive for the performance of duty, and it was
the motive Avhich he set before others.
He believed in no half-Avay measures ; firm and impartial, high
position could not bribe him, nor boldness intimidate; Priest,
High Priest, Levite, common person, the meanest of the people,
and the poAverful Tobiah, Avere in his opinion on a complete
equality as respected the law ; station could not alter right and
Avroncj. Nehemiah Avas the Reformer Avhom Ave have seen copied by
such men as Calvin and John Knox. We might imagine that
the last sixteen verses of the book of Nehemiah Avere written of
the Gene\7an regenerator, or the sturdy buhvark of the Scottish

NEHEMIAH. 485
Church. In the earnestness and simplicity of the narrative there
is something amusing.
The returned Tirshatha has his hands full. The Avails are
builded and dedicated ; the gates are set up ; prosperity is returning
to Jerusalem ; her streets are lined Avith dwellings ; her marts are
full of traffic; caravans come and go; the song of the vine-dresser
echoes on the hill ; the shout of those who tread the wine-presses
fills with glad tumult the golden summer air; the countryman
brings his sheaA7es of wheat and barley to the market ; girls and
women and slender lads troop from the villages, Avith wine, grapes,
figs, butter, cheese, " all manner of burdens." The busy Tyrians
have returned to their old-time ally ; they come with fish fresh
from the bright Avaters ; they bring rich merchandize, and " all
manner of Avare," and, as at the building of Carthage, the city
hums like a full hive through all the busy Aveck. But, alas, when
on the Sabbath the good Tirshatha goes to the Temple to Avorship,
the gates of the city are open still ; JeAA7s and Gentiles crowd street
and stall ; the cries of the haAvker of fruits, and the chaffering of
the buyer, sound as on other days ; again this long-Avasted land is
denied her Sabbath.
At once the governor resolved to destroy these ill practices ; he
called together the nobles "and contended Avith them." He ex
hibited the dealings of God in the past, and Avarned them of cer
tain judgments. But he Avould not trust matters to the tardy, or
imperfect measures taken by half-convinced nobles. Not he ; as
the evening before the Sabbath darkened, he Avent forth and saAV
to it that every gate was closed ; so to remain until the first day
of the week should daAvn. Suspicious of the integrity of the porters,
he set his own servants to Avatch at every gate.
Noav for two or three Sabbaths the " merchants, and sellers of
all kinds of wares lodged Avithout Jerusalem." The clamor of
their contention, of their complaints, of their appeals to the inha-

486 NEHEMIAH.
bitants, and wrath over the injury done their merchandize by de
lay, disturbed that solemn stillness Avhich on the sacred day must
only be broken by the Aroice of prayer and praise. Prompt in all
his dealings, Nehemiah addressed the camp of traffickers: "Then
I testified against them, and said unto them, Why lodge ye about
the Avail? If yc do so again I AA7ill lay hands on you." " From
that time forth," he adds with serene satisfaction, " they came no
more on the Sabbath day."
Another crying evil that distressed the Tirshatha was the in
creasing custom of foreign marriages. One ofthe leading features
of the JeAvish policy had been to preserve the national purity.
They had been particularly forbidden to contract marriages with
strangers. In the general declension of the nation, many JeAA7s
had wedded Avomen of Ashdod, Ammon and Moab, and to the
horror of Nehemiah the streets of the holy city Avere croAvded Avith
frolicking children, Avho instead of being pure-blooded Israelites,
Avere of a mixed race, speaking a mongrel tongue, half " the Jews'
language" and half a Philistine dialect.
The good governor's Avrath appears to haA7e risen high. He
Avrites : " I contended Avith them and cursed them, and smote cer
tain of them, and jflucked off their hair." His cursing AA7as not
profanity, but a pronouncing of the condemnations and penalties
assigned to this transgression by Jewish laAV ; for the rest Ave see
the Oriental passion. To-day a reformer who used Nehemiah's
methods Avould be carried to a police court and charged with as
sault and battery. Then his manner Avas perfectly in order ; simply
shoAved his earnestness, and gained his object.
Finding that one of the sons of Joiada, the High Priest, had
made " a strange marriage," with the utmost decision Nehemiah
" chased " the offender out of the city ; lest an alien should CA7er
reach the highest office in the HebreAV Church. Upon all his acts
this ardent, honest, simple-hearted man, whom courts could not

NEHEMIAH. 487
corrupt nor poAver intoxicate, calls doAvn the blessing of the Lord.
He Avrites his oavii most excellent epitaph : " Remember me, O my
God, for good." It is the cry of the Christian patriot.
" God and his native land," the holy Temple and the sepulchres
of his fathers, had been the central thought of his life. For them
he labored and prayed, lived and died, and going doAvn into the
dust to Avait the coming of the Resurrection Angel, supplicated,
as may AA7e all : " Remember me, O my God, for good."

XXIV.
JOSHUA, THE SON OF JOZADEK.
THE ROYAL HIGH-PRIESTHOOD OF OUR LORD.

PE -^ our s^U(^y °^ Joshua, the son of Jozadek, Ave shall consider
)1j less the man than that office Avhich Avas the most excellent
type ever offered to the world, of the person and Avork of
our Lord.
Says Heubner : " The need of a priestly office manifests itself
in all religions, and among all nations." The cry of a Avorld has
ever been for a Daysman Avith deity. Shivering back, affrighted
from the abyss of doom, and pining for the celestial heights, man
is conscious that his pollution needs an Intermediary to plead his
case Avith Holiness.
Reason scoffs at a " priest-ridden people," but subservience to
priesthood is the expression of humanity's self-consciousness of
sin, and ite yearning for acceptance.
The Avild Avarrior, who is fearless in the shock of battle, trembles
at the supernatural ; and he Avho will not drop his head to king
or kaiser, will kneel loAvly before his priest.
The Levitical priest, chosen and instructed of God, sanctified to
his service, and performing the pure rites of true religion, Avas the
climax of all sacred orders. The priesthood of the sons of Levi
culminated in Him, their Antitype, the Royal High Priest Jesus,
sprung from Judah, Avearing the mitre, and SAvaying the sceptre.
In the earliest ages, each head of a family AA'as priest to his own
488

JOSHUA, THE SON OF JOZADEK. 489
household. In the Theocratic line there was no family of priests
chosen, until the constituting ofthe JeAvish nation at Sinai. There
the Lord took the house of Levi, in lieu of all Israel's first-born,
to be a race of holy priests unto himself. This order naturally
arranges itself into three divisions ; namely, the priests from Aaron
to David's day; from David to the Babylonish captivity; and
from the captivity to the cessation of the priestly office, at the
final overthroAv of the Holy City. In this period of 1370 years
there Avere eighty High Priests.
Seraiah the High Priest, at the time when Nebuchadnezzar
captured Jerusalem, Avas slain by the conqueror at Riblah. His
son Jozadek spent his life as a captive in Babylon, and trans
mitted the sacred office to his son Joshua, Avho returned on the
decree of Cyrus, Avith Zerubbabel to Jerusalem. Joshua stands
at the head of the third and last series of priests. Joshua Avas
born great ; he became great ; and he had greatness thrust upon
him, by the critical times in Avhich he lived. He inherited the
splendid office Avhich he held, being born in the direct succession
from Levi. Trained up in captivity, the painfulness of his loAvly
exile life matured a character of such singular strength and
symmetcry that he Avas equal to every emergency ; Avas one of those
happy souls Avho can do the right thing at the right time, while
the favor of Cyrus, the restoration of the JeAvs, and the prominent
part Joshua Avas made to play in the rebuilding of the Temple
and the reorganizing of the nation, made him an eminent his
torical character. Levi had had saintly sons ; " Phineas the
zealous," " Eli the submissive," Jehoiada the patriotic, Hilkiah
the high-hearted reformer, were glorious men, but Joshua, bearing
the blessed name of Jesus, assigned the Avork of restoration, and
placed in sacred vision, Avithstanding Satan before the Angel of
the Lord, overtopped his goodly brethren, as the most precious
type of Christ among them all.

490 JOSHUA, THE SON OF JOZADEK.
As it takes countless myriads of grains of sand to even imitate
a mountain, so a multitude of finite objects have been demanded to
exhibit the Majesty of Heaven, arrayed in flesh, redeeming sinners.
In the Tabernacle service, the priest, his clothing, his functions,
ministrations, and the victims Avhich he laid on the altar, all were
required to set forth Him Avho Avas slain for our iniquities.
The tAvo goats, one for Jehovah and one for Azazel, Avere needed
to typify the Lord Avho shed his blood for fallen man, aud bore
away our guilt into the shadoAVS of the laud of forgetfulness.
In the same manner, Joshua as a religious leader, and Zerub
babel as a civil ruler, were at the same period the symbols of Him
who should be to his church both Priest and King. Thus Avhen
the captivity ended, and the Remnant returned to build up their
waste places, Zechariah and Haggai animated the souls of these
leaders, by Avords of Him Avho descending from the prince Zerub
babel, should unite his office and that of Joshua, being a croAvned
priest continually.
The book of HebreAvs is chiefly occupied in setting forth the
priestly office of Christ, and explaining it in the light of its Levi
tical type.
" The Avhole ancient Avorld cried out for a Reconciler ; " the
promise and imagery of his Avork giA7en to the Israelites assuaged
in them the cry of soul-hunger, Avhich Avent up from all the nations
beside. The modern Avorld sees types perfected, and shadows pass
aAvay. The glorious Reality has come, and is revealed to the eye
of faith, standing in the upper sanctuary, exercising His office, an
eternal and perfect priesthood :
"And yet we turn away, and yet God's kindness
Forgives our blindness."
Christ is our prophet, priest and king; in shoAving him to the
world, tAvo of these offices have been variously combined in different

JOSHUA, THE SON OF JOZADEK. 491
holy men ; DaA'id Avas king and prophet ; Jeremiah Avas priest and
prophet ; Melchizedek Avas priest and king ; but only in Jesus have
the three functions been united. Three generations before Levi,
Melchizedek, unique and marvellous, the Orion of prophetic con
stellations, rises upon the horizon of our vision, and paces through
the centuries in mystical splendor, changclessly pointing to his
antitype, and leading our aAved souls far out into the aAvful pro
fundities of the eternal wisdom.
Melchizedek, king of righteousness, and king of Salem, ruled and
defended his subjects in his royal right ; and exercising his priestly
office stood up between them and God, leading their orisons, teach
ing them holiness, pleading for their acceptance. Jesus, seated at
the right hand of God, having the uttermost parts of the earth for
his inalienable possession, subdues his enemies and ours, and rules
us Avith a righteous sceptre ; at the same time, he as our Priest in
the Holy of Holies, ever liveth to intercede, and to claim our
pardon as the reward of the sacrifice of himself.
The High Priest on the great day of Atonement having sacri
ficed the victim, entered into the Most Holy place, bearing the
blood ofthe sin-offering, and a censer of incense. These he offered
before the Lord, the people Avithout in hearty solemnity joining in
his act, and regarding it as the ratification of their peace Avith God.
In this rite the priest Avith his person carefully purified, his gar
ments of spotless white linen, and his thoughts turned for several
past days on the important duties of this solemn ceremonial, Avas a
striking type of some holy One, Avho in his OAvn person was divinely
pure, and able to purify his people. The incense Avas significant
of prayer, as in the Apocalypse John saAV the " golden vial full
of odors, Avhich are the prayers ofthe saints." This fragrant cloud
surrounding the mercy seat, and veiling the glory of the Shekinah,
expressed the ardent desire of the priest, in Avhich the people
united, for acceptance with the Everlasting Father. The blood

492 JOSHUA, THE SON OF JOZADEK.
foreshadoAved the blood of Jesus, potent in earth and heaven : " For
Avithout shedding of blood is no remission of sins."
The High Priest of the line of Levi must necessarily fail in
many points as a type of the Royal High Priest of Judah. The
priest in the temple Avas sinful, and must make expiation first for
himself; the blood which he presented Avas of " bulls and goats
Avhich cannot take aAvay sin." His exjnatory-offering must be
yearly renewed, while Jesus shed his blood once for all ; the priest
hood of Levi Avas temporal ; the sacred line lapsed, its work Avas
done ; but Jesus remaineth a High Priest forevermore.
In the economy of God's Providence the Church has noAV reached
that period of her history Avhen the vicarious sacrifice has been
made, and her glorious priest has withdraAvn into the Holy of
Holies. We wait Avithout ; our attitude should be prayerful ex
pectation ; should be tender love and ardent faith. Within the
veil Avhere atonement only can be made, He stands, the First-born
of many brethren, performing the highest function of his priest
hood. When in the earthly Tabernacle the sin-offering Avas slain,
the atonement Avas yet incomplete until the blood had been pre
sented Avith incense at the mercy scat.
Jesus descended to us, to make on the altar of Calvary that
grand sacrifice to Avhich all others had pointed from the foundation
of the Avorld. The spotless victim having been prepared from all
eternity, Avas slain once for all. With the expiring sigh, "It* is
finished," our Lord's AArork of pain and humiliation ended ; being
so much better than the Mosaic sacrifice, it Avas not needful that
he should be offered up more than once.
Having concluded this part of his Avork, he retired to the
Holiest place of all, the Heaven of heavens, where he remains our
potent and continual Intercessor, casting out none who come; Avith
divine prescience reading the Avish of each contrite heart, and for
every one Avho throws himself upon his Mediatorial mercy, he

JOSHUA, THE SON OF JOZADEK. 493
pleads the potent merit of his shed blood, Avhich is ever in the
sight of the Eternal Father.
As the JeAvish High Priest Avas a man of like passions with the
people, as he had formerly stood in their midst, and could keenly
sympathize Avith their emotions ; so Jesus, our High Priest, having
dwelt among us in this vale of tears,, during his period of humi
liation, is touched by a feeling for our infirmities; having been
" in all points tempted like as Ave are, yet Avithout sin." He is
iioav on the right hand of God exalted as a Prince and a Saviour ;
his atoning blood is the sufficient price of our peace Avith God,
and is the " life of all vital godliness."
The IiOrd dAvelt among the Jews in prophecy and in person,
until they had finally and fully rejected him ; Avhen they evidently
Avould not have that man to reign over them, and put him to death,
he AvithdreAV from their midst. When in as clear a manner the
Avill of the Gentile nations toAvard Christ shall be shown, he shall
suddenly return. From the eternal heights he shall come doAvn
to dwell among us, our Sovereign Ruler ; and the Church misses
a very large element of her happiness when, instead of looking
for her Beloved's coming as the fruition of all her hopes, and the
climax of her joys, she trembles at it as an awful judgment scene,
Avhen terror and trouble shall culminate in a dread tempest of un
speakable anguish. Is this the frame of mind for Christians ?
Their High Priest is the " Son consecrated forever." Their sacri
fice is the " Lamb of God Avho taketh aAvay the sins of the Avorld."
The Lord of Hosts has promised, " Their sins and iniquities will
I remember no more."
Joshua, the son of Jozadek, as the Chief Priest of the Restora
tion, was peculiarly a type of Jesus, the Restorer of Paradise.
After the long captiA7ity among idolaters, the chastened children
of Jacob sought " beautiful Zion," the inheritance of their fathers.
Traditions of its excellence, throned on the " sides of the north,"

494 JOSHUA, THE SON OF JOZADEK.
" the city of the great king," and " the joy of the whole earth,"
had been to them as are to us the Scriptural reminiscences of Eden,
and the melodious legends of the golden age.
Across the dreary length of desert, through the mountain passes
of Gilead, and over the Avell-loved Jordan they pressed, AA'eary and
travel-stained, upheld by their passionate longing for their home.
They found it waste and desolate. The charred ruins of the
Temple had for seventy years been beaten by sun and wind and
rain ; the Avails built by a race of kings had crumbled to decay ;
the fountains which had made music for centuries Avere choked
Avith rubbish ; the houses, of cedar and the porches of judgment
Avere perished ; the homes of a people had utterly departed ; the
land had enjoyed her Sabbath, a long solemn rest, the sad stillness
of a mighty tomb.
Such Avas the scene Avhich met the eyes of Zerubbabel and
Joshua, as, pressing on at the head of their caravan, they
gained the last steep ascent, and saAV before them the " place of
their fathers' sepulchres."
The High Priest came to a ruined, desolate land, but he came
to restore. The fabric of the Temple had been destroyed, but he
should build a better house, Avhose glory should be greater than
that of the former. Zerubbabel, the chief of feeble bands, worn
by toil and captivity, was to found anew the empire.
Christ came to a world enslaA7ed and miserable ; its innocence had
perished, its hopes trailed their banners in the dust ; darkness had
settled on its future ; from gloom to gloom it seemed destined to
labor on. He came the Restorer of our peace ; he had holiness
sufficient for us all ; he brought the promise of a dearer Paradise
than Eden ; the crumbled Temple of our early faith he Avas to
build up in Himself, the Temple of the NeAV Jerusalem.
Joshua the High Priest AAras the central figure in a vision of
Zechariah: he Avas seen standing before the angel of the Lord

495
while Satan stood at his right hand to resist him. Perhaps the
Evil Spirit used the reproach he has so often found to prevail ;
affrighting the soul with its exceeding sinfulness and ill-deserving;
asserting that our sins are too great to be forgiven, therefore let us
go on in desperation. The rebuke of the angel was, " Is not this
a brand plucked from the fire ? " From the very jaAvs of destruc
tion, from the leaping fires of our OAvn keen remorse, and the as
saults of hell, the Lord is strong to snatch the smoking brand,
which he is too pitiful to permit to be destroyed.
Joshua, exhibiting the case of humanity, stood before the angel,
"clad in filthy garments." The command was given, "Take
aAvay the filthy garments," and as they Avere removed Avere added
the comfortable AA7ords, " Behold I have caused thine iniquity to
pass from thee, and I Avill clothe thee with a change of raiment."
Here AA7as typified the Robe of Christ's Righteousness covering
the beloved ofthe Lord, so that they are brought unto their King,
spotless and acceptable in his presence. But grace yet more
abounded, for "they set a fair mitre upon his head;" for the
righteous shall be kings and priests unto God.
Having been thus the symbolof redeemed man, Joshua became
the image of man's Redeemer. Clad in glorious apparel ; croAvned
Avith a priestly mitre ; resisting the Arch Enemy of humanity ;
doing the will of the EA7erlasting Father ; the son of Levi became,
in a more eminent manner than ever before, an image of our
kingly High Priest, the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls. Then
came a voice from the Infinite Glory, " Behold I will bring forth
my servant the Branch."
Assured thus of the love of his God, and strengthened by a re-
neAved promise of the Coming One, Joshua the son of Jozadek Avas
enabled to carry on his life Avork among the returned JeAvs Avith
reneAved vigor.
The Temple which rose under his supervision Avas to endure

496 until the coming of Christ. When the Holy House built by
Solomon Avas dedicated, the glory of God came doAvn and filled it ;
the foundations of this second Temple Avere laid amid joy and
tears ; the noise of the shout of joy could not be discerned from
the noise of Avecping : the old men mourned over glories passed
aAvay; the young men, buoyant Avith hope, shouted over good
things to come. Despite the tears, the glory of this Temple Avas
to exceed the splendid trophy of the zeal and wealth of Solomon ;
for He to Avhom the ghostly fingers of eA-ery shadow and symbol
had pointed, Avas to stand within its court on the Great Day of the
Feast, crying, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and
drink." These arches Avere to ring to old Simeon's triumph-song,
" Mine eyes have seen thy salvation." Here among the doctors
should stand the child-Messiah, teaching the teachers of the people ;
here the healed sufferer should learn that " it Avas Jesus Avho had
made him Avhole."
As our only hope of salvation lies in the efficacious priesthood
of our Lord, it is Avell for us frequently to consider his perpetual
exercise of that office, as his mediatorial work and person will
fore\7er continue the ground of our acceptance Avith God ; having
on earth interceded for us, he continues our Intercessor in the
skies ; he acts as our Advocate, because his work Avas perfect, and
because Avcaring our nature, and knoAving, by personal experience,
our Avants and woes, he can forever adapt his " ceaseless inter
cessions to the entire current of our experience."
It is evident that so large a part of the Pentateuch is occupied
Avith descriptions of the priestly office, dress, laAvs, and obser
vances, because all Avere designed to lead the heart toward Him,
Avho abideth a Priest forever.
Christ, the central idea of Scripture, is delineated in his human
ity, his divinity, his triple offices, that he may never be to us a
Stranger, and one far off, but may be entAvined Avith all our

JOSHUA, THE SON OF JOZADEK. 497
thoughts, and fill with his blessed presence the current of our
daily lives. The religion of the JeAV preached to him perpetually
of tlie Coming Christ, the crowning glory of his race, and the
Hope of the World. All nature, and all the mutations of his
tory, are for us equally full of reminiscences of the Man of Sor-
roAVS, and prophecies of the King who cometh in clouds.
" Seeing then that Ave have a great High Priest, that is passed
into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our
profession. " For Ave have not a high priest Avhich cannot be touched with a
feeling for our infirmities ; but Avas in all points tempted like as
Ave are, yet without sin.
" Let us, therefore, come boldly unto the throne of grace, that
we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."
32

THE ERA OF HOPE FULFILLED.

xxv.
JOHN THE BAPTIST.

THE IRON LINK.

1 S forty years of wilderness and Avanderings stretched betAA'een
lotus-crowned Egypt, the floAvery pasture land of Goshen,
and Canaan, flowing with milk and honey, and enriched
Avith vineyards and olive groves; so between Malachi,
proclaiming the rising of the Sun of Righteousness with healing
on his Avings, and the New Elijah, shouting, " The kingdom of
heaven is at hand," Avound a dreary AA'aste of four hundred years.
In these centuries men groped blinded, like eyeless Orion,
seeking all about the horizon for the sun.
As the night is ever darkest just before the dawn, so before the
rising of the King of Light, blackness, like the plague of Egypt,
Avrapt the Avorld, and filled the bosoms of men Avith brooding
despair. Humanity had cried out fiercely, and struggled passionately
with its fate; exhausted noAV, in darkness and feebleness, like
Saul it " lay all along the ground," despairing because the Lord
would answer "neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by pro
phets." Hope, in these dreary ages, stood a strengthening angel by some
holy hearts ; as the promise made to Abraham is on the eA7e of
fulfilment, we find brightly shining forth the Abrahamic piety.
Through all the years this type had been forever recurring.
498

JOHN THE BARTIST. 499
Manoah, Jesse, and their Avives ; pViestly, and royal, and peasant
saints, had beamed Avith the undefiled religion of their great
ancestor; and iioav, in the lineage of Levi, Ave behold a neAV
Abraham and Sarah, Avaiting the blessing ofthe Lord.
While in the early patriarchal family, the man had never stum
bled at the promise of God, and the Avoman had laughed in
incredulity, here, at the opening of a neAV era, the daughter of
Abraham has heired her father's faith, and the descendant of
Sarah has been dowered Avith his mother's doubts.
Woman, from the days of Sarah and Rebecca, had been gradu
ally falling into serfdom ; some there Avere, in every century, Avho
rose nobly to their legitimate station of mental and moral
equality Avith man, to sIioav that the Lord's vieAV and purpose
Avere unchanged. Noav, as the neAV dispensation daAvns in light,
Avoman resumes her pristine position by man's side, his friend and
fellow helper, instead of his slave ; and Mary and Elisabeth lift
up their jubilant voices as "joint heirs ofthe grace of life."
The gospel period is ushered in Avith ansAvered prayer. " Fear
not, Zacharias, thy prayer is heard," are the Avords of the angel.
There may have been a misconception among Scripture readers as
to the subject of the priest's prayers. It is evident that he has
come to consider the birth of a son to himself as an impossibility.
Like many of us, he limits the power of God, and though in
earlier years he may have passionately prayed for heirs, he has
now yielded to the inevitable so completely, that the voice of an
angel, standing propitiously on the right hand of the altar, cannot
at once re-illume his hope.
But Zacharias has had another desire, another ardent yearning :
" O that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion ! " Where
is the long promised One, the Branch of David, the Virgin's son ;
where the Only Begotten of God, arrayed in flesh ? " O Lord, Ave
beseech thee, send noAV salvation," he had entreated.

500 JOHN THE BAPTIST.
God, eA'er better than our fears, and more bountiful than our
hopes, sends Gabriel on a most happy errand. "Thy prayer is
heard ! " This is the Christ promise ; he has expected that, and
he sustains the good neAvs. But when he learns that a child, born
to himself and his aged wife, shall be the Forerunner, the New
Elijah, the Herald of the King of kings, his spirit faints.
"Whereby shall I know this?"
The sign is given. He is dumb, and this dumbness is most
significant. " When the voice of the preacher preparing the way
of the Lord is announced, the priesthood of the Old Testament
becomes silent. The Levitical blessing is hushed, Avhen the Seed
comes in, in Avhom ' all the families of the earth are blessed.' "
Zacharias and Elisabeth had lived long enough to be happy ;
they had not died too soon, so that joy could shed its beams only
across their graves. Prosperity goes into some houses only after
the long-anxious and suffering OAvners have gone out forever. This
pair were to have at once all they had asked for, and hoped for;
their eyes should see a Saviour, and a son ; that son the Prophet
for Avhose coming, as the precursor of Messiah, a nation had waited.
Elisabeth retired to the hill country, in devout contemplation to
nourish her hope, and to prepare for that sanctified child, already
filled Avith the Holy Ghost.
John Baptist was to be the greatest of the natural progeny of
women ; the last of JeAvish Nazarites, he soared above them all in
character and office; his mother's faith assumed for him the vows
of that separated line, and being yet unborn, he Avas consecrated
to God.
As a son of promise born in old age, John is like Isaac; the
child of one written barren among Avomen, he is like Samson and
Samuel; in his mission, he is like Elijah, the prophet of fire; and
the prophecies of Malachi and Zechariah about him point him out
as one called to a lot of strife and sorroAv. Every circumstance of

JOHN THE BAPTIST. 50l
his birth testified to the especial Providence of God ; and Avhen
his parents received him into their arms, their delight Avas chastened
by the certainty that the child's only peace and joy were to come
Avhen he had fulfilled his course, and trod, released from the body,
the celestial hills ; earth could only offer him sorroAv, toil and a grave.
" The neAV revelation of salvation begins in the days of Plerod,
Avhen sin and misery had reached their climax, and when the
yearning for Messiah was more intensely felt than ever. The
Temple, so often the scene of the manfestation of the glory of God,
becomes again a centre, whence the first rays of light secretly break
through the darkness."
" And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit." Samson,
that earlier Nazarite of promise, had been strong in nerve and
muscle; here was a man strong in moral purpose, strong in holy
faith. At his birth fear fell on all around ; but for thirty years
came profound silence; expectation groAvn weary fell asleep at her
post; for he, the mighty Elias, was "in the deserts until the day
of his showing unto Israel." He dAvelt in tho Aveird regions near
the Dead Sea, a desert land, a shadow of this Avorld, and of his
OAA'n life in it, of toil and loneliness and pain.
In this retirement his graces greAV ; the virtues Avhich he should
most need became predominant; zeal, humility, self-sacrifice, cour
age, were nourished ; the Forerunner was fitted for his work, and
when the thirty years Avere ended, his poAverful voice sounded out
loudly: "Repent!"
The first Elijah breaks on us from solitude, his parentage un
known, his early years unchronicled; he comes a holy ascetic, a
fiery reformer. " As the Lord liveth, there shall be neither rain
nor dew these years."
John the Baptist issuing from the wilderness, rings his clarion
through the nation : " Repent ! for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand!"

502

JOHN THE BAPTIST.

Because before the Omnipotent Eye all ages are a present space ;
because he lives in an Eternal noAV, He calls the messenger be
fore the face of Christ, Elijah, seeing the similarity in the earlier
and later prophets, botli in person and in mission. The man Avho
stood before Ahab was tAvin soul to him Avho stood before Herod.
The outAvard resemblance between the tAvo men Avas most re
markable. The messengers of Ahaziah described Elijah thus:
" He Avas a hairy man ; " that is, wearing a coarse garment of
haircloth, as Avell as having the uncut locks and beard of a Nazarite :
" and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins."
Matthew writes of John Baptist: " And the same John had his
raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins."
The chief difference betAveen the first and second Elias is, that
John did no Avonders; his distinctive Avork was to proclaim Jesus,
mighty in Avord and in deed. It needed no halo of miracles to
encircle the head of the last and greatest ofthe prophets, Avho pre
ceded the Lord Jesus ; to John Avas given the crowning honor of
baptizing his Saviour; and Christ himself pronounced his eulogy :
"Verily, verily I say unto you, among those born of women, there
hath not arisen a greater than John Baptist."
John stood the representative and final expression of the AA'hole
Old Testament. All the law and the prophets Avere until John
the shadoAV of good things to come, the types and prophecies of
Jehovah-Jesus. John gathered up all this spirit of four thousand years into one
mighty voice, crying in the wilderness : " There cometh one after
me, mightier than I, whose shoe latchet I am not worthy to stoop
doAvn and unloose." In him the fulness of the ages becomes a
glorious introduction to Christ incarnate, the culmination of all the
affairs of this mortal life. The kingdom of heaven doomed to suffer
great violence from friend and foe, breaks into the Avorld with
two mighty men, John the strong, and Jesus who is stronger
than he.

JOHN THE BAPTIST. 503
John, when his hour had come, burst forth from the wilderness,
and all the land Avas shaken. But Avhile John was the expression
of the divine meaning of the Old Testament law and letter, and
was also the exponent of the highest and purest types of Old
Testament religious life, his position and Avork are unique. He
is the link betAveen the old Avorld and the neAV ; between the Mosaic
and Christian dispensations. His character, his work, his message
and his baptism, all have features distinctively his own. As the
lone obelisk standing betAveen the Desert and the fertile Nile valley
of Heliopolis greets in its solitary grandeur the traveller's eye, a
landmark Avhich none can mistake, John stands unmatched in
history, marking the hour Avhen old things passed aAvay from earth,
and all things became neAV ; Avhen the early economy of symbolism
gave place to the prefigured antitype.
The fiery furnace of the Old Testament world, when the Church
was preyed upon by idolatrous nations, when the warfare against
the hosts of hell Avas hand to hand and daily reneAved, and carried
on amid defeat by bleeding hearts avIio searched the heavens Avith
anguished eyes to see their King coining to their succor, Avas not
wedded to the NeAV Testament days of sore tribulations, of perse
cution and intolerance, by a jeAvelled clasp, by a band of gold, but
by an iron link forged in the hottest fires of martyrdom.
This man of the Avilderness was not one clad in soft raiment ;
nay, those dwell in kings' houses ; he Avas no floAver of courte and
of courtesy ; he was the soul-brother on the one hand of Jeremiah
in his dungeon; ofthe HebreAvs in the Babylonian furnace; ofthe
Maccabean brothers ; and on the other hand of the slaughtered
Waldenses, the massacred Huguenots, and the heroes of Smithfield
and Holland, knitting the Church of the past to the Church of
the present, both of which are under tutelage until the time ap
pointed of the Father ; we see him fitted for his place, unostenta
tious, uncompromising, strong to resist and to endure. There is
no gilding, no elegant ornamentation about this man ; he is the

504 JOHN THE BAPTIST.
iron hand armed Avith an iron mace, a rude resistless weapon Avhen
a giant swings it ; and here is a giant, born amid prodigies, nur
tured in the wilderness on Avilderness food, and coming forth a
divinely commissioned iconoclast, he SAveeps away a thousand
things Avhich have been good in their day, but Avhose day is done,
because the last of the earth seons is at hand, and man is called to
a higher exercise of his poAvers.
Some men are born an age too early for their genius ; other men
are born an age too late ; John Baptist Avas a man made exactly
for his day; Ave see in him Iioav Avell God fashions particular in
struments for particular Avork. This thought leads us to a brief
consideration of the man's character.
First, then, his self-renunciation. He gave himself up abso
lutely to his mission. Thirty years he lived apart from the
allurements of the capital city ; from sweet fellowship Avith felloAV
men; from the tender influences of home; denied himself not only
luxuries, but Avhat Ave call the common necessaries of life. This
outward renunciation is an image of Avhat should be the imvard
renunciation of the Avorld by all Christians. "Spiritual life is
that state Avherein we freely renounce all things for Christ's sake."
Nothing has a more Avonderful effect upon the Avorld than this re
nunciation of it by believers. Judgment being at hand, our
i safety lies in being ready to part Avith all things but our hope of
salvation. The absolute holiness of John's life is also to be remembered.
Gross vice Avas rampant ; while ceremonial trifles Avere much re
garded, judgment, mercy and truth, the weightier matters of the
law, AA7ere neglected.
All the people bore Avitness to the prophetic office of John, and
to the purity of his example. He represented the spiritual legal
ism of the Old Testament ; he personified the old time righteous
ness according to the law. This probity of character had been

JOHN THE BAPTIST. 505
eminent in him from childhood ; he had been enriched by the
Holy Ghost with spiritual gifts ; Ave do not read that any devil
tempted him in the Avilderness ; and yet Ave see that this holiness
did not Avork in him self-justification, for his one longing desire is
for the Saviour ; and Avhen he Avatchcs Jesus Avalking by, it is
Avith a deep sigh of relief, as of one casting doAvn an intolerable
burden, that he cries, "Behold the Lamb of God, Avhich taketh
aAvay the sins of the Avorld."
Humility Avas an eminent trait of the Baptist. His sole aim
Avas to hasten the interests of Messiah's kingdom. He took no
glory to himself; he e\Ter held up the overwhelming glory of his
Successor, asserting that he himself is not Avorthy to perform for
him the office of the meanest slave. The greatness of John shone
most sublimely in his humility, Avhich led him ever to designate
that glorious Avork which shook Israel to the centre, as transitory
and preparatory.
John Avas little in his OAvn eyes ; he Avas great in the sight of
the Lord ; second only to One ; greater than all the Old Testa
ment prophets, he yields the palm alone to Him Avhose divinity
graced humanity.
The heroic constancy of the Baptist is Avorthy of our attention ;
it should be a pattern for all believers. He Avas emphatically a
man of one idea : that idea Avas Christ. Paul determined to knoAV
nothing save Christ and him crucified ; John knew nothing but
the coming of the kingdom of heaven in the person of the Mes
siah. This single-heartedness, this fervid zeal in one cause,
Avrought upon the whole Jewish nation ; all classes were impressed,
the energy of the one lonely preacher put to the blush all ranks
and conditions of men.
The eloquence of John was the eloquence of intense belief; it
carried captive the consciousness not only of the people but ofthe
hierarchy. When his decision and vigor had so stirred up the

506 JOHN THE BAPTIST.
minds of the entire nation that they hung on his Avords, and might
have been SAvayed to almost any course by his exhortation ; when
the solemn delegation of priests and Levites came to question
him, all the noble characteristics of the man shone out at once.
Self-renunciation, holiness, humility, zeal : " I am not the Christ."
"What then, art thou Elias?"
'"' And he saith, I am not."
"Art thou that Prophet?"
" And he ansAvered, No."
" Who art thou, then ; Avhat sayest thou of thyself? "
(l I am the A7oice of one crying in the Avilderness, Make straight
the Avay of the Lord."
Only a A'oice, and nothing more. He might have claimed
honors, but he rejected all ; he Avas only a voice crying out of the
solitary place. But what a \Toice ! Its trumpet tones prepared the
Avay before the King of kings : the holy ascetic coming up from
the desert Avas the Herald of Jehovah-Jesus, who inhabiteth
eternity. And the Avild sounding of this voice, along the rocky defiles of
the Jordan, leads us to the Avords it uttered, to the preaching of
this man, Avho Avas in himself the epitome and conclusion of all
the legal economy, and the avant courier flying before the blessed
feet of the neAV Dispensation. In John the New Testament and
the Old met and clasped hands, and he Avcdded them Avith an
iron ring.
As a preacher, John Avas fearless, logical, picturesque, vehe
ment : and clinched his discourse by his practice. He dealt largely
in the argumentum ad hominem. Flashing his eagle glance around
his audience, he separated it into its representative classes, and
thundered against them according to their need and their de
serving. Standing in the solitary district near Jericho, the broad Avaste

JOHN THE BAPTIST. 507
AA-as his synagogue, and under frowning skies, with the rough
Avilderness for his surrounding, his camels' hair robe girt Avith
leather, and his unshorn locks hanging about his shoulders, he
Avas in keeping Avith his theme, and his handling of it, for his cry
Avas ever of the bitter work of repentance. Of repentance he cher
ished those spiritual vieAvs propounded by the prophets, rather
than the later legalism of Scribes and Pharisees. He deman
ded uncompromisingly the death of the old evil life, and an entire
consecration to the neAV life of righteousness.
A popular preacher in the highest sense of the Avord, he seized
on illustrations from every-day life, suited to the capacity of his
hearers : the Avoodman SAvinging his axe against unfruitful trees, or
the cedars of Lebanon ; the farmer on the threshing-floor, securing
the Avheat and destroying the chaff, afford him means of pressing
home the truth of the sinner's doom, and crying to the careless,
" Noav the axe is laid to the root of the tree," and " he shall burn
up the chaff Avith unquenchable fire."
He uncovered their moral characters ; he tore the mask from
eA'ery face, and shoAved his hearers their undisguised seH7es. The
sight AA7as, as it Avill ever be, terrifying. When the embassy came
to him from the Sanhedrim, he received them Avith denunciations.
Severe diseases demand severe remedies, and the moral disease of
the nation Avas at its worst. " O brood of vipers," he cries to the
hypocritical hearers, "avIio hath warned you to flee from the
Avrath to come ! "
.To every one he gave commandment for daily life and practice :
the jealous, quarrelsome people, devouring each other and betray
ing each other, Avere bidden to live in brotherly community: "He
that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none, and
he that hath meat, let him do likeAvise."
There public extortioners, the tax collectors — and Avould he
were here to preach to their descendants — came to him, and

508 JOHN THE BAPTIST.
were promptly exhorted, to " exact no more than is appointed
to you."
The turbulent soldiers, seditious against their leaders ; ravaging
the country, and abusing the populace, got their lesson : " Do
violence to no man . . . and be content Avith your Avages." Thus
he demanded fruits of the repentance Avhich he inculcated, and
they professed.
Then his moral greatness towered to its height; when with
one word he might have enlisted thousands on his side, when at
his will he might have become the popular idol, he opens his
mouth only to sound the praises of his Messiah. " He that
cometh after me is mightier than I ... He shall baptize you Avith
the Holy Ghost : whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly
purge his floor."
The Voice from the Avilderness SAvells into a mighty epic; the
hero preacher is a divine poet, his rugged majestic words fired all
souls, and his life accorded Avith his utterances. The harmony
betAveen this blameless, zealous, world-forsaking Nazarite, and the
neAV life he advocated, did the work of a hundred sermons Avith
those polluted priests and people.
The seal of John's message and Avork Avas his baptism. This
holds like himself a solitary place ; it was not Levitical, nor Avas
it Christian baptism ; it was, as said his followers long time after
to the Apostles, " John's Baptism."
Pie affirmed to his adherents that his baptism, like himself, Avas
merely the forerunner of something more efficient; it did not
secure salvation ; it Avas simply the earnest of repentance ; it Avas
also a preparation for the coming of the Messiah, and its highest
object Avas to point the people to his person.
One chief aim of the Baptist in administering his ordinance
was to shoAV that mere legal or priestly lustrations can by no
means purify the spiritual nature.

JOHN THE BAPTIST. 509.
John hesitated to administer baptism to the Pharisees and
Sadducees, because he felt sure that they Avere devoid of that
repentance which the act should set forth ; their baptism would
be a form, and nothing more. He Avas yet more reluctant to
baptize our Lord Jesus, because he had nothing of which to
repent ; the ordinance was far beloAV so lofty a subject. " It Avas
not in his intellectual discernment, but in his feelings, that John
erred in regard to Jesus ; he Avas ' offended ' where, in analogous
circumstances, Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Mary and Peter stum
bled." Noav, as later, he is distressed because Christ does not
assert his majesty.
With Divine forbearance, Jesus corrects his prophet's mistake.
" Suffer it to be so noAV ; for thus it becometh us to fulfil all
righteousness." It is not possible that John could have grown to manhood
ignorant of the wonderful circumstances of his OAvn birth, and the
more wonderful events grouped around the advent of the Son of
Mary. These must have been the theme of much instruction
from his parents, and of much profound thought. That Spirit,
which sanctified and enlightened him, had promised him a dis
tinct, public, celestial sign, as to the person of the Christ; there
fore, Avhile John knew Jesus as a man knows anything by human
tuition, and knew him fully enough to shrink reverently from
baptizing him, he yet, as the Apostle says, " knew him not," be
cause as yet he had not been granted the prophetic, or divine
certitude, concerning his Messiahship.
While John had known of Jesus, and had doubtless seen him
on occasions, it is more than likely that the divine allotment of
events had been such that the Messiah and his Forerunner had
been in so far kept apart, that there could be no accusation of
collusion betAveen them.
With the baptism of Jesus, John's public mission ended ; his

510 JOHN THE BAPTIST.
work was as short as it was important. The rending heavens,
the Divine Voice, the Supernal Dove, signified that the Messiah
Avas iioav formally introduced to the world. John's future testi
mony Avas to be in prison, pain, and almost despair.
Still John pursued his ministry, led by his ardent zeal beyond
ite goal. His sole and burning desire was to prepare the Avay of
the Lord ; his continuance of his Avork, after his office as herald
had ceased to exist, occasioned dissensions betAveen his hearers and
those of Jesus, and caused the Jews to draAV comparisons betAveen
the asetic Prophet in the wilderness, and the genial and bountiful
Jesus of Nazareth.
This exercise of his ministry did not long continue ; the fearless
Nazarite Avas as sharp in his dealings Avith the crowned profligate
who lorded it over Jewry, as he had been with the messengers of
the Sanhedrim.
Herod Antipas Avas a monster, Avho defied the laws of God and
man. He had taken for his Avife Herodias, the Avife of his brother
Philip, AvhoAvas yet living in retirement; Herod the Great having
excluded him from any share in the government. Herodias was
the niece of both her husbands.
John boldly rebuked the king for his unlaAvful marriage, and
as a reward of his faithfulness Avas cast into prison.
In Herod Antipas we see the Ahab, and in Herodias the Jezebel
of the New Testament.
In her Avickedness, Herodias never falters ; her toAvering ambi
tion upholds her, and she still urges her husband on, when his
timorous feet tremble at the entrance of that dangerous way, along
Avhich she boldly presses.
The most vacillating of mortals, Herod agrees now with his
wife in opposition to the people, when he casts the popular pro
phet into prison ; and now7 he sides with the nation, and against
the queen, when none of her blandishments can induce him to put
John to death.

JOHN THE BAPTIST. 511
Herodias and Herod each feared John; the croAvned harlot
feared him lest his wonderful influence should sway her yielding
paramour toAvard virtue; and should cast her from that throne
Avhich she had sold her soul to obtain.
Herod feared John, says Mark, " knoAving that he was a just
man and a holy, and observed him; and when he heard him he
did many things, and heard him gladly."
What a picture have we here of this poor wretch, boAved in
abject fear before the godly life which he has not self-denial suffi
cient to imitate ; Avith feverish eagerness listening to the preacher's
words, trying to hear something which will heal his imvard pain,
yet will not be toe heavy a sacrifice ; doing many things, but not
all ; improving in some few externals, if by them he may buy
God's peace; yet utterly unable to reach that self-renunciation
Avhich the Baptist unflinchingly demanded as the fruit of repent
ance. Josephus tells us that Herod feared the influence of the holy
life of the Nazarite, as contrasted before the people Avith his own
glaring profligacy ; and was, therefore, the more ready to remove
the prophet from public vieAv.
We noAV see this neAV Elias, after the performance of his brief
mission, cast into prison.
He who had grown to manhood in the wilderness, here, in the
early meridian of his - life, became a captive in the castle of
Machaerus, near the shores of the Dead Sea. Here Herod had a
summer palace ; here are the hot springs of Calirohoe ; and here
the Zerka Main River rushes toAvard the Dead Sea.
In the chill dungeon of the castle, John was shut from all
those bright summer sights and sounds Avhich beguiled his captor ;
nothing Avas left him but to ponder on the past, and to long with
bitter heart sickness for some coming good.
When the iron-bound doors of Herod's prison at Machserus

512 JOHN THE BAPTIST.
closed upon John the Baptist, the Dispensation of the Old Testa
ment passed aAvay; the LaAV and the Prophets in the person of
their last champion left the field, and Jesus, the Defender of his
people, gave freely to the earth the salvation purchased by his
blood. " The laAV and the prophets were until John ; since that
time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth
into it," says Christ, who in his life and person magnified the law
and made it honorable.
Darkness, inaction, starvation, tell on the stoutest souls ; John,
who had lived the free life ofthe Avilderness, who had dAvelt in the
open air, held intercourse Avith beetling crags, and rushing brooks,
and shadoAA7y trees ; Avhose Avorship had been conducted under the
illimitable dome of the sky, and the solemn stars, pined in cap
tivity, like a full grown eagle caged.
In the blackness of his fate, all the past became misty and un
real ; the Devil, Avho had not dared to tempt him in his Avell knit
ascetic youth, came to him now, and mocked him with Avhispers
that the divinity of the Messiah had been his own Avild dream ;
that the voice from Heaven had been an echo of his fevered fancy;
that the Celestial Dove had been an accident of Nature ; that the
Salvation of Israel had not come out of Zion, else Avould He vin
dicate himself as a king; and all John's past life had been a delu
sion and a fantasy, and for that poor cheat he must now pine out
sIoav years of incarceration.
In his agony, John did the only right thing that was left him
to do ; he sent his disciples to find Jesus, and get from him some
Avord to stay his fainting soul.
In the castle prison John had been permitted to see certain
of his devoted friends and disciples, and the staple of their
converse had been Jesus. The disciples of John had Avitnessed
the baptism of our Lord; they had heard John say afterwards,
" Behold the Lamb of God." They had gone to John, saying,

p
s

JOHN THE BAPTIST. 513
"Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou
bearest Avitness, behold the same baptizeth, and all men come to
him." Then John had made full profession of his faith : " He must
increase, but I must decrease. He that cometh from above is above
all : he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth :
Pie that cometh from heaven is above all . . . for God giveth not
the Spirit by measure unto him."
These Avords had been 'the utterance of John's day of strength,
Avhen he stood at Enon, near to Salim, surrounded by hearers and
disciples, Avhen he had been a vigorous man in mind and body:
noAV a Avorn captive, he sent to the Lord, Avhom he had heralded,
a pitiful cry.
Tavo of his dearest disciples took the Prophet's message to
Christ. Going to Judea, Avhere Jesus was working miracles, the
two en\7oys found the Saviour and delivered their question :
" John Baptist sent us to thee, saying, Art thou he that should
come ? or look we for another ? "
Holy men Avere these disciples of John ; men plain of garb and
speech, like their leader; men Avho had brought forth fruits meet
for repentance ; men Avho fasted and prayed oft, as said the people.
They came now oppressed Avith the contagious doubts of their un
happy teacher ; anxious in their own souls, and torn Avith sympathy
for the miseries of one dearer to them than a father.
What an infinite compassion looked' on them from the eyes of
the Compassionate One, who felt in his OAvn gracious spirit their
griefs, and those of John, his kinsman according to the flesh, his
Forerunner and loyal servant.
Here was a trouble too deep to be reached by Avords ; Christ
felt no resentment at the hesitation indicated in the message ; for,
touched with a feeling for our infirmities, he appreciated the cir
cumstances pressing upon John, and knew that even this trembling
33

514 JOHN THE BAPTIST.
question expressed a faith greater than many loud professions
from other men.
Motioning the disciples of John into the number of his own,
who surrounded them, Jesus pursued the work they had interrupted.
These two men, watching by the Master through that busy day,
saAV the blind opening glad eyes to the beauty of earth ; saw the
faces of the deaf light. up as the harmonies of love and nature
first fell on their long sealed ears; saw polluting leprosy fly at
the purifying touch of the Holy One ; saAV weakness groAV sud
denly strong in Him ; saw evil spirits, furious demoniacal pos
sessions, oavu his sway.
" The oracles are dumb,
No voice or hideous hum
Runs through the arched roof, in words deceiving.
Apollo from his shrine
Can no more divine,
With hollow shriek the steep of Delphos leaving ;
Peor and Baalim
Forsake their temples dim ;
He feels from Judah's land
The dreaded Monarch's hand,
The rays of Bethlehem blind his dusky eyne ;
Nor all the gods beside
Longer dare abide,
Nor Typhon huge, ending in snaky twine."
Even Death restored his prey, and cold corpses lived again at
the mandate of the Divine Nazarene.
Ere evening fell, Jesus turned to the messengers : " Go, tell
John what things ye have seen and heard . . . and blessed is he,
Avhosoever shall not be offended in me."
No sooner bad these men gone their way than Jesus began to
speak to the curious multitude concerning John. The people
Avere prone to look on Jesus and the Baptist as rivals ; Jesus
desired to dissipate this vieAV, and show himself and his messenger
as AA7orking in entire harmony. He wished also to defend John

JOHN THE BAPTIST. 515
from the imputation of faithlessness, or of retrogression from his
OAvn early statements.
We see the Lord zealous for John's religious reputation ; he
Avill permit no stain to rest on the purity of his faith. So is he
ever anxious for his folloAvers and his ministry.
It would be well for those Avho lightly lay hands on a minister's
reputation to consider this. " Do my prophets no harm," refers
equally to reputation as to physical comfort ; and he Avho lays
rash hands on the good fame of the Lord's servant, touches, like
Uzzah, the sacred ark. Guilty also is he Avho lightly esteems his
OAvn holy calling, and by Avord or act would carelessly sully the
purity of his official character.
Christ vindicated John, lest his mere questioning should mar
the shining Avhiteness of his fame.
" What Avent ye out into the wilderness to see ? a reed shaken
by the wind?"
Here he brings to mind the earnestness, the fearlessness, the
firmness of the wilderness preacher. Let them not esteem him a
man liable to change ; he is not a wind-shaken reed ; those groAV
lush and yielding by the Avater courses; in the Avilderness are to
be found the changeless peaks pointing to the skies year after
year. "What went ye out for to see? a man clothed in soft raiment?
Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled and live delicately
are in kings' courts" — not in the kings' dungeons; they are the
Herods, the Philips, the Herodiases of society; whose vice flaunts
its gay plumage in honest faces ; they contrast with this virtuous
Nazarite, Avho could count your priests unholy ; they will falter
and change, and pursue the vanities of this life. Not so this man,
who goes to prison, and will presently meet death for conscience
sake. "A prophet ? Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet.

516 JOHN THE BAPTIST.
This is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger
before thy face, which shall prepare thy Avay before thee."
"Then all the people which heard him, and the publicans, jus
tified God, being baptized Avith the baptism of John."
Thus Ave see that Avhen God undertakes to vindicate his ser
vants, he does it thoroughly and gloriously.
The return of his messengers brought calm to the trouble-tossed
soul of the Baptist. In the prison at Macheerus, John had found
his Horeb; like his prototype Elijah, he could not fall in Avith
the Divine arrangement of events; he did not understand their
sIoav progress, and he desired to have Messiah at once assert his
poAver. He shoAved his humanity by his faltering; and Jesus
shines by his side in calm Divinity. But the reply of Jesus Avas
to his weary heart the still small voice, on the Mount of God.
John, in his loftiest strength, had fully proclaimed Jesus : in his
deepest temptation and greatest physical Aveakness, he only so far
Avavers as to question of the Lord himself. We doubt not that
with Jesus' tender reply, a full measure of faith was meted out to
him, for noAV indeed the hour of his most sublime testimony had
come. In the gilded banquet hall of Machserus the graceful feet of
Salome danced away the last moments of the " greatest of those
born of Avomen." Herodias Avon her Avay at last ; the tAvo keen
witted, diabolical, relentless women, mother and daughter, like
spirited, were more than a match for Herod the weak and wicked.
Down goes the executioner to the dungeon ; short shrift is al
lotted, and none is needed ; for the fearless John is far more ready
to die than live, if God is willing to grant him an end of his
troubles. As he sees the executioner enter the dungeon, his eagle
soul plumes itself for flight above the sun. There is a wail of
grief; it comes from his disciples ; he falls, God's matchless Naza
rite; so young in years; so old in work and in wisdom. In Herod's

JOHN THE BAPTIST. 517
dungeon dies the most elevated human, character the Avorld has
ever seen. Salome carries on that charger to her mother a head
which is even iioav most brightly crowned, and lifted high among
the heavenly hosts that throng the City of our God.
He is dead. Yet Herod fears him still ! His spectre seems to
haunt the place ; to the king's shocked sight his ghost comes forth
from the grim castle of Machaerus, and lifts that Avilderness cry,
wildly re-echoed by the mountain fastnesses, "Repent! repent!"
His body has been buried in a rocky tomb, by AA7eeping friends;
Herodias has glutted her malice by a sight of that gory head : his
disciples have found consolation Avith Jesus, the loving Comforter
of his people ; but Herod knows of a phantom which will not be
laid ; John, Avhom he beheaded, is forever in his dreams, coming
forth from his sepulchre, declaring the A7engeance of an outraged
law. Herodias has no spell to charm him ; the wanton dancing of
Salome cannot Avile away the heavy-footed hours ; every courier
brings neAvs that terrifies ; every breeze has a rumor that appals,
for the whole land is shaken by Some One Avho does wonders, and
Herod cries out, " It is John the Baptist risen from the dead."
Herod's birthday Avas black with the deed that damned him ; but
to John it was all white with the glory of an entrance to the better
life: six months of imprisonment had been the prelude to ten
thousand ages in the liberty of hea\7en. He had begun his work
in the Avilderness land of Judah ; he had passed on, preaching
through the sweet and storied Jordan valley ; he had reached the
court of Herod, and proclaimed the truth with an Archangel's
zeal, and now he had met his death by the cruel shores of the
Dead Sea.
Treating the death of John as an insult and injury to himself,
Jesus refused to meet Herod, who in restlessness of remorse de
sired to see him, and Avithdrew to the Avilderness of Gaulonitis,
near eastern Bethsaida, in the dominions of Philip the tetrarch.

518 JOHN THE BAPTIST.
John was the Abel of the New Testament. Herod was the
Cain. John was the ardent Elijah, and Herod was the Ahab,
while Herodias Avas the Jezebel of their day.
The birthday banquet of Herod terminated in blood, like the
fatal marriage feast of Navarre. As Charles the Ninth of France
was driven to agonies of despair by visions of his massacred sub
jects, so Herod passed years of doubt and fear, lest the man Avhom
he beheaded should come out of his grave, armed with superhu
man power, to execute upon him vengeance like a god.
The departure of Jesus from the dominions of Herod Avas an
emblem of that eternal distance Avhich Herod had put between
himself and salvation.
As the mission of John Avas a prelude to the Avork of Christ, so
his death was the precursor of Christ's death.
As the Baptist entered this life, and began his public career be
fore Jesus, so before him he ended his earthly strife, and entered
the mansions of eternal rest. Christ's harbinger on earth, he be
came above the herald of His return to the celestial heights.

XXVI.
HEROD.
THE TRIUMPH AND FATE OF EDOM.

cy

CRIPTURE delights in dealing in sharp contrasts. This
|Sto lively diversity of presentation more effectually fixes its
lessons upon the heart. Thus the NeAV Testament opens
with the contrarieties of the unbelieving JeAvs, and the
devout Magi ; the Divine claim ; and the birth in a stable. Before
the splendid revelation of that Divine-human, the Light of the
World, comes Herod the Edomite, a man sold to the Devil in all
that he did.
The broad difference betAveen God's thoughts and man's thoughts
is never more clearly shoAvn than in the choice of heroes. The
heroes of the world are not the heroes of the faith ; Ave call men
great Avhen God Avould Avrite them very vile.
Chief of the line of Idumean kings stands Herod, called the
Great, yet great only in selfish ability and in crime.
Of low birth and gross character, he OAved his position to a
crafty use of circumstances.
He appears in Scripture history only at the close of his life, and
that for short and evil work ; for the most part he belongs to that
mighty chasm between Malachi and Matthew.
Matthew writes of him as king of Judea at that eventful hour
when the Heir of the Universe came in the lowly guise of a car
penter's babe, to his earthly inheritance. 519

520 HEROD.
To Herod go" the Magi ; and Herod, already in the grasp of his
last disease, stretches forth his bloody hand, to deepen its stain
with the life-tide of the little ones of Bethlehem.
To read aright this man's place in history, we must bridge
many a hundred years ; the beginning of his story is in the tent
of old Isaac at Beersheba ; and now we see the divine plan run
ning through the sIoav lapsing centuries, and the fulfilment of a
prophecy Avhich all but God had forgotten.
Idumea is Edom ; Edom is Esau ; Herod was the chief of the
Idumeans ; in him Esau lived again — Esau in his rough, ungodly,
early years ; the half heathen freebooter, hating Jacob, resolved to
destroy him. The advancing years had deteriorated the race of
Esau ; the nobility of their sire had departed ; they exhibited his
vices, and not his virtues. "By thy sword thou shalt live, and
shalt serve thy brother," had been the word of Isaac to his elder-
born. The history of Edom since Isaac's day had been this in brief:
While Jacob was in bondage and in the wilderness for four hun
dred years, Edom throve ; its boundaries Avere from the Dead Sea
to the eastern arm of the Red Sea, from Ishmael's haunts in Shur
to the myrrh-dropping forests of Arabia. The land Avas moun
tainous, a fit nurse of daring souls ; its fertile A7ales could sustain a
I numerous population, and Mount Seir, its pride and glory, sat
high above it, the terror of its adversaries.
At this day Edom lies smitten by the hand of God, a land of
the shadoAV of death ; as the Lord declared by the prophet Amos,
"I Avill send a fire upon Teman, and Avill destroy the high places
of Bozrah."
Saul the Valiant first reduced Edom to the foretold vassalage
to Jacob ; David, folloAving him, conquered the land and incorpo
rated it with his dominions. During the latter days of Solomon,
the restless sons of Esau rebelled, and conspired against a ruler

HEROD. 521
whom they hated ; in the time of Joram there Avas a defection,
but Amaziah subjected them, aud under Uzziah and Jotham,
Esau still served Jacob.
In the days of Ahaz, the proud blood which could not brook
servitude, again threAV off the yoke ; but finally John Plyrcanus,
Avith a strong hand, subdued the people, in his day, called
Idumeans, and completely absorbed them in his oavii nation,
forcing them to adopt circumcision, JeAvish dress, forms and cere
monies, and made them part and parcel ofthe Jewish people.
At length, in the year 47 before Christ, Antipater, an Idu-
mean, rose high in favor Avith the Romans, and Avas made
governor of Judea under Hyrcanus II. , the Asmonean. Anti
pater had four valiant sons by his Arabian Avife, Cypros, and these
sons he early entrusted with poAver. Antipater has been described
as a man " Avho never slept, and was never Avanting to himself."
Strong and alert, he forever gained the advantage in his covert
strife Avith the Asmoneans, whom he pretended to support. The
JeAvish line Avas Aveak, the Edomite was vigorous, and as happened
in later European history, the palace master became greater than
his monarch, and founded a neAV dynasty.
Antipater rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, and used his utmost
endeavors to render himself popular with the JeAvs. His son
Herod Avas, at an early age, made Procurator of Galilee, and
carried on his government Avith much ability.
When, at the very table of Hyrcanus, Antipater, that too potent
poAver behind the throne, was poisoned in a glass of wine, his
crafty son presently strengthened his own cjuse by divorcing his
wife Doris, and betrothing; himself to Mariamne, the beautiful
7 O 7 ,
and haughty grand-daughter of the high priest, Hyrcanus.
At the recommendation of this pontiff, " Roman Antony" con
firmed to Herod his former powers, and even enlarged them ; but
the young Idumean was less popular with the nation than his

522 HEROD.
father had been, and saAV himself constantly endangered by revolts
among his subjects.
Last scion of the royal Asmonean line was the boy Aristobulus,
the brother of Mariamne. Herod's proud fiancee and her mother
had not failed to press upon his consideration their OAvn superior
birth, and in his danger and perplexity Herod Avent to Rome, to
request that Aristobulus might be given the kingdom of his
ancestors, and he himself could govern the country under him, as
his father had done under Hyrcanus. Thus he designed to secure
the poAver, and to satisfy the prejudices ofthe JeAvs.
Antony, at Rome, made Herod the startling proposition, that
Herod himself should be king of Judea.
The bait Avas a glittering one, and Herod the ambitious caught
at it eagerly. Only a feAV Avecks before in his despair, he had
been on the point of committing suicide; now he was offered by
the Romans the croAvn of JeAvry.
Seven days did he remain at Rome, but in that brief period he,
who came a distracted suppliant, Avas made a king ; and standing
in the World's Capitol, betAveen Antony and Octavius, the fore
most men of the day, he was consecrated, by heathen rites, sove
reign over the people of Jehovah.
Three months from the day Avhen, desperate at his failing for
tunes, he fled from Jerusalem, he landed at Ptolemais amid
acclamations, and noAV indeed, as Isaac had prophesied, Edom had
broken the yoke of Jacob from his neck.
OAving to Jacob's restiA7eness at receiving his servant for his
master, three years passed before Herod was firmly established in
his royalty. His entrance into Jerusalem as undisputed sovereign
Avas accompanied by the death of Antigonus, whom he implored
Antony to execute, and in whom ended the Asmonean dynasty,
one hundred and tAventy-six years from its glorious rise.
No sooner Avas Herod in full poAver than he destroyed all the

HEROD. 523
Sanhedrim but Hillel and Shammai, the famous doctors of the
laAV. Hillel Avas president of the Sanhedrim, and lived to be one
hundred and tAventy years of age ; he Avas succeeded by the devout
Simeon, who took the infant Jesus in his arms with joy ; and
Simeon Avas folloAved by his son Gamaliel, at whose feet Paul Avas
educated. A career, begun in the murder of the flower of the Jewish
nation, Avas destined to be marked all along its course by blood
shed. Herod, after a betrothal of four years, married Mariamne,
whom he lo\Ted Avith the mad fervor of his reckless race.
Her matchless beauty Avas shared by her young brother Aristo
bulus, for Avhom Herod had once asked a croAvn. To ajipease
the JeAvs, Herod made this lad high priest, but his envy Avas
speedily excited by the enthusiasm with Avhich the stripling pon
tiff's appearance in public was greeted.
Clad in the splendid robes of his office, this last of the Macca
bees, stood in the sanctuary beautiful and majestic as a young
archangel ; the impressible Jews, ever enraptured Avith charms
of person, and mindful of the lofty record of his splendid ancestral
line, contrasted him Avith the low-born Idumean Avho kinged it
OA7er them, and hailed the pure-blooded Israelite with unbounded
pride and love.
Unable to endure the pangs of his jealousy, Herod accomplished
the death of his brother-in-laAV, having him droAvned as if in a
frolic Avith some youths at Jericho.
Verily the foot of Esau Avas pressing heavily on the neck of
his prostrate brother.
In this period, the history of Edom becomes the history of
Herod and the history of Jacob is that of the Asmoneans.
Against them did Herod Avork with tireless hate, until every
remnant of that race of royal priests descended from i^smonias,
of the elder branch of Aaron's family, Avas exterminated.

524 HEROD.
Having compassed the death of Aristobulus, Herod next took
the life of Hyrcanus, the ex-high priest, eighty years of age.
This man had been his best benefactor, was the grand-parent of
Mariamne, and living in feeble old age at Jerusalem, when he
suffered the sleepless vengeance of the tyrant Edoinite.
Next victim AA7as the beautiful Mariamne, a Avife whom one
moment the passionate Herod adored Avith extravagance, and anon
hated as his rival, the daughter of kings, Avho flaunted her nobility
in his face.
Stirred up by his sister Salome, the. worst of women, Herod
haA7ing several times condemned his Avife to death, at last, in a
Avild phrenzy, ordered her instant execution.
Mariamne had borne him five children, three sons and two
daughters ; the sons had been sent to Rome, Avhere the youngest
had died, and tAvo Avere yet living, as hostages of their father's
fidelity to the superior government.
Mariamne met her fate like a true child of the Maccabees ; in
the bloom of her beauty she Avent to lay down a life Avhich had
probably become most hateful to her, as shared with the monster
Avho pursued her kindred Avith such relentless ferocity.
Alexandra, the mother of Mariamne, was soon sacrificed to
Herod's rage. She Avas put to death Avhile the tyrant Avas in
agonies of remorse for the murder of his Avife. No sooner Avas
the peerless Jewess dead, than all Herod's passion for her had
returned. He raved about his palace beating his breast, tearing
his hair, and shrieking the name of Mariamne, entreating her by
all caressing names to return ; protesting that she could not be
dead, and sending his terrified servants to seek and restore her,
Avho Avas already in her grave.
All the dominion which this royal lady had exercised over the
king in her life, Avas increased tenfold after she had, by his order,
been executed. He saAV her wherever he turned his anguished

HEROD. 525
eyes ; but when he sprang to clasp her, she faded from his touch,
and stood an alluring phantom just beyond his reach, mocking his
woe, as once, in her pride of beauty, she had mocked the protesta
tions of his loA7e.
From palace to palace, from city to city he Avandered, finding
no balm for his pain ; his courtiers, unable to console him, shrank
trembling from the horrible expressions of his remorse and hope
less agony.
Herod endeavored to find comfort in great enterprises, building
cities, toAvers, fortifications : one moment placating the Jews by
tributes to their Avorship, ahd splendid works at their temple, and
again exasperating them by bringing into their Holy City the
games, theatres and spectacles of Rome, and filling sacred Zion
with the shouts of gladiators ; the cries of fighting wild beasts ;
and the music of contending poets, singing the praises of the gods
ofthe Gentiles.
In the magnificence of his architectural tastes, and in the num
ber and extent of his public Avorks, he exceeded all the kings of
Palestine except Solomon. If he had used the same wisdom, ear
nestness, and grace in pacifying and attracting the Jews, Avhich he
exercised in securing and retaining the favor ofthe Romans; if he
had employed his power first to govern quietly his OAvn turbulent
family, and if he had curbed his hatred of the Asmoneans, his
reign might indeed have been glorious.
But the evil dispositions of his relatives, especially of his sister
Salome, the but half-smothered opposition of his subjects, and the
anxieties of his connection with the Romans, called into operation
all the darker features of his character.
Esau, his great ancestor, had been frank, generous, brave ; wild,
but never cruel ; careless, and never crafty ; hasty, but devoid of
malice ; low in ambition and gross of thought, but ever ready to
meet overtures of friendship, and easily moved by entreaties;

526 HEROD.
Esau grew wiser as he grew older ; his age mellowed his nature,
and harmonized him with his gentle father and his devout and
far-seeing brother.
In Herod the demon of his evil heart grew rampant with pass
ing years ; age found every vice intensified, and every early virtue
dead and gone. In Herod flamed out all Esau's antagonism to
his brother Jacob ; Herod had lost sight of the hour of reconcili
ation, and of the solemn Avatch of the brothers at the grave of
Isaac; the long serfdom of Edom had wrought in him bitter
hatred, and nothing glutted his frantic hunger for revenge but
JeAvish blood.
As a Avarrior, Herod Avas bold and brave ; as a financier, he Avas
judicious ; he understood the development of national resources,
and providing for national defence. He rebuilt Samaria, and
founded Csesarea, making it a magnificent seaport, with a harbor
that defied the Mediterranean storms.
When, tAventy-tAvo years before Christ's birth, a famine and
pestilence smote the land, Herod behaved nobly ; he sacrificed his
plate and personal treasures to buy food, and spread his benefac
tions not only through his OAvn dominions, but gave freely to the
perishing Syrians.
This generosity AA'ent far to atone for past offences ; the people
forgave him much, and had this new line of conduct been pur
sued, his life might have ended in peace. Instead, his tyranny
grew Avorse and Avorse; insensate fury, rioting in robbery and
blood, renewed the hatred of his subjects.
Four years later Herod proposed to rebuild the Temple, which
he proceeded to do Avith much splendor ; spending upon it some
ten years' time and great treasure ; the finishing and decorating of
it was however carried on at the expense of the sacred treasury for
many years.
Herod recei\7ed from Rome the two sons of the murdered Mari-

HEROD. 527
amne, and recalled from banishment his first Avife and her son.
The two children of Mariamne Avere guilty of possessing Asmo
nean blood, and this being an offence which the Edomite could
never forgive, after long strife, he obtained permission of the Ro
man poAver to put these young men to death, and they were ac
cordingly strangled at Sebaste.
Among other deeds which aroused the abhorrence of the JeAvs,
Herod desecrated the tomb of David and Solomon, seeking for
treasure which he supposed to be hidden there. He had heard a
tradition that Hyrcanus, being in a great strait for money, had
opened the tomb of David, and obtained a large amount of gold
and jeAvels.
Josephus says that when Herod opened the sepulchre, he found
no money, but utensils and " furniture " of gold, and some " precious
goods" there laid up: these he carried away, and resolved to go
farther into the mausoleum, even to the embalmed bodies of the
monarchs : the report was that two of the guard Avho accompanied
Herod to break open the sacred resting-place, were slain by flames
that leaped out upon them, and the king fled in alarm. As a
token of his fear, and an offering of his repentance, Josephus
farther adds, that Herod built at the entrance of the tomb a monu
ment of white stone, on which he expended a large sum; which
monument is mentioned by Nicolaus of Damascus, though not the
reason for its erection.
The chronology of the life and death of Herod the Great fixes
the birth of Jesus Christ at four years before the beginning of the
present era.
At this time Herod had fallen into disgrace at the Roman Court.
An expedition of the king against Obdas, king of Arabia, had
been so reported in the Eternal City as to rouse the indignation
of Augustus, who Avould receive neither excuse nor explanation.
The war of Herod against the kindred race — for through Esau

528 HEROD.
the Idumeans Avere connected Avith the Arabs, and Herod himself
claimed a nearer tie, for his mother was an Arabian — had nearly
cost him his croAvn.
As a token of his rage, Augustus reduced the kingdom of Herod
to a Roman province, and obliged all the population to take an
oath of allegiance to Cassar. Six thousand Pharisees refused this,
and Avere fined for their contumacy ; a fine paid by Herod's sister-
in-laAV. It Avas the Roman custom at the enrolment, Avhen the oath was
administered, to exact a poll-tax of half a stater ; to which all the
males betAveen the ages of fourteen and sixty-fh7e, and Avomen
from the age of twelve to sixty-five, Avere afterwards subject. Thus
Ave find Christ paying tax of one stater, miraculously provided,
for Peter and himself, or, half a stater apiece. This enrolment
and consequent poll-tax is that mentioned by Luke in his second
chapter, Avhich also aids us in fixing the birth of Christ as occur
ring about four years earlier than our ordinary manner of dating
places it.
At this time Herod Avas about seventy years of age, and had
reigned nearly thirty-seven years. He was even noAV in the re
lentless grasp of his last illness. Disease, like death, shows no
respect for the palaces of kings, and Herod was the prey of a ter
rible form of suffering, Avhich the Almighty seems to have ap
pointed as the especial scourge of peculiarly vicious sovereigns.
Plis horrible physical sufferings were aggravated by great men
tal anguish. For this there were various causes ; he had all his
life devoted his first thoughts to securing and retaining the friend
ship of the Romans ; this he now seemed _to have lost ; Augustus
Avas imposing restrictions and taxations which had not previously
been laid upon the nation.
Plis eldest son Antipater, the child of Doris, had been for some
time regarded as Herod's heir; this prince had been active in

HEROD. 529
procuring the death of his half brothers by Mariamne, and had
ever filled his parent's ear with calumnies concerning his whole
family and court; these Avhispers had often excited Herod to cruel
rage, and had compassed the death of many prominent people :
thus the king had brought on himself the intense hate of his
family and subjects, and felt himself noAV Avithout a friend. To
croAvn all his domestic troubles, he found that Antipater himself
Avas conspiring against him, and therefore cast the prince into
prison. The certainty that the nation would at his death break into a
tumult of joy, so Avrought upon the distracted king that he gave
Salome the famous order to collect at Jericho the heads of the
loftiest families of the JeAvish nation, and put them to death as
soon as he had breathed his last, that his expiring sigh might be
accompanied by a Avail of agony from all the land, and that Herod
might ever be remembered by the JeAvs Avith tears.
Salome collected the chiefs of Israel as desired, but released
them as soon as her brother died, having no interest in perform
ing his last request, and being afraid of exasperating the nation.
Another cause of Herod's mental anguish AA'as the earnest
expectation of the immediate adA7ent of Messiah, the King, for
whom the JeAvs had waited so long, and who had become the
" Desire of all nations."
Herod, sharing the popular idea of those among Avhom he had
been reared, expected a temporal Prince, of Universal SAvay.
Though he had little family affection, and had murdered three of
his own children, Herod had a proud Avish to be the founder of a
royal line, and was terrified at the thought of a Prince Avho should
wrest the sceptre from the Idumean family ; he Avas prepared to
contest the sovereignty with any claimant, rashly ignoring the
belief, that the Coming One was to vrield in his human arm the
strength of Almighty God.
34

530 HEROD.
Gentile nations, free from the national interests and prejudices
of the Jews, clung with less tenacity to the dream of a temporal
dominion and an earthly monarch, and were more ready than the
seed of Jacob to acquiesce in a first advent of humiliation and
ATicarious suffering.
Here Ave have called especially to mind the expectancy of the
nations ; they stood Avatching for the foretold appearance of the
Wonderful, the Counsellor, David's Son, on whose shoulders the
government should be laid.
The dispersion of Israel, and the long captivity of Judah, Avere
God's appointed means for scattering abroad the knowledge of
Messiah, and making Him, as foretold, the "Desire of all nations."
While Daniel had been in Babylon, the Lord had especially
made knoAvn to him the date of the Bethlehem Advent, "Seventy
weeks," that is, prophetic Aveeks.
This Avas not a divine secret, and there can be no doubt that
Daniel made it known to those magians, or astrologers, of whom
he Avas Rab-Mag, i. e., governor. These Magi must be particu
larly distinguished from sorcerers or Avizards ; the Persian Magi
were a learned body, first of astronomers. These receiving
Daniel's instructions, looked fonvard to the Coming One, and in
their sacred Avritings called him Sosiosh, whose mission would be
to bring in " Life everlasting, forever existing, forever vigorous ;
at the time when the dead shall return to life."
The Persians preserved such hope from Noah ; they had learned
Baalam's prophecy of the " Star out of Jacob ; " and were yet
further taught by Daniel. The hour prophesied had come ; their
souls trembled Avith hope ; they beheld in Pisces, the chief con
stellation of the Judean quarter of the celestial map, that wonder
ful astronomical phenomenon of which Kepler tells us, when three
successive conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn pointed to the birth
of a new star in HeaA7en, the Star of the King of the JeAvs.

HEROD. 531
In the year of Rome, 747, these celestial tokens held the breath
less attention of the Babylonian Magi : " that golden circle of
auspicious fire " Avas the homage of the skies to the New Star,
which suddenly blazed forth, and the long Avatching and expecting
Magi accepted the sign, being men of devout faith and simplicity,
believed the Lord, and set out to seek a king. Thus the Magi,
Avhose emblem of office Avas the subtle serpent, fulfilled the word
of the Lord to our first parents, and came to fall beneath the feet
ofthe "Seed ofthe Woman."
But not alone in Chaldea, in the far East, did they expect the
Jehovah-Christ — though by his name they kneAV him not.
Tacitus tells us, that at this time it had been understood from the
Oracles that noAV Syria should prevail over the Avorld ; and one
going out of Palestine should obtain the Empire — "profectique
Judaea rerum potirentur." (Tac. Hist. v. 13.)
Suetonius (in Vita Vespas. iv.) says : " Fate had decreed that
one going from Judea should rule the world," using exactly
similar words to Tacitus, and referring them to Vespasian and
Titus. This expectation took deep root in the hearts of poets, and
blossomed into song.
Virgil, writing forty years before Christ, seems to rise to the
dignity of a prophet, and uses language almost identical with that
of inspired HebreAvs. Expecting a Deliverer, he beholds him in
Pollio's baby son, and sings his future. The noble Roman's heir
lived but nine days ; but almost half a century later, the reputed
sou of Joseph came to accomplish the predictions of the Latin
Master of the Art of Song. " Now also justice returns, and the
Satumian kingdoms ; noAV a neAV race is sent down from heaven ;
under Avhose sword the golden age shall rise over all the world.
Thou being leader, if any traces of our sins remain, having
been effaced they shall free the earth from a perpetual fear. He

532 HEROD.
shall receive the life of the gods, and shall see heroes mingled
With gods, and shall be seen by them. The serpent shall die,
and every poisonous herb."
The poet further tells that in this child's early days, peace and
plenty shall begin ; they shall spread and increase as he grows in
years, until at his maturity he shall stand a pure and glorious
Potentate, Avith a thrice blessed Avorld under his feet.
The whole beautiful and wonderful passage is to be found in
the fourth Eclogue of the Bucolics.
In his poesy the Latin only expressed the general expectation
of the world, Roman, Greek and Parthian. The JeAvs' Scriptures
had been much spread abroad ; the mystic Avords of prophets had
been cherished, and the strange Sibylline oracles had uttered
vague hints coinciding Avith them. Iran, Attica and Latium
stood waiting hand in hand.
Thus a universal expectancy preceded the birth of Jesus, the
Son of God, and in its breathless waiting hush he came, fitly com-
panied by a glorious NeAV Star in heaven, and the hymning of the
angelic host.
The Eastern Magi, knowing that the expected Messiah had
been looked for as an earthly ruler, very naturally sought him
first in the capital of the nation, and in the palace and family of
the king ; not knowing that the home of the dissolute Herod was
the most unlikely place to find the " Only Begotten of God."
While Herod was imprisoning his eldest son ; multiplying
embassies at Rome to set him right in the eyes of Augustus, and
perplexing himself with schemes for a division of his realm
among his heirs; Avhile he continually groaned in the tortures of
his disease, Avhich daily rendered him loathsome even to his
meanest slaves; Avhile his wakeful night hours, and the labyrinths
of his dreams, were vexed with spectres of murdered Mariamne
and her sons, " there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,

HEROD. 533
saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews, for we have
seen his star in the east, and have come to Avorship him ? "
They were a notable delegation of very reverend men ; such
men as had taught the Greeks astronomy ; as had stood on the
toAver of Belus, instructing young Daniel in the evolutions of the
stars ; as had pored for centuries over the garnered Avisdom of the
philosophic east. From the arid noon of Chaldean plains, they
travelled to the land ofthe Morning, where the Sun of Righteous
ness Avas to rise Avith healing in his golden rays; they brought the
tribute of the sultry tropics to lay at the feet of the Master of
Worlds ; gold burnished by the fires, and Avrought in graceful
filagree ; pressed into such solid Avedges as had tempted Achan,
gleaming in cups and boAvls and vases of rare device; they
brought myrrh from the fragrance-dropping forests of Araby, the
blest ; and frankincense precious as gems, and sacred to divine
worship. Thus laden Avith kingly gifts, and clad in costly raiment, fit
for the presence of royalty, they traversed the streets of the Holy
City, seeking a liege before Avhom to bend the knee, a shrine for
the homage of the Gentiles as the prophet had sung, "And Gen
tiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy
rising." '
Such envoys were not to be passed over in silence ; camels and
slaves, and precious gifts, and learned ambassadors, made no small
stir in Jerusalem, Avhile the magic question ran from lip to lip,
" Where is he that is born King ofthe JeAvs, for Ave have seen his
star in the east and have come to Avorship him ? " Zion then, as
ever since, knew not her King !
The inquiry sped to the palace of that jealous, malicious, blood
thirsty sufferer, Herod. He woke to neAV energy ; craft must iioav
precede bloodshed, and Idumean craft he used toward those devout
and guileless worshippers of the Zend religion, on Avhom the Babe

534 HEROD.
of Bethlehem was presently to smile new Avisdom and everlast
ing life.
Herod, cloaking his hate in zeal ; covering his crafty curiosity
with the appearance of honest truth-seeking ; garbing murder in
homage, is a lesson to the world.
Machiavelli of ancient times, Herod stands in evil contrast to
the holy simplicity of the Magi. Herod the hypocrite is set be
side the faithful Wise Men. Hypocrisy is ever the shadow of
faith ; it accompanies ite march through time as the shadoAV dogs
the substance, and it proves the existence of faith as the shadoAV
proves the existence of a substance. When the reality comes, the
shadoAV flies ; thus hypocrisy flees affrighted before the majestic
entrance of truth.
With the statements of the Magi, and the ansAvers of the San
hedrim, the murderous purpose of Esau awoke in the soul of his
latest representative. " I will slay my brother," said Esau ; but
divine grace conquered the cruel intention. Esau had outlived
hatred in his own person, but bequeathed it Avith his blood to his
posterity. Now all the noble traits of their sire seem eliminated from
Edom ; the purpose Avhich the great ancestor had relinquished is
born anew in Herod, and he resolves to kill his rival, the potent
Infant of the House of David.
All the old enmity is up in arms : light and darkness close in
bloody duel ; now again the prophecy of Isaac was fulfilled, and
the foot of the red brother pressed on the neck of the prince of
prayer. The enormity of the crime of Herod is expressed in his desig
nation of the Child, as King of the Jews, and expressing a desire
to "Avorship him also;" this shows his knowledge of the higher
spiritual character and office of the new-born Prince ; and a con
sciousness that he Avas fighting Avith the real Messiah.

HEROD. 535
Around this child of Mary, Ileaven and earth Avere moving :
the centre ofthe universe lay on the knee of the carpenter's wife;
and Herod, impersonating all the powers and aims of hell and
darkness, lifted against the Sacred Babe an assassin's knife.
An angel from heaven interposed betAveen the Child and danger
a human shield, the royally descended carpenter of Nazareth.
This holy man, obeying the A'oice of his angel Monitor, foiled the
evil genius of Edom at every move.
But noAV that the Beloved of the Father had fled from the
wrath of the king, and in his helpless infancy taken refuge, as erst
the race of Jacob, in the domains of Egypt, the life of his crowned
persecutor was darkening to its close.
The antagonism of the Maccabees and the Herodians, of Edom
and Jacob, Avas ending now, because the field of strife was coArered
with the dead bodies of all the combatants but one. In this tragic
contest Idumeans and Asmoneans had fallen until the shining line
of Asmonias Avas extinct ; and Herod, having exterminated the
hated race, found his own life ebbing to its close, while his sons
were too Aveak and vicious to succeed to his power.
It has been objected by some that the slaughter of the children
at Bethlehem must be a fiction, because while Josephus heaps upon
the head of Herod a thousand crimes, he does not mention this.
We must consider that the massacre of these babes was over-
shadoAved by other incidents then occurring : Herod had collected
at Jericho the nobles of the people, and was whetting his SAVord to
take off their heads at a blow ; and fiVe days before his own death
ordered the execution of his eldest born, Antipater. Horrible
as Avas the edict which destroyed these little ones, flores martyrum,
as old Prudentius calls them in his poem, the number of the slain
must have been small. Bethlehem was a very insignificant vil
lage ; the children murdered were from tAvo years old and under,
therefore but a small portion of the young children of the place.

536 HEROD.
Thus the public attention, filled by so many tremendous scenes
of bloodshed, was not especially attracted to this, OA'er which the
Bethlehem mothers wailed in sore anguish, and the sacred histo
rian pictures Rachel coming from her lowly grave, and weeping
inconsolably for the slaughter of her latest born descendants.
Even as the babes were murdered they were aA-enged, for the
monster Avho doomed them lay racked by exquisite tortures ; his
body disintegrating before he died ; racked by the power of an In
finite vengeance, the prey of the furies of remorse and despair,
shrieking for a death Avhich would only come when disease had
torn him piecemeal ; keeping him conscious of his agonies until
the last instant of his terrible existence.
Type of sinners for all the ages, like Judas, chief among the ene
mies of Christ, his death is the picture of their unblessed end :
" Me miserable ! Which Avay shall I fly,
Infinite wrath, and infinite despair ?
Which way I fly i9 hell. Myself am hell ;
And in the lowest deep, a lower deep,
Still threatening to devour me, opens wide,
To which the hell I suffer seems a heaven."

XXVII.
PETER.
THE EARTHLY AND THE HEAVENLY IMPULSE.

fOR the accomplishment of a great Avork, men demand great
instruments. God magnifies his own power by the use
of very humble means for mighty ends. The Lord of the
Universe, when he would conquer the Avorld to himself,
when he set his battle in array against legions of devils, and their
human agents, began the tremendous undertaking — by calling
as his co-Avorkers four fishers !
Jonas, a Galilean fisherman, dAvelling on the fair shores of Lake
Tiberias, had two sons, whom he had trained in the practices of
the JeAvish faith, in a careful obedience to the LaAV, and in a
devout expectation of the Messiah.
We speak of these men often as " poor and ignorant fishermen,"
but they Avere probably persons of some means and of reputable
positions ; and Avhile not learned after the fashion of the Scribes,
the word "ignorant," applied to them m Acts, means merely
laymen — not doctors of the LaAV ; for it is evident that they were
men of sound mind, wide experience, and the usual education and
refinement of the middle classes of their day.
The sons of Jonas having groAvn to manhood, entered into a
business partnership with two brothers, like minded with them
selves, the children of Zebedee. The four owned several boats,
and employed servants ; while Simon, the elder son of Jonas, was
537

538 PETER.
married, and lived Avith his family in his oavii house in the city
of Capernaum.
That this dwelling Avas no mean hovel, we learn from the fact
that he Avas able to receive into it Jesus, and his attendant disci
ples ; while the open court in its centre accommodated many Avho
thronged to hear and see the Great Master.
When John came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and
neAvs of the man and his mission fleAV abroad, the four fishermen
of Galilee Avere at once attracted tovrard him.
It Avas characteristic of these men, and indicates the parental
training Avhich they had enjoyed, that they ever set the heavenly
above the earthly interest.
They heard of the Voice sounding an alarm in the desert, and
at once sped to listen to the call to repentance ; to share the neAV
baptism ; and do the Avorks indicated by the prophet.
They Avere enrolled among the most ardent followers of John,
and their souls AA'ere fired Avith the announcement of the SAvift
coming of Him for whom kings and seers had long waited.
Expectation brightened in their eyes ; they eagerly scanned each
strange face Avith breathless interest, and watched the opening
glades, and the purple shadoAvs of the Jordan hills, to see coming
out of them that Man of Divine majesty, who should send the rod
of his strength out of Zion.
AndreAV, the son of Jonas, and John, the son of Zebedee, per
haps as being younger than their brothers, and having less family
cares, remained with the Preacher at the Jordan, and eagerly
received his instructions. Here Ave see the tender family spirit,
the community of interest among those men ; for the elder
brothers returned to carry on the business needful for the support
of the households, while the younger suffered nothing by remain
ing to learn at the feet of John.
After a time, Ave find them all engaged at Tiberias on equal terms.

PETER. 539
Jesus, immediately after his baptism, was " led up into the
wilderness," where he remained for forty days, enduring that sore
temptation laid upon him for our sakes.
The day after his return, he appeared in the Jordan region near
John, and the Baptist looking upon him, as in stately simplicity
he pursued his solitary way, turned to a group of neophytes about
him, saying: " Behold the Lamb of God, Avhich taketh aAA7ay the
sins of the Avorld ! "
The Avords came with divine force to tAvo listeners ; the hearts
of AndreAV and John leaped up to greet Him, Avho should amply
supply all their need. The great crying Avant of their nature,
which had never been appeased, could be met alone in One, Avho
AA7as potent to carry aAvay the sins of the Avorld.
They sprang up, urged by the same impulse ; they stayed not
to take fareAvells of him Avho had pointed out the Avay, they
"followed on to know the Lord."
As reverently they walked in his steps — and here is suggested
how the following now entered upon continued through life,
through the pains of death, and within the blissful Avails of
paradise — Jesus, knoAving in his sympathetic soul the footfall of
every seeker for his truth, turned, and radiant with benevolence,
asked them : " What seek ye ? "
The tAvo made answer meekly, " Rabbi, Avhere dwellest thou ? "
He dAvelt in every heart like theirs, contrite and desiring; but
he would show them his earthly abiding place. Prince at his birth
of outcast and homeless babes ; Prince in his youth, of all Avho
daily groAv in grace; Prince in the wilderness, of all sore tempted
souls, he is noAV the goodly Prince of hospitality, and bids them
to his home.
The Syrian day was stooping to its close ; fresher came the
breeze ; the languid floAvers revived again ; wandering birds on
weary Aving Avere sweeping homeward ; longer lay the mountain

\

540 PETER.
shadows ; the toiler cheered at the approach of rest, and through
the evening peace, the dropping dews, the fold-bound flocks,
AndreAV and John went to the home of Jesus.
Who can fully comprehend the glorious revelations, the deep
soul satisfying of .that sojourn in the dAvelling of the Christ? It
quickened all the soul of each of these earliest disciples of the
Redeemer. The heaven-love enlarged and purified the earth-loA7e.
Listening to the voice of Him Avho spake as never man spake,
fraternal affection tugged at the heart of AndreAV ; his joy could
not be complete unless his elder brother, Avhose ardent spirit had
protected and inspirited his childhood, could Avith him listen,
learn and love.
When these guests Avere dismissed from the home of Jesus, to
pursue the duties of the hour, Andrew had but one thought, he
must bring Peter to Christ.
Homeward he sped Avith eager feet, and the toilsome Avay seemed
nothing, so great was his earnestness ; he entered the house of
Simon, and seizing on his brother with oriental passion, cried :
" We have found the Christ ! "
It had been the dream of their early years, to see the coming
of Messias. Often, as they toiled through the long night watches,
they had talked of Him avIio should rend heaven and come down;
often resting on the Ioav green slopes that were mirrored iii
Gennesaret, they had pursued the favorite theme of Avelcoming
the King of Jewry.
No sooner did the ardent Andrew cry out that now at last
Messias was found, than Simon, the man of impulse, had girt his
cloak about him, and buckled on sandals for the journey. His
hot haste outstripped his brother; Andrew then as ever, had much
ado to keep pace Avith Peter.
Happy in the fulfilment of his dearest hopes, Andrew brought
his brother to Jesus ; then Simon received his new name. He had

PETER. 541
justified his first appellation, Simon, the hearer ; he had heard
John Baptist and AndreAV right willingly, now he hears Christ,
and his Avhole gloAving soul caste itself at the feet of his Beloved.
" Thou shalt be called Cephas — Peter, a rock," said Christ.
It Avas long ere Simon made his neAV name good ; but the hour
came Avhen he Avas unflinching as a rock, and all the dashing
storms of heathen rage, and spiritual conflict, could not shake his
steadfast spirit.
The succeeding day Jesus called to him one Philip, a man of
Bethsaida, a toAvnsman of Peter and Andrew, who was doubtless
Avon into the circle of the new Teacher's influence by seeing his
early friends hanging on every Avord the Master spoke. Nathanael
was the fifth recruit, and on the next clay Christ and these his
companions and students were invited to that forever famous wed
ding feast in Cana, than which never feast had guests more noble.
Here the human tenderness of Jesus, his sympathy with human
joys as well as griefs, shone forth most gloriously ; and in the
manifestation of his supernatural poAA'er, the God stood confessed,
and the new-fledged faith of his disciples mounted up suddenly
as borne on eagle's Avings into the heights of divine mysteries.
The principal home of Jesus during the brief period of his
ministry Avas in Capernaum, and thither he went accompanied by
his mother, probably now widowed, his brethren — AA7hom in spite
of Romish commentators, and even orthodox German savants, Ave
must consider absolutely brethren according to the flesh — and his
disciples. Here the four fishermen were at home, and for a time resumed
their ordinary avocations, and dAvelt in their oavh households.
We pause to note that Peter had three calls from Christ.
First, led by Andrew, he was called as a simple catechumen ; a
follower or adherent in the most general sense. Second : his call
from the nets to be a companion and constant attendant of the

542 PETER.
Lord ; and, third, Peter was with eleven others formally chosen
and commissioned to be a co-worker, a teacher of Christ's doc
trines, his witness even unto a bloody death.
Of all the disciples, none Wed so much as this hot tempered,
impulsive, elder son of Jonas ; his affection for his Master was an
enthusiastic passion, and his rash natural disposition led him in
the earlier part of his history to shoAV forth his devotion by ill-
judged methods. When trial and failure, and suffering had tu
tored him, the earthly impulse Avas overcome by the heavenly, and
Peter's Avhole being was absorbed in the desire to bring the world
to know and own his Lord.
The family of Peter claims our attention for a moment. At
the time of his introduction to Christ he Avas living in Capernaum,
with his Avife and her mother. The tradition is that his wife Avas
named Perpetua ; that she had one daughter, and perhaps other
children, and that she Avith her daughter suffered martyrdom.
We know, from the Avritings of Paul, that Peter's wife was one
of the heroines of the faith ; that with pious zeal she accompanied
her husband on his Apostolic mission ; and she probably, like the
holy Priscilla, gave herself to instructing inquiring souls, and aiding
in building up the Church.
In age, Peter was probably but little in advance of his Master;
he is said to have died an old man, in the year sixty-four ; it is
not likely that he Avas more than forty at the time of his call to
follow Jesus.
The Lord, having attended the Passover feast in Jerusalem,
taught in Judea and Galilee, performed many miracles, and been
rejected at Nazareth, came again to Capernaum, and walking forth
on the sea shore saAV the fishing boats of the sons of Jonas and
Zebedee. Peter's boat Avas nighest him, and its owners at once
recognized Him whom they had accepted as their Master.
" Follow me," said Jesus, looking kindly on the tired, bronzed

PETER. 543
faces of the toilers, " and I will make you fishers of men." The
brothers at once brought their boat to the shore to obey, but the
Lord Avas pressed by a multitude who had followed him out of the
city, burning with curiosity to witness his miracles, and to hear his
Avonderful teachings. Stepping into the boat, Jesus bade Peter
push out from the shore, that he might be relieved from the pressure
of the croAvd as he taught. The discourse having ended, and the
multitude returning to their homes, Jesus Avas not unmindful of
the occupation of the sons of Jonas, and said to them : " Launch
out noAV into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught."
" Master," replied Peter, " Ave have toiled all night and have
taken nothing. Nevertheless at thy command I will let doAvn
the net."
Peter expressed his unbelief; he Avould obey as a duty, as a
token of respect, but he believed that it Avould be useless, and felt
secretly that he knew best about fishing on Tiberias. Therefore
when a miraculous draught of fishes burdened the nets, so that
they broke with the treasure, Simon Avas overcome Avith a sense
of his own unbelief, of his unAvorthiness to receive such favors,
and of the great benevolence of Jesus towards him. Thus often
does the bounty of the Lord rebuke our lack of faith.
Beckoning to their partners, James and John, in the other ship,
the fishers proceeded to lade their vessels Avith the treasure ; the
wonderful store filled both craft to the brim, and they were ready
to sink. The impulsive Peter cast himself at the feet of Jesus,
with the amazing prayer : " Depart from me, for I am a sinful
man, O Lord."
Peter had seen the miracle at Cana, and had believed, but had
not been impressed as by this miracle, which he could thoroughly
appreciate as being with his own nets in his own calling and boat,
following his own fruitless efforts. He remembers how though
he has seen Christ's glory manifested, he has yet left him and re-

544

PETER.

tured to his OAvn labors, and here is this amazing bounty poured
out for him ! He cries " depart " because the presence of Christ
so reproves the sinfulness in his OAvn soul, and he feels unworthy
of his friendship. " I am not worthy that thou shouldst come
under my roof," is his heart cry. But here is shoAvn hoAV men
do not choose Christ, but he chooses them. While Peter Avith
trembling hand waA7ed the Lord aAvay, that Lord ansAvcring the
yearning of the man's spirit dreAV nearer. " Fear not ; from hence
forth thou shalt catch men." His merciful words fell like oil on
the troubled tossing- Avaters of Peter's soul, and his brother and
O 7
friends, who have shared his aAved, excited feelings, noAV share his
devotion, and at once they follow Jesus to the city, leaving
parents, property and servants ; forsaking all to follow Jesus.
Peter noAV receiA7ed his Master to his dAvelling, and for some
little time the Lord remained in Capernaum; Avhile here he exer
cised his power in behalf of Peter's mother-in-law, who lay ill of
a fever ; upon her he laid such potent and life-bestoAving touch,
that she rose up Avell, and folloAving the instincts of the reneAved
soul, devoted her first strength to laboring for her Benefactor.
Not long after this, Peter received his third call, this time to
the Apostolic office. Here, for Avhatever reason, he Avas set primus
inter pares; he became first of the Apostles, not having been first
called, and probably not being eldest of all ; but from this time
Peter is set first on each list of the Apostles ; is named first of the
favored trio called to share most notable experiences, and is at all
times regarded as mouthpiece and representative ofthe rest. Paul,
on several occasions, mentions Peter as chief or exponent among
his brethren ; and Jesus frequently addresses him personally, while
directing his speech to all the twelve. At the same time, Peter
evidently holds no peculiar office; receives no special honors from
his brethren ; has no grand privileges, and the rule of his Master
is : " He that is chief let him serve, and he that would be greatest,
let him be the servant of all."

PETER. 545
Among his Apostles, Jesus chose three Avhom he brought into
most tender relations to himself: Peter, the most loving; John,
the best beloved, and James, the critical and careful, the keeper
of the laAV, and the calm reasoner, Avho could balance the impul
sive Peter and the fiery John.
These Avere with the Lord in three grand scenes of his life :
the raising of Jairus' daughter ; the Transfiguration, and the Agony
in Gethsemane.
To appreciate more fully his ardent nature, it may be well
first to group his sayings, and then his recorded doings, untilthe
night when our Lord was betrayed.
AVhen Peter sees Jesus walking on the sea, he cries out : " Lord,
if it be thou, bid me to come to thee on the water ! "
He gives his Master a test, and Avith eager love would go to
meet him on that Avatery Avay. Having leaped from the ship, he
suddenly realizes his position, remembers that man cannot Avalk
on tossing Avaves, and seeing the wind boisterous, his mercurial
spirits sink, and he sinks with them. He forgets the poAver of
Christ, and considers only his own incapacity. He is afraid.
As he fears, he falls ; his doubts are as a millstone about his
neck; yet fearing, doubting, he does not lose the consciousness
that in his Lord is his only hope ; he may have been a strong
swimmer, brought up from infancy by the shining sea, but he
trusts the hand of Jesus, rather than stout strokes from his OAvn
sinewy arm, -and shouts, " Lord ! save me ! "
We have Peter in his happiest phase of character, when Christ
asks his disciples : " Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man,
am?" The Apostles reply promptly, giving the different rumors and
opinions current among the JeAvs.
" But whom say ye that I am ? " demands the Master.
Peter, ever the spokesman of the twelve, ardently declares :
35

546 PETER.
"Thou art the Christ: the Son of the living God." Here
Peter affirms that Jesus is Messiah, and being enlightened by the
Spirit recognizes him not in any narrow and carnal sense of
Jewish tradition, but in his true mission and person. His reply
is solemn, heartfelt, and rich with a knoAvledge of the divine
mystery of the God incarnate.
In this declaration Peter lays the foundation of the Christian's
confession of faith ; here is the beginning of the Apostles' Creed.
He confesses Jesus as True Man, Eternal Son of God, and
Almighty Redeemer of a lost world. In his simply worded
answer is held that spiritual reliance which is the Christian life
ofthe Church.
"Blessed art thou, Simon, son of Jonas," saith the Master;
" for flesh and blood haA7e not revealed it unto thee ; but my
Father which is in heaven."
It is to this faithful confession, made by Peter, that Christ
refers, Avhen he says : " On this rock I will build my Church."
The bold, unlimited allegiance expressed by Peter, was to be the
foundation of the Church. Christian faithfulness is that whereon
the Church rests, and may abide the shock of onset from her foes.
It is a peculiarity of Peter, the impulsive, that when he has
reached some lofty height he speedily plunges to some aAvful
depth, as if made giddy by the elevation he has attained. Now
having been the crowning type of holy confession and devotion ;
expressing, in acceptable speech, the noblest feelings of his
brother Apostles, Simon Peter strangely yields to carnal ambition,
and Jewish traditionalism, and would rob his Lord of his chiefest
glory, that for Avhich he came into the Avorld.
Christ began to prepare the minds of his disciples for that
decease Avhich he must accomplish at Jerusalem ; showing them
that he would be obedient even unto a bloody death.
Only by this death could Peter gain admission to the gates of

PETER. 547
eA'erlasting life. This the sanguine Apostle cannot see ; his human
love overcomes him ; he seizes on his Lord, and rebukes him.
" Be it far from thee, Lord ! This shall not be unto thee ! "
Satan is ever ready to seduce those Avho have been most highly
exalted. Here he prompts Peter to put himself forward to for
feit, if possible, the Avorld's Salvation. He Avould have Peter
hinder that Avonderful expiatory offering, Avhereby a man may be
just Avith God.
Jesus rebukes the rash man, and the Satanic element at work
in his soul. " Get thee behind me, Satan. Thou art an offence
uuto me ; for thou savorest not the things Avhich be of God, but
those that be of men."
The earthly impulse had suddenly gained the ascendant ; the
heavenly principle drooped and fainted on theungenial soil of this
half-regenerated heart.
Peter seems inclined to play the mentor to his Lord ; for on the
Avay to the house of Jairus, when Jesus demands : " Who touched
me?" Peter says, bluntly, "Master, the multitude throng thee
and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me ? "
With Christ and the sons of Zebedee, Peter stood in the house
of the ruler of the synagogue, and saAV the banished life recalled
to his young daughter; saw the blood flush the cheek lately
frozen into marble ; saAV the eyes unclose Avith a new love light ;
saw the parents, breathless at this miracle of transformation,
receive their child strangely aroused from the sleep of death.
Favored again to behold mysteries, Peter was one of those who
"saw His glory being Avith him on the holy mount."
There he beheld the celestial radiance of the only begotten Son
of God ; there he saAV Moses, the hero of his nation's history, and
Elijah, the mysterious prophet, Avho broke upon his people like
light out of chaos, and left them being SAA7ept up toAvard highest
heaven in a Avhirhvhid and chariots of fire.

548 PETER.
It was Peter's misfortune to be heavy with sleep on occasions
AA'hen he needed to be all alert. Hoav long that glorious interview
had been going on, he kneAV not ; celestial light aroused him, and
his dull eyes beheld the Church on earth in the persons of him
self and the tAA'o brothers, met by the Church of the Redeemed in
heaven, Jesus fitly standing in the midst, but noAV all gloAving
Avith supernal sheen, covered with His glory Avho dAvelleth in the
light inaccessible. The laAv; the prophets; the gospel, the
Church of the last dispensation, met on that unnamed mountain.
At once Peter fires Avith enthusiasm ; he forgets his nine brother
apostles, less favored ; he even forgets AndreAV, who brought him
to Jesus ; and all the struggling nation of the JeAvs, and a AA7orld
trembling on the brink of ruin. All he desires is to dAvell foreA'er
on that mount of bliss ; to see his Lord so unspeakably fair ; to
behold those glorified faces, Avhose lineaments tradition had Avell
preserA7ed, to hear those sounds of melody, to be by that divine
nimbus, shut apart from the sins and troubles of the Avorld.
" Lord," he cries, speaking unchallenged his opinion, " let us
make three tabernacles — one for thee, one for Moses, one for
Elias ! " And alas, even as he speaks, the splendid vision melts
aAvay. A shining cloud, like the pillar of fire which guarded the
hosts of Israel, or the Shekinah Avhich descended upon the mercy
seat, hid from the anxious eyes ofthe disciples those three glorious
forms. Chill fear fell on them ; they seemed to have lost their
Lord ; his earthly appearance had been so clothed upon Avith
celestial beauty, that, perhaps, it Avas a token of his AvithdraAval,
that he Avould no more " Avalk the rough ways of the Avorld by
their side." Falling prostrate, their souls cried out for light,
"And had no language but a cry."
Suddenly, hoAV soon they could not tell, Jesus touched them,
saying : " Fear not." They rose ; the celestial guests Avere gone ;
their Master, in his dusty sandals and seamless robe, and grave

PETER. 549
majestic face, alone Avas there ; the world AA7ent on, as before that
amazing hour. They had "Jesus only," but Jesus Avas enough,
and they Avent doAA7n from the mountain carrying blessing to the
Avorld. The months of sanctifying intercourse and training in the earthly
school of Christ rolled on, and brought the warm-hearted, impe
tuous Peter to the great agony, the great sin, the great repentance
of his life.
Peter and John were the two disciples sent to make ready for
that last solemn passover, Avhen Christ AAras to institute the neAV
memorial of his dying love for his Church in all the ages to
come. Even their long association with the Prince of the meek had not
humbled the aspiring, haughty natures of the twelve ; they fre
quently contended for preeminence, and only the great distress and
soul-rending of their loss of their Master chastened and purified
those rebellious spirits.
Tribulation means threshing ; and it takes great tribulation often
to divide the chaff from the corn in many a strong soul. In
taking their places at the feast the apostles contended for chief
seats, perhaps jealous of John Avho sat next the Master. Jesus
began, as often before, to teach them the beauty of humility, the
heed of entire harmony, shoAving that they Avould be in the Avorld
a little band of brothers, against Avhom earth and hell Avould Avage
bitter Avarfare. Let them then find solace in each other's loA-e, and
in the Master's service. To enforce this lesson, Christ arose from
his place at the board, and girded himself to perform for his dis
ciples the office of the meanest slave. " If I, then, your Lord and
Master, wash your feet, so ought ye also to wash one another's
feet," Avas the moral of the act.
Peter's loving soul revolted from the thought of such humiliation
for his Lord : " Dost thou Avash my feet ? " he cries.

550 PETER.
" What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt knoAV here
after," replied Jesus.
Looking at the matter Avith his merely human vision Peter
could not be reconciled to it, and returned : " Lord, thou shalt
never Avash my feet ! "
" If I Avash thee not, thou hast no part in me," said Jesus. No
part in Christ ! Peter could not endure that imputation ; and so
clashing to another extreme, he runs beyond the intention of Jesus,
exclaiming : " Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my
head." The little band sat doAvn to supper.
"One of you shall betray me," said the sorroAvful Christ. On
eA'ery lip trembled the question : " Lord, is it I ? "
But Peter could not be content, he must know the traitor's
name ; perhaps he intended to run him through with his sword.
Simon therefore beckoned to his friend John to ask Avho should
betray so good a Master ; Jesus gave the sign, and said : " Pie to
AA'hom I shall give a sop, Avhen I have dipped it."
The food before them Avas the roasted paschal lamb, the cakes
of unleavened bread, the Avine, and the harosheth, a gravy made
of bitter herbs pounded together, as a token of Israel's bitter bond
age, and brickyard toil in Egypt. According to Oriental custom,
each person at the table dipped his piece of bread into the dish,
and Judas doubtless stretched forth his false hand to the harosheth
at the same moment that the Lord did so.
In the East it is courteous in the master of a feast to give a frag
ment of food Avhich he himself has dipped in or from the dish to
one of his guests. Jesus, ever gracious, even on this night terrible
Avith the culmination of the world's long agony, dipped a sop of
the paschal bread and gave it to Judas.
The traitor looked up, and met the steady soul-searching gaze
of the Master.

PETER. 551
" What thou doest, do quickly," said our Saviour.
One not entirely possessed of the devil Avould have cast himself
at Jesus' feet, imploring for himself pardon and protection ; but
Judas rose and left the spot halloAved by the presence of the
Saviour. The departure of Judas concluded the Passover supper,
and noAV came the hour Avhen Peter thrice protested his undeviat-
ing allegiance to Him Avhom he Avas thrice to deny. While Jesus
spoke as one departing, Peter demanded : " Lord, whither goest
thou ? "
" Whither I go thou canst not follow me noAV," was the reply.
" Lord, Avhy cannot I folloAV thee iioav ? I will lay doAvn my
life for thy sake ! " cried the man of impulse.
" Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake ? " said Jesus sadly.
" Verily, verily I say unto thee, the cock shall not crow before
thou hast denied me thrice."
Then Peter spoke the more vehemently : " Although all men
should be offended, yet will not I ; if I should die with thee, I
would not deny thee in any wise."
To this agreed the other apostles, who were listening eagerly to
Peter's reclamation. They none of them believed that ardent Peter,
their leading spirit, their spokesman, could deny a Lord whom he
assuredly loved ; neither did Peter believe that such falsehood
Avas in him. But Christ repeated his Avords : " Verily, I say
unto thee, that this day, even on this night, before the cock crow
tAvice thou shalt deny me thrice. Simon, Simon, behold Satan
hath desired to have thee that he may sift thee as wheat ; but I
have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not : and Avhen thou art
converted, strengthen thy brethren."
Here is predicted to Peter an outward and visible change; the
burgeon of an inAvard renewal of his soul ; through what flood-
tides of spiritual agony he Avas to struggle to this safety, Christ
Avisely hides from him ; on this very night the mighty process is to

552 PETER.
begin ; for three days of anguish, which Avould have destroyed a
weaker nature, Peter is to battle Avith his soul's enemy ; for long
days of temptation, and almost failure, he is to strive, until on
Olives he reaches his height of spiritual strength, becomes in
his earth-life the strengthener of his brethren, and by his epistles
the strengthener of the faithful in all the years to come.
Noav he says resolutely, knowing so little of his weakness-
" Lord, I am ready to go Avith thee to prison, and to death."
" I tell thee, Peter," replies Christ earnestly, " the cock shall
not croAV this day before thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest
me." Thrice Avarned, thrice protesting, with full confidence in his
Own strength, Peter Avas thrice to fail.
And noAV the Memorial supper Avas given, the Lord's last legacy
to his Church, established in deep tribulation, and ever to main
tain herself amid AA-arfare and Avoe, indeed to need these to make
her graces thrive, and her expectation to be eager for her King's
return. Next folloAved that closing and comforting discourse giA7en in
John ; the prayer of the departing Saviour ; and that solemn hymn
of praise that Avoke the night echoes of the Holy City.
Out then into the starlight ; across the brook Kidron, up into
beloved and ever-sorrowful Gethsemane. Having entered the
garden, Jesus left eight of the apostles, and taking the favored
three, Peter, James and John, Avent farther into the recesses of
the shade ; here Pie Avas indeed to be the Burden Bearer of the
world, to carry on his breaking heart that load of sins which had
6hut men out from their heavenly Father.
Here Christ faces the whole traitorous despairing world, in the
person of Judas; behind it the infernal poAvers lie AA'aiting to aid
it, an abyss of Avickedness, before Avhich the spotless Son of the
Father " is sore amazed and very heavy." Around him the poor,

PETER. 553
lost, despairing impotent human race, finds ite representatives in
those three chosen companions, Avho, in Christ's hour of agony,
are asleep !
Rising from his struggle of prayer, Christ seeks his friends ;
all, even the boastful elder born of Jonas, slumber. He speaks
to Peter : " Simon ! sleepest thou ? couldst thou not Avatch one
hour? Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation."
Thrice Avarned, Simon is again shown the Avay of escape. And
noAV how pitifully his Master regards his weariness : " The spirit
truly is Avilling, but the flesh is weak."
A second time he comes to them, and still they sleep, and
rubbing droAvsy eyes know not what to ansAver his gentle up
braiding. The third time he comes ; the Peter who could go to prison is
slumbering still. " Sleep on now, and take your rest. Behold
the hour is come, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands
of sinners."
There is a sudden sound of trampling feet, of clashing swords,
and shouts of armed men. The moon has risen, and lights up
the scene as Avith a new day ; the Apostles, who have been left, are
flying from the shadows toAvards their Master.
Peter, the impulsive, is up and alert now ; he snuffs the battle
like a Avar horse ; he can endure a fair fight ; slow legal processes
and legitimate crucifixions are what Peter cannot braA-e.
The armed bands come nearer. Judas at their head. The
arch-traitor, with ostentatious homage, says : " Hail, Master,
Master," and gives to Christ a treacherous kiss.
At this, some of the band pushing forAvard, laid violent hands
on Jesus.
Peter being girt Avith a sword, flamed into defence of his Lord.
He lifted his bright blade to heAV off the head of the offender, but
missing his mark in his haste, only succeeded in cutting off his

554 PETER.
adversary!s ear. The man was a servant of the High Priest, and
Jesus saying, calmly : " Suffer ye thus far," touched his ear, and
healed him.
The Lord then said to Peter : " Put up thy SAvord into its place :
for all they that take the sword, shall perish with the SAvord."
Peter, thus forbidden his weapon, began to tremble.
" Whom seek ye ? " asked Jesus of the armed men.
" Jesus of Nazareth," Avas the reply.
" I am he."
At these words, smitten by an invisible hand, the battalion
went backwards, and fell to the ground.
When Christ had refused Peter's chivalrous defence, and had
intimated that he should not ask of his Father legions of angels,
Peter's heart had sunk ; noAV he revives, thinking the Master
about to exercise his divine power. On the contrary, the SaA7iour
offers himself to his foes as a lamb led to the slaughter; and they
begin to bind him. He speaks : " If ye seek me, let these go
their Avay." " Then all the disciples forsook him and fled."
They were not the last folloAvers who should forsake their
Lord! Peter and John folloAved Christ afar off, until he was taken into
the High Priest's palace. Being knoAvn to the household, John
Avent in with his Master and the accompanying croAvd, while
Peter remained shivering Avithout, his fears rapidly gaining
ascendancy over him.
John, the thoughtful and brotherly, presently missed his old
friend, ajid speaking to the portress gained him admission.
Now a frivolous servant maid turned the lately valorous Peter
into a miserable catiff. As he stood near the door, the damsel
said, inquisitively, "Art thou not one ofthis man's disciples?"
" I am not," retorted Peter, the earthly impulse SAvaying all his
soul.

PETER. 555
He then Avent out to the porch ; but young damsels seemed
combined to torture him, and sIioav him at his Avorst ; for a maid
servant, seeing him in the croAvd, said officiously to the bystand
ers, " This is one of them," meaning the comrades ofthe Prisoner.
Then Peter denied again ; and in despair took refuge among a
circle of men, standing about a brazier of coals.
As he tried to converse on indifferent matters, one of his com
panions said, roughly : " Surely, thou art one of them. For thou
art a Galilean, and thy speech betrayeth thee."
Roused to all his early unregenerate passions, Peter began
loudly to curse and to SAvear, crying : " I know not this man of
Avhom ye speak."
Oh, cruel forsaking and denial in the hour of extremity !
Peter's traitorous eyes wandered into the adjacent hall, and
there he saAV his loving, long forgiving Master, at the mercy of
his enemies.
At that moment Jesus turned and gave his recreant friend one
long look of loA7e, of pity, of upbraiding, and forgiving.
Suddenly came the sign, the croAving ofthe cock.
All the scenes of vehement protestation, of warning, of stupid
slumber, of betrayal, SAvept before the fisherman of Galilee.
False, false, false ! brother to Judas ! his Lord knew that he had
forsaken One who had ever been true to him.
An agony of remorse and shame, such as weaker men may
never knoAV, shook the Apostle's soul. He fled from the scene of
his treachery, and going forth into the cold gray morning wept
passionately. The tardy day broke over Olivet ; its first red beams beheld
the world's great penitent, the Christian Avho had denied his
Christ ;_ a culprit convulsed with self-accusation, flying to some
lonely hiding-place, Avhere he might give Avay to his anguish.
Here we lose sight of Peter for three days. While Christ

556 PETER.
suffers and is buried, this representative man is buried from our
sight; while Jesus is crucified, Peter is crucified to the world and
to his fears, and when Christ appears from his grave, Peter walks
forth in newness of life.
Pie hears in his retirement the shouts of the frantic multitude;
he hears the tumult of the mob SAveeping toward Calvary; his
face blanches in the sudden darkness of that doleful noon ; he
trembles Avith the trembling of the shaken earth.
Night closes in, and noAV it is likely that a comfortable guest
finds the frantic Peter ; for Ave know that John and Peter were
together on the morning of the first day of the Aveek ; that John
had a house at Jerusalem, Avhere he took Mary, the very hour
that a sword had pierced through her soul in the dying agonies of
her Son.
Perchance then, John, mindful of his beloved friend; pitying
him Avith something of the Saviour's compassion, sought him to
share his Avoe.
Pie tells him that Judas has "gone to his OAvn place;" that
torn Avith despair, he flung the price of his soul in the face of the
Sanhedrim, and going out hanged himself.
The breathless Peter hears of the converted thief and centurion ;
and that out of their graves had Avalked the bodies of many dead
saints, and had paced with soundless feet their accustomed haunts
in the Holy City.
Thus for two nights, and a still Sabbath day, Peter and John
and Mary, and, perhaps, other friends of Jesus, linger together,
filled Avith but one theme — discoursed with floods of tears — the
death of Jesus, and his burial rites, that precious treasure hidden
in the sepulchre in a garden.
On that glorious Easter morning, Christ, ever most tender to
bruised and repenting souls, sends by the angels an especial mes
sage to Peter: "Go tell his disciples and Peter, that he goeth
before you into Galilee."

PETER. 557
But meantime Mary Magdalene, finding the tomb untenanted,
has run to Peter and John with the news : the tAvo make speed to
see if the sacred depository has been rifled; and Peter, ever more
daring than John, pushes by him, Avho merely stoops doAvn and
looks in, and boldly enters the tomb.
That same day, as Ave learn from Paul, Jesus appeared to Peter,
to receive him again into favor, binding up his broken heart.
At once Peter re-assumes the leadership. In the excess of his
joy, he is able to brave anything; that look in the judgment hall
no longer haunts him like an accusing angel ; it is remembered
rather as rich in compassion, and pardon.
As appearances of his Lord are multiplied, Peter rises to an
ecstasy ; but noAV comes a period of silence : the apostles are not at
once met in Galilee by their Master ; the JeAA7s declare him dead ;
Mary Magdalene has seen him ; two disciples at Emmaus have
held long converse Avith him ; he has visited Peter ; he has stood
twice among the tAvelve ; but days have grown into weeks, and the
Lord has not been heard from.
Delay becomes an agony ; Peter can so ill endure idleness ; his
active soul, like that of John, his earliest master, pines and chafes
Avhen there is nothing to be done. He has gone up to the sea of
Tiberias, and with him are Thomas ; his old partners, James and
John ; Nathanael, their early friend, and two other of the twelve.
Old associations revive old impulses ; the placid lake is day
after day dotted with the sails of the fishing boats : these men are
poor, and their families may need their labor. True, they have
been called to forsake all, and catch men ; but he, their Master, is
gone, and there is no one to lead them in the neAV work.
Here Peter is besieged by a fresh temptation, more insidious
than the one Avhich overcame him in the judgment halb.
This temptation also overtook him, as temptations often over
take men, because he was in the Avrong place.

558 PETER.
What business had Peter to be in his old-time haunts, in sight
of the nets and the fish, and in hearing of the old choruses of the
sea-toilers ?
True, he had been told to go into Galilee, but not to Gennesa-
ret ; the appointment had been distinctly made by Christ to meet
his Apostles on a mountain.
As soon as Passover rites Avere ended, their duty was plain : to
confer with no man, but to hasten unto that nameless Galilean
mountain, there to keep their tryst Avith their risen Lord.
With that stupidity Avhich so eminently characterized the twelve,
•until after the descent of the Holy Ghost, they seem to haA'e quite
forgotten that a time and a place of meeting had been mentioned.
Not time as to a day perhaps, but some near occasion had been
expressed in the words of Jesus on the Passover evening, "After
I am risen I will go before you into Galilee," and the repetition
of this phrase by the angels, " Behold he goeth before you into
Galilee ; " and the message the risen Lord, on the Sabbath morn
ing, dispatched by the Avomen, " Go tell my brethren, that they go
into Galilee ; there shall they see me." In their surprise, sorroAV
and confusion, all this was lost.
Worn with grief, fatigue, Avaiting, disappointment, poor Peter,
in the wrong place by his OAvn act, but ignorant of his error, doubts
his Master, Avhere he should blame himself. No very great poverty
presses him to labor ; for three years his Master has supplied his
need. It is unrest, rather than Avant ; lack of faith above every
thing Avhich causes him to utter the phrase John deems so import
ant, "I go a fishing." He might nearly as Avell say, " I give
up all."
Suppose Christ should neATer return, or should not come for
years; there will be no harm in filling up the interval with the
old business : at all events, Peter is sure he Avill die of this en
forced quiet.

PETER. 559
He starts up : " I go a fishing." He has run before his Lord's
stately progress again ; poor, hasty Simon ! Dangerously influ
ential, he causes his brethren to err.
His word is the signal for the rest : " We also go with thee."
They push the boats from shore, and set the sails to catch the
evening breeze, and toiling until break of day they catch nothing;
and iioav as the east groAVS red, they haA7e drifted nearer shore, and
see a lonely figure pacing on the sand.
Clearly comes to them the challenge, " Children, have ye any
meat?" Alas ! no ; they have fished in Avrong waters, as many men have
done since.
" Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find."
When Ave work by the Lord's direction, we work successfully.
Now " the net was laden with fishes many and great."
The miracle proclaimed the Master. "Many waters cannot
quench love, neither can the floods drown it."
" It is the Lord," cried John.
Peter, grasping his fisher's coat, forthwith in headlong haste
forsakes his comrades, and his Master's new gift, and flings him
self into the sea, hating every instant, and buffeting every Avave,
that keeps him from the feet of his soul's beloved.
When the boat is at shore, and Jesus bids them bring of the
newly caught fish, Peter flies to obey. Then. the seven sat down
to eat the food their Master had prepared.
Now there is to be a formal remembrance of Peter's sin, and an
evident forgiveness. " Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more
than these?"
" Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee," said Peter.
" Feed my lambs," said the Great Shepherd of the flock.
Again the question : " Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me ? "
"Yea, Lord, thou knoAvest that I love thee," said Peter,

560 PETER.
appealing to Christ's omniscience to believe him in spite of his
false act.
But Avhen the third time the question came, Peter's heart broke
at the remembrance of that bitter denial, and grief overflowed his
soul. " Lord, thou knoAvest that I love thee."
"Verily, verily, I say unto thee," said Jesus, "When thou
Avast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou
Avouldst: but Avhen thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth
thine hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither
thou wouldst not."
This prophecy of his martyrdom the Apostle received Avithout
terror; but true to his own impulsive nature, he turned to John,
who, Avith the others, folloAved the steps of the Master, and de
manded : " Lord what shall this man do ? "•
Then Jesus cautioned this Peter, and all the other unduly
anxious Peters of the Church, " What is that to thee ? FoIIoav
thou me."
Here closes the first part of Peter's histoiy.
When the volume of his life opens again, we find him standing
forth the chief of the Apostles on the Great Day of Pentecost.
Since the ascension of Christ, Peter had taken the lead, had
gathered the brethren together to wait in prayer and supplication
the Promise of the Father; had led them in choosing a new
Apostle to take the place of lost Judas.
On the Pentecostal day, Peter stands braA7ely forth preaching a
crucified Jesus ; exalting him who had suffered as a malefactor
Without the gate.
From this hour, Ave find the Apostle indeed strengthening his
brethren ; being a man full of the Holy Ghost.
With John he performs that notable miracle at the Gate Beauti
ful, and the ring of his voice before the Sanhedrim, "Whether it

PETER. 561
be right in the sight of God, to hearken unto you more than unto
God, judge ye : for we cannot but speak the things which we have
seen and heard," has A7ery little of the tone of him Avho faltered :
" I knoAV not the man."
• TAvice is Peter released from prison by an angel's hand : he
cries to the chiding rulers, " We ought to obey God rather than
men." So many signs and wonders was he enabled to perforin, that the
people carried their sick and deformed into the streets, that his
shadoAV, as he passed along, might fall on them with healing
power. Being thus as a ministering angel to the needy and the believing,
he Avas as a scorching flame of wrath to the hypocritical and
unbelieving. His shadoAV passing over the sick is full of refresh
ing, like that of a great rock in a weary land ; but from his lips
leap consuming fires to smite Ananias and Sapphira.
Peter stands among the Samaritan disciples, the harvest of his
Lord's sowing, and with tender recollections flooding his soul
prays for them that they may receive the Holy Ghost ; but when
Simon, the sorcerer, offers him money for poAvers like his own, he
darts upon him the withering curse, " Thy money perish with
thee ! I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and the
bond of iniquity."
Eneas, healed of his palsy, which, for eight years, had held him
in strong chains, arose to bless the son of Jonas. Endowed Avith
a power like that of Christ and the greatest prophets, Peter calls
back dead Dorcas from the " undiscovered bourne."
To enfranchise his spirit, bound up in Judaism, God sends him
a vision, and makes him his missionary to Cornelius.
When Paul is converted, he seeks Peter on his first visit
to Jerusalem, this being three years after he had confessed
Christ. On this occasion Barnabas, probably a former friend,
36

562

PETER.

introduced him to Peter, with whom the new Apostle abode fifteen
days. Having lost his beloved friend James by the sword of Herod,
Ave find Peter shut up in prison, Avhence he is miraculously de
livered. After this ev7ent, Ave have no continuous history of this Apostle.
Six years after his release from the poAver of Herod, Peter Avas in
Jerusalem at an assemblage of apostles and elders, who Avere met
to discuss matters important to the Avidely extending Church.
Very many critics believe that the dispute betAveen Peter and
Paul, Avhen the latter Apostle reproved his elder brother for dis
simulation in his dealings between JeAA's and Gentiles, took place
at this time.
And in this fact Avhich Paul states, we see Peter, the real man,
s'hoAving forth in all his individuality. At one time he walked
freely and brotherly Avith the Gentile disciples at Antioch ; but
when Judaizers came, he Avas carried away by their influence, and
withdrew himself from his former friends.
Paul admits that to Peter was committed "the Gospel of the
circumcision," and calls him, Avith James and John, " pillars of
the Church."
Concerning Peter's life, after the Bible record of him ceases, we
haA'e only tradition and conjecture. He Avas certainly for a long
Avhile at Antioch, and for another unnamed period at Babylon —
not the spiritual Babylon of Rome, but the olden Babylon, still a
flourishing seat of intellectual culture, and much frequented by
JeAvs ; many JeAvish families having remained there since the
Captivity. Early tradition associates Peter's name Avith the foundation of
the Church at Corinth; and suggests that he, in a long tour,
spread the Gospel through the countries of Asia.
We come noAV to a long vexed question, the residence of Peter

PETER. 563
at Rome. Out of this supposititious residence, error has made
much capital. It has been the misfortune of the fiery-hearted
Apostle, that his name and memory have been used as Standards
for the Hosts of Sin.
For a time a boldly asserted falsehood Avas taken for fact; an
immense religious fabric Avas built on the statement that Peter
AA'as at Rome; the time of his stay was particularly stated at
tAventy-five years; and his pontifical chair was exhibited as a
proof like Joseph's bloody coat, and Avas, like that coat, a proof
of something which had never occurred.
Even to-day, Avhen noble Italian reformers dispute this question
in the seven-hilled city, and rout the upholders of the idea of
Peter's abode there, learned Biblical writers among Protestants,
such as Kitto, in his " History of the Bible," and Smith, in his
" Bible Dictionary ," assert the fable for truth.
. 7 ¦
If we give up the idea that Peter Avas at Rome, we must also
give up many very charming legends. We must forego the
notion, that Peter and his daughter were whirled to the Avorld's
capital in a fiery chariot, there to battle Simon Magus ; and all
the other pretty fancies of the " Golden Legend." We can no
longer think that Peter, flying in fear of martyrdom along the
Appian Avay, met his Lord " going to Rome, there to be crucified
again." Peter's imprisonment with Paul ; the marks of his chain, the
print of his hand and head worn in his cell's wall, all must be
relinquished as myths, if Peter was not at Rome ; but having
ascertained, by unflinching chronology, that he could not possibly
have spent twenty-five years in the Eternal City ; and his treasured
chair being proven a Roman consular relic of a later day, Avrought
Avith pictures of the labors of Hercules, Ave also find that the story
of his ever being at Rome, or dying there, is pure fabrication.
Smith thinks it "a settled point, that he did not visit Rome

564 PETER.
until the last year of his life ; " but that he then went there and
was martyred.
It is a much more fully settled point, that he never was at
Rome at all.
It is time that careful historical research was substituted for
ornate tradition. We live in the resurrection time of the ages ;
the Avorld is giving up its dead; it is not the hour to keep truth
buried, and for each new Avriter to cast stones on its grave, raising
a mighty cairn. If our fathers slew the truth, it is not needful
that Ave should build ite sepulchres. Rather let it come forth clad
in white robes, singing praises.
The arguments against the statement that Peter was at Rome
are not recondite dissertations, but are open to all ; here it is not
needful to discuss them. One very pertinent objection is the utter
silence of all the Epistles concerning any visitation of Peter to the
city of the Caesars. Paul, the courteous, writing from Rome,
carefully saluting and remembering every one, says nothing of his
great brother soul, his pioneer Avork-fellow, to Avhom was commit
ted the gospel to the Jews, Avhile he himself labored among the
Gentiles. Paul states particularly that " no man stood by him,"
that only Luke "is with him."
Peter does not come to meet him at the " three taverns." Peter,
in his General Epistles, makes no mention of the Roman Church,
which he is imagined to have founded ; while he particularly
speaks of the Asian churches. He mentions Babylon, not Rome ;
Sylvanus and Mark, never Paul.
There are many strong proofs and arguments to be draAvn, out
side of Scripture, against the assertion that Peter Avas at Rome.
Dealing here merely with the internal Scriptural evidence, we find
it all against those legends which have been the cloak of so much
iniquity. The date and place of Peter's death are unknown. Tradition

PETER. 565
is united in declaring that he Avas crucified under the Neronian
persecution. Origen says, Avith his head dowmvard on the cross,
at his OAvn request. But Ave have a stronger evidence than patris
tic tradition for the manner of Peter's death. Christ had especially
foretold that his ardent adherent should folloAV him in the bitter
road of martyrdom. " Thou canst not folloAV me noAV, but thou
shalt follow me afterwards." "Thou shalt stretch forth thine
hands and another shall gird thee, and carry thee Avhither thou
wouldst not. This he spake signifying by what death he should
glorify God."
The Neronian persecution sAvept its bloody way through all
parts of the Empire ; the servants of Jesus fell before it like ripe
grain before the reapers ; this persecution, beginning in the month
of November, in the sixty-fourth year of the Christian era, raged
for four years, and Avas only ended by the violent death of the
most accursed tyrant that ever wore a croAvn.
Peter was probably nearing his seventieth year ; he was worn
by hard labors; from his earliest childhood he had been one
of the earth's toilers: many journeys, watchings, fastings, im
prisonments, distresses had exhausted him ; but now his soul re
newed its youth like a Phoenix. The time of his release was nigh
at hand ; he should soon see the face of his Beloved, and hear the
voice which for three blessed years had filled his soul with com
fort. Earth cares, and strifes, and threatenings were drifting un
heeded by him ; songs of the new creation fell upon his enraptured
ear; visions of glory filled his eyes; hopes blossomed in his breast,
hopes that had been buried these many years.
He in his place, and Paul in his, the Great Twin Brethren, the
Castor and Pollux of the Church, led valorously the vanguard of
the Sacramental Host. The carnage raged hotter ; the armies of
hell contended in innumerable battalions ; the great cloud of wit
nesses looked doAvn from heaven on the fight, and welcomed every
victor home with palms and croAvns.

566. PETER.
In these four years of blood, Paul and Peter fell upon the field
of the faith, fighting their Avay, and striking valiant blows for
Christ until the last. " Brief life is here our portion,
Brief sorrow, short-lived care;
The life that knows no ending —
The tearless life is there.
And martyrdom hath roses
Upon that hallowed ground,
And white and virgin lilies
For virgin souls abound.
And Jesus to his true ones
Brings trophies fair to see,
And Jesus shall be loved, as
Beheld in Galilee."

XXVIII.
PILATE AND GALLIO,
TWO POLITICAL TIME-SERVERS.

%\

*)

WO characters, draAvn with a "few salient touches by the
NeAV Testament artist-writers, hold clearly up to view a
class of men unfortunately numerous at the present day —
men Avho trim the sails of their religious life as best shall
suit their political advantage. Every man who does this is a
moral suicide.
* Pilate and Gallio had many things in common as well as the age
in Avhich they lived ; the offices they occupied ; the nation to which
they belonged ; the question presented to them, and the death they
died, Avere the same.
The natural dispositions of the pair were widely diverse; one
was arrogant, bitter, hasty, durus Pontius ; the other Avas generous,
genial, delightful, as the poet Statius calls him in his ode, dulcem
Gallionem. Yet they had one leading motive — political am
bition; and in devoting themselves to the gratification of this
master-passion, they alike fell into the abyss of infinite ruin and
despair. Pontius Pilate, Roman governor of Judea and Samaria, during
the reign of Tiberius Caesar, was, by descent or adoption, a member
ofthe family of the Pontii, Avhose head was C. Pontius Telesinus,
the Samnite general of renoAvn.
Pilate Avas the sixth Roman procurator of Judea, and went to'
567

568 PILATE AND GALLIO.
his seat of government accompanied by his wife, Claudia Procula.
Unfortunately, like most of the Latins, he experienced for the
Jews a lofty scorn, a violent aversion, which led him in every
Avay in his poAver to trample on their prejudices, and to press
more cruelly on their prostrate necks the bitter yoke of Roman
servitude. Pie began his administration by marching into the Holy City,
his legions bearing the ensigns, images of Csesar. Such an indig
nity had never before been offered ; it clashed with every idea of
the JeAvish heart ; their beloved Temple Avas desecrated by the
flaunting of the Roman standard at its gates.
The heads of the nation sped to Caesarea to remonstrate.
Pilate roughly derided them. They then, as Josephus tells
us, fell on their faces, and remained persistently prostrate for
five days. At the end of this time, Pilate surrounded them
Avith his armed troops, and threatened them with instant
death if they did not assent to the presence of the ensigns
in Jerusalem. They immediately offered their necks to the
SAvord, declaring that they would die, rather than see the defile
ment of Zion. Unwilling to reign over a depopulated territory,
Pilate yielded, and commanded the removal of the obnoxious
standards. Some time after, Pilate took the Corban, the consecrated money
of the Temple, to build a long aqueduct to bring Avater into the
Holy City. This interference with the sacred treasury was angrily
resented by the JeAvs.
On the occasion of one of the feasts, the people made a tumult
concerning the rifled treasury, and the Galileans, who had come
out of Herod's jurisdictions to worship, were particularly vehement
in their demonstrations. As the mob grew more furious, the
haughty ruler sent his minions among the unarmed people, and
butchered very many of them. This was during the minis-

PILATE AND GALLIO. 569
try of Christ, and his disciples brought him Avord concerning
"Those Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their
sacrifices." Herod Avas greatly angered by the murder of his subjects, and
a quarrel ensued betAveen the king and Pilate, which was only
healed during the last hours before Christ's crucifixion.
Before this violent aud obdurate governor, the JeAvish Sanhe
drim hurried Christ in the cold grey morning of the day preceding
the Passover Sabbath. The cries of the mob brought the gover
nor to the seat of judgment three hours before his ordinary time
of opening his court.
Filled Avith fury, the rulers begrudged every moment of life
to the unoffending Son of Man. They Avere also mindful of
the sanctity of the coming day, and wished their victim to be dead
and buried before it should dawn.
The Roman governors ever lived in trepidation during the pe
riods of the great feasts ; at these times Jerusalem was croAvded
Avith the sons of Jacob, in Avhose souls burned hostility to their
Gentile rulers. These smothered flames were likely to burst forth,
when the people were croAvded together, and each man's angry
breath fanned the fires of passion in his neighbor's soul. Mobs
often ensued ; and for all riots the government at Rome held its
delegate in JeAvry responsible.
If the Procurator could not by force or fraud restrain the tur
bulent Jews, he Avas likely to be considered incompetent to fill his
office, and his successor would speedily arrive.
Therefore, Avhen, before day, Pilate heard infuriate shoutings ;
when messengers beat at his doors, crying to him to come and
condemn a man, who ought, by JeAvish law, to die, he made haste
and went forth to inquire into the disturbance.
We here note three good things concerning Pilate. First,
mindful of his duties as Procurator, he refused the instant capital

570 PILATE AND GALLIO.
sentence demanded of him, and proceeded to investigate the case.
Having done this he clearly and fully pronounced the innocence
of the prisoner. Now, as the priests yet more loudly demanded
vengeance, Pilate proceeded to his third just act, he sought further
information on the case; which sustaining his former assertions^
he again pronounced the prisoner " not guilty."
Here he should have taken a step farther in an honest course,
and have set the innocent free. All equity demanded this of him ;
but having upheld justice thus far, he falters: three times he lifts
a feeble voice to save the Victim ; three times his hand, with an
uncertain clasp, Avould hold Christ from the infuriate mob of his
foes, Avho are lashed ou to vengeance by priestly tongues. Too
weak and unrighteous to pronounce a righteous sentence, he
ceases to battle with the rising tide of Avrath, it SAveeps his honor
and his compassion aAvay, and he gives up Christ to the Avill of
the Jews.
Philo says of Pilate, that " his, disposition was unyielding, nor
Avas he moved to leniency towards malefactors." His relinquish
ing his natural habits of feeling on this tremendous occasion de
mands a thought. He Avas led to favor Jesus because of the wrath
of the Jews. Pilate felt a detestation for the people whom he
ruled, and was ready to befriend one Avhom they hated. We
knoAV, also, that the majesty and the gracious presence of the
Divine Man before him, stirred his soul, and brought him to a
personal interest in him; this feeling, in the event, only made
Pilate's guilt more great, his punishment more heavy.
To rescue the prisoner, Pilate made three several efforts, each
shoAving the deep cunning of his nature; he Avas OA7ermatched,
howeArer, by the devil-inspired craft of the rulers of the Jcavs.
It occurred to Pilate to shift the responsibility of this judicial
murder upon the shoulders of Herod, Avho Avas then at Jerusalem.
He therefore sent Jesus to the Tetrarch, to be dealt with as his

PILATE AND GALLIO. 571
subject, putting the case in his hands. Mollified toward Pilate by
this act, and resolved not to be outdone, Herod returned the
prisoner to the Governor, trusting all the affair to his judgment.
These civilities settled the old quarrel, and made the two rulers
friends. This interchange of compliments Avhen the salvation of
the Avorld is being consummated, Avhen all heaven stands aston
ished and the earth shakes to its centre Avith the high import of
the deeds that are transpiring at Jerusalem, chills the 'devout
soul. Having been foiled in his attempt to escape from his dilemma,
Pilate is yet more disturbed by a message from his wife.
Claudia Procula is said to have been a proselyte of the gate,
and to have liA'ed in sympathy with the JeAvish religion. She
had doubtless often heard of Christ, and perhaps had listened to
his teachings. Here a heathen woman appears as the sole advo
cate of Jesus in his hour of deepest humiliation : she foreA'er gives
the heathen Avoman a tender place in our sympathies, and a claim
upon the good offices of every Christian woman's heart. In this
hour of tribulation, Claudia, the Roman, vindicated the devotion
of Avoman to her Lord and Master. No ordinary dream would
have moA7ed a Roman Avife to interfere with the tribunal of jus
tice ; but Claudia has a vision of bitter agony ; the wife of Pilate
suffers inexpressible anguish on account of "that just man."
In her message to Pilate, she fortuitously accords with the won
derful description by Plato (Politia, vol. iv.) of a perfect man,
who, " Avithout doing any evil, shall assume the appearance of the
grossest injustice ; shall be scourged, tortured, fettered, deprived
of his eyes ; and after having endured all possible sufferings,
fastened to post, must restore again the beginning and the proto
type of righteousness."
Aristotle says that a perfectly just man would be so high above
the imperfection of human law, that he must needs break it.

572 PILATE AND GALLIO.
In the message of Claudia to her husband, the Greek philoso
pher and the Roman jurist meet, testifying to the innocence of
Jesus of Nazareth. By the side of Pilate, the political time-
server, we behold his wife, hovering like a guardian angel, yet
unable to save him from himself, or to avert his fate.
Pilate iioav uses his guile a second time. He has in his hands a
notorious offender ; one Avhom justice suffereth not to live ; one whose
name is a household word of terror — Barabbas. By some, it has
been supposed, that this man set himself up as a Messiah, and
that, in this character, he had led a bloody insurrection. KnoAV-
ing that the Sanhedrim were " moved by envy," Pilate argued
within himself, that they feared Christ's popularity Avith the com
mon people ; therefore he judged that, Avere the case left to the ac
clamation of the people, they Avould cry out for the safety of their
favorite. More than this, Pilate did not imagine it possible that
the Sanhedrim would dare ask pardon for a vile traitor and public
profligate, instead of sparing a man Avhose virtue was so extraor
dinary that his worst enemies could find no accusation against
him. Having cunningly permitted the populace to gather in great
numbers, Pilate presented to them an alternative — they might
have Jesus or Barabbas freed to them — which would they save?
To his horror and amazement, they lifted that astounding cry,
" Not this man, /but Barabbas ! "
Thus the fallen and degenerate priests of Israel deny the Son
of God, rescue the spurious Messiah, whose iniquities had been so
fully laid bare, and crucify Him for Avhom their nation had longed
and prayed !
Deeper and deeper sinks Pilate Avith each passing moment, until
in his yielding to the cry of the people he has fallen forever from
manhood and truth, and is lost.
His third endeavor to change the temper of the mob is most

PILATE AND GALLIO. 573
iniquitous ; he delivered his Victim to be scourged, hoping by this
horrible infliction to glut the rage of the rulers, and wake the
sympathy ofthe people. But his experiment is like giving blood
to a tiger ; it but whets the appetite for more. Louder comes the
cry : " Crucify him ! crucify him."
" Take ye him and crucify him," said Pilate, shrinking from
pronouncing so abominable a sentence ; and willing rather to risk
an illegal act. But the priests Avere too crafty for this.
" It is not lawful for us to put any man to death."
" And then another uproar : " If thou let this man go, thou art
not Caesar's friend."
Pilate kneAV if he let the tumult continue the report of it would
reach Rome, and he Avould be held guilty; of all things he desired
favor with Csesar, and feared the imputation of disloyalty. He
might noAV by acquiescing in the demand of the Sanhedrim gain a
popularity Avhich he had ever lacked ; a popularity which might
be worth something. He could not risk his own position for the
sake of this stranger ; he could not hazard all future promotion for
justice sake. Plis resistance ended, and he gave up Jesus to the
mob, who led him aAvay with wild shouts of triumph and derision.
Here Ave see the State becoming the tool of an apostate and
blood-thirsty Church — as has since often happened.
During this scene Pilate has behaved like a vile coward ; he is
without excuse. He dares brave the JeAvs Avhen it suits his con
venience ; and he murders by Avholesale JeAvs and Galileans and
Samaritans. When he would have his own way, he defies the
Avrath of Herod ; but for Christ's sake, for the truth's sake, for
honor's sake, he Avill venture nothing. As to truth, he demands
captiously Avhat it is ; to him it is a myth ; a fiction of the poets, a
figment of the golden age. For the sake of that petty State, the
government of Judea, he becomes a party to the most tremendous
crime ever consummated; the crowning A7ictory of the Satanic

574 PILATE AND GALLIO.
poAvers. When he stands before the JeAvs ostentatiously washing
his hands; taking a symbol from the religion he despises, to testify
that he is free from the blood of the Holy One,. he merely testifies
to the purity of Jesus, and to his OAvn eternal condemnation.
In little matters he can be obstinate enough ; he Avrites an in-,
scription for the cross, and in it hides his intense scorn for the
whole nation ofthe JeAvs; this inscription nothing will move him
to change.
In some things he can be liberal, for AA'hen the wealthy Joseph
brings him his petition, he readily accords his favor, asking no
bribe, but apparently glad that his Victim shall be humanely in
terred. Moreover in this he can gratify his spite against the hated
Sanhedrim, whose wrath folloAvs Jesus after he is dead.
Here closes the chief scene in the great drama of Pilate's life;
one more act, and a black curtain hides him forever.
In the ninth year of his rule, the Samaritans, lured by promises
of some religious pretender, gathered for worship on Mount
Gerizim. They congregated in great numbers, and Pilate Avas
pleased to consider their intent rebellious. He attacked them with
bands of soldiers, and sleAV very many. The Samaritans appealed
against his tyranny to Vitellius, governor-general of Syria. Vi-
tellius put a temporary governor over Judea, and ordered Pilate
to repair to Rome to ansAver before Tiberius Caesar the charges
made against him. After a ten years' possession of authority,
Pilate left Palestine in disgrace.
When he arrived at Rome Tiberius was dead. The proud
governor found himself Avithout partizans, and during the reign of
Caius Caligula, unable to endure the misfortunes of his life, he de
stroyed himself. Thus he joined the black list of suicides, writing
his name Avith Saul, Ahithophel, Judas, and many more AA'ho have
abandoned hope forever.
From this dark picture we turn our eyes, at first well pleased,

PILATE AND GALLIO. 575
to Gallio, richly doAvered by nature, as says his brother, Avith every
grace ; blessed Avith more virtues than art could simulate.
Gallio Avas brother to the famous philosopher Seneca. The two
belonged to the School of the Stoics, more congenial to the bold
Latin race than the softer philosopy of the Epicureans.
Gallio Avas the second son of I. M. Annseus, a philosopher of
equestrian family in Spain. The name of Gallio AA7as Marcus An-
meus Novatus, but having been adopted by Junius Gallio the
rhetorician, he received a part of his name, and was knoAvn as
Junius Annseus Gallio. Gallio and his elder brother, Seneca, Avere
born in Cordova during the first decade of the Christian era.
Their mother's name Avas Hehia ; she AA'as famous for wit and
beauty and graciousness of disposition ; gifts largely shared by her
sons. Early in life these brothers were taken by their parents to
the Avorld's Capital, and there trained in all the wisdom of the
day ; they Avell repaid the culture lavished upon them. The de
votion of Seneca and Gallio to each other Avas a most beautiful
example of fraternal tenderness. Seneca shoAvers upon his junior
the most ardent praises, and the tAvo shared the same vicissitudes
bf fortune. Elegant accomplishments; taste for art; almost un
rivalled poAvers of oratory, and a subtle genius for pleasing, made
Seneca the friend of kings, and the inhabitant of palaces ; and Ave
find him using his high position in behalf of his brother.
We must read much of Gallio's character in the light cast upon
it by the more fully preserved history of Seneca. The philosopher
was a time-server in the Avidest sense of the Avord. Loving
wealth and learning, cultivating easy indifference to all which
did not especially concern himself, Seneca could pander to hu
manity's worst passions. He illy deserves Jerome's epithet of
JSaint Seneca.
Caligula endeavored to kill Seneca ; Claudius promoted him ;

576 PILATE AND GALLIO.
Messalina slandered him and banished him to Corsica, Avhere he
spent eight years. Agrippina recalled him from banishment, and
made him tutor of her son Nero. Over the mind of this iniquitous
monster Seneca obtained a Avonderful mastery. The philosopher
was not too honest to feed his pupil's vices, that he might retain
his own poAver ; nor was he too generous to betray the interests
of his patroness Agrippina, and compass her murder.
But to his own family Seneca was true ; one early use of his
influence over Nero Avas the procuring of the proconsulate of
Achaia for his beloved Gallio. The seat of Gallio's government
was Corinth. He Avas proconsul between the years forty-nine —
in which Seneca returned from exile — and sixty-five, Avhen he died.
The date of his consulship, according to the chronology of Luke,
is the year of our Lord fifty-tAVO or four, and this singularly
agrees Avith the items of information to be culled from the heathen
AA'ritings of the period.
The geniality of Gallio's disposition led him to desire popular
ity. He Avas too gentle to use a severe measure that might, by
any possibility, be avoided; and he had no sooner arrived in
Achaia than he Avon the Avarm regards of the populace, by his
generosity and easy compliance with their wishes. The sun of
his prosperity shone brightly ; happy days lay gleaming "before
him ; his brother's will ruled the court of Rome ; every day
added to the family Avealth and magnificence. Alas, these splen
dors Avere fatal. Nero was a sovereign who could not brook a
rival in riches or in genius.
And now came Paul to Corinth preaching Christ crucified. , In
this famous city of Greece, the Lord had reserved to himself
" much people," and in a vision informed the apostle that he might
pursue his calling fearlessly, for no man should harm him. The
human means of his defence was the amiable and erudite Stoic,
Gallio. Through this rich and ornate city, the chief jeAvel of the Gre-

PILATE AND GALLIO. 577
cian states, famous for its Avorks of art, for its navies and its learn
ing, Avent Paul of Tarsus -with the Gospel of Jesus. The Greeks
of Corinth boAved at the altars of Venus, Avhich crowned Acro-
corinthus; at the shrine of this goddess ministered one thousand
beautiful female slaves; Avhile the luxurious Greeks poured cost
liest gifts into the treasury of their favorite divinity.
The busy JeAvs, Avho SAA7armed the metropolis, loathed the
vicious rites of the olden Astarte, Avho had lured their fathers to
many7 a fall. BetAA7ecn Jews and Greeks burned sIoav fires of hate,
only Avaiting opportunity to break forth into tempests of flame.
High aboArethe lewd homage of the Greek and the ceremonious
devotion of the HebreAV, sat Gallio the Stoic, and it behooATes us
to consider the doctrines Avhich in so great a degree satisfied many
a cultured mind. The tenets of the Stoics approached Christianity
in a most remarkable manner. Many Stoics, like many Chris
tians, did not live up to the requirements of their creed, but that
doctrine Avas one of ascetic purity. Zeno, the founder of the sect,
taught a strict system of morality, and pleasingly exemplified it in
his life. They believed in a resurrection of the body, and in a
divine ProA7idence, though in a very different sense from Christian
faith on those points ; Avisdom they named the poAver to decide
betAveen good and evil ; there is no true good but virtue ; virtue
is highest happiness : pain Avhich does not affect the mind is un
worthy of consideration ; in virtue is entire sufficiency to happi
ness. The religion of Stoicism Avas quiet submission to fate; its
notions of nature and men held much falsehood ; its doctrines
were refined to an impracticable extraAragance, but it moulded
some mighty minds, and held some lofty souls pure amid a world-
Avide stream of vice.
The Greeks and JeAvs were amazed by the preaching of Paul ;.
many believed and were baptized, but very many more Avere
roused to a furious opposition.
37

578 PILATE AND GALLIO.
The JeAvs, knoAving the complaisant and praise-loving character
of their new governor, trusted that he would readily accede to a
loudly-urged demand for Paul's punishment. They rested in the
strength of their numbers, their political influence, and the vehe
mence of their petition, to secure the destruction of a poor, almost
unfriended man, who came preaching neAV doctrines.
' If Gallio had been like Festus, Felix, or Pilate, he Avould have
fulfilled the desire of the mob, who surrounded his judgment
seat. The turbulent Jews, loud-mouthed, preferred their charges.
"This felloAV persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the
law ! " they cried and explained how and Avhy he offended.
The Greeks stood looking on, drawn to the tribunal by the up
roar, and considering this rage against one slender, scholarly-look
ing man, as a legitimate outbreak of Ae hated JeAvish fanaticism.
Paul, at the first lull in the tempest of accusation, essayed to
speak, but, before he could open his mouth, Gallio turned upon
the Jewish rulers. The acute jurist had easily discerned the in
sufficiency of the plea, the injustice of the whole proceeding. Here
Avas a question outside of his province as governor ; the Romans
alloAved the Jews freedom of religious opinion. He states a good
point in equity, that religious questions are not to be brought be
fore the civil tribunal. Acts of injustice, violations of private
rights, constitute the grounds of legal processes, reasons Gallio :
this case concerns neither ; it is one of religious faith and practice,
and he has no desire to act as judge in such matters. The learned
Stoic sneers a little Avithal ; it is a matter of words and names.
Noav, Avhile it is Avise for magistrates, as such, to refrain from
meddling Avith questions of religion ; as men, it behooves them
personally to inquire into the rights and AA7rongs of beliefs. As a
pagan Judge, Gallio behaves well ; but it was to his everlast
ing disadvantage that he set the religion of Jesus aside as a

PILATE AND GALLIO. 579
mere affair of words and names, unAvorthy of his devout investi
gation .
The pagan Gallio is not a suitable model for a Christian judge;
he does not deserve the extravagant praise that has for ages been
lavished upon him. He Avas not an oppressor of Paul; he dis
missed the Apostle's foes ; but justice should uphold and vindicate
the right while it restrains the evil. Gallio did nothing in Paul's
behalf, he merely dismissed the mob, refusing to punish the priso
ner at their request, and throAving all future responsibility of deal
ing with Paul upon their OAvn shoulders.
The Jews, probably, AA'ere obstinate and refused to leave the
tribunal, for the expression is " he drave them from the judgment
seat." The praiseworthy act of refusing to interfere or condemn in
matters of conscience, is at once followed by a very censurable
course. The Greeks, seeing the detested Jews at a disadvantage,
discovering that the neAV governor Avas quite out of sympathy
with their bigotry and intolerance, concluded it Avould be an ad
mirable time to vent their own spleen upon the Hebrew synagogue.
"These Greeks, therefore, flew upon the sullenly retiring crOAvd of
Jews, seized Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, Avho had
probably acted as prosecuting attorney in Paul's case, and drag
ging him before the very seat of the calm Gallio, beat him with
cruel violence.
Gallio was bound to distinguish betAveen what was above law,
and Avhat was contrary to law ; he failed to do so however.
Paul's case belonged to the jurisdiction of the skies ; the Greeks
were violating the personal and civil rights of Sosthenes their
toAvnsman, and all justice demanded that Gallio should interfere,
rescue the sufferer, and chastise the aggressors.
Indifference Avas the eminent characteristic of Gallio; indiffer-
ence to religion too frequently breeds indifference and negligence
in civil justice. A ruler who fears not God is usually a ruler who

580 PILATE AND GALLIO.
regards not men ; the indifference of Gallio, Avhile it sets Paul free,
permits a sore wrong to Sosthenes.
The behaviour of the people shows that they deliberately traded
in the self-contained, amiable indifference of the proconsul.
The promise of God to Paul, that he should be safe was won
derfully fulfilled. BIoavs were rained on his enemies, while he
escaped unharmed.
The stoical indifference of Gallio to the Avoes of Sosthenes may
have been OAving as much to policy as to the tenet held by his sect,
that purely physical pain is not to be regarded.
Corinth was the metropolis of Greece. The Greeks were here
in a vast majority ; the JeAA's AA-ere aliens living on sufferance ; the
Greeks had the money, the numbers, the political poAver to greatly
make or mar the future of their proconsul. The opinion of the
Corinthians concerning Gallio would be shared by all the Penin
sula; the easy-tempered governor could not endure popular odium ;
it Avas decidedly better for him to let his poAverful subjects beat
that sanctimonious Jew to their souls' content, than to risk his own
popularity by interfering. Paul went about his Master's business ;
Gallio cared nothing for that — let him go.
The JeAvs, sullen and defeated, slunk homeAvards. Gallio cared
nothing for that. They were a minority; they AA7ould feel better
to-morroAV perhaps ; moreover they had been decidedly in the
Avrong to begin with.
Sosthenes, poor wretch, was beaten, and Gallio still cared nothing ;
he had his OAvn position, friends, flatterers, money, intellectual
pleasures ; and the Avounds and bruises of Sosthenes, the Jew, Avere
of little moment to the proconsul.
By this decision for Paul, Gallio obtained the gratitude of the
new sect of Christians ; by his further indifference, he gained great
popularity with the Greeks.
At the close of his consulship in Achaia, Gallio was attacked

PILATE AND GALLIO. 581
Avith a severe illness, for Avhich Pliny tells us that he tried a sea
voyage ; Seneca also mentions this, stating that he suffered Avith fever.
He left Corinth folloAved by the good Avishes and regrets of the.
people, Avhose fortunes Avere very greatly in the hands of their
^gOA'ernor, and who seldom Avere fortunate enough to find a ruler
as amiable as Gallio.
Having returned to Rome, Gallio for a time shared the broad
sunshine of his brother Seneca's prosperity ; but thunder gusts
SAveep over the hottest noons, and the very raptures of applause
Avhich greeted Seneca, and the reAvards of eloquence and learning
heaped upon him, became the means of his destruction. His mag
nificent villas outshone the palaces of kings ; his gardens Avere
each fair as Hesperides ; art lavished her treasures at his feet.
Perceiving himself to be in danger ; suddenly aware that Nero
had become his enemy, Seneca retired to his villas and lived in
seclusion, expecting death. All his Avealth he offered to Nero, but
the tyrant refused the gift, desiring to have the riches only Avith
their OAvner's life.
Nero soon took advantage of Piso's conspiracy to prefer charges
against his old friend and tutor, and condemn him to death. Syl-
vanus the tribune was sent to the home of Seneca, bidding him
put himself to death. Seneca prepared to obey ; his wife and
Statius the poet remained Avith him, and doubtless Gallio.
It has been suggested that later in this year, sixty-five, Nero put
Gallio also to death, but the more reliable account is that, dis
tracted by loss of friends, office, Avealth, and brother Avell beloved,
Gallio committed suicide, a short time after Seneca's death.
The Stoic had his hour of grace Avhen Paul stood before his
judgment seat, ready to preach Jesus crucified ; he let the golden
opportunity slip from his careless grasp — it came no more. SloAvly
after that hour of careless scorning, the shadoAvs gathered over his
life ; nio-ht and cloud Avere about him, and, lost in the blackness,
Gallio Annaeus passes out of sight.

XXIX.
PAUL,
THE MODEL OF THE MINISTRY.

P| OHN, thrilled Avith the splendid wonders of that mighty
•)1 vision which croAvns and closes God's written revelation,
notes amid the terrors of opening seals, of clashing thun-
S ders, of rending skies and a shaken universe, sudden
silence in heaven, for the space of half an hour.
Such a pause came also in the world's history, in the glorious
reign of Augustus. The earth, long shaken by Titanic struggles,
found a breathing time ; the Aveary giant rested ; his bleeding limbs
relaxed in strange slumber. The beautiful arts of peace throve
in the interim of the great art of war. The Roman power
widely overshadoAved the globe ; Avhere Celts and Parthians had
set barriers to its progress, and resisted its SAvay, they Avere yet
unable and unwilling to challenge a new battle, Avhen the eagles
folded their Avings. The doors of the Temple of Janus Avere
shut. The pirates of the Levant had been dispersed like birds
and bats of the night before the mild morning. The earth's
great heart, the seven hilled city, beat restfully ; the distant pro
vinces shared its unwonted calms.
Cilicia, on the Mediterranean Sea, and Tarsus the jewel of her
ring of cities, prospered in the peace; the Jewish citizens Avho
had suffered much and Avere to suffer more, shared in the general
benediction. In this sweet repose of history, the family of a
582

paul. 583
prominent HebreAV in Tarsus — a man Avho had been made a Ro
man citizen, probably for services rendered to the State — was
gladdened by the birth of a son.
This HebreAV Avas of the tribe of Benjamin, but, if we may judge
from the family names of Paulus, Lucius and Junia, had strong
Roman connections. When a son wfis born to this household, in
Avhich Roman citizenship was an heirloom, they called him, from
the croAvning beauty of the tribe of Benjamin, that high-hearted
and hapless warrior-king Avho first swayed the sceptre over
Israel, Saul.
The young JeAV, albeit an exile from the Ploly City, Avas trained
in the strictest practices of the Mosaic laAV ; moreover in his
unfolding soul were instilled those ardent hopes, that burning zeal
for the One God, that earnest expectation for the future, which
Avere the very life of the law. A pious family was this of Tarsus,
intelligently studying the Scriptures and the import of the times
wherein they liA7ed, so that some of them, as Andronicus and
Junia, Avere Saul's elder brethren in the faith of the Crucified.
As the lad, growing out of childhood, left his mother's side,
his father, mindful of the Rabbinical precept concerning a son, " to
circumcise him; teach him the laAV, and teach him a trade," set
the boy to learn tent making ; thus fortifying his future life
against idleness and poverty.
The country of Saul's birth was indeed
" Fit nurse for a poetic child."
Cold and clear from the shoavs of Taurus SAvept the strong river
Cydnus, rolling through the city an impetuous torrent two hun
dred feet broad. The great river Avhich was the marvel of Paul's
infant days, has dAvindled into a narrow and sluggish stream ;
Avhile the fame and influence of that nursling Avho played upon
its banks has broadened into a great tide, encircling and blessing
all the world.

584 paul.
Hot and dusty noons hushed the city Tarsus as to the silence
of death ; blessed evenings when the pinnacles of the mountains
glowed in the departing sunshine, and when cool breezes Avhispered
the loves of the land and the sea, called forth the thronging citizens
to business and pleasure. Flowers, unnumbered and unrivalled,
lit up the cool depths of adjacent ravines, as jewels light up mines ;
the city gardens gloAved in beauty, and fig and palm, pomegranate
and orange, hung forth their luscious fruits. Over all the corn-
bearing plains Avere scattered the black goats' hair tents of busy
harvesters. Wandering through this gorgeous landscape, beholding the
miracles of changing "fruitful seasons," and meditating on the un
speakable glory of Him, who made heaven, earth and sea, the
large-brained boy ripened into a youth Avise beyond his years, elo
quent, earnest, fiery, flashing into indignant rage, melting into ten
der love of mother, sister, nation ; filled Avith JeAvish pride and
prejudice and poetry, in every drop of his hot young blood.
Far be it from those HebreAV parents to send their child of
promise to a Gentile school, to be tutored in the intrigues and follies
and vices of the divinities on Olympus ; it was not for him to see
the deft fingers of Flora in the fashioning of leaf and blossom, to
read the Avrath of Demeter in drooping corn, to hear Iioav Atlas
trembled with the added Aveight when Hercules ascended into
heaven. Rather, led by a careful slave, the boy went daily to some
synagogue school, and at the feet of a long-bearded Rabbi conned
Avith greedy eyes the characters of the venerable language of his
race, Avhile his sympathetic nature responded to the SAveet music of
David ; the passions of tenderness in Jeremiah ; the raptures of
Isaiah ; the grandeur of Ezekiel and Habakkuk.
But family intercourse and happiness Avere to be sacrificed at the
altars of national religion and pride ; the young JeAV must go to
Jerusalem, to learn at the feet of Gamaliel, the most excellent or
nament of the Rabbinical school of Hillel.

paul. 585
Gamaliel is supposed to have been the son of that grand old
man, Simeon, Avho, holding the infant Saviour in his arms, lifted
the noble strains of the nunc dimittis, the SAvan-song of a believing
host. With Gamaliel, say the Talmudic writers, the " glory of
the .laAV perished ;" it perished, but the Avorld lost nothing ; for,
rising resplendent from the dead ashes of these schools of tradi
tions, Gamaliel's most glorious pupil Avas the Gospel's inspired
teacher, carrying the splendors of the cross over the world.
An eager student, filled with ambition, puffed up with spiritual
pride in his oavii observances and attainments, avaricious of praise,
notably strict and self-restrained in life, Saul of Tarsus proposed
to himself to become a shining light in his nation ; to revive an
ancient type of piety ; to confirm the wavering HebreAV mind in
the exclusiveness of its most palmy and haughty period. His high
culture Avas not unknoAvn or disregarded ; the Jews pointed him
out as a marvellous young man ; Gamaliel set his hopes upon
him. The voice of John, crying in the wilderness, fell unheeded on
the ear of this proud moralist; the Teacher from Nazareth walked
the land, raised the dead, healed the sick, delivered the Sermon on
the Mount, the compendium of Christianity ; " his mysterious
human life advanced to its consummation ; " he was crucified,
died and buried, and Saul of Tarsus, hard as a rock held his own
proud place, scorning the folloAvers of Christ as heretics con
demned already ; and clinging closer and closer to his Judaism
with every hour.
He heard of the resurrection of the dead, the resurrection of
Him Avhom he called Golgotha's criminal, and he mocked.
Jerusalem trembled at the Avonders of that Pentecostal Sabbath,
but Saul Avas all unmoved. Peter's fervid eloquence drew crowds
bf hearers, but over rolls of precious parchments and in assemblies
of learned Doctors, lingered Saul the Pharisee.

586 paul.
Gamaliel, in the Sanhedrim, became the champion of justice,
and plead the cause of Peter and other Apostles, Saul, gradually
becoming in spirit a fierce persecutor, is, perhaps, indignant at this
mildness. Strange that the day shall come, when Gamaliel shall
wring his hands because his favorite pupil has gone over to the
cause of Christ, and is foremost of these very Apostles, while he,
the learned Rabbi now so kind, lifts daily up the prayer against
all apostates !
It is not probable that Paul had, during all these years, been
continuously at Jerusalem. During part at least of our Lord's
ministry, he must have been absent from the Holy City. Perhaps
he had extended his travels to meet other Avise men and students,
or he may haA7e returned for a time to Tarsus.
He had nourished a deep hostility to the neAV doctrines, he had
voAved vengeance upon their advocates.
When men haA7e fully made up their minds to do good or evil,
they need not Avait long for an opportunity ; the world is soAvn
thick Avith opportunities, as the skies with stars.
The teaching and arrest of Stephen, the deacon, " full of faith
and of the Holy Ghost," Avas the occasion of Saul's outbreak,
from cold scorn, to persecuting fury.
The doctrine of Stephen Avas a singular anticipation of that of
Paul. As the young Pharisee stood " consenting " to the death
of this serene disciple, Avhose face, in the council, had shone like
that of Moses on the mount — while this nursling of the Rabbins
kept guard over the garments of the Avitnesses who stoned Chris
tianity's first martyr, how little would a looker-on have dreamed,
that the mantle of Stephen's ascending spirit was even now flut
tering earttnvard to fall upon the strong shoulders of Saul of
Tarsus. But even so : Stephen did not die in vain ; those paroxysms of
persecuting fury, which succeeded in Saul, were the death-throes

paul. 587
of his Judaism. With glowing eyes, like an enraged tiger, he
looked exulting upon the Avoes he scattered through the new
born church. Men and women, dragged by him to cruel prisons,
felt that they Avere in the clutches of a man who knew no mercy.
The death of Stephen had not been covered, like that of Christ,
by a shoAV of legality, nor enforced by the prestige of the Roman
name ; it Avas a foul illegal murder ; others, similar, were not
wanting, but what blood the Sanhedrim dared spill in Judea on
the plea of religious non-conformity, was not enough to sate the
thirst of Saul of Cilicia.
The Great Sanhedrim at Jerusalem claimed a religious supre
macy over the JeAvs scattered in foreign cities. One hundred and
thirty-six miles northeast from Jerusalem lay the ancient and
renowned city of Damascus. The name of Damascus is illustrious
not only as that of the oldest, but one of the most beautiful,
wealthy, and well-defended cities in the world, during its time of
power. To this day it is the head of Syria; it was old when
Baalbec and Tyre and Sidon and Palmyra and Heliopolis were
young ; they, in their graves, have returned to the dust whence
they came, and still the hoary capital lives on, renewing from the
full veins of younger cities, its fainting life. " See Damascus and
die," is the Arab proverb ; and it is said that Mahomet refused
to visit the enchanting spot, lest he should long no more for the
abodes of Paradise.
Thither went Saul : not to meet the learned men who congre
gated there ; not to satisfy his poetic soul with treasures of oriental
art ; not that heart and eye might be filled Avith the loveliness of
the city enshrined in gardens, whose white homes gleamed through
groves of deepest verdure and draperies of vines ; where the drip
of falling fountains and the low Avhirr and plash of water-wheels
chimed with the clear whistle of birds, and the gay songs that
rippled from the inner courts. Indeed, no ; this man went fast
and furious, armed with power to persecute unto death.

588 paul.
So eager Avas his rage, that his little caravan might not linger
on the Avay, dreaming out the scorching noons in some cool cara-
A7anasary ; but on they pressed under the blazing sky, unblessed by
any breezes, their goaded beasts fainting under them ; on, on,
knoAving no mercy for man nor brute.
Midday, drought, glare, dust, the air torpid with the great heat;
and noAV suddenly the noon gloAVS Avith an added splendor, which
makes the previous glory of the sun seem like some pale candle
beam. All the air quivers Avith such an excess of light that he on
AA'hom that light is especially poured falls blinded, as if he had
dared to gaze boldly into the very eye of the day.
The little caravan Avas throAvn into the utmost confusion ; all
fell prostrate ; the attendants saw no one, yet were conscious of a
presence ; they heard a %'oice, a supernatural sound, but no distinct
Avords reached them ; all was perplexity and terror. One man
alone could pierce these mysteries, he for whose soul's sake the
magnificence of God's poAver had been so strangely displayed — Saul
of Tarsus.
To him this was then a \'ision of unspeakable terror, as after-
Avards it Avas a source of unspeakable consolation ; he saAV throned
in that great central light the Crucified Nazarene, Avhom he had
so hated and despised ; whose name he had held as a synonym for
all that is most false and vile. Not an instant Avas needed to im
press forever on his soul the eternal divinity of Jesus of Galilee.
To him the mysterious sounds that followed Avere articulate speech:
" Saul ! Saul, Avhy persecutest thou me ? "
O question of ineffable tenderness ! The ardent heart of Saul
smote him bitterly ; a passionate flood of remorse for past misdoing ;
of devoted loA7e for Him, so mighty and so kind ; a yearning de
sire to work his Avill and proclaim his AA'ays overflowed the soul of
Saul the Pharisee.
" Who art thou, Lord ? " asks the astounded man.

paul. 589
Sweet came the accents of that parent tongue, the HebreAV,
Avedded to Saul's earliest ideas of purity of prayer, of praise: " I
am Jesus, Avhom thou persecutest ; it is hard for thee to kick
against the pricks."
Saul, like Ephraim, was " as a bullock unaccustomed to the
yoke." The Saviour Avho during his earth-ministry had been wont to
teach in parables, still the same Jesus, though noAV caught up into
the glory he enjoyed Avith the Father before the Avorld Avas, spoke
in a parable to Saul. It Avas vain for him to struggle and rebel ;
as the ox resists and pierces himself with his master's goad, so
Saul resisting the faith of Christ, Avounded and tortured himself
at every step of his Avay. Let him press on in ready obedience,
delighting to labor, and comfort should succeed to pain.
" Trembling and astonished," Saul recognized his neAV Master :
" Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ? "
Paul knew of a certainty that he was speaking with and be
holding Jesus, the very man and very God, who had lately walked
the streets of Jerusalem and bled on Calvary. Of this he argues
afterwards: "Have I not seen Jesus Christ the Lord?" as one
who mentions an incontrovertible fact.
He also reasons of the resurrection of the dead because Christ is
raised up. Paul himself having seen him, and spoken with him,
after the same manner as "Cephas," "James," and "all the
Apostles." This meeting, not in mere ecstatic vision, but in an absolute
personal appearance, Barnabas later affirms in Paul's behalf, to the
Jerusalem Church, and Ananias also refers to it.
" What Avilt thou have me to do? " Avas Saul's question.
" Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou
shalt do."
Saul rose from the ground a new man. In him had been

590 PAUL.
worked the miracle of transforming mercy ; he fell prostrate a per
secutor, a bitter enemy of Christ ; after that brief interval, he rose
a penitent, a deArout follower of that A7ery Christ, endowed with
grace to live for Him, and to die for Him.
Here he had received his distinct call to the apostleship, " called
by the will of God." " An apostle sent not from men, nor by
man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised Him
from the dead."
We Avould that all modern apostles had as good proof of their
ministry. The ministry of to-day can expect no miraculous call like this
man, because they have no miraculous work, as had the great
Apostle to the Gentiles; but e\Tery preacher ofthe word should be
assured in his own mind, and exemplify in his deeds, that he is
called, " Not by man, or the will of men, but by Jesus Christ."
Feeling this, the minister of the word Avill not lightly resign his
glorious office for secular occupations.
When Saul had risen from the earth he groped, blinded by the
great light he had beheld. His aAve-struck attendants, taking his
hand, conducted him into the not distant city ; and going through
the " street which is called Straight," established him at the house
of a Hebrew, named Judas.
Three days of darkness and solitude had Saul ; days for revieAV
of the past; for anguished penitence; for strong desire to work in
the name of this Jesus whom he had persecuted. We learn that1
he spent these three days in prayer.
The word of God then came to a devout believer of good repute,
one Ananias, bidding him go to the house of Judas and baptize
Saul of Tarsus.
The fame of Saul as a persecutor had gone abroad, carrying
terror ; Ananias had heard of him ; Saul, the bigot, kneAV nothing
of the humble Christian of Damascus. This man enters the in-

PAUL. 591
spired record, merely to perform his great office for Saul, and is
then heard of no more ; the most significant work of his life was
accomplished when he baptized that " chosen vessel " unto God,
to bear the blessed name of Jesus, far and wide among the
Gentiles. Ananias, laying aside his easily-stirred fears, entered the house
of Judas and gave the blind mourner good greeting : " Brother
Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, who appeared unto thee in the AA7ay as
thou earnest, hath sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight,
and be filled with the Holy Ghost."
Noav straightway Saul was not " disobedient to the heaA'enly
vision," but through all the Damascene synagogues his eloquent
voice proclaimed the beloved name of Jesus.
The lessons he had conned at the feet of Gamaliel ; his Pharisaic
lore ; his Rabbinical researches, Avere not valueless now ; he turned
all his acquisitions to the very best account, using the varied in
tellectual treasure of years to press home the doctrines of the
Scripture. His one grand lesson Avas that Jesus of Nazareth Avas
very Messiah ; the Yaveh-Christ, promised and expected since
Eden. With his multiplied proofs, with that logic in which he
was so notable a master, Paul confounded the JeAvs. While he
doubtless made many converts, he also made hosts of enemies ;
men zealous as he had been, when he left Jerusalem, and who had
not like himself been called in a vision.
Finding the rage of persecutors waxing hot, he left Damascus
for a season, and went into Arabia.
Herod Antipas had aroused an irreconcilable feud Avith Aretas,
king of Arabia, by his unfaithfulness to his first Avife, the daughter
of Aretas. This sovereign held his court in Petra, the rock-hewn
capital of " Stony Arabia."
It is probable that Caligula, who banished and hated Herod
Antipas, had treated Avith kindness his injured father-in-laAv; and

592 paul.
had confided to his jurisdiction the important city of Damascus.
This the Arabian ruled by an Ethnarch, whom Paul mentions as
in authority at the time of his escape.
Perhaps after his first retirement from Damascus, the zeal of
this Apostle, Avho had entered into his new life thoroughly armed
and equipped, led him to present himself at Petra, and preach
there the Jesus who had been rejected on the banks of the shining
Chrysorrhoas. After a short sojourn in Arabia, Paul returned to Damascus,
and resumed his preaching. Wherever this man spoke he made
converts, the love of God burned Avithin him, the power of God
accompanied his Avords.
The JeAvs Avere numerous and poAverful in Damascus, and they
were high in favor Avith the Arabian king and his Ethnarch.
This friendship Avas partly the result of the sympathy the JeAvs
had shoAvn for Aretas, at the time of his quarrel Avith the detested
Herod. Being unable to cope with the converted Pharisee in fair argu
ment, the Jews Avon the aid ofthe governor, and requested him to
put a watch about the city to apprehend Paul, if he should
endeavor to escape; they being resolved to assassinate the too
popular preacher. The disciples, in great anxiety, took measures
to protect the new Apostle.
Damascus, like other ancient cities of the Orient, was sur
rounded by a great wall. On this houses were built, often over
hanging the outer side of the fortifications. The Jewish disciples
made use of an expedient not unknown in their national history.
As Rahab had let doAvn the spies from her Avindow, over the wall
of Jericho, these friends in Damascus effected the escape of Paul,
adding, to ensure safety, a basket to the cord ; and in this basket
Saul safely reached the ground, and, a fugitive for Christ's sake,
sped aAvay into the darkness, seeking new regions where he might
unfurl the banner of Jesus.

paul. 593
Paul first turned his pilgrim feet toward Jerusalem. Chief of
the Apostles at the capital, Avas Peter, of whom in former years
Saul of Tarsus had heard much. He did not need instruction.
As Minerva sprang fully panoplied from the head of Jove, Saul
burst into his neAV life Avearing all the gospel armor, and wielding
skilfully the SAvord of the Spirit. But Paul yearned for brotherly
recognition ; he kneAV that in Peter was a soul affiniated to his
OAvn; he Avould grasp his hand Avho had clasped in faith and love
so often the hand of the God arrayed in flesh.
Saul, hunted, Aveary, eager for Avelcome, overflowing with
brother love for those whom once he hated, entered Jerusalem.
He found himself a marked man — he Avas outlawed by all. Plis
old teachers, friends, and felloAV students, scorned the apostate;
the Christians, made wary by sufferings, doubted his honesty
toward them. Those were days Avhen neAvs travelled slowly ;
each city Avas to its inhabitants the Avorld, and they knew little
of what Avent on outside. Vague rumors concerning Saul's change
of opinion had reached Jerusalem, and they had been just suffi
cient to stir doubt in every soul.
Here the rich convert Barnabas, loved for his generosity, trusted
for his Avhole-hearted sincerity, revered for a devout life — an old
acquaintance of Saul of Tarsus — came forward, and took him by
the hand. A true " Son of Consolation," Barnabas first believed
in the sad hearted convert; he knew Saul of old, as one who
Avould never stoop to deception ; he had heard more fully than
others the facts of his wonderful conversion ; he, therefore, led the
former Pharisee to Peter, and earnestly narrated what the Lord
had done for him.
But two of the Apostles were then in Jerusalem : Peter, " and
James, the Lord's brother ; " these two received Saul on the
recommendation of Barnabas; soon loved him for his OAA-n sake,
38

594 paul.
and for what the Lord had done for him ; and for fifteen days the
three abode together, in blessed communion.
Paul Avas not the man to tarry ; he had an errand to a whole
wide world ; the most Catholic in spirit of all the Apostles, he
burned to proclaim the name of Jesus to all the nations Avho sat
in darkness.
But Saul felt he had a work to perform at Jerusalem; an
amende honorable to make. Here he had lifted his voice against
Stephen; here he had helped to condemn him as a malefactor;
therefore here he must do honor to Stephen's holy memory, and
declare his adherence to Stephen's faith.
In the synagogues of Jerusalem, Saul lifts up his voice, preach
ing the very doctrines of the martyred deacon ; and so great is the
rage of the Jews thereat, that, in fifteen days, they Avent about to
slay him, and Peter and James, Barnabas and the other disciples,
unite to get Paul to the seaport of Caesarea, and set him forth on
his way to Tarsus. The free sea is his refuge ; the Phoenician
ship his ark of safety; his face is toward the home of his
childhood. But Saul had not thus left Jerusalem without an especial order
from heaven. He longed to work in that dear Holy City. He
had gone into the Temple to pour out his soul in prayer to Him
who is the Eternal Temple of the Jerusalem on high, when sud
denly he passed into a trance, and lo, standing beside him Avas his
crucified, his risen, his ascended Lord.
" Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem," said
Jesus, " for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me."
Reluctant to leave the beloved capital of his nation, Paul
pleaded his former evil zeal as an argument with the JeAvs for his
present sincerity.
" Depart," said the Master, " for I will send thee far hence to
the Gentiles."

paul. 595
, Here Avas Paul's commission to preach to those who had not
Abraham to their father. Eager only to obey, he left Judea, and
Avas presently on his Avay to Cilicia.
To Antioch and Tarsus, to Syria and Cilicia, Saul was noAV the
messenger of good tidings ; beautiful indeed were his feet upon
the mountains, for his Avord Avas that Messiah, the Plope of the
Nations, had indeed come, and accomplished his Redemptive
Avork ; had ascended up on high, leading captivity captive, and
giving good gifts unto men.
At this period Tarsus is said, by Strabo, to have surpassed
both Athens and Alexandria, in the number and wisdom of its
philosophers, and in the zeal of its inhabitants for learning.
To these heathen scholars came a man Avho was able to argue
Avith them on their OAvn ground ; whose education had been con
ducted on the most liberal principles ; whose mind AA_as enriched
by all the learning of the day ; Avhose natural gifts were set off by
all the ornaments of poesy and rhetoric.
Here in the synagogue, where as a boy he had Avorshipped,
Saul sat down to teach and to prove that the Hope of the Jews
had been abundantly realized in Jesus of Nazareth.
Among those citizens, Avho were even then paying divine
honors to Athenodorus, the light of the Stoics, went Saul, teaching
a more glorious faith than Zeno had set forth ; a higher wisdom
than earth's most erudite philosophers had attained.
Saul was not long left to labor alone ; Barnabas, that " good
man full of the Holy Ghost, and of faith," left Jerusalem to join
his friend in his mission to the Gentiles. From this hour the
great Apostle becomes the centre of a missionary band, who stawe
to preach the cross where Jesus has not been so much as named,
in order that those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death
may know the rising of the light, that " new name " whereby their
souls might live.

596 paul.
While Paul labored at Antioch the despised sect of the Nazarenes
received from their enemies the appellation of Christians, from the
name ever on the lips of their eloquent preacher.
Here at Antioch Saul received another of those revelations
which led him on his appointed Avay. " Separate me now," said
the Spirit, " Barnabas and Paul, for the Avork whereunto I have
called them."
With that simple ceremony of laying on of hands with prayer,
began Paul's great mission through the Avorld ; his immense
journeys; his sore distresses; his terrible afflictions and persecu
tions ; the strange hours when he Avas swept by the passionate ado
ration of the mob to the high position of a god, and then because
he forever lifted the cross of the Crucified higher than himself Avas
cast down, despised and bleeding and trampled under feet.
His life is a most Avonderful panorama ; scene after scene of
strange diversity SAveeps before us ; here goes Saul through the
streets of a city, the mob folloAving him filling the air Avith their
adulation; in another hour he is beaten uncondemned, and cast
into prison. One moment the eager multitude hail him as the god
Mercury, and run with oxen and garlands to offer sacrifice to him ;
the next shifting scene shows us his bleeding, mangled body,
dragged for dead out of the city, flung on the cold stony ground,
while by the struggling moonlight his w7eeping friends search his
pale face, despairing of finding sign of life, and taking their last
fond fareAvells. But this marred, inanimate form is immortal until
a mighty work has been done, and lo, Paul rises, and enters again
into the city where he has been stoned.
One while he is the friend and honored companion of men high
in power ; Sergius Paulus, the learned governor of Paphos, be
comes Paul's convert ; at the hour Avhen Elymas the sorcerer is
struck blind by the Apostle's one great miracle of Avrath, the name
bf Saul of Tarsus is changed to Paul. From this point in the

paul. 597
history he is the great central figure in the early Church ; he leads
the advance of Christianity, and the tent-maker of Tarsus, the
pupil of Gamaliel, the persecuting Pharisee, is now the grand
picture set before us, until the inspired narrative of the Acts
of the Apostles closes.
Paul, Avho argues eloquently before all the apostles and elders
at Jerusalem, is the same Paul Avho, standing on the river side at
Philippi, preaches to the Avomen Avho assemble there for prayer ;
Paul Avho Avith Silas site and sings at midnight in a dungeon,
is the high-spirited Paul mindful of his birthright of Roman
citizenship, Avho demands from the rulers the honor which is his
due. Model for all preachers of the word, he is instant in season and
out of season ; he consults not his OAvn ease or pleasure ; he is gentle
AA7ith the inquiring, ready to forgive injuries; bold and constant in
his attacks upon sin ; conscious ofthe dignity of his office, respecting
it, and demanding that he shall be respected in it.
Looking back to Thessalonica, Ave behold this Paul calm amid
an infuriated mob ; at Athens, the beauteous crown of Greece, AA7e
see him with his ardent spirit stirred by beholding on every
side the altars of the Attic Pantheon ; those glorious marbles,
triumphs of art, signify to him lost souls, human hearts resting
their eternal destiny on a terrible lie.
Athens Avas a wilderness of beauty ; on every hand were won
derful statues raised to gods and men ; among ite groves were the
memorials of philosophers and warriors, Solon, Demosthenes, and
Conon ; the heroes of the dim age of fable, Hercules and Theseus,
Avere embalmed in marble. There Avere all the glittering circle of
the court on high Olympus, " great Heres " with her angry eyes;
Venus the matchless daughter of sun and sea; Diana and her ra
diant brother ; the brawny master of the glowing forge, named
Hepha3stus by the Greeks.

598 paul.
"And in the Ausonian land
Men called him Mulciber, and how he fell
From heaven, they fabled, thrown by angry Jove,
Sheer o'er the crystal battlements ; from morn
To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve,
A summer's day ; and with the setting sun
Dropped from the zenith life a falling star
On Lemnos, the jEgeanisle."
Praxiteles and Pericles had lavished their transcendent genius
upon Agora, Acropolis and Propylaea ; art had found in Athens
her true resting place, and brooded OA'er it, her divine presence
filling all the air.
But he who from the inception of his ministry was determined
to knoAV nothing save Christ crucified, the Hebrew convert, AA7alked
sadly through these marble mazes, because He who dAvelleth not in
temples made Avith hands had no abiding place in these myriads
of human hearts, which lived and loved and died in Attica.
Little Avas it to Paul that men were carving for themselves
deathless names in marble, Avhen their souls Avere going doAvn to
Avoe. Those learned men, that glorious circle of philosophers who were
moulding the ruling thoughts of nations and of centuries, the mighty
teachers of a pagan Avorld, knew nothing of the very beginning
and foundation stone of all true wisdom, the fear of the Lord;
kneAV nothing of that Divine Teacher Avho spake as never man
spake; Avho had gifted his little school of Galilean fishermen Avith
powers Avhich should sway the Avorld, Avhen the schools of Plato
and of Aristotle should have perished Avith the plane-trees and olive
groves, under which the great pupils* of Socrates discoursed their
grand abstractions.
Meeting the learned ones of Greece in open argument, Paul
sIioavs himself a Avary teacher of men ; he seizes on their present
surroundings, he points to that altar, the one altar to the UnknoAvn
Power, which expressed the unsatisfied yearning of the hungry

paul. 599
Grecian soul, searching for the highest, and used the choice verses
of their OAvn poet Aratus to press home the truth, Avhen the inscrip
tion of their altar Avas the text whence he could preach Jesus, and
the Resurrection from the dead.
Thus he labored, preaching his Master alike in the Areopagus and
in prison cell, in the croAvded streets and in humble homes, zealous
for the conversion of all men, whether lofty or lowly, Jew or Greek,
bond or free. He Avho gave thus freely to his Lord received good
gifts from on High. To Paul, the tireless preacher, Paul, often
grieved and desolate in spirit, were accorded most gracious visions.
His Lord stood by him, bidding him be of good cheer ; again he
heard him promising his presence; he beheld the heathen world
stretching out imploring hands for help ; and Avhen beset by foes
Avithout and feebleness Avithin, he was caught up into heaven, and
heard such ravishing sounds as man may not utter.
In *]ie riches of revelation vouchsafed to him ; in the multitude
of his labors ; in the abundance of his success ; in the sacrifices
he made for Jesus, and in the afflictions he endured for Jesus'
sake, he was not a Avhit behind the chiefest of the Apostles.
He stands very clearly before us in the character Avhich he
accepts as his especially, " Paul the prisoner."
Many of his sermons were preached, many of his noble epistles
were Avritten, many of his good works Avere wrought in prison.
Jerusalem, and Caesarea, and Rome, held him a captive bound
with chains ; but no chains were on his free spirit, for the flood-
tide of his eloquence amazes Festus, and makes Felix tremble,
as mightily he reasons of the truth of God. Nor do his priva
tions and trials check the geniality and tenderness of his natural
disposition ; Paul the prisoner is the very flower of courtesy.
Hoav gracious his quick reply to his judge: "I Avould that
thou wert not almost, but altogether such as I am — except this
chain ! "

600 PAUL.
What a model of generosity and grace and dignity is his epistle
to Philemon.
Paul's life epistles, metaphors, companions, orations, have
formed the subjects of ponderous tomes by the most recondite
scholars of the day ; the theme seems still ever fresh, so noble Avas
the man's character, so important his mission, so pregnant was
his life Avith incident. But he Avhose name is to-day a precious
household Avord throughout the Avorld; whose memory is to
the Church as fragrance poured out, Avas in his life despised,
mocked, tortured, condemned, and so indeed have been many, his
brethren. "KnoAv ye not that the saints shall judge the Avorld?" Their
day is far off, and for these many centuries they are judged by the
Avorld, and sentence is passed upon them.
We mark the great Apostle as a prisoner, tried at the bar of
profligate and Pagan judges. /
He is brought to the court of Felix.
Born of a servile family, suddenly elevated to power through
the influence of his brother, the freedman and favorite of the
emperor Claudius, Felix was a man devoid of generosity, Avisdom
and honor ; without grace of manner or personal attractions ; bold
in Avar, mean, avaricious, cruel and false, as Tacitus says, " in
the practice of all manner of lust and cruelty he used the poAver
of a monarch, Avith the disposition of a serf."
His present Avife, Drusilla, he had beguiled from her husband
by means of a sorcerer, probably Simon Magus.
Before this brute in the human form, Paul, the learned, the
virtuous, the pious, was brought to plead. Paul's studious and
guileless youth had been the admiration of Tarsus ; his wise and
moral manhood had filled Jerusalem with its . good report ; his
fervent preaching, enforced by holiness of life, had won converts
in Athens, and had received the praises of its most honorable men

PAUL. 601
and women ; but here stood Paul, before this base slave, lifted to
a throne by the whim of Claudius.
Felix had been of some advantage to the Jews in freeing the
country of robbers, and expelling the Egyptian impostor, for
Avhom C. Lysias had mistaken Paul.
Hearing Paul many times; convinced of his entire innocence
of any Avrong; trembling in his presence with conscious guilt; so
far firvoring his prisoner as to command some alleviation to his
hard lot, and granting permission to his friends to visit him,
Felix yet, for tAvo years, denied the simple justice of release; and
when the governor Avas summoned to Rome to ansAver accusations
of maladministration, " he left Paul bound," as a last act to Avin
favor of the JeAvs, and soften their representations to Cassar.
Festus succeeded to Felix, and before him Paul was immedi
ately brought for trial. Only three days had the neAV governor
been formally in office, Avhen he Avent up to Jerusalem and was
besieged by the JeAvish rulers Avith entreaties to send Paul to
them, to be judged according to their will.
The ainsAver of Festus was just and dignified; he held to the
majesty of Roman laAV ; a man was not to be given uncondemned
to the mercy of his foes ; inA7estigation of criminal cases Avas one
of the duties of a ruler ; let the elders of the Jews face Paul at the
court in Caesarea.
Here again Ave find the Apostle brought like a felon to the
bar; he is to plead his own case against the famous orator,
Tertullus. Accusations unnumbered Avere heaped up against him ; poAver,
money, relentless hate were all on the side of his foes.
Yielding to the pressure brought upon him, the new governor
asked: "Wilt thou go up to Jerusalem, and there be judged of
these things before rae ? "
Paul knew the many plots to assassinate him ; he was not the

602 PAUL.
man recklessly to fling his life away. He cast himself upon his
hereditary privilege as a Roman citizen.
"I stand at Caesar's judgment seat, where I ought to be judged
... I appeal unto Caesar."
He asserted his incontroA'ertible right ; he had out-gen eralled
his Avould-be murderers. He had, of his lofty Roman prerogative,
transferred himself from the jurisdiction of the provincial judge,
before whom he stood, to the supreme tribunal of Caesar, in the
seven-hilled city.
Vainly did the representatives of the Sanhedrim gnash their
teeth, when Festus, having conferred Avith his assessors, pro
nounced his decision: "Hast thou appealed unto Caesar? To
Caesar shalt thou go."
Feeling bound to specify some charges against the prisoner, and
having nothing to say, because Paul had so effectually refuted the
falsehoods of the Jews, Festus desired Paul to explain his case
before Herod Agrippa II. , king of Chalcis, who, with his sister^
Avife Berenice, Avas noAV to make a visit of state ceremony to
'Caesarea. Here sat, self-constituted judges of Paul, three of the most
notorious sinners of the time. Festus, the Roman ; Herod
Agrippa, Avho had all the vices of his grandfather, Herod the
Great, Avho Avas even then living with Berenice, his sister, in
shocking opposition to the laAvs of God and man.
" Hunc dedit olim
Barbarus incestse, dedit hunc Agrippa sorori,"
says a satirist of the day.
While Berenice, the most beautiful and most vicious woman of
her period, married first to her uncle, tAvice to her brother, then
to Polemo, king of Cilicia, and, later, the haughty concubine of
Vespasian, and of his son Titus, formed the third of the court of
inquiry into the life of him, who had been taken up into the third

PAUL. 603
heaven, and been ravished with the glory of the abodes of the
blessed !
He preached before them and they called him mad, mad with
much learning, said Festus, who could not deny the prodigious
intellectual acquirements of his orator.
To these three high criminals before heaven, Paul that day de
picted the life of holiness, and offered salvation through Jesus
Christ. Scornfully they put the proffered mercy by, and sent the
prisoner on, to answer for his life at Caesar's bar.
Behold him, next, after long journeys, after months of toil,
shipwreck and disaster, advancing toward Rome upon the Appian
Way ; across rivers, among vine-robed hills, through the rich
Campana, past the villas of poets, senators, consular men, and
warriors of high degree, over a land lying in wickedness, idola
trous then, as now, above other lands, Avent Christ's " ambassador,
in bonds," until at Appii Forum and the Three Taverns, Paul
suddenly was met by his brethren in the Lord, by loving disciples,
trophies many of them of his OAvn earnest zeal ; and when sweet
words* of compassion and encouragement fell on his ears, Avearied
with sounds of strife and blasphemy, " he thanked God," and his
soul revived again.
The bar of Caesar was by no means the bar of justice; from
time to time the indolent emperor deferred the hearing of the case,
keeping his victim meanAvhile in bonds. But these years of neg
lect and cruelty on the part of the sovereign of the mighty empire
Avere years fruitful to the church of God, for Paul made very
many converts in his chains, and wrote epistles wherein he
preaches to the centuries.
With this imprisonment at Rome, the Scriptural account of
Paul ends. The evidence of the early Avriters of the church,
though not abundant, seems conclusively to prove, that Paul, be
ing at last heard by Caesar, was acquitted and set free, that he

604 paul;
then made a tour of the churches he had established, and, going so
far as Spain, there preached the gospel.
After this the Apostle returned to Rome, either of his OAvn free
will, to instruct and strengthen the converts he had made in the
imperial city, or, as before, being a prisoner under arrest.
At this time, the persecution under Nero was raging. It AA7as
mid-winter of the last year of Nero's life. When Paul was cast
into prison his persecuted friends in mad terror forsook him ; the
little church had been scattered, the Christians were fugitives,
hiding in dens and in caves of the earth ; they took refuge in the
catacombs, and there buried their dead, baptised their children,
and celebrated in the Lord's supper the dying love of Him for
whom they were to die.
Brought to the bar of that ferocious murderer and adulterer,
Nero, Paul, like Christ, found no man to stand by him, and, like
Christ, prayed for the forgiveness of his unfaithful friends. Being
heard, he Avas remanded to his cruel dungeon.
With the SAvord of the executioner ever hanging over his head,
he sings the love of Jesus and the peace of the believer. A sub
lime strain of hope pours from his lips: "I am now ready to be
offered, and the time of my departure is at hand ; I have fought a
good fight, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for
me a crown of righteousness, Avhich the Lord, the righteous Judge,
shall give me in that day."
What terrors had dungeon gloom, or bloody SAvord for such a
glorious soul, already lifting ite strong pinions poised for its
flight into Heaven ?
To him, from Asia, came Onesiphorus, unashamed and unafraid,
to minister to his Avants, and bear the greetings ofthe church.
Sentenced to death ! Saved by his birthright prhnlege from
torture, he Avas to die nobly by the sword.
Forth from the gate looking to Ostia, comes Paul to die.

PAUL. 605
Bright is the summer sky of Italy, dusty the much-travelled road
stretching toAvard the harbor ; merchants and sailors, beggars and
mountebanks, soldiers and scholars, travellers, and culprits in
chains, throng the busy Avay. Amid them, guarded by a blood
thirsty band, preceded by the executioner, marches this Saul of
Tarsus, Paul the Christian, Paul, the shining light of the Church,
folloAving his Lord Avithout the gate, to meet him by the short and
bloody Avay of martyrdom.
A grim, stony, barren spot upon the plain, a kneeling form, a
savage circle of lookers-on, a flash of bright steel in the hot sun
shine, a rush of crimson upon the ground, and a lifeless body
falling prone, this is the scene beloAV. But if the Lord had opened
that executioner's eyes, as he did those of Elisha's servant, lo, he
would have seen all the blue dome of the sky full of horses and
chariots of fire; shining hosts of angels, singing as they fly, glad
escort to this great soul, going home ; Jesus standing at the right
hand of God ; the glorious company of the Apostles Avho have
suffered and been glorified before him ; the goodly fellowship of
the early martyrs ; the mighty army of the prophets ; John the
Forerunner; the grand old patriarchs, a jubilant host, all Avaiting
to welcome him, Paul their brother, the Apostle of the Gentiles,
the herald of salvation; the man most catholic of soul and earnest
of life, of any man who ever carried the banner ofthe cross. This
is the scene in heaven, Avhen the Church on earth lost her beloved
Paul, and weeping friends took up his gory corpse and buried it
in the Labyrinths.

xxx.
JOHN

THE VISION OF THE PARADISE OF GOD.

', AVING reached the close of his journey ; his toilsome days
ended; going to the land where the blessed live by
sight, Pilgrim Standfast turned to his friends, saying:
"I have loved to hear my Lord spoken of; and wherever
I have seen the print of his shoe in the earth, there have I coveted
to set my foot."
Such an one was that man of dual nature called, in Holy Writ,
"sou of thunder," and "disciple that Jesus loved." John of
Galilee — John, mild, gentle, and peaceful, and loving above other
men ; John, high-hearted, lofty, hasty, impetuous, a spirit kin
dred to Simon Peter. His first appearance before us is a pro
phecy ; he is following the Master, and he is following him home.
It is the close of day; the tops of these yellow cliffs glow
suddenly like molten gold, their long shadows fall athwart the
gray sand road beneath them ; a faint breeze lifts the streamers
of the long dry grass, seared and bleachened by rainless weeks ;
there is a stir and a Avhispering among the drooping pods of the
Kharub trees, and in the lines of departing light striking through
the dells, the dark leaves of the Cistus glisten. Evening draws
on early in this deep valley of the Jordan ; you can hear the
flowing of the famous river of sacred story, as it winds along its
deep bed. Yonder by the ford behold the throng of Jews intent
606 )

S•p!

©

JOHN. 607
upon the Avords of the Ncav Elijah, the Voice crying out of the
Avilderness. Apart from this excited throng walks the Son of a long line of
earthly kings, a man of majesty above other men ; one who makes
his poverty and solitude glorious ; in Avhose human form taber
nacles eternal memories, and the Divinity which spoke worlds
into being. " Behold the Lamb of God ! "
Behind him follows, Avith reverent step, with mingled aAye and
eagerness, the most goodly and gracious of the children of men —
John, the son of Zebedee.
John had been reared amid the most momentous events of the
most momentous period of history.
His mother, Salome, marrying early, as was the Avont of Jewish
Avomen, had been taken to the home of Zebedee, in Bethsaida — ¦
ho mean abode. More than one vessel belonging to Zebedee, and
manned by his servants, fished upon Gennesaret; Avhen he Avent
up to Jerusalem to the feasts, he went to his OAvn house ; his
family were well known, and in no low position.
But Salome, his Avife, Avas kin to the two most noble and
divinely dowered Avomen of all time : she was cousin to the blame
less Elizabeth, mother of John Baptist, and she was sister of
Mary, the " highly favored," the Mater Speciosa.
The events surrounding the birth of John ' Baptist had been
sounded abroad, and filled the land with Avonder. Salome must
have knoAvn them, and, as concerning her family, cherished them
with much interest; so that while the lapse of thirty years ban
ished them from the minds of most people, they were to her of the
marvellous traditions of the days when she, herself a young wife
and mother, sympathized Avith the consummated hopes of her aged
relative. These events Salome had, perhaps, recounted in some twilight
hour to her children ; and though James and John had possibly

608

JOHN.

never met the cousin Avho, born in distant Juttah, and reared in
the Avilderness, Avas hidden from the companionship of men, they
went to him as to no stranger, when he baptized at the Jordan.
The circumstances of Mary, the betrothed wife of the royally
descended carpenter, had been different. The marvels about her
child she had kept, and pondered them in her heart. Public
curiosity had not been feasted on the details of the visions sent
four times to Joseph ; of the incidents of Bethlehem, and the flight
into* Egypt. Yet for all this, Mary must have unfolded some
of these experiences to her true-hearted sister ; and though, per
haps, these JeAvish Avomen rarely saAV each other, Salome knew
that a celestial mystery hung about Mary's First-born Son.
These holy mar\7els of the history of Jesus and of John Bap
tist, had been sacred influences, lofty themes, to mould the youth
of the tAvo brothers, James and John, in their happy early home.
Nurtured among the genial, honest, religious people of Galilee ;
having for his chosen companions the carefully reared sons of
Jonas, and the noble hearted Philip ; the youngest darling of his
parents ; safely shielded from the cares of life, the temptations of
vice, the pinching of poverty, the coldness of strangers, this
gifted, warm-hearted, genial boy, greAv to a manhood, Avhose beauty
and dignity placed him, cherished and best beloved, the nearest
friend of Jesus upon earth.
John is generally supposed to have been younger than his
Master, and the junior of all the Apostles. Painters have loved
to give him a delicate singularly feminine appearance, strangely
out of keeping with what we read of him, and with the character-
isties he seems to have inherited from his mother.
He was no dainty idler of courts, but with true Jewish industry
pursued his father's calling : the battle Avith Avind and wave, the
weariness of rowing ; the strife Avith sudden storms ; days and
nights spent in fishing, would have fashioned rather the bronzed

JOHN. 609
man of muscle, than the fair, drooping, golden curled youth the
artist is prone to set before us. Pie whose flashing eye blazed its
rage against inhospitable Samaritans, and Avhose ringing voice
demanded that fire should be rained on them from Heaven, could
have been no fainting girl-faced youth, but one whose hot-headed
boyhood had kept pace with Simon Peter's, as hereafter they
should keep equal step in the aggressiA7e march of Christianity.
To his mother as the chief influence upon his youth, we first
turn our eyes ; she comes before us as an ambitious, high-spirited,
devoted Avoman. She desires of Jesus that her two sons shall sit,
the one on his right hand and the other on his left, when he enters
into his kingdom ; she folloAvs her Lord in many an hour of toil,
of terror and of pain ; she ministers to him of that substance be
queathed to her by her husband ; death does not chill the fervor
of her friendship ; " last at the cross and earliest at the tomb," she
is eminent among that goodly band of women, the mothers of the
early Church.
Her sons are close copies of herself; they arc named Boanerges,
for fiery zeal; their love is an unquenchable flame; they gh*e
up all for Christ, and do verily folloAV him to prison and to death.
Nor, in considering this family, must Ave forget Zebedee. He
has trained his household in the fear of God ; in a knoAvledge of
the Scriptures ; and in a blameless obedience to Mosaic laAV. With
spiritual insight clearer than many of his compeers, he sees behind
outward rites the higher intention ; his teachings have prepared his
•sons to receive more readily than other Jews the true Messiah.
He has been a prudent man in business, industriously providing a
competence for his family ; nor does he set the Avealth of this world
above the heavenly riches, for -he is willing that his sons shall leave
their daily avocation to listen to the teachings of John, and to
share the lot of Jesus. His spirit of self-sacrifice is fully seen,
when at the call of Christ he relinquishes both his sons, and thence-
39

610 JOHN.
forth cheerfully misses them from his home and from his boats,
aud is ministered to by servants during the brief remainder of
his life.
The history of John is peculiarity mingled Avith that of Peter,
as the tAvo were together in many of their most wonderful ex
periences. John Avas the nearest and most trusted friend of his Lord ; he
was the first prophet, as his brother was the first martyr of the
new dispensation; John was to the Church the type of ideal
depth and calmness, of those feAV favored souls Avho reach Avonder
ful mysteries of fellowship and apprehension of Christ, and of the
eternal Avorld; and who repose in a divine calm amid all the tu
mults of life. James was the prototype of martyrdom, of that far
greater host who have loved not their lives unto death.
These two and Peter were with Jesus at his great miracle in the
house of Jairus ; they beheld his glory, as Peter writes in his
second epistle, Avhen they were with him on the holy mount ; and
they accompanied him in that hour when his soul Avas " surrounded
with sorrow."
During this period this so loved and loving disciple did not pass
unrebuked. " Ye knoAV not what manner of spirit ye are of," says
Christ, Avhen into the dispensation of the gospel of peace the sons
of Zebedee Avould drag the fiery vengeance of Elijah's sterner day,
and have their adversaries consumed before their eyes.
Accompanied by their mother, to act as their advocate, these two
brothers plead with Christ for pre-eminence in his kingdom, Avhich
they still expected as of earth.
" Ye know not what ye ask," said Jesus ; " can ye drink of the
cup that I drink of? and be baptized Avith the baptism that I am
baptized with ? "
" We can," replied the ardent and fearless ones.
" Ye shall indeed," said Christ, and this promise and prophecy

JOHN. 611
held for one a long, persecuted, patient life ; for the other, an early
and bloody death.
In their request, devotion had been mingled with ambition ; faith
Avith pride. Jesus gently rebuked the one, while he strengthened
the other.
The ten fellow-disciples saAV only the earthly ambition of the
desire, and thence arose among them displeasure against the sons
of Zebedee.
We have glimpses opened to us of private instruction and inter
course betAveen the three Apostles, Peter, James and John, and
their Master, Avhich show a more constant companionship than
Avas enjoyed by the others.
John is Peter's assistant in preparations for the last PassoA'er.
At that mournful meal he reclines next his Lord at the table, and
drawn nearer by secret sympathy and yearning tenderness as Christ
depicts his OAvn approaching suffering and desolation, John leans
his head against his Master's bosom.
In the darkness of that terrible night John follows his captive
Lord from Gethsemane to the house of Caiaphas ; through the
hours of trial he stood near, his heart torn with grief for his Master,
Avith amazement at the restraining of that power Avhich had so
lately governed all the forces of nature, and Avrought wonders —
with holy anger against the raging JeAvs.
Love stronger than death sustains him through that awful day,
when the veil of the Temple is rent asunder with the rent veil of
the flesh of Jesus ; Avhen the Mosaic ritual ushered in by the flame
and thunders of Sinai, passes away amid the earthquake and dark
ness; and the gospel of grace enters Avith Christ's expiring sigh.
With his mother, with Mary Magdalene, and with his Avell be
loved aunt, the mother of his Lord, he stands beneath the cross.
Amid his overAvhelming sorroAV his arm sustains her Avhose soul
is pierced Avith a sword, Mater dolorosa; he receives her as his

612 JOHN.
Master's legacy ; and when Joseph's garden holds all that is best
and most precious on earth, he takes the most bereaved of mothers
to his oavh home.
On the first day of the week, when the sun had but just risen,
John, fleet of foot, ran through the dewy aisles of Joseph's garden,
to that neAV rock-heAvn sepulchre, whence he had heard that his Lord
had gone. A fair, a peaceful spot, where in the thick trees the
birds had hushed their song; where drooping A7ines, and glorious
blossoms pouring fragrance, lilies and roses, almond and acacia,
had kept Avatch and Avard with angel guests passing to and fro
among them, during a long JeAvish Sabbath, and two still Syrian
nights, while a Aveary Saviour slept!
His Lord is risen ! No such tide of joy can again overfloAV the
soul of John on earth, as now fills his heart, when first he realizes
that his great Master is alive again.
The hope Avhich he had buried not merely grows SAveet and
blossoms in the dust, but it has struck its roots to the foundations
ofthe earth, has towered beyond the loftiest cedars of Lebanon up
into the very heavens, and all the nations of the earth make their
refuge under its comforting shadow.
Happy is John during these next days; bright appearances of
the Master glorify the lives of the lately despairing disciples.
Then comes the journey into Galilee; a journey perhaps in their
ignorance too long delayed, and ending in the wrong place, for
here are these men Avho " have left all " to folloAV Jesus, casting
their nets into the cool blue depths of Lake Tiberias. In the dim
twilight of that morning by the sea, John the pure hearted is
the first to recognize his Beloved. He is sure of his Lord ; that
gracious form ; the melloAv accents of that voice, the miracle, are
proof upon proof that the Stranger on the sea sand is the very
Christ ; therefore, certain of a welcome when he reaches the shore,
John, Avith characteristic calm adherence to the business before

JOHN. 613
him, remains by ship and nets until all reach the land. He goes
in assured peace and joy behind his Lord, in company with his
five felloAv-disciples; while Peter, lately erring and lately forgiven,
cleaves close to his Master's side.
When with that last glorious scene on Olives the Saviour's
earth life closes, and he rises into the infinite eternal glory wherein
he dwelt from the beginning, John, with the remaining Apostles,
returns to Jerusalem. Here Ave see him hand in hand Avith Peter,
preaching, performing miracles, sharing imprisonment, before
councils and rulers, and building up the Church.
His home in Jerusalem is a blessed one: here dAvell those long-
parted sisters, Salome and Mary ; both know the woes of AvidoAv-
hood ; Mary rejoicing and suffering as never Avoman and mother
suffered and joyed, now harvests her reward; her son and her
God has ascended up into glory at the right hand of the Majesty
on high. Salome has yet to bear her heaviest grief, the murder
of her eldest born.
The hour of agony comes. Herod Agrippa stretches forth a
cruel hand, and the victim of his sword is James, the son of Zebe
dee. That princely young man falls, James of the eagle-eye and
trumpet-tongue; James, in whose veins the blood of Levi and
Judah mingle, a royal and a priestly tide ; James, loving son and
noblest of brothers ; lo, he lies beheaded. Evening falls about
that home in Jerusalem ; the mangled body is wrapped in a wind
ing sheet for secret burial. Mary, Salome, Peter, AndreAV, John,
and others of that Apostolic martyr-band Aveep together.
" And now the sun is set,
The grave is hollowed in the cavern's side,
And a few friends are met
That bleeding firm within the tomb to hide.
Scarce thirty summers old,
His sun goes down ere half the day is done,
And, as a tale is told,
So aU his work is ended, scarce begun."

614 JOHN.
In this short, sharp persecution under the doomed Agrippa,
John's heart was rent. There is a touching contrast in the fate of
these tAvo sons of Zebedee. One falls first on the field of strife,
Avhen the battle is just beginning, before ever the name of Chris
tian is heard. The other lives and toils for fifty years after his
brother is asleep in his Lord.
Mother and Mary, brother and dearest friends Aveep over James ;
John lives until all his kindred and co-workers have passed aAvay,
and he like an aged, storm-beaten and lightning-scathed tree,
stands alone, reft of his forest compeers, amid the puny saplings
of a lesser growth. Unterrified by Saul's bitter persecution, John
remained at Jerusalem, while Peter, released from prison, was
obliged to flee ; when Saul first returned to Jerusalem, John seems
to have been absent for a brief space, but he still abides at the
Holy City until his filial duties are ended, and with reverent
hands he lays Salome and Mary in the grave. This stay in Jeru
salem covered at least fifteen years from the first visit of the
Apostle Paul to Peter, for when Paul goes up to meet the Apostles
and Elders, John is there.
Paul gives us a glimpse ofthe " beloved disciple " in his epistle
to the Galatians. "And Avhen James, Cephas, and John, AA'ho
seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me,
they gave to me and to Barnabas, the right hand of fellowship."
We put this passage beside the fifteenth chapter of Acts, and our
picture — the last Bible view of John, before Ave find him on Pat-
mos — is complete.
Sitting in this Assembly, John is characteristically silent, while
his brethren speak ; at its close, convinced of the abundant grace
of God bestowed on Paul, John, the gracious, gives him the right
hand of felloAvship, and utters, doubtless, golden words on the
side of brotherly sympathy and unity. Some of John's tender
ness seems to gleam in the epistle, written in this meeting, to the
Gentile churches.

JOHN. 615
History, taking up the thread which revelation has dropped,
shows us John at Ephesus, shepherd there of his Master's flock,
in the tumultuous and gorgeous city of Diana. Where he was
betAveen Jerusalem and Ephesus is not recorded ; perchance travel
ling among those other Asian churches, to Avhich he aftenvards
Avrites reproof and exhortation, at the word of the Angel, the Je
hovah, on Patmos.
Paul has planted this Ephesian church ; John goes to cultivate
the neAV groAvth. Here he sees the Christians bearing persecution,
having labor and patience, trying all things, holding fast the
truth, and full of fervent " first love " for their Saviour. Here he
strove Avith the Nicolaitans ; here he preached the gospel of salva
tion, and converts flocked to learn of him.
The early fathers give us a pleasant picture of John grown very
old and reA7erend, Avith eyes yet keen, flashing Avith zeal and soften
ing in gentleness, with snow-Avhite hair about brow and shoulders,
sitting to teach his flock, and calling them all " my little children,"
and bidding them " love one another."
In some of these years he wrote the three Epistles which bear
his name. They are full of pastoral watch-care, and the tender
ness of personal friendship. The Son of Thunder thunders in all
these epistles, whether against evil doers, Diotrephes, or anti-
Christ. He sings of love, like a bird in its grove, but between
the love-music come thunder-gusts of Avrath against the ungodly :
he shoAVS his dual nature, hurling his anathemas like the red
lightning-bolts, and lifting his love lay in the hushes of the
storm. From the time when John gives at Jerusalem the right hand
of fellowship to Paul, he is lost from the New Testament record,
until, last of the prophets, and more glorious than any of the seers
his predecessors, he reappears, on the " isle which is called
Patmos."

616

JOHN.

About the close of the reign of Domitian, between the years
ninety-five and ninety-seven, occurred John's banishment. At
this time John was more than ninety years of age ; his brother
Apostles had fought the good fight unto death, and received the
martyr's croAvn ; so, also, had many of their disciples and con
verts. Jerusalem, the beautiful and unhappy city, had tottered to
its fall. John had from afar beheld that terrible desolation over
which Jesus had wept : not one stone had been left on another of
that glorious Temple; such tribulation as the Avorld had never
before seen had filled Zion's cup of trembling ; the Avails Avere
razed, fire and SAvord had ravaged its streets ; Jerusalem was no
more but a memory.
John was sentenced to-exile, and Patmos was the place of his
banishment. Thirty miles from Caria, in Asia Minor, a great rugged rock,
broken into sharp pinnacles, cleft into rough, verdureless defiles,
desolate of all vegetation, abounding in sheltered bays, and fifteen
miles in circumference, rises from the Icarian sea.
Here Daedalus, most skilful artificer, as says the fable, saAV his
beloved Icarus, soaring on Avaxen Avings too near the sun, plunge
downward to his fate. Here the cries of the father thrilled through
the affrighted air, Avhile Nymphs and Nereids made the grave of
the hapless boy.
" O'er his pale corse their pearly sea-flowers shed,
And strewed with crimson moss his marble bed ;
Struck in their coral towers the passing bell,
And wide in ocean tolled his echoing knell."
One small village has from time immemorial nestled on the
north-eastern side of Patmos, by a deep gulf, where a few gardens
have been made, and some poor straggling fruits and floAvers ob
tain a roothold.
So stern, so barren, so desolate AA7as this starving coast, that

JOHN. 617
Roman emperors could conceive no greater cruelty than to send
men there, famished and unsheltered, to drag out their dreary
days. John, the " brother " of all suffering saints, and " companion in
tribulation " of the martyr band, was, " for the word of God, and
the testimony of Jesus Christ," sent to this meagre isle. Here,
lonely and forsaken of men, on the high cliff, he saAV the morning
of a calm Sabbath daAvn brightly over the sleeping sea.
At the foot of the crag the gleaming Avaters slipped softly to
and fro, dashing Avith a long SAvelJ. into the black recesses, and
then sloAvly rolling out into the light. Sea birds Avheeled and
circled about the peaks, Avhere they had made their nests;
dropped with shrill screams into the AA7ater for their prey, and
then exulting in their vigorous life, spread their broad white
Wings and sailed steadily aAA7ay, until they Avere lost in the distant
blue. On that grand morning, this lone isle of Patmos became the
watch-tOAver of the Chuftch of God ; and John, her son of keenest
vision, standing on its heights, pierced the farthest clouds, and
beheld the glories of the Celestial City, the shining arches, and
dazzling foundations, and endlessly beautiful vistas of the NeAV
Jerusalem. Dear to John was the-first day of the week Avhich had seen his
Lord arise ; each Sabbath daAvned to his true heart an Easter
morning, croAvned Avith the resurrection from the dead. Still
near in heart to his adored Master, as when he had leaned on his
bosom at supper, John, in blessed soul communings, was "in the
Spirit on the Lord's day."
Pacing along the barren ledge of rock, his Avhite head bowed
on his bosom, his thoughts intent upon his Lord, was John, the
last ofthe Apostolic band.
Suddenly came a Voice behind him : John Avas by the sea, and

618 JOHN.
the Voice he heard was like the voice of the ocean waves, the
SAvelling tones of many Avaters.
He turned. The mount of Transfiguration, Avith its glories,
seemed to have come to him in his exile. There stood that ever
blessed S°n of Man, clothed in those garments whiter than moun
tain snows ; girdled with gleaming gold ; his face shining as Avhen
the three disciples beheld his glory, even as the sun in the mid
day skies.
Overcome Avith joy and adoration, amazed and speechless at
the thought that, after these sixty years, his glorious Master had
come to him on earth once more, John "fell at his feet as dead."
Never before, and never since Avas the veil so lifted from mortal
vision, and man permitted to behold the Unseen and the Infinite.
To John alone, of all the sons of men, was given to see the
"throne set in heaven;" the "emerald rainbow," and the "sea
of glass, like unto a crystal."
He who had Avept beneath the cross, saAV the Lion of the tribe
of Judah prevail to loose the seven sea%. He Avho had all his
lifetime studied and loved the laAV of his Lord, saAV those cheru
bim Avho erst had guarded the gate of Paradise beloAV, Avho had
been set over the mercy seat, which Ezekiel had seen in vision,
noAV bowing before the Lamb, saved Saints, singing, "Thou Avast
slain and hast redeemed us by thy blood, out of every kindred,
and tongue, and people, and nation ; and hast made us unto our
God, kings and priests."
John, who had seen Jerusalem perish from the earth, saw now
the end "of all things finite. John, Avho had mourned above his
murdered brother, saw noAV "the souls of those Avhich AA7ere be
headed for the Avitness of Jesus," that brother soul among them.
It is John, the gentle and the ardent; John, the mild and the
fiery, Avho heard the nations of the ungodly cry out of the wrath
of the Lamb ; not of the fury of Judah's Lion, but the wrath of
that Lamb, so long despised, so long rejected.

JOHN. 619
What time the glorious vision lasted Avho can tell ? Out of that
ecstatic trance came John for the short remainder of his life, that
he might finish the Avork God had given him to do.
Domitian, the cruel, Avent to his oavii place. Nerva succeeded
to the empire of the Caesars. The first act of the new monarch
was to revoke all the edicts of his predecessor. Then had the
Christians rest for a space, and they of Ephesus made haste to
bring from banishment John, their Father in Christ ; and place
him once more in their midst.
To the nearly completed canon of Scripture, John noAV added
his Apocalyptic vision. He had already composed his Gospel, as
supplementary to the narratives ofthe three earlier written
In this half Greek, half Oriental city of Ephesus, the active
centre of Eastern Christendom, after the destruction of Jerusalem,
John closed his days. Here was gathered about him a strong
and faithful Church. Their pastor, Timothy, had probably suf
fered martyrdom under Domitian, and many of his people had
shared his fate.
In this chief city of Ionia, stood the Temple raised to the
huntress daughter of Latona; the shrine ofthe queen of night Avas
reckoned for its magnificence one of the seven Avonders of the
world, and its splendor was a proverb throughout the earth.
In the very shadoAV of this monument of Paganism, John spent
his latest days, and dreAV his last sigh.
His death doubtless occurred about the close of the first century
of the Christian era, Avhen he had reached the great age of one
hundred years.
The evening splendor of his day of life shone from that glorious
vision which had met him on Patmos. From that Apocalyptic
hour, earth life had seemed a conscious dreaming, and his actual
living had already passed Avithin the veil, and Avas among the
realities of the house not made Avith hands.

620 JOHN.
" No more, no more,
The worldly shore
Upbraids me Avith its loud uproar.
With dreamful eyes
My spirit lies
Under the walls of Paradise."
Perchance as a calm evening fell over Asia, and Ephesus, the
stately, Avas mirrored in a golden and crimson sunset sea, John's
longing eyes may have been fixed on some glowing path of light
that seemed winding on into heaven, and, or ever his attendant
disciples Avere aware, his soul had been set free, and had sped up
into the paradise of God.
" For there the Sole-Begotten
Is Lord in regal state ;
He, Judah's mystic Lion,
He, Lamb Immaculate.
O fields that know no sorrow !
O state that fears no strife !
O princely bowers ! O land of Flowers
0 realm and home of Life !
O mine, my golden Zion,
O lovlier far than gold,
With laurel crowned battalions,
And safe victorious fold 1
Exult, O dust and ashes,
The Lord shall be thy part,
His only, his forever,
Thou shalt be, and thou art."

THE END.

SCIENCE ANE HE BIBLE.
GOD'S SIX DAYS' WORK;
OR THE
MOSAIC CREATION AND MODERN DISCOVERIES.
A Boole of Hare Originality and Beauty.
By Eev. HEEBERT W. MOREIS, A.M.,
FORMERLY PROFESSOR IN NEWINGTON COLLEGE.

The subject of this work is the grandest and the most profoundly interesting that
can engage the science, or occupy the mind of man— the creation of the WORLD, of
the UNIVERSE !
This remarkable work is eminently A Hook for the Times. No question of
the present day is regarded with deeper or more serious interest, on every hand, than
the harmony of scientific discoveries and the teachings of the Bible.
Here the reader will find it demonstrated that there is no conflict between Scrip
ture and Science, that the facts of Nature and the records of Inspiration are in universal
and complete harmony, and that true philosophy is ever the willing hand-maid of true
religion. Aside from all this, this book, as a study of the general system of the universe, of
the forms and forces and functions of creation, and as a
BEAwraiMiY HjiiUOTRAraoir
Of the wide-spread harmonies of nature, is a volume of unsurpassed interest. Geology,
Astronomy, Botany, Chemistry, Anatomy, Physiology, Natural History, have all been
laid under rich contributions in its production. In a word, it embodies the very cream
of scientific discoveries in every department of nature.
The Author, with graphic pen and conscientious fidelity, traces the history of our
planet from its remote and dateless origination through its successive and marvelous
geological revolutions, the dark and dismal period of its last chaotic condition, and,
finally, through the consecutive stages which, ultimately arranged, furnished and
adorned it to be a fit habitation for man.
The field traversed by the writer is as sublime as it is immense — be leads us to con
template the impervious night of chaos relieved by the majestic fiat, Let there be Light
—the clear expanse and magnificent water-works of the firmament established— the
gathering together of the deep and wide sea, the upheaval of continents and islands,
and their adornment in the charms and fragrance of vegetation— the unveiling of the
glorious orbs of the sun and moon and starry hosts of heaven— the peopling of the
oceans with fishes, and of the air with birds, of countless forms and sizes and habits,
all disporting in their native elements and reveling in the bliss of existence — the intro
duction of the cattle of the field, the creeping things of the dust, and the wild beasts of
the forest— and, finally, the creation of immortal man in the likeness and image of his
Maker. In following our Author through these successive stages of the creation work,
we are made to feel, beneath the clear blaze of his scientific torch, that the Creator has
rilled our world with thrilling realities, with beauties and wonders, delicious fruits and
sparkling gems,

A Hundredfold more Interesting than any Works of Fiction
that the imagination of man has ever been able to produce.
So clearly is the presence of PLAN, of wise DESIGN, and benevolent ADAPTA
TION exhibited in every object and scene of creation, that the reader is constrained,
from step to step, to exclaim,
.TRULY, THIS IS THE FINGER OF GODI
To him wh'o will possess himself of the light aud spirit of this book, the whole
frame and arrangements ofthe globe will Le beautified, all the revolutions of times and
seasons invested with lively interest, and all the events of life connected into a harmo
nious system, while those who doubted Science rather than sacrifice the Word, will
greet this book as a happy solvent of their doubts ; those Avho surrendered the literal-
ness of the Word to the behests of Science, will rejoice that a means of absolute faith
in both has been provided.
The work is written in a popular and readable style. Abstruse terms are avoided,
yet the laws of Science are all stated with a clearness and exactness that amount almost
to surprise. While it delights the student and scholar, it is specially adapted to the
understanding of the general reader.
The Author, being both a learned Scientist and skilful interpreter of the Word, of
God, clearly reconciles Science to the Inspired Word, without any sacrifice to either the
truths of the former or the literal purity and beauty of the latter.
" Scripture and Science have met together ;
Genesis and Geology have kissed each other.'
The work abounds with beautiful full-page illustrations by the best European and
American artists, which, together Avith its clear type and softly tinted paper, render it
altogether a volume of unusual attraction. It contains over 600 pages, including en
gravings.
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ZIEGLER & McCURDY, Publishers,
16 S. Sixth St., 139 Race Street, 69 Monroe St., S03 N. Sixth St., 274 Main St.,
Philadelphia, Fa. Cincinnati, 0. Chicago, 111. St. Louis, Mo. Springfield, Mass.
N. B. — Persons wishing a copy ofthe work will please write to the Publishert, and they
will have an agent call on them. It i» sold only through our agents, and not to the bookstores.

TH

PEOPLE'S STANDARD EDITION
OP
THE HOLT BIBLE,
With over 1 100 Pages and 100,000 Marginal
Readings and References.
ILLUSTRATIVE MAPS AID FULL PAGE ENGRAVINGS.
This Bible, in addition to the sacred text, and all the important features of other
editions, contains an Original, Practical and Exhaustive
HISTORY OF THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE,
Its Literature and Inspiration, including all the Books of the Old and New Testaments,
and the Apocryphal Writings. To which is added a
HISTORY OF THE TIME BETWEEN THE WRITING OF THE OLD AND
NEW TESTAMENTS.
Next in order is arranged on a scale far more elaborate, beautiful and costly than
any ever before attempted, a grand gallery of nearly
550 Illustrations and Descriptions,
EMBRACING
Scenes and Events In the life of Christ. Scenes and Events in the Life of the
Apostle Paul. Scenes in Palestine. Sketches of Jerusalem and its
Sacred Places. Patmos and the Seven Churches of Asia.
Historical Places of Egypt. Scenes and Incidents
at the Time of the Exode. Scenes in Assyria.
Houses and Architectural Adornments of Bible Lands. Costumes, Arts,
and Sciences among the Ancients. Religious Rites and Em
blems among the Hebrews and contemporaneous Peoples.
Trees of the Bible. Animals of the Bible. Ancient
Writings. Ancient Coins, Signets and other
Si/mbols of Royalty. Maps of
Bible Lands.
This department, with its 550 Illustrations, is a whole library in itself, being
AN ILLUSTRATED LIFE OF CHRIST; an illustrated life of the Apostle Paul;
an illustrated history of Palestine, Jerusalem, Esypt, Assyria, etc. An additionaland
very important feature, entirely new, and specially prepared, is—

A,/ Complete Pronouncing and Defining
BIBLE DICTIONARY,
In which every difficult word is interpreted and explained. Following this is a
HISTORY OF THE RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS, SECTS AND CREEDS
In all ages of the World. Practically exhaustive and thoroughly impartial. Volumes
are compressed into this treatise, making it the most complete work ofthe kind ever
published. Other distinguishing features are the Analytical and Chronological Aids,
embracing
Over 60 Carefully Prepared Tables,
And carrying the thread of Bible History down over ten clearly defined periods. They
are prepared and arranged upon a. new basis, so as to keep research and explanation in
well determined channels. The most earnest student could wish for nothing more con
venient and valuable.
This Bible is also beautifully illustrated with several full-page engravings, after de
signs by The Celebrated Dore and other eminent artists, and which, for appropriate
ness and artistic finish, challenges comparison.
The edition is supplemented with a complete Historical Index, and with a list of all
the proper names in the Bible, and the pronunciation and signification of the same ;
both together embracing the essential features of a directory and dictionary.
Passing to its artistic merits, the publishers have kept the same object in view as in
the preparation and presentation of its literary points. A volume is presented of which
any possessor will be proud. It contains Marriage, Birth and Mortuary Records, which
are models of elegance. Also » Marriage Certificate, whose design and finish appeal
to the most refined tastes. The paper which enters into this edition has been manufac
tured specially for it, and it is of a pure white quality, and serviceable body. The text
throughout is bold, clear and perfect, just such as every reader of the sacred volume,
of whatever age and power of eyesight, would most desire. In appearance Hie volume
is large (containing over 1,000 pages), and nicely proportioned ; being 12£ inches long,
10j} inches wide.
Bound in a variety of styles, all of which are elegant and durable ; and furnished
at the lowest p issilile prices.
Our Agents deliver this superior edition of tho Bible at the homes of patrons for
the same price at which ordinary Bibles are sold. Persons wishing a copy of this Bible
can write to the Publishers and they will have an agent call on them.
AGENTS WANTED.
We offer to Agents in this entirely new edition of the Holy Bible, a volume that
has greater beauty and durability, and in its extra matter combines more of the essen
tials which secure public approval and ready sale than any other now in the market.
The Bible is ever in demand.
Many Agents sell fifteen to twenty copies of the Bible per week, in addition to our
other books. Agents for our Bible are placed far in advance of all competition, and
have the advantage of arguments afforded by no other edition.
We offer great inducements to Agents wishing to canvass exclusively for a first-class
Bible, as well as to all our own agents for other books, and to agents of other houses.
They will find the sale of whatever book they may be offering greatly increased by
uniting with it an agency for our superb Bible. Do not forget that the special matter
for this edition has been originally and specially prepared for it, that it is new, clearly
arranged, voluminous and exact. It is more varied and exhaustive than that found in
any other edition. This joined with the callery of nearly five hundred and fifty illus
trations, gives to the PEOPLE'S STANDARD EDITION OF THE BIBLE a dis
tinctiveness which must insure its popularity and ready sale.
Write promptly for circular and terms. Address,
ZIEGLER & McCURDY^ublishers,
'PIIILADKLPHIA, PA. CINCINNATI, OHIO. ST. LOUIS, MO. SPRINGFIELD, MASS. OR CHICAGO, ILL.

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