!!] ,r'';!llili!l"!i!|!i1 ;;;'i / ?//// IllliilllilliittlillllllilllllilllllliP ii in . ifi ¦ .. n 1 1 1 1 rt rr rr i r ri r?i i . i r * 1 1 rrinmHiiini '/give, thift Bovki: f$r.4he fountting of a College, ih this .Colony" 0 Vh tVl* IBB , says concerning the manner, in which the Jewish literati labored in the interpretation of Scripture, is very characteristic ofthe mental habits ofthe older Rabbins. 3 See his Antiquities, 1. xx. c. xi. LIFE AND WRITINGS OF PAUL. 39 of genius, than is done by Hamann,1 who, in the same way as the steel upon flintstone, strikes directly upon every passage; of Scrip ture, so as to bring from it sparks of fire. Attend for example to the following remark from him, which while it throws out highly significant allusions on all sides, expresses, at the same time, in a manner indica tive of profound investigation, a thought to which we also would sub scribe.2 " Because Moses," he says, " places the life in the Mood, all genuine Rabbins are struck with horror at the spirit and life in the prophets ; and are therefore led to sacrifice the strict meaning of words, as the only darling son was sacrificed iv naQapoXr\, Heb. 11: 19, and they convert into Mood the streams of eastern wisdom."3 Shall we now say, that the influence of this mode of education on the mind of the apostle is manifest ? Certainly every reader ofthe Pauline Epistles can adduce many passages in which he thinks him self able to perceive such an influence. Moreover, if we will once attend to the fact, that the characteristics just described, predominated in the writings and schools of those Jewish literati, then the influence of the apostle's early education will appear to be the key to the mode in which he treats the Old Testament. It will also be the key to the subtlety which he exhibits in many other respects. We have besides no inclination to oppose the idea of such an in fluence. If in one man, James for instance, the operation of the more ascetic features of Pharisaism is conspicuous,' why should not the operation of that biblical learning, which the Pharisees possessed, be conspicuous in Paul ?4 The apostles, so far as the form' is con- 1 See Note F, at the close ofthe Treatise. 2 [The analysis of this singularly figurative passage seems to be the follow ing. ' Because Moses places the life of an animal in thp blood, which may be shed, all genuine Rabbins are struck with horror acthe spiritual life which is found in the prophetical writings, and therefore wish to destroy it. As Isaac was sacrificed figuratively, (iv TrapafioXf/), so these Rabbins sacrifice the strict meaning of words by resorting to allegory.; and as the Life of these passages is thus taken away, the wise instructions ofthe Orientals appear, under the Rabbinical commentary, to be but puerile trifling. The streams of wisdom are made dark with blood! as so much blood has been shed, i.e. life of style destroyed by false interpretation. There seems lo be a play upon the word, blood, throughout the passage. — Tk.] 3 See Note G, at the close ofthe Treatise. 4 Schneckenburger, in the treatise entitled, " Were the Pharisees Reli gious Philosophers, or Ascetics," has made the assertion that, as Pharisees, 40 LIFE AND WRITINGS OF PAUL. cerned in which they stated heavenly truth, stand in intimate histori cal connection with their times and their people. Yet we cannot, like several modern theologians, rest contented with merely this re mark. From what we already know, we find ourselves compelled, by the relation in which the apostles stood to the christian system of faith, a relation in which the Lord himself had placed them, as the preachers of his word, as those who were commissioned to succeed him, and to carry on his own work ; we find ourselves compelled to deny that there was any such influence of temporary and national forms, as to modify the substance. of their doctrine. Indeed the de cisions on this subject, may be established not barely a priori, but in view of that which lies actually before us in the apostolical writings. With our eye fixed, then, on these writings, we maintain, that the subtle methods of interpretation which we find in the Jewish schools, and which the apostle had there appropriated to himself, were em ployed by him in such a way, that the' true idea can in no passage be mistaken. This is the fact, although, according to the historical connection in which the passages occur in the Old Testament, only a single point is given, that can furnish support for the inference which the apostle has derived from them. But should it not be the direct object of the pure interpretation of the Old Testament, to dis play the full picture that, in its first rudiments, was faintly repre sented in the preparative economy ? The manner which Paul adopt ed, may indeed be exhibited, most happily, in cases where he has nothing to do with the interpretation of the written code, but with the record which is- inscribed upon the heart of every man. When Paul infers from the inscription on the altar, " to the unknown God,"1 that the heathen acknowledged their ignorance of the true God, it cannot be proved that such an acknowledgement lies in the express terms of that inscription. If, however, the heathen, besides the names of thousands of divinities, had also an idea of divinely opera ting powers, for which they had no name ; and if to these unknown powers they erected altars, do they not thereby, in the reason of the they were mere ascetics. But this assertion is not entirely correct ; for the above mentioned acute discrimination in interpreting the law was found in their schools. It is only correct, so far as the philosophy of religion, if we choose to retain this phrase, was not absolutely requisite in order to become a Pharisee. 1 Acts 17: 23. LIFE AND WRITINGS OF PAUL. 41 thing, make a confession that their knowledge of God is defective ? And has not the apostle, with the noblest and the most profound wis dom, made use of this very point, for the purpose of attaching to it such evidence, as would show to the heathen, what is the view and the longing of their inward souls ? Now the education, which the apostle received at the Pharisaical school of Jerusalem, must have aided him in this- kind of acute and profound interpretation, after he had been once enlightened by the Spirit. Hamann also interpreted Rabbinically, if you please so to speak, and -he not only interpreted the Bible in this way, but also the works of genius of all men and all times. But who has not pursued, with astonishment and with true instruction, those hints, among which every block of marble be comes a statue of Memnon ? Wherever in fact the luminary of Jesus rises, there many phenomena of nature and of the history of man, which otherwise had remained forever dumb, begin to be heard. In this also the remark holds true, (that is made in Note G), one must know how to interrogate, (or he cannot receive an answer). We are not obliged, however, to look around us for other men, possessing merely human greatness, by whose authority we may defend the method adopted by Paul. Does not Christ follow essen tially the same usage, as for instance in Luke 20: 37, Mark 9: 13 ? In reference to these passages, indeed, we are to hold fast the theo logical distinction between him and his apostles, that he had an in- si°-ht which they had not, into the historical relations of the inspired passages, which were quoted. The proof of this statement, to which many are disinclined to give their assent, does not belong to this place. The Jewish system of instruction gave keenness to the pupil's mind in another way. The instruction was not given in the form of oral lectures but catechetically, and so that not merely the teacher proposed questions to the scholars, but the scholars to the teachers, and to the remaining fellow pupils. We have an instance of this in the scene of the child Jesus in the temple.1 And this mode of 1 Frequently in the Talmud is it said of the pupils, » they proposed to him the question," or " he proposed to him the question." The answers are de signated by the word is-Ma " they leplied." Even yet the Jews call such Socratic exercises, Kaschen, from n»PT difficult. To such questions, if the solution cannot be found, the abbreviation np-n is applied, which is the same as to say, " The Tishbite (Elias) will solve the difficulties and questions." 6 42 LIFE AND WRITINGS OF PAUL. teaching was not confined merely to the rules for allegorical inter pretation laid down in the Midras, but even the discourses in the syn agogue might be interrupted by questions, or when the discourses were concluded, the hearer might propose some difficult inquiries, as is done even at the present day in the Jewish synagogue. A complete system of Rabbinical dialectics was formed in this way ; and we need but a moderate acquaintance with the Talmudic wri tings, to be convinced of the great error into which Eichhorn fell, when he supposed that the dialectics of the apostle must have pro ceeded from the schools of heathen philosophers. So far from this, the apostle's logic bears, throughout, the impress of Judaism. This is indicated by many things, particularly by his abrupt mode of ex pressing himself.1 In general, also, the antithetic and piquant style of instruction that he adopted, may be ascribed to the influence of his Jewish culture. This Rabbinical education however, as has been already express ed, had not the same character in all schools. It depended essentially upon the peculiar mental habit of the instructor. Even in the first centuries after Christ, as well as in later periods, we find three classes of Jewish teachers. The first class had an inclination to the spiritless and literal ; the second class to a freer and more soul-mov ing style, like that of the Old Testament, a style in which the inte rest in the moral was predominant ; and the third adopted the style of mystical iheosophy? We always conceive of a Jewish scribe, as one who adheres to the dead letter, and who is also, probably, a hypocrite. The opposite might be learned, with sufficient clearness, from Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. That the Pharisees are not all to be regarded as hypocrites, is evident from that well known passage in the Talmud, in Tractate Sota, which introduces se ven classes of Pharisees. Five of these are hypocritical ; while of the sixth it is said, they are Pharisees from love to the recompense of God ;3 and of the seventh, they are Pharisees from the fear of God.4 1 " His method of discussion," remarks Michaelis, very correctly, in his Introduction, Part 1, p. 165, "has very often that Jewish brevity, which leaves the reader many things to supply of himself, and which we see in tbe Talmud." We are initiated into the principles of this logic, and especially its terms, by Bashuysen, in his Clavis Talmudica Maxima, Panoviae 1714. With this also may be connected Buxtorf 's Abbreviaturae. 2 See Note H, at the close. 3 nan _)a . ' nsi'tt . LIFE AND WRITINGS OF PAUL. 48 To this is added, in the same place, " Be npt afraid of the Pharisees, nor of those who are not Pharisees, but of those who are disguised so as to be like the Pharisees." The narratives of the Jews inform us of several distinguished Is raelites, who lived about the time of Christ, and possessed true vir tue and piety. Of the Cabbalistic school were Honias Ben Hacana and Hanan Ben Dosa ; of the school of the Pharisees were Jona than Ben Saccai, Simeon Ben Hillel, Gamaliel the Elder, who was teacher of the apostle, and his son Rabbi Simeon.1 We must sup pose, indeed, that this very Gamaliel had distinguished himself by pure virtue and piety, as he stood so high among the people, al though he did not adopt the principles of narrow-hearted Pharisa ism. In the Acts of the Apostles it is said,2 that he was " had in reputation among all the people." According to the accounts in the Talmud, which agree with this, he was called " the glory of the law," and they have the saying," since Rabbi Gamalr.1 died, the glory of the law has ceased."3 If we may credit the account in Tractate Gittin, Fol. 36: 2, this estimable man had gained even the esteem of Titus. There are various features of his conduct, that show how free he was from the ordinary narrow-heartedness of the Pharisees. He had on his seal a small image, which would have been rejected with out doubt by the Pharisees generally. The Talmud mentions con cerning him, that he took an especial pleasure in the beauties of na ture, a trait which is likewise contrary to the bigoted spirit of Pha risaism. He studied Greek authors, and his freedom of spirit went so far, that he did not hesitate while at Ptolemais, to bathe in an apart ment where stood a statue to Venus. Being asked by a heathen, how he could reconcile this with his law, he gave the liberal and sensible answer : " The bath was here before the statue ; the bath was not made for the service of the goddess, but the statue was made for the bath." The style in which we hear him speak before the Sanhe drim concerning the course to be taken with the germinating Chris tian religion, agrees remarkably with these features of his character. His expression, in this case, is indeed one which could not be ex pected from the mouth of an ordinary Pharisee. Now, such learned men among the Jews, as possess this enlarged 1 See Note I, at the close. 2 Acts 5: 34. 3 See Note K, at the close. 44 LIFE AND WRITINGS OF PAUL. mental character are usually the authors of beautiful moral senten ces or treatises. The style too, in which they interpret the Old Testament, is very diverse from the insipid style of the mere literal interpreters. Certainly then we may suppose, that such instruction exerted a wholesome influence upon the susceptible heart of young Paul. Religion was exhibited to him, not merely as a matter of dead speculation, but as a concern of the life. According to that interpretation of 2 Tim. 1: 3 which we believe to be the correct one, Paul testifies that his ancestors practised the devout worship of God, and that they transmitted their religious influence to him. That he had preserved this pious sentiment in its purity, that he had served God according to the best of his knowledge through his whole life, that he had surpassed his contemporaries in zeal for religion, is evident from Acts 26: 4, 5. 22: 3.23: 1. Gal. 1: 14. More than all other passages, Rom. vii. shows him to have been a Jew, who not merely bore piety upon the lips, but earnestly proposed to himself the laborious acquisition of a pure and unstained manner of life. CHAPTER III. CHARACTER OF THE APOSTLE. Doctrine of Temperaments. — Physical Temperament of Paul; of ecclesias tical reformers generally. — Influence of the apostle's temperament upon his mental and religious character. His strictness ; persecuting spirit. — Comparison between him and Luther. — Penetration, comprehensive views, logical reasoning, ardor, vigor, urbanity, affection, tenderness of Paul. A correct view of the peculiarities belonging to the constitution and temperament of the apostle, is desirable for all those who under take the interpretation of his writings. There are many, who are displeased with the employment of the usual names of the tempera ments on this subject, as offensive ideas are included under these designations, in their popular and unscientific use. This use fixes itself on barely a single meaning, which is made disagreeably prominent. It is even held, in opposition to remarks upon the temperament of the apostles, that an accurate division of the tem peraments has never been made. This, however, cannot induce us LIFE AND WRITINGS OF PAUL. 45 to abstain from the current terminology on this subject. , We are of the opinion, that the so-called four temperaments designate the four fundamental peculiarities in the nature of man, as composed of soul and body. We think the idea which HeinrotM has given of them in his Anthropology, to be a most excellent one. The representa tion of Heinroth, which exhibits in so able a manner, the connection between the temperaments and the various national characters, religious dispositions, and studies in the arts, convinces the mind at once, that the old fourfold division of these temperaments has not been made arbitrarily. We presuppose in our present remarks an acquaintance with the section, that is now referred to, in Heinroth's Anthropology.3 " We see in Paul," says Hug, " a temperament entirely choleric." In this decision we acquiesce only half-way. We think that the peculiarities of the melancholic temperament are found in the apostle in an equal degree with those of the cnoleric. The melan cholic temperament is everywhere characterized by this, that in stead of dissipating the mind through the world that is without, it brings the mind back to the inner world, to the depths of its own bo som. On this account, there is connected with it, if not a gloomy yet a prevailing serious view of things. Not dissipated by the variety of objects in the world, the mind directs itself to the essential interests of human life, and therefore a habit of speculation, ordinarily in the form of theosophy, and also a religious feeling, are in general found to be intimately connected with this temperament. The choleric disposition directs the mind especially to the world without ; not as the sanguine for the purpose of receiving, but for the purpose of communicating ; not of enjoying the world and mankind, but of operating upon them and of governing them. The melancholic temperament, operating without a mixture of the others, has pro duced those men, who, in their eminent degree of love to God, have occupied the solitary cell, and there consumed themselves with sorrow and fervid passion in the capacity of religious mystics. The choleric temperament has produced those heroes in the history of 1 See Note L, at the close of this Treatise. 2 As early a writer as Albert Durer, described the apostles according to their temperaments. Paul is described as melancholic, John as sanguine, etc. A treatise on the temperaments of the writers ofthe New Testament by Gregory is found in the Thesaurus novus, Vol. II. Amsterdam. 46 LIFE AND WRITINGS OF PAUL. the world, who, on the broad theatre of the same, have ruled and transformed nations and ages. From the union of the one with the other have proceeded religious reformers. The religious reformer must have looked deeply into his own heart. He must understand what is an inward life. He must also in an equal degree desire to procure currency among his brethren, for that which he had ex perienced to be truth within his own soul. The characters of those men who have been reformers in the church, bear a strong resemblance to each other. In every one of them there was the united operation of both these temperaments. Let Paul, Augustine, and Luther be compared together.1 We here include, of course, under the term reformers, not barely such men as, while they were alive, have made their influence visible in great circles, but also the men whose spiritual preeminence has continued even for centuries after they were removed from the theatre of action. The decided religious tendency of the apostle, conjoined with that energy of execution, which is peculiar to the choleric temperament, we first discern in the fact, that he attached himself to that religious party among his people, which was considered the most decided, and was the most rigorous. He himself appealed to this circum stance, in his defence before Agrippa.2 He there says that he had 1 It is worthy of remark, that while in other instances the corporeal form, as the shadow ofthe spirit, bears a resemblance to the mental charac ter, those strong-minded men who have altered the world's history, have fully as often been diminutive as athletic in their outward structure. Notwithstanding all the internal resemblance between Luther and Paul, they must in their external appearance have been altogether dissimilar. They were dissimilar not barely in respect to the whole figure, which in the case of Paul was diminutive, 2 Cor. 10: 10, but also in respect to their utterance, as we may learn from the verse just cited, and in respect to physiognomy, if we may trust the description which is given of Paul- in the dialogue of Philopatris, in the time of Julian. This speaks of him as" the Galilean with the bald head and the aquiline nose." Even the antiquated Vassari, in his memoir of Brunelleschi, the man who constructed the celebrated arch in the cupola at Florence, an architect gigantic in his works, though not in his form, makes the interesting remark, 'Many are created with small stature and diminutive features, who have such greatness of mind, and such incon ceivable, idomitable energy of heart, that they will never .give themselves rest, unless they commence undertakings, which are difficult and almost impossible, and finish them, to the wonder of all who behold.' 3 Acts 26: 5. LIFE AND WRITINGS OF PAUL. 47 attached himself to the most exact sect ; and after he had chosen this as his party, he surpassed in zeal most of his contemporaries. When the religion of his fathers was brought into peril by the Christians, he devoted himself to the service ofthe high council, for the purpose of crushing the new sect. At first he persecuted them at Jerusalem, yea he compelled them to utter blasphemies against the crucified Messiah. As he had not done enough at the capital to gratify his rage, he hastened to Damascus.1 The contradiction which appears in this respect between the apostle's zeal and the tranquil character . of his teacher Gamaliel, may surprise us. Men, however, who have a character like that of Paul, are also independent. If in Gamaliel, whom we may more properly compare with Erasmus, we could suppose that there ex isted the delicate introverted mind of Staupitz (Luther's instructor,) then we should see in the relation of our German reformer to this his teacher, a representative of Paul and his tetcher. The general current of Luther's life presents very many points of comparison with Paul. As long as he was in the way of the law, he exhibited the same earnestness of conflict, as we see described in the seventh of Romans ; afterwards he exhibited the same bold freedom which appears in Paul. If we wish to determine what are the principal characteristics of the converted apostle, as they are exhibited in his writings and speeches, our examination will especially exhibit the following. With deep penetration, as it may be expected of one accustomed ta an inward life, he seized hold of those religious truths, which had! been communicated to him by the Revelation ofthe Lord. No one can fail to observe the rich speculative contents of his Epistles, and the great difference which appears in this respect, between him on the one hand, and Peter and James on the other. John indeed touehes upon subjects like those of Paul, for John also is speculative.^ While, however, with John all religious knowledge goes into the form of a few antitheses, relating indeed to the infinite, such an titheses as light and darkness, life and death, love and hatred, the children of God and the children of the devil, remaining in Christ and living without him ; the view of Paul embraces in its full con- 1 Acts. 26: 10—12. 2 [Speculative ; interested in meditating on things above the sphere of sense ; accustomed to investigate spiritual subjects. — Tr .] 48 LIFE AND WRITINGS OF PAUL. nection the eternal decree of God, which has been kept secret from the foundation of the earth ; which was signified by the prophets, which in Christ Jesus was manifested in the world, and which, since it has been exhibited to mankind, has made known even to the spirits in heaven, the manifold wisdom of God.1 That venerable German metaphysician, who in his -retirement prepared, a number of years ago, a christian philosophy, and gave to this new form of his system the name of the " historical philoso phy," had then in view, as we may say, for his precursor and ex emplar, the apostle to the Gentiles. In Paul's model-system of doctrine there is laid down a philosophy of the history of the world. He everywhere proceeds on the ground of the eternal plan of God, in which Christ is the central-point, and at the same time the key to the mysteries of the past and the future. " Before the foundation of the world was laid, we were chosen in Christ."2 Before the fall of Adam therefore Christ was constituted the tilog of the history of man ; the prae of time expresses also a prae of relation. At the ¦definite period which had been determined by God, " in the fulness of time," this being on whom the history of the world revolves was introduced among men.0 And in some passages, Paul, looking forward and backward, gives the destination of both heathenism and Judaism in reference to this turning point of history.4 In the eleventh of Romans he lifts the veil, which conceals the future progress of the race in this life, and lets the consideration of the whole temporal development of the great divisions of this race, as this development relates to the kingdom of God, terminate in the expression, " Of him and through him and to him are all things."5 In the 15th chap ter of 1 Corinthians, however, the view of Paul is raised above the future periods of the present life, into a futurity still more remote, beyond the boundaries of time ; and he concludes this view in the twenty eighth verse, with the sentence, " So shall God be all in all." As it is only this apostle who makes use of the expression, con densing into three words time and eternity, " Of him, and to him, and through him (tig ainov, into him) are all things,"6 so it is only 1 Rom. 6: 25, 26. Ephes. 1: 9—12. 3: 8—11. 2 Eph. 1: 4. J Gal. 4: 4. 1 Tim. 2: 6. Titus 1: 3. 4 Acts 17: 26, 27. Rom. i. Gal. 3: 24. Rom. vii. 5 Rom. 11: 36. 6 " Thou, with whom all good things end and begin," is an expression of Dante, addressed to Jehovah, in imitation of the above quoted passage of LIFE AND WRITINGS OF PAUL. 49 this apostle, before whose eye, as he glances at the central point of the world's development, there is always spread out the beginning and the end of this development. The mode of considering a subject, adopted by Paul, differs moreover from the mode adopted by John in the following respect. All antitheses, as generally all single topics, whose limits run into one another as John looks upon them, appear to Paul definitely separated from one another. As the form of his discourses, so like wise his train of thought moves on dialectically. Paul therefore has been at all times the favorite author of the thinking, as John has been of ihe feeling Christian. Further, the prominent quality in the writings of Paul is ardor and power. As was said of Luther's style, so it may be said of Paul's, it is a continual battle (Schlacht).1 In the letters which were written from imprisonment, when he bore the chains upon his hands, in what a glowing style does every word speak forth his longing, the apostle. Out of Paul's writings there is only one expression, which ac cords with this passage. That is found in Heb. 2: 10. But this epistle has, in other respects, the character of a work belonging to a disciple of Paul. Moreover, the Si ov in that passage deviates from the style of Paul. The remarkable .is avrov, from which originated Augustine's immortal expres sion, " Thou, God, hast made us for thee, therefore our heart is not at rest, until it rest in thee," is also found in Acts 17: 26, 27. [Tholuck 'means, probably, that the idea which he would attach to the phrase _js avrov, is also expressed in this passage from Acts ; and particu larly in the words, "that they should seek the Lord," tend to him, and "find him," come near him, so that they may spiritually live and move and have their being in him. The idea of a general union with God is a favorite one with Tholuck.— Tn.] 1 The first judgment, that is known to us, concerning the character of the style of Paul, was contained in the lost work of Irenaeus, " On the Pauline Inversions," where with entire correctness he pronounced the ground of them to be, " the rapidity of his. speech and the vehemence of his spirit;" Adv. Haer. 3. 7. The ancient heathens, in their judgment upon a work of art, scarcely ever took notice of the subjective sentiment and cast of mind, under the influence of which the work was produced. They ab stained from this, in order that the work may have more the appfearance of a gift from the divine power. But christian authors have very early pro nounced their opinion on the internal peculiarities of the sacred penmen. In this fact then may be found an objection, unknown to many of them, against the mode of representing inspiration as something purely passive. (See Lardner's Works, II. 176,495, 573, 4. IV. 479, 480. VII. 429-437.) 7 50 LIFE AND WRITINGS OF PAUL. that the gospel may run and have free course !— and yet how dif ferent is his ardor of spirit from that of an enthusiast ! It is charac teristic of the apostle, that amid the glowing of his inflamed soul, he is never deficient in the regulating power of discreet reflection. What regard he pays in his discourses and letters, to the variety of relations and circumstances ! What a contrast between his style of remark at Jerusalem, and at Athens ; to the Galatians, and before king Agrippa, and Felix the Governor ! Even gracefulness and ur banity of manner are not wanting in these discourses ; as, for exam ple, when he closes an address with the words, "I wish in short that not only thou, but all who hear me this day, were such as I am, these bonds excepted."1 What heedfulness and delicacy in the treatment of different mental conditions are exhibited in the first and second epistle to the Corinthians ! The consideration of all this is certainly sufficient to refute those false imputations, that account for the conversion of Paul, the very occurrence on which the whole active efficiency of his life was founded, by representing it as a dream in his mid-day sleep, or as a fanatical vision. Truly the so ber and humble demeanor of the apostle does not accord with the characteristics of a visionary ! As the third fundamental feature in the picture of Paul's charac ter after he was converted, we must mention, love. The natural disposition of the bilious man prompts him to govern ; to govern, even if he must trample on one half of the race, so that the other may obey him. Nothing is more opposed to the bent of his mind, than for him tenderly to spare what belongs to others. But where, in all history, can be found the example of a great and powerful spirit, which has been more skilled than Paul in becoming all things to all men ? With what winning tenderness does he treat the Co rinthians, to whom he had so much reason, as he himself expresses it, for coming with a rod ! In view of such expressions, as 2 Cor. 2: 5, 7, 9, 10, we might almost say with Erasmus, that the apostle's tender love amounted to a " pious flattery" and " sacred adulation,"2 if we did not know from other sources, how far a mind, that was truly softened with the love of Christ, would give up and subordinate its own interests. So likewise might we go through the epistle to Philemon, and point out, in almost every word and sentence, the tender refinement of that affection, which the holy man himself de- 1 Acts 26: 29. * Pia vafrities, sancta adulatio. LIFE AND WRITINGS OF PAUL. 51 scribes with the words, " it is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own." If he only is possessed of true greatness, who can also condescend to what is small, then there is no better spectacle of greatness than is to be seen in a Luther, as after all his thunderings against the emperor and the pope, he exhi bits himself like a child in his letter to his little John.1 And we firmly believe that Paul himself would be capable of the same exhi bition of character. At least the impression is a similar one, which is made by the reading of his epistle to Philemon, after we have read his epistle to the Romans, or his speech at Athens. CHAPTER IV. STYLE OF THE APOSTLE. Paul's style of writing different from that ofthe other apostles ; but not so different as might have been expected. — Difficulties in reference to the style of the Epistle to the Hebrews. — Style of Paul's speeches. — His ability to write in classic Greek. — Copiousness of his style. — His frequent use ofthe paronomasia. — Character of this figure. — Authority for it.— Objec tions against it. We come next to speak of the- style of the apostle. It is gene rally acknowledged how much more of a master he was of the Greek idiom, than his fellow apostles were. One thing however in relation to this subject is surprising, that between him who spent the earliest period of his life in a Greek city, who doubtless spoke Greek from childhood up, and his companions in office, who either never traveled beyond the boundaries of Palestine at all, or not until they went as apostles, — it is surprising, I say, that between him and them, the distinction does not appear much greater than it does. Should we not expect from Paul, that he would adopt such a style, in some respects, as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews has done ?2 A perfect accuracy in the use of the Greek can be ex- 1 See note M, at the close. 2 [Tholuck as is well known, supposes that Paul was not the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews. — Tr.] 52 LIFE AND WRITINGS OF PAUL. pected, indeed, from no Israelite, however long he may have dwelt in the society of the Grecians. We may perhaps make an exception here in favor of such liber ally educated Alexandrines as Aristobulus, and the translator of the Proverbs in the Septuagint. Even Josephus complains that "his early habits of speech forbade exactness in the expression of the Greek j"1 and in the preparation of his Greek writings, he availed himself of the aid of foreigners in respect to the style. But at least, must not Paul have greatly excelled James, who, as it seems, having grown up as a genuine Pharisee, never went beyond the boundaries of Palestine. From the comparison of Paul with his fellow-apostles, two things, as it occurs to us, may be learned with tolerable certainty. One, relating especially to James, in less degree also to John and Peter, is this ; we must recede from the prevailing belief that the Greek language was not at all, or in very few instances spoken by the in habitants of Palestine. If we refuse to abandon this view, which may elsewhere, moreover, be shown to be false, then in opposition to all christian antiquity, we must come at last to the conclusion, that no one of the Jameses known to us, was the author of what is called the epistle of James. This conclusion has recently been avowed even by so cautious a critic as Schott, and has been support ed entirely by considerations drawn from style.2 The other infer- 1 Antiquities, B. XX. c. XI. 2 [The question whether the Aramaean or the Greek language was exclu sively spoken in Palestine in the time of Christ has been long and earnestly discussed. A brief history ofthe discussion, and a view of its importance, are given by Prof. Robinson in Bib. Repos. Vol. I. pp. 309 — 317. See like wise the essay of H. F. Pfannkuche, on the general prevalence of the Ara maean language in Palestine, and the article of Hug on the general use of the Greek; the former in Bib. Repos. Vol. I. pp. 317 — 363, the latter in Vol. I. pp. 530 — 551, and also in Fosdick's Translation of Hug's Introduction, pp. 326 — 340. Father Simon, says Prof. Robinson, " shows conclusively, that the Jews in Palestine did speak the Chaldee or Aramaean language ; but at the same time, although a warm advocate for the Hebrew original of Matthew, he admits that Greek was spoken in Palestine, and takes indeed the position, which probably most at the present day will be ready to adopt after reading Hug's essay, viz., That the two languages were both current at the same time in Palestine, during the age of Christ and the Apostles." "Hug shows, irrefragably as it would seem, that the Greek had obtained such a footing in Palestine, as to place it at least nearly on an equality with the LIFE AND WRITINGS OF PAUL. 53 ence derived from this comparison, and relating to Paul, is this ; we must suppose that the imperfection of his Greek style had not its ori gin in an impossibility of writing better, so much as in a want of care. That the apostle could use the Greek idiom with skill, when ever there was need of his doing so, may be proved conclusively from the epistle to the Hebrews, if that be supposed to be the work of Paul, or from the last part of the book of Acts, if we be allowed to appeal to the speeches there inserted. These speeches are per haps distinguished above every other portion of the New Testament for elegance of Greek style. We do not, however, conceal the un certainty of this argument. Grant even that no other reason pre vented us from considering the apostle to the heathen, as the au thor of the epistle to the Hebrews, what could well be alleged as a reason why the apostle, who writes to the tastefully educated Corin thians in the style that was easy to him, should, in an epistle to the Christians in Palestine, make use of an elegSnt idiom ? If the use ofthe Chaldee idiom was so agreeable to the inhabitants of Pales tine that a tumultuous assembly, when they heard Paul speak in this idiom, became still,1 why should not the apostle, who in things law ful so willingly became all things to all men, have preferred the Chaldaic dialect, in an epistle which he wrote directly to a commu nity in Palestine ? Those who defend the Pauline origin of the epistle to the Hebrews, have not as yet succeeded in removing this difficulty. This one thing indeed they are able to show, that an epistle in Greek might have been understood by a community in Pa lestine.2 But this fact does by no means justify an author in select ing the Greek language, when he was equally skilled in the peculiar language of the province to which he wrote. The argument drawn from the speeches in the Acts of the Apos tles would have greater weight than the preceding, if we were only certain, that the speeches which are interwoven with that work, and particularly the speeches of Peter and Paul, are to be looked upon Aramaean in respect to general prevalence." Bib. Repos. Vol. I. pp. 313. 3)7.— Tb.] 1 Acts 22: 2. 2 [The objection against the Pauline origin ofthe Epistle to the Hebrews, on the ground of its closer conformity to the Greek idiom than the acknow ledged epistles of Paul, is met, by Prof. Stuart, by denying the fact. See his Oomm. on Hebrews, §32. p. 235— 248.— Tr.] 54 LIFE AND WRITINGS OF PAUL. as the exact report of the apostle's words. Seyler indeed has recently, in his essay on the speeches and epistles of Peter, in the first number of the Studien und Kritiken for 1832, expressed his conviction, that Peter's speech was reported by the author of the book of Acts, with a nicety, which passed over not even a particle, not even a de. As, however, Dr. Seyler has reserved the proof of this position to a future time, we cannot judge of his reasons. It seems to us surprising at the first view, and worthy of our attention, that the speeches which are found in the former part of the Acts of the Apostles, and indeed not merely those of Peter but those of Paul also,1 bear, in a striking degree, so much more of the Hebrew color ing, than those found in the latter part. We are compelled to ex plain this by the fact, that the former speeches were delivered over to Luke in writing, as he was not present to hear them ; while the latter, which he heard himself, were re-written by him with freedom. The agreement of the diction with that of Luke is an argument for this supposition. If this view is correct, then the appeal to the speeches of Paul in the Acts of the Apostles loses its authority. Although therefore we abandon these direct arguments, still we may, as we think, admit that the apostle to the Gentiles could, when it was necessary for him to do so, write in the pure Greek style. We regard the opinion, which Michaelis has expressed in his Intro duction,2 to be in the highest degree apposite. " Paul is distinguish ed," he says, " from all the other New Testament writers. Instances of Hebraism enough, instances of carelessness enough, are to be found in him, yet not the short verse-measure of the Hebrew style, but on the whole more of the Greek construction. Still he is careless, like one who understands the language, but spends no labor at all upon his diction ; like one who thinks barely of his subject, and is transported by an overflow of thoughts, and at the same time by emotion and oc casionally by genius. That the best Greek expressions are equally familiar to him with the Hebrew is evident. They are interchanged as the former or the latter occur first to his mind. The Greek lan guage is at his service, even in expressing the liveliest and most deli cate satire ; but he does not avoid the under-current of Hebraism, and has no wish at all to write with purity or with beauty." If, on the one hand, there is in the style of Paul more of the Greek coloring, and if it is adopted more involuntarily, than is the 1 See Chap. 13. 2 Edition 4, Part 1. p. 117. LIFE AND WRITINGS OF PAUL. 55 case with the other apostles, inasmuch as dialectic discussion very naturally made his style periodic,1 so on the other hand, the want of periodic structure is not the effect of a deficiency in acquaintance with the language, so much as the effect of the apostle's character, and this has already been described. There is indeed for his mode of thinking, as of writing no more fitting image than the flood, where one wave overtops another. The. frequently recurring ov povov Si and paXXov di is the swelling of the wave.2 Let one only consider how Paul, at the beginning of the epistle to the Romans, never satisfies himself, but adds accessory ideas to every principal word. This is visible in the most characteristic way in the first chapter of his epistle to the Ephesians. Where thought presses upon thought, one feeling upon another, there ' it is not easily conceivable that regularly constructed parentheses,3 like those which are presented in the epistle to the Hebrews, and which are the result of calm reflec tion, should be employed. In such cases the anacoluthon is intro- 1 Locke, in the second edition of his Comment, on John, Vol. 1. p. 129, makes very correct remarks on this subject. 1 here select the passage, be cause it expresses at the same time the view above given of the relation between John and Paul. " The chief distinction," he says, " between Paul and John lies in the individuality of the two writers. As Paul thinks logically, syllogistically, and besides, in his Epistles, explains the subject-matter of the Gospel in a didactic form, so he writes in the periodic style ; but with the periodic and dialectic mode of writing, the Greek peculiarities likewise the more decidedly present themselves. John is almost the opposite of this. As in his mental character he is inclined to the synthetic, rather than to the analytic method ; as he is inclined to what is called the intuition of the spirit, rather than to> the logical discussion ; so likewise in his style of composition he is more simple (than Paul). He is sp in his Epistles, and likewise in his Gospel. In the latter, moreover, the historical subject-matter makes a difference between him and his fellow-apostle. His thoughts are arranged, with greater regularity than Paul's ; one might almost say that they follow each other in the order of parallelism The Hebraistic element is therefore visible, both in his mode of representation, and his choice of language ; and it is, at least inwardly, the pervading element of his style." 2 See for example, Rom. 5: 3, 11. 8: 23, and 34. 10: 14 and 15. 3 [On the parenthetical character of the style of Paul's epistles generally, and of the epistle to the Hebrews in particular, see Stuart's Coram, on Heb. § 22, especially p. 14.— Tr.] 56 LIFE AND WRITINGS OF PAUL. duced j1 the oratio variata2 also ; the siopesis3 and the laconic.4 The same fervor of spirit is discernible in those words, frequently introduced, which are compounded with vnig, as vmqXlav, vneovixaco, tmsontQUTaeva, vnspnXsovdt,ai ; in the oft repeated use of nag5 and in other developments. We might hold it scarcely possible, for Paul to make use of such calm and dispassionate forms of speech, as the epistle to the Hebrews everywhere exhibits.6 Even through the drapery of Luke, the discourses of this apostle, as recorded in the Acts, exhibit the vigorous formation of his style. That with the apostle's numerous Hebraisms, he had at command no small part of the treasures of the Greek language, is evident from his great variety of particles ; his significant variation of prepositions, which he knows how to employ so as to be a true means of con veying thought ; his copious use of synonyms ; his great variety of expressions for one and the same object ; his employment of rare words, and partly of words coined by himself; his rich participial constructions, but especially his copious fulness of paronomasia in all its forms ; the antanaklasis, parachesis, annominatio.7 Without directing the mind expressly to this subject, one cannot imagine how frequently the apostle uses the paronomasia. For managing the figure in a free and spirited way, however, an unembarrassed use of the language is indispensable. Examine the euphonious parono masia in 1 Tim. 3: 16, icpavsgcod-v — idixiuio&Ti ; also in Eph. 3: 6, uvyxXrigovofia xal a-vaaafiu xal o-vjifiixoxa ; likewise in 2 Cor. 8: 22, iv noXXdlg noXXdxig anovSaiov ; and in 9: 8, 'ivu iv navxl navTOTt mtcrav amdgxuav t£irr.. See also in Rom. 1: 29, and 31, the words nogvda, novingla ; (p&ovov, (povov, uovvhovg, uavv&hovg, amoqyovg, aanovSovg, etc. Especially see those numerous examples, in which the resemblance in the sound in connection at the same time with resemblance or contrast in the sense, becomes in the highest degree significant. In the epistle to the Romans, for example, we have the 1 See for example Rom. 2: 17, 21. 5: 12, 15, 9: 23. 2 See instance in Rom. 12: 1 and 2. 3 See example in Rom. 7: 25. * See Rom. 11: 18. 2 Cor. 6: 13. 3 See Col. 1: 9—11,28. 6 See Heb. 6: 1—3. 11: 32. ' The use of the same word in different senses; of different words resem bling each other in sound ; of pun. LIFE AND WRITINGS OF PAUL. 57 words Ix 7i/_..ft)c slg nlaxiv in 1: 17; and in 1: 20, the words ra aogaia tou •$__. xa&ogaiat, ; and in 1: 28, xotxrcag ovx idoxlfiaaav — nagidtoxsv avTovg elg a86xi[iov vovv. Other instances of the same figure are found in Rom. 2: 1. 4: 15. 15: 16, and 19 ; and also in Rom. 3: 27, 7: 23, and 8: 2, where the term vojiog is used with varied applications. To these numerous other examples might be added from the remaining epistles. Such an accumulation of this figure needs perhaps an apology. There may be some who will agree in opinion with Basilius Faber, when he says, in his The saurus, under the word paronomasia, that " in jocular and light compositions nothing can be more grateful than this figure ; but in serious discourse nothing is more improper, especially if it be frequently repeated." In order to perceive the incorrectness of this remark, however, one need only be reminded of some instances of paronomasia, that have been famed throughout the world. Such are that in Ovid, " orbis in urbe fuit ;" and that in Schiller, " die Welt-geschichte ist das Weltgericht." " Even in philosophy," says Herder, " happy expressions of this kind are of great force. They fasten in the soul, even by a word, the distinction or the resemblance that is remarked. Here also Luther and Hamann present numerous instances parallel with those of the apostle. We need nothing more however than to refer to that paronomasia which has affected the history of the whole world ; the paronomasia employed by the Redeemer himself, in the sixteenth of Matthew, where he calls Peter, the nhga, on which his church was built.1 It cannot by any means be inferred from the use of these puns by Paul, that reflection had triumphed over feeling in his mind, as Les- 1 [For a much larger number of instances in which this figure is used by the writers of the New Testament, especially by Paul, by the writers ofthe Old Testament also, by classical authors, and even by the Saviour himself, see Winer's Grammar of the New Testament, § 49, and Stuart's Hebrew Grammar, 3d Ed. § 571, and the works referred to in them. Perhaps the paronomasia employed by the Saviour in Matt. 8: 22 has been, in a moral point of view, nearly as much entitled to the epithet, welt-historische, as that in Matt. 16: 18 to which Tholuck refers.— The very frequent use of the paronomasia and the like figures by the sacred penmen, is a proof that their writings are genuine Oriental productions ; that the Spirit, who in dited for men, adapted himself not only to men in general, but in an es pecial manner to the communities who were originally addressed ; and that the Bible was not designed to teach men rhetoric, more than to teach them astronomy or metaphysics. — Tr.] 8 58 LIFE AND WRITINGS OF PAUL. sing says that the introduction of wit always indicates the want of excited feeling. This is the fact only when the wit seems to have been sought after. Such forms of the paronomasia as betray a pre vious effort for them ; the anagram for instance, and the repetition in one sentence of the last word in the preceding,1 are never found in the apostle's composition. It is well known that, for example, the sarcasm is introduced by men of spirit on occasions of the most highly excited feeling. It is thus used by Paul in Phil. 3: 2, xcnmofiri — nsgixojtri ; and in 1 Tim. 6: 5, nagadiatgi^tig — SiazgiBai. And so, on the other hand, the tenderest emotions of love call forth from him a play upon words. An instance of it is the play upon the name of Onesimus in the eleventh verse of Philemon, tov noxi aoi a/giitTrov, vwl di col xal iftol sv%grjtjiov.s Another illustration of the same is that excellent proverb in Rom. 13: 8, " Be in debt to no man, except in love." SUPPLEMENT TO THE PRECEDING TREATISE, Respecting the early life of Paul, compiled from various works, bat principally from Hemsen's Der Apostel Paulus. pp. 1 — 10. Name of the Apostle. Paul received from his parents the name bl-fiZi Saul. Neander states as a conjecture, that this name was de rived from bi_-JJ to ask, and signified that Saul was a long-desired, first-born son, a" child of prayers. Why and when the name Saul was changed into Paul is doubtful. The Jews, when among the Heathen, often altered their Hebrew names, and sometimes entirely dropped them. Thus Dosthai was changed into Dositheus, Jesus into Jason, Tarphon into Trypho, Silas into Sylvanus ; and Onias was 1 ' Avaygan/Mtriofioi and iiruvaorpoipai. 2 ^OvTjaifio'i, being derived from avirtjfii, would of course have about the same meaning with evfjprjarov. Another instance of paronomasia on the same name, is in the twentieth verse of the same epistle; Nal, aSeXifi, iyoi cov ovaifiTjv iv xvpltit. Some of the instances of paronomasia, collected by commentators from the writings of Paul, give no evidence of having been designed by him. Others were doubtless designed. " In the discourses of JeSus," says Winer, " which were spoken in the Syro Chaldaic, there were probably marry examples of paronomasia, which would of course be entirely lost in a Greek translation." — Tr.J SUPPLEMENT. 59 dropped for Menelaus, Hillel for Pollio, Joakim for Alcimus, Joannes for Hyrcanus : see Grot. ad. Act. xiii. 9. Whether Paul conformed to this custom, or whether, as other converted Jews did, he changed his name at the same time with his faith, cannot be determined. Amnion on Rom 1:1, supposes the latter to be the fact. Jerome, Catal. C. 5. supposes that he changed his name as soon as he had been made the instrument of converting Sergius Paulus, the Procon sul of Cyprus : Acts 13: 6 — 12. This is mere conjecture. Chry- sost., On the Change of Men's Names, states various reasons for the change of Saul into Paul. He rejects the idea that the etymol ogy of the words determined the change ; that the word Saul was derived from aaXevsiv and designated a persecutor, and the word Paul from navaao-&ab and designated a protector, defender of the church. He seems to think that the Holy Spirit gave a new name to Paul, so that He might signify his authority over the converted man ; just as a master gives a new name to a slave whom he pur chases. The name is a sign of ownership. He supposes that Paul did not change his name immediately after his conversion, because by so early a change, it would not be so extensively known that he was the same Saul who once persecuted the church. Neander says, that Saul was the Hebrew, and Paul the Hellenistic name ; Light foot, that he was called Saul as a Jew and Paul as a Gentile, partic ularly as the apostle to the Gentiles : Light. Works, VIII. pp. 462, 463. XII. p. 456. Family connections ofthe Apostle. His parents were descendants of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin, Phil. 3: 5. Rom. 11:1. ' His father was a Pharisee, Acts 23: 6. 26: 5. Phil. 3: 5. He had a sister whose son was a Christian, and a discreet person, and very useful to his uncle Paul when a prisoner at Jerusalem, Acts 23: 16 — 22. This nephew's conduct cannot be thought of without admiration and grati tude. Some others of his relatives are mentioned by him in his epistle to the Romans, who also were believers in Jesus, and several of them had been so before himself ; which may be reckoned a proof of the virtue and piety of this family. Their names are Andronicus and Junias, whom he calls ' his kinsmen.' By the words o-vyysvsXg fiov, Rom. 16: 7, he must mean something more than ' his countrymen.' He speaks in the like manner of Herodian, v. 11, and also of Lu cius, Jason and Sosipater, v. 21.' Lardner, Works, Vol. V. p. 473. Tholuck on Rom. 16: 7 says, " Svyysvijg may designate these indi viduals as the apostle's relatives, and may also merely denote that they were of Jewish extraction. The latter is the more probable. See vs. 11 and 21, and also Rom. 9: 3." See also Wahl's Lexicon on the word o-vyytvijg. Birth-place of the Apostle. Jerome says, Catal. c. 5, " Paul was of the tribe of Benjamin, and of the city of Gischala, in Galilee. When this city was taken by the Romans, he removed with his parents to Tarsus in Cilicia." This assertion is directly opposed to the account in Acts 22: 3, that he was " born in Tarsus in Cilicia." See also 60 SUPPLEMENT. Acts 9: 11. 21: 39. Tarsus was a great and populous city, situated in a fruitful plain, through which flowed the river Cydnus, .It was the birth-place of many distinguished Greek scholars. The inhabi tants applied with great assiduity to science, and were considered, in the time of Christ, as the most cultivated of the Greeks, as their city was the most. richly provided with literary institutions. Winer's Real. It was declared a free city by Augustus, and endowed with especial privileges. Dio Chrys. Tarsica post. 11. 36. Appian de Bel. Civ. L. V. p. 275, etc. Plin. Nat. Hist. V. 27. 22. Amm. Marcell. IV. 8. Time of the Apostle's Birth and Conversion. According to an ancient but unauthorized account, Paul was born in the second year after Christ. This account is found in the Oratio de Petro et Paulo, Opp. Chrysost. Vol. VIII. The account however has nothing im probable iu itself, since Paul is described as a young man at the time of his first persecution against the Christians, Acts 7: 57. ' In the epistle to Philemon,' says Lardner, " written about the year 62, the apostle calls himself, v. 9, " Paul the aged." This I think must lead us to suppose, that he was then sixty years old, or not much less. — He seems to have arrived at years of discretion when he was con verted, for he appears to have been one of the principal agents in the persecution of believers after the death of Stephen ; to have been entrusted by the Jewish rulers with authority to carry it on, Acts 26: 10, and to have had officers under him. All this shows the regard that was paid to him.' Works, Vol. V. pp. 486, 7. The supposi tion of Hemsen, Neander and Hug seems the most probable, that Paul's conversion occurred in A. D. 36. Usher and Pearson how ever suppose it to have occurred in 35 ; Basnage, Michaelis, Hein- richs, Kohler and Schott in 37 ; Eichhorn in 37 or 38 ; De Wette in 35 or 38 ; and others still in 31, 33, 34, 39, 40, 41, or 42. Free citizenship of the Apostle. That Paul was a freeborn Ro man citizen is certain. It is a conjecture of some that his ancestors obtained their free citizenship by their services to the empire during the civil wars with the Jews. But of this there is no evidence ; see Grotius upon Acts 22: 28. Deyling endeavors to show that Paul's parents probably purchased the privilege of Roman freedom. But nothing can be certainly known about the mode in which they ob tained it. The fact only is plain. See Acts 22: 28. Trade ofthe Apostle. " What is commanded of a father towards his son ? (asks a Talmudic writer.) To circumcise him, to redeem him, to teach him the law, to teach him a trade, etc. R. Judah saith he that teacheth not his son a trade, does as if he taught him to be a thief. Rabban Gamaliel saith, He that hath a trade in his hand, to what is he like ? He is like to a vineyard that is fenced. So some ofthe great wise men of Israel had been cutters of wood. Rabban Jochanan Ben Zaccai,that vvas vice-president ofthe Sanhedrim, was a merchant four years, and then he fell to the study of the law." " Rabbi Judah, the great cabbalisl, bore the name and trade of Hhajat, a shoemaker or tailor." Lightfoot, Vol. III. pp. 227,228. VIII. p. 131. SUPPLEMENT. 61 According to (this) old Jewish custom which was well nigh as binding as law, Paul learned a trade, that of a maker of tent-cloth. Michaelis (Intro. Vol. II. p. 1338, Edit. 4,) represents Paul as a ma chine-maker. A passage in Julius Pollux led him into this singular mistake : see Hug's Introduction, Part II. § 86. The Fathers sup posed Paul to be a worker on leather, or a tent-maker. Chrysostom says, " By his trade he was employed upon skins." The fact that war-tents were made of leather, induced the old writers to suppose' that Paul worked on this material. The probability is, that as a kind of shagged, rough-haired goat was very common in Cilicia, and as the hair of this animal was manufactured into a thick coarse cloth, and as this manufacture may have been very common in Paul's na tive province, he therefore selected it as his employment. The cloth thus manufactured was called cilicia. It was used for the covering of tents in war, and upon ships ; also for shepherds' tents, especially in Syria and on the Euphrates. It is not to be supposed however that Paul never made tent-cloth except from materials procured in his native region. On this supposition, it is difficult to understand how he could have worked at his trade, in all places which he visited. He doubtless used other materials besides the xiXlxla for the manu facture of tent-cloth. That he sometimes worked at his trade after he became an apostle, is evident from Acts 18: 3, and probable from Acts 20: 34. Learning ofthe Apostle. Strabo, Geogr. 1. XIV., says that " the inhabitants of Tarsus were so zealous in the pursuits of philosophy and the whole circle of Greek study, that they surpassed even the Athenians and Alexandrians, and indeed the citizens of every other place which can be mentioned, in which schools and lectures of philosophers and rhetoricians were established." Hence some have supposed that the apostle must have been a very learned man. But such an inference from such premises is unwarranted. First, the Hellenistic Jews kept themselves at a great distance from' the Greeks. It is true that Philo and Josephus made considerable advancement in Grecian literature, but they were exceptions from the general rule. In the case of Paul, too, there is a peculiar improbability of any very intimate connection with the Greeks, as he belonged to a family of very rigid pharisaical principles. But secondly, Paul was sent away from the influences of Tarsus when he was between 10 and 13 years of age, according to Tholuck, and remained at Jerusalem until he was 30 or 33. He made great proficiency, however, in Jewish literature, and was distinguished for talents and eloquence. He was supposed at Lystra to be the god of oratory. " I regard Paul," says Hug, " as a master of eloquence, and should even like to compare him in this respect with celebrated men of ancient times ; e. g. with Isocrates whose letters to Demonicus and some of those to Nicocles bear considerable resemblance to Paul's in design and purport." " The simile 1 Cor. 12: 14 seq. resembles that of Menenius Agrippa, and is even more elegant and expressive." 62 NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR. Dionysius Longinus thus speaks of the eloquence of Paul : " The following men are the boast of all eloquence, and of Grecian genius, viz. Demosthenes, Lysias, yEschines, Hypendes, Isaeus, Anarchus or Demosthenes Crithinus, Isocrates, and Antiphon ; to whom may be added Paul of Tarsus, who was the first, within my knowledge, that did not make use of demonstration," who made use of persuasion and pathos rather than argument. See Hug's Introduction, Fosdick s Trans, pp. 508—10. Natural disposition ofthe Apostle. That he was by nature im petuous and intolerant is evident from Acts 7: 58. 8: 1 — 4. 9: 1. 11: 1, 2. -22: 4 seq. This makes his subsequent tenderness so much the more remarkable ; see Acts 20: 17 seq. It is to be remember ed, however, that he obtained his early information about the chris tian religion from the Jewish teachers ; and even if he resided at Jerusalem during the Saviour's public ministry, he was probably kept secluded, like the other Jewish pupils, from intercourse with those friendly to Jesus,1 and must have formed erroneous concep tions of Christianity. /This, in connection with his zeal for Judaism, is some apology for his persecuting spirit. His whole history shows that he was naturally independent, decided in his convictions and feelings, prone to extremes, fitted to be a leader in whatever cause he espoused, and capable, when sanctified, of rendering eminent services to the cause of humanity. — Tr. NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR. NOTE A, p. 31. This treatise is taken from the Theologische Studien und Kritiken, Vol. VIII. pp. 364—393. It is understood to contain the substance of part of Tho luck's Introduction to the new edition, which he is now preparing, of his Comrn. on the, Romans. It will be found to be a condensed summary of the literature on Paul's early life and character, to be eminently suggestive (if this word may be allowed) in its style, and to afford rich material for infer ences and reflections. Its phraseology is characteristic of its author. The remarks at the close on paronomasia will serve to account for Tholuck's fre quent use of it in his own style. In his Preface to the new edition of his Sermons, page 27, he says : 1; The style of writing which we demand is the figurative, the sententious, the enigmatical. This style, in a greater or less degree, runs through all the writings ofthe Old and New Testaments." In conformity with such principles, the division of the first sermon translated 1 Paul says, 1 Cor. 9: 1. 2 Cor. 5: 16, that he had seen Christ. This ex pression, however, does not warrant the belief that he saw Christ before his crucifixion, but, according to Neander and Hemsen, may refer to the event mentioned in Acts 9: 3, etc. NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR. 63 m this volume is thus expressed in the original : " Und zwar bedtlrfen wir es erstens als einen Spiegel der Tugend, die uns fehlt; Zweitens als einen Ke gel der Stlnde, die uns qualt; und drittens als ein Siegel des Gnadenweges, den wir erioahlt." The translator has not endeavored to accommodate his version to these peculiarities of Tholuck, further than strict fidelity seemed to require. In some few instances he has endeavored to mitigate what he could not properly omit. Thus the first three lines on page 39 are expressed in the original in the following manner .'" Hamann who in this identical way strikes upon every flint-stone of scripture with his spirit of fire (or fiery mind), so that sparks fly out." A few, and but a few similar changes occur in the translation of the sermons. NOTE B, p. 33. These three citations are, the first in Acts 17: 28. supposed by some to be from the Phaenomenaof Aratus, fifth line, by others from the Hymn to Jupiter by Cleanthes, fourth line; the second in 1 Cor. 15: 33, supposed by some to be from Euripides, by others, as Jerome and Eusebius, to be from the Thais of Menander ; the third in Titus 1: 12, supposed bj«Chrysostom and others to be from Epimenides, by Theodoret, and others from Callimachus. The passage in Titus is ascribed by Paul to one ofthe poets, Tie, but that in Acts to more than one, lives ¦ this has led some to suppose that the apostle in tended to refer to both poets, and perhaps also to Pindar, who has a similar expression.. It would certainly be natural for him to quote from Aratus, as this poet was a Cilician ; it would also be natural for him, to quote from Cleanthes, because this poet had resided at Athens, and Paul was now ad dressing an Athenian audience. As both the passages are near the begin ning ofthe two poems, they would both probably be well known to his hear ers. — It has been well remarked, however, by Henke, that the question whether Paul was or was not well versed in Greek literature, is not to be determined by his number of quotations from the Greek authors ; but by the general structure of his style, by his mode of argumentation, and by the whole arrangement of his thoughts. See Henke's Trans, of Paley's Hor. Paul., Remarks, pp. 449 — 457. " In his mode of presenting subjects,'' says Neander, Hist. Plant, and Prog., " the Jewish element of bis education mani festly shows itself predominant. His peculiar dialectics he acquired not in the Greek but in the Jewish school." See also Fosdick's Trans, of Hug's lntrod. pp. 511,512. NOTE C, p. 34. The feelings or at least the professions of the Jews in reference to the ac quisition of foreign languages seem to have been different at different peri ods. Josephus says, Ant. B. XX. Ch. XI, " Those of my own nation freely acknowledge, that 1 far exceed them in the learning belonging to the Jews. I have also taken great pains to acquire the learning of the Greeks ; and 1 understand the elements of the Greek language, although I have so long €4 NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR. been accustomed to speak the Jewish, that I cannot pronounce Greek with sufficient exactness. For my own countrymen do not encourage those that learn the lano-uages of many nations, because they look upon this sort oi ac complishment as common not only to freemen but also to slaves, such as please to acquire it. But they pronounce him to be a wise man who is tully acquainted with our laws, and is able to interpret their meaning," etc. On the other hand, some of the Talmudists abounded in professions of skill in foreign tongues. Rabbi Jochanan, in the Gemara Babylonia, says : " None are chosenlnto the Sanhedrim, but men of uncommon stature, of wisdom, of beautiful countenance ; old men skilled in magic and legerdemain, who are also acquainted with seventy different languages." The same is also frequently repeated in the Gemara. Maimonides says: "None were ad mitted, either into the superior or inferior Sanhedrim (by which is meant the Sanhedrim consisting of seventy-one or two members, and that of twenty- three), but wise men distinguished for their acquaintance with legal disci pline, men of various science, and by no means ignorant of the arts, of medi cine, arithmetic, the motions of tbe heavenly bodies ; men of skill in leger demain, divination also and magic, etc., so that they might be prepared for passing judgment on all the subjects usually brought before them." The phrase, seventy languages, was probably intended to designate all the lan guages which could have been of use to the Council in determining causes which were submitted to their decision. Of what use a knowledge of fo reign languages would be in determining forensic cases, may be seen by re flecting on the number of men, speaking different tongues, who visited Je rusalem. See Acts 2: 8 seq. See on the general subject, Selden de Sy- nedriis Vet. Ebr. Lib. II. Cap. 9. NOTE D, p. 35. The following is Winer's Comment on Gal. 6: 11. " You see, quantas, i. e. quam longas literas, (how long a letter, see Acts 28: 21 ; Xenoph. Hell. 1. 1. 15), 1 have written to you; how copiously 1 have written. So Gro tius, Callixtus, Baumgarten, Koppe, Schott, Stolz. His reason for calling this letter a long letter, (whereas it is considerably shorter than the epistles to the Romans and Corinthians), is to be explained by the circumstance added, that he wrote it with his own hand. Paul had not much skill and practice in chirography. On this account he dictated most of his epistles ; (merely adding his signature with a salutation or blessing ; see Rom. 16: 22. 1 Cor. 16: 21. 2 Thess. 3: 17, 18. Col. 4: 18. See also a consideration of the supposed effect of writing by amanuenses on the apostle's style, in Henke's Transl. of Paley's Hor. Paul. pp. 419— 421.— -Tr.) Chrysostom has well remarked, ' Paul gives us to understand, in this passage, nothing else than that he wrote the whole epistle; and this was a special sign of its genuineness. In other epistles, however, he dictated, and an amanuensis wrote.' The sense of the passage is, therefore, ' You will wonder at this long letter written by my own hand ; since I am not easily persuaded, in NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR. 65 other cases, to write a single word myself. You will therefore perceive how great is my concern for your welfare, and how much I am willing to labor for your rescue from present danger.' (Flatt, on this passage, says, " The Galatians might therefore look upon it, as a special proof of his attachment to them, that he wrote with his own hand. He tells them, how highly they should prize this letter from him, and how much he loved them. ' Perhaps,' says Moms, ' Paul added these words because his epistle contained some se vere remarks, which he wished them to know had not come under the im proper notice of an amanuensis." — Tr.) Theodoret, Jerome, Theophylact, Heinsius, and others interpret differently. They suppose that Paul refer red to the length and the crudeness of his alphabetic characters. Jerome says, ' Paulus Hebraeus erat, et Graecas literas nesciebat, et quia necessitas expetebat, ut manu sua epistolam scriberet contra consuetudinem, eurvos tramites literarunv vix magnis apicibus exprimebat! Such a reference as this however seems to be inconsistent, for its want of dignity, with the severe mental habit ofthe apostle." It would seem from the above, that Tholuck's reference on p. 34 to Wi ner, suggests an incorrect idea of Winer's interpretation of the passage. Sonre interpreters, who suppose that Paul alluded to his ungraceful chirog- raphy, connect the eleventh verse with those that succeed it, and give the following paraphrase of his words:'" Marvel not at the unformed style of my hand-writing. 1 have no desire to gain applause for any human skill. Those who would lead you into evil may seek to obtain praise for their external accomplishments, but I will glory in nothing, save the calamities which I suffer for the cause of Christ." See Koppe on Gal. 6: 11. Grotius follows Jerome, in supposing that the apostle meant to speak only of the verses following the eleventh, as those which he wrote with his own hand ; and thus to imply that the greater part ofthe epistle had been dictated to an amanuensis. "The sense would therefore be, ' Now, after you have read the principal part of my epistle, which is written in a character sufficiently graceful and elegant, you see that an appendix has been added with mine own hand, in _ character much more unformed.' But the word i'ypay/a seems to me to indicate that which had been written, and not that which the apostle was intending to write." Rosenmtlller on Gal. 6: 11. Henke sup poses that Paul must have referred merely to this appendix, as in his own hand-writing ; otherwise the style of the epistle would have been different from that of the epistles which he dictated. Observations on Paley's Hor. Paul, pp.420, 421. The common interpretation of the passage, that Paul referred merely to the fact of his writing the epistle himself, and not to the style of his chiro graphy, rests in part on the principle, that " words which properly express magnitude may be also employed to express multitude;" and therefore ntf- TJmou yqdfiftaoiv may mean " with how many letters," instead of " with what large letters." (Flatt's Comm.) It is also contended, that the plural ofypdfifia is often used to signify an epistle, hsee Acts 28:21, and therefore mjUhtOK ypa.fiy.aoiv may signify directly, " what a large or long epistle." (Winer.) 9 66 NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR. NOTE E, p. 36. Jewish Schools. The priests and Levites are sometimes called teachers of the Jewish people ; but they were not, under the Mosaic dispensation, teach ers of schools. The prophets, more nearly than the priests, resembled cler gymen at the present day. At stated seasons, as the exigency ofthe times required, they became teachers, instructors extraordinary. The school of Samuel is supposed by Eichhorn to have been merely a thing of accident or inclination ; by Rosenrauller, an institution for national culture, (he com pares Samuel with Orpheus); by Nachtigall, a political institution ; by De Wette, a school probably for the education of prophetic poets or speakers. See 1 Sam. 10: 5—11. 19: 18—24. 2 Kings 4: 23. Synagogues were sometimes called schools by the Jews. Care was taken, however, to make a distinction between the synagogues and the schools properly so called, the fciBTin or higher schools. In these the Tal mud was read, while the Law merely was read in the 'synagogues ; and the Talmud was supposed to be much superior to the Law. During the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, there were no buildings for the synagogues in Pales tine, though there were in foreign countries.1 They were first erected in Palestine under the Maccabean princes. They were built in imitation of the temple. In the centre ofthe synagogue-court was a chapel, supported by four columns, in which, on an elevation prepared for it, was placed the Book ofthe Law, rolled up. This, on the appointed days, was publicly read. The uppermost seats in the synagogue, i. e. those which were nearest the chapel where the sacred books were kept, were esteemed peculiarly honor able, Matt. 23: 6. James 2: 3. — There was a school in every town, where children were taught to read the Jaw. If any town neglected to establish such a school, the inhabitants were excommunicated till one was provided. The students were termed sons or children. The teachers, at least some of them, had private lecture-rooms ; but they also taught and disputed in syna gogues, in temples, and wherever they could find an audience. The me thod of instruction was the same with that which prevailed among the Greeks. Any disciple, who chose, might propose questions, upon which it was the duty ofthe teachers to remark and give their opinions. Luke 2: 46. The teachers were not invested with their functions by any formal act ofthe church or of the civil authority. They were self-constituted. They receiv ed no other salary than a voluntary present from the disciples, a kind of honorarium, 1 Tim. 5: 17. They acquired a subsistence in the main by the exercise of some art or handicraft. According to the Talmudists, they were bound to abstain from all conversation with women, and to refuse to sit at table with the lower class of people, Matt. 9: 11. John 4: 27. The subjects on which they taught were numerous, commonly intricate, and frequently very trifling. There are numerous examples of these subjects in the Tal mud. The : Midrashoth' were a kind of divinity schools, in which the law was 1 Joseph. Jewish War, lit. 33. NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR. 67 expounded. Such were the schools of Hillel and Gamaliel ; also, those which were subsequently established at Jabneh, Tsipporis, Tiberias, Magda- la, Caesarea, etc. Rabbi Jochanan, who compiled the Jerusalem Talmud, was president of one of these schools eighty years. The whole Sanhedrim, in its sessions, was the great school ofthe nation, as well as the highest judicatory. It set forth the sense of the law, es pecially in practical matters, and expounded Moses with such authority, that its word was not to be resisted or even questioned. A school was main tained wherever the Sanhedrim had held its session. A sort of academic degree was conferred on the pupils in the Jewish sem inaries, which, after the destruction of Jerusalem, were established at Baby lon and Tiberias. The candidate was examined both in respect to his moral and literary character. Having passed his examination satisfactorily, he as cended an elevated seat, Matt. 23: 2 ; a writing tablet was then presented to him, to signify that he should write down his acquisitions, since they might escape from his memory, and unless they were written down, would be lost. A key was presented to signify, that he might now open the treasures of knowledge, Luke 11: 52. Hands were laid uponjiim; a custom derived from JNum. 27: 28. A certain authority was conferred on him, probably to be exercised over his own disciples. Finally, he was saluted with the title of Rabbi, or Master.1 NOTE F, p. 39. John George Hamann was born at Kdnigsberg, A. D. 1730. He travelled considerably in his native country; was private tutor in several places ; finally received an office in the customs at Konigsberg, and in the following year, 1788, died at Monster. He published several works, indicating _ humorous and very eccentric turn of mind. There is in some respects a resemblance between them and the writings of Jacob Bdhmen. They at tracted but little attention at first ; but were afterwards noticed with ap probation by Herder, Jacobi, Goethe, Jean Paul Richter, and other writers of the like character. They were republished at Leipsic in 1821 — 1825. Hamann called himself, and is called by others, the northern magian. See an extended notice of him in the Supplement to the Germ. Cons. Lex. NOTE G, p. 39. The following note is appended by Tholuck to the extract which he gives from Hamann. " The attention of recent writers has been called to the resemblance be tween Paul and Hamann. There is here, indeed, in respect to richness of sentiment, well nigh more than a resemblance. Both authors are fruit-trees, whose branches, down to the smallest twig, glisten with fruits and blossoms. Many, however, will doubtless be of a different opinion, for since writers 1 See Jahn's Archaeology 1st ed., 117, 436, 468 ; also Lightfoot's Works, 111,397. V.42. X. 75, 174, etc. 68 NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR. like these, as nature herself is said to do, answer only as much as you ask of them, you must therefore learn how to interrogate them. Their works are Gothic edifices, which to a wide extent over city and country ravish the eye, and, as you advance the nearer to them, every concealed angle holds your attention for hours, and discovers to you the painter who produces master-pieces, even when he daubs with the pencil. Is there not, for ex ample, in every word ofthe passage quoted on p.39,from the northern magian, music and indeed a key-note to the great word? But that Hamann sought after this, will be asserted only by such an one, as must hunt for the spirit before it will run into his hands. Next to Hamann, the great poet ofthe Divine Comedy presents a parallel to the apostle. This parallel, however, is less exact than the former ; because with Dante reflection predominates more, and the abundance of allusions is not so involuntary as with the apostle and the magian of the north. That wonderful mixture of dry Aristotelian logic with the deepest mysticism, which is found in the Orien tals, and in the Western mystics of the middle ages, is exhibited by such poets as Dante and Calderon in allegories, hints, learned reflections, which appear cold to us. Judging by my own feeling, this altogether peculiar characteristic of cool reflection is found in no passage of Scripture, not in the' epistle to the Hebrews. Even the allegories in the New Testament proceed in my judgment, from intuition, (from poetical inspiration), more than from the calculating understanding. This, I think, can be made evi dent. Inasmuch then as Dante possesses such intuition in rich measure, he presents a fertile subject of comparison, in this respect, with Hamann and Paul," etc. NOTE H, p. 42. The following definition of Theosophy is from Bretschneider's Entwicke- lung, pp. 23, 24. " Theosophy, (Qeooocpoe, rerum divinarum gnarus), is the vain persuasion that one has the power of acquiring, by peculiar means, an immediate knowledge of God and ofthe world of spirits, and of living in immediate con nection with them. As a science, it is the instruction on the especial means for securing this result. Theosophy is distinguished from theology in the following particulars. First, theology makes use of no means to obtain a definite knowledge of the spiritual world, but such as are communicated to all men ; or it is content with a discursive knowledge of the spiritual world ; such knowledge as the reason derives from its own principles and from ex perience. Theosophy, on the other hand, seeks or pretends to have an immediate intuitive knowledge of the invisible, and believes that it has mysterious means for obtaining it which are given to but few. Secondly, theology terminates in promoting the moral connection of man with the invisible world, in promoting a holy life ; but theosophy follows also after earthly and selfish ends, as the philosopher's stone, etc." A less distinctive meaning of theosophy is, an acquaintance with the spiritual world, particularly with God ; and such a pretension to familiarity with invisible objects as is associated with fanaticism. NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR. 69 NOTE I, p. 43. Gamaliel.— The Jews, in imitation of the Greeks, had their seven wise men, who were called Rabboni, Rabban, -,_ _ . Of this number were Hillel, Simeon and Gamaliel. According to the Jewish writers, Gamaliel was the son of Simeon and the grand-son of Hillel. Josephus mentions two learn ed men, viz., Sameas and Pollio, who flourished thirty-four years B. C. If these are the same with the Shammai and Hillel of the Talmud, then, as is supposed by many, Shammai or Sameas is the same with the Simeon, who is mentioned, Luke 2: 25 — 35 ; and his son Gamaliel, so celebrated in the Talmud, is the same with the Gamaliel, mentioned in Acts 5: 34, 22: 3. Hillel was one of the most distinguished among the Jewish doctors for birth, family, learning, and authority. The Rabbins relate that he was de scended from Abital, one of the wives of David. He is said to have lived in Babylon forty years ; he then studied the law forty years in, Jerusalem, and was finally president of the Sanhedrim forty years more. He died when our Saviour was about twelve years old. He had eighty distinguished scholars. One of them was Jonathan Ben Uzziel, (_ie Chaldee paraphrast. Many nice questions were discussed in his school. The name of his son, Simeon, is not mentioned in the Mishna, or in the codes of the Jewish traditions. It is conjectured by some that his regard for Christianity — (on the ground that he is the same mentioned by Luke) — made him indifferent toward the traditions. He is reported to have begun his presidentship of the Sanhedrim, when our Saviour was about thirteen years old. He was the first of the seven who were dignified, with the title Rabban. His son, Rabban Gamaliel, the apostle's teacher, is stated to have been the president of the Council when Christ was arraigned. He lived twenty-two years after that event, and died eighteen years before the destruction of Jeru salem. Onkelos, the Targumist of the law, is said to have burned seventy pounds of frankincense for him at his death. Among the sayings ascribed to Gamaliel, is the following -. " Procure thyself a tutor, and get thee out of doubting, and do not multiply to pay thy tithes by conjecture." From the narrative in Acts V., Gamaliel appears to have been a prudent and sagacious counsellor. He neither decides against the doctrine of the apostles, nor gives a verdict in its favor. He does not know exactly what judgment to pass upon the new phenomenon. He would, therefore, defer a final opinion till the nature of Christianity was more fully exhibited. Had he been convinced of its pernicious character, he would have advised its suppression. Had he decided in favor of its useful tendencies, he would have embraced it. It is conjectured by some that he gave his conciliatory advice, because he saw that the Sadducees were greatly inflamed against the apostles. The report that he actually became a Christian seems to have no foundation. There is no evidence but that he lived and died a firm Jew. Notwithstanding his liberality in the affair of the apostles, the Rabbins re port, that he ordained and published a prayer which was termed, _"_i)_ rftia, 70 NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR. ' the prayer against heretics,' meaning by that term, Christians. The prayer was in fact composed by Samuel the Small, but it was approved by Gamaliel. He also ordered that it should be constantly used in the Jewish Synagogues. This distinguished teacher was sometimes termed, ' Rabban Gamaliel the Old,' either because he was the first of that name, or because he lived to a great age. His son, Rabban Simeon, was slain at the destruction of Jerusa lem. Simeon's son and successor was Rabban Gamaliel of Jabneh. With the grand-son of this last Gamaliel, who also bore the same name, the title ' Rabban,' and the Sanhedrim itself expired.' NOTE K, p. 43. In explaining the phrase in Luke 2: 46, which represents Christ as sitting among the doctors, whereas the ordinary posture of a learner was standing, Lightfoot quotes the following passage from Megilah, fol. 21. 1. "The Rabbins have a tradition, that from the days of Moses to Rabban Gamaliel, they were instructed in the law standing. But when Rabban Gamaliel died, the world languished, so that they learned the law sitting. Whence also that tra dition, that since the death of Rabban Gamaliel, the glory of the law was eclipsed." See Lightfoot's Works, vol. VII. pp. 44 — 48. Similar expressions of praise are often found in the Talmudic writings. Thus : " When Rabbi Meir died, there were none left to instruct men in wise parables." " When Simeon, son of Gamaliel, died, there came locusts, and calamities were in creased. When Rabbi Akiba died, the glory of the law vanished away. Up on the death of Gamaliel the Aged, the honor ofthe law vanished, and there was an end to purity and sanctimony. When Rabbi Ishmael, son of Babi, died, the splendor of the priesthood was tarnished. When Rabbi (Judah) died, there was no more any modesty or fear of transgression." See Lard ner's Works, Vol. VI. p. 511. NOTE L, p. 45. The following is a condensed view of the temperaments, so far as is ne cessary for elucidating the remarks of Tholuck. It is taken from Heinroth's Anthropologic, Absch. 5. § 76, 77, 78, 80, 81 , 82.-"-There is in the constitu tion either great power of feeling and power of action, both in equal de gree; or _ prominent power of feeling with but little power of action; or a predominant power of action with but little power of feeling; or an equally small degree of both . Accordingly, the temperament which con tains great susceptibility with great power of action is called choleric, or warm-blooded ; that which has a predominant sensibility with but little power of execution, we call sanguine or quick-blooded; that which has a predominance ofthe active power with but little sensibility, we call the me lancholic or slow-blooded ; and that which has an equally small degree of susceptibility and of executive power, we call phlegmatic or cold-blooded. 1 See Lightfoot's Works, III. 188, 189, VIII. 81, 392, IX. 345,346, X. 34. Lardner's Works, Lond. Ed. 1831, I. 309, 310, VI. 511,514. Upham's Jahn's Archaeology, p. 116, Olshausen Comm. on Acts II. 630. NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR. 71 The choleric temperament is also called the nervous, as it depends upon a high degree of susceptibility in the cerebral and nervous system, and also a high degree of muscular power, derived from the connection formed by the spinal marrow, between the brain and the muscles. The sanguine temper ament is also called the arterial ; because it depends upon a predominance of activity in the arteries and lungs. The melancholic temperament is also called the venous, because it depends upon a predominant influence of the veins and liver. The phlegmatic temperament is also called the lymphatic, because it depends upon the peculiar power of the lymphatic and glandular system. The choleric temperament, (which is the same with what is often called the bilious), inclines its possessor to outward activity, the melancholic to inward ; the sanguine to enjoyment, the phlegmatic to rest. The man of choleric temperament has excitability, but is not easily irritated ; not moved by little things, but by great influences only ; is strong and constant in love, but not sensual ; hates as vehemently as he loves, burns with indignation against his foe, and is willing to sacrifice his life for his friend; is fond of fame, dominion, outward magnificence, but not of mere show ; loves liberty, slavery being death to him ; is in the highest degree enthusiastic ; is grave but not demure ; serene but not mirthful ; has a taste for the grand in nature and art ; has a keen, penetrating mind, as well as eye ; his ideas are rapid, various, sound, distinct and well arranged ; he is ftmd of the great and the perfect in the arts, of the practical in the sciences ; his will is quick, strong, persevering ; himself, his own I, is the object for which he acts. He is free from the vices that especially imply weakness, as hypocrisy, lying, defamation ; he is magnanimous, and has the virtues of a hero; but is also capable of being _ despot. This temperament is more commonly found in men than women ; in mature life than in youth. It was the temperament ofthe ancient Romans, and is now that ofthe modern Spaniards and Italians. The man of melancholic temperament is indifferent to the outward world, and carries his world deeply hidden within himself; is inclined to sorrow, despondency, suspicion, ill-will, misanthropy ; has an inclination to solitude, an aversion to noisy sports, joyous society ; no special predilection for freedom ; loves the elevated, the awful, the gloomy in art and nature ; is fond of letting his thoughts dwell in a world of spirits and phantasms ; loves profound thought, radical investigation, speculative rather than practical science ; is apt to adhere to a one-sided view of things: is indus trious, persevering, tenacious ; aims after inward refinement and perfection ; is still, cautious and apprehensive ; fond of the sombre, grotesque, mon strous; insensible to his own outward wants, or those of others, but is con sumed with deep inward sorrow ; inclined to self-mortification, self-torment, the life of an anchorite ; is withal equable in feeling and conduct. This is the temperament of men rather than women, and ofthe later rather than the earlier life. Among the ancients, the inhabitants of the Indies were melancholic; at the present day among cultivated Europeans, the English are so. While the choleric writes in a clear and precise style, the melan- 72 NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR. cholic prefers an obscure philosophical style. The choleric belongs to the Socratic school, the melancholic to the Stoical ; the former is predisposed in favor of the Protestant religion, the latter of the Catholic ; the former manifests his degeneracy by fanaticism, the latter, by mysticism. NOTE M, p. 51. The following letter, referred to also in Tholuck's Pref. to new ed. of Sermons, p. 45, is found in Luther's Works, Vol. V. pp. 18,19. John Luther was the eldest son ofthe reformer, was born in 1526, and was there fore four years old when this letter was written. " Grace and peace in Christ, my dearly beloved little son. 1 am glad to know that you are learning well and that you say your prayers So do, my little son, and persevere ; and when I come home I will bring with me a present from the annual fair. 1 know of a pleasant and beautiful garden into which many children go, where they have golden little coats, and gather pretty apples under the trees, and pears and cherries and plums, (Pflaumen) and yellow plurtis, (Spillen) ; where they sing, leap, and are merry ; where they also have beautiful little horses with golden bridles and silver saddles. When 1 asked the man that owned the garden, ' Whose are these children ?' he said, ' they are the children that love to pray and to learn, and are pious.' Then I said, ' Dear Sir, I also have a son ; he is called Johnny Luther (Hansichen Luther). May he not come into the garden, that he may eat such beautiful apples and pears, and may ride such a little horse, and play With these children ?' Then the man said, ' If he loves to pray and to learn and is pious, he shall also come into the garden ; Philip too and little James ; and if they all come together, then may they have likewise whistles, kettle drums, lutes and harps; they may dance also and shoot with little cross bows.' Then he showed me a beautiful green grass-plot in the garden, prepared for dancing, where hang nothing but golden fifes, drums, and elegant silver cross-bows. But it was now early, and the children had not yet eaten. Therefore 1 could not wait for the dancing, and I said to the man, ' Ah, dear Sir, I will instantly go away, and write about all of this to my little son John ; that he may pray earnestly and learn well and be pious, so that he also may come into this garden ; — but he has' an aunt Magdalene, may he bring her with him ?' Then said the man, — ' So shall itbe : go and write to him with confidence.' Therefore, dear little John, learn and pray with delight, and tell Philip and James too that they must learn and pray ; so you shall come with one another into the garden. — With this I commend you to Almighty God, — and give my love to aunt Magdalene ; give her a kiss for me. Your affectionate father, In the year 1530. MARTIN LUTHER. FRIENDSHIP OF JONATHAN AND DAVID. PROFESSOR FREDERICK KOSTER, 10 THE TRAGICAL QUALITY IN THE HISTORY OF THE FRIENDSHIP OF JONATHAN AND DAVID.1 There are few characters in the Old Testament which are delin eated in a light so advantageous and so worthy of love as that of Jonathan, the brave son of king Saul. An intimate friendship re quires, by its very nature, that every strong and noble feeling in man should be mingled with it. We accordingly observe that all the virtues of Jonathan were concentrated and pictured in his friend ship for David. Hence Jonathan and David rightfully take the first place in the distinguished instances of friendship handed down to us from antiquity. The bewitching charm which surrounds the histo ry of this friendship consists, perhaps, very much in the circum stance, that the dark, back ground in which it is invested, makes it appear but the more touching. The picture of so fine a sensibility, and of such a heroic and virtuous companionship, in a troubled and confused period, refreshes us like a star in a gloomy night ; and it is clearly the design of the historian, in interweaving this picture, to place in stronger relief the exasperated, suspicious and hateful feel ings of king Saul — contrasted with the transparent and lovely char acter of his son. But the story of Jonathan's friendship strongly at tracts our attention and sympathy, in consequence of its tragical course. This point, hitherto but little considered, I may be here allowed to illustrate at some length. Many single portions of the narrative are exhibited in a better light and with greater promi nence, from the circumstance that our historian, with all apparent simplicity, delineates human manners as few writers do. It is won derful, how often, by a single word or by the position of a word, he indicates the finest traits in character. i See Note at the end of this. Article.. 76 friendship of Jonathan and david. The history is tragical, since, either in itself or in its consequences, it so exhibits important events, that our sympathy is awakened, and our sensibility deeply excited. An action is strongly characteri zed as tragical, when, though never fully accomplished, it exhibits a vehement struggle after something good, lofty and noble, developed by a complication of circumstances, involving a severe struggle be tween inclination and duty, or between two conflicting inclinations. How much all this entered into Jonathan's history, may be seen by the following observations. 1. The friendship of Jonathan is not only in its origin, generous in the highest degree, but it springs up suddenly, as if by a stroke of enchantment. When David, the shepherd's heroic son, was re turning from the slaughter of the giant Goliath, bearing in his hand the head of his enemy, and was introduced to Saul by his general, Abner, then, as it appears from 1 Sam. 18: 1, compared with 20: 17, " the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and he loved him as his own soul, and he made a covenant with him." How touchingly do these words delineate the nature of true friendship, as well as that delicate connection between two persons, (compare Gen. 44: 30), whereby they melt, as it were, into one ! But such friendship is wont to be awakened, as certainly in the present case, in a manner one knows not how. Some occurrence at a particular juncture reveals unexpectedly that oneness of inclination and action which lies at the foundation of the friendship. David had slain the champion ofthe Philistines, those hereditary enemies of Israel, with whom Jonathan also was constantly contending, and from whom he had, on one occasion, borne off a splendid trophy, 1 Sam. xiv. The courage and the modesty, the gallantry and the caution which David had shown in this encounter, were the very same qualities which pervaded Jonathan's great soul. He, consequently, did not think of the difference between a king's son arid an unknown shepherd's boy. No vestige of envy lest David should divest him of his military glory found a place in his heart. Involuntarily and irresistibly he felt him self drawn to the youthful hero. This moment determined forever the direction of his feelings. 2. We may have observed, that friendship has rarely, on both sides, an equal degree of vehemence. In the case of one of two friends, there will be more of a disposition to communicate and to make sacrifices, regardless of self; while the other, on the contrary, FRIENDSHIP OF JONATHAN AND DAVID. 77 will be rather in the attitude of him who receives and acknowledges favors. Such is the fact in the present instance. David's friendship was as sincere, but it was less glowing than that of Jonathan. His spirit, born for dominion, was struggling upward, and did not per mit itself to be ruled by any single passion. Large plans for the future, and thirst for glory and for exploits occupied his mind. He must have felt, indeed, highly honored by the proposition made by the king's son ; heartily he must have returned his affection ; still he had room in his soul for something else. The friendship of Jonathan made him courageous under the calamities of his adven turous course ; but, in addition, he restlessly followed his widely ex tended enterprises. Jonathan, on the other hand, felt himself to be thenceforth merely in David, and he lived, as it were, only for David. Even at the outset, he gave his friend every thing which he had at hand, in order lo bind himself to him i^ the most intimate manner. He tendered his mantle, his coat and his girdle — also his sword and his bow, without once reflecting, that the son of Jesse could give him nothing in return. Willingly he acknowledged David's superiority, and when he knew that the throne, of which he was the heir, was destined for David, 1 Sam. 28: 30, 23, 18, even this could not make him faithless. He was ready to do everything for his friend, 20: 4 — everything, and to offer up life itself. Hence, he subsequently gave him information not only of the plots of his father, but defended him also, in repeated instances, against Saul's aspersions and attacks. On one occasion, he actually succeeded in reconciling Saul to David, 1 Sam. 19: 1 — 7. When he had con cealed his friend in such a manner that he could be an unseen witness of the conversation, Jonathan said to his father : " Let not the king sin against his servant, who hath been so useful to him !" Then Saul swore that he would not kill David, and David came again into his presence. But the fire which glimmered under the ashes soon broke out afresh. David now exhibited solicitude lest Jonathan should finally, though with the best intentions, leave him in the hands of Saul, 20: 1 — 23. Remembering his subordinate condition, he falls immediately into the tone of one addressing a superior, and says : " Show mercy unto thy servant, with whom thou hast entered into covenant, and slay me thyself rather than ex pose me to thy father." Then Jonathan retired with his friend to a solitary place, in order that he might pour out his heart undisturbed. 78 FRIENDSHIP OF JONATHAN AND DAVID. Here he gave full vent to the overflowings of his enthusiastic friend ship. Once and again, he swore eternal fidelity, v. 16, 17 ;] and took the same oath of him, v. 23. Since David had, in addition, made mention of his own death, Jonathan would still as it were, out bid him, " as soon as thou hast become a king, thou mayest indeed slay me, if only thou wilt remain my friend," v. 14, 15.2 He was conscious, that he could not find words sufficient to pro test how ready he was to sacrifice throne and life for his friend. He was not contented merely with words, 1 Sam. 20: 24 — 42. Saul, on one occasion, passed over in silence David's absence from the royal table on the first day of the new moon. But as his seat was vacant on the second day, he inquired the reason. Jonathan, in accordance with a previous agreement with David, answered, that the son of Jesse, on account of some family business, had asked leave of him to go to Bethlehem. But the splenetic king, noticing the pretence, abusively exclaimed, " Thou foolish rebel !3 well know I, that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse, to the disgrace of thyself and of thy mother who bore thee. For so long as he lives, thou wilt not attain to the throne ! Well, bring him here ! for he must die." Then Jonathan defended his friend, with all boldness : " Why should he be put to death ? And wherein has he offended ?" And when his father, infuriated with rage, hurled a spear at him, he sprung from the table, " full of indignation and grief, because his father had treated David shamefully." He hastened to David, to warn him of the impending danger, " And they kissed one another, and wept one with another." When the circumstance is added, 1 The passage bj;a9, etc. is elliptical and is an expression of certainty. " He iriade a covenant with David, and (said), : Jehovah will certainly jpunish all David's enemies, (me also, should I become his enemy.") 5 These affecting, accumulated words are variously misinterpreted by the translators. Jonathan plays on David's words, v. 8, " Show me kindness and slay me." He now says in reply : "Thou wilt not need that I should then live — thou wilt then have no occasion to show kindness (like that of God) to me, in order to preserve my life (i. e. when thou art made a king, then thou mayest well put me to death, if policy should require it), if only thou wilt not withdraw thy kindness from my (guiltless) posterity." 3 I do not believe, that the word nisa is intended to attach any guilt to Jonathan's mother, when she is rather mentioned with honor in what fol lows. But the participle feminine stands for the abstract, and ¦]_ , by a Hebraism, forms the concrete : " Thou son ofthe perverseness of rebellion." FRIENDSHIP OF JONATHAN AND DAVID. 79 that " David exceeded" in weeping, it is a stroke full of meaning. David now saw the sorrowful future that was before him. The dissension between himself and Saul was incurable. He must wander on in misery. Jonathan, on the contrary, in order to keep up the spirits of his friend, assumed a firmer tone than he had em ployed, v. 41. On this account, he thus spoke briefly in parting, " As we have sworn that there shall be an eternal covenant between us and our posterity (so let it remain !)1 Subsequently, when David had wandered in various places, for a long time, Jonathan sought him out in a wood among the Ziphites, as a proof of his unalterable friendship, and certainly not without personal danger. They here once more joined their hands instead of an oath (_">n .fcn), and Jonathan added, " that David need not fear, for Saul could not find him ; he also knew that David would be king." 3. Jonathan, however, in consequence of his profound and glowing friendship, now came into circumstances of the n»ost painful collision ; and it is this which gives to his history such a deep tragical charac ter. In repeated instances, Saul had publicly declared his son to be a miserable traitor, who had entered into a conspiracy with the enemies of his king and his father. It is touching to see, how Jonathan did everything possible to remove this reproach from himself, without becoming false, in the least degree, to his friendship. In order to avoid the inquiries of his father for the absent David, he resigned to Abner his accustomed place at the royal table next the king, and took a seat at a greater distance, 20: 25.2 Besides, when Saul had fully resolved upon the destruction of David, the latter was warned of his danger by Jonathan, and in such a way that by means of privately concerted signals, no one discovered it. On a certain occasion, he concealed David, outside of the city, 20: 40, at the stone Ezel, where, according to the probable conjecture of Josephus,3 was his field for military exercise, somewhat like a gymnasium — where also his solitary retirement could not be discovered. He now called to the boy, whose duty it was to collect the arrows which had been shot away, " Is not the arrow beyond thee ?" He thus gave his friend a hint that it was necessary for him to flee. Under 1 These words are too full of feeling to permit the ellipsis to be supplied. 5 This seems at least, to be the meaning ofthe obscure expression Op _. 3 nnav yvfivatoutvos Sieriict, it is called in Archaeol. 6, 11, 8. So also 1 Sam. 20: 20, " Here he was accustomed to shoot at a mark (mta):^). 80 FRIENDSHIP OF JONATHAN AND DAVID. cover of a suitable excuse, he thereupon directed the lad to retire, while he poured out his heart to David, with still greater freedom. Suspicion, however, proved to be more sharp-sighted than friendship. Soon afterwards, Saul said to his servants assembled around him, 22: 8, " Ye all have conspired against me, and there is none that showeth me, that my son had made a league with the son of Jesse ; therefore, now this my servant seeketh after my life." Nevertheless, the stain which was here publicly fastened upon him, the noble Jona than at last removed in a glorious manner. His father, whom he had never forsaken, he faithfully followed, even in that last battle against the Philistines on Mount Gilboa ; and as Saul fell, Jonathan also found the death which he probably sought, in order that he might free his honor from the suspicion of high treason, 31: 2. 4. After this catastrophe it refreshes us to hear, how precious to David was Jonathan's love. Carefully has the historian collected every circumstance whereby the new king honored the memory of his departed friend. David then sung the celebrated elegy, 2 Sam. i, with the undoubted design of rescuing Jonathan's name from all ac cusation of having entered into a conspiracy against his father. Jon athan is intentionally placed before Saul in this beautiful poem, but still he appears inseparable from his father, — united in life and in death.1 19 The gazelle (lies), O Israel, slain on thy mountains ! How are the mighty fallen ! 20 Tell it not in Gath ! Publish it not in the streets of Ascalon ! Lest the daughters of the Philistines exult ! Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph ! 21 Mountains of Gilboa ! No dew nor rain upon you ! Be a field for execration ! 2 For there was cast away the shield of the hero, The shield of Saul, — no (more) anointed with oil. 1 In a poem of such deep emotion, the strophic symmetry cannot appear strongly marked. Still, the first three verses are a general lamentation ; the three following are devoted to the two heroes, but in such a manner that Jonathan appears preeminent ; the last three are employed upon Jona than alone. ' [Or let it not be a field for oblations, i. e. yielding rich fruits. — Tr.] FRIENDSHIP OF JONATHAN AND DAVID. 81 22 From the blood ofthe slain, from the flesh of the mighty The bow of Jonathan turned not back, And the sword of Saul returned not empty. 23 Saul and Jonathan — lovely and pleasant in their life, And in their death not divided ; Swifter than eagles ! Stronger than lions ! 24 Daughters of Israel ! weep for Saul, Who clothed you in crimson, with beautiful decorations ; Who fitted upon your raiment ornaments of gold ! 25 How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle ! O Jonathan, slain upon thy mountains ! 26 Wo be to me for thee, my brother Jonathan ! Very dear wast thou to me ! Wonderful was thy love to me— more than the love of women I 27 How are the mighty fallen ! And the weapons of war perished ! David, thereupon, commended the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead, because they had taken care of the remains of Saul and Jonathan, 2 Sam. 2: 5 — 7. He thrice showed kindness1 to Mephibosheth, Jonathan's son, and that too, "for Jonathan's sake." Mephi bosheth was not, indeed, an object of fear on the part of David, as he had a lameness caused by a fall when he was five year, old, his nurse fleeing with him on the news of his father's death, 2 Sam. 4: 4. But David sent for him from Lodebar be yond Jordan, gave him a permanent seat at his own table, and bestowed upon him the land and the whole private estate of Saul, entrusting the management of the property to Ziba, who had been a servant of Saul and the overseer of his house. During the insurrec tion of Absalom, this Ziba accused Mephibosheth of entertaining •designs on the throne as his own right. David then granted the whole of Saul's estate to Ziba, 2 Sam. 16: 3, 4. The historian, however, gives us to understand that this was a false accusation, for Mephibo sheth had never put off his mourning garments from the time of David's departure till his return home, 2 Sam. 19: 25 — 29. David, in the meantime, divided Saul's estate, half- to the accuser and half 1 Like that of God tun^s Tori. 11 ¦:-.¦¦¦¦' 82 FRIENDSHIP OF JONATHAN AND DAVID. to the accused. This might have been owing either to the fact that he had still some doubt of Mephibosheth's innocence, or because he had pledged his word to Ziba, v. 30, 31. When, subsequently, David had resigned to the Gibeonites, as a bloody expiation, the remaining posterity of Saul, (without doubt in order to strengthen the succes sion to the throne in his own family), he still spared Mephibosheth, " on account of the oath of Jehovah which was between him and Jonathan," 2 Sam. 21: 7. As a satisfactory conclusion to this entire and elegantly delineated picture, the history states that David honor ably interred the bones of Saul and Jonathan in the family burial- place, in the tribe of Benjamin, 2 Sam. 21: 12. NOTE BY THE TRANSLATOR, p. 75. The article above translated is found in the Theol. Stud. u. .Crit., Vol. V. 1832, pp. 366—376. The writer, John Frederic Koster, theological pro fessor in the university of Kiel in Denmark, was born in 1791. In an article on Rationalism and Supernaturalism in the German Conversations-Lexicon, he is classed with the moderate supernaturalists, approaching more nearly to such men as Locke and Ullmann than to Hengstenberg. Some of the principal publications of Prof. Koster are the following: Meletemeta Crit. et Exeget. in Zachariae Prophetae, Cap. IX — XIV. 1818; Die Slrophen oder der Parallelismus der Verse der Hebraischen Poesie. His object in this piece is to show, that the verses of Hebrew poetry are regulated by the same law of symmetry, as the members ofthe verses ; and that consequently this poetry is, in its essence, composed of Strophes, i. c. its verses are arranged in symmetrical divisions. He seems, however, to give the name of Strophe to that which we are accustomed to call a paragraph. See Bibl. Repos. 1. 611. In accordance with his theory, Koster has published trans lations of the books of Job and Psalms, with introductions and notes. His remarks display extensive knowledge and an excellent spirit. He has lately inserted in the Stud, u Krit, an article entitled, ' Notes on the Old Testament out ofthe Book of Kosri.' PROPHECY AND SPEAKING WITH TONGUES. DR. L. J. RUCKERT. ON THE GIFTS OF PROPHECY SPEAKING WITH TONGUES. PREFATORY NOTE. [The following Article may be found at fhe close of Dr. L. J. Riickert's Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians, Leip sic, 1836. A brief notice of the author, together with some account of his principles' of interpretation, may be seen in a subsequent part of this volume. The subject ofthe gift of tongues is confessedly one of great dif ficulty. As it has been remarked, we have lost the things which the terms were intended to denote. A great variety of particulars which were perfectly familiar to the primitive church are now cover ed with darkness. We can by no means determine the exact limits of the different miraculous gifts. We have not sufficient data to re concile, on every point, the notices on the gift of tongues in the Acts of the Apostles, with those in the Pauline Epistles. In short, a state of things is alluded to, (not described), which ceased with the life of the apostles, or soon afterwards. All attempts perfectly to repro duce or describe it must fail. The principal theories on the subject of the gift of tongues are the following : 1. The Holy Spirit miraculously imparted to the apostles and to many of their disciples the power to use foreign languages, which they had never learned. The terms ' tongues,' ' other tongues,' etc. mean foreign languages, or languages which had not been acquired in the ordinary way. It is supposed to have been a permanent fa culty of the individual, which he could employ according to his own discretion, and to have been miraculous only in the mode of its ac- 86 SPEAKING WITH TONGUES. quisition in the first instance. It is also regarded as one of the prin cipal supernatural aids granted to the first preachers of Christianity, and which enabled them so soon to diffuse it through the world. The ' interpretation,' .p/wjwto, was needed for the sake of those who were present during the address of one endued with the gift of tongues, and who did not understand the language in which he spoke. This general theory has been almost universally received in this coun try and in Great Britain. It is supported by the use of the epithets xai- valg, ' new,' in Mark 16: 12, and Mgatg, ' other,' in Acts 2: 4 ; also by the entire tenor of the account in the second chapter of Acts, and by Paul's citation of Isa. 28: 11 in 1 Cor. 14: 21. On the other hand, it has been urged, that it represents the miracle as one of an entirely external character, and imposed upon individuals mechani cally. Besides, it is not easy to unfold the idea of it, nor to point out its real object. If we imagine that object was to facilitate the efforts of the apostles and early Christians in propagating the gospel in distant lands, by means of the knowjedge of foreign languages which this gift conveyed, in that case, we go beyond the record. In the inspired narratives the gift is mentioned as manifesting itself only in prayers and discourses in the church. 2. Another theory maintains that yXiaaea is the tongue, or the physical organ, and that yXaiao-rj XaXeiv means, ' to speak only with the tongue,' i. e. to utter inarticulate sounds which give no meaning. According to this theory we must conceive of the gift as an inspired babbling or stammering. It is wholly incompatible, however, with the passage in Mark xvi, and with the history in Acts ii. What kind of an effect would such a senseless babbling have had upon intelli gent hearers ; or how could the Holy Spirit have communicated it, or Paul given precepts for its regulation ? 3. The theory adopted by Herder and De Wette, and strenuously defended by Bleek, is the following : yXmaaai are peculiar expres sions, belonging to a language or dialect not in common use, and therefore, not known to all, but of which the poets, or those speaking under the influence of inspiration, might make use. This theory, it is said, is strongly supported by the usage of the word ylwaea In the Greek and Roman profane writers. Bleek has made a copious col lection of illustrative passages. In those writers, the word some times denotes antiquated expressions, which had dropped out of com mon use, and which, when again employed, required a particular ex- STEAKING WITH TONGUES. 87 planation. Sometimes also the word means idiotisms, or provincial expressions which are employed and understood only in certain dis tricts. Bleek thus describes the application of the term : " When a believer made use of a language, as decidedly different from that of common life, as the highly poetic language of the lyric poets was from that of simple prose, and, when from his natural gifts and pre vious education, no such style of speaking as that employed by him could have been expected ; then must this have appeared, of necessi ty, as something supernatural, and as the effect of that miraculous in spiration by which they saw themselves in general influenced. When, moreover, all their discourses were on religious subjects ; when in all, they proclaimed the praise of God who had proved so gracious, and of the Saviour through whom that grace was extended to them, as well as the blessedness they had found in believing on him, — how could any one fail to find in such a yXioaauig XaleHv an effect of the Spirit whom the Lord had promised to send to his people ?" Con clusive arguments against this theory are adduced in the sequel by Riiekert. Olshausen and Neander differ somewhat from Bleek. The for mer, Theol. Stud. u. Krit. III. 64: — 66, admits that the speaking in glosses was a speaking in an elevated poetical strain ; but, on the other hand, he supposes also, that it sometimes rose to be actually a speaking in foreign tongues. This occurred, he imagines, when in dividuals were present, who understood the respective tongues. " In the gift of tongues," says Neander, " the high and ecstatic consciousness in respect to God alone predominated, while the con sciousness of the world was wholly withdrawn. In this condition, the medium of communication between the deeply moved inward man and the external world, was wholly wanting. What he spoke in this condition, from the strong impulse of his emotions and in ward views, was not a connected discourse, nor an address adapted to the wants and circumstances of others." " He was wholly occu pied with the relation of his own soul to God. The soul was absorb ed in adoration and devotion. Hence to this condition are ascribed prayer, songs of praise to God, and the attestation of his mighty deeds. Such an one prayed in spirit ; the higher life of the soul and spirit predominated in him. When therefore in the midst of his peculiar emotions and spiritual contemplations he formed for him- 88 SPEAKING WITH TONGUES. self a peculiar language, he was wanting in the power so to express himself as to be understood by the greater number." It is not necessary, however, to proceed further with our notices of the peculiar views of the Germans on this subject. Those who may wish for additional information will do well to consult J. A. Er- nesti, Opuscula Theol. Lips. 1773,457 — 476; Heydenreieh, Comm. in prior. Pauli ad Corinth. Epist. II. 249 — 270 ; Billroth, Comm. zum Corintherbriefe, 1833, 166 — 180 ; the Translation of the same in the 23d No. of the Edinburgh Bib. Cabinet, 13—35 ; Neander in Bib. Repos. IV. 249 ; and Olshausen, Comm. iiber das N. T.,|I3. 582 seq. There is an Article on the subject in Vol. II. of the Stud. u. Krit. 1829, pp. 3 — 78, by Prof. Bleek of Bonn. Some strictures are of fered by Olshausen on these views of Bleek in the same volume, pp. 538—549. To these Bleek replied in the following year, 1830, Vol. III. pp. 45 — 64. Some brief observations are appended by Olshau sen, pp. 64 — 66, in which he seems to approach nearer to the opin ion of Bleek. We now proceed to the essay of Riiekert, who, it will be perceived, coincides substantially with the commonly received opinion. — Tr.] Inteoductoey Remark. In the Commentary on the fourteenth chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians, I took pains to present as clearly as possible all those marks which might serve to define the nature of those spi ritual gifts,1 which are now to be more closely examined. The in quiry will be pursued in the following treatise, so as to exhibit in connection what was before considered only in detached parts. I shall also compare what is found on the subject elsewhere in the New Testament, weigh the views of preceding writers, and from all these, present, as far as possible, a picture of the gifts as a whole. This cannot indeed be completed with the fulness which a mono gram would admit. It may, however, be done in such a manner 1 [Charismen, xagiofiMTa. We prefer the old words, ' gifts,' ' spiritual gifts,' to the terms Charisma, Charismata, which have been sometimes em ployed by English writers.— Tr] PROPHECY. 89 that it will not be the author's fault, if the reader should quit the in vestigation without having found the knowledge which was sought. Prophecy. The solution of the problem in respect to prophecy is easy. It can be stated in a few lines, and without reference to the labors of others. Even in Eph. 4: 11, the idea of a christian prophet, as gathered from the Acts of the Apostles and the Pauline Epistles, is accurately marked. It is this : a prophet was a man who, without any definite office, without any call made to him outwardly, spoke, - from the impulse of the Divine Spirit dwelling within him, words which would serve for the information, encouragement ahd strength ening of believers. He likewise uttered predictions of future events, if the Spirit suggested such to him. He differed from an apostle in this, that he was not sent like him to make known the message of salvation to unbelievers. They were alike, however, in respect to the nature of what they did say. Thus the apostle was also a pro phet ; but the prophet as such was not an apostle. We learn from our epistle to recognize prophecy as a gift conferred on man by the Spirit, 1 Cor. 12: 10, according to his good pleasure, verse 11. Man himself, therefore, could neither impart nor acquire it, though it was possible for him to strive for the attainment of it.1 All Christians did not possess it.2 Inasmuch, however, as Paul desired that it might be enjoyed by all verse 5, he did not consider an universal participation in it impossible. The nature of the declaration to be made was revealed to the prophet, and this revelation certainly could take place in a moment.3 Various as it may have been, still the man ifestation of the hidden secrets of the human heart is given as an elementary part of the prophetic discourse.4 The form in which the. prophecy appeared was that of a language generally understood. Thus, doubtless, the language of the country which was in every day use was employed. The effect which it produced was particu larly directed to believers verse 23, and consisted in the edification and spiritual improvement of the church.5 Unbelievers, however, might be deeply affected by it, and be brought to self-knowledge and to the worship of the true God.6 It was not designed for a contin- 1 1 Cor7l4: l739^ ~~M Cor~12: 29. 3 1 Cor. 14: 13. « 1 Cor. 14: 24, 25. 5 1 Cor. 14: 3, 4. 6 1 Cor. 14: 24, 25. 12 90 SPEAKING WITH TONGUES. ued existence. On the contrary, a time was to be anticipated and hoped for— the time of the completion or fulfilment— when there should be no more prophecy.1 All this is stated with great clear ness and definiteness. It completes for us the beautiful picture of a preacher's office, free, christian, confined to no situation, having no human call or appointment. It was an office, which the primitive church in its simplicity could enjoy, which a world adorned by the name of a church, in its wisdom, cannot enjoy ; so little can we enjoy it that if the Spirit should once more act in the same man ner as he did in the early christian times, the worldly arm of a civil power, which has the guardianship ofthe church, knows how to ex tinguish the office bv law and mad-houses. Speaking with Tongues. While thus the nature of christian prophecy can be stated almost with perfect precision, on the other hand there rests upon the phe nomenon that is wont to be designated by the words, ' speaking with tongues,'2 a darkness whose impenetrableness the older commentators perceived, and which has, by no means, been removed by the addi tional, very praiseworthy labors of modern interpreters. This dark ness, I imagine, can never be perfectly dispelled. Far as possible am I from supposing that I can accomplish it. I shall only pursue my duty as an interpreter, while I undertake to say the few things on the subject which I am able to say. I shall here make that refer ence to the labors of the latest interpreters, already. named in the Commentary, which is allowed by the narrow limits which I am com pelled to put to this treatise. A fundamental exhibition of what has been propounded by them of itself, without any examination of it, would occupy more room than I have. I am, therefore, com pelled to refer those readers who wish to look over the entire dis cussion to the treatises of those learned men themselves, which be sides are not difficult of access. This I do with the more pleasure, as the excellent things laid down in them all are so numerous that no one will regret the reading of them. The path that I here take seems to me to be demanded by my position as an interpreter of the epistle to the Corinthians. The author of a monogram might indeed choose his point of departure as he pleases. He might begin, 1 1 Cor. 13: 8—10. 2 yhuaoais XafaTv. SPEAKING WITH TONGUES. 91 perhaps, in the most fitting manner, with the notices in the Acts of the Apostles. The interpreter of Paul, however, has to direct his eye first to that which the apostle himself says upon the topic, and merely to call in those notices to his aid, provided the words of the apostle are not sufficient of themselves to afford the necessary light. Preliminary Remark in respect to the Investigation. Two observations I must here premise. One relates particularly to the investigation of the thing ; the other to the advantage which we are authorized to expect from the words of Paul. Both are al lied to each other. Even the latest authors1 seem to me in general not to have sufficiently considered what, in a subject of this kind, is the principal difficulty, namely, that our inquiry cannot be so much grounded on the nature of the gift itself, as op the mode in which Luke and Paul have presented it to us, or the views of it which their representations will authorize. They are the only men whom we have to testify on the subject, and they can do it from their own ob servation. We would not be misunderstood here, as though the sub ject were presented by them otherwise than it was in reality. On the contrary, even if they had so desired, they could not have given an untrue representation, because they wrote for contemporaries and eye-witnesses, and even for those who shared in the gift itself. If they had fully delineated its nature and its external marks, then we should have accepted their view as perfectly authentic. This, how ever, they do not do. On the contrary, Luke supplies a few scanty notices. Paul offers to his readers, who were familiar with the thing, some judgments and observations upon it. Our curiosity, simply arous ed but not satisfied with the information, can but supply in the way of conjecture what the history has not given. This course ought to remain unprohibited. We should not, however, forget that we are endeavoring to supply an historical fact, which is either wholly unique in its kind, or yet for us so obscure that we do not know whether among the phenomena presented to our experience any thing similar can be found or not. It hence follows that we are to be on our guard, first, lest we place too much reliance on analogies drawn from other facts, not knowing whether the observed analogies 1 Baumlein only excepted, who merits the highest praise of all, especially for his thoroughness, method and impartiality. 92 speaking with tongues. are essential or accidental, real or only apparent ; secondly, lest we should wish to press with our psychological principles— derived only from experience— upon an actual phenomenon where all experience fails us ; and thirdly, lest our metaphysical or theological views should decide questions where historical arguments alone can deter mine. If arguments of this nature fail us, then the question must remain unsettled. By observing these cautions we are, to be sure, cut off from the most copious sources of statement and illustration ; we also subject ourselves to the danger of being compelled to con fess our ignorance on most points. At the same time we avoid, as it seems to me, the far greater danger of creating a fact for our selves, which is like the actual truth hardly in the remotest features. Preliminary Remark in respect to Paul's Language. The second observation is this — we may venture to hope that we can ascertain from the words of the apostle, not the nature of the gift of tongues in Corinth, but the nature of this gift as Paul himself understood it. He was in the possession of it -,1 he imparted it to others.2 Thus far, accordingly, we may expect that he will de lineate it as it was ; that nothing will be said by him which was foreign from it. But the violent proceeding of the Corinthians in relation to it, he could not know from his own observation. What he had learned through others could not but be imperfect, because these may have known it only of Corinth.3 That it was actually so, the handling of the subject which he has deigned to give is an incontrovertible evidence. He exhibits the ' speaking with tongues,' always, as an actual gift of the Divine Spirit — as a donative which, good in itself, and salutary to its possessor, could not have been fitted for use in the church on account of its not being understood. Paul recommends that it be employed but rarely in the assemblies. How can we therefore, how dare we admit that this was the gift of 1 1 Cor. 14: 18. 2 Acts 18: 6. 3 Eichhorn, Einl. III. 121, 128, has also made a similar remark. lie does not, however, apply it correctly. He has well explained the caution which the apostle observed in his treatment of the subject; but the hypothesis, which he frames out ofthe words ofthe apostle that relate to the disorder in the Corinthian church, is altogether inconsiderate. Here Eichhorn has gone, characteristically, into as copious details as if he knew more about it than Paul himself. SPEAKING WITH TONGUES. 93 tongues in Corinth ? However any one may judge finally of the Spirit himself and of his gifts, still all may unite in this, that the gift in question was the result of a divine energy, and that its workings could be disclosed only in the individual who was himself warmed and enlivened by it in favor of that which was good and holy. But that this last effect could not be attributed to the Corinthians generally, our epistle must have probably convinced us. Of particular persons nothing is here said. The assertion respects the majority, since in Corinth the speaking with tongues was excessive, and was shared in by multitudes. The majority, however, were far from possessing the christian feeling which could induce us to believe that the Holy Spirit had made them particularly, in preference to many others, his abode and scene of operation. The greater*" part [of this exhibition] in Corinth was probably mere imitation and parade. But in what manner exactly this was shown, how far it proceeded, and into what caricatures it transformed the original phenomenon — on these points Paul himself had perhaps no knowledge ; or if he had, he concealed it, because he did not learn it from his own obser vation. He contented himself, for the moment, in limiting its exr cessive use in the church, until he could be present in person to dis tinguish truth from falsehood and expose the hypocrisy. We, how ever, who have nothing at command besides that which Paul com municates in his epistles, must be contented, in our efforts to form an acquaintance with the subject in general, simply with what flows in a direct way from his words. We may also compare the notices in the Acts of the Apostles. At all events, that must be regarded as peculiar to the subject as developed at Corinth which cannot be brought into agreement with the notices of Luke. The Gift of Tongues an actually spoken Language. To the inquiry, how Paul understood the gift of tongues, we must answer, first, that he recognized it as an actual speech or language, and as entirely foreign from the notion of an inarticulate, senseless sound.1 Whether any thing like this existed at Corinth,2 we must 1 This is the view of Bardili and Eichhorn ; also of Bertholdt. It may, however, be variously confuted. Yet Olshausen II. 575, 577, has assented to it with some limitations. 2 This, properly speaking, is maintained only by the defenders ofthe view in question, i. .. Bardili, etc 94 speaking with tongues. leave, after what has been said, undetermined. That Paul himself had no such idea is obvious not only from 1 Cor. 14: 9, but also from the fact that it is impossible that he could have ever regarded such a senseless stammering and howling — if it came out fully — as any thing good, edifying, or desirable ; in short that he could view it as a gift of God, and admonish the Corinthians (which he has actually done), that God was to be served by them in an orderly manner,while, as it will appear, he has not uttered a word about any thing un known or unintelligible. Some persons may refer to " the groanings which cannot be uttered,"1 but of this we not only know far too little which would enable us to build aught upon it, but in the passage before us there is nothing at all said of " groanings ;"2 it is ' speak ing,'3 and a ' declaration.'4 Therefore, there is not the remotest re semblance in the expression even. That this speech or language was audibly uttered cannot be inferred5 with certainty from what Paul has said. All these phenomena — the * interpretation'6 itself not ex cepted — might as well have occurred when any one who was in fluenced by the Spirit actually spoke. But on the ground that one made known the secret workings of his mind by mere pantomime, by an inaudible moving of the mouth outwardly, then he alone could understand, whom the Spirit had put into a similar state. The unlearned, or uninitiated, however, must have been almost compelled to regard it as a sign of madness, especially if it often occurred. At all events the words, ' let there be silence,'7 is decidedly against it If we must grant, however, that the inarticulate speaking was a dis tinguishing mark of the gift of tongues as conferred at Corinth, still, in this case, there must have been discovered in the apostle's words some vestige of a deviation from the general form in which the gift was manifested. But no such trace can be found. The tongue, as Paul understands it, was accordingly not merely a discourse, but a discourse audibly uttered. Meanwhile, nothing further is said about the length or brevity, the fulness or the marked ab ruptness of it. The tongue was not, however, a single one, but there appear to have been various species of it, distinguished from 1 avevayfioue aXaX?'/Tovg Rom. 8: 26. 2 atevayfiovs 3 XaXelv i Xoyog 6 This has been already remarked in the Commentary on I Cor. 14; 2. 0 ipfijfvsia. i ot'yaroj speaking with tongues. 95 each other.1 Thus Chap. xiv. often, it is true, uses the singular number, but never with the article.2 Had the gift of tongues been a mode of speaking which, in all the various forms of it — occasioned by the ideas, by the individuality of the speaker or by other causes — yet ever retained one and, the same essential character, for ex ample, abruptness or high elevation, or certain favorite forms, then the language would indicate this. It would have been named ' the tongue,' or ' speaking by a tongue,' not ' the tongues,' or the ' kind of tongues.'3 Since then the last named forms actually appear, we must suppose that the single gift appeared in its manifestations so essentially diverse that it was possible to distinguish several kinds. The power to speak in this way was a gift of the Divine Spirit, like all the other qualifications of Christians which were peculiar to them as such.4 Thus.it was also a gift of God,5 which the Spirit in his free, good pleasure had communicated,6 and which therefore all did not possess.7 Accordingly, it was not anything*that was learned or acquired. Man, according to his own inclination, could not impart it. Since the Spirit communicated his gifts only to believers,8 they alone, therefore, possessed this power ; and it was not communicated to them till they had received the Spirit. This gift, moreover, was not bestowed from the mere fact of their being Christians. That it was something miraculous however, in the doctrinal sense, does not of course follow, for the language of the New Testament not only does not, in general,, recognize this distinction between the natural and supernatural, but there are found to be enumerated several gifts,9 which can in no manner be considered as imparted supernaturally. 1 This is said in so many words 1 Cor. 12: 28, ' diversities of tongues.' 2 Verse 9 does not belong here, ' To another faith by the same Spirit,' etc. 3 rr/v yXmaoav, or yhaoaoXoyiav , not rds ykiiaaas, or yiveoiv yXvioowv. i 1 Cor. 12: 7—12. 5 See verse 28 in the same chapter. 8 ' But all these worketh that one and the, self-same Spirit,' etc. 7 Comp. verse 30, ' Do all speak with tongues,' etc., with 1 Cor. 14: 5, ' I would that ye all spake with tongues,' etc. 8 This may well be received as the predominant view in the New Testa ment. 9 1 Cor. 12:8—10, 28, gifts of healing, helps, governments, etc. [The author is probably incorrect in this remark ; it seems to be the general doc trine of the New Testament that most, if not all the gifts in question were miraculous. — Tr.] ^6 speaking with tongues. Even from Ch. 14: 221 this cannot follow with perfect certaiaty, inasmuch as it is conceivable, that it served somewhat as a sign, tig anfiuov to another person, that is, as a mark of admonitioh, without being absolutely in consequence a supernatural event in our sense. At what time or manner an individual came into the pos session of it, whether he continued in the enjoyment of it, or whether it was only for a limited time and under given circumstances — re specting these and other related questions, Paul gives us no answer. This only we learn,2 that it was possible not to make use of the gift ; that he who could speak with tongues had it in his power to do it or not to do it according to circumstances and opinions of propriety. It hence follows that Paul did not recognize him who spoke with tongues as one who was in an unconscious condition, not having command over himself — a passive instrument of a higher power that ruled over him ; for, from such persons he could not have expected the reflection and deliberation which are there mentioned. In that case, he would by no means have commanded the employment or the non-employment of the gift. The same thing may also be in ferred from the fact of his saying that the one who spoke with tongues edifies himself, while we cannot believe, that the intelligent and discreet Paul expected a salutary spiritual and moral influence from words which the speaker poured out unconsciously, and which consequently could be neither understood, nor made use of. When therefore he says, 'he that speaketh with tongues, speaketh in spirit or in the spirit, his spirit speaketh, while his mind is unfruitful,' verse 14, — we cannot in this find any proof of an un conscious state ; but we are rather to recollect, that even the prophet uttered words ' by the spirit,' and therefore we are certainly to look for an elevated condition in the one who spoke with tongues — a condition in which, according to the views of the apostle, that in telligence and inward energy which rested in the man, appears to have been a predominant spiritual power that dwelt in him, but not of such a nature, that he knew not what he uttered, or what befel him. The unfruitfulness of the mind, however, he placed in this 1 ' Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not,' etc. 2 1 Cor. 14, 27, 28, 39. " If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three," etc.; « and forbid not to speak with tongues." speaking with tongues. 97 alone, that the man did not here labor with self-possession ; what was imparted to him by the Spirit, he only passively received ; he did not work it up, turning it to a practical account, as was the case in relation to prophecy. Respecting the nature of what was uttered, definite information indeed fails us ; thus much, however, we learn from Ch. 14: 5,1 that only when it was not understood by the hearer, was it inferior to that which was uttered by the prophet ; thus even the one as well as the other could be made the means of edification. We see, however, from verses 14 — 17, that it must have been chiefly the form of a prayer, of a song of praise, or of thanksgiving ; so likewise from verses 2, 28, that the gift of tongues was directed mainly to spiritual intercourse with God. Thus from all these marks, we may perhaps rightly conclude that the gift was particularly employed in publishing the mighty works of God for the redemption of mankind ; but it differed from prophecy in this, that while the latter communicated definite instruction to the hearers in respect to salvation, verse 19, the gift of tongues, without any special reference to the needs of the hearer, poured itself out in loud praise of the works which had been accomplished. And inasmuch as such an out-pouring could not find a place — or at least should not — without an inward feeling and apprehension in the heart, of the wonderful grace of God, Paul might well desire that all believers should speak with tongues, verse 4, and that the unlimited edification of the one who spoke should be seen as the fruits of his words, verse 5. Up to this point everything appears tolerably clear and simple ; we recognize in the speaking with tongues the out flowings of a heart influenced by the Spirit of God, and so ateo thoroughly per vaded by a feeling arising from the wonderful works of God in the redemption of mankind. We may very readily conceive, that such experience would not be wanting in the emotion which sprung up in consequence of the blessing just received. We may also suppose that these feelings were very strong. That the tranquil operation of the understanding was for a short time suspended and obscured, is not strange to us, when we consider the character of the oriental world, and the many phenomena existing in the church, at a later time, when, almost at once, Christianity brought a strong excitement 1 Ch. 14: 5, " I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied," etc. 13 98 speaking with tongues. upon the feelings, so that a great excess and a spiritual extravagance need not create astonishment. We often observe similar things in history. We must believe that up to this point, we have rightly apprehended the thing, because we have advanced no conclusion, for which we have not found arguments either in the words them selves, or in what we know of the religious views of the apostle from his own writings. Now, however, we come to the knot of the riddle. This consists in part in the unusual name which is given to the mode of speaking in question,1 and partly in the various explanations of the apostle. He represents it as useless to the church because it could be under stood by no one without an interpreter,— thus appearing like mad ness to those unacquainted with the phenomenon.2 We must sub join that if the common mode of explanation of verse 133 be correct, then the one who spoke could not give, in every case, the interpre tation of what he had said ; and if he could do it, this even was to be regarded as a gift of God just as much as the original endow ment. The inability to understand a discourse audibly uttered may have had its origin, either in the contents of the discourse or in its form. That it does not lie in the contents is sufficiently proved, as I think, in my Commentary. On such a supposition, moreover, there would be no significance in the name. This inability is therefore to be sought externally, in the form. Here I recognize three possible reasons why it could not be understood. These are the unintelligible enunciation — the obscurity of the style — or the foreign language unknown to the hearer. This last might have originated in various ways. The unintelligible utterance would not fall in with Eichhorn's hypothesis of stammering, for in this case, there were actual words ; but furthermore it could never have been regarded as a gift. Besides, it would have been very easy for the one who spoke to have uttered his sentences clearly. This supposition has absolutely nothing in its favor. Before we in vestigate the other two, we will turn our attention to that which the Acts of the Apostles presents us. 1 yXouooais or yXaootj XaXuv. 21 Cor. 14: 2,6,9,16,17,23. 3 ' Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret.' speaking with tongues. 99 Notices in the Acts of the Apostles. We find in Ch. 19: 6, the mention of twelve disciples of John who received the Holy Spirit by the ministration of the apostle, and immediately spoke with tongues as well as prophesied. This pas sage, however, serves us merely as a certain proof that Paul could impart from his own inward power the gift to others, as well as that he possessed it himself.1 It also shows us that these two gifts, differing from each other, were received at the same time with the communication of the Holy Spirit, and indeed, as it appears sudden ly ; it shows nothing respecting their nature. A second passage,2 likewise, teaches us the contemporaneousness of the reception of the influence of the Spirit and the entrance of the gift of tongues, and strengthens us in our conception of the meaning of what was uttered by the words /uyuXvvovTwv tov {rebv. In regard to what belongs to the form of its manifestation, the words of Peter,3 and so likewise the reference of the same apostle to this event,4 merely teach us, that it had presented itself to him, an eyewitness, altogether in the same manner as the first exhibition of this gift on the day of Pente cost ; and since there is no other passage yet extant which shows us anything respecting it,5 we see ourselves driven back entirely to Acts ii. as the main text. When, however, we consider this narra tive with an entirely unprejudiced eye, we cannot resist the con clusion, that Luke has narrated the circumstances in the following manner : The persons there assembled, on the moment, when, (with the rushing of the wind and the appearance of flames of fire on their heads), the Holy Spirit had fallen upon them, did actually speak in the languages of the strangers mentioned in verses 9 and 10. The most astonishing feature in the entire event was this, — the men who unexpectedly possessed and exercised this power were Galileans, ' 1 Cor. 14: 18, ' I thank my God I speak with tongues more than ye all.' 2 Acts 10: 44-47. 3 Acts 10: 47. * Acts 11: 15, 17, 15: 8, 9. 5 The power indeed which Simon Magus, Acts 8: 18, 19, desired to pur chase of Peter might be only that which the gift of tongues would enable bim to effect; we, however, learn nothing of that in which it consisted, — at most we ascertain the single circumstance, that it was something very striking which Simon believed that he could not himself effect, but by which, if he could procure it, he expected that he should gain much with the astonished multitude. 100 SPEAKING WITH TONGUES. of whom nothing like this could have been anticipated. This view of it was everywhere the predominant one, until a genuine spirit of investigation had undermined it in various ways.1 Various Hypotheses. Here is not the place to repeat the many explanations of the phe nomenon which are collected, perhaps in the fullest manner, in Kuin- oel's Commentary on the Acts. Of these it is necessary to name only what the more recent investigations on the gift of tongues have ad vanced for and against this interpretation. Here, first, Bleek2 meets us in the history of the Pentecost, with the following difficulties. 1. The speaking of the disciples with tongues occurred before the multitude of foreign Jews had come together, which must have ap peared wholly without an object, since words in foreign tongues could not have served as the natural expression of religious feelings. 2. That if each one spoke a particular language, and if he was understood by those to whom this was vernacular, no reproach of drunkenness could have fallen on those who spoke. 3. Peter in the subsequent discourses makes no mention whatever of foreign lan guages. Bleek remarks subsequently, that, if the narrative can be understood only of foreign tongues, then he must conclude that this circumstance was owing to an incorrect understanding of it by the reporter, [on whom Luke depended.] This he would do, rather than recognize the actual speaking in foreign languages.3 Baur goes a step further still, when he allows,4 that such could not have been the words in the account of the Pentecost, but that they belong to a traditional transformation of them, which transformation the original fact had already here received. The character of this transformation he seeks to point out from the poetico-rhetorical bearing of verses 6—12, from the obscurity in respect to the word ' others'5 in verse 13,6 and from the failure of all traces ofthe event. Neander regards the narration simply as obscure, and hence would explain it from the remaining portions. Since these contain nothing 1 Perhaps a dread of anything miraculous was the original occasion of this change. [' Genuine' in many respects, but misdirected here. — Tr.] 2 1-17, 18. 3 II. 62, 63. " P. 105, 106 note. ' erepoi. 8 Acts 2: 13, " Others mocking, said these men are full of new wine." SPEAKING WITH TONGUES. 101 about foreign tongues, and since, moreover, there could be no use for such an endowment,1 then he can admit nothing like this. That of a positive nature, however, which these learned men present for the tongues in question, is various. Bleek explains the word yX&aaa thus, ' an antiquated, provincial, altogether uncommon mode of speech, and without a particular explanation, unintelligible ; hence it could have been of use to those only, who, as orators and poets, spoke in a lofty tone of feeling.' This explanation, which others also had contemplated before him, he seeks to establish philologically by a very learned examination ofthe usage of yXSiaaa in Greek ; he then turns to the existing forms of the expression in the New Testament and endeavors to exhibit the occurrences men tioned in the Acts and in the epistle to the Corinthians as words in a lofty poetical dialect, with a mingling of such glosses. They were consequently unintelligible to the majority of the hearers, while the inability of the speaker to explain his own words was owing to the failure of his recollection.2 That such words might seem to be the operation of the Holy Spirit is owing in part to this reason — a lan guage so elevated could not have been adapted to men with such little cultivation as the disciples of Jesus, and in part to the contents of what was uttered, a lofty commendation of the works of God. Ols hausen3 assumes several stages in the gift, according to the degree of one's moral powers, and of the participation in other gifts. Thus the speaking with tongues was always an ecstasy ; but like somnam bulism it passed over to the utterance of a foreign language, only when persons were present who were skilled in the language ; at the Pentecost such was actually the fact, even to the highest degree. To the gift of tongues there was also added the interpretation of them and prophecy. On the contrary, in respect to Corinth4 he inclines strongly to the side of Eichhorn's hypothesis of an inar ticulate sound. Billroth seeks to avoid the difficulties which rise against the various modes of interpretation by ' going a step beyond Olshausen.'5 He explains it as " a speaking in a language which, in a certain degree, comprehended the elements of the various actually historical tongues." On the contrary, Baur, Steudel and 1 This besides could have been no abiding possession. 2 Herein resembling the Greek fidvrig. 3 Olshausen 1. 545, 546, 11. 568 seq. * II. 575, 576. 5 Billroth's Comm. on Corinth, pp. 177, 178. 102 SPEAKING WITH TONGUES. Neander recognize nothing but the vernacular tongue. They see nothing miraculous; they find in it merely that which was pro duced or enlivened by the Spirit, that which was never before perceived in this manner, so far new that it uttered, as it were, with a new tongue— the organ of the Spirit — words concerning the mighty works of God, but which, in its nature as consisting in praise of God, had been long known in the inward experience of all the hearers, Jews and proselytes. As allied to the feelings which it had long be fore cherished, its experience might be native or natural. Objections against the Theory of Foreign Tongues. In respect to the argument adduced by Bleek against the supposi tion of foreign languages at the Pentecost, it cannot be denied, to be sure, that the narrative of Luke places the commencement of speak ing with tongues at a time before the multitude of strangers had assembled, and Olshausen's supposition to the contrary, I. 542, does not agree with the meaning of the words in the passage. That such speaking might appear aimless to us is readily conceded, but to the consequence deduced from it, that it could not therefore have happened, we dare not assent ; because, by the same argument, we should not only make improbable many other narratives ofthe New Testament, but we should certainly occupy a false position, in de siring to construe a fact according to our own peculiar views, forget ting that very many things might have actually occurred, of which we not only cannot see the design, but might show even that they had no object, without, as a consequence, drawing the conclusion that they had no existence. The imputation of drunkenness might have occurred to evil disposed or frivolous minds just as well if each individual spoke a particular language, which was not vernacular to him, as if they all spoke in different dialects ; but it is very well known that nearly all drunken persons — even the better educated — in this situation are wont to fall upon speaking in a foreign language. That Peter in his discourse did not revert at all to the tongues is, moreover, no sufficient objection, because in the first place we cer tainly do not possess the speeches of the apostle in their original form and perfection,1 but only what Luke found in his authorities, or 1 Who could have marked at such _ moment, or have indicated in the least, what the man did say ? SPEAKING WITH TONGUES. 103 regarded probable, either from tradition, or from his own reflections.1 Secondly, Peter had no reason whatever to do any thing more than to show that the prophecy of Joel was fulfilled in the fact which now lay notoriously before the eyes and ears of all. Since this con tained nothing in respect to speaking with tongues, (and in the first moment no one certainly would think whether it differed from pro phesying, and if so, how far), Peter would therefore naturally con clude that the gift of tongues was contained in that of prophesying, and would satisfy his hearers, while he taught that it was to be de rived from the Spirit just poured out. How little weight in general is to be attributed to the foregoing arguments may be seen from the fact, that Bleek himself, in conclusion, gives up one half the objec tion. He remarks that the history seems strongly to point to foreign tongues, and that his resort to a traditional change of the original fact rests on the assumption2 which Baur still maintains as unan swerable. In the mean time, so much that is*excellent has been said against this theory by Steudel3 and Baumlein,4 that we may here 1 [These various hypotheses in respect to Luke are without foundation. No one, perhaps, among the primitive Christians, with the exception of the twelve apostles, enjoyed better opportunities for becoming personally and familiarly acquainted with the events which he has recorded or the persons whom he has described. Eusebius relates that his birth-place was Antioch in Syria. If so he must have had good advantages for intercourse with Palestine Christians and with the heads of the infant church in Jerusalem. In accompanying Paul, he must have had abundant facilities for becoming acquainted with the men who had personally known our Lord, particularly the apostles. A number of individuals are mentioned by Paul ' who were in Christ' before himself, and whom Luke must probably have known. For example Andronicus and Juntas are alluded to, Rom. 16: 7, and Rufus, v. 13, who is supposed to be the son of Simon of Cyrene, who bore the cross of Jesus. There were also persons like Barnabas and Mark, whom Luke might have seen on their missionary journies. How often must he have heard the conversations of Paul with various individuals, when the facts in regard to the original history of Christianity were brought out? How must the discourses and the reasonings of the apostle to the gentiles with Jews and with pagans have served to make Luke acquainted with the christian his tory ? Luke was with Paul in Jerusalem, when the elders of the church were assembled. He was also with him at the time of his imprisonment at Caesarea and Rome. See some excellent remarks on this subject in Tho luck's Credibility of the Evangelical History in the Reply to Strauss, 2d Ed., Hamburg, 1838, p. 148.— Tr.] 2 This has been previously mentioned. 3 P. 135 seq. 4 P. 66 seq. 104 SPEAKING WITH TONGUES. well pass it over. We will now advert to the most recent exposi tions. In respect to the history of the Pentecost, it has been re marked by Olshausen and Baur, in opposition to Bleek, that the words ittgaig yXojoaaig as explained by him would be unfitting and pleonastic ; that we cannot imagine how a phenomenon, such as Bleek supposes, could have been burdened with the name ylcoa- caig Xalftv ; that it is inconceivable how a discourse, be it ever so short, could be put together in mere glosses (in Bleek's sense). Be sides, one would not name it from an unessential appendage, but from its peculiar, essential character, whether that character is ex- ' pressed by the words, ' to speak in an ecstasy,' or ' in the Spirit.'1 Though glosses may have been used by the poets in the sense in question, yet it cannot be proved, nor is it probable, that a poetically enlivened discourse would acquire a name from this single element alone, when its character was formed by many other things. Thus no result can be obtained from all which Bleek has brought forward on the phrase. The view maintained by him in respect to the his tory of the Pentecost, neither is established, nor can be.2 How is it credible that a mingling of this antiquated, provincial, or even po etical style or mode of expression could have appeared so remarka ble to any body that he would name the whole phenomenon merely in accordance with such a style or manner ; or that he could look upon this as a proof of the distinguished control of a higher power, or a ' sign'3 for the unbelievers ? Less credible is it, that the assem bled multitude, on account of such expressions as this theory sup poses, which possibly some understood in one way, others in ano ther, should have exclaimed, ' and now hear we every man in our own tongue wherein we were born,' — and ' we do hear them speak in our tongue the wonderful works of God !' Why should they have said in amazement, ' What meaneth this ?' How can it be account ed for, that while in Jerusalem all were believed to understand what was uttered by means of these very expressions, at Corinth for the same reason, Paul would represent this entire mode of speaking as absolutely incapable of being understood ? Allow as we may that single expressions might remain not understood, still this cannot take away the impression of the whole. And must not the prophetic dis course also, if it approximate in the least degree to the style of the 1 iv ixordosi or iv nvsdfiaxi XaXtlv. See Olshausen I. 541 , 543, 544. 2 Baur, 87—89. 3 oiffieZov. SPEAKING WITH TONGUES. 105 ancient prophets, have contained very much which was not under stood by all, and thus glosses would be attached to it also ? And how could there have been a particular gift, charisma, connected therewith in order to explain and illustrate such expressions ; or how could the apostles have recommended silent communion with God to those who thus spoke ; and how could they have regarded it as so edifying for the speaker? In short, the more one looks into all those things which have been said in relation to this gift, the less is the probability, I venture to say, that he will find the essence of the thing to consist in this alone. Against Olshausen's supposition of various gradations, or stages in the gift, etc., a main argument, as I think, is, that it rests on no historical grounds. I will not examine whether such a confused in termixture of the elements of all tongues, as Billroth's motley lan guage implies, can be anywhere called a Xoyog and furnish any sense whatever ; or even how far it might serve f#r edification. That, however, which must avail here, as well as in regard to Bleek's view, is, that such a discourse could not have appeared capable of being understood by the multitude in Jerusalem. The reverse must have been the fact to all without exception. It would be a mere confused pell-mell, with random human voices. Equal difficulties arise against the view of Baur, Steudel and Neander, with whom Baumlein has to do, particularly in the controversial parts of his trea tise. If the speaking with tongues was in truth only the manifesta tion of the Spirit in the consciousness of Christians, then we can not conceive why the words of Jesus, the first sermon of Peter, Acts II, and the epistles of Paul, in all which still the christian spirit may be expressed, must not also be regarded as indicating the gift of tongues, (as this is placed in contradistinction to prophecy), and how this kind of speaking can be explained as absolutely unintelligible ? It must appear remarkable that the view of Baur is not strictly ap plicable to the two main passages, Acts II, and 1 Cor. XIV. Why, moreover, should Luke have had in the first narrative a different conception of the subject from that in the last two passages where he mentions it ? But if Steudel deduces the unintelligibleness of the tongues in Corinth from the want of susceptible feelings in the church there, still a highly animated manner of presentation is always that which of itself makes the deepest impression on feelings little sus- 14 106 SPEAKING WITH TONGUES. ceptible.1 Besides, Paul would not, if he had so understood it, have checked those who spoke with tongues, but he would have censured the want of susceptibility in the hearers. It remains not less inex plicable, how an animated discourse, declaring the works of God through Christ, could have had a definite import in the view of strangers, the sounds of which did not die away within them for a long time, while the same thing to the church at Corinth, (christian ized years before), and presented in their native language, must have been in its very nature unintelligible and unedifying. This and se veral other things, which cannot be here repeated, lead us to the conclusion, that the history of the Pentecost allows of no other inter pretation, than that of a discourse ofthe disciples in the languages of the tribes to which their hearers belonged. To us such a phenome non may be inconceivable ; to us it may be without aim ; we may think it improbable and even incredible. All this can have, it ought to have, no influence on our interpretation, where the words are so clear, and while all the other modes of explication are involved in a multitude of difficulties. Luke, therefore, understands in Acts II., under higalg yXdivoaig, a discourse in a language other than the ver nacular ; so he does likewise in the two other passages under yXoia aaig. This also one will be most inclined to recognize in Mark 16: 17. Of glosses in Bleek's sense one can hardly think, when he reflects that this phenomenon comes in as a o-rjixtiov in the series, along with cast ing out devils, taking up serpents without being injured, etc. It is here almost inconceivable, that a discourse in a lofty poetical dic tion could be added as mere glosses to the others — (a pleonasm being unsuitable) — and where hardly a contradiction can be thought of, which might seem to lie in the word xaivalg. It is very evident also that by this word we are not compelled to understand an absolutely new language.2 View of the Passage in Corinthians. After this digression, we return to the passage in Corinthians. Since we cannot recognize Bleek's theory of glosses, there seems to remain, as possible, but one of the causes of the unintelligibleness of 1 Prophecy also, on this supposition, would be as little useful. 8 Comp. Baumlein pp. 63—66. SPEAKING WITH TONGUES. 107 this subject mentioned above, on p. 98. This is, foreign languages. Wq will, therefore, recur to the particulars contained in this pas sage, in order to ascertain, not so much whether any thing deci sive in favor of such a view can be found there, (for this cannot be done), as whether there is any insuperable objection against it. The twelfth and thirteenth chapters include nothing of this nature. The ' kinds of tongues,'1 mentioned in Ch. 12: 10, 28, may he the different languages, that is, the various tongues — ability to use these languages being conferred on believers by the Spirit, ' who worketh all things.' The ' tongues,'2 Ch. 13: 1, are literally ' speech,' ' words,' while Paul-, to be sure, here refers to the gift, charisma, and from the reference certainly selects this example, yet he says nothing of the languages themselves. From the identity of the word employed therefore, nothing follows in respect to the identity of the thing, provided the term ylaaaa does not in every case, as used by him, necessarily mean a language. In verse 8, where he places yXwaau along with Ttgooprjxela and yvacrig, he has perhaps in his mind merely the idea of a gift, charisma. Nothing, therefore, could be inferred from the passage in itself. Yet it must be ad mitted, that by the undoubted reference to the first verse, it would be the most natural to understand the yXwoea as referring to languages. We now come to the fourteenth chapter, which is the principal pas sage. Here the use of the singular yXmaca, is employed by the oppo nents as an objection to the theory of different tongues.3 An im plied conjecture of the words hega and xaivij might indeed have lit tle in its favor.4 Such a conjecture, however, is not necessary. It will be sufficient that yXaaaa means only ' language,' ' speech.' If then the expression yXwva-aig XaXuv was used in order to indicate briefly,5 and intelligibly for contemporaries, a discourse in a lan-r guage which was conferred by the Spirit,6 then the singular number might be employed without objection. In that case yXmo-o-ji XaXeiv would mean, ' to speak in a language by which all, who were ac- 1 yivrf yhaaaoiV. 2 yhuaoai. 3 Bleek, I. 15. • Bleek, 11. 51. 5 This is the single aim of language. Hence in the construction of par ticular forms of expression for the purpose of indicating the phenomena in the subject in question, the process is far less laborious than in the often er roneous language of verbal criticism, which subsequently assumes the task of interpretation. c The foreign quality of it was neither the only nor the principal mark. 108 SPEAKING WITH TONGUES. quainted with the subject, would be reminded of one of those gifts which were communicated by the Spirit, without troubling himself to investigate further. At the same time, no one spoke except in a particular language. In the same manner yXmaaav !„•«, verse 26, means, ' he had a language,' to wit, one conferred by the Spirit, as all the other things there mentioned are gifts of the Spirit. He is in possession of one of those languages which the Spirit communicates ; consequently he has the ability to speak in it. On the philological side I therefore see no difficulty. A second argument, namely, that Paul could not have said ovdilg nxomi, verse 2, when in a city like Corinth there must always have been at least some persons who would have understood foreign lan guages, has no weight with me, because, first, the fact itself is very doubtful, and, secondly, if it were so, these were only exceptions, rare exceptions, which Paul in an altogether general consideration of the thing did not think it necessary to bring into the account. The Greek conceitedness at that time allowed the people to acquire the languages of barbarians, as little as in our days many nations, not withstanding all the intercourse with us Germans, allow themselves to learn our language. The Greek demanded that foreigners should study his tongue ; he could the more easily require this, as his master, the Roman, adapted himself to it, and in the unbounded extension of this language, he could not well come to any place where he would not find colonists of his race, or Hellenized barba rians. Perhaps native Corinthians understood, along with the Greek, the Latin in part, but certainly not other languages ; and Paul needed not to refer to anything like an assembly of foreign visitors ; the less so, as he did not consider the matter so much according to its aspects in Corinth, as in its general features, wherever it existed. A third argument is deduced from the fact that he who spoke with tongues could not always interpret what he spoke.1 This is in deed remarkable, especially if we suppose that the individual was not in an unconscious, but in a conscious state ; as we certainly believe that he must have been. One cannot conceive how a man could speak in a foreign .tongue, and so speak as that he himself was edified thereby, and still be unable to interpret to others what was uttered. But not only can the inconceivableness of itself alone be no ground for denial, least of all in a matter where personal 1 Bleek 1. 23. SPEAKING WITH TONGUES. 109 observation and experience wholly fail us, but this same difficulty remains, and as I think, in a higher degree, in the other modes of explanation attempted in very recent times ; therefore it is not more decisive against one of these theories than it is against the others. In the fourth place, it is said, that were these yXaoaai foreign lan guages, then Paul ought rather to have framed his admonition1 so that these persons should have abstained altogether, when they would speak before a congregation, which did not understand them ; and if an interpretation intervened, no essential advantage could be derived. Besides, it would have been difficult to have used it in intercourse with others who spoke with tongues.2 But here it is forgotten that Paul does not in the least demand the speaking by tongues, but only permits it, since as a gift of the Spirit he may not check it ; he may also assume that the one who spoke with tongues always had control over the gift, and in such a, degree, that he could use it for the instruction of foreign nations ; yet this nowhere fol lows from the statement of the apostle, neither does it accord with the history. The power of speaking with tongues seems not to have been an abiding one at all ; it was a arnielov, it came in suddenly, and left its possessor again, when the high, ecstatic feeling which it produced passed away. To this we may add, what has been said on the nature of the words uttered, that it was not a didactic statement, but an out-pouring of the heart, and hence Paul could have given no other precept respecting it, than that which he has given, if he did not wish to check the thing altogether. Another objection is the one raised by me in the Commentary on Ch. 14: 18, 28,3 that we cannot conceive what connection foreign languages had with silent intercourse with God ; how Paul could have used them for this purpose, or admonished others in relation thereto. I still have the same difficulty, and had "we knowledge of the yXwaoai only from his letters, then I should possibly attribute some weight to the argument ; now I cannot do it ; besides, what seems to be unfitting to me is not necessarily so to others. Still it is possible that Paul, (who regarded the phenomenon as the effect of the operation of the Divine Spirit), as well as the historian of the Pentecost, may have discovered, (from some grounds unknown to 1 1 Cor, 14: 26—28. s Bleek 1. 24. 3 " I thank my God I speak with tongues more than ye all." " But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence," etc. 110 SPEAKING WITH TONGUES. us), that the praising of God in foreign languages was more becom ing, than it now appears to us. In the same way may the case stand in relation to verses 10, 12. While we read Paul's epistles alone, what is there said may decide us against the idea of lan guages ; but if we recollect, that the occurrence at the Pentecost is conceivable only on the supposition of foreign languages, and that we cannot allow ourselves to lose sight of the presupposition, that the phenomenon with which Paul had to do, was essentially like the one which first comes before us in the Acts, then we may indeed wonder how he pould have expressed himself as he has done in the Epistle ; but though it is not impossible that he has committed a logical fault, we do not believe ourselves called upon to overthrow everything which we have elsewhere recognized, until we have evidence that he is guilty of such a fault. It therefore follows, that the passage in the Corinthians contains nothing, which makes it absolutely impossible to understand the gift of tongues as a power, in particular moments of high inspiration, to praise God in languages which one had never before learned. Conclusion. What now is the result ? In my opinion it is this. All which we have above ascertained, pp. 93-7, on the nature of the mysterious gift, remains untouched. Hence it is not needful that it should be re peated. In respect to the unintelligibleness of its form we cannot come to perfect certainty ; still from the notices which the history of the Pentecost supplies, a strong probability arises in favor of the theory of foreign languages; the observations also, which Paul makes in our Epistle in relation to it, in part easily fall in with this supposition, and in part do not stand in such opposition as to compel us in consequence to give up what, from the narration of the first introduction of the gift, appears to follow inevitably. Therefore, without being able to say, thatwe know the precise circumstances of the case, we have still arrived at so much as this, we know to what conclusion the single authorities which we have at our command will lead us ; and at that point, I believe, we must stop, while all the advance which we might make would remove us from that position which we regard as the only possible one for such an investigation. At this point we therefore stop. SPEAKING WITH TONGUES. Ill [Riiekert frequently refers, in the preceding article, to his Com mentary on the chapters in the first epistle to the Corinthians which treat of the spiritual gifts. We here subjoin one or two extracts from his Commentary. They will serve for an outline of the apostle's course of thought. On Chap. XII, Riiekert remarks : " Paul speaks of things which were then perfectly well known. He addressed the persons among whom these things occurred. He erhployed expressions which were in every-day use. His object was not to explain the nature of these gifts to the Corinthians, but to give them directions in respect to the value of the gifts. It was not his design to communicate information to those who should live in subsequent centuries, but to check the abuse of the gifts at the time. Every trace of the things which Paul here handles was lost in the progress of time. We know nothing* of them except what can be drawn from the discussion itself, compared with some passa ges in the Acts of the Apostles." The thought which serves as the basis of the argument in Chap. XII is, " that everywhere in Christianity, the Divine Spirit is the agent, operating as the cause or principle of the Christian life. Paul then proceeds to the special object of the inquiry, namely, the value of the particular manifestations of the Holy Spirit's agency, and the preference which should be given to one or to another of the gifts in question. Paul thus, indeed, allows that there is a diversity in the gifts, but, in tracing back one and all of them to the same source — the Spirit, he calls attention to the common value of all, and points out the object which all should promote, namely, the general good of the Christian body." " The 13th Chapter is a delineation of the ' more excellent way,' or an illustration of the fact, that love is that one among the graces of the Christian, without which no gift, no virtue has any real value. Love is the best and noblest of all the graces, the fountain of all true virtue. It shall remain when all other gifts shall fail." Riiekert thus sums up Chap. XIV. The gifts of the Spirit are various ; yet the God who bestows them is but one, and the design of all is the common good. While the body of man has many mem bers, there is yet but one body. One member is not independent of another. All are intended for one harmonious whole. So the Church of Christ is one body of the Lord. All Christians are mem- 1 12 SPEAKING WITH TONGUES. bers of this body. They have different offices, but each is to labor for the good of the others, and thus promote the well-being of the whole. All cannot have the same business ; each one might, how ever, strive after the highest gifts, but still there is a more excellent blessing — love. Without this, no gift, no knowledge, no power, no virtue even would be of any value. The Corinthians should rather desire prophecy than speaking with tongues. The one who spoke with tongues edified himself only, since no one could under stand him ; the prophet edified the church. Paul desired indeed that all might enjoy the gift of tongues, but rather that they should prophesy, since the former consisted in unintelligible words, and, without interpretation, was useless, etc. In addition to the authors, before mentioned, who have written on the Gift of Tongues, we may name Baur and Steudel in the Tubin gen Zeitschrift, 1830 ; and Baumlein, in Klaiber's Stud, der Evang. Geistlichkeit Wiirtemb. VI. No. 2. 1834— Tr.] SPECIMENS OF THE SERMONS DR. A. THOLUCK. 15 SERMONS OF PROF. THOLUCK.1 SERMON 1.2 THE RELATION OF CHRISTIANS TO THE LAW. If we institute a comparison between the form which piety assumes in our own time, and that which it assumed in the time of our fore fathers, we shall find that a prominent distinction between the two is the following : the piety of our forefathers was connected in a high degree with an external discipline in religious duties, while piety with us is dependent upon this discipline no further than the feelings of any one may more or less incline him to make it so. Our fathers were stimulated by faith in these words of the apostle, — ' God will have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth ;' and they demanded therefore of every one, that he pray ' with fear and trembling,' that he seek, that he knock, until the door be opened, until Christ come and keep the sacramental feast with his soul. We, on the contrary, seem to be often influenced by an impression, that the language of the apostle, ' al,l men have not faith,' has no other meaning than this, — in order to have faith men must be inwardly organized as it is called, in an appointed way. And accordingly we see, that the one class of believers displayed, in their life, a fertile power of faith, and brought forth much fair fruit ; while the other class remain dry and unfruitful trees. Our fathers however found a great part of their guilt to consist in the fact, that the discipline of the law did not control, with sufficient power, their internal christian character. If now we take notice that Christians of modern days are speaking constantly and ex clusively of Freedom, of Spirit, of the Children of God, but very seldom of the Discipline of Law, of Self-denial, and the true idea of 1 See Note A, at the close ofthe Sermons. 2 An Analysis of each sermon is given in the notes. For an analysis of this, see Note B, at the close ofthe Sermons. 116 SERMONS OF PROF. THOLUCK. the word Servant oj God ; we shall regard it as a profitable exer cise, to examine the question, what is the true idea of the outward disciplinary influence of law upon the inward christian character. A comprehensive and profound explanation of the subject we find in the expression of our Lord, Mark 2: 27, 28. " And he said unto them, the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath day." There is, something enigmatical in these words, and yet their meaning may be easily discovered. That the Saviour permitted his disciples to pluck the ears of corn on the Sabbath, and thus to break the law of a rigid observance of the day, has been a stumbling stone to theologians.1 By this act the Lord shows what is the binding force of an external, and especially a ceremonial law. Man, he says, was not made for the Sabbath ; that is, the end of man's ex istence is not attained by the observance of the ceremonial law, the end of his existence is life in God ; instead of man's being made for the Sabbath, the Sabbath was made for him, that is, such external ordinances as the Sabbath, are instituted only for the purpose of educating man ; they are an external discipline, designed to form him from without to that character, for which he has no strength to determine himself from within. The thoughts of man, created as he is by God, should habitually come forth from within, to fasten on his Creator. The flesh, however, is weak ; Israel must therefore have its Sabbath and Christendom its Sunday, so that by this out ward discipline, the spirit may be educated to the same goodness which it ought to work out from its inward impulses. And as these ceremonial commands and ordinances are given merely for the sake of man, so likewise in a certain sense maj' it be said, that all the moral commands of God, as far as they are mere commands, are given for the same end. Only while the Spirit of God does not in cline us from within to all good, are these commands necessary. But the Son of man, as it is here said, is Lord of the Sabbath ; for whoever has the Spirit without measure, as Christ is represented to have had, can stand in no need of a law educating from without. You see, my worshipping friends, how clearly as well as pro foundly this language of the Saviour instructs us in the application of the outward discipline of law to faithful Christians. The Son of man and of God is Lord over the law, because he has the Spirit 1 See Note C, at tbe cjosi? ofthe Sermons. DISCIPLINE OF LAW. 117 without measure. The same Spirit, however, will be given to his followers through faith : and therefore this language teaches us, in the first place, that where the Spirit of God controls, the outward discipline of the law ceases; but it teaches us, with the same cer tainty, in the second place, that where the Spirit of God does not yet control, there the outward discipline of the law must remain. I say, where the Spirit of God controls, there all outward discipline of the law ceases. To the righteous, says the apostle, no law is given ; and again, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty ; and still again, all things are yours ; and finally, I have all power.1 These are bold, they are hazardous words. They are such words, as a fanatic hurls, as he would a burning torch, into the world. And yet, beloved, we have long known, that as there must be a light to make a shadow, so there must be a great truth to correspond wilh every great error ; that the errors, which w» call effective, only borrow their efficiency from a great truth deformed. It is undenia ble, that Christianity, in its development, aims at a state, in which there is a degree of freedom, which excludes all kind of restraint. Where the Spirit of God controls the inmost affections with absolute sway, there, certainly, the commands of religion cease to interfere with the man's will ; yea, no commands at all are given to such a man. What does he know of the command, Love God above all things else, when the love of God is to him the very life of his soul ? What does he know of the command, Love thy brother, when brotherly love has become so much of a second nature to him, that he ceases to breathe when he ceases to love ? The same may be said of all the commands of religion, of self-denial, chastity, humili ty. As it stands recorded of the pious man, that he is a tree planted by the water-brooks, which bringeth forth its fruit in its season, so all good works, in their season, that is, whenever they are called for from without, are performed by the man of this priestly spirit, without his even thinking of the fact, that they are required by a command. Does this ideal of character, which I present before you, seem too elevated ? Consider the manner in which we, who have re ceived the first fruits of the Spirit, are already affected in reference to civil laws? Who is influenced by the consideration, that the 1 See7firn7_79. 2 Cor. 3: 17. 1 Cor. 3: 21. 2 Cor. 4: 15: 6. 10. Phil. 4: 13. 1 Cor. 6: 12, 10 ; 2:;.— Te. 1 18 SERMONS OF PROF. THOLUCK. civil law commands, under severe penalties, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not commit adultery. These commands are obeyed by us from our own inward impulses. We should be obliged to deny ourselves, in order to conduct differently from what the law re quires ; and therefore amid all the restraints of command, we know ourselves to be free.— Oh how happy is that state, when we do not need to urge ourselves to obey the law of God ; when, as Paul says, the Spirit of God incites the children of God ; when it is no more commanded from without, do this, do that, forsake this, forsake that ; when to do the will of the Deity is the food of our souls. He who has been made by the Divine Spirit, thus inwardly free from all law ; how he stands up, untrammelled amid the restraints imposed by all the relations of the world, yea even by its calamities ! He is free when in chains, free in the prison, free under the pressure of gnawing disease. — It is the will of God which has selected for me the chain, the prison, the disease ; and as my will is not discordant with the Divine, so under all these restrictions I am free. Imagine, what must be my consciousness of king-like elevation, when all the events, which occur to me as by necessity from without, are yet freely chosen and determined by myself. That was the sentiment of a king, with which the first Christians went through the world, and with which Paul cried out, All things are yours. Yea truly where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom ; but where k is not, there discipline is imperiously needed. And does ihis Spirit of the Lord rule constantly in us, who are believers ? If Paul speaks of himself and of all Christians, as those who have received only the first fruits of the Spirit, and who are even yet waiting for the full harvest ; — and not only the creature, he says, but we ourselves also, who have received the first fruits of the Spirit, long within ourselves after the adoption ;' if he speaks thus of himself, what must we, in our poverty, say of ourselves ? This we must say ; that where the Spirit of God does not control, there the external discipline of the law must remain. Yea, friends, so far as the Spirit of God does not bear the sceptre within us all, so far we still need the law. And particularly, we need the law, in the first place, as a representative of the virtue which we do not possess ; in the second place, as a barrier against the sin which 1 Rom. 8: 23. DISCIPLINE OF LAW. 119 importunes us ; and in the third place, as a seal of the method of salvation which we have chosen, of salvation by grace,1 We need the law, as a representative of the virtue which we do not possess. The knowledge of sin, says Paul, comes from the law, and in this manner we obtain an idea of that virtue of which we are destitute. Many proofs may be given of the truth of Christianity, and of the divine origin of the Holy Scriptures ; but, my friends, I am not able to mention a single proof, which is higher and more urgent than this, — there is no book which unfolds, as the Bible does, the secrets of the human heart. The mysteries of God are great in the height to which the Bible has carried us ; but truly the mysteries of the human heart, in the depth to which the Bible has carried us, are equally great ; and in proportion as the Spirit of the Lord does not rule in our affections, we must be educated, all the days of our life, in this school of self-knowledge. Paul was^far advanced in the knowledge of himself, and yet he felt obliged to utter the memorable remark, — ' It is to me a small thing, that I should be judged before a human tribunal ; I even judge not mine own self: I am conscious of nothing amiss, but by this pure consciousness I am not justified ; it is the Lord who judgeth me.'2 If you would perceive, my friends, how far you have advanced in the knowledge of yourselves, then answer the question, — can you repeat, in sincere self-application, these words of the apostle ? Are you actually persuaded, that if you were conscious of having committed no sin at all, still you would not be thereby justified ? If you can and must acknowledge this, then you need a mirror, which may show you the virtue which is wanting ; you need the mirror of the divine law. To be particular, I understand here by the term law, not merely the laws of the Old Testament, but every thing which stands re corded in the Scriptures, so far as we consider it as a command, from which may be learned the claims of God. Thus the narrations of the Old Testament, in which God contends with his people, be cause they were continually forsaking the fountain of life, and becoming idolaters, are a mirror ofthe law, a constant proclamation to the heart of man, — ' Thou shalt have no other Gods besides me.' So the whole history of Jesus Christ is a proclamation to the heart of 1 Salvation is here used in its wide sense, as exemption from punishment hereafter, and from its precursors here. — Tr. * 1 Cor. 4: 2, 3. See Calvin on the passage. Vol. I. V. 257.— Tb. 120 SERMONS OF PROF. THOLUCK. man, — ' Whoever says, that he abides in Christ, let him walk even as Christ has walked.' So the whole history of Paul is a continued proclamation, — ' Be ye followers of me, even as I am of Christ.' The preaching too of all the witnesses of the Gospel, those mentioned in the Scripture, and those out of it, are a continued exhortation, — ' Wherefore let us also, since we are surrounded with such a crowd of witnesses, lay aside the sin which retards our spiritual progress, and makes us always sluggish.' 'For,' says the same apostle, ' all Scripture, given by God, is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for reformation, for instruction in righteousness^ that the man of God may be perfect, made ready for every good work.' Ye who are sincere and earnest in your profession of religion, do ye daily hold before your eyes this mirror of God's claim upon us ? Again, and yet again have I pointed you to the law ; and has even one, here and there, actually reduced it to practice ? I hope in God it is so ; and yet there have been veiy few seasons, when the preached Gos pel has so easily found applause, but so hardly found obedience. Ah, after what do many preachers of the word themselves inquire and seek? Instead of inquiring, whether the preached word be obeyed, do they not seek after the miserable approbation of their fellow men ? — The cause of this disobedience to the preached Gos pel, is the fact, that we, the Christians of this time, give way too much to our evil propensities. And from the very fact, that we too freely surrender ourselves to sinful impulse, arises our need of the discipline of law. Secondly, where the Spirit of God does not bear sway, we need the external discipline of the law as a barrier against the sins which importune us. As every deed of man is an efflux from his will, so the deed operates back again upon its source. As from the sinful thought, sinful words and sinful actions emanate, so the sinful words and actions have a reflex influence upon the thought. Vanity, anger, unchaste desire harass our spirits within, and are clamorous to break out in words. At last you speak the word, — the fiery dart flies back ignited into your heart. Therefore what the Lord said to Cain is always appropriate ; — ' If thou be not seriously inclined, sin lieth at the door ; yet surrender thou not thy desire to it, but rule over it.'1 1 Gen. 4-. 7. If thou doest not well, sin stands ready to be committed, lieth in wait for thee ; but thy duty is, not to be overcome by it, not to comply with its solicitations however urgent, Rom. 6: 12, but to resist and subdue it. This is the interpretation of Rosenm.Her and others.— Tb. DISCIPLINE OF LAW. 121 Christians, we are permitted in no circumstances to surrender our wills to sin. If the spirit cannot repress it from its own impulses, we must place against it, from without, the barrier of the law. In the effeminacy of the present times, our Christianity fails in this respect, more than in any other. Our religion is 6ne of feeling, but not of prayer and of law. If we feel ourselves piously excited, then we are pious ; if the feeling be irreligious, then we yield to impulse and are irreligious. But have we not read, that ' through the Spirit we should die to the things of the flesh ?.' Christians, every instant of our life, must we obey the invisible King, whose we are ? Can we not obey him as his children ? Well then, we must obey him as his servants. Obey, we must. Accordingly, there must be, every1 instant, some ruling power in the life of a Christian, to control him ; and if this be not the flame of the spirit from within, it must be the barrier of the law from without, , Who has (been a man of such spiritual excellence as Paul ? And yet even with him the work of sanctification was not completed" with perfect ease, and freedom from the law. Even he was obliged to set before himself a dike and barrier from without ; for he says, ' I mortify my body and afflict it,. that I may not preach the Gospel to others, and be myself cast away.' Wherefore, Christians, write it deeply upon your consciences, nothing is less seemly for a religious man, than for him at any time to give the rein to his evil passions. He only can give way to his impulses who has no Lord. But we, if we live, then let us live to the Lord ,' if we die, then let us die to Him. Whether therefore we live or die, we still are the Lord's. A Christian can not surrender himself up to evil feelings ; either he will be incited by- the urgency of>the Holy Spirit, or he will be held back by the barrier of the law of God. Beloved, think of a man, who has been permitted to dwell near his monarch, before the face of that mon arch to pass his life, will he ever let himself depart from that mon arch's will ? No. He will never allow this departure. If he is not incited by the spirit of reverence and love from within, he will yet be held back from without by tbe restraints of the law. But we also, Christians, live continually before the face of a great King, the omnipresent God ; wherefore woe to us, if we ever let ourselves depart from his will ! , , This is the place fof learning the nature of those external laws, which are not properly moral laws, but are simply designed, for the 16 122 SERMONS OF PROF. THOLUCK. discipline ahd regulation of the outer life. You may perhaps have often looked with astonishment upon that indefinite number of ex ternal ceremonies ahd statutes, with which Moses encompassed the children of the old dispensation. An Israelite could scarcely spend a single hour, without being reminded of some one ofthe many out ward duties, which were prescribed for him. These outward disciplinary laws were the very barrier, which has been described for the sinful inclinations of such a heart as was not swayed by the Spirit. If, from the depth of the Israelite's consciousness, the feeling did not force itself upon him, that he was dependent, constantly, and in all his deeds upon the invisible King of all kings, still, by such a system-of outward legal discipline, this feeling must have been ever freshly excited in his bosom. He was not permitted to resign him self to his impulses. Every one of these commands would be, as it were, a fact preaching to the heart that had forgotten its Creator, — Man, thou art a servant of God. And since we, Christians, so far as the Spirit of the Lord does not dwell within us, stand in general, hke the Israelites, under the outward discipline of the law, so we cannot dispense with such an outward disciplinary administration, such external ordinances. They are a barrier to tbe sins that harass our minds. How far even the most spiritual Christian is from being so much of a spirit, as to have no further need of the prescribed external ob servances, I am able to show by an example relating fo the services of divine worship. You have heard of that sect of Christians, calling themselves by the simple name of Friends, who strenuously insist, that in the sacred assemblies of Christians the fire of devotion should enkindle itself simply and solely from within ; and they therefore wish to hear\>f no call ofthe bell to devotion, no temples stretching up toward heaven, no sacred vestments for the Sabbath, and no holy seasons. They come together under no other sound of the bell than that of praying souls ; and with no other sacred vesture, than the ornament of devotion. And in what other manner^ they ask, can we properly explain the instructions of the Lord about worshipping in spirit and in truth ? And it is a fact ; did the sacred tide of spiritual influence diffuse itself through our whole internal system, what need should we have of these solemn altars, and these sacer dotal vestments; of the sound of the bell, and the organ-tone, and of such halls aspiring to heaven ? Oh, at that Sabbath, when DISCIPLINE OF LAW. , 123 Christians shall keep their everlasting rest, the time will have ar rived, when we shall worship perfectly, in spirit and in truth ; when the glorified company of the Lord shall no more need the organ, and the sound of the bell, to awaken their inward devotion ! But who of us is not fully convinced, that in our present state,, the: Spirit of the Lord having manifested himself within us scarcely in his first fruits, we cannot dispense, not even the most spiritual among us, with these outward ordinances and disciplinary forms ? If then, in the public worship of God, the external regulation must come to the aid of the spirit, the same is true in our whole religious life. We need an external regulation which may cooperate with the efforts of the spirit. The whole Christianity of our time too wants such an external system ; for it is moving in uncertainty hither and thither upon the waves of feeling. There is no longer a solemn observance of Sundays and a regular attendance at .hurch ; [here is but little regular secret prayer in the closet, or social prayer in the family. Spirit! Spirit! we cry out ; but should the prophets, of God come again, as they came of old, and should they look upon our works,— Flesh I Flesh ! they would cry out, in response. Of a truth, my friends, even the most spiritual among us cannot dispense with a rule, a prescribed form, in his morality ahd piety, without allowing the flesh to resume its predominance, You are all obliged to con fess, that the sway of the Spirit of God within your minds is yet weak ; carry, then, holy ordinances into your life. As the apostle commands you, take your . food with the expression Of thanks ; by this means will you be reminded that your sustenance is the gift of unmerited mercy.-^-Observe your Sunday by attendance at church, and by prayer ; so you may vividly call to mind, at least on that day, as you do not during the whole week, who your Lord is, and to what company you belong. Offer solitary prayer in your closet, and spcial prayer in your family. , And should it seem to you that the yoke is too severe, reflect that you have already received the first.fruits of the Spirit ; love to your Saviour has commenced within you ; and .this principle of love, must unite with the principle of obedience, else it will be nearly as difficult fpr you as for any one to obey the law, simply because it is law. Think of the severest duties, the acutest sufferings of disease, the heaviest losses ; is it hot true, that love will here insinuate itself, and if it will not do every thing, will at least hel p to make the duty and the command easy to you ? 124 SERMONS OF PROF. THOLUCK. But if the external discipline of the law were necessary neither as a representation of virtue, which we have not, nor as a , barrier against the sins which harass us, still it would be beneficial as a seal ofthe method of salvation which we have chosen— of salvation by grace. Let us now, in the conclusion of our discourse, glance at this topic. This outwafd discipline of the law, if we subject ourselves to it, is a perpetual seal, that the way to the Father, which we have chosen, a way opened by the grace that appears in Christ, is all that can make man happy. Whoever faithfully subjects himself to the discipline of the divine law, is confident, is without a doubt, that neither happiness in the world to come, nor peace in the present world, is ever obtained on the ground of mere desert. Such an one learns for the first time, by this legal discipline, how difficult it is to obey the law of God. — But you ask, can there be among us the false conceit, that any one has merit before God, when there is no word oftener sounded in our ears from the pulpit, than Love, and Grace ? My friends, I tell you, this error does prevail among us, and perhaps in no less degree than in the church, from which ours originated. With the altefed times, indeed, this error has as sumed a new dress. It has put on the garb of moral improvement. The hand of eternal justice holds the two scales of the balance ; into the left scale fall your wicked deeds, and into the right your virtues. Will the right be so heavy as to sink ? — Will the right sink ? — Oh, I would not depend upon it, that from the heart of any one present, there would come a negative answer to this question. I could not confidently anticipate such an answer, for — your eye is too dim to discern what falls into the left scale. You perceive the works of your hand, but the works of your mouth, of your heart, you see not. But look, Christians, at the unrighteous words, the unrighteous thoughts and wishes, which have been ever rising up from your hearts ! Behold them — fallen down without number into the left scale. But I hear the words uttered eagerly, loudly, and without delay, from the hearts of most men, — " Ah no ! the right hand scale will rise /" What then, my friends, will you place in it, so that it •may sink ? Will you place in it the unmerited mercy of God in Jesus Christ? — Oh I see, I see that some tears drop into the right hand scale ; some tears of sadness and penitence ; and the left scale seems to ascend before your eyes.— Yea, Christians, if the church GENTLENESS OF CHRIST. 125 of Rome has placed a legal righteousness in mortifications and pilgrimages, so have we placed a legal righteousness in tears. It is indeed very true, there is in a solitary tear an uncomputed weight, greater than all the weight of the mountains of the world ; in a tear which flows from the' deepest fountain ofthe penitent soul; and yet, even tears cannot atone for us. And the reason of their insufficiency is not the simple fact, that bur penitence is never deep enough, and our tears are never warm enough -,- by no means ; nothing but; the pure unmerited grace of God, appropriated to ourselves by faith, can make the atonement for our sins. — Believer, this grace will fall into your right hand scale, and the scale will sink ! — To this consciousness now, that neither our works nor our tears can cause the right hand scale to descend, only that man comes, who has ' travelled in the rough way of the discipline of God's law. So it is then, that this severe life under the law stamps a sure seal^ipon the fact, that we have chosen for our good the way of grace, a way that conducts us to happiness in the life to come, and to peace of heart in this life. Come then, Christians, whoever of you are earnestly engaged for your highest welfare, never surrender yourselves to your sinful im pulses. Pray for the Spirit of God, who moveth the children of God from within. Whenever a single duty, a single command is presented to your conscience and you are not able to perform the duty, to obey the command, under the mere incitement of the spirit, then surrender yourselves in obedience to the divine law. It will be for you a school-master to bring you to Christ, and to afford you the favor of communing with the Son of man. Whoever is actua ted by the Spirit of God, the same is Lord of the Sabbath. He is a righteous man, and as the apostle says, no law is given to him. SERMON II. i GENTLENESS OF CHRIST. Christians, this day are you assembled the second time, for the purpose of celebrating the advent of a child. What a birth-day ' For an Analysis of this Sermon, see Note D, at the close of the, Sermons. 126 SERMONS OF PROF. THOLUCK. solemnity is this ! What child is there among mortals, whose birth is celebrated by such multitudes as in all parts of the world go this day to their, holy places,, and by such tears of joy as are poured out this day in many a closet. And this has been the fact for eighteen hundred years, and will continue to be, as long as time' shall endure. My christian friends, either this child was in fact incomparably su perior to all children, who have ever been placed at the mother's breast ; or else Christendom is devoted to error, as no other com munity of men has been. But no ! Christians, under no miscon ception do you come together in the holy place ; under no miscon ception do the flames of sacrifice ascend, pure and holy, to heaven^ from all parts of the world, on this day. The child that was born to you to day is the Prince of Peace, the Government is upon his shoulders., And the two days Which are set apart in Our christian community, for the purpose of celebrating his advent, are only the highest point of that festival in honor of the infant's birth, which is observed by all redeemed hearts as often as, in their anguish and forebodings, they console themselves with the thought, that this infant is the Redeemer from all sin and all evil. Delightful and instructive is this day-spring from on high, as the Holy Scripture denominates the birth of Jesus, whether we consider what the Redeemer has abolished, or the particular style of action which he adopted. It is this last consideration which will engage our minds during our present exercise. The passage, to which we annex the discussion, we find in 1 Jungs, 19: 1 — 13. — " And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijahy, and said unto him,—' May the gods do to me this and more also, if I do not, tomorrow about this time, make thy life like the life of one of these men.' When he saw thai, he arose and went forth whither he would, and came to Beersheba in Judah and left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the desert, and came and seated himself under a juniper tree, and prayed that he might die, and said, — 'It is enough ; so now, Lord, take away my life ; I am not better than my fathers.' And he lay down and slept under the juniper tree. And behold, an angel touched him, and said to him, — ' Rise up and eat.' And he looked around him, and behold at his head lay toasted bread and a can of, waler. And when he had eaten and drank, he lay down again fo sleep. And GENTLENESS OF CHRIST. 127 the angel of the Lord came the second time, and touched him, and said,—' Rise up and eat ; for thou hast a long journey before thee.' And he arose, and ate and drank, and went on the strength of that food forty days and forty night?, even to Horeb, the mount of God. And he went unto a cave there, arid remained in the cave over night. And behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, and said to him,—' What doest thou here, Elijah ?' He said,—' I have been zeal ous for the Lord, the God of Hosts ; for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, and broken down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword ; and I only am left, and they attempt to take my life. ' Go forth,' he said, ' and stand upon the mount before the Lord.' And behold the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord ; but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind, came an earthquake ; but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, came a fire ; but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle soft sound. When Elijah heard this, he hid his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the door of his cave." ' When you see the child of God, whose birth we this day cele brate, descending in the still night to the manger in little Bethle hem, unnoticed by all the great and wise of the earth ; and when you see the small company of shepherds celebrating' the natal day ;. and when you understand the passage just recited from the Old Testament ; tell me, does it not appear to you as if the ancient narration, which we have read, were barely a prophetical discourse on the birth of your Saviour ? — The Lord is not in the storm and the tempest, but in the gentle soft sound ; — -this is the sentiment here proclaimed to us. It is indeed true, that when originally uttered, the words had a reference very different "from that which we have just noticed. If we look for the meaning of this elevated symboli cal appearance in the connection of Elijah's history, we shall see how the great prophet-bad been consumed with zeal in the contest against the impiety of his nation, and how his love of life even had forsaken him. ' He went a day's journey into the wilderness, and seated himself under a juniper tree, and prayed that he might die, and said, — It is enough, so take npw, Lord, my life from me.' This appearance therefore/may be regarded as a mere admonition, that God was not in the consuming zeal of Elijah, so far as that zeal was 128 SERMONS OF PROF. THOLUCK. unsustained by love, by patience, by forgiveness. There would be found, in this reference of our text, a rich subject of consideration, if I were disposed to show you, in what way. the zeal of Elijah must be tempered, in order that God may be in it. The topics for con sideration and application, which the subject presents to us, are very various, whether we apply the subject to the mode in which we are related to God, or the mode in which He is related to us ; whether we apply it to the history of the world, or to an individual heart. Variously and in multiplied forms is it true, that God is not in the storm and tempest, but in the soft gentle sound.1 To day, however, we will consider this truth in regard to the manifestations of the Saviour ofthe world ; and, first, in regard to his entrance into the world ; secondly, in regard to his progress through the world ; and thirdly, in regard to his departure from it. Throughout the whole discussion, we will inquire how he might have appeared when con fronting a finite race, and when confronting a sinful race, and how he actually did appear. 1. ' The Lord is not in the storm and the tempest, but in the soft gentle sound.' Thus are we addressed by the entrance of the Son of God into the world. How might he haye appeared when he met a finite race ? — There rests concealed behind all the excellence. of nature, there rests concealed behind every spectacle in history, there is ruling concealed in the depth of the earth, there is ruling concealed in the immensity of the starry world, the eternal spirit, which- we call God ! There are hours, when thou dost imagine thyself to come near him ; — oh, there are wonderful hours in the life of man, when it is as if the great -mystery of all existence would at once burst asunder its bar, and come forth, unveiled ! Our in most soul is agitated at such an hour. But how is it when the bar is actually burst asunder; when he who dwells in unapproachable light, where no man can draw near, — when the infinite Spirit, who sustains heaven and earth, assumes a visible form, and appears among his finite creatures ? Who does not now expect, what is written of the day of his second coming, that his heavens, which are his throne, will tremble ; that this small earth, his footstool, will shake ; that a foreboding sentiment, such as we have elsewhere dis covered at the occurrence of great natural phenomena, will seize all tribes ofthe earth, and cause some to rejoice, and others to weep ! — 1 See Note E, at the close ofthe Sermons. GENTLENESS OF CHRIST. 129 ' Soon after the affliction of that period,' it is written, '¦the sun and the moon shall lose their brightness, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be shaken ; and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth wail ; and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with great power and glory.' Yet behold, as nature is everywhere still when she creates, and loud only when she destroys, so is she still, indescribably still, when the greatest of all who are born of women comes into the world. The sun did not stand motionless in the heavens, when he came ; it was night. He did not make his first appearance in the capital city ; but in one of the smallest places of the land. No sleeper waked up at his coming ; but only they who watched through the night had intelligence of his advent. The earth that night did not shake ; the heaven that night did not tremble. Only a few childlike souls, who then kept vigil at his birth, trembled ; yet their trembling w%s a trembling for joy. " The eternal light enters," says the poet, " and gives the world a new splendor ; it shines clearly at midnight, and makes us children of the light. He whom the whole circumference of the world could not embrace, lies in the womb of Mary. He, who alone sustains the universe, has become a little infant." How might Jesus have appeared when he met a sinful world ? He will, at his second coming, appear to it as its Judge ; and at his first coming, even then, it might have been said, in the words of the poet, — " Trembling at the foundations of the earth, willj proclaim the approach of the Judge, and he will search into the hearts of men." Even at that advent, might an anxious foreboding have seized the whole world of sinners ; even then might they have cried, as they will one day cry, — 'Ye mountains, cover us ; ye hills, fall on us.' Yet the Lord was not in the tempest, but in the gentle soft sound ; and the heavenly hosts sung at his birthj — Peace on earth and good will to men. As the poet says, — " The Son ofthe Father who has the same nature with God, became a guest in our world ; he raised us up from the valley of our lamentation, and gave us an inheritance in his palace." Beloved of God, with what feelings must we keep this natal feast, when we reflect how the Redeemer might have appeared,"and how he did appear ; and moreover, when we reflect on^the other side, how he will appear at a future period. For, says the apostle, — 17 . ¦ 130 SERMONS OF PROF. THOLUCK. ' He hath taken and will retain possession of heaven, until the time when all these things shall be accomplished, which God hath fore- told by the mouth of all his holy prophets.'1 He who came the first time to save sinners, will come the second time to judge them ; he who came the first time to bear our sins, will come the second time to condemn them. Now we are enjoying the day of comfort, when the Lord does not appear in the tempest but in the soft gentle sound ; oh then let our hearts be touched by this soft gentle sound ! Let- us kneel down at the manger, let us worship with the pious shepherds, let us strow myrrh, with the kings from the East. 2. The Lord is not in the tempest, but in the soft still sound ; — this has been verified in the progress of Christ through the world. ' He had,' as the apostle tells us, ' not thought it robbery to be equal with God, he had deprived himself of his rightful dignity, and ta ken the form of a servant, and he became even like another man, and was found in appearance as a man.'2 But even among men there are gods ; that is, there are such as., on account of the dignity and elevation of their rank in relation to other men, are called gods of the earth. Yet it was submitted to his choice, whether he would reign in a palace, or in a hut ; whether the proclamation, — ' come unto me, ye who are miserable and heavy laden,' should be sounded from a throne or from the highways and hedges ; — whether nothing but the brightness of a celestial world, that had been kept concealed, should come to the eyes of mortals, or at the same time the bright ness of an earthly dignity should blind them. But lo ! - the Lord is in the gentle soft sound,. The house of a carpenter in Nazareth is not too low for the king of heaven, that he should abide therein ; the woollen garment, woven throughout, is not too strait for the Lord of glory that he should wrap himself in it as he travelled through this vale of earth. The King of all kings chooses the office of a servant, among servants, his subjects ; — in this way did he go forth to meet his finite brethren. Yet even in this humble disguise, how different might have been his mode of confronting a sinful world, from what it was. Though no star glistened on his breast, and no crown upon his head, yet he carries even in his humiliation thunder and lightning on his tongue, thunder and lightning in his hands. What had been the result, if every word from Ihe lips of the holy man had been an imprecation against 1 Acts 3: 21. ' Phil. 2: 6, 7. GENTLENESS OF CHRIST. 131 sin, and every speech a proclamation of justice against the transgres sor ? The Lord, the God of Israel says to Jeremiah, the prophet, — ' Take this cup, full of wrath, from my hand, and pour out of the same upon all the people to whom I send you.' How had it been if the Son himself had appeared, with the cup full of Wrath in his hand, and with his voice of authority, to execute justice upon a fallen world ? But the Lord is not in the tempest ; he is iri the soft gentle sound. ' Comfort ye, comfort ye my people ; speak ye kindly to Jerusalem ; proclaim to her that her warfare is accomplished, and her sin is forgiven,' — this was the text of his prophetical discourse. When he comes, for the first time, into the synagogue of Nazareth, he turns to the saying of the prophet, — ' The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me, and sent me to preach the Gospel to the poor, to heal bruised hearts, to proclaim to the captives that they may be at liberty, to the blind that jhey may receive sight, and to the bruised that they may be free and unshackled ; — to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And as all eyes in the synagogue were fastened upon him, he began to say unto them, — This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.' ' Wisdom is justified of her children, and becomes the companion of publicans and sinners.'1 — He does indeed bear in his hand a cup of wine ; — but it is not the wine of the wrath of God ; it is the wine with which the Samaritan washes the wounds of the bruised man ; it is the cup of wine, of which he says, — ' Drink ye all of it ; it is my blood of the New Testament, which was shed for many, for the remission of sins.' For the prophets of the Old Testament there is no higher praise, than that they moved about in ' the spirit arid the power of Elias,' as it is also written of John the ^Baptist ; that they opened their mouth, and restrained not their voice, and proclaimed aloud, — ' The axe is laid at the root of the tree:' But of this prophet of the New Dis pensation it is written, in delightful words, what is written of none besides, — 'He shall not strive nor cry, and his voice shall not be heard in the street ; a bruised reed shall he not break, and the gldwing wick shall he not quench.' Thus does Isaiah prophesy concerning him ; and do you know a more delightful and appropriate coloring, with which to picture him forth ? Ye glowing wicks, ye shall not be extinguished altogether ; thou bruised reed, thou shalt not be completely broken ; for not in the tempest doth the Lord move among us, but as a soft gentle sound. 132 SERMONS OF PROF. THOLUCK. We have only spoken of the thunder and the lightning, which might have come forth from the Messiah's preaching ; but he also had the same power over the thunder and the lightning in his miraculous interpositions. He who can lay his hand on the blind, and they see, can also nod, and those who see shall be made blind. He who can say to the leper, ' be clean,' can cover the clean with a leprosy. He who can say to the dead, ' stand up,' can place the living in the slumber of death by his bare will. The storm which is stilled in obedience to his nod, must also obey him when he calls it up from the abyss, to destroy his adversaries. You owe it to this aspect ofthe works and conduct of Christ, "that when his miraculous power is spoken of, you think merely of a miraculous power which blesses. There is, however, a miraculous power of which the Scripture speaks, which instead of blessing, punishes. It is in the Old Testament that we discover, preeminently, a manifestation of this power. There is an instance of it in the speech of Moses against Korah's company. ' When he had uttered these words,' it is said, ' the earth beneath them was rent asunder, and it opened its mouth, and swallowed them up ; and they went down alive into the pit, they and every thing which they possessed ; and — the earth cover ed them up.' In the same way also does ..Peter, in the New Testa ment, say to Ananias, — ' Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God ; and when Ananias heard these words, he fell down and gave up the ghost ; and great fear came upon all who heard this.' Lo, in this manner might our Saviour have gone through the world, with his hand uplifted, conjuring the storm from the abyss or the thunder from heaven against every transgressor, an avenger of every crime. Yet the Son of man, it is said, did not come to judge the world, but to save it. The Lord is not in the storm and tempest, but in the soft gentle sound. All his miracles, his miracles of deliverance and of kindness are designed to teach us the spiritual significancy of his appearance on the earth. Yea with perfect faithfulness does the evangelist, when he describes a healing of the sick by Jesus, apply to him the words of the prophet, — ' He bore our sickness.' For was it not an endurance of our sickness ; did he not in truth take it and bear it in his feeling heart, when he lived from morning until evening surrounded with the infirm and the miserable, whom he relieved ? 3. As was his entrance into the world, so was his departure GENTLENESS OF CHRIST. 133 from it. The same instruction, that was proclaimed by his advent, and by his life, was also proclaimed by his ascension. — How might he have departed ? If the Lord of glory whom they had nailed to the cross, but who could not be held ,by death, had, when risen from the grave and glorified by heaven, gone to the place of his agonies, to the mount of Olives, and there waved his banner of victory be fore all the world ; he had only to give one nod, and the city which had cried out against him, — ' Away with Jesus, release unto us Barabbas,' would have sunk into the deep, like Sodom and Go morrah ; and the people who had cried, — ' His blood come upon us and upon our children,' must have shrieked out,—' Ye mountains, cover us, and ye hills fall upon us.' Yet here' also the Lord was not in the storm and the tempest, but in the soft sound. Early in the morning did he once more assemble- his own in Jerusalem; darkness still brooded over the streets of the city ; he then walked, in the stillness ofthe morning twilight, with th eeleven to the moun tain, which had witnessed his bloody sweat on the night of his sor rows. The earliest rays of the opening day shone through the clouds ; and then, says the .history, he lifted up his hands, and blessed his chosen ones, and a cloud took him up from the earth. Amid the shades of night he came ; in the redness of the morning dawn he went away ; ever, ever shalt thou' stand before our souls, thou glorified Saviour, in the same attitude in which thou didst leave the world, with thy hands extended over thy chosen to bless them ! Yea, the Lord is not in the tempest, but in the soft, mild sound ! Oh beloved, who of you is so unsusceptible, that such love cannot allure him. As long as it is called to-day, thy God cometh in a gentle sound. Receive him. Surrender to him thy heart. He will at a future time come in the storm, and the heaven and the earth shall flee away. Then will he not smite thee, but judge thee. Oh, to-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.1 1 See Note F, at the close of the Sermons. 134 SERMONS OF PROF. THOLUCK. SERMON III.1 CAUSES OF THE PRACTICAL INEFFICIENCY OF OUR RESOLUTIONS TO DO GOOD. A new academical half-year is a new section of life ; and the man who is conscious of an object in living, begins every distinct period of his life with new resolutions. The boy enters upon the period of youth with new resolves ; every new year and the new day begins with new resolves; and with new resolves do you, academic youth, commence the new half-year. But at every such fresh resolution a thought arises, which breaks the wing of him who was just ready to soar, and by destroying his confidence robs him of his strength ; — it is the thought of the many resolutions we have made already, which have been like water poured out ; the thought of our innumerable purposes and deeds, which have been attended with no success. We stand upon a hill-top ; the path of life lies behind us, resolutions at every one of its stopping places ; — resolu tions, but no results. And where this is the fact, are we able to look with confidence into the future ? What wonder, if, when the eye glances back upon the last period of life, and idly rests upon the hope, that as the land behind us has been one of resolutions only, so that before us will be one of results, — what wonder, I say, if even the doubt should then thrust itself upon the mind, — ' Who knows, but in the land before us also—! ' Has a resolution never been brought to successful issue on the earth ? Who then will give se curity, that it shall be successful hereafter. — And who can stand with a wing so broken, without being an object of commiseration ? And would Christianity deserve the name of a power, if it could carry men on no further than this? Never, never! Either Chris tianity is no power from God, or we, who have not firmness to ex ecute the purpose of doing everything demanded by the divine will, are no Christians ; we belong not to the same company of disciples with him, who though he was clothed like ourselves with flesh and blood, yet cried out, ' I can do all things through him who strengthen ed! me.' For an Analysis of this Sermon, see Note G, at the close of the Sermons. FRUITLESS RESOLUTIONS. 135 ¦ It is this solemn corisideratipn which leads us to the query, why our resolutions so frequently remain without results ? We learn the answer to this query in Psalm 119: 67, where the Psalmist makes this confession, " Before I was humbled, I went astray ; but now I keep thy word."1 We are unable to determine, whether or not those words of the Psalmist came from that deeply fallen and deeply humbled monarch, who has pictured before us, iu so elevating a mariner, the pains of sin as being the triumph of grace. It may be admitted, that they are not the words of David, yet they express^ as many passages which actuallydo belong to him, the- royal Psalmist's experience of life. In the innocence of piety, he had once sung his songs by the herds of his father ; he had sung in childlike confi dence ; ' The Lord. is my shepherd, I shall not want.' But the au thority and -splendor of the throne had dazzled his eyes ; in this point and that he had become lifted up in pride ; and his ability to gratify himself in all things had preparer! the way for the deepest fall ; even for the sin with the wife of Uriah ; for a fall so deep, that if we look at the outward act, perhaps there is no one of us who would not be better than he. Severe accusations are often raised among us against the royal sinner on account of this fall. How could we put a light estimate upon this guilt which he had con tracted, when he himself regarded it as so heinous, that he cried out; — ' WhileT chose to conceal my sin, . my bones wasted away, by means of my daily groaning ; for day and night was thy hand upon me heavily, so that my moisture was consumed, as in a summer's drought.'2 If now he condemned himself, we for the same reason cannpt acquit him. There are two things, however, which we must not forget. Should we forget the strong temptation, which the un limited power of an eastern monarch brought with it ? and should we further forget the pains of the repentance, which produced so much subsequent fruit ? — He, the absolute monarch, hid his head in shame, when Nathan the prophet said to him, to his face, thou art the man ! and he lay in the dust before God, even till he obtained forgiveness again, and was able to cry ; — ' Happy is he whose trans gressions are pardoned, whose sin is blotted out ; — now I keep thy word.' The man, who can ,say this in the presence of God, and with a consciousness of all those affections within him which are opposed to God, must be a man in whom every resolution has its 1 See Note H, at the close ofthe Sermons. s Ps. 32: 3, 4. 136 SERMONS OF PROF. THOLUCK. yea and amen. The question, therefore, why our resolutions have so frequently no results, is at length answered for us in these words, — because our sins do not humble us in the right way ; or, more particularly, because we do not humble ourselves ; do not humble ourselves before God, do not humble ourselves in faith. I say, in the first place, our resolutions are so frequently unpro ductive of results, because we do not humble ourselves for our faults. The desire of pleasure is deeply implanted in human nature. How completely bound, as it were with cords, does a man feel, when he is not permitted to enjoy himself. The youth above all others has this feeling, when all his senses are in vigorous play, and life opens before him with its hundred avenues. This love of pleasure when considered in its elements, is not to be entirely condemned. Our God is called the blessed King of all kings j1 and shall not this most blessed of all, who communicates from himself all other good to his subjects, communicate also his happiness to them ? But hu mility for our faults and sins causes pain. It does cause pain, pain indeed, when the severe, holy eye of conscience opens itself wide upon us, and darts its rays of rebuke like consuming lightning upon our conduct, and wakes up the spirit of self-impeachment and shame, and penitence, and self-condemnation. Christian humility for our sins causes not merely a simple, but a variously compounded pain. And it is through fear of this, that men generally recoil from begin ning an earnest christian life. Through fear of this, they remain in such a stale, that the best resolutions are attended with no good consequences. If the man is no longer sensual, yet he has no heart to be spiritual ; for his life perpetually oscillates between heaven and earth, between yea and nay. There is no belter. description of this state, than in these words of the apostle : — ' We know that the law is spiritual, hut I am carnal, sold under sin. For I know not what I do ; for what I would, I do not ; but what I hate, that I do.' This is that human heart, of which it is said by the poet : — " The heart of* man is an apple, driven over the level heath by a storm ;" and again, " The heart of man is like water, rising and sinking in a boiling cauldron." Truly, the disgust, the impotence, the loathing which such a divided, distracted life brings with it, is much more in tolerable than the pain of humiliation and penitence. Be men, therefore ; ye who, are tossed hither and thither between heaven 1 1 Tim. 6': 15. FRUITLESS RESOLUTIONS. 137 and earth, collect your strength, and make choice of that death, through which you must pass on your way to life. For it is no otherwise than has been said by. the poet; — "We have a twofold nature; yet the same law is observed in one as in the other ; the path to real joy winds only through death and sorrow." As in the present condition of human nature, it is the law of true life that it shall lead through death ; the same is likewise the law of moral freedom, which is itself the truest life ; — it also leads through death, through self-mortification. Natural life then and natural desire must die ; not so as to be annihilated altogether, but only so >as to be extricated from what opposes the spiritual ; for even in this natural desire and this natural life, as you see it before you, there is concealed a germ of true life. This is most plainly expressed in the words of our Lord, ' Whoever seeketh to preserve his life, shall lose it, and whoever will lose his life, shall save it.' Mark this expression, my brethren, we shall obtain the life of our souls, our natural life, if we will subject it to the death of penitence and humiliation. Then, will it strip off its outward covering and rise from the- dead, spiritually and in truth. Brethren, in the hours of self-impeachment and self- condemnation, when our natural desires and pleasures are surrender ed up to death, then the death of our souls does not take place, not by any means ; then rather we obtain for them a new life. Why do you so dread the < pain of humbling yourselves, when according to the words of the Saviour, you shall obtain thereby true life to your spirits ! We have thus far made our appeal to the man who stands with out, to him who does not live spiritually ; but we also make the same appeal to those who are permitted to say, that the life in God and with God has commenced in them. For who is there among us, that has never been called to mourn oyer resolutions fruitless in good, purposes leading to no fulfilment ? Can we without a falsehood say with Paul, — ' I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me?' And yet this cheerful, victorious courage is an essential characteristic of christian faith ! But does any one of you imagine, that only such ardent men as Paul, could speak thus triumphantly? Hear then how John exclaims in the same cheerful confidence, — ' Our faith is the victory which hath, overcome the world, for he who is in us, is stronger than he who is in the world.' How many of us, I ask once more, can utter such an expression without an inward 18 138 SERMONS OF PROF. THOLUCK. falsehood ? What then is the reason why even in our life, resolu tions have no good effect; purposes are not fulfilled ? Because we want the right kind of humility. We have indeed humbled our selves ; we are no longer like the world who live without conviction of sin ; we have, in the general, a consciousness of human guilt and sinfulness; but we do not discern and rebuke our sins in their individual occurrence, we do not humble ourselves for them every day and every hour. Are there not multitudes even among the better inclined, upon whom, in many parts of their character, we see some old habit and vice, making unresisted but injurious advances ; even the very vice which is most thoroughly melted into their na tures, and which should therefore be most- earnestly opposed ? We always acknowledge in the general, ' yes, we are sinners,' and even more particularly, ' I am a sinner ;' but on what points I am daily a sinner, on what side my daily inclination and conduct is dark with wickedness, we do not inquire. Brethren, where this is the case, the new life in Christ can be no source of triumphant power to our resolutions. Why ,not ? Because in our inmost soul there is a want of truth, and where truth is wanting, there power also is want ing. We are altogether deceitful, so long as, our self-accusation and self-rebuke are confined merely to sinfulness in the general, and do not affect the boughs and branches of actual sin which shoot out in the life. There are some Christians, upon whom the enjoyment of sense seems to have at present exactly the same claims which it had in their unconverted life. There are Christians, who yield to im patience, to anger, to slothfulness, exactly as if they were the children of the world ; and — would you be true Christians ? Would you be disciples of him who has said of hypocrites, — ' by their fruits ye shall know them ?' My friends, even such a certainty of overcom ing the world as Paul and John had, does not exclude daily humilia tion. You know that Paul says, — ' I mortify my body, and subdue it, so that I may not preach the Gospel to others and be myself cast away ;' that he confesses, — ' Not that I have already attained ; one thing I say, I forget what is behind, and strive for that which is be fore, and run toward the mark set before me.' You understand also what the Lord means when he says, — ' Whoever will follow me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.'1 1 LuUe !.: 23. FRUITLESS RESOLUTIONS. 139 He speaks here of daily denying one's self, of daily bearing one's cross. Must it not necessarily belong to the christian life, to sit daily in judgment upon one's own soul, to humble one's self daily for everything which is so displeasing to Jehovah ? But such humiliation as we here describe is, in the second place, a humiliation before God. We must, I say, humble ourselves-before God ; that is, our grief for sin must be in view of the fact, that we have grieved our Maker,, and this our grief must be expressed in a confession before Him. A certain kind of grief for sins and vices is indeed experienced by all, but it is difficult to believe in how many cases this is simply and solely a humiliation and grief for the sake of men, for the sake of the injury and the shame which we have prepared for ourselves in the sight of others. Yea so incessantly do we glance our eyes toward men, that we may say it would be a very great advance in piety, if one should attain such a state as to grieve over each of his iniquities, simply because it had offended his God and Lord. Even from early childhood, we are instructed in these .modern times, to fix our eyes, in committing iniquity, only upon the opinions of our fellow mortals. It is no longer; said, as formerly, to the child, ' do not that thing, the beloved Lord sees it;' it is now said, ' be well behaved ; what will the people say !' And so, therefore, we grow up; our glance directed always to men alone, and if we are ever ashamed of our vices, it is on account of the eye of man, and not on account of that eye, which seeth the hidden recess of the heart. Oh that you,might again understand, what is the high and holy meaning of the word — religion ! What meaning has it other than — regard for God ! It is such a disposition of the inner man, as leads him to look through all things, through nature, through art, through his goods, through his palaces, through his tears of joy, and through his tears of sorrow, through all — to God. But if there must be religipn, a regard to God, even in our sorrow for sin, how should it be exercised ? Our sorrow must arise from this, that our iniquities have grieved our Maker. What says David, when he had committed: a grievous crime against his fellow men ? ' Lord, against thee only have I sinned,' he cries. Not that he wished to hide from himself the truth that he had committed a sad offence against his brother ; but the fact that he had, in sinning against his brother, -sinned also against the commandment of his Creator, this is the sting which most deeply pierces his conscience ; 140 SERMONS OF PROF. THOLUCK. this it is which makes his pain so heart-rending. And what says Paul, when he was accused of having conducted himself improperly in his office ? ' It is a small thing that I am judged by a human tribunal. It is the Lord who judgeth me.' Our humility for our sins must of necessity have this character, in order that strength pf resolution may go - forth from it. If it be not of this kind, it is not of the spiritual kind. You have surprised yourself in inconti nence, in vanity, in anger ; you are ashamed before others ; yea you are ashamed before your own conscience. Beloved brother, so long as you are not ashamed, that you have sinned against your Father in heaven, your sorrow is not a spiritual sorrow. You have trespassed against your fellow man, you have perhaps made his wife and child unhappy, you have even plunged him into the grave. You beat upon your breast, — ' Woe is me I have made a family- miserable !' Man, thy pain is great and deserved ; but it is not wholly spiritual ; there yet cleaves to it such compassion asrflows from mere natural sensibility. ' Against thee only have I sinned and done evil,' cries David to the Lord.'1 Ahd again, ' Lord, be merciful to me and heal my soul ; for against thee have I sinned !'a This, and only this, is the pain vvhich gives to our humility the character of true spiritual penitence. And the grief for our sins before God should be poured out in a confession before him. This bare thought, flitting through the mind amid the bustle of life, 'I have again been led astray, and grieved my Lord and God,' — it is too- transitory a thought, to be able to impart strength of resolve. We must step before the eye of Him who seeth in secret ; and as our pain for transgression gains spirituality by means of our sorrow before Jehovah, so does it gain depth by our confession before him. — Why, why, my friends, has our Lord laid so great stress upon praying in the retired closet, and under the eye of him who seeth in secret ? This is the reason ; man does not, as a matter of fact, come near to God, while he thinks of him only transitorily, amid the intercourse of life. In solitude do we first dwell with ourselves ; in solitude does God first dwelt with us. The eye, when it suddenly comes from darkness into the light, requires some time to accustom itself lo the brightness ; so the heart of man requires some time, before it can r so adjust its powers as lo receive into itself the full radiance ofthe Divinity. When, in the closet, you 1 Ps. 51:6. - Ps. 11:1. FRUITLESS RESOLUTIONS. 141 first spread out all the faults of your heart before God, then for the first time does the sun of divine grace penetrate, with its mild rays, deeper and still deeper into your soul. Your humility for sin be came spiritual, when you grieved before the eye, which seeth in secret; it becomes deep, when you express your grief before the same all-seeing Judge. Brethren, if the confession of our guilt before a man whom we have injured is pleasant, and gives great aid in self- reformation, how much more must this be the case with the .confession of our guilt before God, our heavenly Father! Thirdly. There is, indeed, a divine strength imparted to purposes of amendment by such confession ; there is a divinely sanctifying power in it ; but the fullness of power belongs only to that kind of humility before God, which is accompanied with faith. By faith is meant confidence in the divine word. Nothing but this faith makes our self-abasement genuine; nothing but this makes it cheerful. It makes,'! say, our self-abasement genuine ; for, my friends, how completely is every deed of ours enveloped in darkness, so long as we have not before us the pole-star of the divipe word. Even pain for sin is thus enveloped ; and history shows to us many a false kind of humility, which better'deserves the name of self-torment. When ever the word of ,God sheds not the true light into the Soul, there a man grieves indeed, but to no purpose ; and at another time the heart remains quietly at rest, when it ought to tremble. Thus, es pecially with many ingenuous spirits it is the greatest grief, when they come before- God, that they cannot always be cheerful and serene. The tide of emotion alternates, ebbing and flowing. It is seen in the diaries of pious men, that with many the severest trouble of life arises from the so frequent alternation of cheerfulness with despondency." Their self-accusations for this fault have absolutely no end. But how entirely different would it be with us, if in our humiliation the word -of God were our leading-star. , For where in deed has Paul or John, or the Lord himself made a happy state of feeling the first condition of a holy life ? They have demanded faith and love ; and this joy in the Lord, which the apostle also everywhere demands, — it will follow of itself when faith and love have gone before. This faith in the word of God gives a cheerfulness to our peni tence and humility, and thus gives strength to the resolutions ; for it makes us certain of forgiveness of sin and the aid of the Holy Spirit. 142 SERMONS OF PROF. THOLUCK. Depression of mind ih itself can give us no power. A sorrowful disposition indeed always tends to dissolve the bands of pur power. Hence men are afraid of it ; as they know that a moral life is in vested with strength.. And this strength, beloved friends, you will certainly obtain, unless you have that kind of depression which is unattended with faith. — Hear ye not what our Psalmist says, — ' but, now I keep thy word ?' That the feeling of depression robbed him of his power, — oh this was but too well known to the ginger of Israel. Or have ye not heard his numberless complaints, as when he cried out, — ' My heart trembles, my strength hath forsaken me, the light of my eyes hath fled.' But what does he say on the other side ? — ' Keep me by thy word, that I may live.' Beloved, the cup of humiliation is bitter, but the word of God therein makes it sweet; the cup of humiliation enervates, but the word of God therein neutralizes its weakening influence. This word of God is the word of forgiveness ; it is the promise of the aid of that Spirit, in whose power even the imbecile can say, ' I am strong ;' the word which makes all self-abasement and penitence a cheer ful exercise. This word of God has already been proclaimed under the old dispensation. Already has David been able to sing in his strength, — 'Happy is he whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sin is covered ; happy is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity ;' and again,—1' Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not what benefits he'has conferred upon thee ; he forgiveth all thy sins and healeth all thine infirmities.' This is that word of God, which, since ' the word of reconciliation hath been established among us', sounds forth continually from the sacred temple, giving consolation to all who approach God with humility and in faith. And in deed it is of no avail for a man, barely once for all to shut himself up to this command of God ; he should abase himself for every particular transgression ; his humility beginning with the tears of repentance, and ending with the tears of gratitude. Never is the Christian permitted, after truly humbling himself before God, to go away from tha divine presence, without being assured of the forgiveness of even this his particular transgression ; without cheerfulnes in his humility. Only the reconciled heart is a strong one. Come then, all ye, in whose eye the tear hath started at the recollection of good purposes without good deeds ; and good resolu- EARNEST OF ETERNAL LIFE. 143 tions without results, come, learn the power which lies in christian self-abasement ; an abasement before the eye of God and in the exercise of faith. SERMON IV.1 TESTIMONY OF OUR ADOPTION BY GOD, THE SUREST FLEDGE OF ETERNAL LIFE. We have to day a solemn memento of death ; we keep the feast in commemoration ofthe dead. We have this memento at the time when nature also proclaims the same tfuth to us.2 The heavens are invested in their gray attire ; the fragrance and the music of living nature have died away ; the whole creation has pat on its funeral robe, and in this solemn vestment preaches to thee, — as it were the word of God, — Man, thou must die ! — Ah, you say I go only for a little while into a silent chamber, and when the lovely spring re turns, I shall bloom out again. Child of the dust, what reason hast thou for this thy faith ? I know what you will adduce as a reason ; it is the emblems which nature exhibits in the butterfly, and in the swelling germ that rises up in sight from under a mantle of snow. — Have you ever stood by the death-bed of orie you loved, when his altered countenance could scarcely be recognized, when the dim eye gleamed forth but faintly from its deep socket ; when the ema ciated hand was convulsively clenched, and there was heard the rattling at the breast ; and bad you then no other reason for your hope of immortality than was afforded by these symbols in nature ? —Oh then, what did such a reason avail you! "_ our hope faded away with the declining pulse of your dying friend ! And when you yourself shall lie on your dying bed, with the drops of death- sweat on your brow, and friends around you, waiting for your last breath, you will need some stronger reason for your hope than you can draw from the emblems of nature. • For an Analysis of this Sermon, see Note I, at the close of the Sermons. 2 See Note K, at the close ofthe Sermons. 144 SERMONS OF PROF. THOLUCK. But I see your finger pointing to another place ;— behold the Prince of life in the tomb at Golgotha; how he rises from the grave, how the burial garments fall from him, and himself ascends to his Father amid the glories of Heaven. — But what shall we say, when even in this assembly may be found men, who believe that he whom we adore as the Prince of life, did not rise up victoriously from death, but only from an oppressive swoon ! Such men have arisen in the christian church, — and yet even-a disciple of charity may say, ' they are not of us.' — From these men, however, I turn ray attention to you, who have not ventured to doubt the truth of what is said in our apostle's creed, * on the third day he rose from the dead ;' — you do not doubt this, but do you believe it also ? Is this resurrection from the dead so certain to your minds, that you could lay down your life for it ? Christian brethren, no one believes, with a truly living faith, in the resurrection of Christ from the dead, save one who has been raised with Christ to a new life. No one believes, that, as Inspira tion says, the Father has in truth caused his holy Jesus to burst the bands of death, save one who himself has become a child of God. Wherefore let us reflect on this sentiment ; " The testimony that we are ihe children of God is the surest pledge of eternal life." To this reflection are we led by the words of the apostle which we find recorded in the epistle to the Romans, Chap. viii. verses 15 — 17. " Ye have not received the spirit of a servant, that ye should live again in fear ; but ye have received the spirit of a child, whereby we cry, Abba, dear Father I This same spirit giveth testimony to our spirits, that we are the children of God. If we are children, then are we heirs; heirs of God, and co-heirs with Christ." In reference to this expression let us consider, first, how the testimony is given that we are the children of God ; secondly, why this testimony is a pledge of eternal life. — May the Spirit of God be our Teacher ! First, how is the testimony given, that we have been adopted as the children of God ? The apostle places in contrast with each other the spirit of a servant, and the spirit of a child ; the former trembles the latter prays. — -Let us consider more closely the spirit, that trembles. Israel once received its law under the sound of thunder, amid darkness and tempest. These appearances in nature were necessary to give a people who were slaves to sense, a proper EARNEST OF ETERNAL LIFE. 145 view of the dignity of the law. So fearful was the impression of the scene, that the man who immediately received the law, stood and cried out, ' I tremble and am terrified.' And after the tribes of Israel had taken possession ofthe land which the Lord had promised, they stood, with mount Gerizim at the right, and mount Ebal at the left, and the curse was sounded forth against every transgressor of the law of God ; — ' Cursed be he who does not fulfil all the words of this law, to conduct himself according to them ; — and all the people said, Amen.'— And the child of man, who now surveys the faults which he has committed from the first to the present period of his life, his open and his secret sins against this holy law ; should he not tremble ? Whoever you are, man, you have a Sinai from which you have received the law of God ; and you must bow down before the law with agitating fear. In your own heart is established a holy legislation ; and is it not true that you can mention the houri when with a loud sound of the trumpet, and amid tempests and dark ness the law raised its voice within you, so that you could not help falling on your knees and trembling ? And would you suppress the voice, which coming from flaming Sinai sounds aloud within your spirit ? Even if you would, the same law stands recorded in the book of God ; and it has been given to men from without, as well as from within, so that the external voice, which man cannot drown, may call forth the voice which belongs to the depth of his own soul. And how is it with you ? Have you experienced this trembling of the spirit ? How large the number of those, who know nothing of it, and simply because they have been strangers to this fear, imagine that they have received that blessed spirit of adoption, of which the apostle speaks in our text! Let me above all things warn you against this error. — Beloved, not the man who is a stranger to the feeling of dread at the sacred voice of Jehovah, not the man who has felt neither terror nor shame before the Holy One of Israel, not the man who never trembles, but the man who prays, is the child of God. A melancholy perversion of a wholesome truth is common in our day ; hearing as we do from so many the negative side of this truth, that the Gospel is not a religion of precept ; and hearing from so few the other important side of it, the Gospel is a religion of prayer. You who know not what the trembling of the servant is, if you also know not what the praying of a child is, then you are not 19 146 SERMONS OF PROF. THOLUCK. a child, you are not even a servant; you are a faithless, truant slave, — a rebel. Prayer then is the testimony that we have been adopted as chil dren of God : not every kind of prayer, however, but only that which comes forth from the depth of the soul, in the spirit of— Dear Father ! Let us more particularly consider, first, how this prayer arises from the depth of the soul, secondly, how it expresses itself. I. ' That mystery,' as the apostle calls it,1 ' which has been kept secret from the beginning of the world,' is the truth, which, wherever it has been preached to sorrowful and heavy-laden souls, elicits prayer. It is the gracious purpose of God, since his image is not restored in its original purity to any of our race, to look upon them who believe in the holy Son of his love, no longer as they are in themselves, but as they appear in his beloved Son, and to translate them into the kingdom of their Redeemer.2 The apostle calls this purpose a mystery, not because he would imply that it now remains hidden from the souls of the faithful, but because no mere human reason had formed any conception of it, until, in the fulness of time, it was developed as a truth. And yet it remains not the less mysterious to you, if you have not tasted of those powers of the world to come, which lie involved in it.3 The wonders of grace and love, which present themselves to view within the sanctuary, it is difficult to make intelligible to those who stand without at the door. As, when you bent over the dear person of a father that you loved, you even forgot the misconduct of your erring child ; and while your eyes were fastened upon the countenance of your kind father's image, you threw your arms around your unfaithful child and blessed him ; — lo, in the same way has your heavenly Father forgotten that you are a most recreant child. When you have thrown yourself into the arms of the Son of his love, and cleaved closely to his heart, then does the Father no more look upon you as you are in yourself, encompassed with all your sins, enveloped in your misery ; he then loves you in the Son of his love, and the darkness within you is irradiated by the light that beams from his countenance. ' As you are in yourself,' says the heavenly vine-dresser, — ' you are a wither ed, useless stalk; but lo, if you will become a branch of the vine which I have planted for myself, then shall the living power of that 1 Rom. 1G: 25. 2 Eph. 1: 6. Col. 1: 13. 3 See Note L, at the close of the Sermons. EARNEST OF ETERNAL LIFE. 147 vine diffuse itself through you ; I will no more remember what you have been, a dry twig ; you shall bloom and grow green as a branch of the vine of Christ and shall bring forth much fruit.' You have the story ofthe lost son. It stands recorded, that when he went back to his father's house, the father saw him a great way off, and went forth to meet him, and stretched out his arms to re ceive him. There are some who find in this narrative an argument against the assertion of Scripture, that sinful man is denied all access to God except through a Mediator.1 But, my friends, is it not al ways in the Son of his love, that the Father goes forth to meet a penitent transgressor ? Is it not always in the Son, that he opens his loving, paternal heart ? It is in Christ Jesus, that the Father falls upon thy neck, that he carries thee home to the feast of joy. Does it not stand recorded, ' God was in Christ, when he re conciled the world unto himself ?'2 As then, the penitent is in Christ, and Christ in God, it follows that the very person who is to be re conciled is in the Being who reconciles him. Great is the mystery, I say the mystery of the oneness ofthe Father with the Son. It is the announcement of this love, which, when it enters through faith the afflicted and heavy-laden heart, calls forth the instant cry of amazement and of gratitude, and prompts us to exclaim with John, — 'Behold what manner of love the Father hath shown us, that we should be called his own children !'3 That love of God, which, while we were sinners, was exercised toward us, is shed abroad in our hearts ; so says the apostle.4 And this assurance of having received the love, which was exercised by God toward us before we loved him, is the pledge of eternal life ; it is the signet, with which the faithful are sealed for heaven. Amazed at this grace which they cannot comprehend, they reiterate the exclama tion which was made by John, the disciple of love, — ' Now are we the children of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be !' 2. Having shown how prayer, which is the testimony of our having been adopted by God, is prompted in the soul, let us next inquire how it is expressed. All that can be said on this subject, the apostle1 has included in this one supplicatory word, which illustrates the nature of the prayer ; — dear Father. — We will now, therefore, definitely ascertain what is the scriptural idea of a prayer. Prayer 1 1 Tim. 2:5. John 14: 6. 2 2 Cor. 5 : 19. 3 1 John 3:1. * Rom. 5 : 5. 148 SERMONS OF PROF. THOLUCK. is the pulsation of the soul. It need not be always expressed in words ; for the apostle exhorts Christians to pray without intermission.1 But if the prayer must necessarily be uttered in audible language, how could Paul, yea how could Christ himself have prayed without intermission ? No, my friends. There is a prayer which the faith ful offer, and which like the pulse in the veins, never ceases its motion, not by night, not by day, and which can be heard by no human ear. In this inward silent supplication are the faithful con tinually exclaiming, Abba, dear Father ! How is it with you, when some beloved friend is called away from you by death ? Through all the hours that succeed his departure, do you not bear-him constantly about with you in your heart ? Yea, are you not wont to conduct a silent, uninterrupted dialogue with him, which is not audible to the ear of a companion ? So it is with the ceaseless prayer, going forth from the man who has received into his own heart the testimony of his heavenly adoption. He cannot forget, what new and unmerited grace has been bestowed on him ; he cries out continually, — ' See what love the father hath shown us, that, we should be styled the children of God ;' and in the inmost sanctuary of his soul the words are repeated incessantly, beloved Parent ! precious Father ! But as the conversation which a man silently carries on with him self is converted into audible language, as soon as he is seized with a quickening feeling of pain or of joy, so likewise is the converse which a man silently conducts with his heavenly parent. When his soul is actively excited, he feels compelled to employ words. And so we read of the Saviour, in the moment of his deepest pain he cried out, Abba, dear Father !2 And all that the heart of a child of God has to say, when it approaches the throne of grace, yea all is comprehended by the apostle in this one word, dear Father. — Dear Father ! So cries the little child, when, conscious of its own guilt and ill desert, it yet receives a new overflowing of its parent's love, and sinks down on its knees, weeping. Dear Father ! So cries the child, when full of trouble it folds up its hands, and would fain fly into its parent's bosom, and to his heart. Dear Father ! So cries the same child, when it has a full tide of joys, and cannot bear to keep these joys for itself alone, and must share all the treasures of its heart with the parent, whom it loves. 1 Thess. 5 : 17. 2 Mark !4 : 30. EARNEST OF ETERNAL LIFE. 149 Is it not truly a blissful image ; — this image of an affectionate child of God ? Who would not sigh in his spirit, and exclaim, Oh, that I were such an image! But do not fancy, beloved, that it is nothing more than an image. Our age will not believe the Scrip tures, when they describe the depth of human corruption, and the greatness of human misery ; but why will ye not believe them, when they describe the wonders of the grace of God to the poor sinful man, who has faith ! It is a truth ; God is able to make men thus blessed through the power of faith, to make them such, even here, if they be obedient to the word of his grace. He has made them thus blessed ; he will make them so again. Paul and John and Peter and Luther are witnesses of what he has done ; and whosoever of you has a longing for this spirit, — the door of the Lord stands open to you all the time, and his fountain of living water is always full. And, beloved brothgr, as you call to mind that brief hour, when your fitful vision will survey the long solitary path stretching onward before you, — a path along which none of your loved ones can conduct you, and of which you do not know whether or not it will lead you to a sweet home ; as you think of that hour, your surest pledge for the eternity before you is the evi dence, that you may have, of being adopted as a child of God. This evidence is the surest pledge, for first, you are no longer flesh, you are spirit ; it is the surest pledge, for secondly, whoever has this evidence, has already been translated from death to life. 1. The voice came to the prophet and said, proclaim ! He asked, What shall I proclaim ? And the voice said, — all flesh is grass, and all its goodliness as the flower of the field. My friends, the Scripture speaks very diminutively of man. Proud mortal, the name which the word of God giveth thee is, flesh. I am well aware how many among you never see this application of the term in the Scriptures without repugnance of feeling, but will you charge the sacred oracle with a misrepresentation ? — There is a wonderful power in the kingdom of nature which draws down every particle of matter toward one, single, mysterious, central point. There is the concealed operation of a rigorous power, which draws down the physical man irresistibly, to the central point, to his mother, to the earth. — But man, not only is the earth thy mother, the Father of spirits is also thy Father. There is another resistless power, a power full of mystery, pervading the kingdom of spirit. It is the 150 SERMONS OF PROF. THOLUCK. power of love. Everything that is truly spirit, this power attracts to a spiritual, central point, a point of rest ; to its original, to the Father of spirits. And as the stone thrown into the air, does not attain its resting place until it reaches the ground from which it was taken, so nothing, which can be properly called spirit, is able to find repose, until it rests in the central point of the world of spirits, in God.1 All ye, who are here assembled, ye future priests and administrators of the mystery of the Gospel, are ye— spirit ? If ye are, then let me ask you, do you experience this great attracting power of spirits ? Does it draw you without intermission to the central point of the spiritual world ? Can you find no rest until you find it in God ? If you must acknowledge that you are not spirit ; if the concealed attraction of earth draws down your heart along with your body to the dust ; then murmur no longer because the Bible calls you flesh ; you are flesh. 2. Yet, mortal, however deep your degradation may be, as repre sented in the Gospel, you may be raised as high as you have sunk low. Lift up your hearts, ye who love the Redeemer, and pray ; so shall ye be partakers, through Christ Jesus, of the divine nature. The sacred oracles assure us of this ; and the whole plan of re demption as recorded in the Gospel, what is it, but a plan for the elevation of human nature to a likeness with God ?2 The Spirit that giveth life is poured forth by the Prince of life upon flesh ly natures, and Jesus Christ affirms, ' I live, and ye shall live also.' He has promised to his faithful ones, — ' I, and the Father will come unto you and make our abode with you.' — And shall the mortal man, shall the fragile tenement in which both the Father and the Son have made their abode, be given over to corruption ? Oh this wonderful testimony within the faithful heart; — see, that which was old hath passed away ; everything hath become new, as soon as thou art loved in the Son of God's love ! Who, besides the Spirit of God, could leave such a testimony within the breast of man ? The same conscience which condemns thee can never acquit thee. It is the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, which implants the conviction within thee, that thou art one with them. — 'Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom ;'— such freedom as bursts 1 For a further illustration ofthe power of christian love, see Note M, at the close ofthe Sermons. 2 See Note N, at the close ofthe Sermons. EARNEST OF ETERNAL LIFE. 151 the bars of death, and cries, — ' Death, where is thy sling ?' Here you have the key to that mysterious passage of the Redeemer, in which he declares, ' The hour is coming and has come already, when the dead shall hear the voice ofthe Son of man, and they who hear shall live.'1 Yea it has come already, it is now, — the resurrec tion from the dead ; for wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is the seed planted of an unending life. ' Your body,' says the apostle, ' is indeed dead on account of sin ; but the spirit is life on account of righteousness. If now the Spirit of him who hath raised Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you, then the same Being who hath raised Christ from the dead, also giveth life to your moral bodies, for the very reason that his Spirit dwelleth in you.'2 The Spirit which the Lord pours out upon his own, is the same by which he has overcome death ; and the same Spirit tri umphs over death in us also ; and our frail «abernacles it will build anew, and invest them with glories like the glories of the body of Jesus. Wherefore, elevated as no mere mortal ever was, the Sa viour stands and cries, — ' Whoso believeth in me shall never die ; he hath been translated from death to life !' Has it already been your experience, beloved, that you have tasted of all joys and have found none of which you can say, these will satisfy me forever ? Your experience of the vanity of this world's good, has been as it should be. There is only one kind of joy, in which the soul is in terested, and of which I never become weary. This is the joy and the peace which the testimony of our adoption by God brings with it. Ob ye, who are yet afar off, believe it, there are, yea there are, in the life of the faithful Christian, not only minutes and hours, there are days and months and years, which he could wish to be prolonged to all eternity, and he would never be weary of them. There is a richness in these periods, and a fullness in them, a life and a still ness, an activity and a deep repose, and a steadiness, which fills the whole soul, and which no one can adequately understand, but one who has felt them. And the voice of the faithful Christian bears audible testimony, — ' We have tasted of the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come.' In what they already enjoy here below, they have a foretaste of the future world. 1 John 5: 25. See Note O, at the close of the Sermons. 2 Rom. 8: 10,11. 152 SERMONS OF PROF. THOLUCK. From this you will understand why, in our text, the children of God are called heirs of God ; and why the Spirit, which is imparted to them, is called the surety of the future inheritance. The apostle says in the subsequent context, that they who have faith have re ceived the first fruits of the Spirit. Now the first fruits of a harvest are followed by the full harvest. In these first fruits Christians are fully assured, how rich a harvest is preserved for them in heaven, when they shall behold in glory, what they now hope for in weak ness. But so long as you remain destitute of that degree of faith, by which you may taste the powers of the world to come ; so long, Christians, as you are not made happy men by the power of your faith, — tell me, how can you explain the words of your Redeemer, when he says that ' the man, who has faith, has already pressed through death and has passed unto life ?'1 Tell me, does there not appear to be a sacred intimation, in these words of Jesus, that the idea of faith involves something more, decidedly more, than that poor and starveling principle, which is all that your experience compre hends ? But whoever of you in this christian assembly can say, we have felt the powers of the world to come, since we have exercised faith ; we have experienced the first fruits of the Spirit, which will one day be followed by the whole harvest; we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, and have thus received an earnest of our heavenly inheritance ; whoever can say this, to you heaven is secure beyond a doubt. Ye happy ones, to you there remaineth not a solitary doubt, that heaven shall be your home. When the hour shall arrive, that last hour, when they who love you shall surround, with tearful eyes, your dying bed, then, oh ye happy ones, ye shall need no consolation from others ; a consolation strong and clear shall spring up from the deeps of your own breast ; your eye shall look upward steady and serene, and your last word shall be, — ' I know that my Redeemer liveth.' And now tell me, ye who have never received this surest pledge of eternal life, have you indeed no knowledge of it ? How then will you stand up in the last struggle ? He who knows nothing by experience of the grace of Christ, is represented by Luther as re peating this stanza : 1 John 5: 24. See also I John 3: 14. EARNEST OF ETERNAL LIFE. 153 I live, but ah ! how long, 1 do not, cannot know ; 1 die, but know not when, Nor whither I shall go : Why then, 1 ask with wonder, why Do I thus live in ease and joy ? You on the contrary, who, through the grace of God, feel warranted in saying of yourself, — ' I know in whom I have believed,' — why will you remain downcast and fearful ? Whoever has received such a pledge of eternal life as you have, is entitled, says Luther, to sing, I live, and 1 can tell How long my life will last; 1 die, and know full well, When Jordan will be passed ;l How 1 shall die and whither go The Lord hath made me c]g ariy know : Why then, 1 ask with wonder, why In sadness do I droop and die ? In harmony with these sentiments, I will close my discourse to day, this feast-day for the dead, with two questions. To you, who bear about in your breast no earnest of future bliss, and have no protector, standing ready to intercede for you at the judgment ; to you I put the query, ' Friend, how caw, you live in ease and joy ?' But to you, who have obtained pardon ; to whom God hath given through Christ Jesus the first fruits of his Spirit, for a pledge of eternal life ; to you who can say in faith, ' I know that my Redeem er liveth ;' I put the question, ' Why do you droop in sadness so often and so, deeply?' May the Spirit of God be shed abroad in us all more and more richly ; and in him and through him, may we all receive the cheer ing testimony, that we are the adopted children of God in Christ Jesus ! 2 , v I know when I shall die, for I die every day, and every hour to the world. 2 See Note P, at the close ofthe Sermons. 20 154 SERMONS OF PROF. THOLUCK. SERMON V.1 THE REPENTANCE AND PARDON OF THE THIEF ON THE CROSS. The words which will lead our devotions to-day, are found re corded in Luke 23: 39—43. " But one of the malefactors which were hanged with him, reviled him, saying, — ' If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.' Then the other answered and reproved him, saying,—' Dost thou not fear God, since thou also art in the same condemnation ? And we indeed are justly in it, for we have received what our deeds deserve ; but this man hath done nothing amiss.' And he said to Jesus, — ' Lord, think on me, when thou comest in thy kingdom.' And Jesus said unto him,—' Verily I say unto thee, this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." A narration, rich in all kinds of edifying thought. We will first inquire, what the passage contains that may elevate our spirits ; secondly, what, that may abash them ; thirdly, what it contains that is apt to be misunderstood ; fourthly, what, that is fitted to console. First, then, we will inquire what the passage contains that may elevate our spirits. He who once commanded the waves in a storm, hath been brought down low to the dust. In him hath been fulfilled the ancient prophecy, — ' He was of all men the most despised and scorned ; full of sorrows and sicknesses ; he was so despised that we hid our faces from him.2 They have scourged him on the back ; they have spit upon him, even in his Godlike face ; they have smitten his kingly head with a reed ; they have erected his cross between two malefactors ; they have stripped him of his garments and left him nothing but his crown. Scourged, spit upon, smitten, naked afad crowned with thorns, there he hangs ; — and yet, even under his cross, a sea of malice is foaming up with invective against him. Oh it has contained a fearful truth, that old prophetic word, — ' I am poured out like water ; all my bones are out of joint ; my heart is in my body like melted wax ; my strength is dried up like an earthen vessel ; my tongue cleavethto my jaws ; thou hast placed me in the dust of death.'3 1 For an Analysis of this Sermon, see Note Q. at the close ofthe Sermons. 2 Isaiah 53: 3. 3 Psalm ._: 14, 15. THE PENITENT THIEF. 155 Have you considered, what a startling confirmation was given this last hour of the Lord's sorrow, to the great truth that sin, even in the most terrific revolt from God, must yet serve him ? Can your most daring fancy form for itself any image, by which the idea of the God-like could more deeply agitate your souls, or penetrate them with a holier sorrow, than is done by this image which a Sa viour's passion presents ? — by this man of pain, his bleeding shoul ders covered with purple, the reed in his hand, the crown of thornsi upon his head ? Has ingenuity ever succeeded in devising a more sacred form, one which united greater contrarieties of abasement and majesty, one in which abasement bore upon itself such heavenly, significant and noble symbols ? .And did this rude insolence of the Roman soldiers and of the servants of Herod,^ — an insolence which was the occasion of your now beholding such an image of tlie Sa viour, — an image which, for hundreds of years, has been one of holy consolation to all heavy laden hearts, — did this rude insolence, I ask, take place through the mere play of accident ? Oh tell me, have you anywhere in history a single example, which more. clearly demonstrates the existence of a power above the clouds, into whose hand, the threads from all men's hearts and arms run together, at whose nod even the loose play of chance arranges itself into the regular chain of a sacred, everlasting law embracing earth and heaven? It is this sublime sentiment, which is- awakened in. our minds by the history contained in our text. That cross which they have erected for him between the malefactors, — they have erected it for him as a kingly throne ! Behold ! the King of glory on his throne ! The crown adorns his brow. His arms are stretched out to embrace the whole world, and place it at his heart. Above the throne shines the regal title,—' This is Jesus, tbe King of the Jews.' At the right and the "left are the two great divisions ofthe world ; at the left the unbelieving world, who revile him ; at the right, the converted world, who do him homage ; and he himself is between them, imparting blessedness to the one, punishment to the other, bending from his throne to open the gates of paradise for the peni tent transgressor. Of a truth, there is in this spectacle an inward greatness and sublimity, against which no heart of man can harden itself; and even from the lips of an unbeliever, the instant he turned 156 SERMONS OF PROF. THOLUCK. his 'mind to the spectacle and considered it, there was forced out the expression of astonishment, — ' Truly this was the Son of God !' But secondly, there is something contained in the text, which may abash our spirits. Christians, you should learn, — yea verily, you should learn self-abasement, from a malefactor; a malefactor who was nailed upon the cross. Refuse not the lesson from this man. If you will not receive it from him, he will pass sentence upon you!; pass sentence, as the Redeemer said of the queen of the South, — ' She shall -rise at the, last judgment against this generation and shall - condemn it ; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and a greater than Solomon is here.' What a wonderful appearance, — this malefactor at the right hand ! When the God-like man stood, and lifted up his face to heaven, and cried, — ' Father, glorify thy naine,' and the. voice came from the clouds, — ' I have glorified it and will glorify it again ;' when he stood, and placed his hand upon the eyes of the blind, so that they saw, and upon the ears ofthe deaf, so that they heard; when he entered into the royal city, and the people cried aloud, — ' Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord,' then many were able to doubt concerning him whether he were a King. But now, when he lets his bruised and bleeding head sink down upon the ignominious tree ; when the heaven over his head veils itself in clouds ; when instead of the celestial voice from above, no words come to him but those of hell from beneath, — ' He hath saved others and cannot save himself ; when the hands which were once placed upon the eyes of the blind, upon the breast of the lepeT, and upon the head of the little child, blessing everywhere and in all ways, are now nailed to the cursed wood ; when the same people, who once cried ' Hosanna,' are exclaiming, — ' If thou art the Son of God, come down from the cross ;' even at this time, the eye of the re penting sinner sees the King in Jesus, and as his knee can no longer bow to him, th$ heart bows before him in adoration and lowliness. Friends, do you consider what a strength of faith was requisite, at that juncture, for the act of believing, that a man, nailed to the cross, was yet a King ; and that before his " Epphatha, be opened,"1 even the gates of paradise must be unclosed to a repenting malefactor? From what vapor, men have asked, could such a hope have been born at such an hour ? 1 Mark 7: 34. THE PENITENT THIEF. 157 Perhaps the malefactors, who were crucified with him, saw the man, when he stood without an equal even before the court ; and when Pilate led him forth, covered with blood, a spectacle to angels and to men ; and presenting him to the people cried out, — ' Behold, what a man !' They certainly saw him walk along the tedious way through the city, from the place of judgment to the place of blood; he walked in silent sorrow, till he fainted under the burden of his cross. They heard him, when he said to the weeping daughters of Jerusalem, — ' Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and your children.' They certainly lent him their pars, and looked upon his face, as with them he raised his pain- burdened head, and cried out, under his crown of thorns, — ' Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do ;' — yea, as we con jecture, they beheld at that instant, and in that face, a spectacle, the like to which no mortal hath ever witnessed. But friends, did net both of the crucifiecf men behold the same ? Why did the invective ascend from one heart, while the other pre sented homage? It was his perception of his own moral need, which gave to the relenting thief so clear a view of the, afflicted yet royal personage at his side. The beams, which radiated from.the noble fellow-sufferer, beams that impregnate the spirit ; it was these, that by little and little melted away the ice ofthe heart that was be numbed by sin. Hear ye not from his mouth such words as the fol lowing ? — " And indeed we • are justly in the condemnation, fpr we have received what our sins deserve ; — but that noble personage, who suffers in. such a way, — he cannot be a deceiver. When he bore witness of himself, that he held in his hand the keys of heaven and of the abyss, he spoke the truth.— Yet, how in a hand that was pierced, through, could the key of heaven lie ? And a. head that was pale in death, shall it wear the crown of majesty ? It is not possible ! And yet it is possible !" — In this way does faith struggle with doubt in the agonized heart, until faith triumphs, and the man exclaims, ' Lord, think of .me when thou, comest into thy kingdom.' Brethren, could Ap believe and adore, who saw nothing but the crown of thorns, and the pierced hand, and the running blood, and the death-sweat under the thorns upon- the kingly brow ; could he believe, that this man uttered no falsehood when he testified that the keys of heaven and of the abyss lay in his pierced hand ? — and will you doubt, you who have lived to know of the ascension morning, 158 SERMONS OF PROF. THOLUCK. which burst open the grave of rock, and brought up the mighty dead, as the Prince of life ? And will you doubt, who have, lived to know of the ascension morning, which raised the Prince of. life to the throne of majesty ? And will you doubt, who have seen his invisible sceptre guide his church through more than a thousand years, and have beheld the seed-corn, which was planted in the dark night with tears, grow up to a tree, under the shadow whereof the fowls of the air take lodging ? — Brethren, Christ has said that the queen of the South shall condemn the children of this generation, for she came from the ends, of the earth to hear the wisdom of So)omon : Verily, you who can doubt whether the keys of heaven and of the abyss lie in that, pierced hand, the thief on the cross shall be your condemning judge.1 But let us see in the third place, brethren, what this history ex hibits that is apt to be misunderstood. Is it then a fact, I hear you inquire, can the last spasmodic breath, with which rthe profligate breast is able to utter a ' God have mercy on me,' drown in silence the loud cry of a long, vicious life for vengeance ? Is it a fact, that there' are no blood spots so dark, and so great, that they cannot be washed away by that solitary tear, which falls from the glassy eye of a dying sinner ? Oh happy me ! so let me drink deeper of it, the intoxicating cup of pleasure; — I had only moistened my lips at its very brim ! Oh happy me ! Do I then have my portion in both worlds ; the joys of salvation and of the present life ? Let me first pluck the chequered, tbe sweet poi son-flowers in the garden of time, ere I hasten to your spotless lilies, which bloom in the garden of your eternity ! Look at this ! how the brightness of heaven, which lies over the spectacle that we are contemplating, is changed into the yellow reflection of hell, for our blinded, diseased eyes ! It is true, we have a religion, which teaches that in the very interval of death, between, as it were, the lightning's flash and its stroke,2 there is time to secure salvation. We have a Scripture that proclaims, ' Where sin hath abounded, grace abounds still more.' We have a Saviour, whom the poet fitly represents as saying,-^ Whoever devotes himself to me as my servant, I choose him as my bride ; and the sin which his 1 See a further illustration of christian faith, in Note R, at the close ofthe Sermons. ' Between the lightning of death and-its thunder. THE PENITENT THIEF. 159 heart repents of, I look upon as having never been committed.' And should you wonder at this ? To believe, — with a bruised heart to believe, — what is it either more or less than to open the door of the soul ? -When there was no penitence and faith, this door was shut ; the Saviour knocked, but it was not opened. When however it is once opened, does he not enter the soul, and with the Father take up his abode therein ? Does there not enter with him, the Spirit of discipline and of pardon, whose work it is to convert the heart of man into a temple of God ? The kingdom of God then with all its treasures is ' within such a soul, and will you shut the door of heaven upon it, and leave it without ? The blind man, who as he rushes upon the precipice is suddenly restored to sight, and who with lifted, arms and joyful thanksgiving springs back from the abyss, seizes and kisses the good hand that touched his eyes, and will never mpre let it so, — will you make no distinction between this blind man, and suc-h an one as will not re ceive the kind hand that was about to touch his eye-lids, but thrusts it back, until— a more convenient season ? — Blind man ! and how do you know that the hand will ever come to you again,? Do you suppose, that it will come to you just as soon as you will to become penitent, to shed tears of contrition, to exercise faith ? Oh brethren, — so perhaps many of you may have already experienced, these holiest of all tears, they flow not barely when the man wills to have them. Have you not heard of the judicial .obduracy which comes over those, who turn the. grace of God into licentiousness ? Believe me ; in the inward life of the sinner, to whom the grace of God would give the sighings of repentance, and the tears of contrition, and the blessedness of faith, but he will not receive the gift, — there will corne to him hours of slumbering, when the breast shall heave no more sighs, the eye shall shed no more tears, and the hands, though they shall fold themselves convulsively, yet shall not be able to extort a prayer ; when the anchor of longing desire, thrown out on all sides, shall find no bottom to which it may cleave. Be not deceived, God will not be mocked ! Oh the Holy Spirit which in- viteth man to repentance is 'a tender Spirit, — once sent away, he comes back again— reluctantly and rarely. Of them who do evil, so that good may come, the word of truth testifies, {heir ' damnation is entirely just.'1 1 Rom. 3: 8. 160 SERMONS OF PROF. THOLUCK. But let us in the last place, my friends, considerthe rich consola tion, which this passage- of sacred writ exhibits to us. Sinner, while thou standest this side the grave, it is never too late for thy repentance,— this is the sacred comfort which springs forth from the words of the Redeemer on the cross. ' It is too late /' Oh word of terror which, has already fallen like the thunder of God upon many a heart of man ! — See that father, as he' hastens from the burning house, and thinks that he has taken all his children with him;, he counts, one dear head is missing; he hastens back,— 'It is too late !' is the hollow sound that strikes his ear ; the stone wall tumbles under the roaring torrent of flame, he swoons and sinks to the ground. — Who is that, hastening through the darkness of the night on the winged courser ? It is the son, who has been wandering in the ways of sin, and now at last longs to hear from the lips of his dying father the word, ' I have forgiven you.' Soon 'he is at his journey's end, in the twinkling of an eye he is at the door,—' It is too late,' shrieks forth the mother's voice, ' that mouth is closed forever !' and he sinks fainting into her arms. — See that victim fpr the scaffold ; and the executioner, whetting the steel of death. 'The multitude stand shivering and dumb. Who is just heaving in sight on yonder distant hill, beckoning with signs of joy? It is the king's express; he brings a pardon! Nearer- and nearer comes his step : Pardon ! resounds through the crowd — softly at first, and then louder and yet louder. ' It is too late !' the guilty head has already fallen! — Yea, since the earth has stood, the heart of many a man has been fearfully pierced through by the cutting words, ' It is too late.' But oh, who will describe to me the lamentation that will arise, when at the boundary line which parts time from eternity, the voice of the righteous Judge will cry, ' It is too late !' Long have the wide gates of heaven stood open, and its messengers have cried at one time and another, — To day, to day, if ye will hear his voice ! Man, man, how then will it be with you, when once these gates, with appalling sound, shall be shut , for eternity ! " Agonize that you may enter in at the narrow gate ; for many, I say unto you, shall strive to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the master of the house hath arisen and shut the door, then shall ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, and to say, — ' Lord, Lord, open unto us,' and he will answer and say unto you, ' I know you not, whence ye are." THE SPECIAL PRESENCE OF GOD, 161 But, my friends, the more appalling the truth is, that, at the divid ing line between time and eternity, the sentence will be proclaimed, — ' It is too late ;' so much the more consoling is the word, flowing down to us from the cross of Jesus, — Sinner, while thou standest on this side the grave, it is never too late. — ' Therefore let us fear,' cries. an apostle to us, ' lest we should slight the promise of entering into his rest, and some one of us remain behind ; — to day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.' Whether the voice of thy God will come to thee again and search thee out, — this thou knowest not; but whatever may lie behind thee, whether nights of the dark est error, whether mountains of sin, — thou distinctly hearest to day his proclamation, — ' It is not too late !' SERMON VI.1 THE PRESENCE OF GOD WITH HIS CHILDREN. To-day, beloved in Christ, I turn my attention to one particular class of hearers ; not to those among you who are secure and at ease in the way to death, nor to those who enjoy peace and blessed ness in the way to life ; but to you, unhappy men, who hang between heaven and earth ; who cannot die, and cannot live ; whom the earth will not leave unmolested, and whom heaven will not accept. It is a fearful state when, in the heart that was created for God, the world and Satan reign, and yet the man can pass on in presumptuous confidence, and say to himself and to others, — I have peace, all goes well. But you will say, it is a condition still more fearful, when one looks at the opened heaven above him, full of grace and truth, and yet cannot break loose from the pollutions of earth ; when he is thus the prey of two conflicting powers. Many supposing this latter state to be worse than that of careless sin, make no attempt to wake themselves from the slumber of death, but press down their eyelids so much the closer, that they may sleep the more. But let 1 For an Analysis of this Sermon, see Note S, at the close of the Sermons. 21 162 SERMONS OF PROF. THOLUCK. us see which of the two states is the more fearful. Were the pangs ofthe struggling soul, which oscillates between death and life, to be your eternal portion, then would you have reason to regard it as of all portions the most disconsolate. But, my brother, such pangs are the pangs of the new birth. They are the contending of the morning twilight with the thick clouds of the night. Struggle on with fortitude, and the soul will be born anew ; the sun will come out clear from the former darkness.1 Ye who are striving with sin, , who are stretching out your hand for help, I will reach out to you a brother's arm. Ye who like Peter of old walk on the waves, and with hands stretched forth, cry out, ' Lord, we sink ;' Christ will ex tend his hand to help you ; ye shall not sink. From these birth- pangs shall the new man be born after the image of God. From these night-heavens shall the sun of righteousness shine forth. Wilt thou be made whole ? Thus the Lord asked the sick around him ; thus also he asks you, to-day. Hear the words ofthe Holy Scripture which, in this discourse, I will present before you in the name of God. They should be to you like the hand, that is stretched out from heaven to raise up from the power of sin and death all who will take hold of it. " Draw nigh to God," cries the apostle James, chap. 4: v. 8, " and he will draw nigh to you."2 Before we commence the regular discussion of these words of the apostle, let us, beloved, free them from a misconstruction which might attach itself to them. It might easily appear from this mode of expression, as if it were man himself who took the first step in the way to life. But if so, where would be the apostle's words, ' What hast thou which thou didst not receive, and if thou didst receive it, why then dost thou boast of thyself No, my friends, he who is the first to stretch out the hand and to come near, is God ; and the apostle's assertion in this passage can be applied to support no sentiment but the following, — whatever aid is proffered thee, thou must eagerly embrace, if thou wouldst obtain more. We are, all of us, stewards of the manifold gifts and graces of God ; ac cordingly he hath come to meet us all, and it is needful that we go forth to meet him, if we would receive more of his aid. In a manner altogether peculiar then, are the words of our text designed for you, 1 See Note T, at the close ofthe Sermons. 8 See Note U, at the close ofthe Sermons. THE SPECIAL PRESENCE OF GOD. 163 who with deep humility confess that the grace of God has already come near you, but yet weep, partly because you cannot appropriate this grace to yourself, and partly because you have not full and en tire satisfaction in it. Let us then, in the first place, propound the question, how God draws near unto men, and secondly, how men draw near unto God. 1. How does God draw near unto men ? He draws near to them as God the Father, in the work of creation and preservation. On all sides is every thing which liveth surrounded with the great mystery of love. It was love which, on the morning of the creation, cried into the darkness, ' let there be light,' and light was. The indepen dent and eternal God, who might in his self-existence and blessed ness have dwelt forever alone, desired to have co-partners of his blessedness, and he therefore created the world and spirits allied to his own nature. And now, soul of man ! whenever in the elevation of joy thou lookest upon thyself, and sayest to thyself, ' I am ;' be sure that thou also utter this exclamation, ' It is eternal love which hath made me in the image of God.' That love, which brought thee into existence on earth, see, how it bears thee in its motherly arms through this poor life, which is wreathed about with thorns and misery. Far above this earth, where souls of men abide, thither penetrates a beam from this sun, and thither goes with it this motherly love, mild and blessing ; and it warms and sustains and cherishes and shelters the ever needy heart of man. Even the rudest mind can form a conception of this near approach of God in the work of creation and -preservation. Paul goes into the midst of the heathen world and proclaims, ' Turn ye to the living God, who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is therein ; and hath not left himself without a witness, but hath given us much good, and hath sent rain and fruitful seasons from heaven, and hath filled our hearts with joy and gladness.'1 But creating and preserving love has not provided a mirror for itself in thee alone. Around us and afar off has it also erected its tabernacle. The morning stars of heaven rejoice in their Maker, and the modest flower of the earth praises him in the lovely vale. When a man, who hath first received into his own heart the full consciousness of that love which encircles heaven and earth in the embrace of its motherly arms, when such a man goeth forth on a ' Acts 14: 15,17. 164 SERMONS OF PROF. THOLUCK. bright day of spring into the solitary temple of nature ; oh — what a unison doth he feel between his own heart and all created objects, as they adore and sing, — ' Eternal, all-protecting love ! Hallowed be thy name !' Yea my brethren, in the work of his creation God the Father hath approached near unto us, inexpressibly near unto us, even as man to man ; — to us, his poor children, standing in the need of help ; — and let every thing which hath breath praise and exalt the Lord ! ! But although, my friends, we are placed in this glorious temple of nature as the priests of God, yet are we in no way profited by it, unless we be in reality priests. Of what avail is the fulness of all gifts and good things, which flow forth to thee from the exhaustless store-house of heaven and earth, if they do not expand thy heart to deep-felt gratitude, and humble obedience ? Of what avail, that every star in the heaven and every worm upon the earth has a tongue, with which it bears witness of eternal love, when the heart is deaf, and thy mouth continues speechless ? Of what avail to us, that God the Father has revealed himself in us and in nature as the Father of all that lives, unless we be his children ? And until God the Son has transformed us to be the children of his Father, oh how pitiably man stands on the heaving bosom of nature ; how poor, how ignorant ; unable to expound the riddle ; living like the heathen without God and without hope in the world ; and instead of folding his hands, he wrings them in despair. 2. But, brethren, God hath come near unto us, as God the Son, in the work of Redemption. Without Christ the heaven of stars, as well as the heart of man, remains to us, a sealed hieroglyphic. Seest thou not how men conjecture about it ? how diversely they unravel it ? how they interpret scarcely a single syllable here and there of the great enigma ? The Holy, the Unknown, whose characteristic features thou couldst not detect when thou soughtest to decipher them from the flowers, from the stars, from the hearts of men ; lo, he hath come forth to meet thee, he hath come near to thee, as a man to his neighbor ; in Galilee hath he set up his taber nacle ; look into the heart of Jesus, and thou hast read the heart of God ; for, this is his exclamation, '- Whoever hath seen me, Philip, hath seen the Father.' Adorable love ! when I passed thee by and 1 See Note V, at the clo.e. THE SPECIAL PRESENCE OF GOD. 165 knew thee not, then didst thou lie hidden behind the veil of nature ; then did I form conjectures concerning thee, and my heart swelled with fulness of longing desire ; but since I have looked upon thee in the Son of God, who hath come to find the lost sheep, and who inviteth the sorrowful and heavy laden to himself, since that time, I have looked directly upon thy face, and I know thee, and bow my knee before thee, and exclaim, — Eternal love ! pass not away from me, from me the poorest of thy children ! Yea, my friends, what a hidden being is God, before he hath be come manifest to us in Christ ; and how completely veiled also is the heart of man, before thou learnest its .character, in contrast with the Saviour's. While I look upon him as the Son of God and of man, the feeling is awakened in my breast, that even I am of a God like race ; and yet, when I look upon him, tears break forth from my eyes; for alas, the God-like image within me is shamefully dis figured, and that which ought to reign in my bosom, serves. In contrast with his obedience, I learned my own disobedience ; in contrast with his humility, I learned my own pride ; in contrast with his compassion and the swelling of his heart with tenderness, I learned how cold and unfeeling was my own spirit. And I stood troubled exceedingly, and ashamed, and my tears flowed forth. Then spake a voice, from the throne of glory, saying, ' Weep not, for the Lion of the tribe of Judah hath overcome.' Wilt thou be made whole ? ' Yea, Lord,' I answered, ' ah thou knowest how strongly I desire it.' Then said he, ' My Son, be of good cheer, there is help for thee ; stand up and follow me.' And I followed him, and lo, I became conscious that he had not disappointed me, when he said, ' Whoever believeth in me, hath already received everlasting life.' Behold, how God comes near to man in the work of redemption. But in vain does he come outwardly near thee in the work of crea tion and atonement, unless he come also near thee in the sanctuary of thine own soul. Christ as well as nature, the manifestation of the Son in redeeming as well as of the Father in creating, stands, before thee as a dumb enigma, unless the Spirit perform his pre paratory work upon thy heart. 3. But God the Spirit also approacheth men in his work of sanctification. If God bring thee not to God, thou canst not find God. This is the third way in which Jehovah comes near to man \ 166 SERMONS OF PEOF. THOLUCK. he sends the Divine Spirit, who has his seat of operation in the in most recesses of the human heart, who invites and attracts continually, until he has brought the man to Christ. ' God hath caused all na tions of men, being of one blood, to dwell on the whole face ofthe earth ; and hath fixed and pre-determined the bounds, both of time and space, in which they should live, so that they might seek after God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him. And indeed, he is not far from every one of us, for in him we live, move, and are.' Man ! feel the whole greatness of that which is proclaimed to thee by this truth. In thine inmost nature art thou thus rooted within the Spirit of God. No finite being is so near, not even thou thyself art so near to thine own soul, as the Spirit of God is. He is with thee when thou standest up ; he goeth with thee when thou liest down ; and if thou take the wings of the morning, and fly even to the outmost sea, yet even there will his hand hold thee. Thou canst by no means escape from his strong hold. The man who hath sunk into darkness, would fain release himself from God ; he may not recognize his divine companion, yet the hand of this com panion is upon him. Thou hangest the veil before thee, thou seest him not, but he seeth thee. Beloved man, he who inwardly speak eth to thee is not thine enemy. Turn not away from his voice. It is the voice of thy friend, the voice of thy best friend, thy God and Father, who will bear thee to his Son. What he teacheth will in deed give thee pain ; thou thoughtest thou wert full and hadst a sufficient supply ; oh see, he convinceth thee that thou art naked and destitute ; he exciteth in thy soul a hunger and thirst ; it may make thee lament, but, beloved man, turn him not away ; lo, he maketh thee poor and naked and hungry and thirsty, for no other reason than this, that he will clothe thee with new celestial garments, such as his Son hath provided for thee, and such as thou shalt wear in his kingdom ; for no other reason than this, that he will feed thee and give thee drink, — feed with heavenly bread, and give thee living water, such as his Son shall dispense to thee in his kingdom. Behold, my christian friends, the arms of love which your God spreadeth out for you, which come near unto you, and are stretched forth to embrace you in all your ways ! A sea of love surrounds you all, with its waves on all sides ; but how many of you thirst amid these waves, and must continue to thirst in the midst of them, if you will not extend your arms to meet your God. Will you be THE SPECIAL PRESENCE OF GOD. 167 made whole ? This is the question which I earnestly repeat to you. If it was necessary that the man, upon whom the miracle of physical healing was performed, should be willing to be cured, how much more necessary is it that the man, whose soul is to be restored, should desire the restoration. Christ revives and enlightens you, not with out nor against your will. But behold, here is the diseased place in your heart. All ye who are not dead in your sins, and who yet cannot come into decided spiritual life ; who affirm that yon believe, and yet are not conscious of the power and blessedness of living in the Redeemer, — the reason of your present condition is this ; when Christ with all earnestness inquires, 'Will you indeed be made whole,' you answer, ' No, we will not !' You hunger not, you thirst not, — how shall God give you food ? Will you indeed be made whole ? Then draw near to God. Draw near to him and he will draw near to vou. The sea of love will not barely surround you, so that you shall remain joyless amid its waves ; you shall drink from that sea. 1. Draw near to God in the work of creation and preservation. Why fleest thou from solitude ? Why dost thou shun the lonely hour ? Why passeth thy life away like the feast of the drunkard ? Why is it that to many of you there cometh not, through the whole course of the week, a single hour for self-meditation ? You go through life like dreaming men. Ever among mankind, aud never with yourselves. So it was not with our forefathers ; they had in their life many a still hour. When the evening came, then had every one a set period which was consecrated to his God. You have torn down the cloister ; but why have you not erected it within your hearts. Lo, my brother, if thou wouldst seek out the still hour, only a single one every day, and if thou wouldst meditate on the love which called thee into being, which hath overshadowed thee all the days of thy life with blessing, or else by mournful experiences hath admonished and corrected thee ; this would be to draw near to thy God ; thus wouldst thou take him by the hand. But whenever in ceaseless dissipation of heart thou goest astray, the sea of the divine blessing shall surround thee on all sides, and yet thy soul shall be aihirst. — Wilt thou draw near to God in his works of creation and preservation ? Then seek the still hour.1 1 See Note W, at the close. 168 SERMONS OF PROF. THOLUCK. 2. Draw near to God in his work of Redemption. How like a friend he hath come forth to meet a world of sinners ! and they go not forth to meet him ! Ye, who are conscious that ye have in the word of God eternal life, do ye read that word every day ? Believe me, there are very many among you who will remain in suspense and fluctuation of mind, and can never arrive at sure conviction, until they find opportunity to read the Scriptures every day in the still hour. But it is a question of vital import, — In what manner do you read ? Ye who are earnest in the pursuit of heaven, read first the history of your Lord, so that you may collect into a single sun all the scattered rays of his image. Let your first effort be to obtain a deep impression of his entire, holy character and conduct. This sacred image will attend you through the whole day, as a companion to humble, to console, to animate you ; it will be with you like a good spirit. Whoever looks for a long time at the sun, receives the sun's full image in his eye, so that he beholds nothing anywhere but that luminary. Thus, my beloved brother, when through the whole morning you look upon the sun of the Redeemer's image, that sacred form will impress itself upon you, and whatever you see, you will see it only in its relations to Christ ; you will rejoice when you recognize one ray from him ; you will weep when you cannot dis cover him ; you will follow every way-mark, and every lifted finger which points to him, — Will you then draw near to God in the work of Redemption ? Read the testimony respecting his Son, which he has placed in your hand. 3. Draw near to God when he comes to you in the Spirit, as it operates within your heart. Oh that I might, with divine power, penetrate all your souls with this cry ; — whenever you feel within your spirits the attraction and voice of your Father, resist it not ; it is the voice of God ; it is the work of God ; fail not to hear it ; for it is in this particular that the righteousness of God is manifested in the most fearful way. ' There dwells,' says a heathen writer, ' in men, a Holy Spirit, who treats us as he is treated by us.' Once turned away, he comes back again the more seldom, and speaks to us with less and less power. But what can I do, you ask, if the voice within me sounds but softly ; or if I have disdained it, until it has become scarcely audible ? Brother, it stands recorded : ' Ask, and it shall be given you ; seek, and you shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened to you.' You reply, ' I have a cold heart. I cannot THE SPECIAL PRESENCE OF GOD. 169 pray ;' but I ask you, is not a warm heart a good gift? If it is so, then I add, it stands written, ' If ye who are evil yet know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more will your Father bestow favor upon them who ask it.' It is a mistake, a dangerous error to suppose that man should pray only when his heart prompts. What shall one do, when his heart dies away, and incites him no more ? Knowest thou pot, that the soul is stimulated to prayer by prayer itself. Hast thou never yet experienced that happy state, when the soul, grieving oyer its inward barrenness and coldness, casts itself down, and begins with frigid feeling to pray, and this very prayer transforms the heart of stone into one of flesh, and thine affections begin to swell within thee and to pour themselves out more and more freely, and the words flow forth in richer and richer abundance, and thou canst find no end to them, and thou art overpowered, and criest aloud, — ' Yea veriby, oh God, thou canst do superabundantly above all that we ask, and think ?' But you say, — ' Alas my supplication falls back agairi so cold and faint upon me. It seems as if I mocked God with my prayer, full of words but without a soul.' Brother, I ask you only one question : — Do you hun ger for the bread of life ? If you do, then certainly you do not mock your God with yoursupplication. Shall it be that you entreat longingly for bread, and are refused ? Nay, nay, he in whose countenance we behold all that is paternal, hath inquired, ' What man is there among you, who if his son ask for bread, will give him a stone ?' Cry out in full trust, ' Bread, Father ! I wish ! Thou who givest earthly bread to the young ravens, thy child longeth for the bread of the soul.' And do you think that to you alone, among all mortals, there would come a refusal ? Remember that the holy men of God ; remember that, in particular, Augustus Hermann Francke1 fell on his knees and prayed, — ' God, if thou art, manifest thyself unto me.' Lo, thus was he obliged to begin to learn how to pray ; and the manner in which he ended, the conclusion to v hich he came, you know — see, the edifice of his faith, of his prayers, is erected among you, an imperishable monument. And can you still doubt, you with the cold heart, that you will learn to pray with warm and glowing feeling, if you will but begin in faith ? Beloved Christians, draw near to the Holy Spirit of God in supplication. Come then, all ye who are not dead, and yet are not alive ; ye 1 See Note X, at the close ofthe Sermons. 22 170 SERMONS OF PROF. THOLUCK. whom the earth will not leave unmolested, and whom heaven will hot accept ; ye who serve two masters, how long will ye fluctuate ? Hold" fast in your souls this one truth ; whatsoever can be done on the part of God, hath already been done. The wedding festival is prepared ; you have been invited ; nothing remains but for you to come. The sea of love surrounds you ; nothing remains but for you to. drink. At the last day, when you wring your hands in despair, shall it be said, ' I was willing, but ye were not willing ?' How to approach him who approacheth you so graciously, you know. Seek the still hour, every day. Read the Holy Scriptures, every day. Attend, every hour and every instant, to every attracting influence of the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit keepeth silence, then cling to your prayer. Israel ! why wilt thou die ? Lo, thou knowest what course is needful for thy happiness. Whoever remaineth shut out, whoever remaineth shut out from the work of grace, — he hath shut himself out. NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR. NOTE A, Page 115. The sermons of Tholuck, which are translated in this volume, may not be the most highly finished specimens of his pulpit-style ; but they are sup posed to exhibit as much thought that would be interesting to American Christians, and in eor_bination with this as much of their author's peculiari ty of manner, as any equal number which he has published. They were all preached at the service appointed for the University students at Halle. The title ofthe volumes from which they are taken is, " Predigten in dem akade- mischen Gottesdienste der Universitat Halle in der St. Ulrichs- — nnd in der Domkirche gehalten, von Dr. A. Tholuck." The first sermon in this selection is found in Tholuck's 4th Volume, or more properly " Sammlung,'' pp. 54—68; the second, in his 2d Vol. pp. 164 — 176; the third, in his 4th Vol. pp. 123— 136; the fourth, in his 1st Vol. pp. 32— 46 ; the fifth, in his 1st Vol. pp. 161 — 171 ; the sixth, in his first Vol. pp. 74— .6. NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR. 171 NOTE B, Page 115. The title which Tholuck gives to this sermon is, " The true idea of the external discipline of the law urider the Christian economy." As Tholuck is sometimes accused of incoherency in his train of thought; it is judged ex pedient to give a brief synopsis of the contents of each sermon. The fol lowing is an analysis ofthe first discourse. Introduction ;— the piety of former times characterized by observance of law ; that of modern times, by impulses of feeling; p. 115. Text, explica tion, division ; p. 116. The fervent" Christian is not prompted to the per formance of his religious duties by the fact, that they are commanded ; p. 1 17, Illustration, drawn from our performance of many moral duties, with out being prompted by the civil law ; happiness of such a state of freedom; p. 118. — The Christian, so far as he is remiss, stands in need of law; he needs the law, that he may have before hirn a standard of perfect virtue ; in what manner does the law humble for sin ; what- is comprehended under the term 'law;' p. 119.. The imperfect Christian' needs the law, that he may be fortified against the sins, which most strongly tempt him ; reciprocal in fluence of internal and external actions ; p. 120. Necessity of resisting sin ; p. 121. Importance of outward observances, illustrated in the case of the ancient Israelites; also in the case ofthe Quakers; pp. 122, 123. Ex hortation to observe outward forms; p. 123. The imperfect Christian needs the law, as a seal ofthe method which he has chosen of obtaining the divine favor through grace; p. 124. Dependence of Protestant Christians on their own works; illustration; pp. 124, 125. Conclusion, p. 125. NOTE C, Page 116. Perhaps there is no act ofthe Saviour's life, more full of doctrinal instruc tion, and more illustrative of the remark that his deeds were in themselves discourses, than that recorded in Matt. 12: 1—8, Mark 2: 23—28, and Luke 6: 1 — 5. He evinced here as well as elsewhere, the greatness and stability of his mind, by doing what was precisely right; in opposition to the two parties who were, though in two opposite ways, wrong. Some would have been glad to see the Sabbath desecrated, and many would have been glad to see it observed with over-scrupulous strictness ; but Christ in opposition to both extremes does what is just right. An ultra-conservative spirit would have inquired, whether one extreme of wrong- were not safer than the other ; whether there were not a stronger tendency in man t6 license than to rigor ; and therefore whether it would not be the more judi cious and. prudent course, to go alittle farther than needful one way, so as to deter men from going too far the other way ; to encourage the extreme of undue severity, so as to draw men from the worse extreme of injurious liberty. But with a full view of the proneness of man tp convert indulgence into license, our Saviour defended the course which was most obnoxious to the high religionists of his time. And yet he defended it on such sober 172 NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR. principles, as to give no countenance to those latitudinarian views of the Sabbath, which his act is supposed by some to have sanctioned. The five reasons, which he gave for the plucking of the ears of corn, are, — first, that the example of David, recorded in 1 Sam. 21: 6, is a, precedent for allowing the necessities of nature to suspend ceremonial observances ; secondly, that the custom of sacrificing victims, circumcising infants, and performing other works connected with tbe rites of Judaism, was a prece dent for allowing just so much- manual and secular labor, as the spiritual good of men required ; thirdly, that the Old Testament , expressly declares mercy to be more acceptable to God than sacrifice ; or, in other words, kindness and rational benevolence to one's self and others, to be better than austere and onerous ceremonies, see Hosea 6: 6; fourthly, that the Sab bath is not the end and man the means, but man is the end and the Sabbath the means ; and fifthly, that the Messiah is Lord of the Sabbath, and has power at any time to release from its observance. For a full explanation of these reasons, see Calvin's Com. Vol. 1. pp. 280,281. — The evil conse quences, which have resulted, and are still resulting, to the interests of re ligion upon the continent of Europe, from the loose views pfthe Reformers on the subject of the Sabbath, and from the propagation of these views through the German and the neighboring churches, form a striking com mentary on the dissonance of so lax a doctrine with the doctrine, always salutary, ofthe great Teacher of morals. This may he a proper place to add, that first in the paragraph to which this note refers, and subsequently in various parts of the sermon, there is an ^explanation given of the words, " the'Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath," which although defended by some able critics, does not seem to be correct. " In the concluding expression," says Olshausen, " which all the evangelists have in common, — ' The Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath,' the words ' Son of man' cannot possibly be supposed parallel with the word ' man' in Mark 2: 27. For although sinful mortals were not made for the sake of the law, but conversely the law was made for the sake of these mortals ; yet it would be altogether improper to affirm, that they are Lords of the law, or of any one of its ordinances. This can be said of him only who is the perfect man, the first of men. The phrase ' Son of man' is here to be regarded as in contrast with the word ' man' in Mark 2: 27, and therefore the phrase ex presses the Messianic authority of Jesus. As the Lord of heaven (1 Cor. 15: 47), even while wandering here below in tbe plain garb of a human being, the Messiah was elevated above all the legal ordinances, for his will itself was the law. He never exhibits himself, however, as in any manner annulling the law, but as fulfilling it in a deep spiritual sense, Matt. 5: 17. Thus the Redeemer fulfils the precept of the Old Testament respecting the Sabbath, while he recommends an inward warmth of soul and rest in God." Coram, on New Test. Vol. I. p'. 366. Tholuck's opinion, that the term Sabbath is used in the text by synecdoche for the whole law, is the same with that of Olshausen, Vol. I. p. 365, and of other evangelical commentators. NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR. 173 NOTE D, Page 125. The title which Tholuck gives to this sermon is, " The truth, that the Lord is not in the storm and tempest, but in the soft, still sound, — con sidered in reference to the appearance of the Saviour in the world." The sermon was preached Dec. 26, 1834,- on the second day of the Christmas-Festival; hence the allusions in the introductory sentence. The religious festivities of Christmas, as observed by the German Lutherans, commence on the 25th of December, and extend to the 6th of January ; the former day being regarded as that of Christ's birth, and the latter as that of the Epiphany. The 26th of Dec, the second day of Christmas, is connected with ,_ particular reference to the martyrdom of Stephen ; the 27th, the third day, to the memory of John the .Evangelist; and the 28th, the fourth day, to the slaughter of the infants at Bethlehem. See Augusti Handbuch der Christ. Archaeol. 1. pp. 531, 7, 8. The following is the analysis of this discourse. Introduction ; general celebration of the birth of Christ; p. 126. Teat ; explication; pp. 126, 127; Division, p. 128. The gentleness of Christ's mission is shown by the man ner of his entrance into the world ; p. 128. Effect produced on the mind by conceiving ofthe appearance of Jehovah to us ; p. 128. Difference between the mode of creating,' and that of destroying ; peculiar circumstances of Christ's advent; what might they have been; p. 129. What will be the circumstances of his second coming.; p. 130. The gentleness of Christ, exemplified in his progress through the world ; humility of his appearance ^ p. 130. Predictions of his mildness ; contrast between him as a preacher, and other inspired men ; p. 131. Character of Christ's miracles in contrast with what it might have been, and what the character of other miracles ha^ been; p. 132. The gentleness of Christ shown in the manner of his leaving the world; how might he have departed; how did he depart. Con clusion; p. 133. NOTE E, Page 128. Tholuck has another discourse on the same text with this, and imme-' diately succeeding it, in Vol. 2, pp.177 — 192. Subject,— The truth that ' God is not in the storm and tempest,' considered in its application to God's treatment of men. The following is a brief abstract of it. " My worshipping friends, on the last Feast-day I made fhis text the theme of a discourse, and considered it in reference to the appearance of Jesus Christ in the world. — But as the diamond sends forth its bright beams from whatever side it may be looked upon, so many incidents and expressions recorded in sacred writ impart instruction, from whatever aspect they may be viewed. This is true with our text ; in various respects the Lord is not in the storm but in the soft sound. Let us to day consider the words in reference to God's treatment of men. 174 NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR. If now we understand by the storm and tempest those times in which God comes near to men with terror and desolation, it may appear questionable, whether the words of our text can be applied to his treatment of our race. For who of Us does not know how often in the history of the world, how often in the history of the christian church the Lord has appear ed in terror and devastation ? Yea who is not aware how much more in frequent have been the times, when God appeared to him in the mild gentle sunshine, than those in which he came as the storms roared, and the clouds ofthe tempest gathered. The Lord does indeed appear to man in the storm and tempest, as Christ also will appear in the same, though at his first coming he appeared in the soft sound. We add, however, that the most appropriate manifestations of the Deity are in the gentle mode. When our text asserts, that he is not in the storm and tempest, it can be understood only in this sense, he is not in the storm and tempest so characteristically as' in the gentle whisper. Thus you often find in the Bible an exclusive and negative proposition, which must be understood with some limit of this sort. It is said for example, ' I am not cometo-bring peace but a sword,' and also, 'when thou makest an enter tainment, invite not thy friends, but the poor, the cripple, the blind, the lame.' Wherefore let us consider, first, the truth that the Lord does come in the storm and tempest, and secondly that he comes, in a more peculiar sense, in the soft sound. 1. That the Lord comes in storm and tempest is evident, in the first place, from the history of the world, and of the church, as they are considered collectively. It seems to be with men, as it is with the hour-glass, which must at certain times be turned upside down, so that it may go. (Illus trated by various historical facts.) , That the Lord comes in storm and tempest is shown, in the second place, in the history of men considered individually — Is it not true that when the sun shines upon us, and we feel its gentle warmth in our life, we become indifferent to its mild beams, and do not so much as ask, whence comes the pleasant light? Because it is grateful to our feelings, we think that it is a matter of course. If any one says, this is the work ofthe beloved God, it is said in mere formality. Not until the tempest comes, which we dread, do we look around us and inquire, — whence comes this ? Before the eye of the Christian there rises to the clouds from every event in life a thread, on which the eye moves along up to the Source, where all gifts end and begin. But the eye of the natural man sees not the thread, so long as the sun shines. When it is night and lightning gleams through the darkness, then only does he discern the thread, then for the first time do his tardy affections rise upward to God. Oh what an image ofthe heart of man, in this respect, is the history of Israel. What Moses says in his parting song, how it is confirmed in the history of us all. ' The Lord found them in the desert, in the barren wilderness ; and as an eagle fluttereth over her young, and bear- eth them away, so the Lord spread out his wings, and took them, and bore them on his wings, and nourished them with the fruits of the NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR. 175 held, and let them suck honey from the rock, and oil from the hard stone. But when they were satiated and had become fat, they were insolent. They grew strong, and neglected the God who made them.' As David confesses of himself, ' Before I was brought low I went astray, but now, Lord, 1 keep thy word,' so do the greater part of Christians confess, each of himself, ' As long as thou, eternal God, heldest back thy lightning and thunder, I went astray ; but when they prostrated me upon the ground, 1 then attended, for the first time, to thy word, and learned by experience that the Lord cometh to men in the storm and tempest.' And this is not only the fact at the first return to God, at conversion; ah, is it not our general experience that the star of faith never shines brighter, than when it is night all around us ? and that the field of our hfe never brings forth better fruit than when the storm and tempest come over it? What but this is the reason that you, who are the rnost experienced Christians, when you look back upon your days gone by, think of the days of storm and commotion, with no less gratitude than those of peace ; for all chastisement when it is upon us, seemeth to be not a matter of joy but of sorrow ; yet' afterwards it will yield the peaceable fiuit of righteousness^to those who are exercised by it? 2. It is true, however, that the appropriate coming of the Deity is in the gentle sound. What do we understand by the term, appropriate coming? We understand such a manifestation as that which he will make through all .ternity, and in which he will always come to his glorified church. When, as the Scripture saith, ' the condition of the world passeth away,' then shall also pass away all those modes, in which the Lord was wont to present him self before his friends, in a world where sin and , death reigned. And the way in which God will exhibit himself through all eternity, when sin and death shall be no more, must be the proper and appropriate way. (For the admissibility of such a phrase, see Isaiah 28: 21. — Tr.) Let us consider how the holy seer viewed these last days, when he said, ' And I John saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem come down from God cut, of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And 1 heard a great voice from heaven saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell wilh them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and shall be their God, and shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain ; for the former tilings have passed away.' So shall it be at the end of tbe world ; as a silent sunbeam he shall come down softly and solemnly, and all the hearts of men shall be flowers holding themselves still before him and drinking ih the sunbeam, without moving, without turning away, for God will be All in all." (The state of spiritual rest in God is begun on earth, and the instances are frequent, in churches, see Acts 2: 47, and pious individuals, such as Arndt, Spener, Francke, in which God has erected his tabernacle among men, and moved about, as a Friend and Father, in solemn stiljness.) 176 NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR. NOTE F, Page 133. Like all other writers, Tholuck has his favorite ideas, which he is apt to repeat in a varied form. The scenes of the Saviour's life are among his select topics, and the reader will at once see the resemblance between the following descriptions, and some of those in the sermon to which this note refers. " From the instant of the Saviour's resurrection, when he left mortality behind him in the tomb, he belonged to the earth no more. While he had previously been the constant companion pf his disciples, living with them as a father with his children, he now appears to them but occasionally, and in divers places. Where he now abides they do not ask him. They ask him not and we know not. That he would return to the Father he has often taught them; and they may therefore have concluded, that even at this time he made his abode with his Father. He has assembled them for the last time in the capital city. He has said to them not a word more respecting himself. He has spoken with them of the kingdom of God. Early ih the morning, at an hour whenno unconsecrated eye could see him, — for only they, who believed in him, had beheld him since his resurrection, — he walks with the eleven, — the twelfth had gone to his own place, as the Seripture says, — through the yet silent streets of the city, — he goes out at the gate, and ascends with them the very mountain, whose foot had been moistened with the tears, yea with the bloody sweat of the now glorified man. Who conjectures what now passed through his God-like heart, as he stood on this commanding eminence and cast the earthly, human glance for the last time, upon the scene of his agonies, the scene of his weeping. " It is finished," he had exclaimed once, as he bowed his head upon the cross ; " It is finished," he now cries out once more. There lie at his feet eleven men, whom his wrestlings and his tears have taken captive as a precious prey from the world ; but more than eleven millions, who will lie at his feet on some future day, and for whom these eleven are but the small grains of seed, are in his prophetic view. — It is finished." " You all know, my hearers, of what invaluable worth is the last look of a departing friend. As his countenance then appeared — that is the image which imprints itself most deeply on the soul. Why is it unpleasant to stand, as one must, by the dying-bed of a friend, who is trembling under tbe cold touch of death. Ah, above all things else is it on this account, that the loved one will ever recur to our remembrance in this image of pain. How delightful now it is to see the manner in which the last glance of the Saviour fell upon his chosen. It is said in the Gospel of Luke, that ' he lifted up his hands and blessed them, and as he was blessing them, he parted with them.' If an inventive fancy would form some conception of the mode in which the Saviour might have taken his departure from earth, that Saviour who broke not the bruised reed , nor quenched the glowing wick, could it design a more becoming, a more NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR. 177 beautiful picture than this ? I have already, on another occasion, asked you to consider how rich the Gospel history is in subjects for representation by the arts. This mode of the Redeemer's departure did not take place by accident. It is in keeping with the whole life of him, who came into the world not to condemn it but to make it happy. Imagine, that the Saviour of sinners had terminated his earthly course like Elias, that preacher of repentance, who was carried to heaven in a chariot of fire by a tempest of the Lord; and you will then feel that such a termination is not consonant with either the beginning or the middle of the Saviour's course. We read of the" apostles, that ' they went back to Jerusalem with great joy !' With joy? With joy after their One and All had been parted from them, and while they were not yet certain of his revisit in the Spirit ? — Yea with joy. They had seen the hands stretched out to bless them. Wherever they stood and wherever they went, the blessing hands were before their eyes. — And do not we, beloved brethren, exclaim, oh that we had been there, oh that we had seen them, those blessing hands? Go then, dear friends, go in the spirit so much the oftener to that cheering history ; celebrate Christ's ascension in your hearts. And wherever ye behold men sorrowing and al ways grieved, there show them these blessing hands !" — Vol. II. pp. 124, 125, 129, 130. The reader will at once perceive the resemblance between the main idea of Tholuck's sermon on the gentleness of Christ, and the following passage taken from the close of Milman's Fall of Jerusalem. " Thou wast born of woman, thou did'st come, O Holiest ! to this world of sin and gloom, Not in thy dread omnipotent array ; And not by thunder strow'd Was thy tempestuous road ; Nor indignation burned before thee on thy way. But thee, a soft and naked child, Thy mother undefiled, In the rude manger laid to rest From off her virgin breast. , The heavens were not commanded to prepare A gorgeous canopy of golden air ; Nor stoop'd their lamps th' enthroned fires on high ; A single silent star Came wand'ring from afar, Gliding uncheck'd and calm along th? liquid sky ; The Eastern sages leading on, As at a kingly throne, To lay their gold and odors sweet Before thy infant feet. 23 178 NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR. The earth and ocean were not hush'd to hear Bright harmony from ev'ry starry sphere ; Nor at thy presence brake the voice of song from all the cherub chojrs, And seraphs' burning lyres Pour'd through the host of Heav'n the charmed clouds along : One angel troop the strain began, Of all the race of man, By simple shepherds heard alone, That soft Hosanna's tone. And when thou didst depart, no car of flame To bear thee hence in lambent radiance came ; Nor visible angels mourn'd with drooping plumes : Nor didst thou mount on high From fatal Calvary, With all thine own redeem'd out-bursting from their tombs. For thou didst bear away from earth But one of human birth, The dying felon by thy side, to be In paradise with thee. Nor o'er thy cross the clouds of vengeance break, A little while the conscious earth did shake At that foul deed by her fierce children done ; A few dim hours of day, The world in darkness lay, Then bask'd in bright repose beneath the cloudless sun ; While thou didst sleep beneath the tomb, Consenting to thy doom, Ere yet the white-robed Angel shone Upon the sealed stone. And when thou didst arise, thou didst not stand With devastation in thy red right hand, Plaguing the guilty city's murtherous crew ; But thou didst haste to meet Thy mother's coming feet, And bear the words of peace unto the faithful few : Then calmly, slowly didst thou rise Into thy native skies, Thy human form dissolved on high In its own radiancy." NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR. 179 NOTE G, Page 134. This sermon was preached at the commencement of a new term, (half- year, semester), in the University at Halle. The title which Tholuck gives it is, " Why do our resolutions remain so frequently without results." The following is its analysis. Introduction ; discouraging influence of broken resolyes ; power of Christianity to secure adherence to our resolutions; p. 134. Text; ex planation; p. 135. Division; reluctance to humble ourselves; p. 136. Comparison between humility of mind, and the death of the body; reproof of Christians ; p. 137. Insincerity, and want .of particularity in confessing sin ; p. 138. Sins should be confessed before God-, and chiefly in view of having been committed against him ; distinctive mark of a Christian ; meaning of the term religion ; p. 139. Humility in view of having sinned against God has great power ; importance of secret prayer ; p. 140. Our humility should be accompanied with faith ; happiness not the first duty of the Christian, but consequent upon faith anilove, which are the first duties; p. 141. True humility cheerful, illustrated by examples ; p. 142. Conclusion ; pp. 142 — 3. NOTE H, Page 135. " Before I was humbled," gedemtlthigt, Luther and De Wette give the same translation. The Vulgate also gives ' humiliarer,' and the Septuagint, Tanctvm&ijrai. The word humbled is however, in this place, equivocal; as it may refer the renewed obedience of David, either to previous suffering of body or mind, or to the grace of humility, which was followed by that of faithful obedience. That the former is the right shade of meaning is probable from the facts in David's history (if he wrote this Psalm), and from such parallel passages as Ps. 116: 10. 119: 71, 75, etc. See Gesenius on the word HS3> , which he translates in this passage by afflictus, depressus, oppressus est; and De Wette, Com. on Ps., p. 522, where he says ' adversity (unglack) had benefitted the poet,' and considers the passage parallel with Ps. 118: 18, 'the Lord hath chastened me sore,' etc. Tholuck's idea of the passage, as developed'in the progress of his sermon, includes both the idea of our English translation, that of being ' afflicted,' oppressed with pain, and also that of being penitent in view of sin. His application of the words does not seem to be precisely correct. NOTE I, Page 143. The following is the analysis of the fourth sermon. — Introduction; insufficiency of reasons from nature for believing in the immortality ofthe soul; p. 143. The resurrection of Christ the great argument; proposition of the discourse ; text; division; p. 144. Contrast between the trembling spirit of a servant and the praying spirit of a child; case ofthe Israelites ; importance of trembling; p. 145. Prayer is the evidence of our adoption ; 180 NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR. what kind of prayer ; whence arising ; how excited ; grounds on which God hears it; illustrations; pp. 14C, 147. How is this prayer expressed; nature of prayer; praying without intermission; true mode of prayer illus trated ; p. 148. Happy effects of prayer ; how a pledge of future life ; how is the transformation of the heart from flesh to spirit a pledge,; p. 149. Practical appeal ; how is the transformation of the heart from spiritual death to spirituxl life a pledge of future blessedness ; joy of a devoted Christian ; pp. 150, 151. Practical appeal to unfaithful and faithful Christians; to sinners ; conclusion ; pp. 152, 153. NOTE K, Page 143. This sermon was preached in the autumn of the year 1833, on the reli gious festival observed by the Lutheran church in memory of the dead. Hence the allusions to the scenery of nature, etc., in the Introduction. It may be here remarked, that Tholuck disapproves of such papal festivities as these ; but avails himself of their observance, as a means, furnished by the prejudices and customs ofthe people, of exciting a class of sentiments and feelings which the usual services of the sanctuary leave dormant. Many of his brethren defend the observance, as peculiarly fitted to exert a salutary influence on the religious sensibilities, to strengthen the belief in the soul's immortality, and enliven the hope of the resurrection of the dead. Its tendency, however, to be abused, to be celebrated with undue pomp, to be regarded as a nieans of benefitting the dead, to enthrone mere humanity in the place of the Deity, is admitted by the more considerate of its advocates. For a notice ofthe solemnity, see Augusti's Handbuch der Christ. Archaeol- ogie, Vol. III. pp. 285, 286, NOTE L, Page 146. The expression, ' tasting the powers of the world to come,' is frequently used by Tholuck as equivalent to, ' experiencing the powerful influence of those truths which are connected with eternity and heaven.' The word 'tasted,' in the passage (Heb. 6: 5) from which the expression is taken, ap pears to be synonymous with ' experienced,' ' fully experienced ;' see 1 Pet. 2: 3. Heb. 2: 9. Prov. 31: 18, and other passages ; the phrase ' powers ofthe world to come,' appears to signify the miraculous powers given to the early Christians, and which attested the truth of their religious system. That such is sometimes the meaning ofthe word