{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_36828/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_36828","id":"gutenberg_36828","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36828","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Teaching & Education","Jesus Christ","Teaching"],"text":"</pre>\n\n\n\n\n                             Pastor Pastorum\n\n                                  Or The\n\n                        Schooling of the Apostles\n\n                               By Our Lord\n\n                                    By\n\n                          Rev. Henry Latham M.A.\n\n                     Master of Trinity Hall Cambridge\n\n                     Cambridge: Deighton Bell And Co.\n\n                       London: George Bell And Sons\n\n                                   1899\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nPreface.\nIntroductory Chapter.\nChapter II. Human Freedom.\nChapter III. Of Revelation.\nChapter IV. Our Lord\u2019s Use Of Signs.\nChapter V. The Laws Of The Working Of Signs.\nChapter VI. From The Temptation To The Ministry In Galilee.\nChapter VII. The Preaching To The Multitudes.\nChapter VIII. The Choosing Of The Apostles.\nChapter IX. The Schooling Of The Apostles. The Mission To The Cities.\nChapter X. To Those Who Have, Is Given.\nChapter XI. From The Mount To Jerusalem.\nChapter XII. The Later Lessons.\nChapter XIII. The Lessons Of The Resurrection.\nChronological Appendix.\nIndex Of Texts.\nGeneral Index.\nFootnotes\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nOf the general purport of this book, and of what led to the writing, I\nhave said all that is necessary in the Introductory Chapter. The ideas it\ncontains were growing into distinctness during the five and thirty years\nof my College work, and to many of my old pupils they will offer little\nthat is new.\n\nBut although the book took its source from teaching; and instruction\u2014but\ninstruction divorced from examinations\u2014is in some degree my object still,\nyet it is meant, not so much for professed students, as for that large\nbody of the public, who entertain the desire, happily spreading fast among\nthe young, of understanding with as great exactness as possible what it\nwas that Christ visibly effected, and what means He employed in bringing\nit about.\n\nI have avoided all technical terms of Divinity or Philosophy, and where,\nas in Chapters II. and III., I have been led to touch on theological\nspeculations, I have tried to present the matter in as familiar a form as\nI could. Frequently, I have explained in the notes some geographical and\nother particulars which a large majority among my readers may not require\nto be told; in this case I must be pardoned for consulting the interest of\nthe minority.\n\nA didactic purpose and a literary one, do not always run readily side by\nside. A teacher who desires to inculcate certain principles or ideas, is\never on the look out for illustrations and recurs to his topic again and\nagain. So, having, as I thought, certain topics to teach, I have brought\nthem back into view more often than I should have done if I had written\nsolely with a literary view.\n\nI have not commonly given accounts of what has been said by others on the\npoints of which I treat, or criticised conclusions different from mine,\nfor I know that this manner of treatment is not in favour with the present\ngeneration. I recollect the reason of an undergraduate, in my early days,\nfor preferring the instruction of his private tutor to that officially\nprovided\u2014\u201cThe Lecturer tells you that Hermann says it is this, and Wunder\nsays it is that, but Blank (the private tutor) tells you what it _is_.\u201d\n\nWith the same view of making the book readable by the general public, I\nhave abstained from apologising when I have advanced a notion not commonly\nreceived. In my first draft I had made such apologies for what I say on\nthe second and third Temptations, on the Mission to the Cities, the\nTransfiguration, the Denials of Peter and some minor points\u2014but I\nafterwards thought it better to leave them out, and to disclaim here once\nfor all, any intention to dogmatize, or to fail in respect toward the\nweighty authorities with whom I have ventured to disagree.\n\nIn many cases, however, the views that I have taken rather supplement than\nsupplant those that are commonly received. Writers on Divinity have not so\nmuch opposed them, as failed to notice the points on which I dwell. There\nis however one topic\u2014the parable of the Unjust Steward, on which I find\nmyself at variance with all the writers on the subject I know of,\nexcepting perhaps Calvin, who begins his Comment on Luke xvi. 1 by saying\n\u201cThe main drift of this parable, is, that we must shew kindness and lenity\nin dealing with our neighbours.\u201d He does not, however, follow up this view\nas I have done.\n\nThough in so difficult a matter I cannot be confident of being right, yet\nI do feel convinced, that the accepted interpretation of the parable, viz.\nthat it is intended to teach the right use of riches\u2014\u201cthe really wise use\nof mammon\u201d as G\u00f6bel puts it\u2014is wholly inadequate. So simple a moral would\nhave been pointed by a simpler tale. Surely the riches would have been\nmade the giver\u2019s own. Moreover the salient point of the outward story,\nthat which first catches attention, always answers in our Lord\u2019s parables\nto a cardinal matter in the interpretation. Here that salient point lies\nin the words \u201cTake thy bond and sit down quickly and write fifty\u201d and this\nhas but a very oblique bearing on the true use of riches; the distinctive\npoint of the outward parable is the exercise of delegated power, and the\nspiritual bearing must be in conformity with this.\n\nI have everywhere followed the Revised Version, and I must warn readers\nthat where italics occur in the _longer_ passages they are not _mine_,\nexcept in passage on p. 101. They are introduced, not to mark words\nimportant for my purpose, but simply because they are found in the Revised\nVersion where they indicate, of course, that the corresponding word is\nwanting in the Greek. For the course of events I have generally followed\nthe Gospel of St Mark up to the time of the feast of Tabernacles; and\nafter that the Gospel of St John. Of the great historical value of the\nlatter I have, like most biblical students, become more deeply sensible,\nthe more closely I have studied it. Speaking of the absence of miracles\nwrought in public during the week of the Passion, p. 430, I have not\nnoticed Matt. xxi. 14, because I believe the Evangelist to refer to\nmiracles that had taken place during earlier visits to Jerusalem. It was\nbeyond the scope of my book to discuss the differences of character of the\ndifferent Gospels.\n\nIn a few instances I follow an order of events different from that which\nis most commonly taken. This order I have shewn in a Chronological\nAppendix, in which I have tabulated the chief events of our Lord\u2019s\nMinistry, taking them month by month from the time of the Baptism to that\nof the great day of Pentecost. I have made this Appendix more full, in\npoint of reference and arguments in support of the dates, than would have\nbeen quite necessary for readers of this book, because I thought it might\nbe made useful generally to students of the Gospel History.\n\nI have to thank several persons for their assistance and advice,\nespecially Canon Huxtable, without whose kind encouragement at the outset\nthe book might not have been written. I must note that I have made use of\nan idea on Luke xii. 49, which I first came upon, many years ago, in a\nsmall publication of the Rev. A. H. Wratislaw, then one of the Tutors of\nChrist\u2019s College; and that I was in like manner set on a track of thought\nby a sermon on the Temptation, by T. Colani, published at Strasburg in\n1860. I have acknowledged my obligations to Bishop Ellicott\u2019s \u201cHistorical\nLectures,\u201d and Edersheim\u2019s \u201cJesus the Messiah.\u201d Many members of my own\nCollege, and many other friends have assisted me greatly with advice and\ncorrections.\n\nAlthough my book is not written with any thesis about the Gospels to\nsupport, still I trust that I have cleared away difficulties here and\nthere, and have shewn, in small matters, how one account undesignedly\nsupports another. If what I have said shall lead to discussion on some of\nthe questions raised, or if I shall induce younger men to apply\nthemselves, in some of those directions towards which I have pointed, to\nwork of a literary kind waiting to be done, I shall not have spent my time\nand pains without result.\n\nTRINITY HALL LODGE,\n_May 1st, 1890_.\n\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.\n\n\nIn this opening chapter I propose to lay before the reader the leading\nideas which will be developed in the book. This will necessitate some\nrepetition, but many readers want to know at starting whither the author\nis going to take them, and whether his notions are such that they will\ncare for his company.\n\nIn the course of lecturing on the Gospels, being myself interested in\nquestions of education, my attention turned to the way in which our Lord\ntaught His disciples. Following the Gospel History with this view, I\nrecognised in the train of circumstances through which Christ led the\ndisciples, no less than in what He said to them, an assiduous care in\ntraining them to acquire certain qualities and habits of mind. I observed\nalso method and uniformity both in what He did and in what He refrained\nfrom doing. Certain principles seem to govern His actions and to be\nobserved regularly so far as we can see, but we have no ground for stating\nthat our Lord came to resolutions on these points and bound Himself to\nobserve them. A man sometimes sees his duty so clearly at one moment that\nhe wishes to make the decision of that moment dominant over his life and\nhe embodies it in a resolve, but we must suppose that Christ at each\nmoment did what was best. So that what I call a Law of His conduct is only\na generalization from His biography, and means no more than that, in such\nand such circumstances He usually acted in such and such ways. I can\neasily conceive that He might have swerved from these Laws had there been\noccasion.\n\nI have fancied that I got glimpses of the processes by means of which the\nApostles of the Gospels\u2014striving among themselves who should be greatest,\nlooking for the restoration of the kingdom to Israel, and dismayed at the\napprehension of their Master\u2014were trained to become the Apostles of the\nActs,\u2014testifying boldly before rulers and councils, giving the right hand\nof fellowship to one who had not companied with them, and breaking through\nJewish prejudices, to own that there were no men made by God who were\ncommon or unclean. The shape which much of the outward course of Christ\u2019s\nlife took, His choice of Galilee as a scene of action, His withdrawal from\ncrowds and His wanderings in secluded regions were admirably adapted to\nthe educating of the Apostles; while His sending them, two and two,\nthrough the cities was a direct lesson in that self-reliance which reposes\non a trust in God. Were not these courses ordered to these ends? The\ntraining was wonderfully fitted to bring about the changes which occurred.\n\nThat this fashioning of the disciples should have been a very principal\nobject with our Lord is easy to conceive. For what, except His followers,\ndid He leave behind as the visible outcome of His work? He had founded no\ninstitution and had left no writings as a possession for after time. The\nApostles were the salt to season and preserve the world, and if they had\nnot savour whence could help be sought? Is it not then likely that the\nbest means would be employed for choosing and shaping instruments for the\nwork; and can we do better than mark the Divine wisdom so engaged?\n\nOn many sides the work of Christ stretches away into infinity. God\u2019s\npurpose in having created the world, and put free intelligences into it,\nas well as the changes which Christ\u2019s death may have wrought in the\nrelation of men\u2019s souls to God, belong to that infinite side of things,\nwhich we cannot explore. But we _can_ follow the treatment by which Christ\nmoulded the disciples, because the changes are not wrought in them by a\nmagical transformation, but come about gradually as the result of what\nthey saw and heard and did.\n\nChanges are brought about in the disciples by an education, superhuman\nindeed in its wisdom, superhuman in its insight into the habits of mind\nwhich were wanted, and into the modes by which such habits might be\nfostered, but not superhuman in the means employed. We can analyse the\ninfluences which are brought to bear, judge what they were likely to\neffect, and estimate fairly well what they did effect, because they were\nthe same in kind as we now find working in the world. Christ\u2019s ways,\ntherefore, in this province of His work fall within the range of our\nunderstanding. The learners are taught less by what they are told than by\nwhat they see and do. They are trained not only by listening, but by\nfollowing and\u2014what was above all\u2014by being suffered, as in the mission to\nthe cities of Israel, to take part in their Master\u2019s work.\n\nThey are altered by their companionship with our Lord, insensibly, just as\nwe see the complexion of a man\u2019s character alter by his being thrown into\nthe constant society of a stronger nature. But Christ works on them no\nmagical change. Our Lord never transforms men so as to obliterate their\nold nature, and substitute a new one; new powers and a new life spring up\nfrom contact with Him, but the powers work through the old organs, and the\nlife flows through the old channels; they would not be the same men, or\npreserve their individual responsibility if it were otherwise. God\u2019s grace\nworks with men, it is true, but it uses the organization it finds; and as\nmuch cultivation and shaping of the disposition is required for turning\nGod\u2019s Grace to account, as for making the most of any other good gift.\n\nChrist\u2019s particular care to leave the disciples their proper independence\nis everywhere apparent. They come to Him of their deliberate will. They\nare not stricken by any over-mastering impression, or led captive by\nmoving words. They are not forced to break with their old selves; their\ngrowth in steadfastness comes of a better knowledge of their Lord, and the\nmore they advance in understanding God\u2019s ways and therefore in believing,\nthe stronger are the grounds of assurance which are granted to them; the\nmore they have, the more is given them; the most attached are granted\nmost.\n\nChrist, we find, draws out in His disciples the desired qualities of\nself-devotion and of healthy trust in God, without effacing the stamp of\nthe individual nature of each man. He cherishes and respects personality.\nThe leader of a sect or school of thought is often inclined to lose\nthought of the individual in his care for the society which he is\nestablishing, or to expect his pupils to take his own opinions ready made,\nin a block. He is apt to be impatient if one of them attempts to think for\nhimself. His aim very commonly is\n\n\n    \u201cTo make his own the mind of other men,\u201d\n\n\nand a pupil who asserts his own personality, and is not content with\nreflecting his master\u2019s, is not of the sort he wants.\n\nBut our Lord was a teacher of a very different kind. He reverenced\nwhatever the learner had in him of his own, and was tender in fostering\nthis native growth. He was glad when His words roused a man into thinking\non his own account, even in the way of objection. When the Syro-ph\u0153nician\nwoman turns His own saying against Him, with the rejoinder, \u201cYes Lord, yet\nthe dogs under the table eat of the children\u2019s crumbs,\u201d He applauds her\nFaith the more for the independent thought that went with it. Men, in His\neyes, were not mere clay in the hands of the potter, matter to be moulded\nto shape. They were organic beings, each growing from within, with a life\nof his own\u2014a personal life which was exceedingly precious in His and His\nFather\u2019s eyes\u2014and He would foster this growth so that it might take after\nthe highest type.\n\nNeither did He mean that what He told men should only be stored in their\nmemories as in a treasure-house, there to be kept intact. They were to\n\u201ctake heed _how_ they heard.\u201d With Christ, the part that the man had to do\nof himself went for infinitely more than what was done for him by another.\nIf men had the will and the power to turn to their own moral nutriment the\nmental food which was given them, it would be well; but if His words\nmerely lay in their memories, without affecting them or germinating within\nthem, then they were only as seeds falling on sterile spots.\n\nThe training of the disciples was partly practical, turning on what they\nsaw our Lord do and were set or suffered to do themselves, and partly it\ncame from what they heard. I want the reader to go along with me in\nmarking how this training of the Apostles was adapted to generate the\nqualities which the circumstances of their situation demanded when Christ\nleft the world; and it is in the practical part of the work that this is\nmost readily traced.\n\nThe selection of the Apostles may serve as an instance of what I mean.\nThey were to preach a gospel to the poor\u2014the movement was to spread upward\nfrom below. This will be found to be the law of growth of great moral\nprinciples which have established their sway among mankind. The Apostles\ntherefore were chosen from a class which, though not the poorest, had\nsympathies with the poor. Again the Apostles were to be witnesses of the\nresurrection to after times; it was important, therefore, that they should\npossess qualities which would make men trust them; had they been\nimaginative, had they been enthusiasts, this would have been a bar to the\naccepting of their evidence; but the Apostles were singularly\nliteral-minded men, so little suspecting a metaphorical meaning in their\nMaster\u2019s sayings, that when He told them to beware of the leaven of the\nPharisees, they thought it meant that, having no bread with them, they\nwould be constrained to eat some not made in the proper way. We see no\nexaggeration in them, no wild fervour, nothing that belongs to the\nreligious fanatic. Our Lord never employs the force that such fanaticism\naffords; when He meets with what seems the result of emotion, as when the\nwoman breaks out with \u201cBlessed is the womb that bare thee,\u201d He always\nbrings back to mind that doing is more than feeling.\n\nWe shall have to note, moreover, the progressive way in which our Lord\ntaught His followers self-reliance and faith, and the tender care with\nwhich He lets His hold of them go by degrees. Wandering along with our\nLord, they grow into a capacity for marking greatness, and trusting\nthemselves to a superior nature. When they are sent, two and two, through\nthe cities of Israel, they learn to use responsibility, and to feel that\nHis power could still protect them even when He was not by. They lacked\nnothing then, for Christ provided for them; but the time should come when\nthey would complete their training and have real work to do, and then they\nwould have to employ all gifts which had fallen to them. For the real\nconflict, both the purse and the sword are to be taken; prudence and\njudgment and courage must be brought into play in doing God\u2019s work as they\nare in doing that of every day life.\n\nAnd when Christ leaves the world, the disciples are not for long exposed\nto the revulsion which the crucifixion would cause. They are not suffered\nto feel their Master\u2019s loss and miss Him all at once. They are not left to\nsuppose that He had altogether gone, that His cause had failed and all was\nover; so that they had better wake from their delusion and go back, with\nblighted hope and faith, to Galilee and their boats and nets. Soon comfort\ncame. The work for which they had been trained was still to go on, only\nnot in the way they had expected. Their following Christ was not to be a\nmere episode in their lives: they had not been wrong in thinking that they\nshould serve Him all their days. Christ is near them still, and they see\nHim now and again. For forty days or more they felt that He was in their\nneighbourhood, and might at any time appear; any stranger who accosted\nthem might turn out to be He. Thus they are carried through the time when\nthe effects of shock on their mind and moral nature was most to be feared,\nand they are brought one step nearer to the power of realising that Christ\nis with them. After the Ascension, He is withdrawn from the eye of sense\naltogether, His presence will henceforth be purely spiritual, but no\nsooner do they lose sight of Him in the body than the Comforter comes to\ntheir souls. So long as men walked by the guidance of one whom they saw by\ntheir side, they would not throw themselves on unseen spiritual aid. The\nComforter would not come unless the Lord went away, but as soon as He was\ngone the comfort came.\n\nI now come to the oral teaching. Here we note the same fitness of the\nmeans to the end, but the purpose in view is a more abstract one: a\nquality very essential for Christ\u2019s purpose is _expansiveness_. The truths\nwhich He revealed and the commandments He gave were to be accepted by\ndifferent nations, and in various states of society: they belonged\ntherefore to what is primary in the nature of man. It is in this that\nChrist\u2019s doctrine differs from all systems. It does not belong to one age\nor one nationality but to all. Whether this character of Universality was\ndue to prospective wisdom or to chance, I do not now discuss; I only say\nthat the substance of Christ\u2019s teaching is suitable for men in different\nconditions; that the form in which it is put makes this teaching easy for\nthe ignorant to retain; and that the circumstances which accompanied it\nwere singularly conducive to its spread. Christ arose amongst a nation\nwhich was the most strikingly individualised of all peoples, but He\ntransmitted the type of Humanity in its most general form. We mark in Him\nno trace of one race or of one epoch; He was emphatically the Son of Man.\n\nIn all His sayings and doings, our Lord was most careful to leave the\nindividual room to grow. Some of the \u201cnegative characteristics\u201d of our\nLord\u2019s teaching arise out of this universality. If we go to Him looking\nfor a Social system or an Ecclesiastical polity we find nothing of the\nsort. Humanitarian theorists have turned in disappointment from His word;\nbut a system suited to our age must have been unsuited to Gospel times.\nChrist gave no system for recasting Society by positive Law, and no\necclesiastical Polity, for men could make laws better when the\ncircumstances which called for them arose. He gave no system of\nphilosophy, for such systems are only the ways of looking at some of the\nenigmas of life, which suit the cast of mind of the nation or the\ngeneration which shapes the system. So different nations and generations\nshould be left to make their systems as of old, only a new truth was\ndeclared, and a new force was set to work, which systems would henceforth\nhave to take into account.\n\nAgain, the next world is what all want to know about. If the founder of a\nreligion would win men\u2019s ears, he must set this before them. But, as we\ncannot conceive a life under conditions wholly different from that we\nlead, any description must be misleading. False notions besides\nengendering devotees and fanatics, would sap human activity and arrest\nprogress. Hence Christ speaks to the fact of a future existence, but says\nnothing of the mode. He assures us that eternal life awaits those\naccounted worthy, but of the nature of this life He says nothing. He gives\nno details on which imagination can dwell.\n\nFarther, Christ leaves no ritual. For a ritual belongs to those outward\nthings which must change; it would in time symbolize a view no longer\ntaken, and if some should still cling to it from the idea that it had a\nmagic worth of its own, then it would stand in the way of the truth it was\nmeant to set forth.\n\nLaws, Systems, and Ritual, then, were raiment to be changed as times went\non; with them therefore succeeding generations were left to deal. The form\nmust come of man, so to man the shaping of it is left. But Christ gave\nwhat was more than raiment and more than form. \u201cThe words that I have\nspoken unto you,\u201d said He, \u201care Spirit and are life.\u201d He gave _seed\nthoughts_ which should lie in men\u2019s hearts, and germinate when fit\noccasion came.\n\nThese thoughts were clothed in terse sayings, such as a man would carry in\nhis head and dwell on the more because he did not see to the bottom of\nthem all at once. Moreover some of these sayings, for instance, \u201cFor\nwhosoever hath, to him shall be given,\u201d(1) will startle the hearer as\nbeing contrary to what he would expect; and the more he is perplexed, the\nmore he is provoked to think, and thereby a greater impression is made.\n\nOther truths are wrapped up in parables. The form of the parable, not the\nmatter it conveys, concerns me now. It is a form of speech which imbeds\nitself deeply in the memories of men and was admirably suited to preserve\na genuine record during the time when the Gospel should subsist as an oral\ntradition. It put what was most important into the shape which made it\nmost easy to recollect. Nothing except proverbs takes hold of men\u2019s\nmemories so firmly as tales. The most ancient literary possessions of the\nworld are, probably, certain stories containing a moral. Of course our\nLord\u2019s teaching in parables answered greater ends than this of making His\nlessons easy to retain: but this form of teaching agreed wonderfully well\nwith what the circumstances required. Next to tales in respect of being\neasily remembered, come narratives of detached striking acts. So the\nmaterials of the Gospel History, sayings, parables, narratives of signs\nand wonders, are cast into the forms best calculated for safe transmission\nthrough a period of tradition.\n\nWe find the same suitableness of the form to the needs of the case, in the\nshape in which the whole Gospel has been delivered to us. I refer to its\nbeing narrative instead of didactic, and coming from the Evangelists\ninstead of from Christ. If our Lord had left writings of His own, every\nletter of them would have been invested with such sanctity that there\ncould have been no independent investigation of truth. Its place would\nhave been taken by commentatorial works on the delivered word. When\nwritings are set before us and we are told, \u201cAll truth lies there; look no\nfurther;\u201d then our ingenuity is directed to extract diversities of\nmeanings from the given words; for matter must be set forth in human\nspeech, and human speech conveys different meanings to differently biased\nminds.\n\nThe Jews regarded their sacred books as the actual words of God; hence\ncame that subserviency to the letter, and that stretching of formulae\nwhich brought them to play fast and loose with their consciences. The\nScribes looked on their Law as a conveyancer on a deed: they were bound by\nthe letter, and this led them to regard the Almighty as One dealing with\nmen under the terms of a contract. This drew them out of the road which\nled to a true knowledge of God, and helped to make them \u201cblind leaders of\nthe blind.\u201d Our Lord breaks down this slavery to the letter of the\nScripture which He found existing, and He is careful not to build up a new\nbondage to His own words.\n\nWhen matter has come down by oral tradition, men can hardly worship the\nletter of it. We possess only brief memoirs collected by men, the dates\nand history of the composition of which are far from certain, so that room\nis left for criticism and judgment. The revelation of God is, therefore,\nnot so direct that men will be awestricken and shut their minds at the\nsight of it; but human intelligence can be brought to bear on the records,\nwhereby their meaning is brought out, and men\u2019s intellects are braced by\nthe exploration of lofty regions. Men may without irreverence raise the\nquestion, whether the narrator had rightly understood Christ\u2019s sayings,\nand properly connected them with the circumstances out of which they\narose.\n\nOur Lord, in Galilee at any rate, spoke Aramaic, and we have merely the\nGreek; we have only fragments of His teaching; we possess different\nversions, agreeing indeed in essentials, but with such differences, that\nwe are forced to admit in the writers a human possibility of error. We\nhave our Lord\u2019s words it is true, but not in the order, or in the\nconnection, in which they were spoken. There is not only room for human\njudgment but a necessity for it. Hence the form in which our Lord\u2019s\nutterances have come down to us is suited to the plan which seems to run\nthrough all our Lord\u2019s teaching; it calls for the free play of the human\nmind, and leaves room for the admission of a certain choice as to what we\naccept as revealed truth.\n\nIt is true that some Divines have endeavoured to do what our Lord was\ncareful not to do\u2014they have, by theories of verbal inspiration,\nendeavoured to put our Gospels in the position that actual writings of our\nLord would have held; and, so far as they have succeeded, they have\nbrought about the evils which attended the notions of the scribes. But the\nform in which we have the Gospels does not lend itself to such a theory.\nIf men go wrong in this way they have only themselves to blame.\n\nThere is another way in which this form of the Gospels answers to the plan\nof Christ\u2019s teaching. He impressed men, above all, by His Personality, and\nthe record of His life is preserved to us in that form which is best\nadapted to preserve personality and store it up for the future, viz. the\nform of memoirs put together by contemporaries, or by those who were\nfamiliar with contemporaries.\n\nHistory and literature furnish many instances of men who have made their\nmark in virtue of a striking _personality_; whose reputation rests, not on\nany visible tokens,\u2014not on kingdoms conquered, institutions founded, books\nwritten, or inventions perfected or anything else that they _did_,\u2014but\nmainly on what they _were_. Their merely having passed along a course on\nearth, and lived and talked and acted with others, has left lasting\neffects on mankind.\n\nThis may serve to put us in the way of understanding what was wrought by\nthe Personality of Christ: for our Lord\u2019s disciples followed Jesus of\nNazareth for this above all,\u2014that he _was_ Jesus of Nazareth. Those of His\nown time had felt this Personality working on them while they saw Him and\nlistened to Him. It is consistent, then, with what we gather of His\nprospective care, that He should so provide, that after generations should\nhave as nearly as possible, the same advantages as that with which He\nlived upon the earth. This is effected by His being presented to them in\nthe Gospels, not as a writer is in his works, not as a lawgiver is in his\ncodes, but as the man Christ Jesus, mixing with men, sharing their feasts,\nhelping their troubles, going journeys with them, and in all these\noccasions turning their thoughts, gently, with a touch that is scarcely\nobserved, towards that knowledge of God which He came to bring.\n\nWhich is it that sways us most? Is it the teacher who tells us,\u2014This is\nthe way you are to think, this is what you are to believe and what you are\nto do? Or is it the friend who blends his life and heart and mind with\nours, with whom we argue and differ, but take something each from the\nother, which assimilates with what is most our own? Surely we yield more\nfreely to the one who helps to foster our particular personality than to\nhim who would thrust it aside, and replace it by his own.\n\nNow Christ, as portrayed in the Gospels, is such a friend. He trusts to\nmen\u2019s believing that the Father is in Him, not because He has declared it\nin set dogmas, but because He has been \u201cso long with them.\u201d He is a friend\nwho lifts us out of our common selves, and helps each one of us to find\nhis own truest self: we catch fire from the new light which he kindles in\nus, and we become conscious of a new force, a spiritual one. When the\nnarrative brings us to the sacrifice on the Cross, we see what the\nspectators saw, and something more, for we see this new inward force\ntranscending all outward violence. When we turn to the Sufferer on the\nCross, we say \u201cafter all, the Victory is there.\u201d\n\nBut not only is our Lord\u2019s Personality presented to us in the literary\nform in which it can best be put forth, that of the informal memoir, but\nwe are given _four_ such memoirs, each regarding its subject from a\ndifferent point. We have then four different projections of what we want\nto construct. The help of this is obvious; and it is worth mentioning that\nhereby there is more scope for man\u2019s mental action than if we had only one\nGospel. By diligently comparing and fitting in each with the other, we\ncultivate our mind\u2019s eye to catch the lineaments of Christ\u2019s figure. A\npainter, who has to produce a portrait from four photographs, has a less\nsimple task than if only a single photograph existed; but his work will be\nmore intellectual; it will do him more good, and the result will be more\nof a conception and less of a copy.\n\nI believe that the education of man to a knowledge of God is part of the\nDivine purpose running through God\u2019s ways, and I detect in the narrative\nform in which our knowledge of Christ has been delivered to us, a wise\ntenderness for the spiritual freedom of man and a help to keep his\nfaculties alive.\n\nI spoke just now of Laws of Christ\u2019s conduct. The more we look at Christ\u2019s\nlife and teaching as a whole, the more we discern in it the observance of\ncertain Laws, which give it unity and order. When we stand near some large\npainting, or masterpiece of Art, we are taken up with the portion of it\njust under our eye; we scan this or that group and admire its finish and\nits truth. But when we go a little way off, and again look, and give our\nminds to it, we become aware of a different order of perfections in it,\nnamely those perfections which belong to it as a whole, as the completed\nconception of a gifted mind.\n\nSo it is with the Gospel History. While we read chapter by chapter we see\nwhat answers to one group in the great picture; but when we have the whole\nin our mind, we see a consistent purpose holding it all together: we find\nthat our Lord always acts along certain lines, and carries out certain\nprinciples. One of these, which lies at the root of His ways of dealing\nwith men, is His carefulness to keep alive in each man the sense of his\npersonal responsibility, and of the dignity of such responsibility. He\nwould seem to say to each man, \u201cIt is no small thing to have been\nentrusted by God with the care of a soul which you may educate for fitness\nfor eternal life.\u201d We find in our Lord, indignation, once, at least, even\nanger,(2) towards men and their ways, but never contempt or scorn. A man\nis, merely as a man, entitled to be treated with respect. The enforcing of\nthis on the world is, among all the \u201cGesta Christi,\u201d perhaps the most\nnoticeable now.\n\nThe simple fact of His dealing directly with men _themselves_, shews that\nHe owned their free agency more or less. If men had been merely puppets\nmoved by strings, Christ could only have benefited them by swaying the\npowers who held these strings, and there would have been no meaning in His\naddressing Himself to the puppets themselves and giving His life for them.\nNow, if men are free they must be at liberty to go in a direction\ndifferent from that which is best for them\u2014that is to go wrong; and so it\nmust needs be that \u201coccasions of stumbling\u201d come, and cause suffering. I\nmention these principles now, because they are the bases of the Laws of\nwhich I am going to speak. They will come before us again further on.\n\nThe marking of uniformities in Christ\u2019s conduct, and in His modes of\nconveying instruction, is serviceable in this way. We perceive the Laws\n(defined as in p. 2) by regarding Christ\u2019s career as a whole; and in\nreturn, the Laws, when perceived, help us to grasp its unity and\ncompleteness in a more thorough way; and, besides this, we strengthen our\ncritical faculty, and arm it with a new criterion which may become an\neffective weapon in arguing on questions of internal evidence. For if we\nfind in any newly-discovered fragment, or even in the Gospels themselves,\nthat which runs counter to what we think we have established as a Law,\nthen we have to ask ourselves whether it is likely that the passage is\nspurious or imperfect or put out of its right place; or, on the other\nhand, whether our Law has been framed too narrowly, and ought to be\nrestated or enlarged.\n\nAgain, when we find a Law constantly observed, and are sure that the\nnarrative cannot have been written up to the Law, because the narrators\nknew nothing of such a Law; then we come on a new variety of internal\nevidence. If, in matters which only a student would observe, our Lord is\nfound to adhere to certain ways, this favours the view that the materials\nfor the portrait came from life; for an artist drawing from description or\nfollowing an idea of his own must have missed these delicate details now\nand then. This consistency uniformly observed forms a sort of undesigned\ncoincidence ramifying through the mass, and holding it all together. The\nnotion of Laws underlying our Lord\u2019s action, and shewing their traces on\nthe surface from time to time, will be best illustrated by an example. I\nshall take the rules which our Lord observes in the working of Signs and\nWonders; and so I must here anticipate something of that, which I shall\nmake the subject of a whole chapter further on.\n\nOur Lord is set apart from all other teachers by His use of Signs and\nWonders. We shall enquire, how He regarded them? What use He designed to\nmake of them? And, what more especially concerns us now, what Laws He\nobserves when He employs them? These Laws we shall find\u2014wrapped up as it\nwere\u2014in our Lord\u2019s answers to the Tempter in the wilderness. The narrative\nof the Temptation, which seems, at first sight, to be a fragment\nunconnected with the course of the action of the Gospel History, becomes,\nwhen the Laws are noted, the key to the interpretation of much. Isolated\nphenomena fall into system. I will relate the Temptations in the order\ngiven by St Luke, and briefly state the Laws indicated in the Tempter\u2019s\nsuggestions together with our Lord\u2019s replies.\n\nI. Christ will not turn stones into loaves to appease His hunger in the\nwilderness. This refusal contains two principles to which our Lord will be\nfound to adhere.\n\n(1) He will not use His special powers to provide for His personal wants\nor for those of His immediate followers.\n\nWhen our Lord provided food for the five thousand, the loaves and fishes\nthe Apostles had with them were enough for their own party.(3)\n\n(2) Christ will not provide by miracle what could be provided by human\nendeavour or human foresight.\n\nOur Lord will not even make men better by action on them from without; He\nwill not change their being by any spiritual action without their\ncooperation. When the Apostles said \u201cIncrease our Faith,\u201d He worked no\nsudden change in them, but He pointed out to them the efficacy of Faith,\nin order that by longing for it, they might attain to it.\n\nII. Christ will not purchase the visible \u201ckingdoms of the world and the\nglory of them\u201d by worshipping Satan\u2014that is to say, He will not do homage\nto the Spirit of the world to win the world\u2019s support. He will not ally\nHimself with worldly policy. He will not fight the world with its own\nweapons, and become its master by giving in to its views and its ways. In\naddressing the people He runs counter to the notions they cherished the\nmost. He would not proclaim Himself as the Messiah, or allow Himself to be\nmade a King though thousands, who were looking for a national deliverer,\nwould have rallied round Him if He had done so.(4) He would not conciliate\nthe favour of the great. He would not display His powers, for a matter of\nwonderment, to satisfy the curiosity of Herod, nor would He use them to\nrepel violence by open force. He would not hearken to the temptation which\nsaid, \u201cUse your miraculous powers to establish a visible kingdom upon\nearth; and when this is done you can frame a perfect form of society by\npositive Law.\u201d\n\nIII. Christ will not throw Himself from the pinnacle of the Temple. The\nTemptation must have been to do this in the sight of the people. Else, why\nis this pinnacle chosen rather than any other height? The refusal points\nto the following important Laws.\n\n(1) No miracle is to be worked merely for miracles\u2019 sake, apart from an\nend of benevolence or instruction.\n\nWhat appear to be exceptions to this rule cease to be so when fully\nconsidered.\n\nThe walking on the waters, as we shall see further on, was a step in\ntraining the Apostles to realize His nearness to them, when He was not\nbefore their eyes. The withering of the fig-tree, which had leaves before\nits time, but no fruit, was an acted parable bearing on the Jewish people.\nThese are miracles of instruction. We shall find others of the same kind.\n\n(2) No miracle is to be worked which should be so overwhelming in point of\nawfulness, as to terrify men into acceptance, or which should be\nunanswerably certain, leaving no loop-hole for unbelief.\n\nAs, in the second Temptation, our Lord refused to allow physical force to\nbe used to bring men to adopt His cause, so here _He refuses to employ\nmoral compulsion_. The miracles only convinced the willing, men might\nalways disbelieve if they would. They might allow the fact of the\nprodigies, and yet set them down to magic or witchcraft: it was with many\nan open question whether to ascribe them to God or to Beelzebub, for the\nlatter had, it was supposed, a share of power upon the earth. But one\npopular criterion there was of the power being God\u2019s: in heaven, said the\nJews, God reigned supreme and alone. A Sign worked there would carry with\nit the autograph of God. When Joshua would convince their fathers, he had\nwrought a Sign in heaven; he had made the sun and moon stand still. Let\nChrist do this and they would believe. No such Sign will Christ work. If\nthe world was to be converted _nolens volens_ it might as well have been\npeopled from the first by beings incapable of error.\n\nIf the end of His coming had been to gain adherents, His purpose would\nhave been furthered by granting a Sign which would have struck the\nimagination of the masses; but to raise a large immediate following was\n_not_ our Lord\u2019s design. He wanted only a few fit spirits as depositories\nof His word.\n\nHe came to educate men to know God. In this knowledge lay the assurance of\nimmortality. The knowledge reached through this education could not be\nimparted by any mere telling or express communication, but had to be\nunfolded from within the learner\u2019s self. Belief was to grow and not to be\nimposed. It had two elements, a perception of a Divine agency at work in\nthe world, and a personal trust in Christ who manifested God,\u2014a trust\nbased on something like the devotion of a soldier to his chief. That the\nprobability that His mission did really come from God, should be made to\nexceed by a little the probability that it did not, and that this balance\nof arguments should lead people to acknowledge Him, was not what Christ\nhad in view. He sought only the homage of free, loving, human hearts.\n\nThe Laws above mentioned will be found to regulate the course of our\nLord\u2019s actions as regards the performance of Signs and Wonders. They are\nfrequently violated in the Apocryphal Gospels, never, I think, in the\nCanonical ones. There are other Laws which I shall have to trace; one,\nwhich is very important, is stated on at least two occasions; I have\nreferred to it as being paradoxical in form, and the more fitted to force\nitself on men\u2019s minds on that account. It is the text, \u201cFor whosoever hath\nto him shall be given, but whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away\neven that which he hath.\u201d This looks as if it would fall in strangely with\nthe Law of Natural Selection and the Survival of the Fittest, in the\norganic world. What I believe our Lord to have meant by it will be\ndiscussed in its proper place.\n\nI shall have also to speak of the _prospective_ bearing of much that our\nLord says and does, and to shew how this gives us a greater assurance of\nour Lord\u2019s being \u201cwith us always to the end of the world.\u201d Christ seems to\nme to look over the heads of the generation about Him far into the future;\nHis eye is fixed on the distance, but it does not look out vaguely into\nspace; it is turned in a direction that is precisely determined. He walks\nwith the assured step of one who marches to a goal. But what that goal is\nHe never tells men, and when He designedly keeps men\u2019s curiosity\nunsatisfied, we may conjecture that no answer could be given without\ntouching on conditions of spiritual existence beyond our ken. There may be\nsuch conditions which we could no more conceive than we could imagine\nspace with another dimension, beside length and breadth and height.\n\nThe history of the Church and of the workings of men\u2019s minds may disclose\nthe existence of Laws, lying under the events of ages and operating\nthrough them, analogous to those laid down by our Lord for his own\nconduct; and we may look along the direction in which these Laws point.\nSome have thought they descried, at the end, a time, in which peace and\nrighteousness should reign over the whole world. But Christ Himself\ndoubted whether He should find faith upon the earth when He came.(5)\nHowever, if He should not, still He will not have failed, we can be sure\nof this. What He meant to effect, whatever it was, will have come about.\nRighteous souls may be garnered elsewhere, and this earth may be only a\nschool of life, a training ground for the education and selection (for\nthese two go together) of beings who shall be fitted to enter into the\nKingdom of Heaven.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II. HUMAN FREEDOM.\n\n\nI have spoken in the foregoing chapter of certain characteristics of our\nLord\u2019s ways of dealing with men. In considering these ways we find\nourselves, at almost every turn, face to face with the great enigmas of\nlife which underlie all Theology. Questions about Divine government and\nhuman freedom will, I see, force themselves upon us.\n\nIt would keep this book more close to its purpose, if I could proceed at\nonce with the examination of what our Lord says and does, and leave all\nthese difficulties on one side, taking it for granted that all my readers\nhad arrived at their own views about them; or if I were to refer them to\nworks in which they are formally discussed.\n\nBut I trust my readers will forgive me, if I suppose that it may be with\nthem as with those I have been used to teach\u2014that is to say, that they\nwill be attracted by these perplexities, and that they will be impatient\nat being told that just what they want to ask lies outside my province.\nMany too, I know, would never turn to any of the learned works on these\nmatters, of which I might give them the names.\n\nI have resolved, therefore, to deal with these matters once for all, in as\nfamiliar a way as I can. I cannot, of course, give my readers solutions of\nthese questions; I can only tell them how I manage to do without a\nsolution myself, and put before them the view of these matters which I\nhold till I can get a better, so that they may more readily enter into my\nviews of Christ\u2019s Laws of action, and understand what I write.\n\nThe characteristics of our Lord\u2019s ways which particularly bring us in\ncontact with these mysteries, and which therefore concern us most now, are\n(1) His care to keep alive in His hearers their sense of being free and\nresponsible agents; (2) His tolerance of the existence of evil in the\nworld.\n\nThese questions of free will and the existence of evil have been for ages\nthe battle-ground of divines, and they come before us every day. \u201cWhy did\nnot God make every one good?\u201d is a question which occurs to every\nintelligent child. He runs to his first teachers with it, and finding\nhimself put off with an answer that is no answer\u2014for a child is quick in\ndetecting this\u2014he gets his first notion that there are matters which even\ngrown-up people know nothing about.\n\nSo, that I may not serve my readers in this way, I give them all I have\nmyself. I can no more tell them \u201cHow\u201d or \u201cWhy\u201d God brought about the\npresent state of things, than I can solve the great mystery which is at\nthe bottom of all mysteries: \u201cHow, or Why, God and the world ever existed\nat all?\u201d But I think I can shew that free agency in men, and the existence\nof evil, and also a reserve in the revelation of God\u2019s ways\u2014a question I\nshall have to deal with next\u2014are consistent with our situation in this\nworld; supposing that the mental and spiritual development of God\u2019s\ncreatures is the proximate end and aim of the Spiritual Order. Some\nhypothesis we must make as to a purpose in the world, if we regard it as\nthe work of a _mind_; and this is the purpose which most seems to fall in\nwith what I observe.\n\nOur Lord speaks of Divine action as \u201cThe mystery of the kingdom of\nGod.\u201d(6) He directs the thoughts of His disciples to these ways by telling\nthem, not what they are, but to what they are _like_. We shall never,\nwhile on earth, perfectly know these ways, but Christ thinks it well for\nHis disciples to strive after this knowledge, and to look for lessons in\nall they see to help them towards it.\n\nNot only does Christ give us what I have called _seed-thoughts_ on these\nmatters, but He puts us in possession of a unique method for leading men\ntowards the truth about them. He takes an incident of familiar life, and\nuses it to set forth spiritual verities. So when we must discourse of\nthese hard matters our safest course is to follow our Lord\u2019s way. No\ndoubt, He meant to shew us _how_ to teach, as well as to tell us _what_ to\nteach; so if we begin with a sort of allegory or parable, we cannot be far\nwrong in point of _form_, however feeble and faulty the execution may be.\nI believe that the relation of a parent to his household affords likeness\nenough to that of the Father to His world, to be used as the ground of a\nparable on God\u2019s Will and Human Freedom.\n\nLet us suppose that the father of a family, a man of strong will, and\nsteadfastly abhorring evil, should conceive the project of forcibly\nshutting it out from his home. We will suppose the household planted in a\nspot remote from human intercourse, in some self-supplying island or dale\namong the hills; and, as I do not mean to touch on physical evil, let us\nsuppose that no external calamity comes nigh the dwelling. Here, let us\nsuppose, the children grow up, uncontaminated by ill, knowing no\ntemptation, reared in love and kindness, treated wisely and with such even\njustice that envy and jealousy find no room to enter.\n\nThe parent proposes to himself to do away with all temptation, all chance\nof individual aberration, and to cast his children\u2019s character in a\nperfect mould. He would have them merge themselves in him as much as\npossible, repeating his thoughts and accepting his views without\nquestioning them, or supposing they could be questioned. All society, all\nbooks, but what he approves, are banished from that house, so that no\nwhisper of evil, no pernicious notions can possibly intrude. Evil is by\nhim regarded as a pestilent weed, which only exists, owing to some\noversight in the making of the world, for which he is at a loss to\naccount. It is at once to be eradicated whenever it is espied.\n\nLet us suppose that all goes well in our imagined household\u2014that the\nchildren love their father and believe implicitly in him; that they are so\nhappy in their home and home pursuits that they do not look beyond; and\nthat the healthy labour, which their common wants necessitate, gives room\nfor all their energies. Hence, there is no repining at their narrow\nsphere, no longing for more strenuous activity or more varied life. Each\ndoes his daily work, and returns to pleasant rest and a happy home, and no\nmore asks himself whether he is happy than he asks whether the valves of\nhis heart are opening and closing as they should. The father, then, looks\naround him, and sees his ideal accomplished. He has a family of which no\nmember does anything but what he approves, or has a thought but what he\nshares with him: not one of them sets up an opinion different from what he\nholds. It never occurs to them to doubt the wisdom of any injunction. Life\npresents to them no moral difficulties, because, as soon as any question\noccurs to them, they run with it to their father, and on receiving his\nreply put aside the matter, as being decided and disposed of for good and\nall.\n\nWe might suppose the parent would look around with unalloyed satisfaction.\nBut a moment comes when he finds something wanting. He is not so\nthoroughly satisfied as he had expected to be with the ideal which he has\nworked out. Some misgiving obtrudes itself. He asks himself\u2014Is this\ncondition, this merging of my children\u2019s wills in mine, what is best for\nthem or what is best for me? Is not this goodness of theirs too negative?\nIs it not rather the absence of evil than the presence of good?\n\nFurther he asks, am not _I_ substantially _alone_? Is not mine the only\nindependent mind in the place, of which all the rest are mere reflections?\nAm I not intensifying my loneliness and all the moral disadvantages that\nattach to it, by thus rendering all who surround me merely portions of\nmyself? For my children are not separate persons, but bits of _me_. Are\nnot whole provinces of moral activity shut out from me, by the very fact\nof my having everything my own way? Are there not virtues which require\nopposition to call them out? Is it not good to have to ask ourselves\nwhether we are dealing fairly with opponents? Is it not good to forgive\nwrongs? Is it not good to reach out a helping hand, and lift one who has\nstumbled, back into his self-respect? I engage in no struggles. In my\nworld there are no misdoings to forgive and no misdoers to restore. Have I\nnot closed against myself whole worlds of moral action and of moral life?\n\nThen, as to my children, \u201cHave I not been wrong in supposing that they\nmust _be_ good because they have never _done_ wrong? They have been so\nkept from the suggestion of evil that they could hardly help going right.\nBut could they resist temptation if it came? They have never been braced\nby a struggle with it, nor marked the ill fruits of evil. They take it on\ntrust from me that evil brings sorrow; but it usually comes in disguise\nand declares itself harmless, and how should they recognise it if it\ncame?\u201d So, question after question suggests itself, all destructive of his\nsatisfaction. \u201cCan it be,\u201d he says at last, \u201cthat I have brought up these\nchildren so as to be fit for no world but that which I have carefully\nconstructed for them? I used to delight in their goodness; but since I\nhave suspected it to be mainly instinctive\u2014an innocence that is the\noutcome of ignorance\u2014my satisfaction in it is half gone.\u201d\n\nAt length, he is harassed with the idea that he may have given up his life\nto a mistake, that what he has done has cramped his own mental and moral\nexpansion, and that the excellence of his blameless family is only\nfair-weather goodness after all. He casts about to think why it is that\nthey have \u201cneither savour nor salt,\u201d and concludes \u201cWhat they want is\n_personality_\u2014and how should they have got it, living in a household where\nI have taken care to be all in all?\u201d\n\nThen his thoughts run upon _evil_, which he has been at such pains to shut\nout, closing against it every cranny and chink. \u201cGod,\u201d he may say, \u201chas\nlet evil into His world\u2014was I right in keeping it forcibly out of mine?\nMay not the resisting and assuaging of evil give occasion for good to grow\nup, and feel its own strength? Are there not many kinds of goodness,\nbrought out in this way, which we could no more have without evil than we\ncould have light in a picture without shade? If there is no room for my\nchildren to go wrong, what moral significance,\u201d he asks, \u201cis there in\nsaying that they go right?\u201d\n\nSo he is disheartened with his project, and gives it up. He abandons his\nisolated way of life, and gives his children freedom. He encourages them\nto act and judge for themselves. Henceforth they can choose their own\nbooks, their own friends their own pursuits, and go forth into life,\noutside their charmed circle.\n\nOf course this involves the giving up of his absolute power; this is\ninherent in the nature of things. A man cannot be an autocrat and have\nfree people about him. If he would have intercourse with free\nintelligences, in order to get the advantages to his own cultivation and\nexpansion of character which spring from such intercourse; this must be\npurchased by abdicating some of his powers, or putting them in abeyance.\nSo the parent forbears using his power, in order that his children may\nlearn to be free, and that he may hold communion with free, loving hearts,\nand engage in discussion with unfettered minds.\n\nSoon, he finds that he has to encounter opposition. The children are free\nto go wrong, and wrong some of them will go: evil appears in that\nhousehold where it was not known. The father sorrows over this, but when\nhe reviews his condition he finds that he has a countervailing comfort;\nthe good that is left about him is now real good. It is the good of\npersons who have known and resisted evil. Besides this, there is more life\nand greater vigour of character in his family, than there was before. They\nno longer sit with folded hands always waiting for direction; they have\nthe air of persons who see a purpose before them; and they move along\ntheir way \u201cwith the certain step of man.\u201d So he concludes that it is\nbetter that all should engage in the struggle with evil, even though some\nshould fail, than that they should move along paths ready shaped out for\nthem, shewing a merely mechanical goodness.\n\nA great change has come over his life in another respect, he is now no\nlonger _alone_. Other wills come into contact, sometimes into collision,\nwith his will; a host of qualities, which had been folded up and laid by\nfor years, come again into use. He is no longer among echoes of himself,\nbut there are real voices in his new world. His views may still prevail,\nbut it must be, not merely because they are _his_, but because they stand\non solid ground. He may still lead in action; but it must be because he\nhas the leader\u2019s strength, because he will venture when others waver, and\ndecide when others doubt.\n\nHere we must leave him, and say a word or two before making the obvious\napplication of the parable: We must not press the application too closely\nor draw conclusions from the mere machinery of the parable: it must not,\nof course, be supposed that I conceive God to have dealt with man as the\nfather does with his children; that is to say, to have kept him at first\nin tutelage, and then found it desirable to enfranchise him. The sole\nobject of the story is to familiarise the reader with the need of freedom\nin moral growth. It shews that for education to be carried out, the _will_\nmust be free to act. When we have brought this home to his mind, we shall\nbe the better able \u201cto justify the ways of God to man\u201d in some important\nparticulars.\n\nThe parable is designed to apply to the condition of men on earth on the\nsupposition, that their education\u2014in the largest sense of the word\u2014is the\nmain work held in view: all depends on the hypothesis that man is placed\non earth to develop his powers. The need of freedom for members of the\nimagined family depends on their being in a state of growth. The parable\nwould not apply to spiritual beings, if we could conceive such, whose\nqualities and character were unalterable. _Perfected_ beings have done\nwith growth and struggle, and have attained to the highest condition, viz.\nexistence in unison with God. But for _imperfect_ beings, struggling on to\ntheir goal, freedom is required and the opposition of evil is\nindispensable, in order that the moral thews and sinews may harden.\n\nWhenever we come upon an objection to the ways of God\u2019s ordering of the\nworld, which is put in the form of a question, such as \u201cWhy was not the\nworld made in this way or that?\u201d we shall find it a good plan, to follow\nout the line indicated in the complaint, and see what would have come\nabout, supposing that God _had_ made the world in the way which is\nsuggested.\n\nFrom the imaginary case here put, we see to what the common child\u2019s\nquestion leads us\u2014the question \u201cWhy did not God make all people good and\nkeep them so?\u201d\u2014If people had been \u201cmade good and kept good,\u201d that is to\nsay if they had been constructed by God so as always to act as His will\nprompted, then they would not in the proper sense of the word have been\npeople at all; they would have been mechanisms worked by God, and so they\ncould not have been \u201cgood\u201d in the sense in which we use the word of a man,\nbut only in that in which we apply it to a watch. There could be no moral\nlife without freedom; there could be no growth of character without\ntemptations and difficulties to overcome; no heroism, no self-denial, no\nsympathising tenderness, no forgiving love, without suffering or\nwrongdoing to call them forth.\n\nMoreover if not only people on earth, but all created intelligences had,\nin like manner, been constrained to respond to every motion of the Divine\nwill, God would have been the one spiritual being in the world and would\ntherefore have been absolutely _alone_.\n\nLet us now suppose, and the supposition falls in with what our conscience\nand the Bible tell us, that in God all goodness dwells. This goodness\ncannot lie stored away as in a treasure-house, so as to be merely an\nobject of contemplation, it must be active and in operation. This is\nessential to our idea of goodness, and it agrees with the view of God\nwhich Christ presents to us, which is that of a being ever _operating_.\n\u201cMy Father worketh hitherto,\u201d says our Lord, \u201cand I work.\u201d For good to\nunfold, and advance toward perfection in its manifold ways, an arena is\nwanted. The world we know of affords the arena required; in this, God has\nbeen working from the first One kind of His work we can conceive to be the\nsuggesting thoughts to men; but if it be so, He leaves the will free\neither to entertain or to reject the suggestions, as we might those of a\nfriend.\n\nThat we may not lose ourselves in the immensity of God and eternity, we\nwill withdraw our gaze from the rest of the Universe, and fix it on this\nplanet of ours, when organic life first began to appear upon it. The\nspiritual and material world might, before this, have been going on, each\napart, through countless ages; but a moment came when the spiritual and\nthe material were wondrously blended, and life began upon the earth.\nDifferent orders of being succeeded each other, and fresh forces came into\nplay. We may suppose that God sympathised with all His creation, and that\nthe qualities that appeared in it reflected something in Himself. God may\nhave rejoiced in seeing the animal creation happy. The animals were in a\ndegree free, but they were not self-conscious; they did not know that they\nwere happy, or that they were loved, and God may have required for the\nfull unfolding of His infinite capacity for sympathy and love, to be in\nrelation with beings who could know Him and love Him, and know that they\nloved Him.\n\nMr Erskine of Linlathen, in his excellent book on the Spiritual Order,\nsays \u201cIs there not a comfort in the doctrine of the eternal Sonship, as a\ndeliverance from the thought of a God, whose very nature is Love, dwelling\nin absolute solitude from all eternity without an object of love?\u201d We may\nextend this observation to other qualities besides love, from the exercise\nof which, a being who is alone in the world is necessarily debarred. Is it\nnot likely that a God of mercy, truth and justice would frame a world of\nbeings, in His dealing with whom all these qualities should find scope and\nexercise? Without self-conscious beings having free wills, how could this\nbe done?\n\nClose by the side of this question of free will, lies that of the\nexistence of moral evil, in a world made by a being who, by the\nhypothesis, is perfectly good. When we supposed the world to be formed for\nthe evolution of moral goodness, we, perhaps without knowing it,\nintroduced the idea of moral evil, implied in that of goodness; for actual\ngood is evolved in resisting evil and repairing the mischief it has done;\nindeed many forms of it can no more exist without evil as an antagonist,\nthan a wheel can turn without the friction of the road.\n\nNow, as I have said, if men be left free, they must have liberty to go\nwrong. For if they had been originally made so perfect that they _could_\nnot go wrong, this would only mean that they were like watches very\nexcellently fabricated; they could only move in one particular way, viz.\nthe way in which they had been designed to move by God. Inasmuch as such\nbeings would not be persons, we could not feel gratitude or anger towards\nthem, nor influence them in any way. If men were like this, there could be\nlittle or no growth, little or no action of man on man. If, to take\nanother supposition, man had been so made that it would be possible for\nhim to go wrong, but that he had been sedulously kept out of temptation\nand placed in an abode where innocence reigned undisturbed; then we come\nto a case very like that sketched in the foregoing parable.\n\nThere is a third case possible. God might make men capable of going wrong,\nbut might watch over them and protect them, whether they craved His help\nor not, whenever temptation approached. This constant supernatural\ninterference would soon have destroyed all self-helpfulness; men would\nnever have formed habits of avoiding or resisting temptation. \u201cGod,\u201d the\nman would say, \u201cwill not let me sin\u2014I may go as near to danger as I like,\nand need take no care of myself, because I am sure of God\u2019s protection.\u201d\nWe know that a child does not learn to take care of himself, so long as he\nfeels that it is the nurse\u2019s business to see that no harm happens to him.\nWe come then to this result. God requires free self-conscious beings, for\nthe full exercise of the moral goodness in Himself and for its development\nand manifestation in the world.\n\nBut He cannot give others freedom, and at the same time provide that they\nshould act only in the way that He approves: because this in itself would\nbe a contradiction, and a contradiction not even Divine power can effect.\nHence these free, intelligent beings must be at liberty to go wrong, and\nGod must, in exchange for having free wills about him, forego part of His\nabsolute prerogative: and so He must allow evil a place in the world\nbecause this is involved in the \u201cliberty to go wrong\u201d just spoken of.\n\nThis brings us to the mystery of the \u201corigin of evil.\u201d I shall not lay\nmyself open to the charge made against divines, \u201cThat they no sooner\ndeclare a subject to be a mystery than they set to work to explain it.\u201d I\ncan see that if man is to be left free, evil must needs come, and that\nwithout evil in the world none of the more masculine virtues can be\nbrought to the birth\u2014that is to say, I see that evil, being in the world,\nserves to discharge a function\u2014but I do not pretend to say how it came. I\ndo not maintain that it came, solely, from man\u2019s misuse of his freedom.\n\nFrom what we see in the world arises a fancy that every thing must have\nits opposite, that light presupposes darkness, and pleasure pain, and so\ngood may presuppose evil; but this fancy is not substantial enough to\nbuild upon. Our Lord\u2019s words on the occasions when He deals with evil,\nare, to my judgment, most easily reconciled with one another, and with the\ncircumstances which call them forth, by supposing Him to recognise a\npersonal spiritual influence, presenting evil thoughts to the minds of\nmen; the man remaining free to choose whether he will entertain these\nsuggestions or not.\n\nI return to my immediate subject\u2014the function that evil performs in the\nexisting moral world. We read in the Book of Genesis that the earth was to\nbring forth \u201cthorns and thistles,\u201d and that man was \u201cto eat bread in the\nsweat of his brow.\u201d(7) This is the result of a change worked, we are told,\n\u201cfor man\u2019s sake.\u201d It was indeed for man\u2019s _sake_\u2014though in a different\nsense\u2014that this was so. He would have remained a very poor creature if the\nearth had produced just what he wanted, without any labour of his. This\nillustrates the function of evil in the ordering of the world. Man\u2019s\nqualities, moral and physical, are developed by it. It subserves the\nprogress of the human race.\n\nWe should have less heroism, without cruelty and oppression from without;\nand could have no self-restraint, without temptation from within. Piety\nand love indeed, when they had once come into being, might exist without\nevil; we may believe that they satisfy the souls of the saints in heaven;\nbut among men they commonly owe their birth to a feeling of shelter\nagainst evil, and to a sense of pardoned wrong.\n\nAnother office which evil performs is this. The contention with it helps\nto bring out the difference between man and man. If any members of the\nfamily of my parable had possessed the germs of a strong character, they\ncould hardly have brought fruit to perfection: the conditions of their\ninnocent life tended to uniformity. But as soon as temptations came,\nlatent differences would forthwith appear; the strong would grow stronger\nand the bad worse. Now there is need of strong men for human progress.\nThey form the steps in the stairway by which the race mounts. If life were\nsmooth and easy, men would, as it were, advance in line, and the stronger\nmen would not so surely come in front of the rest. It is in times of\ntrouble that men are most apt to recognise worth and capacity, and make\nmuch of them. So that the trials and difficulties of human life which come\nof evil, have this good effect among others, they help to pick out the men\nwho are fitted to be the leaders of human movements and of human thought.\n\nIt may have struck us as strange that Christ does not deal directly with\nthese perplexing questions which trouble so many minds. We shall see,\nlater on, that His not doing so is quite consistent with the uniform\n\u201ctenour of His way.\u201d But though our Lord does not lay down dogmas on these\npoints, yet His own actions and expressions would, of course, accord with\nwhat He knew: if, then, when we hit upon some view of this \u201criddle of the\npainful earth,\u201d which commends itself to our minds, we find that it\nclashes with what our Lord does or says, then we may throw it aside at\nonce: and, on the other hand, if we arrive at a way of looking at the\nmatter which seems to harmonise with what falls from Him; then, we may\nhope, not indeed that we have found a solution of the riddle, but that our\nhypothesis will not mislead us, so long as we own it to be an hypothesis,\nand nothing more.\n\nWe may be supposed then to have arrived at this position. We assume the\nexistence of a mighty Divine being, in whom all goodness dwells. We\nsuppose that this world is an arena in which a struggle is to be carried\non between good and evil by the agency of free intelligent beings; that by\nmeans of this struggle the better natures will be strengthened and\ndeveloped, and come more and more into action; we suppose also that God\nwhispers counsel and comfort on the side of good. Further than this we\nneed not now go.\n\nAs regards the presence of evil in the world, there are several sayings of\nour Lord which might be noted. I must confine myself to one or two of the\nmost important.\n\nFirst let us consider the following passage from St John\u2019s Gospel:(8)\n\n\u201cAnd as he passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. And his disciples\nasked him, saying, Rabbi, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he\nshould be born blind? Jesus answered, Neither did this man sin, nor his\nparents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.\u201d\n\nHere the disciples take it for granted, that the blindness was a\npunishment for sin, either on the part of the man or his parents. It is\nour Lord\u2019s practice\u2014and a practice so uniform that we may call it a Law of\nproceeding\u2014not to enter into controversy about wide-spread mistaken views\non merely _speculative_ subjects: He usually gives a hint, and leaves it\nto work in the hearer\u2019s mind.\n\nOur Lord\u2019s answer in this case means, _not_, of course, that the man and\nhis parents had never committed sin, but that the blindness was not the\nresult of that sin; and He passes rapidly on to state His view of one\npurpose answered by this infliction.\n\nIn His few words of answer our Lord lets fall one of those hints, _seed\nthoughts_, as I have called them, which lie so thickly in the Gospels.\n\nOur Lord tells us, that the works of God were to be made manifest by this\nman\u2019s infirmity. A light is thrown by these words on one of the \u201cuses of\nadversity.\u201d Suffering gives room for moral goodness to come into play. The\nworld is full of instances easy enough to note. Does not a sick child in a\nfamily educate all around it to tenderness and self-denial? What more\ntouching lesson in patience can be given than the sight of the little\nsufferer, grieved at nothing so much as the trouble it causes, making the\nmost of every alleviation, grateful beyond measure for every look or word\nof love. Rough brothers learn forbearance and gentleness; and to all the\nhousehold it becomes natural to think of something else before, or at\nleast beside, themselves. Wordsworth tells us of a half-witted boy whose\nhelplessness and simplicity fostered a spirit of kindliness in all the\npoor of the village, and taught them to respect affliction.\n\nAgain in the parable of the Prodigal Son, we are taught how there is \u201ca\nsoul of goodness in things evil.\u201d The wickedness of the prodigal is made a\nmeans of revealing to him and to all the bystanders the Divine beauty and\nefficacy of forgiving love.\n\nWe will now(9) turn to the history of the cure of the D\u00e6moniac in the\ncountry of the Gadarenes. I take the history in what seems to me the plain\nliteral sense, and I must suppose that our Lord recognised some real evil\nexistence, which had possessed itself of the man, and which, by its\npresence in him, had unhinged his whole mental or nervous organisation.\nThis existence is separable from him, but it requires, it would seem, some\nbody to inhabit and to work upon. The d\u00e6mon begs not to be suppressed or\nannihilated, and our Lord grants his petition and lets him go among the\nswine. He saves the _man_\u2014what other evils this d\u00e6mon may work in the\nworld, so that he lets men go, is no concern of His. The Son of Man is\nconcerned only with lives and souls\u2014not with property in any way.\n\nThe point for us to note is this: Our Lord does not _annihilate_ evil. He\ndoes not regard it as an outlawed intruder who had eluded God\u2019s notice,\nand who, as soon as he is discovered, is to be expelled from the universe\nat once. His Father has suffered evil to be, and He, Christ, follows in\nHis Father\u2019s ways: evil may still do its work, only not on men. This evil\ninfluence, we must observe, is something external to the man; it would\nseem to belong to an order of existences, engaged in working ill as their\ncongenial business; whispering bad counsel, something in the way that\nGod\u2019s Spirit whispers good, only, of course, not in such deep\nauthoritative tones; and, in these cases of possession, it masters the\nwhole being of the sufferer. _Why_ this was allowed to be, is of course a\nmystery, but yet it is hardly a greater mystery than why evil in its other\nforms should be allowed to exist, and without evil in some shape, as we\nhave seen, this earth would be a very imperfect exercise-ground for\nmankind.\n\nTo represent this case to our minds, let us imagine some malignant \u201cgerm\u201d\nthat has caused a plague amongst men, and which in time takes a slightly\ndifferent form, so that it is no longer adapted to human beings, but finds\nits prey in cattle instead. Then the plague among men is exchanged for a\nmurrain among cattle, which, as a matter of fact, has been known to\nhappen: this answers to the allowing the d\u00e6mon to go to the swine. Evil is\nnot forcibly exterminated, but it is transferred from man to the lower\nanimals.\n\nSo our Lord is gentle even with the powers of evil. They had their\nfunction, or they would not have been there, and they were not to be\ncrushed out of existence before the time.\n\nIf it be, as I have argued, that evil had a function in the world, then we\ncan see why it could not be removed by a _universal_ decree. But a\n_single_ act of relief might be admissible in order to testify to the\npresence of an exceptional power; this would not engender in people the\nhabit of helplessly throwing themselves upon God. For instance, Christ\ncures the son of the centurion merely by speaking the word, but if He had\nabolished all fevers by one decree, this would have been to disorganise\nthe existing order in the universe. A King going on a royal progress\nrelieves the misery that comes in his way; his own kindliness, his royal\ndignity, and the need of impressing on the people that their King delights\nin doing good, and can do it, require him so to do. But a regal donation\nfor the relief of all distress in the kingdom would turn it into a nation\nof paupers. So our Lord bestows His bounty on those who fall in His way.\n\nHe who asks, Why did not Christ suppress evil? may naturally ask also, Why\ndid not Christ sweep away all human error as to the relations of God with\nman? And why did He not so vouch for the authenticity of His communication\nthat any doubt about it should be impossible? Now we believe, that God has\nrevealed Himself to man, and yet has left men in some degree free as to\nwhat they will think about Him, and as fully at liberty to examine the\ncredentials of those who have claimed to be His messengers, and to judge\nof their authenticity, as they would be in a purely human matter.\n\nWe find, as a matter of fact, that men who have accepted Christ\u2019s\nrevelation are not fettered in mind by it; but are most often\nenterprising, energetic and bold searchers after truth. I believe that it\nwould have been unfavourable to the preservation of this vigour of mind\nand to the temper which should \u201ctry all things and hold fast those which\nare good,\u201d if the full and absolute revelation which some demand had been\ndelivered to mankind, and all the problems which beset human life had\nthereby been settled once for all. To the questions \u201cWhy we are told what\nwe are told?\u201d \u201cWhy we are not told more?\u201d and \u201cWhy doubt and ambiguities\nare not all cleared away?\u201d\u2014we cannot hope to give _answers_, but we may\nfind ways of looking at them which shall help in some degree\n\n\n    \u201cTo justify the ways of God to man.\u201d\n\n\nIt will be best to discuss this subject in a separate Chapter.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III. OF REVELATION.\n\n\nIf I took the word Revelation in its widest sense I should not attempt to\ntreat of it here, for it would comprise nothing less than God\u2019s education\nof the human race. We talk of Natural Religion and Revealed Religion, but\nall Religion has in it an element of revelation from God. If God had not\nprovided man with a mind\u2019s eye suited to see Him by, and also something\nthat shadowed Him forth which that eye could behold, we could have no\nreligion at all. Of the processes by which belief has come about in men\nnot the least notable is this. Men have recognised in some new tidings\nwhat they seemed to have been looking for, without being aware of it. Some\nnew teacher has become the spokesman of thoughts which were lying in them\nin a state too vague for utterance. Thus \u201cthoughts out of many hearts may\nbe revealed.\u201d(10) Now it is God who has planted these thoughts in men, and\nHe brings about the occasions which reveal them.\n\nThere are for man two worlds, that which is without him and that which is\nwithin. Some races from temperament or circumstances have been most taken\nup with the former, with the workings of nature and with active social\nlife; while others have looked within rather than without;\u2014their minds\nhave found most congenial play in the contemplation of their own natures,\nand in brooding over the mystery of how they came to be what they were.\nCorresponding to these two leading diversities of the human mind, there\nare two modes by which men are brought to recognise a great spiritual\nagency in the world.\n\nThe man of Aryan race, the type of the first variety, caught sight of an\ninfinite force underlying all the workings of nature, and so conceived\nDeities, with a personal will like his own, animating the physical world.\nFor the people of the Semitic race on the other hand, the surpassing\nwonder was their own selves\u2014their minds turned to contemplating their own\nnature. In so doing they noted this; they found something within them\nwhich caused them to be happy when they acted in one way\u2014when they had\ndone a kindness for example\u2014and made them unhappy when they had behaved\ndifferently. This was so, even when no one knew of the act, and when they\nlooked to no consequences from it. They called such actions right and\nwrong; but they asked, Where can this notion of right and wrong come from?\nThis conscience too which witnessed of it\u2014which strove with them just as a\nfriend might, and seemed to be something outside them\u2014Where did that come\nfrom? They were led by this to conceive a spiritual personal Being in the\nworld who had left some trace of himself in men\u2019s hearts, and kept up some\ncommunion with them through this voice of conscience. Thus men of\ndifferent stamps of mind were led along different roads, to the notion of\nsomething Divine in the world; and we may say that God revealed himself to\nman in these two ways. Now for knowledge to be sure and solid two elements\nmust go to the making of it. One from outside the learner, and the other\nsupplied by him. This outside element is in physical science provided by\nobserved fact, and what answers to it in theology is authoritative\nrevelation. Men can never feel fully assured about what is wholly spun out\nof their own brains, and has no external sign or testimony to lend it\nsupport.\n\nRevelation, in the sense in which I have to do with it just now, means an\nauthoritative communication from the Almighty, vouched by some outward\nsign, or manifestation. It is with this outward sign, and with the\ndifficulties attending the ways of bringing it about, that I am now\nchiefly concerned.\n\nFor the present we will suppose that among the elements of human knowledge\nare _truths revealed by God_. How is this element of absolutely certain\nknowledge to be made to fit in with that which is only matter of opinion\nor provisionally true? Here we come on the great problem of Revelation.\nHow can the infinite be brought into the same account with the finite? We\nknow that if we give one term in an algebraical expression an infinite\nvalue, all the rest go for nothing; so likewise do probable judgments\nvanish in the face of absolute authority. But if Revelation is delivered\n_in such a mode_ that its declarations admit of no question whatever, then\nits statements possess _absolute certainty_. Compared with such certainty\nall our judgments would be doubtful and dim, like candles in the presence\nof electric light. Would not this sharp contrast discourage man from using\nhis own powers? But is it not by regarding this world as an exercise\nground for these same powers that we come most near to understanding it?\nIs it consistent with God\u2019s ways, such as we make them out to be, that\nafter giving us faculties which would find their amplest field in the\nconsideration of spiritual problems he should preclude the investigation\nof them by solving them all Himself.\n\nAgain the truth delivered in any Divine Revelation of the problems of the\nUniverse would come into contact with views based on supposed facts drawn\nfrom History or Geology, or with truths discovered by the human mind, and\ndifficulties would occur all along the line of demarcation between what\nwas infallible and what was not. For instance, if the history of one\nnation were absolutely revealed, much of that of the nations contiguous\nwould be revealed too; more particularly the results of the wars between\nthem: and if isolated facts belonging to science, such as those relating\nto the formation of our globe, were communicated on Divine Authority, then\nsystems of Natural Philosophy, starting from these facts as axioms, might\nclaim, upon religious grounds, acceptance for every one of their\nconclusions. If an independent system essayed to rear its head, it would\nbe crushed by coming into collision with some statement that brooked no\nquestion. Such scientific investigation as would be possible could only\nproceed by deduction from truths authoritatively delivered. Observation\nand induction, which have led up to the knowledge of nature we now\npossess, would find no place. Man would be discouraged from using his own\nendeavours to understand the problems of the universe, and instead of so\ndoing, he would only pray the Almighty to tell him all he wanted to know.\n\nThese ill effects do not follow in the case of Christ\u2019s religion for two\nreasons. First, because Christ does not reveal what man could find out for\nhimself; and therefore this revelation does not come, so to say, into\ncompetition with human investigations. Secondly, because the genuineness\nof the revelation is not vouched for by evidence which is _overwhelming_\nand which finally settles the question; but is only supported by just\nenough external testimony to command attentive consideration and respect.\nThe evidence that the Sign is of God is not so cogent that there is no\nescape from it. If it were so, it would silence all discussion about the\nfact of Revelation having been given, in the way in question, and would\nnarrow the area for the exercise of religious thought.\n\nReason may agree to bow to Revelation as being God\u2019s declaration; but she\nhas a right to satisfy herself that it _is_ God\u2019s declaration, and she\nwill call in learning and rules of criticism to help her in determining\nthe question. Even when Reason has satisfied herself as to the credentials\nof this Revelation, there comes another question which gives play for\nhuman intelligence. It is asked \u201cWhat does this Revelation mean?\u201d Language\nis the outcome of the human mind, and all statements made in language,\nthis Revelation among the rest, must be subject to the laws of the human\nunderstanding.\n\nWe see then, that both as to its credentials and its meaning Revelation\nmust always be open to question; and that a man is as much bound to\nexercise his judgment upon these points as upon the other problems of\nlife. This would seem a very natural state of things, yet it causes dismay\nto some persons when they first begin to look into these matters for\nthemselves. They had expected, moreover, to find such a balance of\nevidence on their own side, that no one except from wilfulness and\nperversity could decide the other way. Examination shews that, regarding\nthe question as one of historical evidence, and putting all prepossessions\napart, the two sides are more nearly in a state of equipoise than they had\nbeen supposed to be; and it is remarkable that this kind of equipoise has\nbeen maintained, as far as we can make out by history, from the time of\nthe Apostles till now. Arguments and testimony have, from time to time,\nappeared on one side, and have been answered from the other; and now and\nthen some discovery has been made turning the balance on this side or\nthat; but soon some new idea has been started which has put another\ncomplexion on the matter. So that positive evidence has never been so\ncomplete and decisive on either side as to prevent a man\u2019s habits or the\nbent of his mind from swaying his verdict.\n\nWhen young men first look into these matters for themselves, having\nheretofore taken certain notions on trust, they are apt to be aghast at\nthe unsettlement, and at the call on them to use their own judgments and\nmake up their minds. Unhappily they have often been led to suppose that to\nhold a particular set of opinions, _merely as opinions_, without any\neffect being produced in their character thereby, gives them a claim to\nsome degree of favour in the eyes of the Almighty: while to question these\nopinions, or to enquire too closely into the grounds on which they rest,\nis dangerous, and calculated to bring them into disfavour with Him. I\ncannot stop to combat this notion now. But whatever the reason may be, the\nfact is certain, that when persons begin to investigate for themselves the\nbases of their belief, they find that many statements which they had\nregarded as true beyond all question are found to stand on less sure\nground than they had thought; and since they fancy that if the authority\nof any word of the Bible is shaken they will soon have no standing ground\nleft, they become much disturbed.\n\nThen it is that we hear the outcry: \u201cWhy cannot all be made clear? Or, if\nwe cannot be told every thing, why, at any rate, is not that which we\n_are_ told put so plainly, that there can only be one way of looking at\nit? Why were not things so written that one who runs may read? Why are we\nnot given quite positive assurance of the truth of what is revealed? Why\nhave we not a Sign in Heaven as the Jews demanded, or, what would suit our\ntimes better, an incontestable demonstration of the truth of\nChristianity?\u201d \u201cWhy, in short,\u201d to use the words of the objectors of the\nlast century, \u201cIf God desired to make a Revelation to man, did He not\nwrite it in the skies?\u201d\n\nTo none of these \u201cWhys\u201d can we supply its proper \u201cBecause.\u201d We cannot give\nthe reasons of a man\u2019s conduct unless we can enter into his mind; and as\nwe cannot enter into God\u2019s mind, we cannot give His reasons for having\nmade the ways of the universe such as we find them. But though we cannot\ngive the enquirer what he asks, we can do something to help him all the\nsame.\n\nWe may be able to shew him that it is better for him only \u201cto know in\npart;\u201d and we may also be able to explain to him that a certain fringe of\nshadow must needs encompass those portions of truth which are revealed;\nfor if they had clear-cut edges and hard outlines, when we had to fit them\ntogether, like pieces in a dissected map of knowledge, we should meet with\nall those difficulties about a line of demarcation between truth absolute\nand beliefs of opinion of which I spoke just now. The service of all\nRevelation is to supply our craving after infinity; and if our demand to\nhave this infinity presented to us in a finite form\u2014for that is really\nwhat we are clamouring for\u2014could be approximately gratified, then we\nshould find that, though a certain portion of the infinite field lying\noutside human knowledge had been enclosed and added on to our intellectual\npossessions, still we were as far as ever from having what we wanted: this\nnew possession would have become _finite_, and what we wanted was the\n_infinite_. We should have got a new science in exchange for our old\nreligion, but the craving after infinitude would still remain. The very\ndefiniteness introduced into these matters we should find destructive of\ntheir fascination for us.\n\nTo take one point at a time, I will begin with a side of the question\nwhich fits on to the subject of the last chapter. These cries after\ncertitude are, in fact, petitions to be relieved of free will and\nresponsibility in deciding religious matters for ourselves. What the\ncomplaints come to is this: Why am not I and every one else compelled to\nbelieve certain truths about God\u2019s dealings with man _whether we like to\ndo so or not_?\n\nThe point of the matter lies in these last words. If we had no part of our\nown to perform in accepting this belief, if it were no more a matter of\nour own choice and feeling whether or not we admitted the revealed truths,\nthan whether we admitted some indisputable fact in history or some\nproposition in science; then this belief would not be religion for us at\nall, it would be a branch of science and nothing more. It would have no\nmore moral significance than a proposition in Euclid. To admit that a\ncertain system may be built up from premises that are undoubted, is merely\na matter of intellect. One man may have a head to follow the steps and\nanother not, but conscience has no part in the matter.\n\nIt was distinctive of the Son of Man that His Gospel was to be preached to\nthe poor; and a system which addressed only minds capable of clear\nreasoning, could not be suited to all mankind; in fact, it would\nnecessarily set up a Hierarchy of intellectual culture. So our Lord did\nnot speak to the understandings but to the hearts of His hearers. He dealt\nwith His disciples on the supposition, that there was in them a germ which\nwould respond to the quickening influences of His teaching, and grow into\na capacity for eternal life. Just as the dormant seed germinates when\nwarmth and moisture reach it, so would what was dormant in their hearts\nburst into life and growth, when the required vivifying influence was\nbrought to bear. Our spiritual life is made to depend not only on what is\ndelivered to us, but on our recognising the truth we want, and seizing on\nit as what we are craving after: so that we say, \u201cI have always felt that\nthere was something I was in want of; now I know what it is, and I have it\nhere.\u201d\n\nThe Jews, who would not believe, wanted to be shewn a Sign from Heaven.\nThey said, \u201cGive us a proof which is beyond contradiction, and we will\nbelieve,\u201d which comes to saying: If we cannot help believing, believe we\nwill. But they did not mean the same thing by the word \u201cbelieve\u201d as our\nLord did. Our Lord did not call on His disciples to accept notions _about_\nHim, but to believe _in_ Him, to trust Him as a child does his parent, or\na soldier his commander. What the Jews meant was, that they would give\ncredence to a particular kind of evidence, as to the fact of His being\ntheir Messiah.\n\nThe demand for additional proof is dealt with by our Lord in the parable\nof Dives and Lazarus. The drift of a parable is usually pointed out in the\nconcluding words; and the verse \u201cIf they believe not Moses and the\nprophets, neither will they believe though one rose from the dead,\u201d(11)\nspoken of the rich man\u2019s brethren, is, I believe, the key to one intent of\nthis parable.(12) The state of mind here pointed at is a common one\nenough. It is that of the man who is rather uneasy at his own want of\nbelief; but thinks the blame should be laid, not on any defect in himself,\nbut on the want of proper proofs and external light. He thinks that his\ndifficulty comes from the scanty evidence offered him; he has no idea that\nwhat he really wants is a better moral eyesight to see it by. So he begs\nfor a little bit more of proof. If he could only be satisfied, he says, on\nthis point and that, he would believe. But what would his belief be worth?\nOur Lord\u2019s answer goes to this:\u2014No amount of external testimony can supply\nwhat you want, because the defect is within you. If a man _did_ come to\nyou from the dead, you might be terrified into acquiescence in everything\nhe told you\u2014you would probably be stupefied into the most abject\nsubmission\u2014but instead of being elevated into trust in God, you would,\nvery likely, be so cowed and paralysed, as to be incapable of any feeling\nof a noble or spiritual kind.\n\nIn the present day people do not ask for Signs from Heaven, or that men\nshould rise from the dead\u2014but the same spirit shews itself in the same\nway. The corresponding demand is, \u201cGive us an undeniable philosophical\nproof of the truth of Christianity.\u201d \u201cShew us this,\u201d say men, \u201cand we will\nbelieve.\u201d Accept the demonstration of course they must, if it be\nirrefragable; just as they must accept the truth that the three angles of\na triangle are equal to two right angles; but such acceptance is a mental\nact of a wholly different order from adopting a religious belief\u2014from\nfeeling for instance that \u201cChrist is with us to the end of the world.\u201d\nMuch confusion has arisen from this difference not being properly marked.\n\nFrom what I said at first, as to the nature of a revelation it appears\nthat there are two elements in it, one within us and one without us. We\nmust have \u201cears to hear\u201d when God speaks\u2014a faculty that discerns His\nvoice\u2014and also we must have some outward sign cognisable by human senses,\nor by such judgments based on experience as we form about historical\nevidence. I have just shewn that the first requisite is essential for any\nreligious belief, and that it is a quality different from the logical\nunderstanding. But when we come to the attestation of the Sign which\nvouches the revelation, then the understanding assumes its ordinary\njurisdiction. We are to judge by the common rules of evidence as to the\nauthenticity of this Sign and the genuineness of our information. Reason\nand instructed judgment are to be used in these matters as in all others,\nand external evidence is allowed its weight by our Lord. When the Baptist\nsends his disciples to enquire, our Lord works cures before them, and bids\nthem report what they _saw_.\n\nA man wants some testimony to which he may turn, which is independent of\nhimself. There are times when the surest believers mistrust themselves and\ntheir intuitions and ask, \u201cHow am I to know that this persuasion of mine\nis not a creature of my own brain, due to my temperament and mental\nconformation.\u201d \u201cHow can I call on other men to accept it?\u201d Men are not\nleft, unaided, to the distress of this kind of doubt. The Apostles were\nallowed to witness the Transfiguration and the presence of Jesus risen\nfrom the dead that doubt might not overcome them in moments of physical\nweakness or distress of mind. They could always turn to these\nrecollections and say \u201cWe know the glory of God; for we have seen it.\u201d\n\nWe are not to expect that the Sign which attests a Revelation shall be\nguaranteed by a standing miracle; because such a standing miracle would be\nout of harmony with all God\u2019s ways as revealed in the Universe. For a\nstanding miracle means that God is always, in one particular direction,\nvisibly displaying the power elsewhere concealed. If such a miracle\nexisted there would be one set of facts in the world not of a piece with\nthe rest. If instead of working the world as He does by self-acting\nmachinery, God were to reserve one department for His personal management,\nHe might as well interpose in all, and direct all the movements in the\nworld; in which case, as I said in the last chapter, the world would cease\nto have any independent existence, and would become merely a portion of\nthe Divine existence.\n\nSo when it is demanded \u201cThat a revelation should be written in the skies\u201d\nwe may ask, How would you have God\u2019s autograph attested? The Jews, it will\nbe said, had the visible Shechinah, the light between the Cherubim; but if\nthis light existed now, there would be no proof of its being Divine: it\nwould only be another phenomenon, and science would take cognisance of it.\nIf we had an oracle declaring future events, all human enterprise would\nperish\u2014for enterprise rests on hope and fear. The Delphic oracles would\nhave paralysed action, if they had been unerring, unambiguous, and easy of\naccess. A series of prophecies, it may be thought, fulfilled from time to\ntime, would serve to authenticate revelation: and this aid is, indeed,\nadmissible in attestation of the Sign we speak of; but it must be subject\nto the same condition which must attach to all external testimony: it must\nnot be too clear or too strong. Men must always be able to reject it, if\nthey like: either by ascribing the coincidences to chance, by declaring\nthat the prophecy brought about its own fulfilment, or by some similar\nargument. If we had a series of prophecies all of which, up to the present\ntime, had been fulfilled with due regularity, so that no one could doubt\nbut that the rest would punctually come to pass, human action would be\nvery much paralysed.\n\nThe miracles of our Lord\u2019s life serve us for our \u201cSigns;\u201d and our\nassurance that they occurred is to be based both on the external evidence,\nwhich in this case is the testimony to the authenticity of the record, and\non the internal probability, which comes out of the conformity of the\nmiracles with the Laws of Christ\u2019s action and the declared purpose of His\ncoming. The miracles could always be referred to Beelzebub in old days,\nand they can always be disbelieved or explained away now.\n\nSince the external evidence is not conclusive on this side or on that, the\njudgment formed must depend partly on the degree in which the Scriptures\nestablish their own authority; and this degree depends on the mind and\nheart which the investigator brings to his work. One critic will see\nnothing but difficulties. Another will say, Our histories are photographs,\nimperfect no doubt, but what they show must have been there when they were\ntaken: we see the main figures under different aspects, but we know them\nfor the same. Some will feel as much convinced, from the character of\nthought and expression, that certain sayings came from our Lord, as a\nconnoisseur in art might be that a certain picture came from the easel of\na great master whose works had been the study of his life: he knows the\ntouch.\n\nChrist\u2019s great Revelation was not given in a book, not in a history or a\ntreatise, but in a Life and Death. He shewed the world a Man who knew not\nSelf, and He also shewed it the Force that came from God. Men will realize\nthis Revelation in different ways in different ages; part may come to\nlight at one time, part at another. Sayings which have long lain hardly\nnoticed are one day found to be keys to unlock a treasure, and give\ninsight beyond what we dreamt of. But besides this Revelation, personal to\nindividuals, broad Truths are conveyed which we should not otherwise\npossess.\n\nSome of the leading Truths are these. That Jesus came from the Father.\nThat the Father loved men who believed in Him, and owned them as sons, and\nsent into their hearts(13) a filial spirit which should enable them to lay\nhold more firmly of this Revelation. Christ tells them that He came to\nmanifest God to the world,(14) and that, whether they chose to believe it\nor not, the kingdom of God was drawn nigh to them.(15) He tells them that\nto know God is eternal life,(16) and that they who are counted worthy will\nattain a resurrection to such a life.(17) Above all he tells them\u2014and this\nis the very charter of the Christian Church, without which her Doctrines\nwould be only a set of notions, destitute of real vital power\u2014\u201cLo, I am\nwith you alway, even unto the end of the world.\u201d(18)\n\nThere is no clashing with human knowledge here, nothing that can tie the\nhands of the enquirer. The advance in spiritual knowledge is not brought\nabout, simply by the communication of a new truth from without, which had\nnever been dreamt of before: men feel rather as if they were reminded of\nsomething they must once have known. There appears, if I may so say, a\ntenderness of God in dealing with man, a carefulness so to reveal himself\nas not to obliterate a man\u2019s own personality, but to leave him to feel\nthat any resolution he has reached is his own, arrived at, no doubt, by\nlistening to God\u2019s prompting; without such prompting superseding the\naction of his proper self. No two men represent God to themselves quite in\nthe same way: He was not the same for Peter that He was for John.\n\nI believe that a revelation of God is needed for the education of what is\nhighest in man, and for bringing him to the highest point he can reach;\nand that God has been always revealing Himself in one way or another. But\nthe revelation of every age must be suited to the character of that age.\nMan must be educated up to it, or he cannot receive it. Our Lord tells his\ndisciples \u201cI have yet many things to say unto you but ye cannot bear them\nnow.\u201d(19) Later generations are taught in this same way. The events\nrelated in the Acts, and the labours which came upon the Apostles fitted\nthem by degrees for fresh revelations. If our Lord had declared to St\nPeter when he first joined him in Galilee that the Gentiles should have as\nfull a share in Him and in the Kingdom as he would have; might not he too\nhave turned away? Or if, as is likely, he had been personally drawn to\nChrist too powerfully to quit Him, yet such a sudden shock to all his\nnotions might have closed his mind spasmodically against new ideas? For\nwhen a man recoils from a view which unsettles him and turns him giddy, he\nclutches at his supports with iron grip. Many have been made bigots in\nthis way. Our Lord is careful to avoid for the disciples all turmoil of\nmind; the new seed must be left undisturbed that it may take firm root; so\nthat for our Lord to have disordered all St Peter\u2019s convictions by a\npremature disclosure, would have been contrary to His ways of acting.\n\nAn age must be ripe for the truth, and the truth must be ripe for the age\nfor the last to profit by the first. If the theory of gravitation had\nappeared ten centuries ago, it would have passed unregarded away, for\nthen, nobody thought the outer world worth scrutiny. On the other hand the\nneo-Platonic philosophy which once moved masses of men has now become so\nmany words. How then is Christ\u2019s revelation to last for all time? It is\nenabled to do so, because there is _life_ in it and _growth_ along with\nlife; because Christ does not deliver propositions about God which men are\npassively to receive once for all, but his sayings fall upon the human\nheart, and are quickened there, some in one generation and some in\nanother: each generation seizes on its proper nutriment, and brings out of\nHis sayings the special lesson it requires.\n\nSt Paul, to recur to the quotation which is, in fact, the burden of this\nchapter, speaking of the effect produced by the preaching of the word on\nthe hearers says\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cThe secrets of his heart are made manifest.\u201d(20)\n\n\nChrist\u2019s words reveal for a man the secrets of his own heart to himself.\nThey interpret to him his own confused and dreamy thoughts. This was what\ndrew men so mightily to Him. It was not so much the novelty of what He\ntold them that attracted them, as that they recognised in His teaching old\nfamiliar puzzles, which had come and gone through their minds, times\nwithout number, only in such shadowy guise that they could not fix and\nscrutinize them. Christ spake and then men said \u201cThis is what has been\nalways troubling us.\u201d Here is what we have always been wanting to say, and\ncould not put into plain words\u2014and now these floating impressions of ours\nare found not to have come by chance but to belong to truths set in our\nbeing. God has \u201csent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts crying\nAbba, Father.\u201d(21) But He would not have done so if we had not had the\ncapacity for being sons, to begin with.\n\nWe shall see too, when we think of it, that a revelation to men can only\ncome by man, or in a voice or words like those of a man. Man\u2019s\nunderstanding is fashioned in a certain way; his language is the creature\nof his understanding; ideas could not be conveyed to him unless they were\nclothed in language which he could understand; Revelation therefore must\nexpress itself in terms of human notions because they alone can be made\nintelligible in human speech. If God speaks, He must speak after the\nfashion of men, or His words will be an unknown tongue.\n\nTo take an illustration: If a man, owing to something abnormal in his\nvision, became aware of a new colour, something which had nothing to do\nwith red or yellow or blue; he could not communicate his new sensation\nbecause he could find no pigment which would in any degree represent it,\nand he could not describe it in words, by likeness to anything in the\nworld. So God can only reveal to man about spiritual existence what man\ncan conceive, that is to say only that to which he finds something\nanalogous in his own being; for all must be put into that form with which\nman\u2019s understanding can deal; and the only spiritual creature he can\nconceive is _man_; the only ideas he can conceive are human ideas; his\nmind must work on the lines along which men\u2019s minds move; the only\ncreature with whom he can sympathise, and whom he can believe to\nsympathise with him is _man_, and so\u2014since there can be no real teaching\nwithout mutual understanding\u2014by _man_ he must be taught. Christ\u2019s\nrevelation meets this need. It was as the Son of Man that Christ declared\nHimself, and in this character He conveyed to men the germs of all the\nspiritual enlightenment they can receive. Does not this throw light on the\nwords, \u201cNo one knoweth who the Father is save the Son, and he to\nwhomsoever the Son willeth to reveal Him,\u201d(22) and again, \u201cNo man cometh\nto the Father but by me?\u201d(23)\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV. OUR LORD\u2019S USE OF SIGNS.\n\n\nIt has been already observed that there is one feature of our Lord\u2019s way\nof revealing truths to men which distinguishes Him from all teachers\nbefore or since. This is the use of Signs.\n\nMiracles may have been attributed to those who have promulgated creeds at\nvarious times, but these miracles did not form a constituent part of the\nteaching; they were not blended with it as those of our Lord were. They\nare introduced only to serve for credentials, so that an appeal to them\nmay silence incredulity; they convey no lesson, they only serve for proof.\nI hope to shew that it was otherwise with the signs wrought by Christ.\n\nMy especial concern in this chapter is not with the nature or the\ncredibility of miracles in general, but only with the purposes for which\nChrist introduced them; and with the questions of how far they were\nperformed with a view to draw men to listen and to set forth God\u2019s\nkingdom, and how far for the purpose of working conviction. In the first\nchapter I have stated certain Laws, which our Lord observed in working\nSigns. These I shall presently discuss; but what I am concerned with now\nis the general question \u201cWhy did our Lord work Signs?\u201d\n\nI use the word \u201cSigns\u201d instead of miracles because it is our Lord\u2019s own\nword. The latter expression fastens attention on the wonderment which\nthese deeds raised in men. But our Lord uses the word \u201cSign,\u201d which\nimplies that these acts were tokens of some underlying power which, in\nthese instances, passed into operation in an exceptional way. To our Lord,\nthey of course were not _wonders_, and He never dwells on their\nwondrousness.\n\nIn the accounts of St Matthew, St Mark and St Luke, the word \u201cSigns\u201d is\nthat most commonly employed by our Lord when speaking of His own working\nof miracles; while in the Gospel of St John, the term \u201cworks\u201d is generally\nfound in the like case, though \u201cpowers\u201d sometimes takes its place. The\nexpression \u201cSigns and wonders\u201d means, not two separate sorts of works, but\nsigns that make men wonder: it means prodigies, worked to shew a divine\ncommission, taken on the side of the _awe_ they inspire. Our Lord only\nuses this expression twice\u2014once when He says that false prophets shall\ncome and \u201cshew great signs and wonders,\u201d(24) and again in His answers to\nthe nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum, \u201cUnless ye see signs and\nwonders ye will not believe.\u201d(25) On these occasions the term refers to\nthe popular conception of the form which Divine interposition would take.\nThe expression \u201csigns and wonders\u201d occurs very frequently in the Acts of\nthe Apostles.\n\nWhen, as here, we are in search of the purposes which our Lord had in\nview, in something that He did, it is of service to ask, \u201cWhat purpose or\npurposes did it actually fulfil?\u201d What He did would not be likely to fail\nin producing the effect intended, or to bring about a result not\ncontemplated by Him. So we must try to unravel the complex effects of\nthese signs, and to discriminate the several ways in which they worked.\n\nSome were witnessed both by the people and by the disciples, and some by\nthe disciples and apostles only. The function of the miracles may have\nbeen different in the different cases. But, besides their effect on the\nactual witnesses, the record of these mighty doings has had a prodigious\neffect on generation after generation, from the time when our Lord walked\nin Galilee to the present day; and we may suppose that this posthumous\neffect was included in the Divine design.\n\nThe character of our Lord\u2019s miracles we shall find to be determined by the\nnature of the work He came to do. The work and miracles were adapted each\nto the other, and, owing to this, the study of the miracles throws a light\non His purpose, and the more insight we get into His purpose the more\nreason we see for the miracles being of the kind they were.\n\nWe will consider, under different heads, the various functions which Our\nLord\u2019s miracles fulfilled. That which comes naturally first in order is\n\n\n\n\n(1) The attraction of hearers.\n\n\nOne effect of signs on the beholders lay on the surface. They awoke\nattention; they caused men\u2019s eyes to be turned to the Son of Man. Jesus\nwon a mastery over men\u2019s souls both by what He did and what He said; but\nthe doing had to come first, because without this He would not so soon\nhave gained a hearing. From a district of small towns and scattered\nhamlets a crowd was not drawn together without some cogent influence. It\nwas the rumour of the things \u201cdone in Capernaum\u201d(26) and of other mighty\nworks that caused the crowd to gather, and attracted the multitudes who\nlistened, both in the synagogue and on the Mount.\n\nThe works of healing would be attractive enough to draw within the reach\nof our Lord\u2019s influence all who were likely to profit, as well as some who\nwere not: while His words and the influence of His presence would _attach_\nto Him as true disciples those, and those only, who had \u201cears to hear:\u201d in\nthis way the crowd would be sifted.\n\nOne of the characteristics of our Lord, which puzzled His followers, and\nwhich also strikes us, was His seeming indifference about the number, or\nthe worldly position of His adherents. He does not aim at gaining\nconverts; when His popularity seems at its height He withdraws from the\npeople. A warrior Messiah, or a prophet seeking to convince the world,\nwould have displayed signs suited to attract the blind devotion of the\nmultitude: he would have wanted to prove his pretensions by the striking\ncharacter of his signs and wonders. Such was the Messiah whom the Jews\nwere led to expect; in general they imagined no other, and for no other\ndid they care: so we find that it surprised the disciples and the brethren\nof Jesus, that He should content himself with healing poor sick people in\nhamlets of Galilee, instead of confounding Herod in Tiberias, or the\nscribes in Jerusalem.\n\nAnd if we regard our Lord as a leader looking to an immediate purpose and\ndepending for success on His influence with those of His own day, his\nconduct is indeed inexplicable; but the whole tenour of it falls in well\nwith the view which regards Him as setting afoot a movement which was to\ngo on working to the end of the world. Hurry belongs to the mortal who\nwants to see the outcome of his work, while eternity is lavish of\ntime.(27)\n\nWe shall see later on that it is foreign to our Lord\u2019s ways to inflame the\nfeelings and blind the eyes of men by kindling speech.\n\nThe overmastering influence of a great leader will \u201ctake the prisoned\nsoul\u201d of the people and make it follow his will. But Christ\u2019s first care\nis to leave each man master of his own will\u2014the man who is no longer so,\nceases to count as a unit. Just as this is seen in our Lord\u2019s teaching, so\nis it also in the miracles which set that teaching forth\u2014they are not\nworked in the ways or the place that a Thaumaturge would have\nchosen\u2014people are not invited to a spectacle\u2014nor are the wonders so\noverwhelming as to cause a whole population to fall prostrate at our\nLord\u2019s feet. The rumour of them is sufficient to make those who \u201chave ears\nto hear\u201d enquire further and \u201ccome and see;\u201d and a further function of\n\u201cSigns\u201d is then called into play.\n\nThis function is that they should serve to select from the multitude those\nfitted to follow our Lord.\n\n\n\n\n(2) Selection.\n\n\nI have said in a previous chapter that education and selection are\ninseparable. Any process that unfolds the powers which lie within men,\nemphasizes, so to say, the differences between them.\n\nThe witnessing of wonders, declared to be wrought by the finger of God,\nmust have stirred men\u2019s minds, and so brought about in them a species of\neducation, well calculated to winnow out the chaff from the grain.\n\nBut the quality, which this kind of education seizes upon and develops, is\nnot intellectual ability, but the capacity for \u201csavouring the things of\nGod.\u201d The miracles served as a touchstone for detecting this. Many would\nlook, and wonder, and go their way\u2014they had seen a strange sight, _that_\nthey would allow, but it did not touch their souls: while to a few others\nit would seem as if they had lighted on what they had been watching for\nall their lives. They had always seen dimly that there must be in the\nworld a living power; not a dead God in the keeping of the scribes, but a\nliving God who should speak _in_ their hearts and _to_ their hearts, and\nthey had found Him now. The minds of those who were worth rousing were put\non the alert, and the sense of God\u2019s kingdom being near them, the sense\nthat this every day world was His and worked by Him, was expanded within\nthem.\n\n\n\n\n(3) Preparation.\n\n\nWe have a distinct instance of the use of \u201cSigns\u201d to produce\n_preparation_. The seventy were sent working these Signs, \u201cin every city\nunto which He Himself would come.\u201d This preparation would consist, partly,\nin the drawing out from the mass those who were likely to profit. When our\nLord Himself came, these latter would be eager to hear Him, and the great\nannouncements He made would not strike them as altogether strange. The\ndistrict over which these messengers were sent probably lay outside the\ncountry where our Lord\u2019s ministry had been chiefly carried on, and was\nonly visited by Him on this one occasion. This made it the more important\nthat the right men, rightly prepared, should form His audience. His truths\nwere not to fail of taking root, from want of the soil having been\nloosened beforehand. We shall see, over and over again, how careful our\nLord is to prevent the opportunities He gives being lost. He never\nneglects or underrates the need of properly preparing men for receiving\nnew truths: He employs the ordinary means for effecting this, and He would\nhave the Children of Light be as wise in their generation, and as\njudicious in the use of such means, as the children of this world.\n\nAgain, the display of the miracles roused some, the Scribes and Pharisees\nin particular, into active hostility\u2014they watched the Signs to find ground\nfor charges of blasphemy and Sabbath-breaking. Priesthoods, occupied with\nthe externals of their function are aghast at the assertion of a living\nand working God. The worldly are terrified also and with the terror that\nawakens fury. These classes answer to those servants in the parable who\nsaid, \u201cWe will not have this man to reign over us.\u201d Whenever a vital\nreligion has been proclaimed it has found opponents of both characters.\n\nHistory witnesses to this, from the stoning of the prophets to the\nassaults on religionists in modern times. The miracles divided men into\nthree great sections: there were those who were for Christ, and those who\nwere against Him, and between these came a body who were not wholly\nindifferent or unaffected, but who quieted themselves with saying that\nsuch weighty matters were no business of theirs.\n\nThis breaking up of men into friends and foes was a kind of preparation\nfor the Apostles\u2019 work. When men begin to take sides their minds cannot\nlie torpid: evil passion and selfishness mix with their doings, no doubt;\nbut in the storm and stress men get to the bottom of their own hearts and\nfind out their true selves; and men\u2019s truest selves were wanted by Christ.\n\nSo far we have spoken of miracles as means of rousing attention and\ndrawing out from the mass those who had ears to hear. We will now consider\nthem as practical illustrations accompanying the preaching, and\n\n\n\n\n(4) Setting forth the Kingdom of God.\n\n\nThey shew not only how close this Kingdom is to us but they also convey\nvisible lessons, to help men to conceive it aright.\n\nWe learn from our Lord\u2019s own lips that one purpose for which He wrought\nSigns was to make men sure that the Kingdom of Heaven was come upon them.\nWhen He was charged with casting out devils through Beelzebub, He says,\nafter disposing of the accusation,\n\n\u201cBut if I by the finger of God cast out devils, then is the _kingdom of\nGod come upon you_.\u201d(28)\n\nWhether Our Lord preached in the villages Himself, or the Apostles or the\nSeventy, going two by two, did so in His name the burden of their\npreaching was always the same. They call on men to change to a better\nmind, and declare that the Kingdom of God is come nigh. The seventy are\nbid to say to those who rejected them, \u201cHowbeit know this that the Kingdom\nof God _is_ come nigh.\u201d(29) Whether men chose to own it or not, God\u2019s\nKingdom _was_ near them even at their doors. St Mark, at the outset of his\nhistory of our Lord\u2019s Ministry, tells us(30)\n\n\n    \u201cNow after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee,\n    preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,\n\n    \u201cAnd saying, the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at\n    hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.\u201d\n\n\nChrist declared that God was working underneath the ordinary agencies,\nwhich seemed to men to be working of themselves. God had been so working\nall along from the very beginning, but now Christ had come to reveal\nGod\u2014that is to say to make men sensible of the Divine presence and Divine\nagency in all that went on both within them and without. This revelation\nHe would effect in the ways best adapted to make men understand it. And as\nthe unlearned are most readily taught by what is set before their eyes;\nand as the teacher is much helped by having something to shew; so Christ\ndeclares the Kingdom and its nature, not only in parables and discourses,\nbut by practical instances and illustrations as well; namely by the Signs\nHe wrought. It was as though He had said, \u201cI have told you that God\u2019s\npower was lying close about you: Behold it operating here.\u201d The\ncombination of the word and the Sign, as the two essential elements of the\nteaching, is expressly put before us in one passage: we read,\n\n\n    \u201cAnd they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working\n    with them, and _confirming the word with signs following_.\n    Amen.\u201d(31)\n\n\n\n\n(5) Teaching wrought by signs.\n\n\nThe Signs shew us, not only that the Kingdom _is_ God\u2019s, but something\nalso of the nature of that Kingdom as well.\n\nOur Lord speaks of the power displayed in miracles as God\u2019s power working\nthrough Him. It is \u201cby the finger of God\u201d that He casts out devils and the\nman who is healed is bidden to tell his friends what God has done for\nhim.(32)\n\nChrist nowhere claims the power as His own. It rests in God\u2019s hands; but\nit is granted to His prayer, because His will and God\u2019s are one.\n\nMoreover the Signs set forth God\u2019s love and goodness to men, and thereby\nthey tell us something of His nature. All the Signs worked by our Lord\nbefore the people at large, and all the works which the Twelve and the\nSeventy performed in their mission among the cities of Israel, were works\nof healing; with the exception of the two instances of the feeding of the\nmultitudes, which also were works of Divine beneficence. There are other\nmiracles of a different character, as we shall see presently, but those\nwere witnessed either by the disciples only, or by a circle of private\nfriends as at Cana of Galilee.\n\nThe men of Galilee had hitherto known the Lord as the God of Israel, who\nwas especially concerned with the fortunes of their race and nation as a\nwhole; but now they were told that He was the Father of every person in\nthat nation, and was sent especially to the lost sheep among them. It was\nthis declaration\u2014that of the individual relation of each man to God, and\nof the preciousness of the very hairs of his head in God\u2019s eyes\u2014that\nconstituted, in great part, the comforting nature of the \u201cgood tidings of\nGod.\u201d The miracles wrought in connection with the preaching could not\nbring this point very prominently forward: but so far as the miracles bear\non the point they are in accord with the teaching. They were worked, not\nupon masses of men at once, but on individuals, and our Lord addresses\nHimself personally to each particular sufferer, as though his case was\nconsidered by itself. I shall soon, for another purpose, notice two\nmiracles recorded by St Mark which afford good instances of our Lord\u2019s\nsympathetic insight into individual cases. He does not, on entering a\nvillage, ordain that all the lepers in it shall be cleansed, or all the\npalsied restored to the use of their limbs. He condescends to take each\ncase by itself.\n\nThere is hardly a case of healing narrated in St Mark, who, of all our\nauthorities, gives the most detailed account, which does not shew traces\nof special attention on the part of our Lord to the spiritual and physical\nfeatures of the particular case. We will take for an instance the cure of\nthe sick of the palsy. The connection of what is spiritual with that which\nis physical is here very strongly marked. Our Lord begins by saying to the\nman \u201cthy sins be forgiven thee.\u201d It is possible that the man\u2019s condition\nmay have been due to imprudence or something worse; the thought of this\nmay have rankled in his mind and the mental trouble may have aggravated\nthe physical infirmity: the great physician cures both together. His\nrestoration seems to come with the sense of pardon, but he does not shew\nhimself aware of his recovery, until our Lord bids him arise.\n\nThe shewing that the Divine power worked blessings on men one by one,\ncontained in itself a lesson as to God\u2019s infinity; for a finite being\nwould have been incapable of concerning himself for every unit of the\nworld\u2019s population. Any supply of energy, short of an infinite one, would\nhave been exhausted. Hence the notion of God\u2019s personal care for each soul\nis bound up with the conception of His infinity.\n\nChrist does not begin with the abstract and say: \u201cGod is infinite and\ntherefore He can find room in His heart to love men, every one;\u201d but He\nbegins with the concrete and says, \u201cGod does love you and every one else:\u201d\nand He leaves it to men to arrive at the truth at the other end of the\nproposition: viz. that if God\u2019s strength is not lessened by drawing upon\nit, this can only be because there is no limit to it. From this infinity\nof God it also follows that the distinction between what we call great\noccasions and small ones\u2014between occasions that we think would justify\nDivine interposition and those which would not\u2014may not exist in God\u2019s\neyes. In the presence of His infinity, the difference between great and\nsmall things may disappear; certainly His measure will be a very different\none from ours.\n\nThis brings us to another point in the use of miracles to illustrate the\nways of God\u2019s Kingdom: they exemplify the truth that God is no respecter\nof persons. Neither the persons on whom they are wrought, or before whom\nthey are wrought, obtain this privilege by any merit or superiority. Men\nare not healed because they deserve it. As God sends rain on the just and\nunjust, so Christ cures the sick who come in His way, rich and poor\nalike\u2014the son of the nobleman, and the blind beggar; for our Lord, worldly\ndistinctions do not seem to exist. A man, _as man_, was of such\ntranscendent value in the eyes of the Son of Man that, compared to this,\nlittle outer differences were but as the hills and dales of the earth,\nwhich scarcely roughen the surface of the globe when seen as a whole. Men,\ntoo, are not, except for very special purposes, picked out by Christ to\nwitness the miracles; any more than they are in God\u2019s world to receive\nspecial mercies, or the lessons, or the afflictions of life. Those who\nwere passing by saw the Signs, some profited and some did not: Herod and\nother great men would gladly have witnessed a miracle, but it was not\ngranted them.\n\nThe Signs wrought by Christ harmonise with His teaching in another way:\nthey never have the air of ostentatiously overriding and superseding\nNature. His power, in its tranquil might, proceeded calmly along the\nhomely track of every-day life; just as if it had always been present\nruling quietly in its own domain, and might at any time have interposed\nwithout effort, if the Spiritual Order had needed it. A man is healed and\nan evil spirit is quelled by a word, and a multitude in the desert is\nsupplied with food they do not know how,\u2014all proceeds in a calm continuous\nway. Fresh energy is given to natural powers, and effects are produced of\nvast magnitude and with astonishing rapidity; but these powers seem to\nwork through the organs and along the channels which nature provides: to\nour Lord there is one primary source of all life and movement and light\nand force, and that is God, from Whom all His power comes. He does not\ncall certain visible manifestations nature, and refer others to God, as\nthough nature and God were different powers. The Signs, accordingly, are\nworked in such a way that it is hard to mark the particular point where\nwhat is called the supernatural comes into play\u2014to say, in fact, when\nnature ends and God begins. The cures, so far as we can trace them, are\neffected by the renewal of vitality in a disordered organ; this vitality\nwould seem to proceed from Christ; just as the power which set life going\non earth proceeded from God.\n\n\n    \u201cFor as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the\n    Son to have life in Himself.\u201d(33)\n\n\nHere, of course, we pass beyond the realm of the forces we can measure,\nbut this imparted force only restores the organs needed for the cure; the\noptic nerve is reinvigorated or the absorbent vessels are stimulated to\nabnormal action, and the eye becomes again efficient. The man is not\n_enabled to see without an eye_, as was claimed to be done by some workers\nof miracles in the middle ages; and there is no miracle in the Gospels\nlike that mentioned in Paley\u2019s Evidences, where a man who had only one leg\nbecomes possessed of two. Christ _restores_ organs and withered limbs. He\ndoes not dispense with the proper organ or create new ones.\n\nSt Mark gives us full particulars of two cures, of which we can in some\ndegree trace the process.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the\n    town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon\n    him, he asked him if he saw ought. And he looked up, and said, I\n    see men as trees, walking. After that he put his hands again upon\n    his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every\n    man clearly.\u201d(34)\n\n\nFrom this it appears that the eye was gradually restored, and our Lord\u2019s\nquestion shews that He did not expect an instantaneous cure. He speaks as\na surgeon might who had performed an operation. He does not take it for\ngranted that the man must have received his sight. He applies His hands, a\nsecond time and then the ill-defined dark objects which the man spoke of,\nbecome distinct.\n\nThe other case is that of one who was deaf and had an impediment in his\nspeech.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers\n    into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue; and looking up\n    to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be\n    opened. And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of\n    his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.\u201d(35)\n\n\nThe restoration of the disabled organs is clearly indicated here. I have\nreferred to these two cases a few pages back. We now come to\u2014\n\n\n\n\n(6) Miracles as a practical lesson to the disciples.\n\n\nSo far, we have spoken of miracles as performed for the sake of the\nmultitude; in order to draw them to listen and to sift from among them\nthose fit to become disciples: I have remarked too how the \u201cSigns\u201d\nincidentally conveyed instruction, how they exhibited to the crowd the\ngoodness and the power of God. But there were some miracles, as I have\nsaid in the first chapter, which were especially miracles of instruction,\nand I would say a word or two about those, before I pass on to miracles as\nmeans of assurance. These miracles of instruction were, in almost all\ncases, performed when but few of the disciples were by; and they are\nmostly wrought in the later period of our Lord\u2019s Ministry.\n\nAmong the miracles of this class are, The miraculous draughts of fishes,\nThe walking on the sea, The stater in the fish\u2019s mouth, The withering of\nthe fig tree, and the Transfiguration. The last named, is not usually\nclassed among miracles or considered in books which treat of them, but a\n\u201cSign\u201d it certainly was and it carries lessons with it which, bit by bit,\nthe world is learning still.\n\nThat miracles should be employed as a means of impressing truths on the\nlearner, we can well understand.\n\nIn no way could a great truth be presented so forcibly to the mind as by\nbeing clothed in the garb of a miracle. The wondrous circumstances would\nprint themselves on the mind\u2019s eye at once and for ever; and as they\nrecurred in lonely hours of thought, something more of their drift and\npurport would peep out every time. It is characteristic of our Lord\u2019s\nways, that His teaching yields its fruit gradually; much as a seed-vessel\ndriven by the wind, which scatters the contents, now of one cell, now of\nanother, as it whirls along.\n\nI trace in many miracles of instruction, a bearing on the great movement\nin which St Peter was the chief actor; namely, the calling of the\nGentiles, and the taking from the Jews thereby their exclusive position,\nas the one people who knew God. Our Lord quietly, and by slow degrees\nfamiliarizes St Peter with this idea. He is not suddenly brought face to\nface with a notion which would cause a violent shock to his mind. With men\nlike the Apostles new ideas want a little time to grow into shape: we know\nhow easily a man is startled into shutting his mind against novelty when\nit is suddenly presented. St Peter could not have been instructed as to\nGod\u2019s plans without a long course of explanation which it was not our\nLord\u2019s way to give: so He lets the lesson lie in St Peter\u2019s mind till the\ncircumstances shall come which shall be the key to it.\n\nOf what I call miracles of instruction, I propose to consider two briefly,\nwith a view chiefly to illustrating the way in which the instruction was\nconveyed.\n\nThere is this singularity about the Transfiguration, that our Lord\n_foretells_ it, and in most remarkable words.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some\n    of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they\n    have seen the kingdom of God come with power.\u201d(36)\n\n\nThis promise I understand to mean that some of the Apostles should, even\nwhile yet alive on the earth, be vouchsafed a glimpse of another world,\nand behold Christ in the glorified state which belongs to Him. The\nexpression \u201cin no wise taste of death,\u201d which occurs in all three\naccounts, must mean that they should not only have this experience after\npassing from this life to another, but even while yet in mortal frame. For\nsix days these words are allowed to work in the minds of the disciples,\nand then:\n\n\n    \u201cJesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and bringeth\n    them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was\n    transfigured before them.\u201d(37)\n\n\nDuring the six days and on the way up the mountain after they were taken\nfrom the rest, Peter, James, and John must have wondered what the \u201ccoming\nof the kingdom of God with power\u201d would be. This prevented their being so\nstupefied with astonishment as to miss the lesson of the appearance. Here\nagain we note our Lord\u2019s mode of _preparation_ for the receiving of\ntruths.\n\nI do not discuss the nature of the vision, because I have now only to deal\nwith the matter as to its educational effect. When the Apostles saw the\nglorified Lord with Moses and Elijah\u2014their impression was not fear but\njoy.\u2014\u201cIt is _good_ for us to be here\u201d says St Peter. He thought they had\narrived in another world, and he proposes to build tents, as if he had\nlanded in a strange island. He expects to be always there.\n\nBut what, in the view I am taking is the cardinal point of all, is the\nvoice out of the cloud\u2014\u201cThis is my beloved Son, _Hear ye Him_.\u201d(38) In\nthese last words the old covenant is replaced by the new. Moses\nrepresenting the Law, and Elijah the Prophets\u2014they who had been hitherto\nthe spiritual teachers of men,\u2014stood there to hand over their office to\nthe Son. Their work in nursing the minds of a people set apart as the\ndepositary of the knowledge of God was now at an end; now Humanity had\nsucceeded to its heritage, and its teacher was to be the Son of Man. A\nreligion which is shaped by the history and the mind of a particular\npeople will be cast in a particular mould: its outward form must be\nrendered plastic if it is to become Universal. So Moses and Elijah the\nteachers of Israel lay down their functions in the presence of the chosen\nthree, who hear their Master owned as God\u2019s own Son, to whom the world is\nhenceforth to listen.\n\nAnd when, many years later, the truth broke upon St Peter so that he said:\n\n\n    \u201cOf a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: but in\n    every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is\n    acceptable to him,\u201d(39)\n\n\nthen a new light might illumine these recollections, which had been laid\nby in his mind, and they would draw a fuller meaning from the new idea by\nwhich he was impelled; and he would see how God\u2019s purposes, long\nentertained, work to the surface by degrees.\n\nThere is one miracle in which I can see no other intent, than that of the\ninstruction of the disciples and, as it may not come before us again, I\nwill say a few words on it now. The withering of the fig tree was, as I\nhave said in the Introduction, an acted parable: the most circumstantial\naccount is that given by St Mark.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was\n    hungry: and seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if\n    haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he\n    found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. And\n    Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee\n    hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.\u201d(40)\n\n\nOf the next day it is related:\n\n\n    \u201cAnd in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree\n    dried up from the roots. And Peter calling to remembrance saith\n    unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is\n    withered away. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in\n    God.\u201d(41)\n\n\nWhen our Lord remarked from a distance one fig tree\u2014probably one out of\nseveral, for Bethphage was named from its figs\u2014which alone was in full\nleaf, He was drawn to it; whether this was because He saw occasion for\nimpressing a lesson which He had at heart to give, or because He really\nexpected to find refreshment, we cannot decide. The last motive is not\nexcluded, for though the time of figs was not yet, still we are told that\nin Jud\u00e6a the fruit of the fig is ripe by the time the leaves have reached\ntheir full size; and this display of foliage therefore gave prospect of\nfruit. We must not argue that our Lord would, of his superhuman\nillumination, have known that the tree was barren, for our Lord never uses\nthis source of knowledge to find out what may be learned by ordinary\nmeans.\n\nBut whether our Lord approached the fig tree with the lesson in His mind\nor not, the aptness of the circumstance struck Him and the lesson it\nfurnished was given on the spot. It was unusual for a tree to have leaves\nat that early season: by putting them forth, however, it held out hopes of\nfruit which it disappointed. This presented in a parable the situation of\n\u201cthe Jews\u2019 religion.\u201d(42) They made a show, and contrasted themselves with\nother nations, they dwelt on the fact that they alone worshipped the true\nGod, and knew and observed His laws\u2014they invited admiration on this\nground\u2014but of all this nothing came. So the fig tree seemed to say: \u201cSee I\nam green when other trees are leafless, you may look to me for fruit.\u201d It\nis said that this precocious putting forth of leaves shews that the tree\nis diseased and should be cut down, in like manner it was time that the\nJewish Hierarchy should lose its office. It is to this Hierarchy that the\nwords \u201cNo man eat fruit of thee henceforth and for ever\u201d are really\nspoken. Mankind was no longer to draw its teaching from the scribes and\npriesthood of the Jews.\n\nIndividual Israelites might of course enlighten the world, as indeed they\nhave done in a most remarkable degree; but the Jewish nation as a body was\nno longer to be the one recognised channel of God\u2019s communication with\nmankind. The leading people among them had wrapped themselves up in\nself-complacency and self-sufficiency; they had moreover enslaved\nthemselves to the letter of their canonical books and to rabbinical\ntraditions: they were therefore neither ready nor able to expand when\nexpansion was needed. In other words, they were no longer fitted for a\nliving world; which must, of its very nature, grow and change and discard\nall that will not change along with it; and so like the pretentious tree\nthey were to wither away, and no man henceforth was to eat fruit of them\nfor ever.\n\nIt would have been long before an Israelite could have brought himself to\nsee this meaning in the words of our Lord; but St Peter must have thought\nover this last miracle, all the more from the apparent harshness of our\nLord shewn in it\u2014from its being the solitary instance of a final\ncondemnation from His lips\u2014and he must have asked himself; What did it\nmean?\n\nThere are many other miracles in which the instruction of the Apostles and\nnotably of St Peter seems to be the leading aim. The walking on the water\nmight have taught him how closely failure treads on the heels of impulse:\nthe prophecy, \u201cBefore the cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice,\u201d again\nconveyed this same lesson together with much beside: and the words \u201cThen\nare the children free,\u201d which point the moral of the finding of the stater\nin the fish\u2019s mouth, must have recurred to St Peter when the Church at\nJerusalem was debating as to how far she could free her Gentile members\nfrom the burdens of the Law. Of this I shall speak again. I have adduced\nsufficient instances to shew what I mean by miracles of instruction and\nthe way in which they worked.\n\nLastly we come to the important subject of\n\n\n\n\n(7) Miracles as a means of proof.\n\n\nThe signs, worked by our Lord, whatever other functions they fulfilled,\nhad one office which in the eyes of some apologists is so important as to\ndrive all other functions into the back-ground. They are regarded as the\nmain ground of conviction. The Apostles, it is true, make little appeal to\nthe Signs worked by Christ: this may have been because they worked similar\nSigns themselves, and knew that their enemies ascribed them to magic.\nTheir favourite arguments were the fulfilment of prophecy and the\nresurrection of the Lord. The earlier hearers were Jews, and the question\nwith them was, \u201cDid Jesus of Nazareth answer to the prophetic notices of\nthe expected deliverer of their race?\u201d The Jews we hear \u201cwere mightily\nconvinced\u201d by Apollos, not because he declared Christ\u2019s works but because\nhe \u201cshewed by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.\u201d(43)\n\nBut in time the early preachers addressed themselves to the Gentiles. The\nJewish notion of the Messiah was strange to hearers, who had never heard\nof the prophets; while the idea that God should love the world and reveal\nHimself to it commended itself to them, and they would expect that such a\nrevelation would be accompanied by manifestations beyond human experience.\nThe consequence was that, after a century or two, less was made of\nprophecy and more was made of miracles: and if the question \u201cWhat makes\nyou believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God?\u201d had then been put\nto all Christendom, the answer of an overwhelming majority would have\nbeen, \u201cBecause of the wondrous works which He performed.\u201d\n\nWe shall see, however, that our Lord does not Himself put Signs in the\nvery forefront of His claims to the allegiance of men. He only appeals to\nthem as subsidiary proofs; on which He would rest His cause when, owing to\nthe situation or the disposition of the hearer, no higher kind of proof\nwas available.(44)\n\nIt will be asked, \u201cIf miracles were only a subsidiary ground on which our\nLord claimed belief; What was the primary one?\u201d We shall see that our\nLord\u2019s first appeal was Personal; He claimed men\u2019s allegiance from what\nthey had seen of Him and from what they knew.\n\nThere is a passage in St John\u2019s Gospel which brings this very clearly\nbefore us. The naturalness of it and its fidelity to character and\nsituation are such, that I am as sure that these words passed between\nPhilip and our Lord, as if they were found in all four of the Gospels,\nthough they only occur in the last. They occur in the final discourse of\nour Lord when He and the Apostles are on the way to the garden of\nGethsemane. Our Lord has said,\n\n\n    \u201cAnd whither I go, ye know the way. Thomas saith unto him, Lord,\n    we know not whither thou goest; how know we the way? Jesus saith\n    unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no man cometh\n    unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye would have\n    known my Father also: from henceforth ye know him, and have seen\n    him. Philip saith unto him, _Lord, shew us the Father, and it\n    sufficeth us_. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with\n    you, and dost thou not know me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath\n    seen the Father; how sayest thou, Shew us the Father? Believest\n    thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words\n    that I say unto you I speak not from myself: but the Father\n    abiding in me doeth his works. Believe me that I am in the Father,\n    and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works\u2019\n    sake.\u201d(45)\n\n\nIn Philip\u2019s words we perceive an assurance of the reasonableness of what\nhe asks, which is most true to the life. He never doubts but that God\n_could_ be brought before his eyes;\u2014he supposed that the clouds might be\nrolled away, so as to reveal a form of awful majesty clothed with\nresplendent light, and with one glimpse of this he would be content. He\nthinks that he makes a most moderate request.\n\nOur Lord shews a sort of surprise, that after having been so long with\nthem, going in and out among them, they should have missed seeing that God\nwas in Him. It was perhaps this constant companionship that stood in\nPhilip\u2019s way; that what was Divine should have mingled with his daily life\nwas beyond his conception. God, he supposed, could only shew Himself in\nsome strange and appalling manner. That God\u2019s presence is reflected, in\nthe least broken way, in that course of things which is most normal and\nmost ordinary, was an idea that did not belong to Philip\u2019s race or time;\nbut Christ drops a germ from which it should arise.\n\nIt is the concluding verse of the passage with which I am most concerned\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cBelieve me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or\n    _else_ believe me for the very works\u2019 sake.\u201d(46)\n\n\nThe first appeal is to that belief, which ought to have grown up from\npersonal knowledge; that failing, He points to the works. This belief was\nof the same order as that which we have in the rectitude of an honoured\nfriend. In knowing a man, we get to a deeper kind of knowledge than we do\nin knowing an object: all we can tell about an object is what its\nproperties are, we know nothing about what it _is_; but we do get nearer\nto knowing what a friend _is_, our souls interpenetrate, as it were, a\nlittle. So that if Philip had known our Lord as Peter did, he would, like\nhim, have recognised the \u201cSon of the living God.\u201d Supposing, however, that\nhe was not sufficiently \u201cfinely touched\u201d for such a knowledge, that he\njudged mainly from his senses, and needed proofs of which they could take\ncognisance; then\u2014as an alternative course though a very inferior one\u2014He\nmight believe for the _mere Signs\u2019_ sake. Signs were provided to suit the\ncases of those who could not believe without them.\n\nBut while many take it for granted that Christ rested His claims on\nmiracles and worked His Signs to provide Himself with credentials; others\nhave gone to the other extreme, and have urged that Christ disparaged the\nbelief that was engendered by the sight of wonders. No doubt the\nprinciple\u2014\u201cBlessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed\u201d runs\nthrough all our Lord\u2019s teaching, but it was better they should believe\nfrom the sight of _such Signs as our Lord worked_\u2014Signs which were not\ncoercive\u2014than not believe at all. Signs, certainly, have led men to\nbelieve, when, either from inward or outward causes, they would not have\nbelieved without. This effect I regard as a good one, and all good that\nhas ensued from what our Lord did, I believe that He intended to do.\n\nThe chief texts adduced in disparagement of miracles are:\n\n\n    \u201cExcept ye see signs and wonders, ye will in no wise believe,\u201d(47)\n\n\nand\n\n\n    \u201cAn evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign.\u201d(48)\n\n\nIf signs and wonders were the appointed means of bringing men to believe,\n\u201cWhy,\u201d ask the objectors, \u201care those blamed who cannot believe without\nseeing them?\u201d \u201cOur Lord,\u201d they say, \u201chere shews that He sets little value\non the belief that comes of seeing signs.\u201d This is, no doubt, quite true\nof the sort of belief that comes of the mere assent of a terrified man:\nbut our Lord did not terrify men, and the belief that sprung from seeing\n_His_ signs involved a will and a disposition to recognize God\u2019s hand.\n\nI do not feel sure, however, that the first text really bears on the\nmatter. I think it quite possible that the stress should be laid on the\nword _see_. The nobleman \u201cbesought him that he would _come down_, and heal\nhis son; for he was at the point of death.\u201d(49) He thought that our Lord\nmust go down to Capernaum with him and work the cure there; he cannot\nbelieve that it will be done unless it is wrought before his eyes. When he\nbegan to speak he had not the faith of the Roman centurion; he could not\nsuppose that the power of healing could be exercised from afar; but he\nsoon caught this confidence from looking on our Lord. If the text have\nthis sense it does not touch the question before us.\n\nThe second text refers to a sign from Heaven. It is spoken of those who\nwanted an overwhelming miracle to be wrought, which should settle the\nquestion and compel assent in the unwilling. The generation is not called\n\u201cevil and adulterous\u201d for seeking after such Signs as our Lord wrought,\nfor crowding to see the cures for instance, but, for challenging Him to\nproduce a Sign of a very different character, a magical one, which, for\nreasons explained in the last chapter, He would not do.\n\nOur Lord Himself on several occasions points to another result of His\nworking of Signs. It rendered the rejection of Him a sin; this was because\nthe will was called into operation to explain these Signs away. The\nleaders among those adverse to Him invented loopholes, such as referring\nthe works to Beelzebub, and those who wanted to escape being convinced\navailed themselves of them. In this way, the acceptance or non-acceptance\nof Signs formed a touchstone for discriminating those who virtually said\n\u201cWe will not have this man to reign over us\u201d\u2014a section of people to whom I\nalluded in the earlier part of the chapter. Men were pardoned the unbelief\nof blindness and dulness, but not the wilful hatred which went out of its\nway to find grounds for rejection, and which would refer works of pure\nbeneficence to the chief of the devils; this shewed innate aversion. The\nfollowing are passages in point:\n\n\n    \u201cWoe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the\n    mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in\n    you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and\n    ashes.\u201d(50)\n\n    \u201cHe that hateth me hateth my Father also. If I had not done among\n    them the works which none other did, they had not had sin: but now\n    have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.\u201d(51)\n\n\nAgain, it is easier to convey to another by description an external fact\nthan a personal impression: and thus the evidence from Signs is easier to\ntransmit from man to man than that which arises from realising a\nPersonality. Those who followed our Lord were subjugated by His influence;\nsome of us too may extract from His memoirs a conception of His\nPersonality: but it is only those possessing the gift of seeing the\nreality in the outline, who can lay hold of this source of belief; while\nin a miracle, all can perceive credentials given by God.\n\nOur Lord\u2019s course of proceeding in a very important instance, the occasion\non which John the Baptist sends his disciples to Him, is a most\ninstructive instance of His use of Signs. These Signs furnished the kind\nof evidence most available in that particular case.\n\nWhen the Baptist is in prison he sends two of his disciples to our Lord\nwith the question, \u201cArt Thou He that cometh, or look we for another?\u201d(52)\nMany months had passed since the baptism of our Lord, and it seemed that\nnothing had been done. He was himself in prison, removed from the\npresence, and personal influence of our Lord. His recollections of Him\nwere perhaps fading, and his faith growing low. He was then in the\nposition for which the argument from signs is especially suitable\u2014nothing\nwould help him like facts. He was in the situation in which tens of\nthousands of Christians are still\u2014believing, and yet having misgivings now\nand then whether what they call their Faith may not be fancy,\u2014longing for\nsomething positive to cling to, some support outside themselves. Such\nsupport our Lord affords the Baptist; He puts him as nearly as possible in\nthe position of a witness of the miracles.\n\nWe read:\n\n\n    \u201cIn that hour he cured many of diseases and plagues and evil\n    spirits; and on many that were blind he bestowed sight. And he\n    answered and said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what\n    things ye have seen and heard; the blind receive their sight, the\n    lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead\n    are raised up, the poor have good tidings preached to them. And\n    blessed is he, whosoever shall find none occasion of stumbling in\n    me.\u201d(53)\n\n\nWe have no other instance in which miracles are wrought in order to assist\none who is in doubt. Our Lord does not give a direct answer to the words\n\u201cArt thou He that cometh?\u201d If He had said \u201cI am He\u201d\u2014and yet had not\nrestored the kingdom to Israel as the Baptist expected, He would only have\nled him into further bewilderment. So his disciples take back for sole\nreply, an account of \u201cwhat they hear and see.\u201d The works are such as our\nLord continually performed; but John\u2019s disciples are given a special\nopportunity of witnessing them for their Master\u2019s sake. The Baptist is\nhowever certified of this; a great work of God was being carried on in the\nworld, through Him on whom he had seen the Spirit descend when He rose\nfrom Jordan.(54)\n\nOf the two grounds, then, on which our Lord claimed men\u2019s allegiance\u2014His\npersonal influence and the signs He worked\u2014our Lord rests preferably on\nthe first, but the second has its place and it is an important one.\n\nOur Lord is the great physician who deals with all according as the case\nand the constitution require. In different ages men\u2019s minds require\ndifferent kinds of proof. I believe that such different kinds are\nprovided\u2014that there is lying ready for each generation and each type of\nmind the degree of evidence which is good for it and of the kind which it\nis fitted to assimilate. Miracles are not the sort of evidence most wanted\nnow; but it was the sort which for many centuries was looked on as the\nmost incontrovertible. It spoke to those who could understand nothing\nelse. It was for many ages what men especially wanted, and there it was to\ntheir hand. A future generation may find their main ground of belief in\nChrist in a realization of His Personality; and they may in this way\narrive at that kind of knowledge of Him which our Lord had hoped that\nPhilip might have gained. This we can scarcely obtain without a careful\nstudy of our Lord\u2019s ways of influencing men.\n\nI have not yet spoken of our Lord\u2019s miraculous knowledge of events or of\nHis insight into men\u2019s hearts. There have been a few persons in the course\nof the world\u2019s history who have, in a wondrous way, discerned the ends\ntowards which events were working; and others who have divined the\nthoughts of other men. These gifts in the fullest degree our Lord\npossessed; and when He needed stronger illumination for the purpose of His\nwork these faculties were exalted beyond human range. The superhuman\nsupervened, proceeding along the lines of human action; and this, like the\npowers whereby His other works were wrought, came from the Father in\nanswer to prayer. By displaying this divining power He converts Nathanael,\nand He forcibly impresses the woman of Samaria. But effective as the\ndisplay of this superhuman penetration was for bringing about conviction,\nit was much more than an evidence of Divine power. The knowledge of this\ninsight of their Master into their hearts played a large part in the\nApostles\u2019 Schooling. They were habituated by means of it to feel that\ntheir hearts were known, and this habit became so much a part of\nthemselves that when Christ had left the world they could realize to\nthemselves that they were under His eye still. This condition of mind was\nrequired for their special work, and Christ\u2019s training was directed to\ndevelop it within them as I hope to show.\n\nIn the next Chapter I pass to the discussion of the Laws which our Lord\nappears to follow in His working of Signs.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V. THE LAWS OF THE WORKING OF SIGNS.\n\n\nI have already, in the introductory Chapter, given my view of the\nprinciples which guided our Lord in the exercise of His superhuman powers.\nHe is tempted to employ them when He saw they should not be employed, and\nthe Laws are drawn from His refusals. Consequently they all take the form\nthat, for such and such a purpose, or under such and such circumstances\nthese superhuman powers are not to be brought into action.\n\nI will recapitulate the Laws before stated\u2014\n\n(1) Our Lord will not provide by miracle what could be provided by human\nendeavour or human foresight. He Himself, as far as we can see, never\nemploys superhuman power or illumination to effect what could be arrived\nat by human effort.\n\n(2) Our Lord will not use His special powers to provide for His personal\nwants or for those of His immediate followers.\n\n(3) No miracle is to be worked merely for miracles\u2019 sake, apart from an\nend of benevolence or instruction.\n\n(4) No miracle is to be worked to supplement human policy or force\u2014as (for\ninstance) those of Joshua were.\n\n(5) No miracle is to be worked which should be overwhelming in point of\nawfulness so as to terrify men into acceptance, or which should be\nunanswerably certain, leaving no loophole for unbelief.\n\nBefore going into particulars about these Laws there is something to be\nsaid about the narrative of the Temptation itself, and the form in which\nit has come down to us.\n\nThe incident of the Temptation is recorded in all the Gospels except that\nof St John; but the account in St Mark\u2019s Gospel relates only that our Lord\nwithdrew into the wilderness, and that He was there \u201cforty days tempted of\nSatan.\u201d In the Gospels of St Matthew and St Luke we find, with some small\nvariations to be noted presently, what is commonly known as the History of\nthe Temptations of our Lord.\n\nThe narratives, taken from the Revised Version, are as follows:\n\n\n    \u201cThen was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be\n    tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty\n    nights, he afterward hungered. And the tempter came and said unto\n    him, If thou art the Son of God, command that these stones become\n    bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live\n    by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth\n    of God. Then the devil taketh him into the holy city; and he set\n    him on the pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou art\n    the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall\n    give his angels charge concerning thee: And on their hands they\n    shall bear thee up, Lest haply thou dash thy foot against a stone.\n    Jesus said unto him, Again it is written, Thou shalt not tempt the\n    Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him unto an exceeding high\n    mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the\n    glory of them; and he said unto him, All these things will I give\n    thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto\n    him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship\n    the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil\n    leaveth him; and behold, angels came and ministered unto him.\u201d(55)\n\n    \u201cAnd straightway the Spirit driveth him forth into the wilderness.\n    And he was in the wilderness forty days tempted of Satan; and he\n    was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.\u201d(56)\n\n    \u201cAnd Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and\n    was led by the Spirit in the wilderness during forty days, being\n    tempted of the devil. And he did eat nothing in those days: and\n    when they were completed, he hungered. And the devil said unto\n    him, If thou art the Son of God, command this stone that it become\n    bread. And Jesus answered unto him, It is written, Man shall not\n    live by bread alone. And he led him up; and shewed him all the\n    kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto\n    him, To thee will I give all this authority, and the glory of\n    them: for it hath been delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will\n    I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship before me, it shall all\n    be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto him, It is written,\n    Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou\n    serve. And he led him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of\n    the temple, and said unto him, If thou art the Son of God, cast\n    thyself down from hence: for it is written, He shall give his\n    angels charge concerning thee, to guard thee: and, On their hands\n    they shall bear thee up, Lest haply thou dash thy foot against a\n    stone. And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt\n    not tempt the Lord thy God. And when the devil had completed every\n    temptation, he departed from him for a season.\u201d(57)\n\n\nWhat we find in St Mark may have been generally known to our Lord\u2019s\ndisciples from the earliest period of the ministry. But the account of the\nTemptations themselves, which we find in St Matthew and St Luke, can only\nhave come from our Lord Himself. Assuming this to be the case, the passage\nbefore us is singular in two respects.\n\nFirst, Because the Evangelists have here, and here only, altered the form\nof what our Lord delivered, and changed into a narration in the third\nperson what must, in the first instance, have been expressed in the first.\n\nSecondly, Because this is the only instance in which our Lord breaks\nthrough His reticence as to His own personal history on earth. Here and\nhere only does He give us a glimpse of what had befallen Him or of what\nhad passed within His breast.\n\nSt Matthew and St Luke differ as to the order of the second and third\nTemptations. I have adopted that given by St Luke. According to my view,\nour Lord in the one rejects the use of physical violence and in the other\nthat of moral compulsion. It is more after our Lord\u2019s way to proceed from\nwhat is concrete to what is abstract, than in the reverse order.\n\nI feel strengthened in this view by some of the characteristics of the\nGospel of St Matthew, in the form in which it has come down to us. This\nEvangelist has always _the Kingdom_ before his eyes. He would therefore be\ninclined to account the rejection of \u201call the kingdoms of the world and\nthe glory of them\u201d as the highest possible instance of the renunciation of\nself; and as he accounted it the most severe of the temptations he would\nnaturally place it last. St Matthew moreover throughout his Gospel often\nputs together the discourses of our Lord according to their\nsubject-matter, and not in the order in which they were spoken. He would\ntherefore have no scruple about changing the order of the account of the\nTemptations which may have come before him as a detached document. On the\nother hand we do not know of any bias of St Luke which should lead him to\nprefer one order of events to another.\n\nAnother slight variation may be noticed. St Matthew tells us that He was\n\u201cled up of the Spirit _to be tempted_ of the devil.\u201d(58) The words imply\nthat He was led up with a view to undergoing temptation. But in St Mark\nand St Luke we have \u201cbeing tempted\u201d without any intimation of purpose.\nGrave difficulties attach to the view that our Lord went into the desert\nwith the set purpose of seeking and confronting temptation. Moreover it is\nof the essence of temptation that it should come on us unawares. If we\nknow that endeavours are about to be made to persuade us to a particular\ncourse, we close our ears to all that pleads for it\u2014being forewarned, we\nare forearmed; so that, as regards these words, and indeed throughout the\npassage, I place more confidence in the version of St Luke than in that of\nSt Matthew, or, to speak more accurately, that of his translator from\nHebrew.\n\nThe words \u201cGet thee hence,\u201d at the close of St Matthew\u2019s relation of the\ntemptation on the mount, have been supposed to indicate the final\nbanishment of the Tempter, and therefore to shew that this temptation came\nlast. The force of the argument rests on our supposing, as no doubt the\nauthor of St Matthew\u2019s Gospel did, that the events here related formed\nthree distinct visible scenes, occurring in close succession, towards the\nend of the forty days. Whereas I hold that we have here a representation\nof our Lord\u2019s inward conflicts, clothed by Him in a garb of outward\nimagery, that they might be the better understood. If this view be taken,\nthe trials may have gone on simultaneously throughout the forty days, and\nmay have been so far like our own inward troubles that one harassing\nperplexity may well have been most pressing at one moment and another at\nthe next. But if these struggles are represented by visible occurrences,\nthese occurrences must necessarily be related one after the other. The\nwords \u201cGet thee hence\u201d might refer not necessarily to a final banishment,\nbut only to the end of one assault. St Luke\u2019s version is reconcileable\nwith the view that he understood our Lord to be speaking figuratively and\npersonifying the voices that tempted him.\n\nIt may be asked, \u201cAt what period of His ministry did our Lord give the\ndisciples the account of what passed in the desert?\u201d We can only guess,\nbut the guess is worth making. We do not know whether the account which we\npossess was contained in what critics call \u201cthe original document,\u201d on\nwhich the Gospels of St Matthew and St Mark are supposed to be based. Its\nomission by St Mark rather favours the supposition that it was not. It may\nhave been, in the first instance, put down in writing by one who heard the\nrecital from our Lord\u2019s lips, and may have come into the hands of the\nevangelists as a separate \u201cparchment.\u201d(59) This document might contain no\nnote of the time and place at which our Lord delivered the account\u2014and, in\nthe absence of information on this point, the compiler of the gospel might\nhave made the alteration from the first person to the third, if it had not\nbeen made before, and have inserted the account in the place belonging to\nit in the order of events. I conjecture that the communication was made\nnear the end of the ministry, possibly after the feast of the\ndedication,(60) at the time when\n\n\n    \u201cHe went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John was at\n    the first baptizing; and there he abode.\u201d(61)\n\n\nThe place would recall what had happened after He had been \u201cdriven\u201d from\nthat spot by the Spirit into the wilderness about two years before.\n\nOther considerations also lead me to this conjecture.\n\nIt is strange that no allusion is ever made to so important a record: and\nthis would be far more strange if the knowledge had lain in the minds of\nthe Apostles all through the period of our Lord\u2019s ministry, than if they\nhad only obtained it when the close was at hand. Moreover, the absence of\nany account of the circumstances under which the relation was made\ninclines me to think that this must have taken place at a time of which\nour records are scanty; and there is no time in the sacred history of\nwhich the narrative is less full than the period at which I place the\ncommunication, viz., the early spring preceding the Passion of our Lord.\n\nThere is also this consideration of a different kind. In all education\nthere are two elements, that which is communicated by the teacher ready\nmade, and which the pupil has only to register, and that which the learner\nelicits by turning over in his mind the matter which gives food for\nthought. In our Lord\u2019s teaching of the disciples the proportion of the\nlatter element to the former steadily increases from first to last. At\nfirst, sayings are given them to remember; latterly, they receive\nmysteries on which to meditate. In the Sermon on the Mount men are told\nplainly what it was desirable for them to know; afterwards, the teaching\npasses through parables and hard sayings up to the mysteries conveyed by\nthe Last Supper. The lessons of the Temptation have the form of the later\nteaching of our Lord: they contain hard matters and only yield their fruit\nby being long laid to heart.\n\nNot only would the lessons of the Temptation have been more intelligible\nto the Apostles towards the end of the ministry than at the beginning;\nbut, turning as they do on the use of superhuman powers, they would suit\nthe time when the Apostles were about to exercise similar powers\nthemselves.\n\nNow comes the great question of all: In what sense is the narrative to be\ntaken?\n\nMany writers accept it as literal history and suppose the Tempter to have\nappeared in bodily form and to have conveyed our Lord, also in the body,\nboth to the mountain top and the pinnacle of the Temple. Others have\nregarded it as a vision; and intermediate views have been adopted by many.\n\nOn one point fortunately we may be pretty confident. The substance of the\nhistory came from our Lord. The most unfavourable critics allow this, from\nthe extreme difficulty of referring it to any other source. It cannot have\nbeen introduced in order to make the Gospel fall in with Jewish notions of\nthe Messiah, for there are no traditions that the Messiah should be\ntempted: and if the passage had been devised by men, the drift of it would\nhave been plainer, and the temptations would have been such as men would\nfeel might have come upon themselves. We have many accounts, in the\nlegends of the saints, of the sort of trials which present themselves to\nthe imagination of human writers; and they differ totally from these.\n\nI have let fall already a few words shewing in what way I regard the\npassage. I must now speak more fully on the subject.\n\nIt may be assumed that, in all our Lord\u2019s dealings with His disciples, His\nprimary purpose was to do them good. He did not leave behind Him this\nreference to His sojourn in the wilderness and its momentous results,\nmerely as materials for biographers. The trials which had beset Him would\nsoon beset them also in doing the work He destined for them; before He\nleft them He would therefore relate in what disguises the temptations had\nappeared and how they had been repelled. Behind the Apostles, who formed\nas it were the front rank of His audience, there stretched long files of\nhearers,\u2014all those to whom His words have since come. At the end of this\nfile we ourselves stand; and those among us who have special gifts, and\nare tempted to use them for selfish ends, or for putting a yoke, physical\nor mental, upon other men, may well take them to heart. My business\nhowever now is with the Apostles. It was likely that our Lord would give\nthem some hint as to the principles on which superhuman power can be\nsafely employed: and it was certain that this lesson would be put by Him\nin the form which would best convey it, and which would make the most\nlasting impression. The _form_ then, as well as the matter of the lesson,\nmust be worth studying closely.\n\nOne reason why this passage has such a powerful interest for men is that\nthe history is a personal one. Our Lord riveted the most earnest attention\nof His hearers by speaking to them of Himself; and something of the same\neffect is felt by readers of the story now. We know how a teacher at once\nenchains the interest of his class when, leaving things abstract, or what\nhe finds in books, he says, \u201cNow I will tell you something that happened\nto me;\u201d and we can understand the eagerness with which the Apostles would\ngather round our Lord, and can imagine how intently they would gaze upon\nHim, when He told them that He, like them, had been tempted, that He too\nhad fought hard battles and that He would tell them what they were.\n\nAnother source of interest is that the story deals with inner struggles in\na figurative way\u2014the voices are personified and the action is localised.\n\nThat Satan should have appeared in a bodily form is, to my mind, opposed\nto the spirituality of all our Lord\u2019s teaching. Such an appearance\npresents endless difficulties, not only physical but moral. If our Lord\nknew the tempter to be Satan, He was as I have said forearmed; if He did\nnot know him, this introduces other difficulties. He must at any rate have\nbeen surprised at meeting a specious sophist in the wilderness. Milton\ndeals with the subject with great skill, from his point of view, in\n_Paradise Regained_. Certain points he leaves unexplained, and those I\nbelieve to be inexplicable. They are these. I cannot understand that our\nLord should suffer Satan to transport Him to the mountain top, or to the\npinnacle of the Temple, or that the Evil One should propose to Jesus to\nfall down and worship him.\n\nI can however readily comprehend that our Lord should represent under this\nimagery and under these personifications what had passed within Himself.\nHe could not indeed bring the lesson home to His hearers in any other way.\nTo have represented mental emotions, to have spoken of the thoughts that\nhad passed through His mind, would have been wholly unsuited to His\nhearers. We know how difficult it is to keep up an interest in a record of\ninward struggles and experiences. Men want something to present to their\nmind\u2019s eye, and they soon weary of following an account of what has been\ngoing on within a man\u2019s heart, void of outward incident. A recital of what\nhad passed in our Lord\u2019s mind would have taken no hold of men\u2019s fancy and\nwould soon have faded from their thoughts. But the figure of Satan would\ncatch their eye, the appearance of contest would animate the hearers\u2019\ninterest; while the survey of the realms of the earth, and the dizzy\nstation on the pinnacle of the Temple, would take possession of men\u2019s\nmemories and minds.\n\nThe Apologue was to Orientals a favourite vehicle for conveying moral\nlessons; and we have a familiar instance in English Literature of the\nattraction of allegory. Would Bunyan\u2019s _Pilgrim\u2019s Progress_ have possessed\nitself, as it has done, of the hearts of whole sections of the British\nrace, if, shorn of its human characters and its scenery, it had only\nanalysed and depicted the inward conflicts, the mental vicissitudes and\nreligious difficulties of a sorely-tried Christian youth?\n\nThe use of the name Satan must be considered. This name, which means the\nenemy, occurs in the Old Testament, in the book of Job and elsewhere but\nnot in the Pentateuch. The Jews we know had a d\u00e6monology of their own. The\ngods of the heathen they regarded as devils, of whom the Sidonian deity\nBeelzebub was Prince. Our Lord never countenances these views. I believe\nthat He uses the word Satan in a _generic_ sense to personify evil\nspiritual influences exercised upon earth.\n\nWhen the Apostles returned safe after being sent through the cities, our\nLord regards this as an augury of their success in the great conflict and\nsays that He \u201cbeheld Satan fallen as lightning from Heaven.\u201d(62) We have\nclearly impersonation here. He says also \u201cIf Satan hath risen up against\nhimself and is divided,\u201d(63) a supposition which excludes the idea of an\nindividual being, and agrees with the collective meaning I attribute to\nthe term. When St Peter rebukes our Lord for declaring before His\nfollowers that He would be \u201crejected and killed and after three days rise\nagain,\u201d our Lord says \u201cGet thee behind me, Satan.\u201d St Peter, by saying of\nthe suffering of which our Lord spake \u201cthis shall never be unto thee,\u201d(64)\nunwittingly had acted as the ally of those who would tempt our Lord from\nyielding implicitly to His Father\u2019s will, and our Lord therefore calls him\nSatan. On the whole then I lean to the view that the communication, or\ndiscourse of our Lord, which has been preserved in the form of the\nnarrative of the Temptation, was delivered by Him in the form of an\n_apologue_ or species of parable, in which our Lord, after Eastern\nfashion, introduced Satan as an embodiment of the powers of evil.\n\nIt must not be supposed that by giving up here the personality of the\ntempter we are making an abatement of what is superhuman in the Gospel, in\norder that, in virtue of having so done, we may hope to win this or that\nsection of doubters over to our side\u2014the whole question of evil remains a\nmystery, and in mystery there can be no degrees. It is of no use\nendeavouring to make infinity a trifle less infinite.\n\nWhether the word Satan be here used collectively or personally is\naltogether a different question from the existence of intermediate\nintelligences, and is quite an open one even for the most orthodox.\n\n\n\n\nTemptation to turn stones into loaves.\n\n\nI now come to the Temptations themselves. As these trials were mental, we\ncan only realise them by imagining what, consistently with our history,\n_may_ have passed in our Lord\u2019s mind. What _actually did_ so pass is of\ncourse beyond our knowledge altogether. We are however justified in\nsupposing that, as our Lord was \u201ctempted as man,\u201d the thoughts and\nfeelings which actuated Him would be such as men might follow and more or\nless understand.\n\nIt would appear that when God lays a work on a man He gives him a general\nview of the end to be kept in sight, a vehement desire to accomplish it,\nand a forefeeling of the capacity so to do. But He does not shew him how\nhe is to do it, He does not make the way clear so that he sees his course\nbefore him and marks its several stages. If a man were so guided he would\nnot fulfil the conditions of human agency, there would be no room for his\nown will to act, he would have no responsibility. He would move along a\npre-arranged path. God would, in effect, be doing all and he nothing, and\nso it would come to much the same thing as if the work were done once for\nall by God\u2019s _fiat_, independently of human action\u2014and this, as we have\nalready seen, is not God\u2019s way of governing the world.\n\nWhen St Paul takes his last journey to Jerusalem, the Spirit, he tells us,\n\u201ctestifieth unto me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide\nme.\u201d That he must go to Jerusalem he knew and to go he was resolved, but\nwhat course of conduct he was to adopt or what the result was to be he did\nnot know at all; afterwards in like manner, he knew that he was to bear\nwitness at Rome, but he had no directions as to what he was to do. It was\nleft to him to act as seemed to him to be the best. This may give us a\nhelp towards understanding how it may have been with our Lord, when the\nmighty charge unto which He was born came home to His mind, and He felt,\nrising in Him, the wondrous powers given to aid Him in carrying it out.\n\nOur Lord when driven by the Spirit into the wilderness would take no\nthought of food or shelter. The one thing He craved for was to be alone;\nHe must have solitude, and the wilderness provided that.\n\nWhen He reflected, He could hardly help asking Himself whether this light\nwhich had shone upon Him\u2014this voice from Heaven,\u2014were the resuscitation of\nHis Diviner life or only something in His own eyes and ears? A sure test\nlay ready: when He had heard Himself hailed as the Son of God a conviction\nhad risen in Him that God would give effect to His commands. He had only\nto try whether this was so and all doubts would be resolved. Perhaps the\nwhisper came \u201cTry this experiment in a _very small matter first_.\u201d Who\ncould think this apparent caution and prudence came from an ill quarter?\n\nSpiritual evil always chooses a trifle, something from which it seems that\nno harm can possibly come, to win its victim to the first false step. Our\nLord was hungry, and loaf-shaped stones were lying all about Him. Why not\nturn a few actually into the loaves they looked like? In so doing, how\ncould He possibly be wrong?\n\nHowever plausible the appeal of the Tempter, it was not entertained. We\ncan conceive that a whole array of objections would arise; some may have\nbeen such as these\u2014\n\nThis putting of God to trial by a test of my own choosing, that I may\ndetermine whether I will believe His words or not: this implying that I\nwill admit His authority if He speaks in one way and not if He speaks in\nanother\u2014Is this befitting one called to a work like this?\n\nThen came another point\u2014He was hungry. As St Mark says nothing about the\nfasting it will be best not to assume that the fasting was part of our\nLord\u2019s original purpose; but as, in the desert of Judea, food could not be\ngot without a journey of some miles, our Lord, whether designedly or not,\nhad put Himself out of the immediate reach of food. Should He remedy this\nby using the mysterious power with which He felt He was invested? This\npower was given Him to forward God\u2019s Kingdom upon earth\u2014should He use it\nfor Himself?\n\nThen the tempter might return to the assault. There are fluxes and\nrefluxes in human feeling; we are always afraid that we have gone too far\nin one direction, or been too obstinate about our own point; it strikes us\nthat perhaps we have made more of it than it was worth, and then we listen\nsubmissively to the other side.\n\nSuch a whisper as this may have come\u2014\"These powers are given you to enable\nyou to set up God\u2019s Kingdom upon earth; for this you must win adherents.\nThese adherents must be maintained. Your opponents are supported by the\ngreat ones of the earth; the God of Heaven has committed to you His powers\nfor the support of yours. This little incident of the loaves only points\nthe way to a much weightier matter; you _must_ use your special powers to\nsupply your own bodily wants in the coming contest,\u2014why not begin with\nusing them for this purpose now?\"\n\nHere we have arrived at the gravest point of the debate\u2014Were these powers\nreally to be used for His bodily wants or not? As the true conditions of\nHis work rose before Him, the principles grew clearer; He was to deliver\nmankind as the Son of Man, He was to work as man, to suffer as man, that\nsuffering men might always look to Him, saying \u201cHe was one of us.\u201d And how\ncould this be, if His lot was so unlike theirs that He met His own wants\nby a word of command directly they arose? How could His followers own the\nduty of labouring for their daily bread, if stones at a word were turned\ninto loaves for Him? How could He tell men not to think overmuch of the\nmeat that perisheth, if He had used Divine powers to provide it for\nHimself as soon as He possessed them? If He were to be the stay of loving\nhuman hearts, He must say to men, \u201cAs you live, I live: of all your ills\nand troubles I claim my part.\u201d\n\nOur Lord\u2019s answer points out a train of thought along which He may have\npassed, until at length He reached a firm resolve and reduced the Tempter\nto silence. It will not be irreverent to imagine what might, consistently\nwith what we learn, have been its nature.\n\nMan wants no reminding that he lives by _bread_. There is no fear of his\nnot giving care enough to the needs of his body; but there is danger lest\nhe should think of nothing but these needs, and starve his soul and become\nsuch that eternal life, without a body to care for, would only be a\ncondition of aimless weariness. He resolved therefore to keep His powers\napart for spiritual ends. He will work no miracle to shew that He _can_\nwork a miracle, or to assure either Himself or others that He is the Son\nof God; neither will He use this power to provide what others win by toil,\nor to preserve Himself or His followers from the common ills of human\nlife.\n\nThere are a few of our Lord\u2019s Signs which might, at first sight, look as\nif in them this principle were not observed. At the marriage of Cana in\nGalilee, the Sign is worked as an act of kindness to save the host from\nmortification arising from an accident.\n\nI have mentioned, as regards the miracles of the loaves and fishes, that\non both occasions the supply which our Lord\u2019s own company had with them\nwas sufficient for their immediate wants. The crowds, however, had, by\ntheir rapt attention to our Lord, been detained away from their homes and\ntheir supplies, and, if they had had to go a distance to buy bread, they\nwould have suffered from taking so long a journey fasting. The case was an\nexceptional emergency parallel to that of illness, and our Lord meets it\nby miraculous means.\n\nThe miraculous draughts of fishes benefited probably all who were partners\nin the vessel, but they were not wrought to meet any necessity on the part\nof our Lord. All night long they had taken nothing; this scarcity may have\nbeen part of the lesson of the miracle, and the great draught is only a\nbounteous compensation. This is a miracle of instruction, as I said in the\nlast chapter: it tells men that a turn comes at the moment when they are\nabout to give up, and that the faith which bears up long is rewarded.\nMoreover, to recur to what I said in the last chapter, St Peter had been\ntold that he was to be henceforth a fisher of men; and when multitudes,\nboth of Jews and Gentiles, were gathered into the Church in Jerusalem he\nmust have thought of this as answering to the Sign.\n\nThe miracle of the stater in the fish\u2019s mouth also requires notice. It is\nnot wrought to obtain the coin, but to keep before Peter\u2019s mind that he as\nwell as his Master were the children and not the servants or tributaries\nof God.\n\nFrom St Peter\u2019s answering without hesitation that his master would pay the\ndidrachm, it is clear that there was no difficulty about producing the\nsmall sum. He does not speak to our Lord on the matter, but our Lord,\ndirectly he enters the house, asks him, \u201cWhat thinkest thou, Simon? the\nkings of the earth, from whom do they receive toll or tribute? from their\nsons, or from strangers?\u201d(65)\n\nThis miracle, as we said in the last chapter, is one of instruction. The\npayment according to the received view was the half-shekel that every\nIsraelite had to pay for providing victims for the Temple service. It gave\nthe idea of a tribute to God which stood in the way of the conception of\nperfect sonship. It implied that Israelites alone had part or lot in the\nworship of the living God. Our Lord would have St Peter regard God as the\nFather of mankind and not only as the Lord and ruler of Israel. The whole\npoint of the lesson lies in the words \u201cthen are the children free.\u201d These\nwords would be stamped on St Peter\u2019s mind by the finding the stater in the\nfish\u2019s mouth; and they would recur to him and bring their proper lesson\nwith them when the right moment came. The circumstance is not in itself\nnecessarily miraculous, but it was rendered so in this case by our Lord\u2019s\nforeseeing that the coin would be found in the first fish that came.\n\n\n\n\nThe Temptation on the Mount.\n\n\nNext comes a scene in which the Spirit of the World is represented as\npointing out all the glories of the empire of the inhabited earth, and\noffering it to our Lord on the strange condition that He should fall down\nand worship him. This represents, in plain and very forcible imagery, a\nspiritual temptation to which those who have laboured to regenerate\nmankind have fallen victims over and over again. Those who have most\nnearly attained universal conquest, Mahomet, Zengis, Timour, and many\ngreat political leaders as well, have begun with a genuine wish to\nalleviate the ills of mankind, of whom eventually they became a scourge.\n\nI believe that what our Lord sets before us here is the temptation to aim\nat visible and comparatively immediate success, and to bring about our\nideal by using the arts of worldly policy; which were to be supported in\nthe case before us by superhuman power.\n\nWe can conceive a Tempter, such as the Satan of _Paradise Regained_,\nsaying as he does,\n\n\n    \u201cGreat acts require great means of enterprise,\u201d\n\n\nand urging worldly counsels such as these:\u2014\u201cYou seek to set up a perfect\nkingdom upon earth, to minimise evil by wise laws, and to make men love\nGod and serve God out of love. You want success and you want it soon, in\norder that in your lifetime you may see your plans matured. For this,\nfirst of all, you must have at your back not merely disciples who shall\nlisten and meditate, but men who can advance _a cause_. The uppermost\nfeeling of the people among whom you have come is the desire to be free\nfrom Rome. They have drawn from the Scriptures a notion that a Messiah\nwill soon come and restore the kingdom to Israel. With this view, be it\nright or wrong, you must fall in. You carry with you powers like those\nwielded by the prophets of old. Proclaim yourself such a Messiah as men\nexpect. Strike to the ground the Roman eagles that are sent against you.\nOffer to all who fall on your side a paradise of palpable enjoyments such\nas they can understand. Shew yourself invulnerable, and be everywhere\nforemost in the fight. Your superhuman power will balance the enormous\nmight of Rome. In order to win the empire of the world you must employ\npolicy as well as arms. You must excite enthusiasm. You must fascinate\ncrowds by eloquence and lead them to serve your purpose when they think\nthat you are serving theirs. When you have secured the empire, you can\ninaugurate a golden reign and call on men to bless your Father who sent\nyou to their aid.\u201d\n\nIf suggestions such as these had been made to our Lord by such a Tempter\nas Milton imagines, we can see from the reply in our narrative how they\nwould have been met. This kingdom, our Lord would say, so gained might\nindeed be mine but assuredly it will not be God\u2019s; and my business is not\nto work for myself but for Him. It was this utter absence of self, in our\nLord, which men could not comprehend; their common standards could not\nmeasure Him\u2014they are bewildered by this, and all but the higher sort are\nput out of touch with Him.\n\nThe picture which our Lord leaves us of His struggle with the evil\nsuggestions of His insidious foe teaches us many lessons, but the clearest\nof all are these\u2014If we fight the world with its own weapons we soon put\nour hands out for using any others than those. If we seek what the world\nhas to give we soon fall down and worship it, without having the least\nintention of doing anything of the kind. But besides giving a lesson for\nafter ages, our Lord here indicates a particular resolve which shaped His\naction upon earth. It was this,\u2014He would not employ His superhuman powers\nto force men to obey, or even to resist the violence which might be\noffered Him. He would not use them to assist in setting up the outward\nfabric of a Kingdom of God: and then, going a little further, He\ndetermines not to set up by His own hand any outward fabric of such a\nKingdom at all. He was not to be an aspirant for worldly distinction\u2014He\nwas not to be the _leader of a cause_\u2014He was not to be the founder of a\nschool of philosophy or of any external form of religion at all. He came\nto do a _Work_, The Central Work of the History of mankind. He declared\nGod, and declared Himself to be united to God, and that He would be with\nmen for ever until the end of the world. But all that has to do with\norganisation, outward customs, effective sanctions, or the condensing of\ndoctrines into the formul\u00e6 of creeds, belongs to the human side of\nreligion, and men of different climes and ages must shape such matters for\nthemselves. He came, as I have said, only to kindle the fire and to set a\nnew force moving in the world. This Law,\u2014that neither force nor worldly\npolicy should be used to carry out the Work of God,\u2014governs all our Lord\u2019s\nacts. It need hardly be said that there is no miracle of our Lord\u2019s\nrecounted in the canonical Scriptures in which violence is either done or\nrepelled. In the apocryphal Gospels we find endless legends of the\nretribution which our Lord brought on those who injured Him, especially in\nHis boyish years.\n\nNeither do we ever find that our Lord so displays His signs or shapes His\nconduct, as to win from the crowd material support for the work He is\ncarrying on. It was never more important for Him to win over the\nenthusiasm of the people than when He taught in Jerusalem in the week of\nthe Passover: but no public miracle at all is then performed. It must have\nseemed strange to the disciples that He did not confound Pilate on his\njudgment seat, or Herod on his throne, but _we_ see that the whole meaning\nof His coming would have been lost if He had. The disciples however are\nnot left at that time without some indication that His Divine power\nremained unimpaired\u2014the withering of the fig-tree, and the foretelling to\nPeter that he should deny Him thrice, shewed them that Jesus was still the\nLord. When the Lord in the hands of His enemies turned and looked upon\nPeter, how striking must have been the contrast between the Kingdoms of\nthe earth and of God!\n\nThere is one occasion where our Lord is urged to act in violation of this\nprinciple. The sons of Zebedee ask whether they may not call down fire\nfrom Heaven on those who would not receive them. \u201cBut He turned and\nrebuked them.\u201d(66)\n\nAgain, if He had come down from the cross when challenged to do so, this\nprinciple would have been broken through. Those who said \u201cHe saved others,\nHimself He cannot save,\u201d(67) uttered a truth deeper than they dreamed of:\nit was of the very essence of His mission that He should not use His\npowers for Himself.\n\nIn connexion with this it may be noted that when St Peter is delivered\nfrom the prison,(68) and St Paul and Silas at Philippi, these deliverances\nare represented, not as being worked _by_ St Peter or St Paul, but as\nbeing worked _for_ them by the Divine power, without any doing of theirs.\n\n\n\n\nThe Temptation on the Pinnacle of the Temple.\n\n\nWhen the temptation to employ open force was repelled, a more insidious\none came in its stead. It was to use moral compulsion, and, by the public\ndisplay of a resistless manifestation, to make doubt and opposition\ndisappear.\n\nOur Lord, as I believe, clothes this suggestion in imagery suited to His\nhearers: He represents Himself as borne to the pinnacle of the Temple and\nbidden to cast Himself down. Of this pinnacle an account is given by Dr\nEdersheim: he considers it to have overlooked the Court of the Priests.\nThe following extracts are from his account:\u2014\n\n\u201cIn the next temptation Jesus stands on the watch-post which the\nwhite-robed priest has just quitted. In the Priests\u2019 Court below Him the\nmorning sacrifice has been offered.... Now let Him descend, Heaven-borne,\ninto the midst of priests and people. What shouts of acclamation would\ngreet His appearance! What homage of worship would be His!\u201d(69)\n\nThis pinnacle, supposing my view to be correct, would offer a fitting\nscene for the story of this trial, not only as being a giddy height, but\nbecause also the spot was a public one, and a crowd of spectators would\nwitness the display. If our Lord had only been tempted to assure Himself\nof His power by a miracle of adventurous rashness, any precipice would\nhave served as well. The essential force of the temptation lay in the\nsuggestion to prostrate men\u2019s minds, and to subjugate their wills, by\nperforming before their eyes an appalling act, the superhuman nature of\nwhich could not possibly be gainsaid.\n\nWhen we leave the external imagery, and come to the gist of the lesson, we\nfind in it the truth which we have had before us over and over again.(70)\nA man\u2019s belief is not _his_ belief and will not be effective for moulding\nhis life unless his mind and his will have some part in the acceptance of\nit; and if his own endeavours were to be on a sudden superseded by Divine\naction, this would be inconsistent with that studious culture of man\u2019s\ndistinctive freedom which runs through the conduct of the world. If will\nand reason are to be dumbfounded by the interference of absolute power,\nwhy should men possess them or care to put them to use? As a fact, God\n_suggests_ but does not _compel_, and our Lord\u2019s signs agree herewith.\nThey emphasise His lessons, and witness for God to those who have eyes for\nHim\u2014but men can reject the lesson, signs and all if they please.\n\nLet us imagine the form the Tempter\u2019s arguments might take in the mouth of\none like Milton\u2019s Satan: \u201cYou wish,\u201d he might suggest, \u201cmen to believe\nthat your power comes from on high. Leave them no room for doubt. People\nabout you look for a Sign from Heaven, such as Joshua worked in Ajalon,\nand Isaiah displayed in the days of Hezekiah. Beelzebub, they think, may\nwork Signs on earth, but Heaven, they own, is God\u2019s domain, and what is\nwritten in the skies carries God\u2019s hand and seal. Shew men these Signs for\nwhich they ask, and display your wonders so as to strike men the most.\nCures and works of mercy, witnessed by a few score people, create but\nlittle stir. Shew something that all Judea, or at least Jerusalem, can\nbehold _at once_;\u2014great emotions take strongest hold among men in a mass:\ndisplay a comet or darken the sun; or, to begin with, stand on the\npinnacle of the Temple\u2014there is a tradition that there the Messiah should\nappear(71)\u2014and in the presence of all the crowd hurl yourself into the\nPriests\u2019 Court below.\u201d\n\nTo meet these thoughts suggested by the Tempter, there would rise in our\nLord\u2019s mind a crowd of arguments: some of these I have already ventured to\nimagine. If our Lord had displayed a Sign of overwhelming effect, and\nbidden men deny it if they could, He would have paralysed intellectual\ngrowth in mankind. Men had been gifted with faculties fitting them to\nexplore and to judge of spiritual things: if these were curtailed of room\nfor exercise, they would languish like limbs disused. Should He bar\ninvestigation in one-half of reason\u2019s realm? Should He so appal mankind,\nas to enforce an involuntary acceptance of His claims? Would not this be\nputting fresh fetters on those whom He was come on earth to set free?\n\nSome miracles of a stupendous character are worked by our Lord, no doubt:\nsuch are the Transfiguration and the raising of Jairus\u2019 daughter. But,\nmarvellous as these two manifestations were, they were not worked for the\nmere wonder\u2019s sake; men were not brought together to see them. The\nwondrousness is an inevitable accompaniment of the declaration of God\u2019s\nKingdom and the disclosing of His ways, but it is not the prime motive of\nthe act. There is no display, no appearance of effort. Expectation is not\nawakened or the imagination aroused by the announcement of a coming\nprodigy. Neither were these great works wrought to win proselytes: the few\nwho witness them are already convinced of their Master\u2019s Divine power; it\nis not so much a fuller assurance that they derive from them, as a deeper\ninsight into the ways of God. To the three apostles who already best\ndiscerned God\u2019s ways, God\u2019s power is in these manifestations more fully\ndisplayed; no others behold it. Here as everywhere, it is to those who\nhave that more is given.\n\nThis same Law governs the appearances of the risen Lord. He does not stand\nforth in triumph and confound disbelief. He had only to shew Himself in\nthe temple and His enemies would have lain at His feet. But men were not\nto be convinced against their will: all our accounts agree that it was to\nHis apostles only that our Lord appeared. St Peter says to Cornelius and\nhis friends:\n\n\n    \u201cHim God raised up the third day, and gave him to be made\n    manifest, not to all the people, but unto witnesses that were\n    chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him\n    after he rose from the dead.\u201d(72)\n\n\nThis limitation is very carefully maintained. Our Lord never appears _in\nHis own form_, when there is any chance of His being beheld by others than\ndisciples. In the garden, at the tomb, and on the way to Emmaus, He shews\nHimself to disciples in a strange shape and is only made known to them for\na moment: He was not to be seen and recognised by any ordinary passer by.\nHis resurrection was not to be a subject of popular rumour or one for the\nwonderment of the crowd. Some might say, with the man in the parable,\n\u201cNay, but if one go to them from the dead,(73) they will repent,\u201d but our\nLord is averse to sensational impressions: men had had the option of\nbelieving or not, and they had made their choice. When however the\napostles are together in their upper chamber and the doors are shut, He\nappears in His accustomed form, with the print of the nails upon His hands\nand feet, for there was no need then for disguise.\n\nThe principle that room is to be left for man\u2019s will to act in determining\nhis creed is observed not only in all the New Testament but throughout the\nspiritual history of mankind. Towards the close of the third chapter I\nhave remarked on the analogy between an overwhelming manifestation, such\nas a Sign from Heaven, and a rigorous demonstration that Christ\u2019s\nrevelation is of God. Men have at times cried out both for one and the\nother; but if what they demand had been given them, the higher knowledge\nwould have been discontinuous, with uncertainty on one side of a line and\nabsolute certainty on the other. There would have been rigid dykes, as of\ngranite, crossing the field of spiritual thought, which would have baulked\nour progress.\n\nThe Laws which I have stated concerning Signs are steadily observed\nthroughout the canonical Scriptures, although the writers of the books\nknew nothing of any such Laws. The Apocryphal Gospels on the other hand\nviolate these Laws at every turn. This opens out almost a new line of\nargument on internal evidence. Is not the coincidence strange, supposing\nthat the writers allowed play to their fancies, that all the four\nEvangelists should have uniformly refrained from introducing any miracle\nworked merely for miracles\u2019 sake; or anyone which served to minister to\nthe bodily wants of the worker; or which was employed either to enforce\nsubmission or to punish hostility? Is it not also strange that neither in\nthe Gospels nor the Acts have we any instance of any public display of\npower such as should awe the crowds into belief against their wills?\n\nIn this chapter I have considered the series of Temptations, with\nreference to their bearing on the miracles. I have tried to shew that they\nsupply insight into our Lord\u2019s way of solving the problem of introducing\nthe infinite element without causing the finite to disappear. But this is\nonly a student view; and the lesson which the church has always drawn from\nthem is of infinitely greater practical worth. The heads of this lesson\nare: that the great prizes of life presented themselves to Jesus as they\ndo to us; that they glittered in His eyes as they do in ours; that they\noffered themselves to His grasp as they sometimes do to ours, and were\ndeliberately renounced by Him as hollow, compared with the blessing of\nknowing and doing the will of God. Without this record, could we have\nconceived our Lord as being \u201cMan of the substance of His mother born in\nthe world\u201d? Might we not have looked on Jesus Christ as only a\nmanifestation of Deity, clad in outer human guise, but without human\naffections; visible indeed to men\u2019s eyes, but destitute of a pulse which\nbeats in unison with theirs? This error would have lodged Christianity in\nmens\u2019 heads instead of in their hearts and would have destroyed its\nuniversality and force; and this error, the narrative of the\nTemptation\u2014whether we regard it as apologue or fact\u2014is alike effectual to\ndispel.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI. FROM THE TEMPTATION TO THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE.\n\n\n\n\nOutset of the Work.\n\n\nWe now come in sight of that part of our Lord\u2019s work which is the special\nsubject of this book. We have been shewn something of what passed in His\nmind during the days in the desert; but we are not told what He intended\nto accomplish or by what practical steps He would proceed. We need not\nsuppose that He came forth from the desert with His plan of action\ncompletely prepared. He may not have settled where He should lay the scene\nof His work or whom He should take for His helpers. All this would grow\nclear to Him as time went on. But though He may have been waiting for the\nguidance of inner voice and outward circumstance as to the way of\nexecuting His charge, yet that He had God\u2019s work to do and meant to do it\nis written unmistakeably in His air.\n\nWe are shown Him in St John\u2019s Gospel on His way to Galilee. A glimpse is\ngiven us across His path, and we see Him pass along with the assured tread\nof one whose part is taken and who knows whither His steps lead. On one\npoint touching the form of His work He is already clear. He is not to come\nas a practical reformer or as a claimant of power; in these characters He\nwould need active human aid, and the Spirit of the World would enter in:\nbut though He is given functions beyond teaching, yet, in order to wear a\ngarb familiar to the people, He will be in their eyes nothing more, at\nfirst, than \u201ca _teacher_ come from God;\u201d(74) His followers are to be\npurely _disciples_ and not adherents of any other kind. His concern was\nnot with political or social forms of order,\u2014these must be different in\ndifferent times and different lands. His province was to waken into\nactivity the capacity for knowing God which was practically dormant in the\nmass of mankind. Before laying down any plan or organising any society, He\npasses some months in _exploring_, so to say, the tempers, and minds and\ncapacities of the different classes of persons in Jerusalem and Galilee.\nHe is in search of the fittest receptacles for the word. He looks into the\nhearts of the disciples of John, and of those who like Nicodemus were\n\u201cscribes instructed into the kingdom of heaven.\u201d He turns His eye upon\nSamaritans and peasants of Galilee; and finally, as we know, decides to\nchoose the quiet Lake shore for the cradle of the _Faith_. The peasants\nand fishers whose ways He knew\u2014unsentimental, serviceable men\u2014were taken\nas witnesses for the new revelation: they offered the new flasks wanted\nfor the new wine.\n\nA man who sets about regenerating society commonly begins by remodelling\ninstitutions; he trusts to good institutions to make men good: our Lord,\nas a Teacher, begins at the other end; He goes straight to the men\nthemselves and tries to make _them_ better; better men would bring about\nbetter ways of ordering their outward lives; but each generation must do\nthis for itself. The success of His enterprise did not rest on its\nimmediate acceptance; and so, He did not aim at drawing _numbers_ round\nHim or at gaining influential proselytes or at consolidating a school or a\nsect. Christ\u2019s work was to go on for ever, and mankind would be redeemed\nequally, whether many followers or few attended Him while on earth.\n\nIt may be asked \u201cDid our Lord from the first see all that lay before Him?\u201d\nThe conclusion from the facts of the history must be that, unless when it\nwere specially summoned, His divine prescience remained in abeyance, and\nthat He, as the Son of Man, was subject to those uncertainties as to the\nfuture which attend ordinary human action. He could not have worked\ntogether with men, as He did with the Apostles, if He had differed so\nessentially from them as to know perfectly every day what was going to\nhappen on the next: he could not have experienced surprise; and surprise\nour Lord certainly shews at the dulness of the disciples in catching His\nmeaning: \u201cHe _marvelled_\u201d too at the unbelief of some districts. On\noccasion we know that He could search men\u2019s hearts; but they did not lie\nbare to His view. Neither can we suppose that, when He charged men not to\npublish their cures, He knew that He would be disobeyed; or that He chose\nJudas for an Apostle knowing that he would betray Him. The general drift\nof the purport of His coming, and His insight into it, grew clearer and\nclearer the nearer He came to the end; but we have no warrant for\nsupposing that the details of all that would happen on the way lay before\nHim from the first.\n\nHe draws His disciples to Him at first with a cheerful hope: but towards\nthe close of His career He has the air of one moving under a load; and\nonce He gives utterance to what lies at His heart. The words in which He\ndoes this throw a light on the question of His purpose and His plan; they\nare spoken apparently to St Peter\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cI came to cast fire upon the earth; and what will I, if it is\n    already kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how\n    am I straitened till it be accomplished!\u201d(75)\n\n\nIt needed one sent from God to kindle this fire, and to bring home to men\nthe truth that His Spirit worked within them to will and to do; but when\nthe kindling was once effected, the rest might be left to human effort.\nMen could feed the flame and men could fan it; and so, following the law\nwe have traced in operation so often, to men the flame was left, for them\nto feed and fan. \u201cThis being done,\u201d our Lord might say, \u201cthis for which I\ncame,\u2014why do I linger here? what more do I want?\u201d and yet He might add \u201cMy\nwhole work is _not_ done: the crowning act remains. Men will never\nunderstand my love at all unless I die for them.\u201d Until He was baptised\nwith this baptism of suffering, He was like one straitened on every side\nby an imperious task which claims his every thought.\n\nOur Lord\u2019s movements from the Temptation on to the Ministry in Galilee are\nmade known to us by the Gospel of St John. Jesus appears on the banks of\nthe Jordan, where John was still baptising his disciples; He mixes with\nthe throng; the Baptist points Him out to two young men, one of whom,\nAndrew, brings his brother to visit Him; the other was probably the\nEvangelist himself. Afterwards our Lord Himself finds Philip, and Philip\nfinds Nathanael, and the little party travel on foot to Cana of Galilee.\nNo writer, who did not confine himself to facts about which he was\ncertain, would have given so homely a story of the beginning of so mighty\na matter.\n\nThe Gospel of St John is manifestly written by one who is in the position\nof a disciple; he sees everything from the disciple\u2019s point of view: what\nthe _disciples_ thought of things that happened seems to be always\nuppermost in his mind. He is not a writer composing a continuous biography\nof our Lord, but a disciple drawing lessons from particular scenes of his\nMaster\u2019s life; and he no more thinks of considering _why_ our Lord took\nthe course He did, than he would consider why the seasons change. An\nhistorian might have looked for reasons why our Lord did not appear in\npublic life in Jerusalem; but John does not look on the matter with an\nhistorian\u2019s eye.\n\nI will here summarise the occasions on which the disciples are mentioned,\nin the period of the history embraced in this chapter. We first hear of\nthem in the account of the wedding at Cana. The Evangelist relates that\n\u201cHe manifested forth His glory, _and His disciples believed on Him_.\u201d(76)\nNext we find the disciples spoken of, as if they stood in a kind of family\nrelation to Him. \u201cHe went down to Capernaum, He, and His mother, and His\nbrethren, and _His disciples_.\u201d(77) When we come to the account of the\ncleansing of the Temple, it is pointed out how that action struck the\ndisciples. They talked it over among themselves; they recalled the verse\nin the Psalms, \u201cThe zeal of Thine house shall eat me up,\u201d(78) and thought\nthey saw a Messianic prophecy fulfilled: we are told too that after our\nLord\u2019s death they recalled His words about building the Temple in three\ndays. We hear also that they were numerous: \u201c_many_ believed on His name,\nbeholding the signs which He did.\u201d(79) Next comes a fact of great\nimportance; it is that, though our Lord did not baptise adherents, yet\nthat His disciples did so, and that finally more resorted to them than to\nthe Baptist.(80) A few disciples attended our Lord in the journey through\nSamaria, and to them His first recorded discourse as a teacher is\naddressed: there is no further mention of them during the period embraced\nin this chapter. Such is the summary of the matter bearing on my subject;\nI proceed to discuss points of interest that arise out of it.\n\nThe advent of our Lord differed from that of other enlighteners of mankind\nin one very striking way. He had, in the Baptist, a special forerunner,\nwho gave out, on all occasions, that the final cause of his own preaching\nwas to prepare the way for one greater than himself. Events of national\nhistory, themselves part of that wide-spreading \u201cPreparatio Evangelica\u201d\nwhich, to my mind, underlies the history of the world, had raised a\nferment in the minds of the inhabitants of Palestine. To this movement the\nBaptist gave a particular turn. He brought men to desire that the world\nshould become better, and taught them that they must begin by becoming\nbetter themselves. Without this preparation, the germs of truth which our\nLord scattered would more largely have failed to quicken: the Baptist had\nbroken up the soil to receive the seed; his preaching put the people in an\nattitude of expectancy, and an expectant condition is a receptive one. The\nOld Testament prophecies had worked to this same end; they had made\nexpectancy congenial to the nation\u2019s mind. The Israelites were like\nspectators waiting to see a great king come with a procession: the sight\nof a forerunner sets the crowd astir, and such a forerunner John was. I\nhave observed before, that in carrying out His own work our Lord is\ncareful to use _preparation_. The disciples are sent \u201cto every place where\nHe Himself would come.\u201d Men were not to be repelled from the new movement\nby reason of its being strange to them. What this preparation did for the\nvillages of Galilee the Baptist did on a grander scale for all Jud\u00e6a.\n\nWe get but a glimpse of the nature of the relation between John and his\ndisciples, and need only notice it briefly. Young men did not, like those\nwho sat at the feet of a Rabbi, resort to him for definite instruction:\nthe disciples of John did not look to be taught interpretations of the Law\nor of the Prophets, but they looked for a rule of life for themselves and\na brighter future for their country or their race\u2014they were ill-satisfied\nwith the present and eagerly turned to one who represented both in aspect\nand in utterance the prophets of old. There was one feature in John\u2019s\nministry, so distinctive that he drew his appellation from it.\u2014He caused\nhis disciples to be baptised. The doctrines implied in the rite do not now\nconcern me; to some it symbolised the cleansing from sin, to others the\nrising into a new life; but the practical effect of it was to make those\nwho received it feel that they had, in a way, pledged their allegiance to\nJohn by receiving baptism at his hands: they had assumed a badge, and were\nbound by ties of personal loyalty to their master and to one another.(81)\n\nBut John\u2019s disciples were not separated off from the outside mass by\nbaptism alone. To the mind of his countrymen a religion was not a religion\nat all, unless it included a _regimen_, unless it parcelled out their\ndays, according to hours of prayer and times of fasting. With such a\ndistinctive rule John provided his followers. He taught them to pray,(82)\nhe accustomed them to voluntary fasts;(83) and on some points of\nceremonial, such as purification, he may have had tenets of his own.(84)\n\nWe will now trace the steps by which our Lord gathers disciples round Him.\nIt is possible that even before our Lord left Galilee He had been the\ncentre of a group of young men who looked up to Him, and the Galileans\namong John\u2019s disciples might therefore have heard of Him. It falls in also\nwith this supposition, that our Lord seems to have been already acquainted\nwith Philip of Bethsaida, and to have purposely sought him out. We\nread\u2014\u201cHe _findeth_ Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me.\u201d(85) Philip\nhastens to Nathanael,(86) who came from Cana in Galilee, and tells him\nthat the Messiah has been found in the person of \u201cJesus the son of Joseph,\n_the man from Nazareth_.\u201d(87) The words in italics _may_ imply \u201cof whom we\nhave all heard;\u201d for Cana was not more than six miles from Nazareth, and\nBethsaida was in the same district. The Baptist, we know, regarded Him,\nwhen He came to be baptised, as his equal or superior in the favour of\nGod.\n\nFive of the Apostles\u2014John, Andrew, Peter, Philip and Nathanael\u2014were drawn\nto our Lord in the few days spent at Bethabara on His return from the\ndesert; and probably all these went back with Him to Galilee. Among these\nfive we find traces of a lasting tie. This is worth noting, because such a\ntie would naturally arise from comradeship in early years, and of this\ncomradeship St John\u2019s Gospel speaks. These five had gone together from\nGalilee, in the zeal of their young days, to listen to the strange\npreacher in the desert of Jud\u00e6a; they had lived together, faring alike,\nand baring their hearts each to the other in the confidence of youth. We\ncan understand that this would bind men fast together, and that St John\nwriting his Gospel at the end of his life, with possibly St Andrew at his\nside, should have been mindful of all the circumstances in which these old\nfriends took part, and have gladly taken occasion to mention their\nnames.(88)\n\nAccordingly, we find mention made in the Gospel, without positive\noccasion, of these Apostles by name. We did not need to know that it was\nAndrew who said \u201cThere is a lad here who hath five barley-loaves and two\nsmall fishes.\u201d(89) The Synoptists(90) all relate the miracle of the\nfeeding of the five thousand, but Andrew is named by St John alone:\nPhilip, another of this little company, is close by; he is addressed by\nour Lord, and Andrew interposes. We find Philip and Andrew together at a\nlater time. When the Greeks who came up and worshipped at the feast wished\nto see Jesus they applied to Philip;(91) then we have\n\n\n    \u201cPhilip cometh and telleth _Andrew_: Andrew cometh, and Philip,\n    and they tell Jesus.\u201d\n\n\nSt John here seems almost to go out of his way to speak of Andrew.\n\nPhilip also, who scarcely appears in the Synoptical Gospels, is mentioned\nsix times by St John; and he is found in company, now with Andrew, now\nwith Nathanael, as if the ties of old companionship still held. The\nparticulars we have of Philip are instructive. Our Lord, as we have seen,\n\u201cfound him,\u201d which I take to mean, not that He merely _lighted upon him_,\nbut that He sought him. He thought him, therefore, a suitable companion\nfor His coming journey to Jerusalem for the Passover. A point of fitness\nmay have been that he knew Greek: his Greek name would not by itself go\nfar to prove this; but, taking it along with the fact that when the Greeks\ncome up to worship in Jerusalem they address themselves to Philip, it\nseems likely that he knew their language. Our Lord at the Passover would\nmeet many Israelites who talked Greek more readily than Aramaic, and a\nGreek-speaking follower would be of service to Him. Again when Philip\nsays, \u201cLord, shew us the Father and it sufficeth us,\u201d(92) our Lord\nreplies, Have I been _so long_ with you and you have not known me? The\nwords \u201cso long\u201d are particularly applicable to Philip, as he had been\ncalled a year before the twelve were formed into a body, and may have\nremained in constant attendance on our Lord when the other disciples\nquitted Him after the return through Samaria.\n\nWith Nathanael also there is much interest connected. He, in the last\nchapter of St John\u2019s Gospel, is called Nathanael of Cana of Galilee, and\nis named among others who are Apostles. He is identified, on good grounds,\nwith the Bartholomew of the Synoptical Gospels.(93) We mark in Nathanael\nan aptitude for discerning spiritual greatness; but, with all this, he\nheld stoutly to old prejudices in which he had been born and bred; and\nwhen Philip comes to him with his tidings, he breaks out with: \u201cCan there\nany good thing come out of Nazareth?\u201d There is no reason to suppose that\nNazareth was held generally in bad estimation. Natives of Jerusalem would\nlook down on all villages in Galilee without distinction, but Nathanael\nbelonged not to Jerusalem but to Cana. Cana and Nazareth were a few miles\napart, each being the chief town in its own district; and the local\njealousy and tendency to mutual disparagement between neighbours, which is\nnot unknown among ourselves, and was rife in those times, will account for\nNathanael\u2019s words.(94)\n\nIt was of no ill augury for his holding fast the Faith when he had found\nit, that he clung to the old traditionary feeling of his native town. He\nwas not blinded by it; he is ready to \u201cgo and see.\u201d Here our Lord\nexercises His singular gift of introspection, \u201cBehold,\u201d says He, \u201can\nIsraelite indeed, in whom there is no guile.\u201d\n\n\n    \u201cNathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered\n    and said unto him, Before Philip called thee, when thou wast under\n    the fig-tree, I saw thee. Nathanael answered him, Rabbi, thou art\n    the Son of God; thou art King of Israel.\u201d(95)\n\n\nProbably Nathanael recalled what had passed in his mind when he had been\nunder the fig-tree. Perhaps some mystery of existence had then weighed\nupon his soul, and on coming to Christ he found \u201cthe thoughts of his heart\nrevealed.\u201d(96)\n\nIn our Lord\u2019s reply to Nathanael we find His first recorded utterance as a\nPreacher of the Word; here He first speaks of Himself as the Son of Man,\nand here we have the first hint of the Law, \u201cTo him who hath shall be\ngiven,\u201d a law which has been several times before us and will be so again\nbefore long. Nathanael _had_ something already; he was enough in earnest\nto drop his prejudices; a slight token had enabled him to see in our Lord\n\u201cthe Son of God, the King of Israel:\u201d he is told that he shall see greater\nthings than these. Jacob had dreamed of old(97) that there was a ladder\nbetween earth and heaven, by which God\u2019s angels went and came; such a\nladder Christ was, and he, the Israelite in whom there was no guile,\nshould see \u201cthe angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of\nMan.\u201d(98)\n\nSo far I have followed the Gospel of St John. The Synoptists afford\ncorroborative matter to shew that the little company, which had met at\nBethabara, continued to hang together.\n\n(1) In St Mark\u2019s(99) list of the Apostles\u2014the names \u201cand Andrew, and\nPhilip, and Bartholomew\u201d come together in the enumeration. If we were\nasked for the names of a society of twelve men whom we knew\u2014they would\noccur by the twos and threes who were most together. St Peter, whom we may\nregard here as St Mark\u2019s informant, gives the names as they came to mind.\nHe recalls journeys in the hill country, when the disciples had walked in\nscattered groups, three or four together. In one of these little knots\nAndrew, Philip, and Bartholomew may commonly have been found.\n\n(2) From the way in which St Matthew\u2019s(100) list is given we may infer\nsomething of greater interest still. St Matthew gives the names of the\nApostles _in pairs_: Simon and Andrew, James and John, Philip and\nBartholomew, Thomas and Matthew\u2014and so on. Immediately after the list of\nnames we have the sending forth of the Apostles to the cities of Israel. I\nbelieve that the Apostles went on this mission in the pairs which are\nabove-named. Why else should the names be coupled together? The Evangelist\nhad in his eye the party as they had stood listening to their Master\u2019s\nwords, with their staves in their hands, ready to start. He recollects\ntheir separating\u2014two going one way, and two another,\u2014and therefore, two by\ntwo, he puts them down in his list.(101) It is curious that though St\nMatthew _couples_ the names, yet he does not say, as St Mark and St Luke\ndo, that the Apostles were sent _two and two_ together. The coupling in St\nMatthew is a kind of coincidence with that express direction which is\npreserved by St Mark and St Luke.\n\nNot only, then, is there probable evidence to shew that, out of the little\nbody of the earliest disciples, three clung together; but also that two of\nthem\u2014Philip and Bartholomew\u2014formed one of the pairs that went forth\ndeclaring to the villages of Galilee that the Kingdom of God was at hand.\nAt all events the Synoptists testify to a special intimacy between two\ndisciples; and circumstances, which are disclosed by St John alone, shew\nhow this intimacy naturally arose. Thus we have, what is always worth\nnoting, a corroboration by the Synoptists of the narrative of the fourth\nEvangelist.\n\nTo return to the history in the Gospel of St John. Our Lord sets out on\nHis return to Galilee, and may have been Nathanael\u2019s guest at Cana for the\nnight preceding the wedding. It does not fall within my scope to say more\nabout the miracle than has been said already. The statement important for\nmy purpose is, that our Lord manifested His glory, \u201cand _His disciples_\nbelieved on Him.\u201d(102) The fact that a new teacher worked wonders and drew\ndisciples round him made a stir in the district; and this may throw light\nupon the passage which follows.\n\n\n    \u201cAfter this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his\n    brethren, and _his_ disciples: and there they abode not many\n    days.\u201d(103)\n\n\nThis event leads to no consequences in the history. It would only have\nbeen mentioned by one who, having the sequence of occurrences in his head,\ndetailed them all. Still, there must have been some motive for this\nremoval of the whole family to Capernaum. I will hazard a conjecture,\nwhich if correct will help to explain the following text which occurs\nlater on:\n\n\n    \u201cAnd after the two days he went forth from thence into Galilee.\n    For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honour in his\n    own country. So when he came into Galilee, the Galil\u00e6ans received\n    him, having seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem at the\n    feast: for they also went unto the feast.\u201d(104)\n\n\nWhy does the Evangelist say that our Lord was Himself an instance of the\nrejection of a prophet in his own country, at the very time when he is\nabout to say that the Galileans _did_ receive Him because they had seen\nwhat He did at the feast? There must have been some previous occasion on\nwhich He had _not_ been received. I believe that the last quoted passage,\nfully expressed, might run thus: \u201cHe went forth from thence into Galilee\n_but not to Nazareth_, for Jesus Himself testified that a prophet hath no\nhonour in his own country,\u201d and _therefore_ He passed by Nazareth and went\non to Cana, a few miles further north. Now, at what time could our Lord\nhave experienced this ill reception? I find no occasion on which such\ndisparagement of His claims can have been shewn, excepting in the short\ninterval between the miracle at Cana and this withdrawal of the whole\nfamily to Capernaum. I would therefore conjecture that on leaving Cana,\nafter the miracle, our Lord had returned with His mother to Nazareth, and\nthat the inhabitants had then in some way shown ill-will.(105) He probably\nbrought with Him some disciples belonging to Cana\u2014a place of which they\nwere jealous\u2014hailing Him as Rabbi, and proclaiming Him their Master. The\npeople of Nazareth resented this assumption of superiority on the part of\na townsman whom they had known from His birth. The whole family are\ninvolved in the unpopularity, and remove to Capernaum, to wait the time\nfor going up to the Passover.\n\nThough St John makes no mention, in its proper place, of the animosity of\nthe people of Nazareth, yet the recollection of it remains in his mind; so\nthat, when he says that our Lord went _into Galilee_ on His return from\nSamaria, this seems to him noticeable, as though it were strange He should\ngo where He had been ill received before; and he tells us why He is well\nreceived on this occasion; namely, because some had brought back word of\nHis vigorous action in cleansing the Temple. Our Lord does not go to\nNazareth, but again makes His stay at Cana.\n\nTo return to this short stay at Capernaum. The point I am most concerned\nwith is, that it is here that the disciples are first mentioned as\nattached to our Lord in His movements; they form, as it were, part of His\nfamily. If our Lord had already met with opposition, as I have\nconjectured, this would have helped to bind the little company closer\ntogether. We hear of no preaching or working of Signs during the short\nstay at Capernaum. We are not positively told that the disciples went with\nour Lord to Jerusalem;(106) but I imagine that the five of whom we have\nread went up to the Passover, though some may have returned to Galilee\nsoon after the feast.(107)\n\nThe narrative of the cleansing of the Temple shews how burning was our\nLord\u2019s indignation at practices that degraded men\u2019s notions of God.\nPersonal attacks He bore with meekness, \u201cwhen He was reviled He reviled\nnot again, when He suffered He threatened not;\u201d(108) but He gives free\nvent to a godly wrath when He finds men driving a traffic in holy things.\n\nA personal characteristic of our Lord, shewn again and again, comes for\nthe first time before us here: He carried authority in His air, an\nauthority that needed no assertion, but to which men bowed. The owners of\nthe oxen yield without resistance to the determination He shews. It is\nonly the Hierarchy who ask, \u201cWhat sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that\nthou doest these things?\u201d(109) I need not say that on demand He will work\nno Sign at all: this is His invariable rule.\n\nSt John says nothing of the nature of the miracles wrought by our Lord at\nthis time; we only hear that they induced people \u201cto believe in His\nname.\u201d(110) They may have been chiefly miracles of introspection, like the\nrecognition of Peter, the seeing of Nathanael under the fig-tree, and the\ndivining of His mother\u2019s meaning when she said \u201cthey have no wine;\u201d for St\nJohn assiduously keeps before his hearers this insight of our Lord into\nmen\u2019s minds. In particular he says, in reference to the disciples who\ngathered round Him in Jud\u00e6a,\n\n\n    \u201cBut Jesus did not trust himself unto them, for that he knew all\n    men, and because he needed not that any one should bear witness\n    concerning man: for he himself knew what was in man.\u201d(111)\n\n\nWhen our Lord drove out the money-changers and those who sold doves,\npeople thronged to Him in Jerusalem, thinking that the leader whom they\nsought had come. But these were not disciples after His own heart, not\nsuch as should receive the kingdom of God as little children. These were\nmen who had both notions and a purpose of their own; men who would follow\nHim as long as He went _their_ way; and who, when He did not, would \u201cgo\nback and walk no more with Him.\u201d(112) The relation of our Lord to these\nearly Jud\u00e6an disciples was very different from that in which He stood,\neither to the five who had gone with Him from Bethabara to Cana and\nCapernaum, or to those who afterwards thronged to His preaching of the\nKingdom of Heaven. To these Jud\u00e6an disciples our Lord as far as we know\ndelivers no lessons and issues no directions; we do not hear that they\nwere especially chosen for witnesses of the Signs in Jerusalem, or that\nthey formed an organised body in any way. It seems rather as if a body of\nmen ranged themselves round our Lord and, from their admiration for Him,\ntook the name of His disciples, but did not hold themselves to be under\norders, and came and went as they pleased.\n\nOur Lord had not yet begun His real Ministry; He was probing the\ncapacities and natures both of individual men and of different classes in\nthe community, with a view to testing their fitness for taking part in His\ngreat work.\n\nSomething inclined Him, we may suppose, to take Galilee for the cradle of\nthe new movement; and the circumstance that those who first adhered were\nall Galil\u00e6ans pointed along the same way. It would appear to be a method\nof Divine guidance, to speak by a whisper within, and, at the same time,\nso to order circumstances without, that one should fall in with the other:\nsometimes this coincidence will be perceived and will strike the beholder\nwith a kind of awe, and sometimes it will operate on him without his being\naware.\n\nThere was much that made Galilee suitable: its position was at once\ncentral and retired, and its inhabitants were, according to Josephus,\nsturdy and independent, and, of course, free from the pedantry of\nRabbinical schools. Jerusalem however claimed a trial from our Lord. He\ndesired to know what was passing there in the minds of those who were\nseeking truth. It was possible that a cradle for the infant church might\nbe found among the followers of the Baptist, or among Scribes like\nNicodemus. Our Lord gauges the fitness of both these bodies of men. We\nknow what conclusion settled itself in His mind during those early days:\nHe must not put new wine into old bottles. The enlightened party among\nthose in authority were more after the type of Erasmus than of Luther,\nthey lacked force: they had been trained to pick their way through\ndifficulties of interpretation, but not to grasp great principles, still\nless to _act_; and though they divined that there was a truth dawning from\nafar, yet their feeling for it was not so much a passion as a taste.\n\nAfter the discourse with Nicodemus the Evangelist returns to narration,\nand tells us of a visit of our Lord and His disciples to the district\nwhere the Baptist was carrying on his work. It may have been that he meant\nto represent our Lord as turning from Nicodemus to John\u2019s disciples; as\nif, when He found the former unequal to the need, He would try how the\nlatter might serve. The words are\n\n\n    \u201cAfter these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of\n    Jud\u00e6a; and there he tarried with them, and baptized. And John also\n    was baptizing in \u00c6non near to Salim, because there was much water\n    there: and they came, and were baptized.\u201d(113)\n\n\nIt is not said that our Lord actually went to the spot where John was; but\nthe narrative favours the view that the two companies were not far from\none another. We are told that followers were drawn in large numbers to our\nLord and that His disciples baptised them. This adoption of the rite\nwhich, though not unknown before, had been brought into special prominence\nby the Baptist, excited jealousy in John\u2019s disciples\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cAnd they came unto John, and said to him, Rabbi, he that was with\n    thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou hast borne witness, behold, the\n    same baptizeth, and all men come to him.\u201d(114)\n\n\nOne reason of the anxiety of the disciples to baptise may possibly have\nbeen this; they saw how that outward rite supplied John\u2019s disciples with a\nbadge that marked them out and made one body of them; they were all bound\ntogether to the same master by having received baptism at his hands,\u2014bound\ntogether not merely by holding the same opinions and honouring the same\nman, but by something that had been _done_, by a work wrought upon _them_.\nSome might interpret this \u201coutward and visible sign\u201d in one way and some\nin another, but all could see the value of such a sign or symbol for\ngiving coherence and permanency to their new community.\n\nIn the fourth chapter we find that the Pharisees at Jerusalem,\u2014they who\nconstituted the religious world of the place,\u2014had come to the knowledge\nthat the resort to Jesus was greater than that to St John\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cWhen therefore the Lord knew how that the Pharisees had heard\n    that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John\n    (although Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples), he left\n    Jud\u00e6a and departed again into Galilee.\u201d(115)\n\n\nI make out St John\u2019s meaning to be, that our Lord quitted Jud\u00e6a because He\nfound Himself thrust into apparent rivalry with John the Baptist. The\nJud\u00e6an disciples wanted a sect of their own; and the Pharisees regarded\nour Lord\u2019s following as an offshoot from the movement of John, an offshoot\nwhich was likely to out-top the parent tree.\n\nIt seems to me that our Lord was taking a survey of the different\nreligious sections in Jud\u00e6a and examining their fitness to furnish helpers\nfor His work. Scholars who like Nicodemus were quick to ask \u201cHow can these\nthings be?\u201d were not of the right order for setting a great movement\nafoot. If men were fully possessed with the momentous nature of God\u2019s\nspiritual working in the world, the idea of this as a _fact_ would take up\nall their minds leaving no room for the question of _mode_. If Nicodemus\nhad been capable of seeing how sublime was the future presented to him, he\nwould never have expected to understand _how_ it could come to pass. Next\nour Lord tried the disciples of John; these may have been too full of the\nspirit of partizanship, and too much taken up with questions of purifying\nand the like, to be fit foster parents for the new Faith. Whatsoever were\nthe cause, in neither of these classes did our Lord find a cradle for the\nfaith. He required men plastic and receptive, capable of devoted\nself-surrender and possessed of self-transforming and expanding powers.\nThese did not grow freely in the social climate of Jud\u00e6a; our Lord\u2019s\nthoughts then, we may suppose, went back to His own people and His own\ncountry, and He preached the Kingdom first in Galilee.\n\nOur Lord\u2019s leaving Jud\u00e6a was precipitated by the rivalry which was\nthreatening between His adherents and those of John; more especially as\nthat rivalry was taking the form of a competition in point of numbers. For\nthe spirit which this would engender was to our Lord abhorrent in the\nextreme. When sect strives with sect, and they would decide the contest\nfor superiority _by counting heads_, they are both in a way to fall down\nand worship the Spirit of the world.\n\nOur Lord was not founding or setting up a form of religion to which He\npersonally would convert mankind; but He and His work were part of the\nsubject-matter of all religion\u2014the relations of God to man. The apostles\nare never encouraged to exult in the number of their converts. Even when\nthey were sent through the cities, on what we might regard as a missionary\nerrand, they are not directed to win men over by strong entreaty\u2014they are\nnot then bidden, as men afterwards were by St Paul, to \u201cbe instant in\nseason and out of season;\u201d(116) they are only to proclaim the Kingdom of\nGod: those who have ears to hear will hear, and the rest will go their\nway.\n\nAny competition with John the Baptist was above all to be shunned. Our\nLord and the Baptist were bound together by early ties. Jesus had sought\nand received Baptism at his hand, and we always see a delicate and\nunswerving fidelity in His behaviour towards him. It might be that He was\nto increase and John was to decrease, but it should not be by any action\nof His that that change of relative position should be brought about. The\nGospel itself, then, discloses grounds for our Lord\u2019s sudden departure\ninto Galilee. Thus early, among the hearers of our Lord and the Baptist,\nappeared an insidious tendency to form parties, a tendency which broke out\ndisastrously in later times; when some said, \u201cI am of Paul\u201d and others \u201cI\nam of Apollos.\u201d(117)\n\nThere is no valid reason for supposing that our Lord left Jud\u00e6a from fear\nof persecution. The Pharisees may have been in commotion when they heard\nthat Jesus baptised more disciples than John; and there may have been some\nstir in sacerdotal circles at Jerusalem, but there is no appearance of\nviolence having been threatened. Neither do I connect our Lord\u2019s journey\nwith the captivity of the Baptist. I believe that John was not thrown into\nprison till three or four months after this journey through Samaria; but\nsupposing that the imprisonment had already taken place and it had seemed\nlikely that Herod\u2019s jealousy of John would extend to Jesus, our Lord would\nnot have left Jud\u00e6a, which was not under Herod\u2019s jurisdiction, and have\ngone into Galilee which was so.\n\nAt any rate our Lord quits Jud\u00e6a and the Jud\u00e6an disciples, or all but a\nfew of them, and travels back to Galilee with a little company who were\nbound to Him, and who tended Him, it would seem, with affectionate\nsolicitude.(118)\n\nIt does not come into my plan to discuss the discourses of our Lord except\nso far as they bear on the training of the apostles, and so I pass by the\ndiscourse with the woman of Samaria, as I have done that with Nicodemus. I\nbelieve that only three or four disciples attended our Lord on His\njourney: if they had been numerous, they would not _all_ have left Him,\nwearied and alone at the fountain. But in visiting a strange town in\nSamaria, it might be unwise to enter with a smaller party than three or\nfour; so that if the disciples numbered no more than this, we can account\nfor our Lord being left by Himself.\n\nThis journey through Samaria has an important bearing on my subject. Here,\nfor the first time, we have a conversation of our Lord with His disciples;\nand, what is more, we get a glimpse of an office in store for them, of a\nwork that is to give a meaning to their lives. The disciples of the\nBaptist had been learners and listeners only; but our Lord\u2019s disciples\nwere not to be mere passive recipients of teaching. They were to be taught\nby doing as well as by hearing; they were to take part with Him in the\ngreat work that was to be wrought in the world. They were not\nservants\u2014\u201cfor the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth,\u201d(119) but they\nwere friends joining in the common cause. We may wonder why no earlier\nconverse of our Lord with His disciples is preserved. Possibly, before\nthis, there were in the company some of those to whom He \u201cdid not commit\nHimself.\u201d(120) While these were present, our Lord may have maintained a\nreserve, and said nothing bearing on His work which it was important for\nthe Evangelist to record. But, when our Lord set out through the\nsemi-hostile country of Samaria in the midst of the early summer heat,\nthose only followed who were in earnest, and on whom He could rely.\n\nI pass on at once to that address to the disciples to which I have\nalluded. Our Lord had been cheered by the Samaritan woman\u2019s openness to\nthe truth. On leaving the well He comes on a scene, than which few are\nmore gladdening\u2014a great expanse of corn growing luxuriantly, swaying with\nthe wind and glistening in the sun. We mark that He was always keenly\nalive to external impression, and in all He saw espied matter that fitted\nwhat He taught. Our Lord is struck by the sight, He sees in it something\nthat answers to His thoughts, and which seems to convey a promise which\nrejoices His soul\u2014not for Himself but for His disciples. The discourse is\nas follows:\n\n\n    \u201cSay not ye, There are yet four months, and _then_ cometh the\n    harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on\n    the fields, that they are white already unto harvest He that\n    reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal;\n    that he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. For\n    herein is the saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. I sent\n    you to reap that whereon ye have not laboured: others have\n    laboured, and ye are entered into their labour.\u201d(121)\n\n\nThe work before the disciples is only to reap: others had ploughed and\nsown. Prophets and teachers, and also rulers and judges, all who had\nhelped to bring the Israelites into the condition of being ripe for better\nthings\u2014these past teachers of men, as well as all the impersonal workings\nof the unseen hand which had smoothed the way\u2014all these answered to the\nploughers and sowers of the crop which the apostles were now to reap. This\n\u201cPr\u00e6paratio Evangelica,\u201d so often before us, had been the combined result\nof many sorts of action, and into the fruits of this labour the disciples\nwere now to enter. They, along with all those who had sowed and tended,\nshould one day rejoice together, when the grain was garnered in heaven,\nand when those accounted worthy of the Resurrection to Eternal Life should\nenter on their reward.\n\nGleams of gladness in our Lord\u2019s career come rarely, and His joy is always\nfor others\u2019 sake. It is not for Himself, not even for the cause that He\nrejoices\u2014that cause would surely triumph in its own time\u2014but His joy is,\nthat He beholds a successful and glorious career opening before His\nfellow-labourers, the few friends at His side. On the return of the\nseventy recorded by St Luke, this same joy for His disciples\u2019 sake is\nespecially spoken of.\n\n\n    \u201cIn that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, and said, I\n    thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst\n    hide these things from the wise and understanding, and didst\n    reveal them unto babes: yea, Father; for so it was well-pleasing\n    in thy sight. All things have been delivered unto me of my Father:\n    and no one knoweth who the Son is, save the Father; and who the\n    Father is, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to\n    reveal _him_.\u201d(122)\n\n\nIt would seem that such happiness as our Lord found on earth came from\nmarking the affectionate fidelity of the Apostles and their growth in\nfavour with God. \u201cYe are they,\u201d says He to them, \u201cwho have continued with\nme in my temptations\u201d(123) and He speaks of the \u201cjoy in heaven\u201d and again\nof the \u201cjoy in the presence of the angels of God,\u201d \u201cover one sinner that\nrepenteth;\u201d(124) every one who turned to Him with a single heart brought\nHim gladness. This joyousness, we may believe, spread a gleam over the\nlife of our Lord and of His disciples, until when near the end the shadow\ncame. The disciples were always slow to understand His hints of coming\nsorrow; they could not conceive that the spiritual triumph was to be\nemphasised by being contrasted with bodily suffering; and He had no more\nthe heart to break the whole sad truth to them, than He had to waken the\nsleepers at Gethsemane. Circumstances would teach the apostles all the\ntruth in time, but even His plain words on the last journey(125) do not\nseem to have been taken literally.\n\nFor reasons given in the chronological appendix I place the return of our\nLord through Samaria early in May A.D. 28.\n\nBetween the return through Samaria and the journey up to \u201cthe feast of the\nJews,\u201d(126) some months have to be accounted for. St John relates but a\nsingle incident, the cure of the nobleman\u2019s son at Capernaum, as belonging\nto this time; but I would also place here the preaching in the synagogues\nin Galilee mentioned by St Luke. His words are\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cAnd Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and a\n    fame went out concerning him through all the region round about.\n    And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.\u201d(127)\n\n\nThis is parallel with St John\u2019s statement, before discussed, \u201cThe\nGalil\u00e6ans received Him, having seen all the things that He did at\nJerusalem at the feast.\u201d(128)\n\nI also refer to this period the preaching in the synagogue at Nazareth.\nThe tone of this discourse as I have already observed (pp. 164, 165)\ntallies with the notion before advanced of a previous ill reception of our\nLord at Nazareth. There is no mention of our Lord\u2019s mother or brethren,\nthey had left Nazareth (John ii. 12) and we do not hear of their return.\nAt other places in Galilee, our Lord had been received with enthusiasm,\nbut at Nazareth petty jealousies prevailed. He does not, in this sermon,\nspeak like one returning with renown to a warm welcome in his own town. He\nhas an air of expecting opposition, as if He had met with it before. He\ncondemns the narrow localising spirit of His hearers, and goes so far as\nto impugn the exclusive claim of the people of Israel to be the recipients\nof the favour of God.\n\nIt is to be remarked that no mention is made of _disciples_ being in\nattendance upon our Lord, from the time of His reaching Galilee by way of\nSamaria to that of His presenting Himself to the four Apostles by the Lake\nshore\u2014that is, as I take it, from May to October A.D. 28.(129) The little\ncompany that came through Samaria probably broke up on reaching Galilee.\nThey had their bread to earn and for the most part went back to their\ncallings; while our Lord during the summer of A.D. 28 was preaching in\nvarious synagogues, and went, almost unattended, to Jerusalem. The absence\nof His followers would account for the scantiness of our information as to\nthis period.\n\nI suppose that the feast spoken of in St John\u2019s Gospel (chap. v. 1), took\nplace early in the autumn of the same year A.D. 28. It was, I conceive,\nabout the close of this feast that the Baptist was thrown into prison;\nupon this, our Lord returned into Galilee, and His official ministry\nbegan.(130)\n\nWe cannot suppose Him to have been quite alone at this feast at Jerusalem,\nbecause some one must have been there to report what took place. I do not\nthink that John was with our Lord at the feast, because, if he had been\nso, he could only have been absent from Him a few days before our Lord\nrejoined him on the Lake shore, and the incidents of this call give the\nimpression that the separation had been of much greater length. I incline\nto think that our Lord was attended by Philip, who alone, at that time,\nhad received the order \u201cFollow Me.\u201d(131) If John drew some of his\ninformation from Philip, this will help to account for his frequent\nmention of him.(132)\n\nIt was on our Lord\u2019s visit to this feast that He first incurred the active\nenmity of the Scribes. It followed from His miracle at the pool of\nBethesda, which took place on the Sabbath day. Since the cure was wrought\nby a word there was no breach of the law; but \u201cthe Jews\u201d (by which word St\nJohn indicates the hierarchy) were shocked that He should tell the man to\ncarry his bed on the Sabbath day.\n\n\n    \u201cThe man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus which had\n    made him whole. And for this cause did the Jews persecute Jesus,\n    because he did these things on the sabbath. But Jesus answered\n    them, My Father worketh even until now, and I work. For this cause\n    therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not\n    only brake the sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making\n    himself equal with God.\u201d(133)\n\n\nThe hostility of the Scribes, we see, is very deadly. The Pharisees are\noften scandalised at infractions of their sabbath notions, but they do not\nseek our Lord\u2019s death as the Scribes do. The latter were probably\nSadducees, tinged with western philosophy, and they were actuated by other\nmotives beside zeal for the Law.\n\nFor one thing, they were in reality made uneasy by our Lord\u2019s assertion\nthat a living God was working among them and close by. Ministers of state\nwho have possessed themselves of sovereign power are startled and\ninfuriated if their nominal monarch personally asserts his power: and,\nsomething in the same way, a priesthood occupied in promulgating\necclesiastical laws and carrying on the externals of worship were\nfrightened at the announcement that God, instead of leaving matters for\nthem to manage, had Himself come to reign and rule upon the earth.\n\nBut what was more effective than even spiritual awe was their personal\nalarm. The dread which one of their body afterwards expressed\u2014\u201cThe Romans\nwill come and take away both our place and our nation\u201d(134)\u2014was always\nover their heads. They were a sacerdotal oligarchy trembling for their\nexistence. The people hated the Romans, and the Scribes were bound to\nstand well with both: an outbreak might bring to an end whatever\necclesiastical independence they still possessed. The priesthood saw\nsomething in our Lord which might lead the people to take Him and make Him\na king.\n\nThe reply, \u201cMy Father worketh hitherto and I work,\u201d(135) is characteristic\nof our Lord\u2019s way. He does not meet the charge by contesting the\ninterpretation of the Law. He ignores all quibbles of legality and goes to\nthe root of the matter. It is by the working of God that the world is\nmaintained. His Father worketh hitherto, on Sabbath days and all, and He,\nthe Son, follows in His Father\u2019s ways. The same test of Sonship\u2014that the\nchild takes after the Father\u2014is applied in the Sermon on the mount.(136)\n\nI must notice another verse of this discourse,\n\n\n    \u201cI am come in my Father\u2019s name, and ye receive me not: if another\n    shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.\u201d(137)\n\n\nOur Lord here lays bare the reason why so few would follow Him. He touches\nthe very centre of the matter. To kindle enthusiasm among a mass of men,\nyou must have a person or a name. A cause is best embodied in an actual\nclaimant standing before men\u2019s eyes; but failing this they will often\nrally to a _name_ that they know. Our Lord used only His Father\u2019s name;\nthis did not move their human sympathies for \u201cThe Father\u201d had no\npersonality for them. It was reserved for the Apostles to draw men over to\nthe Faith, and they were given the advantage which Jesus was content to\nforego. They could put forward a personal claimant for the loyalty of men:\nthey had Christ\u2019s story to tell and Christ\u2019s name for a watchword and they\nwon men for the kingdom of God by gaining their homage for the Son of Man.\n\nThe temporary separation of the Apostles from our Lord during the summer\nof A.D. 28 may have answered higher ends than merely enabling them to earn\ntheir livelihood. It gave them time to think over the events of the last\nsix months.\n\nIt is a feature of our Lord\u2019s way in His course of teaching, not to suffer\none set of ideas or influences to be disturbed before they have had time\nto take root. After a period of stress, or when new impressions had been\nstamped on the minds of his disciples, He provides for them an interval of\ncalm. When the disciples return exulting from their mission through the\ncities, He says, \u201cCome ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a\nwhile.\u201d When crowds thronged them and courted them for access to their\nMaster, He carried them away, that the impressions He wanted to preserve\nmight not be effaced in the turmoil. It may have been in pursuance of this\ntreatment that, after the resurrection, they were sent for a time into\nGalilee, there to wait and to watch.\n\nAll teachers know that the time of rest that follows a period in which new\nmatter has been taken into the mind is precious for good mental growth:\nconceptions then become more clear and complete, and effect a sure\nlodgement in the mind: but this, like many processes in education, helps\nto widen the distance between the weak and the strong. For it is only with\nthe more thoughtful that this half unconscious brain-process goes on; the\nactive minded mature their acquirements during rest, while the unthinking\nlet them fade away. It argued well, in consequence, for Peter and Andrew\nand John, that Christ\u2019s influence had lost nothing through (as I believe)\nweeks of separation, but that as soon as they were called they sprang to\ntheir feet at once,\u2014\u201cthey straightway left the nets and followed\nHim.\u201d(138)\n\nReverence for great men whom we have known, and the power of appreciating\nthem, grow during absence. We may have been living so familiarly with one\nfar above the common standard, that we may almost lose thought of his\ngreatness; the little matters of common life, which come before us\neveryday, take more than their share of notice; and, as regards these,\ngreat men and smaller ones must be much alike. But when we are away from\nour guide, our recollections turn to what is distinctive of him\u2014to the\npoints in which he contrasts with everyday men: what he had in common with\nsuch disappears, and our mental portrait preserves what is characteristic,\nand gives us the individual more forcibly than our nearer view had done.\nWe often first become aware of the true proportions of greatness, when we\nlook back on it from a little way off. Out of a range of mountains, all,\nwhen seen from the valley, appearing much of a height, one is found to\nvastly out-top the rest when we mount the opposite hill-side.\n\nWe may suppose that some process like this was going on in the minds of\nPeter and Andrew and James and John during that summer spent in their\nfishers\u2019 work by the Sea of Galilee. Our Lord\u2019s image would, all the more,\nbe kept alive in their minds because when they chanced to meet their talk\nwould be of Him; and their Master\u2019s form would seem to rise before them\nwhen they sat beside one another, with their boats drawn up on the beach.\nWe need not suppose that they saw into their Master\u2019s plans, far less into\nHis nature; we do not know that they had heard _from Him_ about the\nKingdom of Heaven which the Baptist had told them was at hand; but the\nfoundation for Faith was being laid in a capacity for intense personal\ndevotion. First they learnt to love the Master whom they saw by their\nside; next, by thinking of Him while He was away, they learned how much\nthey loved Him, and became aware that their affection for Him had in it\nsomething different from the common affections they knew. Shortly, as we\nshall presently see, a sense of shelter and of fostering protection\nmingled with this love, and grew into a trust, first in the Master who was\nwith them, and afterwards in the Lord in Heaven. It is hardly too much to\nsay that the germ of the new quality, which was to order the world afresh,\nwas planted in men\u2019s hearts by the side of the Sea of Galilee in that\nsummer of A.D. 28, and that then Faith\u2014Faith as our Lord speaks of\nit\u2014dawned upon the world.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII. THE PREACHING TO THE MULTITUDES.\n\n\nIt was, as I believe, soon after that \u201cfeast of the Jews\u201d lately mentioned\n(pp. 180 and 181 note), that the news of the apprehension of the Baptist\nby Herod reached our Lord at Jerusalem. At once He enters on His own Great\nWork(139) and goes straight into Galilee, preaching on the way that the\nKingdom of God is come. The reasons for His holding back, came to an end\ntogether with the liberty of John. We lose now the guidance of St John,\nand we pass to the more continuous transcript of events which the\nSynoptists give.\n\nUp to this time of His advent into Galilee our Lord was in part, as I have\nsaid, exploring the condition and the tempers of the people in quest of\nthe fittest cradle for the Faith. It may possibly have been that our Lord\nin His visit to Jerusalem was giving the Holy City a last trial; but I see\nno ground to suppose that our Lord ever seriously contemplated any course\ndifferent from that which He actually took. In any case, this outbreak of\nhostility on the part of the scribes settled the matter: for the kind of\nmental growth which our Lord wished to bring about in the disciples could\nnot go on in the midst of party warfare.\n\nYoung men on the watch for attack are not in a state for fertilizing \"seed\nthoughts\" or for turning over hard matters in their minds, and care for\nthe state of the recipient characterizes the teaching of Christ. Men are\nto take heed _how_ they hear, as well as what they hear, and are to reach\nfull growth and shape, not from outward moulding but by living process\nfrom within. Our Lord\u2019s eye is never off His pupils, and yet visible\ndirection hardly ever appears; He sways them by an insensible touch. A\ngreat truth is brought to light by an incident of wonder, a pregnant word\nis let drop, a hard parable is delivered now and then; but between whiles\nthe disciples are left to dwell on their own thoughts, as their fishing\nboat sails along, or as they follow their Master among the northern hills.\nOur Lord is ever bent on making men thoughtful and on calling out in each\nthe inner life which is proper to the man, and for this, tranquillity, or\nat least frequent opportunity for quiet communing with their own thoughts,\nwas absolutely required.\n\nThe antagonism at Jerusalem might have stopped short of violence and yet\nthe wrangling spirit of the place might have had a very evil effect on the\ndisciples. It was above all essential that they should have a single\nhearted love of truth; and this can hardly grow up when party is ranged\nagainst party and each tries to set the views and statements of the other\nin the most damaging light, and to dispose his own propositions in\npolemical order with a strategic view. As soon therefore as the hostility\nof the scribes was displayed, it became clear, that the schooling of the\nApostles must be brought about elsewhere than in Jud\u00e6a. But apart from\nthis, Jerusalem was, for other reasons easy to perceive, ill-suited for\nthe purpose. It was too Academical; the place was full of Rabbis, round\nwhose feet a circle of pupils sat. Each school adopted its master\u2019s\n_dicta_ with the undiscriminating loyalty of youth; and the scholars of\nother teachers, by steadily taking it for granted that Jesus of Nazareth\nwas a teacher like the Rabbis they knew, would have half persuaded His\nfollowers that there was something in common between Him and the Doctors\nwho expounded the Law.\n\nThe Rabbis gave their scholars something to show for their\nlessons\u2014expositions of the Law and systematic doctrine\u2014and their pupils\nwould have said to the disciples, \u201cOur master gives us this or that; what\ndoes your master give you?\u201d This would have set them looking for what was\nintentionally withheld. Our Lord did not fill them with opinions or\ndirections to be remembered, but He made them what He wanted them to be.\n\nTo understand how wisely things were ordered, we must give a glance to\nwhat would have been the result of the most obvious and apparently \u201cthe\nmost natural\u201d course. Our Lord\u2019s brethren recommended that He should go\nand show Himself and teach at Jerusalem. I have shown the ill effects this\nwould have had on the training of the disciples; I will now say a word on\nthe way in which it would have affected the Church. If Jerusalem had been\nthe seat of teaching, the disciples there, instead of numbering \u201ca hundred\nand twenty,\u201d would have been a large body. Possibly they might have\noffered armed resistance to the apprehension of our Lord; and the whole\nmoral of the action would have been lost if they had. But passing this by,\nif a large body of disciples dwelling at Jerusalem had claimed our Lord as\npeculiarly their own, the universality of His work would have been\nobscured. The Church at Jerusalem might have dwelt more on His being their\nparticular Founder and Bishop than on His being the Redeemer of the World.\n\nAgain, How would it have been with the authority of the Twelve? Those who\nhad sat at His feet and listened, just as the Apostles had done, might\nhave hesitated when He was gone to acknowledge the Twelve as the\n_founders_ of the Church; for the Church, they would have said, began with\nthemselves. More than this, practical evils would have come about; for\nthese original disciples, regarding themselves as the depositaries of\ntradition, would have recalled every practice of their Lord,\u2014for instance\nthe way in which He had given thanks at meat, or ordered service in\nprayer, as well as His practice as to the Sabbath and fasting,\u2014these would\nhave been passed down as Divinely sanctioned, and the externals of\nreligion would have been stereotyped as thoroughly as though they had been\na new Ceremonial Law, like that from which He desired to release mankind.\nMoreover the body of believers who had personally known our Lord, would\nhave constituted a kind of ecclesiastical aristocracy; and\ndistinctions\u2014respect of persons\u2014would have been introduced from the first.\nWhat actually happened was far more consistent with the general tenour of\nChrist\u2019s plan so far as we can make it out. The few original disciples at\nJerusalem were lost in the crowd who were added to the Church after the\nday of Pentecost, and the Apostles ruled with unquestioned authority from\nthe first.\n\nGalilee we have seen, as a retired spot with an honest-hearted people, was\nadmirably fitted for the scene of the ministry; but yet it could not be\n\u201cthat a prophet should perish out of Jerusalem,\u201d and it was imperative\nthat there the end should come. The Holy City was also fitted, in a very\npeculiar manner, to be the centre from which the new movement was to\nradiate forth. The Lord\u2019s death, the Supreme Event in the history of\nmankind, was not to take place in a corner. The circumstances of it could\nnot be too notorious or too widely vouched. It was to be made known in\nEast and West to the Hebrew, the Greek, the Roman and to all mankind. Now\nJerusalem, both geographically, and as the point to which the Jews of the\ndispersion bent watchful eyes from many lands, was wondrously adapted to\nbe a centre of diffusion. It was in a very remarkable way a \u201ccity set upon\na hill.\u201d It stood accessible to three continents, at the centre of gravity\nof the known world, and it was on the watershed of two civilizations: the\nAryan and Semitic races and languages and the different modes of thinking\nwhich go along with the languages were brought together there.\n\nMoreover, owing to the dispersion of the Jews and their custom of visiting\nJerusalem at the great feasts when they possibly could, \u201cdevout men from\nevery nation under Heaven\u201d were drawn together there from time to time,\nand a common interest in what concerned \u201cIsrael\u201d was spread over the\nglobe. The agency of these festivals connected Jerusalem, as by electric\nthreads, with every great city in the inhabited world, and the Israelites\nwho were settled in every large town of the empire afterwards provided\nnests for the new Faith.\n\nThe Apostles, as was natural, after the Resurrection went back to Galilee.\nIt can only have been owing to directions they must have received, that\nthey _all_ returned to Jerusalem for the Ascension. Our Lord then enjoined\nthem to remain and from thence to propagate the Faith. This injunction\nexplains their abandonment of their homes and callings, which is hard to\naccount for otherwise.\n\nI now proceed with the history. During this chapter I shall for the most\npart follow St Mark, who relates the events nearly in the order in which I\nbelieve they happened. After a brief notice of John and of the temptation\nhe proceeds thus:\n\n\n    \u201cNow after that John was delivered up, Jesus came into Galilee,\n    preaching the gospel of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled,\n    and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe in the\n    gospel.\u201d(140)\n\n\nThe Evangelist does not say that our Lord came from Jud\u00e6a, but He could\nhave come from nowhere else. It would seem that our Lord on arriving in\nGalilee went at once to the Lake shore and called the two pair of fisher\nbrethren to His side.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd passing along by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew\n    brother of Simon casting a net in the sea: for they were fishers.\n    And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to\n    become fishers of men. And straightway they left the nets, and\n    followed him. And going on a little farther, he saw James the\n    _son_ of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the boat\n    mending the nets. And straightway he called them: and they left\n    their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went\n    after him.\u201d(141)\n\n\nThis passage would offer an opening for criticism, if it were not for the\nlight thrown on it by St John\u2019s Gospel, by help of which an apparent\ndifficulty is turned into a coincidence.\n\nIf we did not possess the Gospel of St John, the story of the call of the\nApostles would stand thus: It would appear that our Lord came down to the\nSea of Galilee, and said to two fishermen\u2014whom, for all we should know to\nthe contrary, He had never seen before,\u2014\u201cCome ye after me, and I will make\nyou to become fishers of men.\u201d These would seem startling words to hear\nfrom a stranger, but the brothers, without asking further, and without one\nconsulting the other, at once left their work and followed our Lord.\n\nThis would be unlikely, but not passing belief; men are mastered in a\nmoment, by personal influence, now and then; but still the preponderance\nof probabilities is against the truth of the story. The Evangelist however\ngoes on to relate that our Lord passes on along the Lake side, and within\na few hundred yards comes upon another pair of brothers, also fishermen;\nhe addresses them nearly in the same terms and they also leave their nets\nand follow Him. Now this repetition, the critic would say, savours in\nitself of the Eastern legend. But, what is far more than this, the\ncombination of the two improbabilities produces an improbability of a far\nhigher order.(142)\n\nThe information gained from the Gospel of St John clears the difficulty\naway. We may learn from this, how a word or two of fresh information\nmight, in like manner, clear away other discrepancies which are\nstumbling-blocks to learners now.\n\nThere we find, that these fisher brethren were old disciples of our Lord.\nIt is consistent with the Gospel to suppose that during the summer they\nhad been at their work, nursing the memory of their Master all the time.\nThey now hear that He has come preaching the Kingdom of God in their own\nland. They are waiting for Him and expecting His call. The two pair of\nbrethren stood in the same relation to Him, consequently they were treated\nin the same way, and the result was naturally the same. This unhesitating\ncompliance on the part of the brethren, which seems so strange, points to\na previous acquaintance with our Lord; of this acquaintance St John\u2019s\nGospel speaks, and so St Mark strengthens St John just as St John does St\nMark.\n\nIn the Gospels of St Matthew and St Mark, which we suppose to be both\nbased on a primitive document, the story is told without the slightest\nidea of obviating objection or mistrust. The writers never appear to\ncontemplate readers to whom the fact that Simon and the rest had, before\nthis, been associated with our Lord should be unknown. They took it for\ngranted that this was too notorious to call for mention.\n\nBut we have another Evangelist, St Luke, a more practised writer, whose\ndesign was to present his account in a coherent form. He did not possess\nthe Gospel of St John and possibly did not know the particulars of the\nearlier call of Simon and Andrew and John. It may well have been that he\nwas himself somewhat startled at the abruptness of our Lord\u2019s call to the\nApostles, and at their unhesitating compliance with it, as related in the\nprimitive document, and felt that it required to be accounted for:\nconsequently, having the account of the miraculous draught of fishes among\nthe materials he speaks of\u2014an account not contained in the Gospels of St\nMatthew and St Mark\u2014he finds in this Sign an explanation of the prompt\nadherence of the pairs of brethren, and he combines the two events.\n\nWe should gather from him that the Apostles were struck by the miraculous\ndraught of fishes, and that the Lord thereupon invited them to follow and\nbecome \u201cfishers of men,\u201d but I think it most likely that the call took\nplace as St Matthew and St Mark relate. The circumstantial minuteness of\nthe details in these two Gospels, and the naturalness of the picture\u2014two\nbrothers are engaged in casting, and the other pair in mending their\nnets\u2014convinces me that this relation comes originally from one who saw for\nhimself. This draught of fishes may have taken place some days after the\ncall of the brethren. For we need not suppose, that, before the Twelve\nwere chosen, those who were called abandoned the craft by which they\nlived, although they probably resorted to their Master day by day.\n\nThe early miracles were mostly wrought in the sight of the multitude; they\nseem meant to show that the Kingdom of God was come; but this miracle of\nthe draught of fishes was performed when few but disciples were by. It was\na miracle of instruction, it lent great impressiveness to great lessons;\nit emphasized in a way never to be forgotten the call to become \u201cfishers\nof men,\u201d and it gave good augury of success. The thought of this draught\nmust have come back to Peter at many a juncture in his life, a notable one\nbeing the morrow of the Feast of Pentecost, when \u201cthere were added unto\nthem in that day about 3000 souls.\u201d(143)\n\nThe Apostles may have learned another lesson from this miracle. All night\nthey had toiled and taken nothing, yet they had not given up in despair\nbut had worked on hard; the morning brought success beyond all hope. Men,\nwaiting long for the yield of their labour, have found encouragement in\ncalling this to mind. Simon, though thinking there is little hope of\ntaking fish, nevertheless obeys at once. He frankly tells his Master his\nview of a matter about which he might be supposed to know best, and leaves\nHim to judge, but he does immediately as his Master bids. Our Lord does\nnot _promise_ him success; He only tells him to try once more; and\nthereupon without a word, wearied and out of heart as he may be supposed\nto have been by a night of bootless labour, he does what he is told. It is\nenough for Simon to know that his Master wishes him to \u201cPut out into the\ndeep and let down his nets for a draught.\u201d(144) His cheerful compliance\nshews a happy disposition and a loyal nature; for if there had been a\ngrain of peevishness or selfishness in him, it would have been likely to\nbe uppermost then.\n\nIn the last chapter, we saw our Lord exploring the characters of classes\nof men. His eye is now turned on individuals; He is peering down into His\ndisciples\u2019 hearts, taking them unawares, when their every day selves lie\nuppermost, putting them, by chance as it were, through some little\nexercise which shall reveal some tendency or some hidden quality; and to\nour Lord this incident brought the secret heart of Simon into the light of\nday.\n\nIt shewed that he was altogether free from that kind of stubbornness which\nis born of self-regard, and that he did not attach a sanctity to an\nopinion or a resolve, merely because it was his. He learnt from this\nmiracle that it was best to trust to Christ. He might say to himself, \u201cI\nnever felt more convinced that we should take nothing by letting down the\nnets, than I did on that morning on the lake, but I let them down and\nfound I was wrong.\u201d A memorable act is not done with, educationally, when\nit is over. The recollection of it is an attendant monitor always pointing\nthe same way; and so this miracle may have done much towards accustoming\nPeter to look to the Lord\u2019s prompting, and to be ready at His word to give\nup that about which he felt most sure. It may well have helped him to that\nopenness of mind, which stood the Church in good stead, years after at\nJoppa, when the envoys of Cornelius were knocking at Peter\u2019s door.\n\nThis miracle has been called a miracle of coincidence, meaning that the\nmarvel lay in the passing of the shoal at the moment when the net was\ncast; it might not be a miracle at all, because the chances against its\nbeing a natural phenomenon, though enormous, are not absolutely infinite.\nIt is not one which would appal ordinary beholders: the boatmen, we may\nsuppose, thought chiefly of securing the fish. Our Lord is now testing the\ncapacity of men for discerning God, and He therefore performs miracles of\na less striking order first; these impress those only who have their eyes\nopen for the manifestation of what is spiritual; and those who are found\nto possess this \u201cvision and faculty Divine\u201d are afterwards shewn \u201cgreater\nthings than these.\u201d\n\nSimon had no doubt seen our Lord work cures, but this mastery of our Lord\nover the creation comes more home to him than His power over disease, and\nhis feelings break forth. It is characteristic of him, that what is in him\n_must come out_ at once; whether it be an objection that occurs to him, or\na motion of indignation or of elation, or of the panic to which Orientals\nare subject\u2014out it must come; this is the point in which the identity of\nhis character is most visibly preserved in all our narratives. Here he is\nmastered by the emotions of the moment and must give them outward show;\nand along with his gush of feeling comes the sense of his unworthiness,\nthe impression of his being wholly unequal to the duty and position thrust\nupon him; an impression not uncommon with men in such junctures; though\nbiographies abundantly show that those who feel it most very often acquit\nthemselves admirably when the trial comes. Touched by this, Simon throws\nhimself at his Master\u2019s feet and says, \u201cDepart from me, for I am a sinful\nman, O Lord.\u201d(145)\n\nWe go back now to the course of the narrative in St Mark\u2019s Gospel, and\nthere we find that the first thing which struck the hearers of our Lord\nwas the _authority_ with which He spoke.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd they were astonished at his teaching: for he taught them as\n    having authority, and not as the scribes.\u201d(146)\n\n\nWe saw in the last chapter, that men bowed to the authority in the air of\nour Lord when He purged the Temple of Jerusalem: this authority now passed\ninto His words, and it swayed the hearts of men. It is the special\ninstinct of a crowd that it quickly discerns those whom it must hear, and\nthis multitude saw that our Lord had something to tell them and that, not\nof tradition, but out of His own very self. Here was a genuine authority\ncoming of nature or of God, by the side of which the stated legal\nauthority of the officiating scribes paled away out of sight.\n\nIn what ways was it, we may ask, that this authority of Christ shone out\nnow, and took such hold of men? First of all, I would answer, He brought\nto the birth, within men, thoughts which were lying in embryo in their own\nhearts. This, which was also Socrates\u2019 way, I have spoken of in the\nIntroductory Chapter and once or twice since. Our Lord wakened within men\nthe perception of truths which they seemed to have once known and\nforgotten; especially that God was the Father, not only of Israel as a\nnation, but of every particular man in it. The common people had been told\nby the learned that they were not worth God\u2019s notice, and when Christ\nasserted the dignity of each individual soul they said to themselves \u201cwe\nalways thought it must be so; and so it is.\u201d The beatitudes in like manner\ncommended themselves to men\u2019s hearts; they felt that if there was a God in\nthe world, it ought to be as our Lord said it was.\n\nSecondly, our Lord not only _told_ men that they were the children of God,\nthat they should strive after their Father\u2019s likeness, and that they might\napproach nearer and nearer to being perfect as He is perfect: but, what\nwas more than this, in every word He spake,\u2014whether of teaching, or\nreproof, or expostulation, or in His passing words to those who received\nHis mercies\u2014He _treated_ them as God\u2019s children. Man, as man, has in His\neyes a right to respect. Anger we find with our Lord often, as also\nsurprise at slowness of heart, indignation at hypocrisy and at the\nRabbinical evasions of the Law; but never in our Lord\u2019s words or looks do\nwe find personal disdain. Towards no human being does He shew contempt.\nThe scribe would have trodden the rabble out of existence; but there is no\nsuch thing as rabble in our Lord\u2019s eyes. The master, in the parable, asks\nconcerning the tree, which is unproductively exhausting the soil, why\ncumbers it the ground; but it is not to be rooted up, till all has been\ntried. There it stands, and mere existence gives it claims, for all that\nexists is the Father\u2019s. This notion, that every thing belonged to God, and\nwas therefore to be reverently regarded, lay very deep in the hearts of\nthe children of Israel, even the poorest in Galilee; and when the Lord\nbrought it to light, men listened to Him with breathless respect.\n\nThirdly. If a scribe spoke to the people, he bethought himself of topics\nwithin their comprehension: he had a double self; one he showed to them\nand one he kept for his equals: he was afraid of talking over his hearers\u2019\nheads, so he took them on the side of what he supposed they might\nunderstand, of their interests, for example, and spoke of the advantages\nof good repute, or, at the highest, of the blessings which God brought on\nHis servants in this life and hereafter, and of the ill fate which awaited\noffenders. All this implied, \u201cWe who speak to you, of course, have for\nourselves higher principles and purer motives than those we have named,\nbut these are quite good enough for you.\u201d Now there is nothing that men,\nyoung or old, so surely detect, as whether a man serves them with the same\nthoughts that he gives to himself and his friends.\n\nThe people, moreover, are always grateful for being supposed capable of\nhigher sentiments than mere hope of gain and fear of loss, and for the\nappreciation shewn in taking them on higher ground; they seldom fail the\nspeaker who boldly addresses their consciences; they are eager to justify\nhis trust in them: \u201cHe has treated us as men,\u201d they say, \u201cand men he shall\nfind we are.\u201d Above all they feel the compliment of being not flattered,\nbut supposed reasonable enough to hear the truth about themselves and\nshewn their failings; and we feel sure that men went away from the Sermon\non the Mount confident of Christ\u2019s respect and regard for them, without\nHis telling them of it in so many words. He talks to them quite naturally\nof _their_ Father who is also _His_ Father, just as men speak of any\ncommon tie: and this took hold of their hearts.\n\nFourthly. We find in the earlier portions of the Sermon on the Mount,\nwhich best represent this preaching to the multitude,(147) that our Lord\nassumes a certain positive authority, by putting His own commands in\ncontrast with the written Law.\n\nIt had probably been given out by our Lord\u2019s opponents that He had come to\ndestroy the Law, and our Lord in this Sermon declares that He is not come\nto destroy but to fulfil.\n\nWe shall see the point most clearly, if we understand the word \u201cfulfil,\u201d\nto mean, \u201ccarry out into its full completeness.\u201d For our Lord does not\n_destroy_ the Law but he _supersedes_ it by bringing God\u2019s ways to light,\nand merging in this light the previous partial revelations, of which the\nMosaic Law was one. A mathematician supersedes the practical rules which\nthe pupil at first employs for solving particular cases of a problem, by\ngiving a complete and general solution of the whole subject. This may\nillustrate the way in which our Lord merges the particular case of human\nconduct in a wider rule embracing human dispositions, and which regards,\nnot only what men _do_, but also what they _are_, and what they will\n_become_.\n\nTo take another point. Slavery to the letter of a written Law hampered\nmoral and spiritual growth; it led men to regard authority as the sole\ntest of truth; it tended to prevent their thinking for themselves as our\nLord desired them to do. No word of our Lord countenances the idea of\nverbal inspiration. He treats the provisions of the Levitical Law as\nsubject to criticism, He never attributes them to God, but either to Moses\nor those of old time, and after quoting them in His sermon and elsewhere\nHe commonly adds, \u201cBut _I_ say unto you\u201d and then delivers His own\nprecept\u2014embracing that of Moses no doubt\u2014but so widely overstepping it,\nthat it would seem to the people to amount to a repeal. A teaching which\nclaimed authority coordinate with that of Moses might well startle the\nmultitude by its contrast with that of the scribes.\n\nIt may be asked\u2014\u201cWhy, if our Lord desired to free men\u2019s minds, did He not\ndeclare how far and in what sense their sacred books contained the word of\nGod.\u201d We answer, \u201cHe would have caused utter bewilderment if He had\nentered on such a matter at all.\u201d The truth may be gathered by observing\nHis practice. He never states abstract principles, but He acts as He deems\nfit and leaves us to infer His views by marking what He does. He never\ncontests the rules about the Sabbath, but He observes them only in His own\nway. He does not tell the Jews that their Law is not traced by the finger\nof God, but He amends and criticizes its provisions as though they were of\nman.\n\nLet us suppose, for a moment\u2014not of course that He had cried down the Law\nlike one who exulted in finding a flaw\u2014but that He had attempted to put\ninto men\u2019s heads views about it which their minds had not yet shaped\nthemselves to receive; that He had told them, for instance, that laws must\nbe fitted to human needs, and that as these needs vary, laws must vary\ntoo, and cannot be the subject of an ordinance unchanging and Divine.\nCould He, by such explanations, have given His auditors any true view of\nDivine rule? Would not the Galileans have cried out, \u201cThat if the tables\nof the Law were not graven by God\u2019s finger they were nothing at all?\u201d\nNothing, in our Lord\u2019s wisdom, strikes me more than His moderation with\nregard to error. What seems false to one man\u2019s mind may be true to that of\nanother. When men, as soon as they spy out an error, cry, \u201cRoot it up,\u201d\nour Lord seems to answer, \u201cAlong with the tares some wheat needs must go.\u201d\nMen are complex beings; and much that is best in them is so intertwined\nwith habits and association that we cannot sweep away long-standing\nnotions and outward symbols and ceremonies without destroying also what is\nof the essence. Take away from an Italian woman her belief in the Virgin,\nor from a Scotch peasant that in the sacred obligation of the Sabbath, and\na great deal of what is best in them will go too.\n\nOur Lord\u2019s way of proceeding is always positive, never merely negative. He\nleaves the Law, but He sows seed which will grow up and displace the\nspirit of blind subservience to it: just as some particular species in the\nherbage of a land is often ousted when a more robust one is brought in.\nThe Apostles had, up to the end, many wrong notions, and we may wonder why\nour Lord did not set them right; but it would have shaken the whole fabric\nof their belief if He had so done; and the sure teaching of circumstances\nwould, as He knew, dissipate the errors in time.\n\nSo far we have dealt chiefly with the _matter_ of our Lord\u2019s teaching of\nthe multitudes, but something must be said about its _form_. One striking\npoint in our Lord\u2019s practice in contrast with that of the scribes, is\nthis. He cites no authorities, all comes from Himself; there is hardly a\ntext of Scripture in the fifth chapter of St Matthew, except those which\nare quoted in order to be extended or gainsaid. The scribes depended on\ntheir learning, they overwhelmed men with quotations, they laid text by\ntext, and built up their conclusions upon an array of authorities. Now a\npreacher, or a teacher of any kind, is sure to lose hold of his audience\nwhen he goes away from himself and gives other people\u2019s opinions instead\nof his own. They look to him for guidance; and when he says, \u201cThis is one\nman\u2019s view and that is another\u2019s,\u201d and not, \u201cThis is _mine_,\u201d then they\nturn from the trumpet of uncertain sound. The multitude suppose that in\nall questions there is a right and a wrong\u2014just as there is a right and a\nwrong answer to a sum\u2014and they do not want to know what one authority says\nor the other, but what they are to accept.\n\nAgain, rightly to apprehend the form of this discourse, we must bear in\nmind that it is not a written collection of precepts,\u2014though St Matthew\nmay have appended some delivered at a later time\u2014and that still less is it\na Code of Laws. It is an oral address to a crowd of villagers gathered on\nthe top of the fell. We mark in it the natural rhetoric of earnest speech:\nthe first necessity is always to win men to listen, and thus the speaker\nat the opening strikes His most impressive chords.\n\nWords of blessing fell on the ears of those who were used only to hear of\ntheir shortcomings and to be treated as outcasts; and when their attention\nwas caught by the unusual sound and they listened to hear who it was who\nwere blessed, they found it was not the strong and the wealthy and the\nhigh spirited\u2014those whom they regarded as having the good things of\nexistence while they themselves had the bad\u2014but the blessed are the poor\nin spirit, and this Kingdom of Heaven, newly proclaimed, belonged to them.\nThe attention caught by the opening is kept alive by the unexpected nature\nof the matter.\n\nAgain, our Lord is at pains so to put what He says that it may not be\ntaken for a fresh body of injunctions added to the Law; for the people\nwere already, as He said, overburdened with such injunctions. He puts\ntherefore what He has to say into such strong forms, and, by way of\nexample, takes such extreme cases, that it is plain that He is\nillustrating a principle and not laying down a literal rule.\n\nWe have\n\n\n    \u201cYe have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth\n    for a tooth: but I say unto you, Resist not him that is evil: but\n    whosoever smiteth thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other\n    also. And if any man would go to law with thee, and take away thy\n    coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee\n    to go one mile, go with him twain.\u201d(148)\n\n\nHe Himself, before the High Priest, does not submit to wrong, without\nasking in remonstrance \u201cWhy smitest thou me?\u201d and the most literal minded\nof our Lord\u2019s hearers would not have felt bound to offer his cloke to one\nwho had stolen his coat. The language shews by its very strength that it\nis figurative.\n\nIndeed, a code of Law can hardly be delivered in an address to a\nmultitude. If it is to meet all cases it must be complex, and to the\nhearer wearisome. If our Lord had delivered a treatise telling men what\nthey were to do in the ordinary occasions of life, the precepts must have\nbeen so encumbered by qualifications that all impressiveness would have\nbeen lost. If to the saying \u201cGive to him that asketh of thee\u201d our Lord had\nappended all the obvious exceptions\u2014such as the cases in which what is\nasked for would be hurtful\u2014the whole force of the passage would have been\nfrittered away. As long as a preacher delivers broad truths, put forcibly,\nhis audience are ready to hear; but as soon as he begins to qualify his\nstatements and to make exceptions, his hold over his hearers is gone, and\nthey think he is unsaying what he said.\n\nOur Lord wished to leave _seed thoughts_ lying in men\u2019s minds. He knew\nthat His words would have to be carried in men\u2019s memories for a long while\nbefore being written down. They must therefore be clad in the form in\nwhich they would last longest and be easiest to carry. He therefore\nembodied what He wished to have remembered in terse sayings, illustrated\nby cases which are familiar but extreme. The hearer could carry these\nsentences away, and would ponder on them all the more, because in their\nliteral sense they are startling and impracticable as rules of conduct. I\ncan conceive no style better fitted for the purpose which I believe to\nhave been dominant with our Lord, than that employed in the Sermon on the\nMount.\n\nIt seems to me to be part of the strange adaptation of circumstances to\nthe needs of the Faith, that what was most vital and most universal was\nuttered in the Hebrew tongue. This was the language of the comparative\ninfancy of the world; and there is in the genius of it much\u2014especially its\nready lending itself to the form of balanced sentences\u2014which takes hold of\nthe hearts of untutored men. Such men store their wisdom in saws and\nproverbs; and in like manner the wisdom of the Hebrew is dropped in\nseparate pearls, which can easily be treasured up. When the time came for\ntouching cultured minds, and connected argument was required, Greek forms\nof thought and speech were needed. Saul was then converted; and Greek\nbecame the language of the Word.\n\nNothing in our Lord\u2019s ministry impresses me more than the extraordinary\nsobriety of the whole movement. We hear nothing of religious transport or\necstatic devotion. People listen in awe to our Lord\u2019s preaching as to a\ncommunication made from above. They never dare to applaud. He is too much\nabove them for that. Many have since come crying \u201cLord, Lord,\u201d in\ndifferent accents, at different times; we have heard of \u201crevivals\u201d among\ngreat multitudes, carried headlong by wild excitement, and of religious\ndelirium reaching to the borders of mania. All this is in the strongest\ncontrast with the ways of teaching of our Lord.\n\nTrue human freedom was with Him a sacred thing; what man was made for was\nthat he might be a free spiritual being; and a man is not free when he is\nfascinated by fervid oratory and becomes the blind tool of another, or\nwhen he is intoxicated by religious fanaticism and is no longer master of\nhis own mind. Any agencies, therefore, which would impair the health and\nfreedom of a man\u2019s will Christ refused to employ. They belonged to that\nSpirit of the World whose alliance He had refused. One cause of this\nsobriety of the great movement may be found in the elevation and tone of\nauthority which has just been spoken of as characterizing our Lord. He\nseemed to move in a plane parallel indeed to that of men, but a little\nabove it. For a speaker to kindle men\u2019s passions he must be possessed by\nthe notions and feelings of the time: he and his hearers must have common\nobjects of desire, or a common jealousy of those who possess what they\nthemselves want, they must therefore wear the stamp of a passing and\nparticular phase of mankind. Now it was the distinctive peculiarity of our\nLord\u2019s Personality that it belongs not more to one time or class than to\nanother. The Son of Man represents Humanity in the abstract, and no party\nhas ever been able to claim Him as their own.\n\nIn the course of the winter of A.D. 28-29, Levi, in the vernacular of\nGalilee called also Matthew, a toll-taker on the borders of the lake, is\nsummoned to follow our Lord. He justified our Lord\u2019s choice in a signal\nmanner, for \u201che forsook all, and rose up and followed Him.\u201d\n\nThere must have been in this man \u201ca soul of goodness\u201d of rare efficacy in\nresisting influences to ill. His position must have offered temptation to\nexaction. This was corrupting, but the steady and persistent effect of\nfeeling himself despised must have been more so even than this. He was\nhated not only as the tax-gatherer, but also as having accepted the\nservice of the foreign oppressors of the land. However justly the publican\nmight have striven to act, it would be taken for granted that he was\nendeavouring to fleece those who came into his hands; and a man soon\nbecomes what people about him will have it that he is.\n\nNow and then, however, in all positions, we come across natures which run\ncounter to the influences around them, or which by a happy chemistry\ndecompose the evil and turn its elements to good. Everything in the\npublican\u2019s calling fostered the love of gain; and to be able to save\nenough to give it up and live down ill report was his only hope. But\nMatthew breaks with his means of subsistence totally and at once. At one\nword of our Lord he throws all away without a moment\u2019s thought, and joins\nthe little band of followers which was being drawn into closer attendance\non our Lord. This man surely had \u201csalt in himself.\u201d\n\nSt Matthew has left us his Gospel. We learn from this which way his\nthoughts lean, and we see that he was not of that type of mind most\ncommonly associated with the idea of the Apostle of a new creed. He was\nprobably not very young and his views were formed and fixed: his national\nsympathy was intense. God was to him, first of all, the God of Israel, and\nhe regarded our Lord as the Messiah, after the type which Jewish hopes and\nfancies had fashioned for themselves. In all that occurred he saw the\nreproduction of what was narrated in the old books; and the burden \u201cNow\nthis was done that the Scripture might be fulfilled\u201d runs through all his\nwritings.\n\nHere then, some might say, we have a man chosen as a witness and\npromulgator of a faith which is to be universal, yet this man\u2019s sympathies\nflow only along one narrow channel, and he is wedded to old ways of\nreading the mind of God. He was however a guileless, God-fearing,\nhigh-hearted man; and it could not but strengthen the cause to have among\nthe Apostles one who could enter into the minds of those who looked for\nthe consolation of Israel in the old Hebrew way. The first function of the\nApostles,\u2014one on which I shall soon speak pretty fully\u2014was that they were\nto bear _witness_ of Christ. This was set forth in that which, so to say,\nwas their charter of incorporation. \u201cYe shall be my witnesses both in\nJerusalem and in all Jud\u00e6a and Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the\nearth.\u201d(149) Now the more varied the characters of the witnesses the\nstronger would be the case when they agreed.\n\nOur Lord, then, will have, among His immediate followers, minds of every\nsort. He does not pick out those only who are most after His own heart,\nnor does he mould men into one fashion, so that they should think on all\npoints alike. We cannot have freedom among human beings without diversity.\nSt Matthew, we perhaps say, had old world views; but it may have been just\nbecause of these, that he was the most fit Apostle for the Eastern world.\nThere would be crowds of men whom he would understand and who would\nunderstand him, but whose minds would have been closed to the utterances\nof Paul. The vineyard to which Christ called his labourers was the whole\nworld; it contained vines of every stock growing on every soil. It was\nwell then, that there should be labourers bred in various schools of\nhusbandry, and that each should work in the fashion in which he felt he\ncould do it best.\n\nAnother point to be noted about the call of St Matthew is this: The choice\nof a publican was a practical proof to the other disciples, as it is to\nthe Church for ever, that Christ is in no way a respecter of persons. The\ntwo pairs of brethren who followed our Lord may have been startled at the\ncall of Matthew, for they no doubt looked on publicans as their countrymen\ndid; and this act of our Lord\u2019s taught them, more forcibly than any words\ncould have done, that with Him outward circumstance went for nothing and\nthe inward man was all in all. In this call of Matthew the spirit of\nuniversality which belongs to the Christian Church is folded up like the\nembryo in the seed. Our Lord makes no comment on this call; nor do we hear\nof any murmurs from the disciples, who had by this time learned that our\nLord was wiser than they, as Peter had found when he let down the net.\n\nShortly before the call of St Matthew a miracle occurred, the cure of the\nsick of the palsy, when our Lord\u2019s renown was at its height\u2014a miracle at\nthe performance of which \u201cthere were Pharisees and doctors of the law\nsitting by, which were come out of every village of Galilee and Jud\u00e6a and\nJerusalem.\u201d(150) The presence of these strangers bears on what follows.\n\nHitherto we have read of no contest or conflict in Capernaum; but these\nPharisees conceived misgivings about the movement they had come to see.\nThis hostility was very different from that of the Sadducees in Jerusalem,\nwho, regarding the movement as an insane delusion likely to bring things\nabout their ears, set themselves remorselessly to root it out. But the\nPharisees do not seem at first to have borne our Lord any personal hatred,\nbut only to have been uneasy about the new teaching which went too far for\nthem, and did not follow the course which they had expected.\n\nThe Pharisees, nevertheless, were now on the watch for occasion to find\nfault. This is not an occupation which brings out the amiable side of\nmen\u2019s natures; and they became still more soured by finding nothing on\nwhich to hang a charge; so that at last they even leagued with the\nHerodians, their natural opponents, against our Lord. The most popular of\nall accusations, and one for which it was easy to find ground, was a\nbreach of the traditionary rules for keeping the Sabbath.\n\nThe Sabbath was an inestimable Law. It was maintained by Divine sanction\nat a time when a Law could not be upheld by any other means: it debarred\nmen from \u201cdoing what they would with their own\u201d on one day out of seven,\nso far as regarded the labour of themselves or of their children, their\nservants, their ox or their ass. It secured for the race this portion of\ntime against the greed of gain: but all this was done _for men_, although\nthe Jews had come to look on it as something done _by men for God_, and in\nso doing they made God a taskmaster like the gods of the pagans. Moreover\nthe Sabbath kept alive in each Israelite his self-respect as one of God\u2019s\npeople; however sordid his calling, he put away every seventh day his\nsqualor and his toil and resumed the dignity of Abraham\u2019s son. The Sabbath\nquestion was the chosen battle-ground of those who reduced all virtues to\nthat literal unquestioning obedience to authoritative records, which was\nso damaging to moral and spiritual life. Men thought that God\u2019s favour was\nwon or His wrath incurred in virtue of acts\u2014such as the keeping within or\nthe overstepping the limit of the journey allowed on the Sabbath-day\u2014which\nin themselves had no moral significance at all.\n\nHere again we see how our Lord deals with views falling short of the\ntruth. The moral creed of His countrymen was imperfect; it unduly exalted\nand obtruded formal duties, but it was all that they had; their whole life\nand that of their nation was moulded by it; instincts fostered by it had\nbecome hereditary, and to break it ruthlessly down would have been to lay\nwaste men\u2019s souls.\n\nIn the instance before us our Lord introduces a freer practice; and trusts\nto this to give birth in time to more intelligent notions about the\nSabbath day.\n\nOne passage in the history I purposely passed by. I thought that I might\nhave to write of it at such a length as to break the continuity of the\nnarrative, and I therefore kept it for the close of the chapter. The\npassage in question, which I subjoin, immediately follows the account of\nthe entertainment of our Lord in Matthew\u2019s house.\n\n\n    \u201cThen come to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the\n    Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said\n    unto them, Can the sons of the bride-chamber mourn, as long as the\n    bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the\n    bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then will they fast.\n    And no man putteth a piece of undressed cloth upon an old garment;\n    for that which should fill it up taketh from the garment, and a\n    worse rent is made. Neither do _men_ put new wine into old\n    wine-skins: else the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the\n    skins perish: but they put new wine into fresh wine-skins, and\n    both are preserved.\u201d(151)\n\n\nThe Pharisees practised fasting on the second and fifth days of the week:\nthe same practice was probably followed by the disciples of John; and if\nwe suppose that Matthew made this feast on one of the fasting days, this\nwould bring the contrast between the ways of John and of Jesus more\nsharply out.\n\nBefore examining the charge and the reply, a word must be said on the\nabsence of all distinctive religious observances in the practice of our\nLord and His disciples.\n\nThe Baptist, we know, enjoined stated fasts and taught his people to pray,\nand above all enforced the initiatory rite from which he drew his name. At\na later period our Lord\u2019s disciples beg to be taught to pray, \u201cas John\nalso taught his disciples.\u201d(152)\n\nIn those days people looked to a religion to order the externals of a\nman\u2019s life; hours of prayer portioned out his day; and so, even the\ndisciples appear to have felt that with them there was something lacking,\nand that they were at a disadvantage compared with John\u2019s disciples\nbecause they were not, through conformity to a special rule, formed into a\nbody and marked with a badge.\n\nIt is easy to find reasons why our Lord should have avoided doing what\nJohn did. If He had enjoined any system of religious observance, this\nwould have limited the spread of His Kingdom, and have laid on observances\nin general more stress than He desired. One Law or one ritual would not\nsuit all nations, or all times; for forms must vary with men\u2019s modes of\nlife, and if our Lord had introduced a form of worship He would have\n_particularised_ that which, of its very essence, was meant to be\nuniversal. John came as a prophet and forerunner, and he set on foot a\nsect, which was held together and long kept alive by usages of its own;\nbut the very observances which gave it vitality as a sect prevented its\never becoming anything more than a sect. Our Lord is not founding a sect\nat all; He is not a missionary making converts. He comes on earth to\nproclaim that God loves men, and to open a way by which men should \u201ccome\nto the Father.\u201d He leaves behind Him men suited to direct a religious\nmovement, but He organises none himself. Whether He drew many round Him or\nfew, His great work for the world would equally be completed on the Cross.\nHe never baptised, never instituted rites, laws or fasts, or stated\nservices of prayer; it is not till He leaves the earth that He enjoins the\nsacraments of His Church. It was to be left to men to put all into shape,\nfor _the outer form belongs to man_; and, if He had Himself adopted any\nparticular practice in any of the matters above named, men might imagine\nthat this was binding for evermore and had a virtue in itself.\n\nWe come now to our Lord\u2019s plain and practical answer to the particular\nquestions of the Pharisees which have led to these remarks. Fasting comes\nby nature when a man is sad, and it is in consequence the natural token of\nsadness: when a man is very sad, for the loss of relations or the like, he\nloses all inclination for food. But every outward sign that can be\ndisplayed at will is liable to abuse, and so men sometimes fasted when\nthey were not really sad, but when it was decorous to appear so. Moreover\na kind of merit came to be attached to fasting as betokening sorrow for\ntransgressions; and at last it came to be regarded as a sort of\nself-punishment which it was thought the Almighty would accept in lieu of\ninflicting punishment Himself. Our Lord does not decry stated fasts or any\nother Jewish practices, they had their uses and they would last their\ntimes; only He points men to the underlying truth which was at the bottom\nof the ordinance.\n\nWhen our Lord spoke, the children of the bridechamber the companions of\nthe bridegroom\u2019s youth, were still with Him, but He and they would soon\nhave to part. Sorrow must needs come upon them for the following reason,\nif for no other, that man\u2019s education cannot be perfect without it. Then\nindeed would they fast, not because it was enjoined, not of any stated\nprecept, but because they were bereaved of their Lord.\n\nOur Lord now turns to a metaphor, it was a familiar one. The lesson it\nseems to carry is this: our Lord will not meddle with the old form of\nthings, He will not patch up the old tenement in order that the new spirit\nmay make shift to dwell in it. Change with Him is never mechanical, always\norganic; it comes, not by alteration in construction, but always purely of\ngrowth. He is propagating spiritual truth in the souls of men; the time is\nnot yet ripe for rites and ordinances and hours of worship. But the days\nwould come when the truth would need a garb\u2014it would have to struggle\namongst human institutions, and it must then have outer expression just as\nother institutions have. This expression men must give, and Christ was\ncareful that, when the time came for this to be done, the right men should\nbe in their place to do it.\n\nHe takes a second metaphor to set forth the second part of His work: He\nwill have new flasks for the new wine. This new doctrine was not committed\neither to the disciples of John or even to scribes enlightened about the\nkingdom of heaven, but to those who, having no preconceptions, received it\nas children do their parents\u2019 words. This new wine would go on working and\nwould want room to expand. Peter we know expanded with it; but men whose\nminds had stiffened into shape under existing systems were like old flasks\nof skin, so harsh and dry that they would sooner crack than stretch; they\nwere neither plastic nor elastic, and our Lord wanted vessels that should\nbe both the one and the other. These new flasks were now soon to be\nchosen; and when this was done the work would enter on a new phase.\n\nUp to the time of the call of the Apostles, our Lord\u2019s most conspicuous\nconcern is for the multitudes. After that call, the Apostles occupy the\nforeground, and the whole manner of teaching is rather suddenly changed.\nIt is no longer adapted to a congregation of peasants; parables take the\nplace of plain speech, and instead of everything being done _for_ the\nlearner as before, much is left to be done _by_ him for himself. We mark\nanother change also in the manner. Hitherto there has been no _haste_, all\nhas proceeded in the most leisurely way; but soon danger will begin to\nthreaten and time to press, and act to follow act in close succession.\n\nFollowing the subject of my book, I have been careful to mark how our Lord\nfrom the very first had an eye for characters of the sort He wanted and\nhow He shaped them, with an unseen hand; but I must not have it supposed,\nbecause we see little lasting outcome from the preaching to the multitude,\nthat therefore it was unimportant compared with the training of the\nApostles. We must not suppose that Christ taught and healed chiefly that\nthe Apostles might listen and learn.\n\nWe can discern two kinds of good wrought by our Lord. In preaching to the\nmultitude he was, then and there, bringing God\u2019s light into the souls of\nmen. In choosing and fashioning the disciples, He was providing for the\nfuture of His Church. The work which the Apostles should set on foot would\nspread over the earth and affect all future times, while our Lord could\nHimself touch but a single generation in a single spot. Those, however,\nwho heard Him, carried to their homes a memory to last their lives; among\nthem His Personality survived. If, afterwards, troubled questions arose\nabout Him they would put them by, feeling that they had drunk at the\nsource before the stream had got sullied on its way.\n\nWhen our Lord came into villages where He was known, people crowded to him\nfrom all sides, and the new delight of communion with God\u2014the assurance\nthat the whisper which told them that God cared for them was a true\nvoice\u2014beamed from the hearers\u2019 faces and gladdened the Master\u2019s soul.\n\nIt was during this active ministry of our Lord, that the choice of the\nApostles was made and the foundations of their education were laid. The\ndifferences in their minds and characters would be brought into prominence\nby the greater intensity of the lives they afterwards led; new capacities\nwould peep out among those who, beholding the intense earnestness of our\nLord, learned to be in earnest themselves. No defined line was as yet\ndrawn between the multitude and the disciples. Those who were of the\nmultitude one day, and chose to follow, might count as disciples on the\nmorrow. Our Lord never wholly loses sight either of the multitude or of\nthe disciples; but, while the former were His first care in the period\nembraced in this chapter, the disciples, and especially the apostles, will\nbe so in that which will come before us in the next.(153)\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII. THE CHOOSING OF THE APOSTLES.\n\n\nIn treating of the calling of the Apostles, we encounter the questions,\n\u201cWhat led our Lord to surround Himself with a constituted body of this\nkind?\u201d and, \u201cIn virtue of what qualities were its members chosen?\u201d I am\nled to conclude that our Lord presaged that which actually came about, and\nprovided for future needs which he foresaw; so precisely do the measures\nhe takes meet what subsequent occasions required. The choice of the\nagents, moreover, is singularly happy with respect to the extraordinary\npart which was put into their hands; and it must be noted that this part\nwas one which Jesus alone, and, if He had only been what some of His\nbiographers represent, not even He could have contemplated: while for the\nparts, which, from the obvious prospects of the case it was likely they\nwould have to play, they were not calculated at all. The apostles were not\nsuited to advance a social or a political cause or to spread doctrinal\nviews; but they were specially fitted, as I shall shew, to gain credence\nfor facts which they could declare had passed before their eyes.\n\nBefore choosing the Apostles our Lord spent the night alone on the\nmountain in prayer; on one other occasion only did He do the same.(154) If\nwe regard only the duties expressly laid upon the Twelve at their\ncall,(155) and the immediate services expected from them, our Lord\u2019s\nconcern about them may seem more intense than the circumstances explain.\nBut if we regard them as the heirs of His work, as those by whom the fire\nkindled by Him on earth was to be kept alive and spread, then our Lord\u2019s\nkeen anxiety about them is accounted for. He looked to an early death, and\nwhen this death came it would depend on their constancy to carry the cause\nthrough the moment of dismay; and it would depend on the trust they\ncommanded among men, whether it should be believed or not, that He had\nrisen in triumph from the dead.\n\nIf we should find that the Apostles were, as a body, specially qualified\nto fulfil particular functions, and that these very functions it fell\nafterwards to them to discharge; then, surely, it is not unreasonable to\nsuppose that our Lord, in choosing the Twelve, was guided by His\nforeknowledge of the situation in which they would be placed, and of the\nparticular kind of work which they would be wanted to perform.\n\nIt will be shewn that the Apostles were qualified to be trustworthy\nwitnesses of fact. If the course of events had been such that there had\nbeen no fact to witness, this capacity of theirs would have found no\nsphere; it would have been provided and never employed; but, as it was,\nthe transcendent Fact that Christ died and rose again took place before\ntheir eyes.\n\nThe knowledge of this Fact was to be the most precious possession of the\nhuman race. How then was it to be preserved and transmitted? A fact only\nsubsists for a future time in the relation of witnesses. So the greatest\ncare is taken to provide for this Fact witnesses who would command belief.\nSome hearers will soonest trust one kind of witness and some another;\nwitnesses therefore of different kinds are provided, that every man might\nbe likely to find one in whom he could confide: but all these witnesses\nhave this in common\u2014they are all convinced of the reality of what they\nrelate, and are not men to be easily carried away by their fancy or their\nfeelings. If the religion had depended on the promulgating of theological\ndoctrines which needed subtle expositors, then the Apostles would not have\nbeen the right men for the work; but being founded as it was upon the\nfacts of Christ\u2019s life and death, what was wanted was, that credible\nwitnesses should be present when these facts occurred and should remain to\ntell the tale. This want was supplied with a completeness which to my mind\ntestifies of design.\n\nTo proceed with the history. During this winter of A.D. 28-29, our Lord,\nkeeping Capernaum for his place of abode, made excursions to the\nneighbouring towns, preaching as he went, and shewing by His miraculous\ncures that the Divine power was working through His hands.\n\nAfter the call of the fishermen on the Lakeside, He was constantly\naccompanied by His disciples, and from that time forth the education of\nHis followers was always in His mind. This education went on like the\nquiet processes of nature; the subjects of it never felt that they were\nbeing educated at all, but those who were of the right natures slowly\nchanged in the direction of what He would have them be. He did not make\nthem all copies after one pattern. That which was native to the man, and\nwhich marked him off from all other men, was lovingly preserved. He\nintensified in each man his proper life, which grew with all the greater\nvigour through being let to follow its own bent. As yet we hear of no\nlessons given to the disciples _by themselves_, they only shared what was\nsaid to the crowd: this may have been as much as they could then receive,\nand possibly their greatest profit came from what was not given in the way\nof lessons at all, from words dropt in daily intercourse and from watching\ntheir master\u2019s doings in the thousand little occurrences of their\nwayfaring daily life.\n\nIt is worth noting that during all this time of their earliest spiritual\neducation all was prosperity. From the autumn, in which, as I believe, our\nLord called the fisher brethren, to the springtime which we have now\nreached in the narrative, His renown had steadily grown. Wherever He went,\nmen were grateful for His coming, and drew close to hear; all seemed eager\nto press into the kingdom of Heaven, and to clutch at it as at treasure\ntrove.(156) First from the neighbouring towns, then from Jud\u00e6a and\nSamaria, and, at the time when this chapter opens, even from Idumea and\nTyre and Sidon, men came to listen to one who was said to have the words\nof Eternal life.\n\nThose who took their early impressions of Christ\u2019s service from those\ndays, would retain a glowing recollection of it all their lives long.\nTheir minds would be strung to hopeful confidence. When persecution came\nthey would regard it as something permitted by their Master for reasons\ninto which they did not inquire: the allegiance of mankind belonged, they\nwould say, to their Master of right; He might for a moment waive his\nclaim, but He could always resume it when He chose.\n\nOur Lord sets a high value on the personal trust and devotion of his\ndisciples, both for its own sake and because it was the bud which was to\nblossom into the new and transforming quality of Faith: this was forwarded\nin its early growth by the sunshine of success. The general who would win\nthe young soldier\u2019s heart must lead him to glory in his first campaign; he\nwill cling to him through all disasters after his heart is won.\n\nI take up the narrative at the beginning of the third chapter of St Mark\u2019s\nGospel.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd the Pharisees went out, and straightway with the Herodians\n    took counsel against him, how they might destroy him. And Jesus\n    with his disciples withdrew to the sea: and a great multitude from\n    Galilee followed: and from Jud\u00e6a.\u201d(157)\n\n\nThe Evangelists seldom speak of our Lord\u2019s motives, but here the\ncollocation indicates that it was this confederacy of Pharisees and\nHerodians which caused our Lord to leave Capernaum. The Herodians were\nmore formidable than the Pharisees. The latter would only set the law in\nmotion, but the former did not scruple to employ violence; and the\nMacedonian guards of the Tetrarch were at Tiberias within call. Our Lord\nnever, until His time was come, exposed Himself unnecessarily to danger;\nand at this particular moment His freedom and safety were of vital\nimportance. All that He had done would, humanly speaking, be lost or have\nto be done over again if He were cast into prison or slain: the pressure\nof this danger may have hastened the appointment of the Twelve. The body\nof disciples following our Lord had as yet no corporate life of its own;\nit was only held together by gravitation to Him and would fall to pieces\nif He were taken away; at this juncture then, there was no time to be lost\nin giving the body organic life. As soon as the Twelve received their\ncommission this body became possessed of a vital centre, and the\ncontinuous existence of the Church was secured, even though its Master\nshould be removed from earth.\n\nThis plot of the Pharisees was probably known but to few\u2014people when they\ntake counsel together do not publish their design on the house-tops\u2014and\nthe absence of excitement among the crowd favours the view that the danger\nof the prophet of Nazareth was not suspected by them. Whatever may have\nbeen His motive, our Lord left Capernaum, together with His followers, and\ntook, it seems, the road along the sea shore towards the north.\n\nSome words of our Lord, belonging probably to this place, are recorded by\nSt Matthew.\n\n\n    \u201cBut when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for\n    them, because they were distressed and scattered, as sheep not\n    having a shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest\n    truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few. Pray ye therefore\n    the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth labourers into his\n    harvest.\u201d(158)\n\n\nSt Matthew probably found in this need of labourers a sufficient reason\nfor the call of the Apostles. More hands were wanted for ministering to\nthe multitude, and it was desirable that some should be set apart for the\nwork. But our Lord\u2019s great earnestness in the matter points, as I have\njust said,(159) to something more than this, as though this calling of the\nTwelve was of vital concern for the great work that was being done for the\nworld.\n\nIt would only have bewildered the disciples if our Lord had explained to\nthem the meaning and motive of the commissioning of the Twelve. They could\nnot be told that Christ\u2019s Kingdom on earth was being vested in the Twelve\nas an undying body in order that it might not be shattered by His death.\nThey could not yet be told of the coming Resurrection, or that they were\nbeing trained to bear witness of Christ\u2019s spiritual presence with His own.\nOur Lord\u2019s talk with His disciples was primarily suited to their wants and\nto their minds, and not to those of the people of after times: we must not\ntherefore expect to find in it answers to the questions we want to put.\nBut we have one advantage which the disciples had not; they, as actors in\nthe drama, were taken up with their parts for the moment, while we\ncontemplate it as spectators from beginning to end; and even if we cannot\nquite follow the action, yet we can make out enough of sequence to see\nthat this action forms a whole: we mark the drift of the earlier incidents\nwhen we see the goal for which all was making, and our Lord\u2019s purposes are\nsometimes made more apparent by the course of His acts than by His words.\n\nWithout pretending to enter into our Lord\u2019s mind, we cannot help imagining\nthe considerations which the situation must have inspired. The danger to\nthe cause from allowing it to hang upon a single life was becoming more\npressing day by day. Though our Lord in passing through the country, had\nkindled men\u2019s hearts as He went along, yet He had left no working agency\nbehind. There was no rallying point, no minister, no constituted body in\nany district or town. It may be asked, \u201cWhy did not our Lord do as St Paul\ndid?\u201d Why did He not \u201cordain elders in every city,\u201d and establish His\nreligion territorially step by step, just as an advancing army occupies\nthe ground it has won? This is part of the wider question, \u201cWhy did not\nour Lord found a Church Himself?\u201d to which an answer has been given\nbefore. His business was to \u201ckindle the fire\u201d and only to kindle it. What\nhas been said of ritual (p. 222) applies to Church government as well.\nChurch polities, like forms of secular government, were to be formed by\nmen of each age for themselves; and to lay down a system, for which a\nDivine authority would inevitably be claimed, would bar all human\nintervention in matters ecclesiastical, and hamper men\u2019s minds in ways\nthat I have glanced at before. If a system of Christian communities had\nbeen spread over Galilee by our Lord as it was spread over Asia Minor by\nSt Paul, the forms of ecclesiastical government so sanctioned, and all\nthat related to outer worship would have been regarded as a part of\nrevealed truth. A visible Church framed by our Lord would have afforded a\nmodel, from any line in the construction of which it would have been a\nheresy to swerve. Men would not only have consecrated the principles of\nits polity but they would have seized on the visible constitution and\npoints of practice and have battled for these to the death. We should have\nhad an institution, Divinely authorised, and which therefore could not in\nthe smallest particular be changed, imposed on races inheriting different\ntemperaments, and one ecclesiastical rule would have been fixed for all\ntime.\n\nIn all matters of procedure the one question asked would have been, \u201cWhat\nwas the practice of the Lord?\u201d Church polity would have depended wholly on\nconclusions drawn from antiquarian study and, what would have been worse\nthan all, people having outgrown the institutions regarded as Divine would\nhave lulled their consciences by being studiously regardful of the form\nafter the meaning had disappeared, and they would have stretched the\nformul\u00e6 to make them fit the times. In doing this they would have played\nfast and loose with their honesty of mind. Moreover it seems to me an\nincongruity that the Redeemer of the World should also be the founder of a\nlocal Church; the disproportion is so vast between the two terms.\n\nA way was perfected in that night of prayer upon the hills, whereby an\norganic life was imparted to the little community without setting up a\nChurch, from the pattern of which no deviation could be allowed. The\nTwelve formed a centre round which the disciples might cluster, and this\nrudiment of organisation was enough for the time. Christ gave only such a\ngerm of external polity as the immediate need required. The commissioning\nof the Twelve imposed no particular form of rule; but it taught the lesson\nthat organisation and order and the distribution of duty were essential in\nthings spiritual as well as in things temporal, and that it was well for\nthe children of light to be as \u201cwise in their generation\u201d as the children\nof the world.\n\nWhen a danger or perplexity offers itself to men, they seek counsel one of\nanother, but our Lord takes counsel of the Father alone, there is with Him\nno hesitancy, no balancing of this course against that. In this case, when\nthe morning comes His resolve is distinct, and it is forthwith carried\nout. The constitution and proper functions of the body that He should\ncreate, as well as the persons who were to be the first members, all were\ndetermined on.\n\nWe read:\n\n\n    \u201cHe went out into the mountain to pray; and he continued all night\n    in prayer to God;\u201d(160)\n\n\nagain, we have\n\n\n    \u201cHe goeth up into the mountain, and calleth unto him whom he\n    himself would: and they went unto him. And he appointed twelve,\n    that they might be with him, and that he might send them forth to\n    preach, and to have authority to cast out devils.\u201d(161)\n\n\nThis is all we are told of the planting of that germ, of which the\nupgrowth is the Church of Christ. The organisation thus introduced was\njust enough to make of the disciples one body. Henceforth they could speak\nof themselves as \u201cwe;\u201d but as yet, they were only pupils, chosen to be\nabout their master\u2019s person, intrusted with special powers for the good of\nthose among whom they ministered, but with no authority over the rest of\nthe disciples.\n\nThe hour to which our Lord had looked forward, the time \u201cwhen the\nbridegroom should be taken away,\u201d arrived at last, and our Lord\u2019s timely\nmeasures in finding the right men and training them in the right way\nproved of signal service then. When the critical moment came the men\nproper for the work were found upon the spot. When our Lord at Gethsemane,\ndeclining all superhuman aid, resigned Himself into His captors\u2019 hands,\nconsternation and bewilderment for a moment overcame the Twelve\u2014\u201cthey all\nleft Him, and fled.\u201d(162) The recollection of this moment\u2019s failure may\nhave been of service to them in after days; it may have made them more\nlenient to the lapses of others, and, like the \u201cthorn in the flesh\u201d given\nto St Paul, might prevent their being \u201cexalted overmuch.\u201d The situation in\nwhich the Apostles found themselves called out the qualities desired. As\nsoon as their Master had suffered there came upon them the sense of\nresponsibility, and they rose to the circumstances as men with depth of\ncharacter do. The cause did not die down even for a moment, it was kept\nalive in that upper chamber where the eleven met. To them, from the first,\nthe other disciples looked for direction, and to them they brought their\nnews. The women never doubted about where they were to go with the news\nthat the sepulchre was empty, and late in the Resurrection Day the\ndisciples from Emmaus proceeded straight to the upper chamber, knowing\nthat the eleven would be there.\n\nHardly had the two who returned from Emmaus told their tale, when\n\n\n    \u201cHe himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace\n    _be_ unto you.\u201d(163)\n\n\nThe eleven had taken the helm quietly, as a matter of course, when the\nship seemed to be disabled. They had been faithful in a little and\nstraightway they are called unto much, they are chosen for witnesses of\nthe Supreme Event in the history of Man, of the Resurrection of our Lord\nand Saviour Jesus Christ.\n\nIt is this character of witnesses which distinguishes the Apostles from\nall other depositaries of a Master\u2019s cause. This was the charge that\ngoverned the disposition of their lives. Other men might organise churches\nand set forth the teaching of the Lord, but in the character of appointed\nwitnesses of the Resurrection they stood alone. Before the Resurrection\nthey are told\n\n\n    \u201cAnd ye also bear witness, because ye have been with me from the\n    beginning,\u201d(164)\n\n\nand afterwards it is as witnesses that they are singled out by our Lord,\n\u201cAnd ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Jud\u00e6a and\nSamaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.\u201d(165) In this\ndistinctive light too they regard themselves. When a successor to Judas\nhas to be appointed, St Peter says, \u201cof these must one become a witness\nwith us of his resurrection\u201d(166) and Peter and all the Apostles say,\nbefore the Sanhedrin, \u201cWe are witnesses of these things.\u201d Peter again,\nspeaking to the brethren from Joppa calls the Apostles \u201cwitnesses chosen\nbefore of God.\u201d(167)\n\nI find in the Twelve a special fitness for the particular work which it\nfell to them to perform. They brought to the attestation of the\nResurrection the concurring evidence of eleven eyewitnesses, simple,\ntruthloving, matter-of-fact men, of different types of mind.\n\nThe unanimity of the eleven, both as to their testimony and as to their\nadoption of a particular course of conduct has been less dwelt on by\nApologists than I should have expected. If one or two could have been\ngained over by the Scribes to dissent from the account of the rest, the\nmoral force of the evidence would have been lost. The chances against the\nagreement of the entire body in an illusion or a misrepresentation are\nenormous. But an event so transcendent as to wipe out of the minds of the\nwitnesses everything else\u2014\u201call trivial, fond records\u201d would efface small\nsubjective differences by the overwhelming force of the objective\nimpression; and the occurrence of such an event would account for that\nperfect agreement in action among men who had not uniformly agreed before,\nwhich is among the many striking phenomena which the book of the Acts of\nthe Apostles discloses to our own view.\n\nThe chosen witnesses have exactly the qualities which a judge would point\nout to a jury, as grounds for giving particular weight to their evidence\non questions of fact coming within their view. I must say something more\non this point.\n\nNothing carries more weight with a jury than the impression that the\nwitness has an intense belief in the truth of what he says. Such an\nimpression the Apostles conveyed; the possibility that they should\nthemselves doubt in the slightest about any fact to which they speak never\noccurs to their mind; all through the Acts and the Epistles the atmosphere\nis one of certainty, settled and serene. The Apostles had not been always\nso assured; we find them in the Gospels impatient for clearer statements\nand more decisive signs: \u201cNow speakest thou plainly and speakest no\nparable\u201d they regard as high praise. But after the Resurrection all this\nis changed, they are then quite certain of the fact that Christ is Divine,\nand they have given up trying to understand the ways and forms in which\nthe Divine power might show itself. They had probably, once thought, like\nNaaman, that it must operate something after the fashion which absolute\npower uses upon earth. They have got past this when we meet with them in\nthe Acts.\n\nI have spoken of the difference of character among the Apostles for this\nreason. That eleven men, and a _particular_ eleven, should all have agreed\nin an account of what they said they had seen, when by so doing they\ngained none of the objects of human desire, is hard to explain unless we\nsuppose that they were convinced of the truth of their report. If,\nhowever, these men had but one mind among them, either because one or two\nmaster spirits controlled the rest, or because they had been so carefully\ndrilled into uniformity that they could not help judging alike, then the\nvalue of this unanimity would disappear, for the eleven would become,\nvirtually, only one or two. Now that the Apostles were men of independent\nminds is clear from what we hear of their disputings by the way, and from\nthe offence taken at James and John when they ask for seats on the right\nand left at their Master\u2019s side; and, indeed, the Gospel portraiture of\nall the Apostles leaves on us the impression that they were of different\ntypes of character and had personalities that were strongly marked.\n\nCertainly St Peter had a turn of mind which was specially his own. He\narrived at steadfast conviction not by reasoning from step to step\u2014this\nwas a mental process rarely practised by Galilean fishers\u2014but by inward\nintuition, after his own strong Hebrew sort. When an impulse seized on him\nit must have its way, and when his heart was full of a matter he must pour\nit out.\n\nOf Matthew what I said (p. 215) may stand in place of a notice here. His\nGospel shews us from what side he looked on the work then being set afoot.\n\nJames and John the \u201cSons of Thunder\u201d may be set down as representing\nenergy and vehemence. They were not likely to follow a lead, or to fall in\nwith a fantasy started by anyone else. Our notices of Thomas and Philip\nand Bartholomew, remind us of sketches, in which a few spirited\npen-strokes present a figure which we can fancy we have seen. Though\nThomas so loved our Lord that he was the first to propose to go with Him\nto Jerusalem that \u201cthey might die with Him,\u201d(168) yet he will not take it\non hearsay that Christ is risen. He knew how dearly the disciples longed\nto have their Master back, and he mistrusted their report because he\nfeared that their impression might come of their strong desire. His doubts\nhowever like those of Nathanael, are those of an investigator, not of an\nassailant; like him he is \u201cwithout guile\u201d and is glad to accept the offer\n\u201cCome and see.\u201d Of Philip I have often spoken. His words, \u201cShew us the\nFather and it sufficeth us\u201d lay his mind bare before us.\n\nThese three men last named were all inclined to be incredulous, they were\nmatter of fact persons, looking without rather than within, and such are\nthe most trustworthy witnesses to external fact. Of one Apostle, Simon, it\nis true we learn that he had been a \u201czealot,\u201d that is, that he had once\nbelonged to a band of men fired with fanatical devotion. But, when we hear\nof him, he had caught sight of a different kind of Divine Kingdom from any\nthat he had thought of bringing about, and he was by degrees learning that\n\u201cthe wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.\u201d(169) Not one of\nthese men had sufficient imagination\u2014sufficient creative faculty\u2014to embody\nhis longings, even if he had such, in a vision so unexampled as that we\nhave. That some of the eleven should have had one illusive fancy and some\nanother would not have been improbable, but that all should have had the\nsame would have been inordinately so. As a matter of fact the portraiture\nof the risen Lord given in our different memoirs is a conception\nsingularly consistent, and one which the writers could not have drawn\nexcept from concurring traditions or personal knowledge of the facts.\n\nThere was one Apostle who did not witness the resurrection\u2014Judas Iscariot.\nWith all that has been written about him, the problems of his call and of\nthe purpose of his treason remain unsolved. If, as many suppose, Judas\ncame from some place in Jud\u00e6a, Kerioth by name, he was, among the\nApostles, the only one who was not a Galil\u00e6an. It is possible that he may\nhave been one of those who attached themselves to our Lord at Jerusalem\nbefore His active ministry began. Our Lord did not \u201ctrust Himself\u201d(170)\nwith these as a body but one or two may have gone with Him through Samaria\ninto Galilee. Judas may have been of a mind less simply receptive than the\nrest of the twelve. Perhaps he had aims for Israel, perhaps also for\nhimself, the patriotic element may sometimes have been uppermost and\nsometimes the selfish one, and perhaps he wanted to hasten the Divine\nscheme and help it forward in His own way.\n\nHis presence among the disciples shews that our Lord did not confine his\nchoice to those who were of one type, and that a man who had in him great\npossibilities, attracted his sympathy, although these possibilities might\nbe turned to evil, and the things meant for his good might become an\noccasion of falling.\n\nBut while each individual of the Apostolic body had a specific character\nof his own, yet beneath this lay a generic condition common to them all.\nThey all belonged to the lower middle class, living by labour but above\nwant; they were able to read and write and some could probably talk Greek\nwith the neighbouring Hellenists in the country to the north. The Apostles\nwere plain and homely in their minds and in their talk. In what they heard\nthey saw little beyond the meaning that lay on the surface of the words.\nThis literal mindedness does not belong to one Apostle or two, but\ncharacterizes them all, and it appears in St John\u2019s Gospel as frequently\nas in the other three. The Evangelists relate these displays of simplicity\nwithout ever dreaming that they throw thereby any disparagement on the\nApostles: such they expected them to be, and such they note that they\nwere.\n\nWhen men have the wants of the day full in view every morning of their\nlives, and must supply these wants by the labour of their hands, their\nthoughts naturally take a practical turn. Now this we note as a signal\ntrait in the behaviour of the Apostles and it is exactly what would\ncharacterize men brought up as they had been. They always look first to\nwhat under the circumstances has to be _done_; like seafaring men, they\nare prompt in resource. When the five thousand stay till nightfall on the\nmountain side far from any place where food could be got, the thought of\nthe Apostles is, \u201cHow are they to be fed?\u201d They take it on them to advise\nthat the crowd be sent away while there was still daylight enough for them\nto reach the villages. In the little daily business of common life they\nact as if matters of service fell within their own sphere and on them they\nhad a right to speak. I have already spoken of their pressing our Lord to\ntake food on the journey through Samaria. Again, when the three Apostles\nare with our Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter evidently\nsupposes that they have entered a new and heavenly country where they are\nto stay, and his first thought is to be of service. People, he supposes,\nwill want abiding places in the new country as well as in the old land\nthey had left, so he proposes to build huts as if they had been camping in\nthe hills. An Alpine guide would have spoken much in the same way. These\nlittle distinctive characteristics are carefully preserved, and the\ninstinctive thought of the attendant Apostles for their Master in their\nlittle acts of personal service is true to nature in a rare and delicate\nway.\n\nSuch men are good witnesses for they have eyes for everything. I contend\nthen, first that the Apostles were singularly adapted for affording the\ntestimony required, and next, that, if men were especially picked out on\naccount of their qualifications as witnesses, then our Lord must have had\nin view some great event for which witnesses were required. In the\nselection of these plain men to found the church we light upon the first\nhint of the distinctive feature of the Christian revelation mentioned\nabove, viz. that it was to be centred, not in _notions_ but in a\nstupendous Fact (p. 230).\n\nWhen the gospel had to be preached to Greeks who sought after a methodical\nsystem, and the need came for doctrine, the work was given to St Paul. But\ntwelve St Pauls as witnesses to fact would not have carried as much weight\nas the Apostles did; for though the most truthful of men, yet the world of\nhis own thoughts was nearly as present to him as the world without, and it\nwas not always perfectly clear when he was speaking of one and when of the\nother. The minds of the Apostles, on the other hand, were quite limpid;\nthey received all \u201cas little children,\u201d registering truly what came from\nwithout, and declaring it just as their five senses set it before them.\n\nI have said (_l.c._) that the Apostles were not the men whom the Founder\nof a policy or a school would have chosen to win men over to his views.\nOur Lord does not choose his successors for their power of attracting\ncrowds. He does not teach them to argue or to preach. They prevailed by\nwhat they were and what they did, more than by what they said. They had\nnot the art of kindling enthusiasm and leading captive the minds of men.\nThey do not possess the magic which masters the will. Their success comes\nof what they had to say, not of the way in which they said it. They were\nindeed to be the promulgators of the religion which was to grow up around\nthe person of Christ, they were to \u201cteach all nations,\u201d(171) but they are\nnot to dominate men and bear them down by impetuous oratory. This is too\nnear akin to delusion and tyranny for teachers of the freemen whom \u201cthe\ntruth makes free.\u201d Nor were they to rate their success by the multitude of\nthose they baptized. The truths revealed in Christ\u2019s life and death were\ngiven to the world to be part of its possessions through all time, and\nwhether they were generally accepted a little sooner or a little later was\nof small account.\n\nIt may be remarked here what a small part in the Divine economy, the gift\nof eloquence plays. Moses had no utterance, the speech of Paul was\ncontemptible, and the Apostles can, indeed, say what needs saying, but\nhave not the gift, so infinitely valued by the Greek, of leading men\ncaptive by persuasive words.\n\nBut though to have been witnesses of the Resurrection was the great glory\nof the Apostles, yet they were something more than witnesses; they were\nalso the first guardians and propagators of the Faith that transformed the\nworld. They were the depositories of the leaven which gradually set up its\nworking through the minds of men.\n\nFor this other function of their office they were also singularly\nqualified in various external ways.\n\nThe social position of the Apostles was advantageous for the promulgating\nof a Faith which was to become universal. They belonged to the stratum in\nwhich the Centre of Gravity of Humanity lay. The small land owners and\nhandicraftsmen in Galilee were in contact with people in different\nstations of life; they could talk with the rich and they could feel with\nthe poor; they were on the border land between the learned and the\nignorant, and had just enough knowledge to be able to get more when they\nwanted it. There was one truth, essential and vital to a Faith which was\nto exalt and dignify all mankind, which in the class from which the\nApostles came was found growing with especial vigour as on its native\nsoil. This truth was the surpassing value of a man as man,\u2014the sanctity\nwhich clothes a human being who is made in the image of God. The sense of\nthis truth is much keener among the poor than among the rich; it is the\npoor who are most scandalised if a human being is treated like a brute.\nThe rich have wealth, dignities and the like, on which their thoughts rest\nwith satisfaction. But when the poor man takes account of his condition he\nfinds but one item on the credit side, and he makes the most of it: it is\nthat \u201cHe too is a Man.\u201d The upper class in Palestine had little mind for\nanything wider than a philosophical or political sect, and they treated\nthe poor as if they had no souls. Christianity therefore could not have\nmade its cradle with them, and the lowest class had little intelligence\nand no power of combination and would have been at once trodden under\nfoot. Unless the Church had taken root in the lower middle class, it could\nhardly have spread as it did. That its earliest promulgators belonged to\nthis class I will not suppose to have been a matter of mere chance.\n\nTo proceed with the course of events. Our Lord having called to Him \u201cwhom\nHe Himself would\u201d and chosen the twelve, assigns to them their name. They\nare \u201cApostles,\u201d men sent forth to preach. But it was not till the risen\nChrist appeared to the eleven in that upper chamber and said, \u201cPeace be\nunto you; as my Father hath sent me even so send I you,\u201d that they saw all\nthat was meant by this name; viz. that Christ was the Apostle of His\nFather and that they were the Apostles of Christ.\n\nOur Lord on coming down with the Twelve from the mountain found a great\ngathering of people waiting for Him on a spot of level ground.\n\nSt Luke\u2019s account is this.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd he came down with them, and stood on a level place, and a\n    great multitude of his disciples, and a great number of the people\n    from all Jud\u00e6a and Jerusalem, and the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon,\n    which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases; and\n    they that were troubled with unclean spirits were healed. And all\n    the multitude sought to touch him: for power came forth from him,\n    and healed them all.\u201d(172)\n\n\nThe address to the newly chosen Apostles which follows this passage in St\nLuke\u2019s gospel has been incorporated by St Matthew with the Sermon on the\nMount. The portions belonging to it may there be recognised by the absence\nboth of allusions to the Law and of the opposed phrases, \u201cIt was said to\nthose of old time\u201d and \u201cBut I say unto you,\u201d phrases which point the\ncontrast which forms the main theme of the earlier address.\n\nThe multitudes who awaited our Lord \u201cin the level place\u201d were made up of\nApostles, disciples, and people \u201cwho came to hear him and be healed.\u201d In\nsome passages of this discourse our Lord had the disciples, and in others\nthe rest of the people, particularly in view.\n\nIt was to the disciples that He turned when He began to speak.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed are\n    ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.\u201d(173)\n\n\nThe four beatitudes are, to my mind, expressly addressed to those who are\nabout to take service on Christ\u2019s side. It was only to a disciple that our\nLord could say that He would be hated, and cut off and vilified \u201cfor the\nson of man\u2019s sake,\u201d and it was only disciples, and disciples too who were\nactive in spreading the word, who could be brought into comparison with\nprophets either true or false. The interpretation also of these beatitudes\ndepends on the fact that our Lord is speaking to the disciples. Blessing\ndid not belong to the poor as an appanage of their poverty but because\nthey were His disciples and theirs was the Kingdom of God; it was easier\nfor the poor than the rich to enter this Kingdom, and then their earthly\npoverty brought out by contrast the greatness of their spiritual wealth.\nThere is this difference between the lessons taught here and those\ndelivered in the Sermon on the Mount; here all is personal while there it\nis general. Here, our Lord is speaking to His disciples and says, \u201cfor\n_yours_ is the Kingdom of Heaven,\u201d and \u201c_ye_ shall be filled.\u201d In the\nSermon on the Mount the corresponding pronouns are _theirs_ and _they_.\n\nA special lesson is conveyed to the Twelve is the last of these\nbeatitudes.\n\n\n    \u201cBlessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall\n    separate you from their company, and reproach you, and cast out\n    your name as evil, for the Son of man\u2019s sake. Rejoice in that day,\n    and leap for joy: for behold, your reward is great in heaven: for\n    in the same manner did their fathers unto the prophets.\u201d(174)\n\n\nAlthough the enthusiastic reception of their Master must have cheered the\nApostles and set them forward in good heart, yet they were not to think\nthat they were called to share in a triumph that was already won. They\nwere not to be over-elated by this passing favour of men. The danger was,\nlest they should be too sanguine and be carried away by the fascination of\npopular goodwill. Well might they be lifted up. Their Master had just\nentrusted them with superhuman powers, and multitudes had come from miles\naround and had waited for them all night at the foot of the hills. So, in\nthe midst of the flush of success, our Lord tells them that the criterion\nof their being true soldiers of God is their winning, not the world\u2019s\npraise but its hate. There is in the world an enmity to God as God. There\nare many who will readily enough acknowledge a Deity so long as He is not\nreal and actual and is not brought too near; they find in the abstract\nidea a serviceable support for their social institutions; but from the\nnotion of a living God close by them they shrink in dismay, and along with\ntheir terror goes hate.\n\nParallel with these beatitudes run the denunciations of woe.\n\n\n    \u201cBut woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your\n    consolation. Woe unto you, ye that are full now! for ye shall\n    hunger. Woe unto you, ye that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and\n    weep. Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for in\n    the same manner did their fathers to the false prophets.\u201d(175)\n\n\nThese denunciations are not found in the Sermon on the Mount. That\ndiscourse was addressed to people mostly of the same class and in the same\nposture of mind. When our Lord first spoke to the crowds on the hillside\npeople had not begun to take sides; but, at the period of the history now\nbefore us, they had already clustered into parties; some had declared for\nthe word and some against it, while many remained indifferent or in doubt,\nand to these several parties our Lord speaks in turn.\n\nI think that when our Lord began to utter \u201cWoe,\u201d he turned to the men of\nstation and substance in whom curiosity was mixed with considerations of\nprudence. They are not denounced for being rich any more than the poor are\nblessed for being poor; but their calamity is this, that in riches they\nfind enough consolation to prevent their striving heartily after anything\nbetter. They do not \u201chunger and thirst after righteousness,\u201d they do not\n\u201cseek a country;\u201d they do not steadily seek anything; but, if they feel\nfor a moment uneasy, they clutch their possessions and say, \u201cAt any rate I\nhave thus much comfort secure here.\u201d This it was which made it next to\nimpossible for them to enter the kingdom of God, and our Lord cries unto\nthem, \u201cWoe.\u201d\n\nIn the last denunciation our Lord comes back to the disciples again. The\nills that men\u2019s hatred brought with it were patent enough, but men\u2019s\nfavour was an insidious snare; for it might lead them unawares to love\n\u201cthe praise of men more than the praise of God.\u201d The more kindly the young\npreacher is received, the more distressing it is to him to incur dislike;\nand consequently the greater is the temptation to soften down Christ\u2019s\nsternness and to meet the world halfway. Our Lord warns his new helpers by\nthe example of those who in old times had prophesied smooth things, and\nhad gone the way of the world while the world had made believe it was\ngoing theirs.\n\nThe beatitudes and warnings of woe form the prelude, and when this was\nover our Lord may be supposed to have lifted up his eyes from those who\nstood nearest\u2014probably the Apostles and most notable persons\u2014and to have\naddressed the whole multitude; for, His words, \u201cBut I say unto you which\nhear,\u201d(176) I take to imply, \u201c_all_ you which hear.\u201d The twelve verses\nwhich follow form a sermon of general application of which \u201cLove your\nenemies\u201d is taken as the text.\n\nOn this sermon being ended we read\n\n\n    \u201cAnd he spake also a parable unto them, Can the blind guide the\n    blind? shall they not both fall into a pit? The disciple is not\n    above his master: but every one when he is perfected shall be as\n    his master.\u201d(177)\n\n\nThis parable is addressed to the newly appointed Twelve. It bears on the\ntemptations of young teachers. They are in danger of being elated at\nfinding themselves teachers when they had so lately been learners; they\nmight lean to correction, and might incline to be over busy in giving\ndirections and in finding fault; they might persuade themselves too that\nthey thought only of the learners\u2019 good, when in reality there was, mixed\nwith this, a good spice of the love of exercising superiority. They are\ntold that if they are to act as guides they must see their own way first;\nthe light within them must not be darkness.\n\nThe last verse of the last quotation, refers, not to Christ and _His_\ndisciples\u2014there is no suggestion that these should reach _His_\nperfection\u2014but to the disciples and _their_ scholars. The especial point\nof the verse is the responsibility laid upon the teacher, by the pupils\ntaking him as their ideal. The pupils of the disciples would copy the\ndisciples themselves, and they could not excel their pattern. The learner\ncould not be above his master, what is cast in a mould cannot be better\nshaped than the mould itself; but the perfected work that is turned out\nexactly represents the mould. The disciples therefore must watch against\nevery defect, for their pupils would copy them faults and all.\n\nThe text has another application besides this, the pupil when perfected\nwould stand on a level with His master; the latter had no indefeasible\nsuperiority. When they had lighted the lamps of others the light of the\nrest would be as bright as their own. If they were to glory it should be,\nnot in their superiority to their pupils, but in their pupils having\nbecome as good as themselves. They were not to be like those teachers who\nkeep back from their prentices some special secret of their art.\n\nNext comes the verse, \u201cFor there is no good tree that bringeth forth\ncorrupt fruit.\u201d(178) This applies both to those who teach and to those who\nlearn. If the master\u2019s scholars mostly turn out ill it may be inferred\nthat he is a bad master; and if the master be self-seeking at bottom,\nwhatever disguise he may put on, the evil will come to light: selfishness\nalways generates counter-selfishness, and false pretension detected in one\ncase may lead a young man into general mistrust.\n\nIn another view of the verse, the behaviour of the man is the fruit and\nhis nature is the tree. This fruit is not without value in itself, but is\nof more value still as an evidence of the condition of the tree. This\nfalls in with the constant burden of Christ\u2019s teaching, \u201cGod looks to what\nyou _are_ as well as to what you _do_, and part of the importance of what\nyou do comes from its shewing what you are, or from its helping by way of\npractice to confirm you in your ways whether good or bad.\u201d\n\nIn the last four verses of the address our Lord again speaks to the whole\ncompany of hearers. He takes one of His familiar topics, viz., that good\nis not only to be admired, it must also be done. This is expressed by the\nillustration of the house on the rock and that on the earth. Many who\nfollowed Him counted themselves His disciples because they carried away\nhis commands in their heads and talked about them. He tells them that they\ncan only get firm hold of them by putting them into practice. There were\nmany hearers who would put our Lord\u2019s precepts away somewhere in their\nmemory, and be satisfied with possessing right and beautiful thoughts\nwithout carrying them into practice, keeping them like curios in a drawer.\nThese were like men building on the earth, who do only just what the\nmoment requires. But the habit formed by steady obedience effects a\nstructural change in the man\u2019s own mind. This is a lasting possession\u2014it\nhas taken time and pains to acquire, but it is storm proof like the house\nupon the rock.\n\nWhen speaking of the Sermon on the Mount, I touched on the form in which\nour Lord delivers what He says. The remarks there made apply to the\ndiscourse before us and, in addition, it may be said, that this address is\nadmirably adapted to be carried away by the hearers as a whole. It is\nstrongly marked by its characteristic style, so that an addition or\nalteration by another hand would strike even an unpractised ear, as not\nhaving the true ring. There are four beatitudes and four denunciations,\ncorresponding each to each; this numerical symmetry assists recollection.\nThen comes the sermon, made up of sayings so short and terse that the most\nunlettered may carry the whole away; and finally all ends with a parable,\nwhich is so well suited to the popular mind that it is now perhaps the\nbest known of all pieces of Bible imagery. Those who like may trace in\nthis a certain prevision, a designed fashioning of the garb of the word to\nsuit it for that oral transmission on which, at one period, its\npreservation would depend.\n\nWhen our Lord had finished His discourse He returned to Capernaum.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd he cometh into a house. And the multitude cometh together\n    again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. And when his\n    friends heard it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said,\n    He is beside himself.\u201d(179)\n\n\nThere were occasions in our Lord\u2019s life in which the Divine nature seemed\nto glow through the human receptacle. It was so when He came down from the\nMount of Transfiguration, so too, when he went forward, apart from the\nrest, at the outset of His final journey to Jerusalem; and so I believe it\nwas when He came back to Capernaum bringing with Him the Twelve whom He\nhad chosen to form the nucleus of His everlasting Church. Something in His\nair seems to have amazed His friends, \u201cthey said he is beside himself.\u201d\n\nThe Scribes, marking the temper of the crowd, thought it wise to drop\ntheir schemes of violence, but they set afoot the notion that He was\npossessed by the Prince of the Devils and ruled the spirits of evil in his\nname. Our Lord made no long stay at Capernaum, but took the Twelve with\nHim on a journey to the cities in Galilee that they might see how He\npreached and taught, and, what was more, that they might learn to put\ncomplete trust in His wise guidance and sheltering love. This was the\nfirst practical lesson they collectively received.\n\nIt was in the interval between the calling of the Twelve and the\ndespatching of them, two and two, on their missions, or possibly while\nthey were gone, that the messengers sent by the Baptist came up with our\nLord and His party.\n\nAs the next chapter will be taken up with the lessons belonging to this\nmission of the Twelve, I shall deal with this incident in this chapter,\nalthough, chronologically, it might fall in the next. It is related by St\nMatthew as follows:\n\n\n    \u201cNow when John heard in the prison the works of the Christ, he\n    sent by his disciples, and said unto him, Art thou he that cometh,\n    or look we for another? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Go\n    your way and tell John the things which ye do hear and see: the\n    blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are\n    cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the\n    poor have good tidings preached to them. And blessed is he,\n    whosoever shall find none occasion of stumbling in me.\u201d(180)\n\n\nThe question asked by the Baptist shews us his condition of mind. A voice\nin his heart had told the Baptist that he was born to be the forerunner of\none mightier than himself, and the sign at the Baptism had shewn him who\nthat Person was. He had recognised in Him \u201cthe Lamb of God who was to take\naway the sins of the world,\u201d the Son in whom the Father was well pleased.\nThis conveys the impression that John regarded our Lord as the Jewish\nMessiah, but the Baptist\u2019s notions about the Messiah may have been vague,\nlike those which the people and even the Scribes entertained; although he\nwas a prophet and more than a prophet, he would not know more than other\npeople, except on matters directly revealed to him. The Divine light is\nindeed a \u201clantern to a man\u2019s path,\u201d but it is a lantern that throws its\nlight only in the direction in which he who carries it has to go. I\nbelieve that John sent to our Lord because he was bewildered by what he\nheard. That the Messiah should preach and heal was agreeable to what he\nhad expected: but, \u201cWas this to be all?\u201d Was He going to restore the\nkingdom Himself, or was another to come and take up that portion of the\nwork?\n\nOur Lord, it would appear, wished to give John as nearly as might be the\nsame advantages as His disciples had. The emissaries are accordingly made\nwitnesses of the Signs. They are told to relate what they saw and He adds\nthe significant words, \u201cAnd blessed is he whosoever shall find none\noccasion of stumbling in me.\u201d(181) Our Lord could not say that He was the\nMessiah without letting loose all the divers erroneous imaginations which\nhovered round the name. Our Lord, after His fashion, gives the Baptist a\nsuggestive hint, leaving it to him whether He should follow out the clue\nrightly or not. As soon as John\u2019s messengers, who for a while had\nwitnessed the works that He did, had turned back home, our Lord addressed\nhimself to the company who were with him, people, disciples and all, and\nspoke to them of John. This discourse contained lessons of tolerance which\nhelped to widen the disciples\u2019 minds, and I shall therefore discuss it at\nsome length. It has a bearing extending beyond those to whom it was\naddressed.\n\nI shall take St Luke\u2019s version of this discourse because in that of St\nMatthew it is, I think, mixed with matter spoken on other occasions.\n\nIt is our Lord\u2019s way to point the drift of a whole discourse by a pregnant\nsentence at the end, in which the expositor finds the key to the whole.\nSuch a saying we have here, in the closing words,\n\n\n    \u201cAnd wisdom is(182) justified of all her children.\u201d(183)\n\n\nThe meaning of the passage turns on the sense given to the word\n\u201cjustified.\u201d It is employed, near the beginning of the discourse, in the\nsame sense which it has here at the end, and this helps us to understand\nits particular meaning in this place. I refer to the passage:\n\n\n    \u201cAnd all the people when they heard, and the publicans,\n    _justified_ God, being baptized with the baptism of John. But the\n    Pharisees and the lawyers rejected for themselves the counsel of\n    God, being not baptized of him.\u201d(184)\n\n\nThe word \u201cjustified\u201d is used in this passage in the sense it has when we\nsay \u201cmy son has justified all my outlay,\u201d or \u201cthe event justified all my\nprecautions.\u201d\n\nThe publicans by accepting the baptism of John shewed that God\u2019s good\noffices in their behalf were not thrown away, that they had not been\nregarded with excessive hopefulness or a too indulgent eye; but the\nScribes and Pharisees frustrated God\u2019s good purpose in their behalf. So\nfar as they were concerned his measures were of no effect. They would have\nnone of them. The fact was, that, though they talked about God, they were\nin fact God-blind, and when asked to follow His teachers they found\nspecial reasons for declining in each particular case. John renewed an\nideal which had passed out of sight; he appeared in the ascetic garb of\nthe prophets of old; his strict life and his outspoken words disturbed\ntheir consciences and they put him aside by the readiest of expedients,\nthey declared that he was mad. Then came our Lord declaring Himself the\nSon of Man, living as other men did, and consecrating thereby the ordinary\ncourse and usages of human life. In His case also the Scribes had an\nobjection to make. A messenger from God, they thought, would come upon the\nearth in a different way from other men, and all his doings would be of an\nexceptional kind: whereas Christ lived to all appearance just as they did\nthemselves. In the same way that courtiers surround a prince by a wall of\netiquette in order to elevate him and hold him apart from the people, so\nwould the Scribes have encompassed God\u2019s messenger with hallowed\nobservances. They were not likely to understand that the closer Jesus kept\nto the ordinary and universal ways of men which were of natural growth,\nthe more He was at home in the Kingdom of His Father who had made the\nworld and ordered the ways of men.\n\nChrist goes to the root of both these objections. He takes an image drawn\nfrom what was always under their eyes. He supposes a crowd of children\nplaying in the market place, while others are sitting somewhat sullenly\nby. They play at a wedding, and they pretend to pipe and dance, but those\nwho sit by will not stir; and then they change to a funeral, and imitate\nthe wailing of the relatives and of the train of hired mourners, but those\nwhom they wish to gain for playmates will not have this either; _they do\nnot want to play at all_. The people would learn from this image as much\nas was within their comprehension. They could see that when the Pharisees\nobjected on opposite grounds to two courses, their aversion was really not\nto either course but to that to which both courses tended. But the last\nverse, \u201cwisdom is justified of _all_ her children,\u201d goes beyond what the\npeople would see at the time; and, indeed, as St Matthew in his version\nomits the important word _all_, it looks as if he had himself missed the\nfull sense.\n\nThe text conveys a lesson of ample tolerance which even in these days, all\nminds are not stretched wide enough to receive. The point is this. God has\nchildren of more types than one, and all these, in their own different\nways, justify God\u2019s thought for them by taking advantage of His help. The\nways of Jesus and the ways of John differ widely, but men may reach God\ncoming round by either way. Some may gain access to the Kingdom through\nJohn and others by Jesus; but all who _are_ God\u2019s will get there by some\nway or other. If the Scribes and Pharisees were winnowed away by this\ntrial it was because the germs of a Divine nature within them had been\nsuffered to perish. They were God\u2019s children no longer, and God\u2019s ways for\nHis children would not succeed with them.\n\nThat wisdom is justified of all her children, is a truth carrying to\ndifferent generations the precise lesson of tolerance it needs. It was not\nlong before the Apostles themselves had occasion to call this very lesson\nto mind. An exclusive spirit, and the desire to have their privileges all\nto themselves led them to forbid a man who followed not with them to cast\nout devils in their Master\u2019s name. They are very gently set right. Our\nLord is never hard upon errors arising from mistaken notions; he gently\nchecks them at the time and takes early occasion, by a parable, or some\nlesson of circumstance, to suggest the proper counter view.\n\nBut though the Apostles might profit by this apophthegm, yet it was aimed\ndirectly at the Scribes who held that in all questions there must be one\nright view, all others being wrong; so that toleration of anything that\ndeviated from the accepted view, implied indifference to truth. But it is\nonly \u201ctruth absolute\u201d which is _one and exclusive_ and this, in spiritual\nmatters, can only be attained by an unmistakeable _dictum_ of revelation.\nIn a geometrical investigation, we have an infallible logic dealing with\ndefinite notions; we therefore get one precise result, and all that differ\nfrom this are worthless. But in matters spiritual an element of infinity\nmust be present; notions enter which cannot be defined; men may use the\nsame words in stating their views, but whether these words convey the same\nconceptions to them all, no one can possibly say. In things spiritual,\ntherefore, no one answer completely excludes all other answers because we\nnever get a perfect solution at all; we only get approximations. In like\nmanner there are insoluble problems in Mathematical Physics to which we\ncan only get answers approximately correct. These being points in a circle\nround the unattainable centre may be infinite in number.\n\nThese hard sayings shew that Christ, when he spoke, looked beyond his\nhearers into infinite space and saw there \u201cother sheep who were not of\nthis fold.\u201d(185) He must also have felt sure that these words of His would\nbe preserved for after times; for certainly, it was not merely for\nGalilean hearers that our Lord uttered pregnant words like those I have\njust discussed.(186) The candle was not lighted to be put in a cupboard.\nThe hard sayings of our Lord as well as many of His passing words, which\ncalled forth no notice at the time, are to me part of the witness,\neverywhere peeping out, of our Lord\u2019s prospective view in what He said and\ndid. He must have had in view persons or bodies of men, who would find,\nsome in one of these utterances and some in another, what answered to a\nwant or a question rising in their hearts; and, as a fact, men have in\nevery age lighted on words of our Lord which seemed to be a revelation\ndirected to their own case, the key to the special riddle which vexed\ntheir souls. There are herbs and simples growing on the earth, which men\nfor ages have passed carelessly by, but some new form of malady has one\nday appeared, and in the disregarded plant has the needful help been\nfound.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX. THE SCHOOLING OF THE APOSTLES. THE MISSION TO THE CITIES.\n\n\nThe point we have now reached in the history is marked by a signal change\nas well in the form of our Lord\u2019s teaching as in the outer tenour of His\nlife. His discourses are no longer a string of positive precepts, but they\nconsist largely of parables, commonly closing with a moral put into a\nstriking, not to say a paradoxical, form. His way of life is altered also,\nit is no longer that of a resident of Capernaum, but that of a wayfarer\nundertaking considerable journeys, accompanied by the Twelve who had left\nall to follow Him. Outward circumstances, such as danger from the side of\nHerod, may have had influence in bringing this latter change about, but\nall things fell together to further the kind of education desired for the\nTwelve. This change from a stationary life to a wandering one was\nconducive to the growth of certain qualities valuable for the founders of\na Church. These qualities we find conspicuously displayed by the Apostles\nin the Acts, and we may ask whether they had not acquired them in this\ncourse of practical education, and also whether our Lord did not frame\nthis course with a view to its educational effects, and the fitting of the\nApostles for their work. Was it of pure accident that all this came about?\n\nWe can also, although with less positiveness, draw some inferences from\nthe courses which our Lord avoided taking as well as from those which He\ntook. When we are disposed to wonder why our Lord did not take some\nparticular step, it is a good plan to consider what would have come about\nif He had done so. We shall often find that the proposed course would have\nhad an ultimate effect, very different from that immediate and obvious one\nwhich had at first occurred to us. So, by examining the educational\nconsequences which would have resulted from certain courses that were\n_not_ taken we shall, I think, learn something about what to avoid in\neducation ourselves. Although the education of the Apostles is a purpose\never in our Lord\u2019s view, yet it is only now and then that we are plainly\ntold that something was said or done for the Apostles\u2019 sakes. This silence\nas to the effect which is aimed at is, in education, often a necessity. If\na pupil is told by his master that he is put through certain studies, not\nthat he may learn the subject, but that he may perfect himself in certain\nmental motions and improve his capacities, he is apt to be made\nself-conscious and coxcombical or else, feeling satisfied that his mind\nand capacities are very well as they are, he gives small attention to what\nhe is told.\n\nFrom the very first we have seen indications that our Lord was divining\nthe natures of men, selecting them with a forecast to their coming work,\nand fitting them to receive and promulgate His revelation of God. But this\ninner purpose, which, until the Twelve are called, has lain underground,\nnow crops out on the surface and forces itself into view; and we feel\nbound to ask of every subsequent incident in the sacred History, \u201cHow was\nthe Apostles\u2019 character influenced by this?\u201d\n\nI have spoken of the \u201cSchooling of the Apostles\u201d for want of a better\nphrase, but the mental changes wrought in the disciples by their Master\u2019s\ncompany constitute a very different sort of schooling from what commonly\ngoes by the name. They receive no doctrinal instruction in dogmatic form,\nthey obtain nothing which they can display, they are shewn no new system\nfor dealing with the problems of life, nor are they given fresh views\nabout the Messiah. Those who come asking \u201cWhat they are to do?\u201d are always\ntold that they already know, or should know, this very well of themselves.\nAmong the great Teachers of the world there is hardly one, whose chosen\npupils have received so few tenets in a formulated shape as those of\nChrist; and yet the Apostles at the time of the Ascension have undergone a\ntransformation, compared with what they were when our Lord first found\nthem, greater than was ever wrought in men in the same time before.\n\nOne special function was assigned to the Apostles which sets them apart\nfrom all other men. In them was engendered a new quality belonging to\nspiritual life; they were the trustees of mankind for a new capacity; they\nwere the depositaries of the faculty for realising \u201cthe assurance of\nthings hoped for, the proving of things not seen.\u201d(187) In them Faith,\nwhich elsewhere existed only in the germ, was brought to perfection and\nbore fruit, and scattered seed. Their progress in this quality proceeds by\ncertain steps; these are roughly indicated in the first chapter of this\nbook (pp. 8, 9), but I will name them here again.\n\nFirst of all, the men who were chosen for the work had a more than usual\npower of savouring the things of God. They are brought under the influence\nof One whom they regard as the Messiah but about whom something of mystery\nhangs. They conceive for him a passionate loyalty, and an affection, of\nwhich that inspired by the highest human natures will only serve to give a\nbare idea; they are with him day by day; they look on his Signs and\nWonders, but it seems to them so natural that a Man like Him should work\nwonders, that they scarcely marvel at them. Inward evil, selfish thoughts\nand all, disappear when He is by. Again, they are educated to feel that in\nHis company they are safe against outward dangers. This growing\nconfidence(188) was tried and found wanting when they were with their\nMaster on the Lake and the storm arose; the lesson had to be studied a\nlittle longer. As soon as it was fully learned they were advanced another\nstage; the Apostles, in the great practical lesson which is the leading\nmatter of this chapter, were taught that Christ\u2019s power reached beyond His\npresence, that it could even be delegated to them, and that His shelter\ncould be spread over them, though He might be far away. They are sent\nforth without purse and scrip that they may the better feel that they are\nin Christ\u2019s hand and need give no thought to petty daily cares. The same\nlesson is afterwards given to the Seventy disciples. The Crucifixion\nbrought about an education of a very different kind, that of affliction\nand trial; but the Apostles do not, at once, wholly lose their Master, He\nis withdrawn from them by degrees. After the Resurrection though He no\nlonger lives on the earth a common life with men, yet His disciples feel\nthat He is not absolutely gone; He seems to be still close by, and they\nmay at any moment see His loved and honoured form and hear the words\n\u201cPeace be unto you.\u201d The stranger who joins them on the road may prove to\nbe He; they may catch sight of the Lord\u2019s features as He vanishes away.\nThen comes the last stage of separation when He is completely lost to eye\nand ear, and Spiritual Communion only is maintained. Most carefully and by\nwisely ordered degrees had they been brought to apprehend this Spiritual\nCommunion, and they were actuated by the inner sense of His presence\nduring all the rest of their lives. This it was, this realization of our\nLord\u2019s words \u201cLo, I am always with you unto the end of the world,\u201d which\nrendered\u2014and still is rendering\u2014the Christian Church a body living and\norganic, and not a mere exponent or depository of doctrines, and of\ntraditions about the Lord.\n\nChrist is the Divine core of the true life of Humanity, and He, when one\nset of views are outgrown, may whisper to the \u201ccompany of God\u2019s faithful\npeople,\u201d and there may be disclosed to them another aspect of that truth\nabsolute which men in the body cannot completely discern or receive.\n\nSoon after the call of the Apostles the fixed residence of our Lord at\nCapernaum was broken up. Very little consideration will be wanted to see\nthat it was serviceable, with a view to the education of the Apostles,\nthat it should be so.\n\nUp to this time the fisher brethren had gone on working for their\nlivelihood more or less, but now their Master saw that He should be but a\nshort time with them and He would have them all to Himself. Of labour,\nboth bodily and mental, the Apostles should indeed have enough, but so\nlong as they were with their Master\u2014so long as the bridegroom was with\nthem\u2014all this labour must tend to the single object unto which they were\nto consecrate their lives. We can readily see that so long as Christ was\non earth it was their one duty to follow and to hear; they should be\nengrossed by the sole duty of attending Him and were not to be distracted\nby sordid cares or by having to labour for their daily bread. They were to\nlearn that the work to which they were called was of a sublime order, and\nthat the business of common life was as nothing by its side. After this\ntime the Apostolic party were supported from their own savings or from the\ncontributions of their friends, or of others interested in the \u201cwords of\neternal life.\u201d The following passage belongs to this time:\n\n\n    \u201cAnd it came to pass soon afterwards, that he went about through\n    cities and villages, preaching and bringing the good tidings of\n    the kingdom of God, and with him the twelve, and certain women\n    which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary that\n    was called Magdalene, from whom seven devils had gone out, and\n    Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod\u2019s steward, and Susanna, and many\n    others, which ministered unto them of their substance.\u201d(189)\n\n\nBut as soon as they ceased to labour for their daily bread, they were kept\ncontinuously and actively engaged in their Master\u2019s service; for they were\nnot to be exposed to the dangers attending the lack of settled occupation.\nThus we find that as soon as they ceased to earn their livelihood they\nwere occupied incessantly, journeying in attendance on our Lord. This\nmatter may be approached at either of its two ends. It may have been our\nLord\u2019s first care that the Apostles should be freed from secular labour,\nand the journeys may have been secondary to this purpose; or the\njourneyings may have been of primary importance, and the Twelve would then\nnecessarily abandon their callings, and have to be supported out of some\ncommon fund. In both cases the educational effect was the same.\n\nIf the Twelve after being freed from earning their livelihood had remained\nin Capernaum, there must have been some part of the day when they were not\nin actual attendance on their Master; they would have to meet the reproach\nof idleness, and they might lose some self-respect by feeling that they\nwere eating others\u2019 bread; or, in their spare time they might fall into\nthose polemical discussions from which our Lord safeguards them with\nespecial care.\n\nAll these evils were obviated by the course which was actually taken. Our\nLord left his fixed home at Capernaum, and He and the Twelve adopted a\nwandering life. These journeys taken in company supplied a need which in\nall education is a foremost one, that of discipline. They were given\nduties to perform. When men travel together, faring hardly on rough\nmountain ways, bound to start together and to keep up each with the rest,\nwhether disposed to do so or not, they soon come to set inclination on one\nside and to learn what obligation means. There is no kind of companionship\nwhich binds men in a closer and heartier fellowship than this journeying\ntogether. Thus the Schooling of the Twelve went on, without their guessing\nit, as they went with their Master, sometimes on foot over the hills,\nsometimes rowing the boat on the Lake, sometimes providing for His\nreception in the cities, or marshalling hearers to listen to the word; and\nsometimes, when multitudes had to be fed, arranging them, plot by plot, so\nthat they might be reached by those who distributed the food.(190)\n\nThis work afforded the very training required. Nothing is more remarkable\nin the Apostles than their unbroken mental health. The histories of\nreligious communities are full of instances of ecstacies and hysterical\ndelusions; but never do we find among our Lord\u2019s followers anything\napproaching to a spiritual craze. Such crazes are commonly the growth of\nsolitude, and no Apostle while the new ideas are working in him is\nsuffered to be long alone. This health of theirs came in great measure\nfrom their being constantly employed about matters of which their hearts\nwere full. The training of the Apostles fulfils all the conditions for\nsound spiritual health; the Twelve lead lives of out-door labour, with\nconstant change of scene, with varied interests, with occupations to\nengage their minds; some had the provisioning to see to,(191) some the\ncontributions, some were sent on in advance to secure lodging,(192) and\nsome wrought works of healing in their Master\u2019s name. All this was\nconducive to their becoming self helpful, fertile in practical resource,\nas well as earnestly devoted to their Master, confident both of His power\nand of that delegated to themselves. Their way of life brought them also\ninto acquaintance with the various dispositions and ways of men: all of\nthis was essential for their work.\n\nAt the same time this regular occupation, though sufficient to prevent any\nevil spirit finding in them a corner \u201cempty, swept and garnished,\u201d yet was\nnot absorbing or exhausting, it left their minds and wills free play; they\ncould fall into groups as they chose, they could talk freely on the way,\nthey could debate on the meaning of a parable, or on the nature and time\nof coming of the Kingdom of Heaven.\n\nAfter, what seems to have been a short mission journey, with the Twelve,\ninto the villages of Gennesareth, which served to initiate them into their\nnew life and to teach them confidence in their Master, our Lord came back\nto the Lake coast where a great crowd assembled, whom He addressed from a\nboat upon the Lake near the shore.\n\nThe crowd that gathered there heard a teaching new to the world both in\nmatter and in form; men who had listened to the Sermon on the Mount might\nscarcely believe that the speaker was the same; hitherto the lessons to\nthe multitude had placed before them truths of life, moral and spiritual,\nput in such a way as to require no effort of the learner to be fully\nunderstood; the right or wrong about some matter, with which they had\ndaily to deal, had been set before them in a light in which they had never\nseen it before. But what they heard now was not apopthegm, not precept,\nbut, on the face of it, only a simple tale. \u201cThis\u201d they would say \u201cis all\nwell, but how is it like the Kingdom of God?\u201d Whether much more might not\nbe learnt, even from these plain lessons, by turning them over a second\ntime in the mind, was a question which only a few asked, and of these few\nthe greater part were probably already among the disciples of Jesus. They\nwere no longer given instruction in a condition ready for use, but only\nmaterial from which they should extract it for themselves; and to do this\nthey must both use their wits and have hearts alive to God. I shall speak,\nfurther on, of the principle on which our Lord acted in withdrawing from\nthe mass the opportunities they had had before. He states it himself, in\nwords I have many times cited, \u201cto those who have shall be given\u201d; words\nwhich we have not done with yet, but which it would draw me from my point\nto discuss now.\n\nIt was apparently for the sake of the Apostles that this form of teaching\nis introduced. One of the services it rendered is obvious, it set the\nhearers thinking. A new form of intellectual exercise was laid before the\nlisteners, something was proposed which they had to solve for themselves;\nthey are given the solution in two cases, and they are provided with other\nexamples on which they are to try their own skill. Beside the stimulus\nthus given to intellectual activity by the new kind of teaching, it kept\nbefore the eyes of the students those lofty conceptions of Divine agency\nin the world which preachers of the Kingdom of Heaven would require.\nPersonal trust in our Lord\u2019s words, cooperating with some intuition of\ntheir own, had made them feel sure that God\u2019s Kingdom had come. Now they\nwere told that they might know something of its ways; they are set to\nponder on them, but the direction their thoughts are to follow is marked\nout; they are not left to rove hither and thither in their own\nimaginations, they are not suffered to pass disjointedly from notion to\nnotion as in a dream; the puzzle of the parable arrests their attention,\nand the thread which the circumstance of it supplies serves as a clue\nconfining their thoughts to move along a certain path. Here again, as we\nhave observed so often, a selective action comes in, for it is the more\nactive intellects that are most drawn towards a puzzle. They find in it\nsomething that their minds may work upon and this is what they seek; while\nthe sluggish desire nothing of the kind, but turn aside from anything they\ncannot at once understand.\n\nAgain, if the Apostles solved a parable for themselves and thereby arrived\nat a new aspect of some Divine truth, this fresh knowledge would be much\nmore their own, and have a far greater effect in forming their minds, than\nif the solution had come from their Master. A problem solved by the pupil\nhimself does him more good than a dozen of which he reads the solutions in\na book. The parable suggested certain parallels between things outward and\nthings spiritual in the world, and, without conceiving anything so\nabstract as an analogy between these two orders of things, the Twelve may\nhave caught a glimpse of the truth, that a workmanship betokening the same\nhand runs through all provinces of the universe.\n\nWhen the disciples had thus been filled with new thoughts and new ideas,\nour Lord withdrew them from turmoil that the ideas might germinate\nundisturbed, we read\n\n\n    \u201cAnd on that day, when even was come, he saith unto them, Let us\n    go over unto the other side.\u201d(193)\n\n\nAn incident in this little voyage served as a test of the condition of\nthat Faith, the growth of which in the Apostles\u2019 hearts was being, I\nbelieve, watched anxiously by our Lord.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd there ariseth a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into\n    the boat, insomuch that the boat was now filling. And he himself\n    was in the stern, asleep on the cushion: and they awake him, and\n    say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he\n    awoke, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be\n    still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he\n    said unto them, Why are ye fearful? have ye not yet faith?\u201d(194)\n\n\nThis _yet_ is emphatic. This was a miracle of instruction, and it served\nalso as a test of how far the Apostles were fit for the high lesson in\nstore for them, that namely of trusting in the Lord\u2019s protection when they\nwere out of His sight. Their behaviour shewed that they had not as yet\nfully mastered the easier one of trusting in Him when He was by.\n\nFirst let us notice a trait of nature in the recital which shews the hand\nof an eye-witness. The words \u201cMaster, carest thou not that we perish\u201d\nexactly express the irritation of alarm, which turns against those who\nremain undisturbed. No fabricator would in those days have hit on this\ntrait; and a compiler from tradition, unless he had felt constrained by\nhis authority, might have preferred to pass it by.\n\nIt is not quite clear from the account whether the disciples hoped for\nsuperhuman help from our Lord or not. The works of His which had most\ngained notice had been cures, and that He should have power over the winds\nand waves had probably never entered their minds. Still, it is obvious,\nthat they turned to their Master in peril, as a child does to its parent,\nexpecting at least to find Him solicitous about them. If our Lord had\nasked them, as soon as the wind rose, \u201cShall you, if a storm should come,\nfeel safe because I am with you?\u201d they would have answered, and answered\ntruly, that they would. But their Oriental disposition to panic lay deeper\nin them than their newly born confidence in their Master, and the sudden\nemergency brought the depths to the surface. Their trust, we may be sure,\nadvanced after that night both in intensity and breadth.\n\nThe miracle in the country of the Gadarenes, into which our Lord went,\nbrings out one point which belongs to my subject.(195) This miracle I\nregard as a practical illustration of the lesson of the parable of the\nTares, inasmuch as both one and the other bear on the great puzzle of\nGod\u2019s tolerance of evil in the world. While the parable and interpretation\nare yet fresh in the minds of the Apostles, the case of this Demoniac\ncomes before them. It may have struck them\u2014as it must often have struck\nourselves\u2014how often after having learnt something one day we come,\nunaccountably, on an instance or illustration of it on the next. The\ncircumstance was this, an evil agency was, so to say, taken prisoner by\nour Lord; should it be deprived of existence, or at any rate of activity\nat once? Men generally would answer \u201cYes.\u201d They would regard it as\nsomething that had escaped God\u2019s eye and which God\u2019s servants ought to\ndestroy whenever they could. This is not Christ\u2019s view. Evil is not\nregarded by him as an oversight of God. God has allowed it to exist in the\nworld, and so it has probably some function to perform. It is not to be\nextirpated with ruthless hand. The tares are to grow until the harvest. On\nthe same principle our Lord will not send the Spirit into the pit. He is\nthe Son of Man, and men he has come to deliver; of the man therefore this\nevil agency must loosen his hold; but, saving this, he may pursue the\nvocation he was following when Christ crossed the Lake. Our Lord rescues\nthe _man_, because to do good unto men He was sent, but for property he is\nnot concerned. If the Demon must be about some evil, but will be content\nwith turning to the swine, to the swine he is at liberty to go; he is not\nsent to them, but neither is he interdicted. The plague on men is, as was\nobserved above, turned into a murrain among swine.(196) The destruction of\nthe swine was the act of the Divine government only in the same sense that\nthe losses by the cattle plague are so now. As we go on we read:\n\n\n    \u201cAnd they began to beseech him to depart from their borders.\u201d(197)\n\n\nIt would be hard upon this people to say that they counted the deliverance\nof their brother a less matter than the loss of their swine; they were\nterror-stricken at the display of superhuman power, and they wished to be\nrid of their cause of fear.\n\nIn the above verse we find the first instance of indifference or aversion\namong those to whom our Lord went.\n\nThe schooling of the Apostles leads them steadily on; step by step they\nadvance into the rougher ground of actual life, and one such step is noted\nhere.\n\nIt was well, as I have said, that a glow of success should at starting\nrest upon their path, but they could never grow into hardy wayfarers if\nall the ways were smooth and all the weather bright; there were in them\nmany qualities, good and hard, which could only take their proper lustre\nby rubbing against what was rough. So they were early taught to expect\nopposition, and they saw in what spirit it was dealt with by our Lord.\nMen, thinking only of the contest, are apt to lose sight of the matter in\ndebate, and make it a point of honour not to give way. They are often made\nobstinate by being opposed. Our Lord counts the fact that opposition\nexists to be material in the case and allows it its weight. Here the\npeople pray Him to go and He goes. He could do them no good by staying\nagainst their will. He returns at once to the western side of the Lake,\nand soon after his arrival we read of the raising of Jairus\u2019 daughter.\nWith the miracle itself I have nothing to do; I am concerned with the\nchoosing of Peter, James and John, to witness the miracle,(198) but this\nis an instance of the principle which will form the subject of the next\nchapter and will there be discussed.\n\nAfter this, according to my view of the chronology, our Lord paid a second\nvisit to Nazareth accompanied by His disciples. He may have supposed that\nthe news of His doings would have turned His townspeople towards Him; but\nthe old impression is still strong among them. A man from God, they\nthought, must come they knew not whence, whereas Jesus and His brothers\nthey had known all their lives; and although it seems that His mother and\nbrethren had gone to live at Capernaum,(199) His sisters were still among\nthem in Nazareth. We may gather from these two events that the faith of\nthe disciples had by this time grown strong enough to encounter opposition\nwithout harm. A strong conviction is confirmed by attack; it takes up a\nfirm position on its bases of support; while a stripling faith bends and\nquivers at every gust of disbelief.\n\nIt was soon after this rejection at Nazareth, and possibly from the\nneighbourhood of that place, that our Lord sent forth the Twelve on their\nmission journey, giving them the very remarkable injunction, which I print\nbelow. St Luke tells us of another mission of seventy disciples; how long\na time elapsed between the two missions, or whether the Apostles were\namong the seventy, we do not know; inasmuch as the circumstances of the\ntwo journeys, and the directions given are very similar, and the\neducational purport of the two is alike, I shall print both the narratives\nhere, and consider the two events together. St Mark\u2019s account is as\nfollows:\n\n\n    \u201cAnd he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth\n    by two and two; and he gave them authority over the unclean\n    spirits; and he charged them that they should take nothing for\n    their journey, save a staff only; no bread, no wallet, no money in\n    their purse; but to go shod with sandals: and, said he, put not on\n    two coats. And he said unto them, Wheresoever ye enter into a\n    house, there abide till ye depart thence. And whatsoever place\n    shall not receive you, and they hear you not, as ye go forth\n    thence, shake off the dust that is under your feet for a testimony\n    unto them. And they went out, and preached that men should repent.\n    And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that\n    were sick, and healed them.\u201d(200)\n\n\nSt Luke gives this account of the sending of the seventy.\n\n\n    \u201cNow after these things the Lord appointed seventy others, and\n    sent them two and two before his face into every city and place,\n    whither he himself was about to come. And he said unto them, The\n    harvest is plenteous, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore\n    the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth labourers into his\n    harvest. Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs in the\n    midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no wallet, no shoes: and salute\n    no man on the way. And into whatsoever house ye shall enter, first\n    say, Peace be to this house. And if a son of peace be there, your\n    peace shall rest upon him: but if not, it shall turn to you again.\n    And in that same house remain, eating and drinking such things as\n    they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from\n    house to house. And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they\n    receive you, eat such things as are set before you: and heal the\n    sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is\n    come nigh unto you. But into whatsoever city ye shall enter, and\n    they receive you not, go out into the streets thereof and say,\n    Even the dust from your city, that cleaveth to our feet, we do\n    wipe off against you: howbeit know this, that the kingdom of God\n    is come nigh.\u201d(201)\n\n\nIn the account of St Matthew we find some small differences. The\ndiscourses delivered on the two occasions are perhaps combined.(202)\n\nIt so rarely happens that practical directions as to conduct or behaviour\nare given to the Apostles by our Lord, that we may be convinced that there\nis strong reason for His so doing in this case. A lesson of great moment\nwas to be taught by this mission; much depended on the spirit in which it\nwas carried out. This spirit would be affected by the external\ncircumstances, and these are therefore so ordered as to give the greatest\npossible impressiveness to the lesson in view.\n\nThese missions have another singularity. Our Lord, contrary to His usual\npractice, explains the part they bore in the education of His followers.\nIn a few words spoken to the Twelve, as He was leaving the chamber on the\nway to Gethsemane, He throws abundant light on the whole purport of these\njourneys.\n\nThe words are these:\n\n\n    \u201cAnd he said unto them, When I sent you forth without purse, and\n    wallet, and shoes, lacked ye anything? And they said, Nothing. And\n    he said unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it,\n    and likewise a wallet: and he that hath none, let him sell his\n    cloke, and buy a sword. For I say unto you, that this which is\n    written must be fulfilled in me, And he was reckoned with\n    transgressors: for that which concerneth me hath fulfilment. And\n    they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto\n    them, It is enough.\u201d(203)\n\n\nFrom this it is seen that all these provisions and directions had a\ndefinite purpose, tending to give certain strong impressions to the\nTwelve, one of the most important being that the Twelve might trust\nthemselves to Christ\u2019s guardianship even when He was not by.\n\nThey were sent without purse and scrip and shoes, and they found that\nthose among whom they came would not suffer them to lack anything: all\nwent smoothly as they proceeded with their work in the Lord\u2019s name. They\nwere to be kept free from sordid anxieties and harassing bodily wants, in\norder that their minds might be open to higher lessons; and that they\nmight gain the habit of trusting\u2014not indeed that Christ would send them on\nevery occasion just what they desired\u2014but that He would not suffer them to\nbe tried beyond their strength. Possibly, on that journey all their needs\nwere supplied so easily, that it may hardly have struck them as strange\nthat they never had felt the lack of anything they required. They may\nnever have thought that what seemed to come by accident was really the\nLord\u2019s doing and part of His plan, until He Himself recalled this mission\nto their minds.\n\nOur Lord goes on to teach them that these journeys of theirs to the\ncities, compared to the missions awaiting them in the actual life on which\nthey so soon would enter, were only what the mimic fight on a day of\nreview is to the conflict of real war; or what the exercise of a swimmer\nin a school, within reach of his instructor\u2019s help, is to the crossing a\nriver for his life. In the exercise ground one lesson, or one set of\nmotions is taught at a time; but when the faculty acquired is brought into\nactual practice all a man\u2019s capacities and endowments are wanted to work\ntogether at once. So, in Christ\u2019s schooling also, one thing is taught at a\ntime. Two leading qualities only, viz. trustfulness in Christ\u2019s spiritual\noversight and a helpful self-reliance, were cultivated and tested by this\npreparatory mission; but in the actual work itself which awaited the\nTwelve, every gift of nature or fortune, and every faculty of their being\nwould have to be brought into play and turned to the best account.\n\nThey went on their way through the cities without purse or wallet, and\nthey found then that no money or provision was needed; but in the real\nwork awaiting them, in the open world, they must take thought beforehand\nfor all their needs; and those who have worldly means are to use them in\nGod\u2019s service just as they must do their talents or their strength. They\nare to be wise as serpents as well as simple as doves. Prudence and a good\njudgment are entrusted gifts whose true worth is most apparent when they\nare turned to the service of God. It is not only piety for which God has a\ncare; He claims for his service all endowments of fortune and body and\nmind; station and wealth, health and skill of hand, judgment, utterance,\nand clearness of thought\u2014all these are held on trust for Him. The Apostles\nhad been sent on the mission without any provision, in order that they\nmight learn this one particular lesson\u2014what it was to abandon themselves\nto the guardianship of Christ. In the real work now lying close before\nthem, He bids them use the same forethought and the same practical good\nsense in all that relates to God\u2019s service as in what relates to their\nown. They went to the cities without arms, and they were unmolested on\ntheir way; but now they are told to provide weapons of self-defence, even\nthough they should sell their garments to buy them. It is not the arms\nthemselves that are the gist of the matter, but they stand for a symbol of\nthat personal courage which would have to play no small part in the work\nof the Christian Church.\n\nAgain these words of our Lord throw a stream of light upon what was His\nobject in the plan He pursued; they shew that the training of the Apostles\nwas carried on continually and systematically from the first, and was\namong the things always uppermost in His mind. When the Twelve set out on\nthis first mission journey it seemed to them a passing act in the regular\ncourse of ministerial duty, but after a year had gone by, it is brought\nback to their minds by our Lord; and they learn the significance of that\nwhich they had almost suffered to pass out of mind. It is cited, not with\nregard to what it effected directly\u2014not for the good it did to those who\nwere taught\u2014but for the qualities it fostered in the preachers themselves.\n\nThat these preachers rendered service to those to whom they were sent\nthere can be no doubt, but the notice of our Lord calls attention, not to\nthis, but to the lesson which the Apostles learned. There are some points\nin these directions which it is hard to explain if we suppose them given\nsolely with the practical view of furthering the Apostles\u2019 work, as\nChrist\u2019s forerunners in making known to the people the advent of the\nKingdom of God. We do not, on such an hypothesis, see why they should have\ngone without food or raiment or have saluted no man on the way; they would\nhave made no fewer converts if they had taken purse and scrip and wished\n\u201cGod speed\u201d to those they met. They might, indeed, have _done_ the same\ngood, but they would not have _got_ the same good. We shall see presently\nhow these instructions were calculated to make them feel that they were\nGod\u2019s servants, dignified by their duty, and withdrawn by their special\novermastering vocation from the ordinary intercourse of man with man.\n\nThe effects of this journey were twofold. There was an outside good to be\ndone by the workers in the world, and an inside good to be done within\nthemselves. This last was brought about by the mental processes and\nmotions they went through in doing the _outside_ good to which only they\ngave their thoughts at the time. They supposed that they were sent on this\nmission because their Master wished the Kingdom of God to be preached in\nthe cities, and they regarded the particular injunctions,\u2014if they thought\nabout them at all,\u2014as the set rules of garb and procedure for preachers of\nthe Kingdom. It never occurred to them that by all this they were being\nmade to grow inwardly in the way that Christ desired. They could not be\ntold unto what end they were being educated, for self-consciousness would\nhave spoiled all. They would have got no _inner_ good, if they had not\nbelieved they were doing _outer_ good, and good no doubt they did.\nMoreover they never thought about themselves at all. Christ\u2019s disciples\nare always led away from doing so. They are, with sedulous care, kept so\noccupied in body and mind that at last self is lost sight of, and they\nbecome absorbed in their love for their Master, and in the glory of\nfeeling that they have a share in His work.\n\nAlong with the lesson of confidence in their Master\u2019s care, there went\nanother, not less prominently insisted upon, that of the dignity of the\nwork they were being consecrated to do. They were to go in Christ\u2019s name,\npreaching the Kingdom He had declared, and affirming its presence by such\nSigns as He had Himself shewn. This dignity belonged, not personally to\nthemselves, but to the Lord whom they represented; they felt secure, just\nas the Ambassador of a power feels Sacrosanct because he represents the\nMajesty of his State.\n\nThey were to be possessed with the sense of the greatness of the charge\nlaid on them, and all their being was to be concentrated in this. Their\neyes are never to be off their goal; hence the minute precautions against\ndistraction.\n\nThe directions for their equipment will be seen to further the growth of\nthe impressions desired.\n\nThey are to go two together; this is a rule always observed. Our Lord sent\n\u201cmessengers before his face(204) into a village of the Samaritans to make\nready for him;\u201d it is not said that they were two in number, but as James\nand John are loud in their indignation, it is not improbable that they\nwere the messengers. Two disciples are sent to find the colt before our\nLord\u2019s entrance to Jerusalem,(205) and Peter and John together are sent to\nmake ready the Passover.(206) Afterwards, in all the Apostolic journeys\nthe Church followed the practice. In these mission journeys of the newly\nchosen Apostles we see how well it suited the objects in view that they\nshould go in pairs. If three or more had gone together the sacred\ncharacter of their journey might more easily have dropped out of sight.\nConversation on indifferent points would have been more likely to arise\nand dissension might have ensued; two might have differed in opinion and\neach have tried to gain over the third. They could hardly have remained so\nabsorbed in their purpose, as when they went two together, full of the one\nmatter in their hearts and rarely interchanging a word.\n\nNeither would it have been well for them to go one by one. A man by\nhimself has many dangers. He may grow downcast, and a depressed condition\nis not favourable to the growth of Faith; or he may harp upon one idea,\nand having no one with him to criticise it and reduce it to its right\nproportion, it may overshadow his whole mind and degenerate into a craze.\nThe solitary missionary might find danger also in success. If the cures he\nwrought excited admiration, he might be inclined to take some of the glory\nto himself: or he might be tempted to go beyond his commission to preach\nthe Kingdom, and try to establish some notions of his own about Jesus as\nthe Christ. The presence of his colleague would recall him to his true\nposition and remind him that he was not about his own work but his\nMaster\u2019s. If one of the pair were inclined to take too much on himself, or\nto allow the people to exaggerate his own part in the wonder wrought, he\nwould be sure to find a silent monitor in his colleague\u2019s eye. When two\nmen go together not only does each represent to the other the purpose with\nwhich he is sent, but also each supports the other. When one is inclined\nto despond the other feels forced to take a hopeful tone and this does\ngood to both.\n\nThe Apostles were to salute no man by the way; they were not to join in\nany trivial wayside talk. This served to impress upon them the solemn\nnature of their work; all their thoughts were to be centred in that, it\nwas to supply the master purpose of their lives. They had God\u2019s work to do\nand God\u2019s message to give, and there should be no room in their hearts for\nany thing but this. This severed them for the time from the rest of the\nworld. They were to go, side by side, with their staves in their hands,\nnot looking this way or that, but having the fixed gaze and steadfast air\nof men who are marching determinedly to their goal.\n\nWhen they come to the city where they will stay they are not to plead for\nhospitality; they have not come of themselves or for themselves\u2014they are\nGod\u2019s messengers; they are to go to the house which they think fittest,\nand, if denied, they are to shake off the dust from their feet and go\nelsewhere, and, when admitted, there they are to abide as of right. There\nis to be no shifting of quarters; disturbance and unsettlement is\nstudiously avoided, as in all other proceedings of our Lord. Many among\nthe householders of a village might strive to have a share in entertaining\nthe prophets of God; and the passing of these from house to house would\nbring into play little worldly jealousies and call off the attention of\nthe missionary from his single object. Where they are admitted, they are\ntold, \u201cthere abide and thence depart.\u201d\n\nThe Apostles are given minute directions as to outfit and demeanour but\nvery little as to what they were to say. They were not to be mere\nmouthpieces, they were teachers as well, and were left to teach in their\nown way. To use responsibility was the highest part of the lesson they had\nto learn, and if they had been tied down too precisely this responsibility\nwould have been lost. We have no record of their preaching on this\njourney\u2014they are sent to proclaim one truth and one only \u201cThat the Kingdom\nof God was come.\u201d This truth they might enforce in any way they chose\u2014they\nmight preach to many or few, in houses or synagogues or on the mountain\nside\u2014and if any disbelieved that God\u2019s Kingdom was come, they were to\nassure their hearers that it was none the less about them on every side,\nbecause they did not choose to believe it was there.(207) On their return,\nthey relate what they had taught.(208)\n\nThere is another point. They are not directed even to name our Lord; He\nwould not suffer them to proclaim Jesus of Nazareth, for He had not \u201ccome\nin his own name.\u201d(209) This law is most steadily observed; the seventy say\non their return, that the devils were subject to them through our Lord\u2019s\nname, but though they may have used His name when they wrought cures, they\ndo not seem to have declared that the expected Messiah had come; they kept\nto what they were told to do. The wonder is that no one on this mission\nshould have announced Jesus as the Messiah: they could not have been\nwarned against doing so, because to warn them specially would have been to\nsuggest the notion of that which was to be avoided. A similar circumstance\nmay have been one cause of the fervent thanks which our Lord renders to\nHis Father on the return of the seventy.(210)\n\nHow long this journey of the Apostles lasted we do not know; the\nexigencies of harmonists have led some of them to reduce it to a day or\ntwo, but I should suppose it to have occupied at least a week. Neither do\nwe know in what districts the journeys took place; but that the Twelve\nstarted from the neighbourhood of Nazareth in the spring of A.D. 29, and\nthe seventy from the Northern border of Jud\u00e6a or from Per\u00e6a in the\nfollowing autumn, is a plausible guess. The words, \u201cGo not into the way of\nthe Gentiles,\u201d &c. which St Matthew puts at the head of our Lord\u2019s\ndirections, I think refer to the mission of the seventy. In Per\u00e6a they\nwere close to Gentile countries and Samaria lay in the way to parts of\nGalilee and Jud\u00e6a. They are told not to abide in any Samaritan city or set\nfoot at all in a Gentile land; our Lord is first sent to the lost sheep of\nthe house of Israel. All went well on both occasions. On the return of the\nseventy our Lord saw in this success of His disciples in their\nministration, an augury of the establishment of His Church. Men, it was\nplain, could be trusted for the great work in view; and in this success of\nthe disciples in setting it afoot our Lord seemed to behold the Power of\nEvil falling from the sky. Our Lord pours out His soul on this occasion in\nthankfulness to His Father.\n\n\n    \u201cIn that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, and said, I\n    thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst\n    hide these things from the wise and understanding, and didst\n    reveal them unto babes: yea, Father; for so it was well-pleasing\n    in thy sight. All things have been delivered unto me of my Father:\n    and no one knoweth who the Son is, save the Father; and who the\n    Father is, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to\n    reveal him.\u201d(211)\n\n\nThis thankfulness of our Lord assures us of one point; these seventy must\nhave been exposed to the possibility of failure. Our Lord\u2019s joy is that of\none delivered from a great anxiety. This instance bears out the view that\nour Lord\u2019s knowledge of the immediate future was, partly at least, in\nabeyance during His stay on earth. Indeed, if He had been free from all\nfeeling of uncertainty, His life could not have been truly human. The\ncourse of daily events depending on the will of others did not in general\nlie spread out to His view.\n\nAnother illustration of this occurs on the return of the Twelve; our Lord\ngoes to the desert seeking quiet, but in this He is disappointed, for He\nfinds Himself attended by five thousand people.\n\nSt Mark tells us\n\n\n    \u201cAnd the apostles gather themselves together unto Jesus; and they\n    told him all things, whatsoever they had done, and whatsoever they\n    had taught. And he saith unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into\n    a desert place, and rest a while. For there were many coming and\n    going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. And they went\n    away in the boat to a desert place apart.\u201d(212)\n\n\nThis rule of our Lord to give the Apostles rest and leisure after a period\nof mental strain, or when much food for reflection had been taken in, is\nalmost invariable. Our Lord\u2019s intention is, in this case, frustrated by\nthe zeal of the multitude, who running together from the villages, go\nround the head of the Lake and meet Him on the shore near the northern\nend. St John speaking of this matter says:\n\n\n    \u201cNow the passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Jesus\n    therefore lifting up his eyes, and seeing that a great multitude\n    cometh unto him, saith unto Philip, Whence are we to buy bread,\n    that these may eat?\u201d(213)\n\n\nWe see that St John attributed this great concourse of people to its being\nthe time of the Passover. Now the road from Damascus to Jerusalem went\npast the north end of the Lake, and it has been supposed that the great\ncaravan of Syrian Jews was passing on its way to the feast, and that to\nthis the \u201cgreat company\u201d belonged. St Matthew, St Mark and St Luke,\nhowever, all imply that the multitude came from the neighbouring cities,\nand St John says that they \u201c_followed_ Him (_i.e._ from the villages of\nGennesaret) because they beheld the Signs;\u201d and St Mark tells us that the\npeople \u201csaw them going and many knew them.\u201d The crowd therefore could not\nhave been strangers from Damascus. St John, however, would not have here\nmentioned the Passover, if there had not been some connexion between it\nand the presence of the crowd. The connexion, I believe to have been this.\nHe means to account for the crowd by saying, \u201cIt was feast time, no work\nwas being done, and large bodies of men were therefore at leisure to\nfollow.\u201d Some think that the Evangelist may have seen in this miraculous\nmeal a substitute for the Paschal feast, which our Lord and his followers\ncan hardly have kept according to due form.\n\nIn this miracle, I am particularly concerned.(214) In speaking of it in an\nearlier Chapter I observed that our Lord\u2019s rule of abstaining from using\nHis miraculous power to provide for the physical wants of His followers or\nHimself, holds in this case, inasmuch as our Lord\u2019s party had enough for\nthemselves; this proceeds on the supposition that the loaves and fishes\nbelonged to the Apostles, although if they had had the money, and bought\nwhat would just have sufficed for themselves, the law would have held\ngood.\n\nIt may be asked, \u201cHad the Apostles the loaves with them or did they buy\nthem of the lad?\u201d\n\nAs a matter of explanation, I think it more consistent with the narrative\nof the other Evangelists to suppose that the lad mentioned by Andrew(215)\nwas carrying provisions belonging to the party, than that he had brought\nthem for sale and that the disciples bought them.\n\nSt Matthew, St Mark and St Luke speak as though the loaves and fishes\nbelonged to the Apostolic company, while St John says \u201cThere is _a lad\nhere_ who has &c.\u201d The supposition that the lad was employed to carry the\nprovisions does not, it is said, agree with the received notions of the\npoverty of the Apostles. We find, however, that they had the use of\nvarious boats, and St Mark speaks of \u201chired servants\u201d in Zebedee\u2019s\nboat.(216) I suppose that one of these servants, not being wanted while\nthe boat was ashore, was employed to carry the sack of provisions for the\nparty. It supports my view that the two common articles of diet should\n_both_ be brought by the same lad, in just such quantity as to suffice for\nour Lord\u2019s company. The words \u201cHow many loaves have ye? Go and see\u201d shew,\nthat our Lord supposed them to have brought a supply;(217) moreover the\nquantity of provisions was nearly the same and they were of the same kind,\nas those which the Twelve had with them on the subsequent occasion of the\nfeeding of the four thousand.(218) It is unlike the East, as we now know\nit, that there should have been no bargaining, and that _one_ lad should\nhave seen the opportunity of selling his commodities and followed from one\nof the villages, and that no other should have done so.\n\nWhether the provisions belonged to the disciples or were(219) purchased at\nthe time, the wants of our Lord\u2019s own party, as I have just said, could\nhave been supplied without miraculous intervention; and the rule,\nanswering to the refusal to turn Stones into Loaves, would hold. These\nrules, or Laws as I have called them, treated of in Chapter V. are not\nformally imposed by our Lord on Himself, or alluded to in express terms.\nThey are _uniformities observed_ in his conduct, which harmonise with the\ncourse taken in the Temptations. We need not suppose that He said to\nHimself \u201cI will always adhere to this rule or that,\u201d but He observed the\nrule because to follow it best forwarded in each case the end in view. Our\nLord\u2019s company are never in straits for food, but our Lord once implies\nthat if they had been so His power might always be trusted as a means of\nsupply.(220) He would not have adhered to His practice narrowly, when it\nwould have weakened the lesson of Trust. Philip may have been charged with\nthe care of provisioning the party, just as Judas Iscariot carried the\npurse; this conjecture would account for our Lord turning to him with the\nquestion, \u201cWhence are we to buy bread?\u201d(221)\n\nWhat our Lord said on this occasion to the multitude we do not know; we\nare told only that \u201cHe began to teach them many things,\u201d(222) and in\nlistening they lost all count of time, so that when our Lord had finished,\nit was too late for them to go and buy bread. After the meal He perceived\nthat they \u201cwere about to come and take him by force to make him\nking.\u201d(223) The people must have just heard of the execution of John; they\nmay have been exasperated against Herod and thought they had found in our\nLord one who would treat the Romans like Sennacherib\u2019s host. We hear of no\noutbreak of enthusiasm, no clamorous demonstration of fervour; they were\nperhaps too much possessed by reverential awe for that, at any rate their\norderliness is very remarkable.\n\nNo malice on the part of the scribes could have been so fatal to what our\nLord had in view, as this giving of a political turn to the movement which\nHe was setting afoot. The erroneous impression would spread fast and\nbecome ineradicable, so that the work of saving the world might have to be\nbegun over again in another way. He hurried the disciples on board that\nthey might not catch the contagion of this idea.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd straightway he constrained his disciples to enter into the\n    boat, and to go before him unto the other side to Bethsaida, while\n    he himself sendeth the multitude away. And after he had taken\n    leave of them, he departed into the mountain to pray.\u201d(224)\n\n\nSolitary prayer on our Lord\u2019s part commonly betokens some important step\nin his course of proceeding. Here it precedes His leaving Galilee;\npossibly this political manifestation made it advisable; at any rate, very\nshortly after this, He goes to the borders of Tyre and Sidon and sees\nlittle more of Galilee during his life.\n\nOn the passage of the Apostles back to the western shore, occurred the\nmiracle of the Lord walking on the sea.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd when even was come, the boat was in the midst of the sea, and\n    he alone on the land. And seeing them distressed in rowing, for\n    the wind was contrary unto them, about the fourth watch of the\n    night he cometh unto them, walking on the sea; and he would have\n    passed by them: but they, when they saw him walking on the sea,\n    supposed that it was an apparition, and cried out: for they all\n    saw him, and were troubled. But he straightway spake with them,\n    and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid. And\n    he went up unto them into the boat; and the wind ceased: and they\n    were sore amazed in themselves; for they understood not concerning\n    the loaves, but their heart was hardened.\u201d(225)\n\n\nThis miracle is one mainly of instruction, it is a step in that ascending\ncourse, whereby the Apostles were led to the conception of the crowning\ntruth that Christ was \u201cever with them unto the end of the world.\u201d The\nexperience of the journey taught that they \u201clacked nothing\u201d when on duty\nfor Christ; they were now to obtain assurance that in moments of danger He\nwas at hand to protect. It is worth notice that they were doing their\nutmost for themselves, \u201ctoiling in rowing,\u201d when Christ comes to their\nhelp. In like manner the miraculous draught of fishes was not given to men\nwho had lightly accepted disappointment, but to those who had toiled all\nnight.(226) I know of no Gospel instance of Divine assistance granted to\nmen sitting with folded hands, and leaving Providence to do all. From this\nmiracle they would learn a truth which was much more fully taught after\nthe Resurrection, viz. that their Master was ever by them, and might\nassume a body not subject to the forces affecting matter, and become\napparent at any time.\n\nThese lessons would be graven on the Apostles\u2019 memory, and would come upon\nthem from time to time in after life. They would naturally look back to\nthe days when they went forth on their first mission, full of hope and not\nwithout exultation; and when they recalled how all had gone well with\nthem, how the devils had been subject to them and how all their needs had\nbeen provided for as it were by chance, it would come home to them that\nmatters may be Divinely guided without the finger of God being suffered to\nappear. Many a time they may have cheered one another saying \u201cChrist\nprovided for us when we went forth with only our staves in our hands. He\nwill not desert us now;\u201d and many a time also in sore days of distress,\nthe Apostles may have reminded one another that they were doing their very\nutmost\u2014not sitting still and praying for help when the sea ran high\u2014at the\ntime when their Master appeared and said:\n\n\n    \u201cBe of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.\u201d(227)\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X. TO THOSE WHO HAVE, IS GIVEN.\n\n\n\n\nThe Teaching by Parables.\n\n\nWe have, on our way to this point, while tracing the course of Christ\u2019s\nSchooling of the Apostles every now and then caught sight of the working\nof the principle, \u201cto whomsoever hath, shall be given.\u201d\n\nThis apopthegm is recorded to have been three times spoken; first, as has\nbeen just mentioned, when our Lord gave to His disciples His reasons for\nteaching in parables, and again as the moral at the end of the parables of\nthe talents and of the pounds. We draw from it that our Lord was about to\nexercise selection and deal with different hearers in different ways. Up\nto this time He had put His lessons into terse sayings, like pearls strung\non a string; a hearer could easily carry a single one away, he had only to\nlisten and learn. For a multitude who came and went like the shifting\natoms of a cloud, this was the most that could be done. But among those\nwho now listened to the parables at Capernaum were apostles, disciples,\nand listeners variously disposed, and they received a lesson from which\ndifferent hearers drew profit in very different degrees.\n\nThe time now began to draw in sight when the most momentous duties that\never fell to men, would be laid on the Twelve, and to them our Lord now\nturned with an interest which daily grew more intent. The Apostles were\nnot mere recipients as the crowd had been. They were not mere passive\nhearers receiving and storing wise sayings. What they heard was meant to\nset their minds at work, and the good they got from it depended on\nthemselves.\n\nIn the crowd on the Lake shore which stood listening to our Lord as He\nspoke from the boat, there were characters of all sorts disposed towards\nJesus in every variety of way. There were many followers and some foes,\nwhile perhaps nearly half were neither the one nor the other, but merely\nthe loiterers who throng every eastern town: these would go where others\nwent, glad of anything which broke the sameness of the day. They had come\nto listen\u2014after their way of listening, taking no heed how they heard\u2014many\na time before, and no good had come of it, though the teaching was so\nplain that he who ran might read; with all their opportunities they had\ngot nothing, and so from them was taken \u201cwhat they seemed to have,\u201d that\nis to say, these very opportunities themselves. They now heard only what\nappeared to be the story of an every-day event, and they wondered what\ngood it could do to them. Thus, this mode of teaching sorted out its\nauditory by a self-acting mechanism. It threw off the light, while it\nattracted earnest and enquiring minds who, never doubting of a deep\nmeaning in all our Lord said, asked themselves and one another what this\nmeaning could be.\n\nThe aphorism \u201cthat to him who had, more was given\u201d was, as applied to\nmaterial wealth, in some form or other probably familiar to the shrewd men\nof the time, just as the saying, that \u201cnothing succeeds like success\u201d is\namong ourselves now. But what was startling was, that this principle\nshould be adopted by Christ and laid down as one of those upon which God\u2019s\ngovernment is carried on. For this inequality in human conditions, and the\ntendency to rise faster the higher one gets and to sink faster the lower\none falls, was a thing that was commonly regarded as a defect in the\nworld\u2019s arrangement, due to some inherent perversity in matter or in man.\n\nPeople\u2019s minds, in those days, were possessed by the notion that God must\nhave intended to make things fair and equal for all, but that inequality\nhad slipt into the world in the making, when God\u2019s eye was off it for a\nmoment: soon, however, the Messiah would come and set this right among\nother things. Hence it startled our Lord\u2019s hearers to find this defect, as\nthey deemed it, in the order of the world brought forward by Him, and not\nonly not explained away as they would have expected, but set forth as\namong the Laws according to which the Spiritual Order of the world was\ncarried on. From the prominence given to this statement in the narrative\nof the three earlier gospels we see what a deep impression it made.\n\nOur Lord applies this aphorism, solely, to the advantages and\nopportunities which men should have for learning the ways of God. But the\nanalogy between this principle and some observed principles of economic\nand organic science is very striking and interesting, to say no more;\nwhile in education the working of this rule is abundantly obvious in every\nschool. That the world is ordered on a basis not of equality but of\ninequality, is a patent fact; and lately it has been shewn that it is of\ninequality that all progress comes. One little superiority, due to what\nseems an accidental variation, gives an advantage for gaining a greater\nsuperiority and so on. Uniformity, indeed, implies stagnation. If all men\nhad just the same powers and minds and characters, would not such a world\nstagnate from its insupportable dulness and the want of stimulus for the\nfaculties of men? If, at every step, it grew harder to get farther on,\nthen no one could go very far. A bullet fired into a tree, which hardens\nfrom the bark to the core, is brought to a standstill very soon. Such a\nstate of things would preclude exalted eminence; mediocrity would reign\nsupreme and the onward march of mankind would be checked.\n\nOur Lord, as a fact, asserts not only that inequalities widen, but also\nthat they are purposely so widened. As the explorer advances, he is\nbrought into more open ground and is better recompensed for his toil.\nSpiritual progress was to be brought about after the plan upon which all\nother human progress proceeds. It was to originate in individuals, who\nshould push forward, seize upon posts in the foreground and hold them till\nthe rest came up: it is not the way of Humanity to advance in line along\nthe whole front. All progress comes of individual excellence and the world\nis so ordered as to favour the growth of one beginning to out-top the\nrest. It is an aid in this direction, that in education advance becomes\ncommonly easier, and always more pleasurable as we proceed. Education\nmoreover sorts out men. A hundred boys, near of an age, thrown together in\na school seem at first nearly on a par; but an aristocracy develops itself\nwonderfully soon, both in the school and out of doors, and every half year\nthe distinctions between boy and boy grow wider and become more strongly\nmarked. However conscientiously the teachers may distribute their pains,\nthe abler boy gets more attention, because he asks more intelligent\nquestions and, seeing his interest in his work, the teacher\u2019s thoughts in\nspare moments revert to him. The same holds of spiritual life, for when a\nman attains a sense of communion with God he becomes conscious of an\ninward joy, which illuminates his life, and this helps him on. Nothing is\nmore striking in the Acts than the \u201cexceeding great joy\u201d which with the\nApostles was the habitual state.\n\nA very material point as to the bearing of this principle is brought out\nin the two parables in which it occurs. What is spoken of as that which a\nman _hath_, is not what has been given him or what he has inherited, but\nonly what he has acquired for himself. It is not so much the possession of\nthe pounds or the talents which is the ground of reward, as the assiduity,\nenergy and intelligence, by which they have been earned.\n\nI will consider the pair of parables(228) just mentioned, before the\ndiscourse in which the saying first occurs, although they stand later in\nthe history, because they shew most clearly what Christ\u2019s meaning was. In\nboth parables we remark the following points.\n\n(1) The rewards are proportioned, not to the amount of the original\narbitrary gifts, which, I suppose, stand for natural advantages, but to\nwhat has been obtained by turning these gifts to account.\n\n(2) What the servants are recompensed for is administrative efficiency.\nThis shews that our Lord had in view some active service in God\u2019s cause\nand not internal self-improvement alone.\n\n(3) The rewards are not such that the servants can use them for their own\ngratification, they are not given money for their own use, but they are\npromoted to wider governments. He who has made five talents is given the\nrule of a larger province. And the servants are not so promoted merely for\ntheir own sake, the general welfare of the ruler\u2019s domain is the paramount\nobject, and in order to promote this those who have proved themselves the\nablest are given the amplest charge.\n\nIn the parable of the talents, the \u201cman going into a far country\u201d entrusts\nto his servants sums varying in amount, \u201cto each according to his several\nabilities.\u201d With these they are to carry on business on his behalf during\nhis absence. One of them, he who was of the lowest capacity, received only\none talent\u2014with him I am not now concerned; but the rest double the\ncapital which had been put into their hands and all of these, those who\nhave made two talents as well as those who have made five receive the same\nreward. To each is said \u201cWell done, thou good and faithful servant: thou\nhast been faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many things:\nenter thou into the joy of thy Lord.\u201d Here the rewards are not in\nproportion to the original gifts, which were as five and two, but are in\nproportion to the rate of profit, which was in both cases the same. All\nhave shewn the same diligence and all are recompensed alike.\n\nThe same principle appears in the parable of the pounds. The like sum, one\npound, is entrusted to each servant; and the difference in the returns,\none making ten pounds and the other five, is wholly due to the difference\nof judgment or diligence in using the money. The reward is exactly\nproportional to the amount which each servant has earned.\n\nThe greater charge is given to him who had made ten pounds\u2014not purely as a\n_reward_, but because he has shewn himself twice as well adapted to govern\nthe ten cities as the servant who had only made five pounds.\n\nA few words in the parable of the pounds shew how well our Lord knew what\nthe prevalent notion about equality was. The notion I mean that God must\nhave intended men to share all advantages alike. When the pound is taken\nfrom him who has left it unused and given to him who has turned his own\npound into ten, the bystanders in the parable, who, we may suppose,\nrepresent common current opinion, are surprised, not at the pound being\ntaken away, but at its being so bestowed as to augment the inequality.\nThey would have looked to see it go to him who had made five pounds, so as\nto bring the conditions of the two servants more nearly to a par. They\nsay, \u201cLord, he hath ten pounds,\u201d implying \u201cWhy give more to him who has so\nmuch already?\u201d Men are jealous of God\u2019s prodigality in reward, although\nsuch reward may not diminish what they obtain themselves. The master in\nthis parable makes no reply to the bystanders, and our Lord concludes the\nparable with the moral,\n\n\n    \u201cI say unto you, that unto every one that hath shall be given; but\n    from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken\n    away from him.\u201d(229)\n\n\nThe pounds in this parable, be it observed, are not bestowed on the\nservants as absolute gifts, they represent money held on trust, and this\nis the case not only with the original pound, but with the profit as well.\nThe Lord (St Luke xix. 23) evidently regards all the produce as his own.\nThe ten pounds have never been given over to the servant who gained them,\nso as to be absolutely his. Neither is the forfeited pound bestowed on him\nas a free gift, it is only an addition to the ten pounds of profit, which\nformed a fresh amount of capital in the hands of the most diligent of the\nservants to be used in his new employ. All this agrees with the view which\nI have taken, that the question in the parable is not one merely of reward\nand amercement but of putting the greatest opportunities into the best\nhands. In like manner our Lord looks to a practical end and adopts\npractical means. The paramount object that He has in view is the effective\ncarrying forward of God\u2019s work; and those who shall prove most efficient\nare to receive as their reward,\u2014not anything they can sit down to and\nenjoy,\u2014but a wider sphere of activity, an extended range of opportunities,\nand of duties answering thereunto.\n\nThis remark of the bystanders, so casual in its form and so weighty in its\nsubstance, exemplifies our Lord\u2019s way of dealing with erroneous ideas. A\nhint is dropped, attention is called to what many had taken for granted,\nand there the matter is left. It might be many days before the world would\nfind the seed thus cast upon the waters, but found, some day or other, it\nwould be. When there is question of practical evil our Lord is plain and\npositive enough. The Pharisees are upbraided sharply, for making the Law\nof no effect by their traditions, and the Sadducees are told that in\ndenying the resurrection \u201cthey do greatly err.\u201d But as regards the enigmas\nof life He only drops hints, which men may take or not.\n\nI now come to the discourse, which I had put aside for a moment that the\nparables might be discussed.\n\nAs soon as our Lord had ended the parable of the Sower\n\n\n    \u201cThe disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto\n    them in parables?\u201d(230)\n\n\nObserve the words _unto them_. It is not about themselves that they ask,\nbut the crowd. They were desirous to see our Lord\u2019s influence increase,\nand were perhaps anxious that new proselytes should swell their number,\nand so they were puzzled at this new form of teaching, which seemed\ncalculated to repel converts. \u201cIn order to win men over,\u201d they would say\nto themselves, \u201cit would surely be best to speak in the plainest and most\ndirect way.\u201d\n\nThe fullest version of the reply is that given by St Mark.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd he said unto them, Unto you is given the mystery of the\n    kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all things are\n    done in parables: that seeing they may see, and not perceive; and\n    hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest haply they should\n    turn again, and it should be forgiven them.\u201d(231)\n\n\nThis is followed by the interpretation of the parable of the Sower. And\nthen comes a discourse explaining for what purposes the teaching by\nparables was employed, which throws a strong light both on this matter and\non education in its highest sense. Here the principle comes to the front,\nthat it is not so much what is done upon the man, or for the man, as what\nis done by the man himself, that transforms him into a higher creature.\n\u201cUnto you,\u201d says our Lord, turning to the disciples and the Twelve, \u201cis\ngiven the mystery of the kingdom of God.\u201d The mystery was given not to\nsave their thinking but to set them thinking on a right track. What bore\non the practical conduct of life had been preached to all, but the glimpse\nof the underlying spiritual order was vouchsafed to few: all must learn to\ntell time from a clock, but all need not know how it works. It is not the\napplication of the parable which is here the difficulty\u2014that is told the\nhearers at once\u2014but it lies in the original differences between men, how\nfar these come of men\u2019s own selves, how far of heredity, and how far men\nare answerable for their own dispositions; here we come on great\ndifficulties which beset all creeds alike. In the parable of the Tares we\nare confronted with the origin of moral ill; the Apostles are to\n_contemplate_ these mysteries, and they are given a way of looking at them\nwhich will serve for the practical purposes of life, but they are by no\nmeans led to believe that they can see to the bottom of them.\n\nThe second passage brings out a positive use of parables. They are not\nprimarily meant to hide truth but to show it. The matter is only for a\nmoment put out of sight, in order that men may search after it, prize it\nwhen found, and, bringing to it eyes sharpened by keen search, may discern\nall particulars more truly and well. The sifting of the auditory of which\nI have spoken above was only a secondary and subordinate use of the\nparable; its primary one was this; it enshrined an abstract truth in such\na portable concrete form that it was made accessible to men; it put it\ninto a shape, familiar to Orientals, a shape to which the Eastern tongue\nlent itself with ease, and which fitted readily into the minds of men;\nthey could carry the story about with them, and they would in so doing\nlearn its lesson by degrees.\n\nThere was also another point; the meaning of these new utterances gave men\nsome pains to find, and when they had found it, they delighted in it as\nsomething they had conquered for themselves. Our Lord lets men into this\nsecret of all learning. Did they suffer those words of His which \u201cwere\nSpirit and which were Life\u201d to fecundate their hearts, turning them over\nin their minds again and again? The words \u201cwith what measure ye mete\u201d(232)\nhave no bearing on outward dealings here; what they mean is, \u201cIn\nproportion to the pains and attention which you bestow in searching out\nall that my words contain, so will the profit be. If you bestow thought\nfreely, and time as well, freely will God requite the same\u2014something will\nyou then have, and more shall be given you.\u201d To him who had been faithful\nover a few things a wider range of duties, and that alone, would be given\nas reward.\n\nI note a connection between the introduction of the new form of teaching\nand the course of events. When our Lord began to teach in parables \u201cHis\ndeparture which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem\u201d(233) was shaping\nitself more and more definitely in His mind. Time was getting short, and\nso He now spake for those only who had ears to hear. The nature of this\ndeparture was too shocking to Jewish notions and too inexplicable to be\ndeclared in plain terms to the mass. We know that even the Twelve were\nbewildered with the hints that our Lord drops about the end, and we can\neasily see how ill-suited such declarations would have been for the people\nat large.\n\nAgain, we can understand that as the end in all its awfulness came more\nand more distinctly into view, our Lord should confine His teaching very\nmuch to those to whom was committed the mystery of the Kingdom of God;\nand, inasmuch as the Twelve differed in spiritual capacity among\nthemselves and higher duties were to be laid on some than on others,\nwithin that body a further selection had to be made. Peter and James and\nJohn form an inner circle, they are chosen as witnesses of the things that\nwere not to be proclaimed until the Son of Man should come.(234) It is\nworth noting that in St John\u2019s Gospel we find no trace of the preeminence\nof these three; this falls in with the hypothesis of the author being the\nApostle John, who carefully avoids mention of himself.\n\nThis choosing of the Three Apostles who should be preferred before the\nrest touches my purpose closely in another way; it was no insignificant\npart of the Schooling of the Twelve. They would learn from it that Christ\ngave what charge He would to whom He would; that in God\u2019s service it is\nhonour enough to be employed at all; and that no man is to be discouraged\nbecause he sees allotted to another what appears to be a higher sphere of\nwork than his own. We all know how heavily jealousy among subordinates who\nadminister affairs clogs the wheels of the state, and it was of the\nhighest importance that this vice should be eradicated, with a view to the\npractical business of the Church.\n\nSo the great lesson taught to the Apostles\u2014and in the end it was taught\nmore completely than ever men were taught it before\u2014was self abnegation.\nThey came at last not to think about themselves at all. This unselfishness\nis never preached to them, because it cannot be taught by preaching. If a\nman has self-surrender pressed incessantly upon him, this keeps the idea\nof self ever before his view. Christ does not cry down _self_, but he puts\nit out of a man\u2019s sight by giving him something better to care for,\nsomething which shall take full and rightful possession of his soul. The\nApostles, without ever having any consciousness of sacrificing self, were\nbrought into a habit of self sacrifice by merging all thoughts for\nthemselves in devotion to a Master and a cause, and in thinking what they\ncould do to serve it themselves.\n\nHave not most of us known cases of men, seemingly immersed in amusements\nand frivolities, who would gladly have flung these to the winds, if only\nwe could have found them something which would fill their hearts. If such\npeople are selfish, it is not because they really care very much for\nthemselves; but because self seems a little more real and a little more\nunder their own control than anything else. They have found unreality in\nmany things; perhaps when they have attempted to do good they have been\nthrown back by ridicule or discouragement, and are thereby brought to feel\nat a loss for an interest in life; and in this case an evil one, who is\nalways by, has seemed to whisper, \u201cDo good to thyself and the world will\nspeak well of thee.\u201d If now, at the right moment, you could shew these men\na real good, they would be glad enough to throw aside the _self_ which\nthey have been only trying to persuade themselves that they cared for, and\nwould seize upon anything which appeared to answer to the secret hope,\nasleep, but still alive in their hearts.\n\nIt is a good test of the nature of the devotion above spoken of to be able\nto endure the preference of others to ourselves. If the Apostles generally\nhad resented the preeminence of the three, it would have shewn that they\nhad not realised \u201cwhat spirit they were of.\u201d We see from St Luke xxii. 24\nthat they had not quite overcome all personal feeling, but we hear at this\ntime no word of murmur, though they ventured pretty freely to murmur when\nthey were displeased: from this I gather that, little by little they were\nlosing personal ambition and merging themselves in their Master\u2019s cause.\nThus this selection of the Three out of the body carried with it a lesson\nin the postponement of self.\n\nThis reserving of special attention for those only who shewed promise is,\nas I said just now, connected with the appearance on the horizon of the\nEnd at Jerusalem. \u201cTimes and seasons\u201d the Father \u201chad put in His own\npower,\u201d and it may not have been till a year before the Passion that our\nLord had known how short a time was left for Him on earth. Before He had\npreached unto all alike, now, his time and pains were reserved for the\nhopeful few. Something of this same reservation of teaching for those\nlikely to profit by it, was seen when the Apostles were sent out two and\ntwo. They were only to be a few days away, consequently they were to waste\nno time over cases that were hopeless; when one city would not receive\nthem they were to go to another.\n\n\n\n\nResumption of the Narrative.\n\n\nI left the narrative at the point where the vessel with the Apostles, whom\nour Lord had joined upon the sea, had just reached the shores of the\ncountry of Gennesaret. The multitude sought Him on His arrival bringing\ntheir sick to be healed. Our Lord\u2019s words addressed to them suit the\noccasion so exactly, that we may be sure they belong to this place. The\ndiscourse(235) is preserved only by St John. It was probably begun upon\nthe shore and was afterwards continued by our Lord in the synagogue.\n\nThis discourse is very ably treated by Mr Sanday,(236) and the doctrinal\nmatters of which it treats do not fall within my sphere. It is the\ncharacter of St John\u2019s versions of our Lord\u2019s discourses that we find it\nhard to trace in them the progress of thought. One or two points usually\nform the burden; in this case these points are \u201cI am the bread of life\u201d\nand \u201cI will raise him up at the last day.\u201d This mannerism suits with the\nsupposition that St John\u2019s Gospel was written by a very old man; for this\nrecurrence to the dominant topic is a marked peculiarity of the utterances\nof old age. St John had probably preached on these discourses over and\nover again, and he set them down in the Gospel in the form in which they\nwere most familiar to him, with, possibly, something of the amplification\nrequired to adapt them to homiletic use.\n\nThis speech is pitched in so high a spiritual key that it was not all who\nhad ears to hear it: it notably effected the purpose of separating the\nchaff from the wheat. What the people expected of the Messiah, and what\nthey looked for in the future life may be gathered from the gospels or\nfrom Jewish books;(237) our Lord\u2019s words gave no promise of His fulfilling\nthese hopes of theirs, and so we read\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cUpon this many of his disciples went back, and walked no more\n    with him.\u201d(238)\n\n\nAnother cause of offence arose at this time.\n\nThe Pharisees and certain of the Scribes who had come from Jerusalem had\nseen that some of his disciples ate their bread with defiled, \u201cthat is\nunwashed hands.\u201d These persons had not come from Jerusalem at this\ntime\u2014Passover time\u2014without serious intentions, and these we may be sure\nwere not friendly to our Lord. They fasten on this point of washing before\nmeals, a process not enjoined by Moses but resting on a \u201ctradition of the\nelders.\u201d The stress however laid on it by the Rabbis was excessively\ngreat,(239) and the provisions with regard to it were so minute and\ntroublesome that only those classes who possessed leisure could possibly\nobserve them. Here we come upon a self-righteous exclusiveness; but what\nwas worse than all was the low idea of God involved in the notion that He\ngave or withdrew his favour according as men were or were not punctilious\nabout trivial acts.\n\nOur Lord turns the attack against His assailants, \u201cFull well,\u201d said He,\n\u201cdo you reject the commandment of God that ye may keep your traditions.\u201d\nHe shews how by a Rabbinical fiction they evaded the natural duty of\nmaintaining their parents in their age.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd he called to him the multitude again, and said unto them,\n    Hear me all of you, and understand: there is nothing from without\n    the man, that going into him can defile him: but the things which\n    proceed out of the man are those that defile the man.\u201d(240)\n\n\nIt is to be noted that here our Lord turns _to the multitude_. He\ncalls\u2014not only disciples and not only scribes, but every one\u2014to listen to\nthis vindication of the ways of God. These are our Lord\u2019s last words to\nthe people of Capernaum, and the discourse in the synagogue is nearly His\nlast utterance in a place of worship. He would not leave them without a\ndenunciation of that stress upon outward observances, which prevented\nspiritual religion from growing in their souls. His words are wide, I\nbelieve intentionally so, and sweep away those ordinances about meats\nclean and unclean, which, as sanitary measures, had done good, no doubt,\nin their time, but which now led one man to think that because he did not\neat what another did, he stood religiously on a higher level than his\nbrother. For spiritual religion to become possible, men must be freed from\nthe idea that God\u2019s favour depended on what they eat or drank.\n\nThis notion however was, by heredity, part and parcel of the mental\nconstitution of every Jew. The disciples regard this statement of our Lord\nas so bold that it cannot be intended to be taken literally, they call it\n\u201cthe parable.\u201d We can understand, they would say, this about eating with\nunclean hands, but the Master\u2019s words would go to do away with all\ndistinction of meats, and this surely He cannot intend. No explanation\ndoes our Lord give; He restates in the plainest terms what was matter of\noffence. He expresses wonder that the disciples should be startled at His\nwords\u2014there was that in store which would offend them more\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cMany therefore of his disciples, when they heard _this_, said,\n    This is a hard saying; who can hear it? But Jesus knowing in\n    himself that his disciples murmured at this, said unto them, Doth\n    this cause you to stumble? _What_ then if ye should behold the Son\n    of man ascending where he was before? It is the spirit that\n    quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I have\n    spoken unto you are spirit, and are life.\u201d(241)\n\n\nAs far as affection and loyalty went our Lord carried them with Him. But\ntheir minds had not kept pace with their hearts, habit was their master\nstill. That many who had counted themselves disciples should have taken\noffence at this bold assertion, \u201cwhatsoever from without goeth into the\nman it cannot defile him,\u201d is easily conceived. It did away with a ready\nsource of self congratulation. If a Jew\u2019s conscience pricked him, he\nturned for comfort to the thought that he had never eaten anything\nunclean.\n\nSo many fell away that our Lord\u2019s company was reduced to a handful. He had\nexpected, and probably intended, to thin it considerably, but the\nwithdrawals among the disciples appear to have surprised Him, He says to\nthe Apostles, \u201cWill ye also go away?\u201d Puzzled by our Lord\u2019s declarations\nno doubt they were, but of one thing they were sure: having known Christ\nthey could follow no one else but Him. The mountain journey clenched their\ndevotion and their faith.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd from thence he arose, and went away into the borders of Tyre\n    and Sidon. And he entered into a house, and would have no man know\n    it: and he could not be hid.\u201d(242)\n\n\nNow at last does our Lord find for the Apostles the rest which He had\ndesired to give them before. It is not a missionary journey, He does not\npreach to the people; and the miracles which He performs are no longer\nillustrations of God\u2019s Kingdom, but works of beneficence wrung from Him by\nthe sight of suffering. The cures are wrought as privately as is possible.\nThe Syro-Ph\u0153nician woman obtains what she desires by her exceptional\nopenness to Divine impression: when He entered into a house \u201cand would\nhave no man know it,\u201d she sought Him out. The man who was deaf and had an\nimpediment in his speech, is taken \u201caside from the multitude privately,\u201d\nand our Lord charged the witnesses \u201cthat they should tell no man.\u201d(243) So\nagain with the blind man at Bethsaida (probably Bethsaida Julias at the\nhead of the lake)(244) \u201cHe took hold of the blind man by the hand and\nbrought him out of the village,\u201d and at the end \u201cHe sent him away to his\nhome, saying, Do not even enter into the village.\u201d(245)\n\nOur Lord appears to have returned southwards along the valley and down the\neastern side of the Lake, where the miracle of the feeding of the four\nthousand took place.\n\nThis country on the east of the Sea of Galilee, contained a mixed\npopulation, of which only the smaller part were of Israelite descent. The\nfour thousand had followed day after day seeking cures; but there was no\nfear of these men trying to make Jesus a King, for there was little\nnationalist feeling on that side the sea. Our Lord might therefore exert\nHis beneficence without imprudence. It seems strange that the disciples\nshould not have thought of the feeding of the five thousand; but they may\nhave thought that it was out of the question that a miracle should be\nwrought for people who were mostly heathen; or it may have been one of\nthose not uncommon cases in which a man has seen his mistake and supposes\nthat he can never make it again, and yet when circumstances arise, similar\nexcept for some slight variation, he does exactly what he did before.\n\nWhen the four thousand were sent away, our Lord takes boat and crosses the\nlake to Magada in \u201cthe parts of Dalmanutha.\u201d Of this region we know\nnothing except that it must have been on the western side of the lake.\nHere our Lord again finds himself among the haunts of men, and, since\nwherever there was a town population Pharisees were to be found, these\n\u201ccame forth, and began to question with him, seeking of him a Sign from\nheaven, tempting him.\u201d(246)\n\nPerhaps they had heard of the feeding of the four thousand and wanted to\nput Him to what they considered a conclusive test. \u201cCould He shew a Sign\nin Heaven?\u201d This iterated cry shewed the poorness of the soil, they had\nnothing else to utter but a demand for credentials. If our Lord had worked\na \u201cSign in Heaven\u201d they would have examined it to find a flaw, and even if\nthey had been driven to admit that it was valid, no change whatever would\nhave ensued in the men themselves. Chronic evil requires, not a passing\nshock but a long continued reparative process for its cure. So, here, to\nthose who have not nothing is given, indeed nothing could be given to any\npurpose, and they soon lose even what they had, viz. our Lord\u2019s presence,\nfor He leaves them and goes elsewhere.\n\nOn the way across the Lake, while this circumstance is still in His mind,\nour Lord warns the Apostles against this Pharisaic spirit, the leaven of\nthe Pharisees, which would kill all that is spiritual in religion by\nreducing every thing to matter of dry proof and dead authority. On the\nmistake of the disciples, \u201cIt is because we have no bread,\u201d I have already\nspoken (p. 7), it is to me a proof of the genuineness of the story. Who\nwould have introduced it, and who has not met scores of people who would\nhave clung to the literal sense of the words just as the Apostles did?\n\nOur Lord and the band of apostles travel along the upper valley of the\nJordan to the neighbourhood of C\u00e6sarea Philippi. Most if not all of the\nouter disciples had by this time fallen away, and the opportunity for\ngiving His higher inmost teaching had come.\n\nNever yet, except to the woman of Samaria, had Our Lord spoken of Himself\nas the Messiah. The notions of the Jews about the Messiah varied greatly,\nbut the notion of an era of material physical enjoyment was dominant in\nall, and this had the demoralising effect of leading men to regard\nsensuous well being as the supreme good. If our Lord had proclaimed\nHimself the Messiah, crowds would have rallied to his side, hoping to have\nfound one who would give them what they desired. This would have been\nfatal to all spiritual growth. Our Lord\u2019s reticence about the Messiah and\nalso about His own nature, is very significant: I think it means that\ntruth absolute about heavenly things is not within the reach of man.\n\nWhat follows, is so important, that it must be given in the words of St\nMatthew whose narrative is the most full.\n\n\n    \u201cNow when Jesus came into the parts of C\u00e6sarea Philippi, he asked\n    his disciples, saying, Who do men say that the Son of man is? And\n    they said, Some _say_ John the Baptist; some, Elijah: and others,\n    Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But who say\n    ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the\n    Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said\n    unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah: for flesh and blood\n    hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.\n    And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock\n    I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail\n    against it. I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of\n    heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in\n    heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed\n    in heaven. Then charged he the disciples that they should tell no\n    man that he was the Christ.\u201d(247)\n\n\nThe doctrinal and ecclesiastical bearings of this passage are beyond my\nscope, they have been fully treated over and over again; but one point\nbelongs to my special province\u2014Peter\u2019s knowledge had not come from\nanything he had been told. Our Lord had not breathed it to him, but it had\ngrown up in him as great truths have grown up in prophetic souls by the\nprompting of God. This is the true inspiration of God; He whispers\nthoughts into the hearts of men, some nurse them and bring them to\nmaturity, with others they take no hold. Blessed are those with whom they\nrest. Our Lord had said in the synagogue at Capernaum\n\n\n    \u201cNo man can come to me, except the Father which sent me draw him:\n    and I will raise him up in the last day.\u201d(248)\n\n\nPeter had been drawn towards Him in this way.\n\nAnother point is to be noted. Henceforth the Apostles had a secret\u2014they\nwere to \u201ctell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.\u201d\n\nSo long as the belief in our Lord as the Messiah was only a surmise,\ngrowing in Peter\u2019s mind more and more into positive shape, he was not\nlifted up by it; but now he had become, as he thought, a species of chief\nminister, and he looked to the declaration of an earthly kingdom; so that\nwhen, immediately after the promise of power, our Lord speaks of\nsufferings and death, Peter replies, \u201cThese things be far from thee.\u201d He\nnever doubts but that our Lord would use His powers in self-defence. He\nlooks on His words only as evil boding, and it strikes him that it is\nimpolitic to utter them, because they will confuse and dishearten both the\ndisciples and the Twelve.\n\nThis remonstrance of Peter\u2019s drew from our Lord the first stern words\nwhich an Apostle had received from His lips, and very stern they were.\n\n\n    \u201cBut he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan:\n    thou art a stumblingblock unto me: for thou mindest not the things\n    of God, but the things of men.\u201d(249)\n\n\nIt will help us to understand what moved our Lord so deeply if we go back\nto the Temptations. St Luke ends his account of the Temptations thus,\n\n\n    \u201cAnd when the devil had completed every temptation, he departed\n    from him for a season.\u201d(250)\n\n\nThe words \u201cfor a season\u201d imply that Temptations recurred from time to\ntime, and that our Lord, now and again, heard inward voices harping on the\nold themes, one of the most persistent being that which said \u201cEmploy\nsupernatural might to bring your Kingdom about.\u201d Peter now spoke in the\nsame strain. Could it be that even His \u201cown familiar friend\u201d had gone over\nto the foe.\n\nThe following discourse sounds a new note. Now for the first time our Lord\nspeaks of the sufferings that awaited his followers.\n\n\n    \u201cThen said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man would come after\n    me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.\n    For whosoever would save his life shall lose it: and whosoever\n    shall lose his life for my sake shall find it.\u201d(251)\n\n\nThe Apostles understood this probably as applying to the hardships and\nvicissitudes of the campaign which would result in the restoration of the\nKingdom to Israel; for they looked for such a restoration up to the last\n(see St Luke xxiv. 21). This notion might have been removed no doubt; but\nwhat could have been put in its place? the idea of a Kingdom over men\u2019s\nconsciences, could not be implanted in men by words or in a short time. It\ncould come about only by long experience in seeing and sharing suffering\nand toil, and by turning again and again to the abiding recollections of\nthe Cross. Notions mischievously erroneous would have sprouted up in the\nApostles\u2019 minds from any thing they could have been told in a few words.\n\nOne promise however made at this time must have seemed to them to afford\njust what they wanted.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There be some here\n    of them that stand _by_, which shall in no wise taste of death,\n    till they see the kingdom of God come with power.\u201d(252)\n\n\nI understand this verse in a way with which not every body will agree.\n\nI take it as referring entirely to the Transfiguration, and I consider\nthat the strong expression \u201cshall in no wise taste of death\u201d means that\nthe witnesses should see what is spoken of during their actual earthly\nlives. Many might be blessed enough to behold this after death; but what\nwas to distinguish the chosen witnesses from other men was this, that\n_while in the body_ they should see the Kingdom of God come with power.\nThis boon is given, not to those who needed assurance, but to those who\npossessed it most; it seems given only to those to whom it is superfluous.\nThe Law of the working of Signs (see pp. 142, 143) is rigorously observed.\nThe vision on the Mount of Transfiguration coerced no one into belief.\n\nDuring those six days we may suppose that the Apostles were busy in their\nminds, they would wonder who these \u201csome\u201d were to be, and why, supposing\nthat the Kingdom of God came with the kind of power they looked for\u2014a\nlegion of angels for instance\u2014why they should not all see it at once. Of\nthe Transfiguration itself and the lessons it contains, the superseding of\nthe teaching of the Law and the Prophets by the revelation of the\nincarnate Word, I have spoken fully in Chap. IV. (p. 94). We shall see as\nwe go farther on, that our Lord is careful that there shall be nothing so\nrigid in His teaching as to prevent its being applicable to all races and\nconditions of men. It was no longer Moses, and no longer the prophets\nembodied in the person of Elijah, to whom men were to listen now. Hitherto\nall had rested on authority\u2014on the letter of written Law. In the place of\nthis were given words which \u201cwere Spirit and which were life.\u201d Henceforth\nfor their knowledge of God they were to turn to Christ. He manifests God\nunto the world, both in His own Personality depicted in the Gospels and by\nSpiritual Communion, whispering unto the end of the world to those who are\nready to hear.\n\nOne point that was gained by this manifestation may be noted here.\nSupposing that the foes of Jesus had dispatched Him at the Feast of\nTabernacles, still something would have been already accomplished,\nsomething secured for the world. There would have been three witnesses\u2014men\nnot given to visions or dreaming\u2014who could declare that a voice from\nHeaven had sounded in their ears, and that while Moses and Elias were\nstanding by, a voice from Heaven had declared that they were superseded as\nthe Divine teachers of men by Jesus of Nazareth, of whom it declared,\n\u201cThis is my beloved Son, HEAR HIM.\u201d\n\nAs soon as these words are uttered, all that is wondrous disappears. The\nApostles find themselves with their Master on the mountain top, and all is\nas it was before He had begun to pray. If there had been but one witness\nhe would have found it hard to convince men that he had seen all this with\nhis waking eyes; but there were three Apostles to say \u201cwe were together\nand awake when we saw it.\u201d Is it likely that three men should have fallen\nasleep together and have waked at the same moment, having all dreamed the\nsame dream?\n\nThe supposition, however, of a vision affords a means of escape from\naccepting the narration. This exemplifies the Law that in every revelation\ndelivered to men not already convinced, room is left for them to\ndisbelieve if they like, because assent to proof which is irrefragable is\nnot moral belief at all. There were people who would have said of this\nTransfiguration \u201cwe would rather believe that you all three slept and\ndreamed the same dream than that your story is true.\u201d And some ground is\nleft for such men to stand upon, though we who believe may think them\nstraitened for room. With the three Apostles themselves, the conviction\nthat their Master was Divine, already formed part of their being, it could\nhardly be strengthened; acceptance was not forced on them for they already\naccepted all. What they beheld did not act upon them as additional proof,\nbut as a glimpse of another world, a revelation of new modes of\nexistence\u2014something to give shape to that message of eternal life which is\nhenceforth the ground theme of our Lord\u2019s teaching.\n\nIt may seem surprising that this revelation of their Master\u2019s glory should\ncause so little disturbance in the Apostles\u2019 minds, or in their freedom of\nintercourse with the Lord. If one whom we ourselves held in honour changed\nhis mortal guise in the way described, not only would the shock upset our\njudgment but never after could we approach our friend in the old familiar\nway; he would belong to another order and have his true existence in\nanother plane. We read, it is true, that the Apostles were for a moment\n\u201csore afraid,\u201d but this was superficial fear due to the spectacle, to\nimpression on the outward sense. St Peter, who is persuaded that they have\nbeen removed to a strange and blessed country, quickly regains\nself-possession. Following his instincts as a worker with his hands, he\nbethinks himself at once, as was said in Chapter VIII. (p. 248), of what\nis to be done. When our Lord and the three take their way down the\nmountain we find again the old confident relation of Master and disciple\nexisting among them, it was so deep-rooted that all were sure that nothing\ncould disturb that. Their Master\u2019s spiritual exaltation did not put a gulf\nbetween Him and them, because they were so far one with Him that they were\nin a measure uplifted together; what was His, was also in part their own;\nwhether in earth or heaven, or wherever their Master\u2019s Kingdom should be,\nthey felt sure they must be by His side. They could not be estranged from\nHim by awe of a newly discovered dignity, for they had been sure of His\npossessing this before, and only wondered that it had not come more\npatently to light.\n\nThus the complete love of the three which transfused their being into\nChrist and rendered the idea of separation inconceivable, made it possible\nfor them to receive that as a blessing which if given to others might have\nproved a bewilderment. They already possessed something which made them\ncapable of receiving more.\n\nOur Lord makes no comment on the manifestation witnessed by the three\nbeyond charging them \u201cthat they should tell no man what things they had\nseen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead.\u201d(253) What they had\nbeheld contained a varied store of lessons, and men in the after times of\nthe world would draw out one or another according to the turn taken by\ntheir thoughts. The Apostles, at the moment, only understood a small part\nof what this revelation conveyed. No exposition given in words could have\nbrought to the comprehension of the three a perception of the whole\nbearing of what they had seen, but they would live into more of its\nmeaning in time. If our Lord had discoursed on this manifestation, and\nrepresented its purport in this view or in that, men might have supposed\nthat He meant His account to be exhaustive, and that the fact contained no\nlessons beyond those which He Himself set forth. Here we come I think upon\na possible reason why our Lord is sparing of exposition regarding the\nfacts of revelation. He could not briefly point out _every_ truth that a\nfact embodied, and if in an exposition, which was seemingly full, He\nshould pass any lessons by, these it might be supposed He intended to\nexclude; in this way His reticence preserves for us the many-sidedness of\nDivine truth and engages men to ponder on it for themselves.\n\nFor the Apostles to have been allowed to spread abroad the story of the\nsolemn scene upon the Mount would have been damaging to the work both for\nthe world and themselves. The old cry might again have been raised to take\nJesus and make Him a king; or the people might have been seized with a\nfever of curiosity, and the scribes would have grown all the more bitter\nin their hatred from its being leavened with awe. The ill effect on the\nApostles of becoming authorised to promulgate such momentous tidings is\neasy enough to perceive. When people run about to disseminate some scrap\nof news which they alone possess the result is usually not beneficial\neither to character or to mind. From this temptation the Apostles were\nguarded. What they have seen and heard is not matter which they may use to\nmagnify their importance or excite envy\u2014it is a sacred trust. This signal\nmanifestation besides being a light to help to the understanding of what\nChrist meant by eternal life, was to furnish them with a reserve of\ncertitude. The three might never need to draw on it for themselves, but it\nwould be of no slight avail with Jewish converts to be able to assure them\nthat Christ had visibly appeared in Glory and that God had directed men\nhenceforth to listen, not to the Law or the Prophets, not to Moses or\nElijah, but to Him.\n\nIt is significant that this is to be kept secret not only until our Lord\u2019s\ndeath but until His Resurrection. The three were not allowed to use it to\ncomfort and reassure the rest as soon as their Master had suffered on the\ncross. The nine were to go through this trial unaided, eight stood the\ntest, and held together in Jerusalem. When the Resurrection came, the\nApostles \u201cwere glad when they saw the Lord,\u201d and then in the delight and\nexultation of that moment the three may have poured forth the secret they\nhad in store.\n\nThe Apostles were not surprised at being told that they were to tell no\nman; they had received the same charge when they had seen Jairus\u2019 daughter\nraised to life; but they were greatly puzzled by the words \u201ctill the Son\nof man were risen from the dead.\u201d They believed probably in a\nResurrection, but that was to be ages hence, whereas this rising of Christ\nfrom the dead must take place in their own lifetime, because after it had\nhappened they were to be free to speak of the Vision on the Mount. They\nasked each other what this rising could be, and perhaps some fancied that\nour Lord would permanently assume the glorified existence of which He had\ngiven them a glimpse.\n\nThen came the question of Elijah. Our Lord turns the allusion to the\nprophets towards His coming rejection. Men had ill-treated the prophets;\nthey will set at nought the Son of man too. \u201cEven so shall the Son of man\nalso suffer of them.\u201d(254) This news is broken to the disciples gently and\nlittle by little, but they never believe that it is literally true. Their\ncause must, they were sure, succeed in the end, Christ would not have\nengaged them in failure. What leader ever prophesied his own discomfiture\nand death? Our Lord first broke this truth to Peter at C\u00e6sar\u00e6a Philippi,\nthen to the three, and again, as we shall see presently, to all the Twelve\non their way to Capernaum; thus the stream of communication broadens out.\n\nWe learn from St Luke(255) that it was not till the next day that our Lord\n\u201ccame down from the hill and much people met him,\u201d so that in the night,\nand in the long day\u2019s walk down to the inhabited country, the Apostles had\nample time for quietly thinking over all that had taken place. Our Lord is\nalways careful to leave time for one impression to fix itself, before\nanother takes its place.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI. FROM THE MOUNT TO JERUSALEM.\n\n\nThe spot at which our Lord had left the disciples when He went up to the\nMount of the Transfiguration must have been well peopled and provided with\nsynagogues, for our Lord on His return finds a \u201cgreat multitude about them\nand scribes questioning with them.\u201d The people were greatly amazed either\nat His sudden appearance or at something uplifted in His air. The Scribes\nwere holding an altercation with the disciples, possibly exulting over the\nfailure of these to cure the child, and our Lord, addressing the Scribes\nwho were, it would seem, the assailing party, asks\n\n\n    \u201cWhat question ye with them? And one of the multitude answered\n    him, Master, I brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit;\n    and wheresoever it taketh him, it dasheth him down: and he\n    foameth, and grindeth his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to\n    thy disciples that they should cast it out; and they were not\n    able. And he answereth them and saith, O faithless generation, how\n    long shall I be with you? how long shall I bear with you? bring\n    him unto me. And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him,\n    straightway the spirit tare him grievously; and he fell on the\n    ground, and wallowed foaming. And he asked his father, How long\n    time is it since this hath come unto him? And he said, From a\n    child. And oft-times it hath cast him both into the fire and into\n    the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do anything, have\n    compassion on us, and help us. And Jesus said unto him, If thou\n    canst! All things are possible to him that believeth. Straightway\n    the father of the child cried out, and said, I believe; help thou\n    mine unbelief. And when Jesus saw that a multitude came running\n    together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying unto him, Thou\n    dumb and deaf spirit, I command thee, come out of him, and enter\n    no more into him. And having cried out, and torn him much, he came\n    out: and _the child_ became as one dead; insomuch that the more\n    part said, He is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand, and raised\n    him up; and he arose. And when he was come into the house, his\n    disciples asked him privately, _saying_, We could not cast it out.\n    And he said unto them, This kind can come out by nothing, save by\n    prayer.\u201d(256)\n\n\nOur Lord\u2019s question to the father is just what a physician would ask, \u201cHow\nlong is it since this hath come to him?\u201d(257) It may have been that the\nlonger the standing of the complaint the greater would be the effort\nrequired for the cure; for that in working these cures some physical\nstrain on the nervous energy was incurred may be inferred from our Lord\u2019s\nfeeling that \u201cvirtue was gone out of Him,\u201d when the woman touched the hem\nof His garment in the press round the house of Jairus.(258)\n\nThis force depended on spiritual life, and if this were lowered in the\ndisciples by their Master\u2019s absence, or by any little rivalry or thought\nof personal display in the cure, we can understand that in this difficult\ncase\u2014for our Lord distinctly recognises its exceptional difficulty\u2014they\nshould fail of success. The words \u201cfaithless and perverse generation\u201d may\napply to all those whom he finds wrangling, more or less the disciples\nwere faithless, and the Scribes perverse. He came from a region of serene\npeace and heavenly communion, and the contrast of that with what He finds\nas soon as he comes to the resort of men, draws from Him these stern\nwords. From the disciples\u2019 surprise that they could not cast the devil\nout, it may be inferred that they had succeeded in what they regarded as\nsimilar cases before. The narrative proceeds thus\n\n\n    \u201cAnd they went forth from thence, and passed through Galilee; and\n    he would not that any man should know it.\u201d(259)\n\n\nOur Lord now lays aside for a time His setting forth of God\u2019s Kingdom to\nthe people at large, and devotes Himself entirely to preparing the\nApostles for what was to come. He now breaks to all the Twelve the news of\nwhat His end on earth would be. He speaks in the plainest terms but they\ndo not understand: their own preconception firmly holds its ground. Some\nperhaps thought that this death spoken of would be like a temporary\ntrance, from which their Master would rise to a life in the body such as\nHe had led before.\n\nOur Lord, we may be sure, did not suppose that they would understand, nor\nwas He careful that they should do so, if He had been He would have asked\nthem questions and commented on their replies. If the whole sad truth had\nbeen unfolded, they would have had no heart for daily work; the cloud in\nthe future would have overcast their souls. Thus it is that our Lord does\nnot dwell upon the end. He says nothing of its meaning, He utters no word\nof doctrine, but He states the facts in the barest form. His intention in\ndoing this is made known to us in words spoken long afterwards:\n\n\n    \u201cBut these things have I spoken unto you, that when their hour is\n    come, ye may remember them, how that I told you. And these things\n    I said not unto you from the beginning, because I was with\n    you.\u201d(260)\n\n\nIt was not His object that they should know beforehand what was coming,\nbut that when circumstances furnished the key, they should understand that\nall was taking place in the way He had foreseen: neither should they be\nmade to grieve while the bridegroom was with them.\n\nWhen the Crucifixion came, it would be some support to the disciples to\nmark that it was a fulfilment of their Master\u2019s words. They would get a\nlarger view of God\u2019s plans by marking that what came about was part of a\npurpose worked steadily out, on lines long before laid down.\n\nWhatever our Lord\u2019s words might mean, no doubt about the final restoration\nof the Kingdom to Israel entered the Apostles\u2019 heads. Come what might this\nwas to them a certainty, and the notion of a Kingdom over the hearts and\nconsciences of men, without the sanctions or appurtenances of royal sway,\nwas one which neither they nor any others of those times could conceive;\nit had to appear, indeed, as a fact, before it could be entertained as an\nidea.\n\nThe Apostles were ready enough to admit that vicissitudes of fortune might\nbefall them and their Master on their way, but that their cause must\nfinally triumph was a conviction which formed part of themselves. They\nmade light of the conflicts and dangers which beset the road, for they saw\nbehind all these an empire settled for evermore and stretching over the\nworld. This material view brought with it at the time the ills that cling\nto error. It made them think of what they should themselves receive. Their\ncare for self, which had passed almost out of sight while they devotedly\nfollowed their Master over the mountains or the Lake, swelled out greatly\nnow. Our Lord, so tolerant of merely speculative error, is made anxious by\nthe symptoms of rivalry displayed. Mistaken opinions, or illusions, due to\nthe traditions in which they had been reared, events already impending\nwould dispel; but self-regard among the founders of the Church would be\nfatal to the work.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd they came to Capernaum: and when he was in the house he asked\n    them, What were ye reasoning in the way?\u201d(261)\n\n\nWe get here a glimpse of the Apostolic company taking their road along the\npath which had been chosen as being unfrequented.(262) We may picture them\njourneying on, with our Lord a little in front, with them but not quite of\nthem\u2014for always He is essentially alone\u2014close enough to hear a medley of\nvoices and to catch the tones which indicated contest, but not near enough\nto distinguish words\u2014and after Him the Apostles following in knots of two\nor three which now and then came together into one group. Our Lord is not\nquick to interrupt; He is singularly sparing of interposing the Master\u2019s\nhand, He does not turn on them and chide. The Apostles would not have\ngrown to what they did if they had been checked at every turn.\n\nThe dispute has died away, their journey is over and they are together in\nthe house at Capernaum which they had left some months before, when our\nLord asks the question in the text just quoted shewing that He knew their\nhearts, and they held their peace. Our Lord sat down and called the\nTwelve; from this they might be sure that He had something of moment to\nsay.\n\nSt Mark gives his words thus,\n\n\n    \u201cIf any man would be first, he shall be last of all, and minister\n    of all.\u201d(263)\n\n\nThis evangelist\u2019s way of putting what was said makes it look like a penal\nprovision against seeking the mastery; as if he who was convicted of\naiming at the highest place was to be put down to the bottom of the scale.\nBut St Luke\u2019s version points to a view more consistent with Our Lord\u2019s\nusual way. He makes our Lord say, \u201cfor he that is least among you all, the\nsame is great.\u201d(264) Christian greatness is born of willingness to lay the\nlowliest duties on yourself, and the way to be first is to be ready to\nremain last.\n\nOur Lord goes to the root of this matter of greatness. He makes them put\nit to themselves what they meant by being greater one than another. He\nrecalls them from what is worldly and ephemeral, from gradations of\nprecedence and authority, to what constitutes the real greatness of a\nspiritual being, his favour in God\u2019s sight.\n\nSt Matthew\u2019s account of this discourse is the most full, and if we take\nout of it the denunciations of offence, and suppose them put subsequently\nas St Mark gives them, it makes it easier to follow the connexion of\nthought.\n\n\n    \u201cIn that hour came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who then is\n    greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And he called to him a little\n    child, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say\n    unto you, Except ye turn, and become as little children, ye shall\n    in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore\n    shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the\n    greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one\n    such little child in my name receiveth me: but whoso shall cause\n    one of these little ones which believe on me to stumble, it is\n    profitable for him that a great millstone should be hanged about\n    his neck, and _that_ he should be sunk in the depth of the sea.\n    Woe unto the world because of occasions of stumbling! for it must\n    needs be that the occasions come; but woe to that man through whom\n    the occasion cometh!\n\n                  \u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\n\n    See that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto\n    you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my\n    Father which is in heaven.\u201d(265)\n\n\nA child does not feel that he is humbling himself by helping even in the\nlowliest matters in his parents\u2019 work; rather is he elated at being found\nto be of use. The Apostles could take a lesson by children in this\nparticular; and in order to learn this lesson, they could hardly do better\nthan try to win children to them, not counting them lightly because they\nwere children, but feeling a reverence for childhood, because Christ\nclaimed children as His own, and, what was more, declared that in heaven\ntheir angels always beheld His Father\u2019s face.\n\nThis gentleness of our Lord in rebuking, has an effect which gentleness\noften has, it awakens compunctions in those to whom it is shewn. A child,\nwho by severity is set on its defence or drawn into falsehood, is often\nmelted into full confession by being loved and trusted more than it\ndeserves. While our Lord was speaking of offences, St John had been asking\nhimself whether he had ever put back any who were pressing toward Christ\nin their own way, whether he had ever chilled a nascent faith; his\nconscience is not clear and he must come out with what troubles him. They\nhad seen one casting out devils in their Master\u2019s name(266) and the evil\nspirit of exclusiveness had come over them. Their Master they thought was\nwholly theirs, and no one who did not become altogether one of themselves\nwas to have any part in Him; there is a touch of truth to nature in this\nwhich makes us sure that what we read took place. Our Lord\u2019s reply is\nagain gentle; to be hard on a fault that was confessed would have dried up\nthat confidence which flowed so freely. They were to take the large view,\nthey are told \u201cHe that is not against us is for us.\u201d Man is a weak being\nand where there is good, however partial, there is hope. Spirits, on the\ncontrary, we may suppose are either good or evil and do not change their\nnature; so when speaking of them, not of mankind, in the reply to the\ncharge that He cast out devils by Beelzebub, we find the opposite\nstatement.\n\n\n    \u201cHe that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not\n    with me scattereth.\u201d(267)\n\n\nIt is commonly supposed that it was at this visit to Capernaum that the\nhalf shekel was demanded of Peter, which was provided by the stater found\nin the fish\u2019s mouth; of this miracle I have spoken already, but I may have\noccasion to recur to it again.\n\nWe find in St Matthew\u2019s Gospel(268) a lesson delivered at this time by our\nLord on the forgiveness of offences. St Peter,\u2014characteristically ready to\nbring out what is in his heart\u2014is willing to accept the duty of\nforgiveness; but he cannot get rid of the notion in which he has been\ntrained, that all conduct must be ordered by definite rule. He would\nforgive his brother as he was told to do, but he must know how many times\nhe was to do so. He could bring himself to acts of forgiveness, but he did\nnot yet feel that it was more blessed to forgive than to resent. A parable\nis spoken expressly for him, it is that of the king who made the reckoning\nwith his servants. Later on, when he had himself needed and received\nforgiveness for denying his Master, a new light in this direction streamed\nin, no doubt, upon his soul.\n\nThis discourse of our Lord precedes His setting out for Jerusalem to the\nfeast of Tabernacles, and may be supposed to contain his parting\ndirections to the body of disciples left behind at Capernaum. Nothing\nwould be so disastrous as the breaking out of rivalry among them; His\ninjunctions therefore, like those which He gave to the Apostles at the\nlast, are to the effect that they should forgive and love one another.\n\nAt the end of the 9th Chapter in St Mark, we have a hard passage which has\nsuffered from interpolation;(269) this I believe to have been the close of\nthe lesson given to the Twelve in the house at Capernaum, when our Lord\ncalled them round Him and sat down.\n\n\n    \u201cFor every one shall be salted with fire. Salt is good: but if the\n    salt have lost its saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have\n    salt in yourselves, and be at peace one with another.\u201d(270)\n\n\nWhen our Lord says \u201cevery one shall be salted with fire\u201d I believe that He\nis thinking of that fire which He had come to send upon the earth; that\nnew sense of communion with God, which Christ awakened in the consciences\nof men and which has been a mighty transforming agency in the world.\n\nThe Apostles who were to be instinct with this Spirit were the salt of the\nworld. This Spirit should be to them what salt is to that which it seasons\nand preserves; but if the preserving principle, embodied in the Apostles,\nand which was to emanate from them should itself prove corrupt, then where\ncould help be found? If they, the chosen ones, became selfish, if they\nwrangled about who should be greatest; then the fire which our Lord had\ncome to send upon earth was clearly not burning in them, and whence could\nit be kindled afresh. So our Lord parts from the body of disciples, going\nwith a few on His way to the feast, and His last injunction is that they\nshould have salt in themselves and be at peace one with another.\n\nAt this point, the end of the ninth chapter, we lose the guidance of the\nGospel of St Mark. All that the writer gives for the events of half a\nyear, lies in this verse:\n\n\n    \u201cAnd he arose from thence, and cometh into the borders of Jud\u00e6a\n    and beyond Jordan: and multitudes come together unto him again;\n    and, as he was wont, he taught them again.\u201d(271)\n\n\nIt would seem as if it was the Galil\u00e6an ministry that he had set himself\nto relate, and that when our Lord passed into Jud\u00e6a and Per\u00e6a he\u2014being\nperhaps no longer a constant eye witness and not willing to speak from\nhearsay\u2014broke off his tale. The narrative is supplied here by St John\n(Chap. vii.) and also by St Luke who, in a section of the Gospel which has\ndriven formal Harmonists to despair (Chaps. ix. 50 to xviii. 15),\npreserves matter of the greatest value belonging apparently to this time.\n\nSt Luke speaks of a journey to Jerusalem, and of our Lord\u2019s coming to a\nvillage of the Samaritans on the way.(272) This journey is identified with\nthat to the feast of Tabernacles (St John vii. 10) which must be the same\nas that spoken of above by St Mark. It is doubtful whether our Lord saw\nCapernaum again before His death, but He may have done so just before the\nfinal journey to Jerusalem.\n\nA word or two must be said about St John\u2019s account of the circumstances\nunder which our Lord set out: his account is this.\n\n\n    \u201cNow the feast of the Jews, the feast of tabernacles, was at hand.\n    His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into\n    Jud\u00e6a, that thy disciples also may behold thy works which thou\n    doest. For no man doeth anything in secret, and himself seeketh to\n    be known openly. If thou doest these things, manifest thyself to\n    the world. For even his brethren did not believe on him. Jesus\n    therefore saith unto them, My time is not yet come; but your time\n    is alway ready. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth,\n    because I testify of it, that its works are evil. Go ye up unto\n    the feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; because my time is not\n    yet fulfilled. And having said these things unto them, he abode\n    _still_ in Galilee. But when his brethren were gone up unto the\n    feast, then went he also up, not publicly, but as it were in\n    secret.\u201d(273)\n\n\nThis disbelief was not, in our Lord\u2019s brethren, grounded on an opposition\nof will like that of the scribes. It came from the \u201cslowness of heart\u201d of\nmen who had not imagination for things Divine. What came before their eyes\nwas never doubted by them; they did not explain His miracles away as His\nenemies did, only they did not see what the possession of this power\nimplied. After the Ascension they are found among the believers.(274) Like\nthe rest of the people at Nazareth they admired \u201cthe wisdom given unto\nthis man\u201d and \u201cthe mighty works wrought by His hands,\u201d(275) but they could\nnot imagine that one who had grown up along with them had a nature of a\ndifferent order from theirs. Our Lord never upbraids them; they worked\ntheir work and He His. They were blameless commonplace men, wondering at\ntheir brother\u2019s powers and also that, with all His wisdom, He should fail\nin the practical sense necessary for turning His superiority to account.\nWhat was the good of these wonders being wrought if nobody knew of them?\nThat He must aim at notoriety seemed to them too much a matter of course\nto need saying; and now when the great feast to which all Israel gathered\nwas at hand, it was inexplicable that He should not join the company that\ntravelled from Galilee, and thus enter Jerusalem with a following at his\nback.\n\nThe voice which, at the Temptation, had whispered, \u201cUse your superhuman\npower to lend material aid to your designs,\u201d spoke in His brothers\u2019 advice\nas it had done by Peter. They were not unconcerned for His safety, if they\nhad foreseen danger they would have kept Him away from the Feast (St Mark\niii. 21), but they either underrated the hostility of His foes or assumed\nthat He would protect Himself by His superhuman power; for that,\npossessing miraculous powers as they knew He did, He should hesitate, on\nan emergency, to exert them in self-defence was to them an idea too\nunreasonable to be entertained. The deep truth unconsciously uttered by\nHis foes, \u201cHe saved others, Himself He cannot save,\u201d was one which their\nminds were not constructed to contain. Our Lord foresaw that a public\nentry into Jerusalem would lead to commotion, and, as afterwards happened,\nmight bring about His death. A man\u2019s life, if he have a great matter in\nhand, is the more precious to him until this be done: so it was with our\nLord. Until He had finished what was given Him to accomplish, He took such\nprecautions for personal safety as a prudent man would. To have made light\nof danger, trusting to baffle it by superhuman means, would have spoiled\nthe lesson and the moral of His life.\n\nWhen the brethren spoke of His \u201cgoing up to Jerusalem,\u201d they thought of\nthe journey in public as much as of the feast itself. Half Galilee would\nbe upon the road, men would mix and converse freely on the way, and Jesus,\nthey thought, would, by travelling thus, come in contact with a number of\nzealous men and increase His following largely. But herein lay one of the\ndangers which made our Lord shun this course. The people, proud of the\ngreat prophet from their own district, might have revived the project of\nmaking Him a King, and by a turbulent entry to Jerusalem have alarmed the\nRomans as well as the scribes. Again, the turmoil of this journey would\nhave disturbed those processes of growth in the Apostles\u2019 mind over which\nour Lord held watch; the feast of Tabernacles was, above all, a festival\nof joyousness, and the journey to it was made an occasion of pleasure and\nsocial union. For the Apostles to have joined the crowd would have been\nunfavourable for the germination of the solemn thoughts of which our Lord\nhad dropped the seed on His way from the Mount to Capernaum. By going up\nprivately in the middle of the Feast these dangers were avoided. There was\nno public arrival, no welcome. The Romans would know and care nothing\nabout a new preacher who appeared in the Temple, and the priests, in face\nof the diversity of opinion about Jesus of Nazareth, would hesitate to lay\nhands upon Him. For the Apostles too, the journey through an unfriendly\ncountry would give plenty of occasion for turning over in their minds the\nstrange words they had heard about the sufferings of the Christ, and the\ninjunctions to \u201chave salt in themselves.\u201d\n\nWhat gives this journey its great interest to me, with my particular\npurpose in view, is the refusal of hospitality to our Lord by the\nSamaritan villages, and the enquiry of James and John, whether they should\nnot call down fire from heaven; wherein the \u201cSons of Thunder\u201d justify\ntheir name.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd it came to pass, when the days were well-nigh come that he\n    should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to\n    Jerusalem, and sent messengers before his face: and they went, and\n    entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him.\n    And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he\n    were going to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw\n    this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we bid fire to come down\n    from heaven, and consume them? But he turned, and rebuked them.\n    And they went to another village.\u201d(276)\n\n\n\u201cSome ancient authorities,\u201d as we read in the margin of our Revised\nVersion, \u201cadd, _and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of_.\u201d\n\nThis is so exactly after our Lord\u2019s manner, not only in the quality but in\nthe _quantity_ of rebuke, that I have no doubt but that it is a genuine\nsaying of Christ preserved by tradition whether it were originally in St\nLuke\u2019s Gospel or not. It is like our Lord to drop a word indicating error\nand leave the real correction to grow up in the learner\u2019s mind as though\nit was supplied by himself. He rarely dilates on what is blameworthy and\nnever recurs to a failing that has been noticed at the time.\n\nJames and John, we must recollect, had just witnessed the Transfiguration,\nthis helps to explain their mood of mind. They dwelt upon the recollection\nof this all the more because it was a secret possession of the three. The\ncontrast of their Master\u2019s inherent greatness and the humiliation to which\nHe was subjected moved their indignation. The Lord of heaven was refused\nhospitality by a village in Samaria, and this not out of\nniggardliness\u2014that would have moved the Apostles less\u2014but from an old\nanimosity about where men should worship. They, no doubt, regarded their\n\u201cjealousy for the Lord God\u201d as something commendable, and were surprised\nat our Lord\u2019s rebuking them and telling them that they knew not what\nSpirit they were of. The fact was, that our Lord detected in this fierce\nproposal a further growth of that tendency to spiritual arrogance which\nhad been indicated by their forbidding the man who followed not with them,\nand this seems to cause our Lord concern. He treats it as a spiritual\naffection which it would require care to remove. He does not inveigh\nagainst it, but His parables and the drift of His teaching militate\nagainst the propensity to exercise \u201cLordship\u201d over men.\n\nOur Lord subsequently takes occasion to exalt the blessing of forgiveness\nand to teach that overmuch must not be expected or demanded from men. He\ngives the parables of the Prodigal Son and of the unjust Steward, of which\nlast I shall speak in the next chapter. Peter saw that when our Lord said,\n\u201cBlessed are those servants whom the Lord when He cometh shall find\nwatching,\u201d He had His eye upon the future rulers of His community.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd Peter said, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even\n    unto all? And the Lord said, Who then is the faithful and wise\n    steward, whom his lord shall set over his household, to give them\n    their portion of food in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom\n    his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto\n    you, that he will set him over all that he hath. But if that\n    servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and\n    shall begin to beat the men-servants and the maidservants, and to\n    eat and drink, and to be drunken; the lord of that servant shall\n    come in a day when he expecteth not, and in an hour when he\n    knoweth not, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint his portion\n    with the unfaithful.\u201d(277)\n\n\nThere is a hint of possible priestly oppression in the mention of the\nill-treatment of inferiors by those upper servants, who, forgetting that\ntheir master might at any moment return, deal with the possessions as\ntheir own.\n\nI said a little while ago that in this matter the \u201cSons of thunder\u201d\njustified their name. If we had not this passage, critics would wonder how\nsuch a surname could have been chosen; St John, it is true, forbade the\nworking of cures by one who \u201cfollowed not with them,\u201d still we regard him\nas the Apostle of Love, and in the Gospels we hear nothing of St James.\nThis coincidence, though in a small matter, is worth noting. This incident\npreserved by St Luke shews that there was at the bottom of the natures of\nthese two, loving though they were, a fund of impetuousness and wrath, and\nthat they could break out into a storm of indignation, bearing out the\nname imposed. It is worth mentioning that this falls in with what we read\nin the Acts, viz. that when \u201cHerod the king put forth his hands to afflict\ncertain of the church\u201d the first on whom he seized was \u201cJames the brother\nof John;\u201d(278) this shews that James was a vehement, energetic character\nstanding in the front, who to the political authorities was a marked man.\nFor this was a political execution; if the priests had dealt with him for\nblasphemy he would have been stoned, not \u201cslain with the sword.\u201d Our Lord\ngathered round Him men of very various temperaments; it is not only one\ntype of man, but those of all types, the impetuous as well as the gentle,\nfor whom Christ finds place in the realm of action.\n\nOn arriving at Jerusalem, Jesus \u201cwent up into the Temple and taught.\u201d(279)\nHis discourse is addressed to the crowd; and as many visitors would come\nfrom the cities of Asia, the tone of it is necessarily very different from\nthat of His sermons in Galilee. It is even possible, as many of the\nstrangers had lost their Hebrew, that He spoke in Greek,(280) this would\naccount for the disuse of parables, a form of speech which went with the\nHebrew tongue. During all His stay, in or near Jerusalem, possibly of some\nweeks\u2019 duration, broken by Mission journeys, we hear nothing of the\ndisciples; all our Lord\u2019s discourses are with \u201cthe Jews,\u201d and in general\nwith \u201cthe Pharisees.\u201d (See St John, Chaps. vii. and viii.) The Apostles,\nor at least some of them, may have been absent on mission duties, for St\nLuke places the sending out of the seventy near this time.\n\nThe question may be asked, where during this time did our Lord reside?\nDuring the feast Jerusalem was thronged with strangers, it was a time when\nall were keeping holiday; every family left their house, and lived in a\ntent or booth decorated with vine branches and flowers. Jerusalem at any\ntime, was not, as I have said in an earlier chapter,(281) favoured by our\nLord as a residence for His disciples, and He is not likely to have\nsuffered them to stay there long during the turmoil of the feast. At the\nbeginning of the fragment concerning the woman taken in adultery we find a\nline which points to Bethany as the place where our Lord sojourned. This\ndocument, which I regard as genuinely historical, begins abruptly\nthus,(282) \u201cAnd they went every man unto his own house, but Jesus went\nunto the mount of Olives.\u201d It looks as if the writer was speaking of the\nbreaking up of a gathering, towards nightfall. Bethany was just beyond the\nMount of Olives, something more than two miles to the east of Jerusalem.\nIt was there, St Luke tells us, that \u201cA certain woman, Martha,\u201d received\nour Lord\u2014but, as far as appears, not any disciples\u2014\u201cinto her house.\u201d This\nwas on some subsequent journey, but our Lord\u2019s affection for Lazarus and\nhis sisters may have arisen, or at least have grown up, during the weeks\nfollowing this feast. Bethany would furnish for such of the Apostles as\nwere with our Lord just the retreat desired.\n\nAt this point I shall cease to attempt to follow the order of time. We can\nindeed trace our Lord\u2019s movements in St John\u2019s Gospel, and we can find in\nSt Luke\u2019s account indications of journeys which may be made fairly well to\ncorrespond with these movements, but much uncertainty must attend the\nassigning of particular events or parables to their proper occasions.\n\nSt Luke in this part of his Gospel had lost, it would seem, the guidance\nof the original memoir which is supposed to have been the basis of the\nrest, but he was in possession of much valuable matter, a part of which\nwas, very possibly, in the form of detached documents, which he does his\nbest to arrange in order of time. We can understand that parables, such as\nthose of Lazarus and the Prodigal Son, would be copied and circulated and\nhanded from preacher to preacher, as would also incidents of particular\ninterest, or discourses of our Lord. This part of St Luke\u2019s Gospel seems\ndrawn from such sources, and the connecting matter is sparingly supplied.\n\nNothing, then, will be gained by endeavouring to keep any longer to\nchronological order. Henceforth, therefore, I shall treat the points of\ninterest as separate topics and, passing over all that does not\nimmediately bear on the Schooling of the Apostles, I shall take the\nmatters connected with it, about which I have something to say, and\ndiscuss them one by one.\n\n\n    NOTE.\u2014The passage from St Luke, xii. 41, &c. (quoted at p. 367),\n    contains the only mention of St Peter in all the Gospel narrative,\n    between the going up to the Feast of Tabernacles (October) and the\n    final journey to Jerusalem (April); although occasions occur in\n    this interval, such as that when Thomas says: \u201cLet us also go,\n    that we may die with him\u201d (St John xi. 16), when we should have\n    expected that Peter would not be silent. In St John\u2019s Gospel he is\n    not named between Chaps. i. and xiii. The question arises, was\n    Peter continuously in attendance on his Master during this last\n    winter; or was he, during part of it, learning to feed his\n    Master\u2019s sheep by holding together the disciples at Capernaum? If\n    when his Master was in Jud\u00e6a, he only went backwards and forwards\n    to him, this would account for the omission of the history of this\n    half year in the Gospel of St Mark, for which Peter furnished the\n    materials, and also for the brief mention of the Temptation; for I\n    suppose our Lord to have given the fuller history of this to the\n    disciples, when he was near the banks of the Jordan, after the\n    Feast of the Dedication (St John x. 40). See p. 119. St Peter, who\n    may not have been present, would probably limit his narrative to\n    what he had himself seen, or heard from his Master\u2019s lips.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII. THE LATER LESSONS.\n\n\n\n\nDifferent cases receive different treatment. St Luke ix. 57-62.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, I will\n    follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, The\n    foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven _have_ nests; but\n    the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. And he said unto\n    another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and\n    bury my father. But he said unto him, Leave the dead to bury their\n    own dead; but go thou and publish abroad the kingdom of God. And\n    another also said, I will follow thee, Lord; but first suffer me\n    to bid farewell to them that are at my house. But Jesus said unto\n    him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back,\n    is fit for the kingdom of God.\u201d\n\n\nWhat caught attention and led to the collocation of these two (and in St\nLuke three) instances was the diversity of our Lord\u2019s treatment of cases\napparently similar. The disciples saw that our Lord repelled one who was\nwilling to follow him at once, and imperatively summoned two others who\nasked for delay. But though they might be puzzled at this inconsistency,\nthey felt sure that there was a purpose and a meaning in it; so they\ntranscribed these contrasting cases side by side, to show that for\ndifferent conditions of soul Christ had different treatment ready. The\nsecond and third(283) of these colloquies probably took place at a\ndifferent time from the first. They seem to have been held between our\nLord and some of the disciples who were summoned to go out on the mission\nof the seventy, for St Luke inserts this document in his history just\nbefore his account of the mission. Thus St Matthew in his narrative puts\nthe passage where the first incident occurs, while St Luke fixes its place\nby the second and third.\n\nThis _individualising_ in our Lord\u2019s treatment of men struck the disciples\nas something new; they do not indeed point it out as a novel feature, for\nthey never remark upon our Lord\u2019s ways, but the care of the Evangelists in\npreserving the most striking instances of this diversity of treatment\nshews that it caught their notice. To our Lord\u2019s eye every human being had\na moral and spiritual physiognomy of his own. He saw at once, what it was\nin each man which went to make him emphatically and distinctly his very\nself, and He addressed Himself largely to this.\n\nI will now consider the separate instances one by one.\n\nSt Matthew, in the passage parallel to part of this,(284) tells us that\nthe first speaker was a scribe, and it appears that he was, in some sort,\nalso a disciple of our Lord, for on coming to the next case St Matthew\nspeaks of \u201c_another_ of the disciples.\u201d\n\nIt was, I think, in Galilee, as St Matthew tells us, that this profession\nof adhesion was made. At the time he speaks of, popular feeling in our\nLord\u2019s favour was at its greatest height, and it was owing to the\nthronging of the multitude to the Lake shore near Capernaum that our Lord\ngave orders to depart unto the other side. The circumstances tally\nperfectly with the language of the passage, for our Lord was then going\ninto a wild country. But where the passage stands in St Luke, our Lord is\ntravelling \u201cas it were in secret\u201d from a village in Samaria to Jerusalem.\nIn this journey, rapidly made, he would not have been likely to have\nfallen in with the scribe at all, and, as He did not preach as He went, we\ncannot account for the emotion which the scribe displays; moreover, it\ncould hardly be said that at Jerusalem, He would not have \u201cwhere to lay\nHis head.\u201d\n\nWhat most particularizes the scribe is his impulsiveness. We have here\nanother example of that mistrust of emotional fervour which our Lord\nuniformly shews. The woman who cried \u201cBlessed is the womb that bare\nthee,\u201d(285) the scribe in the case before us, and St Peter, when he said,\n\u201cI am ready to go with thee both to prison and to death,\u201d(286) all are\nanswered by our Lord in the same tone of repression.(287)\n\nSudden transports and ebullitions of feeling like those just named, come\nmainly of temperament and of passing physical conditions which subjugate\nthe agent, and our Lord does not regard them as betokening a character on\nwhich he can depend.\n\nIt speaks well for the right feeling of this scribe that he forbears to\npress his suit. He divined, with the delicacy of a well bred Oriental,\nthat our Lord\u2019s reply, though apparently only discouraging him from\nfollowing for his own sake, shewed that He held it best that he should\nstay behind. He is satisfied that our Lord\u2019s judgment will be right and he\nyields at once. A man with less perception might have protested against\nthe imputation on his endurance, and have declared that he would go with\nthe Master though he should have to lie on the bare earth.\n\nThat, however genuine his devotion may have been, it was best for the\nscribe to stay at home is easy to understand; he had been used to an\nindoors life and under hardships and exposure he would have broken down;\nbesides, while being a burden to the rest, he could, as a jaded man, have\ngained little in moral or spiritual growth. He was moreover, both as to\nculture and social caste, of a different type from the rest, and his\npresence would have made the party less homogeneous. Another important\nconsideration was this; by remaining where he was, he might do that\nparticular kind of good for which he was suited by temper and condition\nbetter than by following our Lord. The course which had taken hold of his\nimagination may not have been that in which he could do the best work. By\nremaining in Galilee and mixing with other educated men, he, like Joseph\nof Arimathea and Nicodemus, might help to spread tolerance and leaven the\nmass.\n\nThe two cases which follow, no doubt, puzzled the disciples much. Our Lord\nhad so strenuously enforced a man\u2019s duty to his parents, that they would\nhave expected these pleas for delay to be admitted without a word. They\nare however very positively rejected, and the refusal is put in so\nimpressive a form that I cannot but infer that our Lord intended these\ncolloquies to be recorded.\n\nIt has commonly been taken for granted, that the father of the spokesman\nin the first of these cases was lying dead when our Lord met him and bade\nhim follow; but Eastern usages almost preclude this view, for the Jews\nburied within twenty-four hours of the death, and for a son to be seen in\npublic while his father was lying dead would to their minds have been\nhighly indecent. Some think that, the father being in extreme age, the son\nasked to be allowed to stay with him till he died; what seems to me more\nlikely is that the completion of the ten days of strict mourning was\nregarded as part of the obsequies, and that the word \u201cburied\u201d applies to\nthis. The father might have been laid in the ground, but the ten days not\nhaving expired, the funeral solemnities were not considered over.\n\nI think that our Lord meant in this case to leave a lesson, and that the\nlesson was this. Family ties and duties, blessed though they usually are,\nmust not be turned into idols or suffered to hamper the \u201cclear spirit\u201d in\nits ascent to God. There is such a thing as the tyranny of family just as\nthere is of social usage or public opinion, and from each and all of these\nour Lord would set men free. This kind of freedom would cost a struggle as\nother kinds also would, and owing to divisions caused by change of Faith\neven parents might be set against children and children against parents\u2014a\nheavy price indeed, but one that vanishes compared with the opening of\neternal life to mankind. Supposing, as I do, that these disciples were\nsummoned by our Lord to go forth with the seventy, I find in this\ninflexibility which our Lord displays something quite of a piece with the\norder to \u201csalute no man by the way,\u201d(288) and to wipe off the dust from\ntheir feet when not received; all this is consistent, when taken together,\nand viewed as a lesson in the dignity of consecration to God and the\nimperative character of the charge imposed.\n\nIt is important to observe that though these disciples make excuse, and\nour Lord has usually little tolerance for excuses, yet, instead of being\ndismissed, these men are despatched to preach the Kingdom of God. This\nshews that the defect in them was not organic, and that it had not touched\nthe vital centres. Their malady was of a different order from that of the\nguests invited to the great supper who said, \u201cI pray thee have me\nexcused,\u201d for these latter made light of the invitation; while, if my view\nbe correct, these two men were terrified and overawed by being called to\nduties which their imagination painted as beyond their powers. They were\nsensitive and distrustful of self, with highly strung nerves, and the\nsuddenness of the call to preach the Kingdom of God took away their\nbreath. They do not refuse, but they beg for delay. If they had obtained\nsuch a postponement it would have been all the worse for them, because\nthey would have been working themselves into a fever all the while. They\nare panic stricken at the idea of going into strange districts proclaiming\nthe Kingdom of God. They were quailing under a nerve-storm and by devising\nexcuses they only gave it greater force; every moment that they lingered\nincreased the hold of the morbid impression: a foreign will must come to\ntheir help and take the place of that which was failing. Such a will acts\nmost effectively in the form of an imperative command, calling the patient\nto immediate positive action. This treatment is followed here. These two\nmen, no doubt, followed as they were bidden. They yielded to authority and\nherein they found their cure; they, like the rest, set out with only their\nstaves in their hands and came back exulting that the devils were subject\nto them through the Lord\u2019s name. Thus each of the three personages\nreceives the proper specific for his case; Christ divines the treatment\nthat every particular diathesis requires.\n\nBut the crowning case of all is yet to come. It belongs to a later time\nthan the above, and is related more at length. It was soon after our Lord\nhad entered on his final public journey to Jerusalem, teaching and\ndiscoursing as He went, that a young man, \u201ca certain ruler,\u201d in St Luke\u2019s\nwords, ran to Him and threw himself at His feet. St Mark\u2019s account is the\nmost full of detail.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd as he was going forth into the way, there ran one to him, and\n    kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I\n    may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest\n    thou me good? none is good save one, _even_ God. Thou knowest the\n    commandments, Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal,\n    Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honour thy father and\n    mother. And he said unto him, Master, all these things have I\n    observed from my youth. And Jesus looking upon him loved him, and\n    said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go, sell whatsoever thou\n    hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in\n    heaven: and come, follow me. But his countenance fell at the\n    saying, and he went away sorrowful: for he was one that had great\n    possessions.\u201d(289)\n\n\nBehind the young man\u2019s question there lay this view. He regarded eternal\nlife as the reward of certain good works and the punctilious observance of\nwhat was divinely enjoined. Our Lord on the other hand represents it, not\nas being granted or withheld according to the record of performances, but\nrather as coming \u201cof congruity\u201d(290) along with the fitness for it which\nhas been acquired in the whole education of a life. The man\u2019s works have\nno doubt had very much to do with making him what he is, but other\ninfluences have acted as well.\n\nOur Lord rejects the appellation \u201cGood Master.\u201d In these terms, scholars\naddressed the Rabbi at whose feet they sat, they accepted his dicta, and\ngave up all independent judgment of their own. But our Lord, fostering\nand, in some sort, respecting the individual principle in each man, would\nfree them from fetters of all kinds, those of the Rabbis among the rest.\nHere He would say, \u201cWhy do you run to a human master\u201d (for as such only\ncould the mass regard our Lord) \u201cto tell you what it is right to do? About\nthis no authority can be absolute but God, and His commandments you know.\u201d\nThese commandments the young ruler had kept, indeed it was hardly possible\nthat one in his position could have done otherwise, but an empty place was\nstill left in his soul. Life he felt sure must have a higher meaning and\nmore satisfying occupations than any he had yet found. Surely he thought\n\u201cThe Master cannot mean to put me off with telling me to keep the\ncommandments;\u201d and he was right. He had known of no other guide to\nvirtuous life than rules of conduct, and so he had come asking for a fresh\nset of such rules; but a new light was breaking on his soul and what he\nreally wanted was for the clouds to be cleared away. This young man had a\nnoble soul and our Lord \u201clooking on him loved him.\u201d The scribe, spoken of\nabove, would do best by remaining where he was; but this young man would\ndo best by following. He was worth rescuing from the conventionalities and\nlittlenesses of his every day life and lifting into communion with God.\nHad he the force to wrench asunder the bonds, slender singly but countless\nin number, which fastened him down, and to give up, not merely soft\nliving\u2014that he would abandon with joy\u2014but the social consideration and\nwhat went with it, personal connections and all, which he would fling away\nby doing as Christ bade? This was the question.\n\nOur Lord had not told the scribe to sell all he had and give to the poor.\nHe laid no such rule on His disciples, but here it was these possessions\nand, more than all, the position they conferred that clogged the soul and\nprevented its rise. The \u201cgiving to the poor\u201d is not enjoined merely as\nbenevolence; in that virtue it was not likely that this young man would\nfail, it is only a means of disposing of the weight that drags him down;\nthe magnitude of the sacrifice required staggered the young ruler and he\nwent sorrowful away; but perhaps there was more hope of him than if, at\nour Lord\u2019s word, he had impulsively surrendered all that he had. He may\nhave been one of those who afterwards sold their land or houses \u201cand\nbrought the prices of the things that were sold and laid them at the\nApostles\u2019 feet.\u201d(291) From this interview our Lord draws the moral, \u201cHow\nhardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of God;\u201d this is\nnot a denunciation of the rich but rather a commiseration of them, owing\nto the peculiar and insidious temptations to which they are unceasingly\nexposed.\n\nThe Apostles are \u201castonished exceedingly\u201d(292) at our Lord\u2019s severity,\nthey had perhaps been pleased at the prospect of the accession to their\ncommunity of a man who was rich and high in station and well spoken of on\nall sides. As soon as they had heard him told to give up all and follow,\nPeter, with a touch of almost infantine nature which stamps the narrative\nas authentic, looking to his own case says, \u201cLo we have left all and have\nfollowed thee.\u201d This was no boast or our Lord would not have answered as\nhe does; it was rather an expression of relief at finding that this\nspecial difficulty which beset the young ruler no longer stood in their\nway. They had been called to leave settled homes and they had done so.\nPeter, we know, had a wife, and James and John had a father and mother\nalive. Our Lord seems to give them very positive comfort. Those who had\nleft home or family or lands for His sake and the Gospel\u2019s should now, in\nthis time, receive the same a hundred fold(293) as well as life hereafter.\n\nWe seem to find here a direct promise of worldly benefit, which would be\nstrangely out of accord with the general tenour of Christ\u2019s words; but\nthen comes a clause, preserved only by St Mark, which alters all the\nmeaning. It contains but two words \u201cwith persecutions.\u201d This appears to\nunsay all that was said before; for of what good, in the way of enjoyment,\nare family and possessions \u201cin the midst of persecution\u201d? Our Lord, to my\nthinking, in this passage has His eye on a certain time to come; the\n\u201cbrethren and sisters and mothers and children\u201d must mean the great\nChristian family, and the \u201clands\u201d are the possessions of that community\nwhich, while the Church was confined to Jerusalem, had all things common,\n\u201cWhen the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and soul: and\nnot one of them said that aught of the things which he possessed was his\nown.\u201d(294) In the exaltation of spirit in which that community lived,\npersecution would seem only a superficial ill, without which their\nhappiness would have been too ecstatic for permanent spiritual health.\nTheir condition as we know from the Acts was replete with joy; over and\nover again we are reminded of the gladness which filled the souls of the\nearly converts. The reward promised, when qualified by this phrase, might\nrightly be set before the Apostles, for it was no reward at all except to\nspiritually minded men. These two words, which are omitted by St Luke,\nenable us to understand\u2014what seems a little strange\u2014why this promise is\nnot accepted with joy and with eager questions as to when this happy time\nshould come; it puzzled the hearers. Any rising exultation is checked by\nthe words, \u201cwith persecutions,\u201d and the hearers are perhaps set wondering\nwhy Christ often drops difficulties into His speech, just when He seems to\nbe going to reveal what men particularly want to know, and why, when\nholding out a promise, He should dash the cup from their lips.\n\n\n\n\nParable of the unjust Steward. St Luke xv., xvi.\n\n\nMore and more, as our Lord\u2019s work draws near the close, do we notice that\nHis eye, somewhat diverted from what is passing about Him, is directed to\na condition of things foreseen \u201cbeing yet far off.\u201d It is to provide for\nthis that He is ever taking thought and imparting lessons; and if no state\nof things had come about in which these lessons might find a field of\nexercise, we should be at a loss to understand what they meant or why they\nwere there. The explanation is found in the early history of the Church of\nChrist. In the parables and discourses of the later ministry there is one\nimage to which our Lord again and again recurs. It is that of men\nlabouring in a Master\u2019s service, and most commonly in that of a Master who\nis away from home and may at any time come back. It may be that the Master\nis a great King, in which case the labourers are his ministers, and\nfrequently there is mention made of diversity of office and of some who\nexercised authority over \u201cmen-servants and maid-servants.\u201d In these cases\nwe frequently find, either in the parable itself or in the \u201chard saying\u201d\nwhich commonly closes it, an allusion to some special danger attaching to\ndelegated power.\n\nOne such moral danger there is besetting those entrusted with any charge,\nand above all with a spiritual charge, which is very insidious, and more\neasily corrected by a lesson given in a story than by direct reproof; it\nis that of the severity and rigour which comes of over-scrupulosity and\nover-zeal. The trustee of a property will sometimes feel morally or\nlegally bound to exact the very uttermost, and to use a hardness which he\nwould never think of shewing in his own affairs; and by habitually\nconstraining himself to use hardness he may become actually hard of nature\nhimself. When we come to matters spiritual and ecclesiastical all this is\ntrue in an intensified degree.\n\nThe more exalted the priest\u2019s notion of his function and the more genuine\nhis appreciation of the Majesty of God, the more impossible it seems to\nhim to abate one iota of God\u2019s claims. Things sacred, he has been taught\nto think, differ in kind from things secular, and demand rules of\nmanagement of their own. He holds it unlawful to make composition with\noffenders against God; he is the appointed upholder of the rights and\ndignities of the Almighty and he dares not bate a hair. Honestly\nawe-stricken at the tremendous responsibility, he flies where he can to a\nwritten Law, and, pointing to the letter, he takes refuge in the\nsacerdotal \u201cnon possumus\u201d as an answer to every extenuating plea.\n\nI believe that when our Lord delivered the parable of the unjust Steward,\nHe had in view this particular evil which is all the more dangerous\nbecause it wears the garb of \u201cjealousy for the Lord God.\u201d\n\nIf the Apostles, feeling that they formed the personal staff of a King\nendowed with all power from on high, had _not_ been lifted up and shewn\nsome touch of imperious and exclusive spirit, they must indeed have been\nmore or less than men. That symptoms of such a spirit had appeared and\ncaused our Lord concern may be gathered, not only from the positive\ninstances, such as, the forbidding one who followed not with them to cast\nout devils in the Lord\u2019s name; the demand to be allowed to call down fire\nfrom heaven; and the rebuking of those who brought to Christ \u201ctheir babes\nthat He might touch them;\u201d but, even more certainly, from the repeated\nanimadversions, in the later teaching of our Lord, on personal ambition\nand the over-straining of authority. Moderation, as to what may be\nexpected from human nature, though not enforced by positive injunctions,\nis commended to us, after our Lord\u2019s way, by a gentle influence everywhere\npresent, and by a current in the teaching setting steadily towards the\npoint in view. Our Lord had been speaking to the people in a series of\nparables\u2014the lost sheep, the lost piece of silver, the Prodigal Son,\u2014all\nset in one key, all bearing on the \u201cjoy in the presence of the angels of\nGod over one sinner that repenteth,\u201d(295) and He then turned to the\ndisciples, with, as I believe, the same thought still uppermost in His\nmind, and urges them as the \u201cpastors and masters\u201d of the future, not, by\ninsisting on the utmost, to make reformation too hard.\n\nThe parable of the unjust Steward was addressed, we are told, to the\ndisciples, and as the disciples had no worldly goods at all, it cannot be\nthe main drift of the parable, as has been sometimes maintained, to\ninculcate Christian prudence in the use of these. I find in this parable a\nclosing comment in a very terse form; this leads me to suspect that the\nkey to the main purport lies therein. The verse is this, \u201cFor the sons of\nthis world are for their own generation wiser than the sons of the\nlight.\u201d(296) The drift of the parable is, indeed, to teach a kind of\nprudence, but not one in which _money_ is concerned. The administration of\nproperty is only the vehicle in which the lesson is conveyed. What I take\nto be inculcated here is true Christian wisdom as to the exercise of\nauthority\u2014spiritual authority above all. The moral that I discern is this;\nthat the Apostles and their successors may do more good by shewing a\nlittle indulgence\u2014by conceding something to weak human nature, not\nenforcing Jewish formalities, and not insisting too inflexibly upon every\npoint which they think may touch the honour or the privileges of Christ\u2019s\nChurch\u2014than by adhering to the strictest regard for observances, and\nimposing rules for sanctity of thought and conduct with which only a\nchosen few would be able to comply. How many have been repelled from\nreligion by the rigour, which Priests or Puritans fancied themselves under\ncompulsion to employ, and how has this fretful anxiety for discipline\nsometimes soured the natures of those who had it in charge!\n\nI proceed to a short examination of the parable, of which I will quote the\nwhole.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd he said also unto the disciples, There was a certain rich\n    man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that\n    he was wasting his goods. And he called him, and said unto him,\n    What is this that I hear of thee? render the account of thy\n    stewardship; for thou canst be no longer steward. And the steward\n    said within himself, What shall I do, seeing that my lord taketh\n    away the stewardship from me? I have not strength to dig; to beg I\n    am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of\n    the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. And\n    calling to him each one of his lord\u2019s debtors, he said to the\n    first, How much owest thou unto my lord? And he said, A hundred\n    measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bond, and sit down\n    quickly and write fifty. Then said he to another, And how much\n    owest thou? And he said, A hundred measures of wheat. He saith\n    unto him, Take thy bond, and write fourscore. And his lord\n    commended the unrighteous steward because he had done wisely: for\n    the sons of this world are for their own generation wiser than the\n    sons of the light. And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends\n    by means of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when it shall\n    fail, they may receive you into the eternal tabernacles. He that\n    is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much: and he that\n    is unrighteous in a very little is unrighteous also in much. If\n    therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who\n    will commit to your trust the true _riches_? And if ye have not\n    been faithful in that which is another\u2019s, who will give you that\n    which is your own?\u201d(297)\n\n\nI do not pretend to have made out for every particular in the story of the\nparable a spiritual parallel after my own view, indeed I think that\ninterpreters sometimes look for too complete a correspondence. I can quite\nunderstand that a detail might be introduced which should give life to the\nstory and so help to fix it in the hearers\u2019 minds, which might have no\nanalogue in the spiritual interpretation at all. This parable is, as we\nare told, addressed neither to the people nor to the scribes, but to the\ndisciples, and, as it must have been delivered during our Lord\u2019s journeys\nin the north of Jud\u00e6a or its neighbourhood when He was but slightly\nattended, it is probable that when He spoke it few beside the Apostles\nwere by. One peculiarity, which strengthens my impression that it was\nuttered for the special benefit of the first hearers of it, is, that it\nturns on a matter which only those who were conversant with the customs of\nthat place and time could fully understand. We know so little of the way\nin which estates were managed in Palestine, that the relations between the\nsteward and his Lord are imperfectly conceived, and much of the difficulty\nof this parable arises from this cause: in the other parables the\ncircumstances forming the shell of the story belong to all countries and\nall times alike. If now, as I have supposed, the primary use of this\nparable was for those who first listened to it; if it were specially\nintended to teach the Twelve and their immediate successors not to make\ntoo heavy demands on their converts; then it would matter less, if the\nstory should not be so clear for men of later times.\n\nWhat I regard as the point of the story is this, that it is just as unwise\nto exact the utmost that is due in moral and spiritual matters\u2014casting off\nevery one who falls short in conduct or differs in religious views\u2014as it\nwould be in worldly business to stand out always for the utmost penny of\nyour rights. The honesty or dishonesty of the steward is not the central\npoint on which the moral turns, it is his tact in remitting part of his\nclaims with a long-sighted view. I do not think that we need now trouble\nourselves with the question of who it is that answers to the \u201crich man\nwhich had a steward;\u201d but that he does not represent Providence is clear\nfrom the eighth verse, which includes him among the \u201csons of this world;\u201d\nfor it is his sense in commending the steward which draws forth the moral,\n\u201cThe sons of this world are for their own generation wiser than the sons\nof the light.\u201d This rich man\u2019s verdict on his steward\u2019s conduct may be\ntaken to represent the view which practically minded men, versed in\naffairs and regarding matters little on their ethical side, would take of\nthe case in hand; in fact he stands for the public opinion of his class.\n\nNext comes the question, What was the business position of the steward? It\nagrees best both with the circumstances before us and with such extraneous\ninformation as we possess, to suppose that the functionary, called here\nsteward, managed absolutely his master\u2019s property, and that he was paid by\na poundage on the net receipts, or by some similar method, so that his\ninterest and his master\u2019s would, generally speaking, coincide. There is no\nallegation against him of fraud or corrupt bargaining, and indeed, his\nbeing in danger of beggary shews that he is not supposed to have made\nhimself a purse. He is charged with having \u201cwasted the goods,\u201d but this\nmay mean in the way of over leniency with creditors or of unproductive\noutlay, not in that of personal appropriation. He was clearly not treated\nas though he were liable to criminal prosecution. It is of course meant to\nrepresent him as a _bad steward_, and the word here construed _unjust_\nsometimes means little more than _bad_, as will be seen from Archbishop\nTrench\u2019s note, in the sense of being ineffective and unsatisfactory to his\nemployers.\n\nDr Edersheim observes as follows:(298)\n\n\u201cIt must be borne in mind that he is still steward, and as such has full\npower of disposing of his master\u2019s affairs. When, therefore, he sends for\none after another of his master\u2019s debtors, and tells each to alter the sum\nin the bond, he does not suggest to them forgery or fraud, but, in\nremitting part of the debt, whether it had been incurred as rent in kind\nor as the price of produce purchased, he acts, although unrighteously, yet\nstrictly within his rights.\u201d His master praised his astuteness, he had\nkept within the law and so long as this was done the current code of\nmorality was satisfied. It is a point to be noted that no bargain is made\nwith the debtors, he trusts to their gratitude to receive him into their\nhouses.\n\nA lesson prominent in the parable and which is brought out in the\napplication is, that as he had made friends by his leniency in\nadministering the substance of the master so they, Christian pastors and\nmasters, should make to themselves friends out of something which is\ncalled the \u201cmammon of unrighteousness\u201d (about which we shall presently\nenquire). These friends would, out of gratitude, receive them into \u201cthe\neternal tabernacles.\u201d For these friends are to be in Heaven themselves,\nand they must have got there\u2014if we are to keep to the story\u2014not only\nthrough their pastor\u2019s teaching and ministrations, but they must have\npartly owed their salvation to the loving and merciful treatment they had\nmet with. An offender may be sometimes won over and completely changed for\nthe better by feeling that he has been treated more kindly and leniently\nthan he deserves. The parable implies that these might not have reached\nheaven if their guides had been more hard with them, if they had exacted\nevery religious duty, and had been severe upon every failing. These men\nhaving reached the eternal tabernacles welcomed into them those who by\nlessening their burdens had been the means of their getting there\nthemselves.\n\nWe now come to the hard question, What is meant by the words \u201cthe mammon\nof unrighteousness\u201d or \u201cunrighteous mammon\u201d\u2014which are identical? I think\nthey must mean the temporal authority in regulating things outward which\nthe earliest rulers of the Church necessarily possessed. The word\ntranslated \u201cunrighteous\u201d does not here imply inherent badness, but that\nthe seeming wealth has only a value according to worldly judgment and\nworldly measure, without intrinsic worth in itself. This may corrupt its\npossessor as much as worldly riches. I give, in a note, Archbishop\nTrench\u2019s discussion of the Greek word.(299) Riches, _as riches_, are never\ncalled unrighteous by our Lord. I do not think, however, that wealth in\nits common sense can be intended by the word \u201cmammon\u201d here, for of \u201csilver\nand gold\u201d the Apostles would have none. But though the Apostles had not\nmoney, yet they had advantages for the use of which they must answer; they\nhad, in authority and position, what answered to wealth; they could\nregulate the lives of the converts; they could lay hands on those chosen\nfor the Ministry; they could enforce or remit certain of the Laws of\nMoses. This power dealt with things outward,\u2014contributions, observances,\nrules of discipline and the like,\u2014and so, if, as the authorities quoted\nseem to shew, the word here translated _unrighteous_ may mean false, in\nthe sense of unreal, as paste to diamond, then this possession of theirs\nwhich gave room for the exercise of clemency\u2014this apparel of dignity\u2014might\nbe so termed in contrast with inward spiritual riches, which form part of\nthe condition of the individual man.\n\nOf such real wealth we presently hear. Soon after this \u201cthe Apostles said\nunto our Lord, Increase our faith,\u201d(300) but this faith is not to be given\nfrom without; it cannot be transferred into them as though it could be\npoured from one receptacle into another. They are to fit themselves for it\nand grow into it in the exercise of their work; when attained it would\nmove mountains, it would be a wealth that no man could take from them,\nsomething inalienably bound up in their existence, comprising the blessing\nof feeling God present in their souls. Here indeed is a treasure compared\nto which not only silver and gold, but power and authority and the right\nof ordering of matters in the churches, would seem trifling and unreal\nlike glass beside the gem.\n\nAgain what is the \u201clittle\u201d and the \u201cmuch\u201d of verse 10? According to my\nview the \u201clittle\u201d answers to the externals of religious management, and\nthe \u201cmuch\u201d to the spiritual verity which passes from soul to soul: those\nwho are unfaithful in matters of administration which are comparatively\nlittle, will find that this spreading laxity will overgrow their whole\nnature and that they will soon become unfaithful in that which is\ngreat.(301)\n\nIf God\u2019s servants had not been faithful in administering their rule, if\nthey had not in God\u2019s affairs used good sense and judgment, such as men\nemploy in their own business, if they had not controlled their tempers,\ndisregarded their personal interest and suppressed that temptation to lord\nit over others which goes with new-born power;\u2014if they had not, that is,\nbeen faithful in the use of that wealth which is by comparison unreal,\nthen, not being faithful in the discharge of this delegated trust, \u201cthat\nwhich is another\u2019s,\u201d who would give them that \u201cclear-eyed Faith,\u201d that\nsense that God was abiding in their hearts, which would be essentially\ntheir very \u201cown.\u201d\n\nThus we reach what I take to be the close of the parable; for the verse\nabout serving two masters, which occurs also in the Sermon on the Mount,\ndoes not, I think, belong to this parable, but has only been _attracted_,\nso to say, into its place by the occurrence in both passages of the rare\nword \u201cmammon,\u201d which induced St Luke to put the two together.\n\nI need hardly say, how far from positive I must be about the\ninterpretation of a parable which has caused such an infinitude of\ncomment.\n\n\n\n\nOur Lord refusing to judge.\n\n\nIf we regard the Gospels in the light of memoirs of our Lord\u2019s actual life\nupon earth, it may seem strange that so few occasions are noticed in which\nwe are shewn our Lord dealing with the business of ordinary life. Whenever\nwe do find Him forced to take part in any secular proceeding, He is\nuniformly careful to avoid such decisive action as would establish an\nauthoritative precedent in regard to things which might be left to men to\nmanage. Some people are now disappointed at His not having furnished a\nwholly new and perfect scheme of human society. So far is He from doing\nthis, that He will not even put patches upon that which He found existing.\nGod had supplied men with faculties to frame social institutions for\nthemselves, and these faculties Christ would leave free to work. If He had\ninterposed to set the world right by absolute power, it might have been\nasked, Why this had not been done before? and, Whether it was owing to\naccident that the world had been let to go wrong?\n\nLiving among the people as our Lord did, He must commonly have conformed\nto Jewish usages. He could hardly have performed any act without coming\ninto contact with their ways. If the particulars of every little\noccurrence in His private life had been set down, perhaps we might have\nrealised, what we now hardly perceive, that in the Gospel we are reading\nof Jewish life in Galilee two thousand years ago. This absence of what is\ncalled \u201clocal colour\u201d is partly due to the omission of small particulars.\nAn outline can be more general and more universal than a picture of minute\nelaboration; and the portraiture of our Lord would have lost much of its\nsingular character of belonging to every age as its own, if the\ndraughtsman\u2019s attention had been distracted from what was characteristic,\nin order to present every detail with equal care.\n\nNow arises the question, How far did our Lord Himself determine which\namong His doings and sayings should be recorded and which not? If He had\nHimself left a record, every word would have been regarded as inspired,\nand the Christian church would have been ruled, not by an indwelling\nSpirit, but by a book written once for all. It could not have been ruled\nby both,\u2014for men cannot walk after the letter and after Faith at the same\ntime\u2014and that wooden fixity which characterised Rabbinical Judaism, would\nhave affected Christianity as well. It pleased God that it should be left\nto men to tell the tale, and so other men may venture to use their\njudgment about it. But as Christ passed on His course, He must Himself\nhave felt that this or that incident or discourse ought to be handed down.\nHow could He effect this without miracle of any kind? It seems to me that\nHe may have selected, as it were, matters for preservation thus. When He\ndesired an incident to be known, \u201cWheresoever the Gospel shall be preached\nthroughout the whole world,\u201d(302) He emphasizes it, by some action or\ndeclaration, as above, viz. by letting drop some vivid expression which\ntakes hold of the minds of men. Thus the story of the denials of Peter is\nrendered indelible by the words, \u201cbefore the cock crow twice.\u201d The hard\nsaying or striking expression, sometimes because it touched the quick of\nmen\u2019s understandings, and sometimes because it puzzled them to make it\nout, was thought of again and again, and remained by them as part of\nthemselves. The incident which called the saying forth, or the colloquy in\nwhich it occurred would have to be recorded to explain the saying itself:\na mass of the matrix would go along with the precious metal embedded in\nit. What it was not thought needful to preserve, was not enriched with\nthese pregnant sayings and has not survived.\n\nHence I believe that the withdrawal from us of those \u201cmany other things\nthat Jesus did\u201d was not without design. The consequences of this may be of\nservice to us in many ways, but the only one of which I shall speak is\nthis. If every detail of our Lord\u2019s acts had been set down, many more of\nthose matters of daily life, on which judgment is now left open, would\nhave been determined for us by the recorded example of our Lord. Many\nChristians would have felt bound to act as Christ had done, even in those\nconcerns of ordinary life which might well be left to the individual; and\nmany inexorable necessities\u2014many rigid lines for which there was no\noccasion\u2014would have traversed the field of Christian action.\n\nThat our Lord should have thus placed a limit on the particulars that\nshould be recorded about Him falls in with the views taken in this book,\nviz. that He was anxious to preserve individual freedom of action, and\nthat He looked forward with a general prescience to the course of events.\n\nIt is my opinion that our Lord foresaw, that, in time to come, men of\ndifferent races and under different conditions would desire to fashion\ntheir lives after His, and that therefore He purposely freed the account\nof Himself that should come into their hands from all that was immaterial,\nand particularly from all that was exclusively Jewish in its garb; but\nwhether this were so or not, the fact remains that no particular national\ninstitutions or social usages are consecrated by our Lord\u2019s words or\npractice. Supposing that our Lord knew that posterity would regard His\nexample as a sacred rule, and that He wished men not to be hampered in\nthis way, but to retain free play of thought and will, it is hard to\ndevise for Him a course more expedient for the end in view than that which\nhe actually took.\n\nSeveral instances occur in the Gospels, of appeal being made to our Lord\nabout vexed matters belonging to the life of that time. Such appeals He\nalways meets much in the same way. He puts the matter aside, either by\npositively refusing to judge or by giving the question an unexpected turn.\n\nThe cases to which I shall refer are, (1) the disputed inheritance, (2)\nthe woman taken in adultery, (3) the paying of the didrachma, (4) the\njudgment on the tribute to C\u00e6sar.\n\n1. It seems to have been during the ministry in some city, either in Jud\u00e6a\nor Per\u00e6a, when the people were pressing on one another to get near our\nLord, that one of the multitude said to Him, \u201cMaster bid my brother divide\nthe inheritance with me.\u201d(303)\n\nThis man was influenced by some notion that he had been wronged, a notion\nwhich was very likely born of cupidity. This greed he carried always about\nhim, it was uppermost in his mind, and when he found the crowd listening\nto the Preacher of righteousness, he thought that he might turn the\ninfluence of this Preacher to account for his own ends. If, by an _ex\nparte_ statement he could get Christ\u2019s judgment on his side, possibly his\nbrother would do His bidding. The Jewish Law of inheritance was plain and\ncourts of Law were accessible, but perhaps his claim had been disallowed;\nat any rate he thought it a cheaper plan to get the great Preacher to\ninterfere.\n\nOur Lord repudiates in strong terms the notion that He is a \u201cjudge or a\ndivider.\u201d Judges and dividers through many ages had been provided for\nregular duty in a regular way; but Christ\u2019s coming was an act standing by\nitself in the History of the race. It had nothing to do with the internal\nconcerns of this people or of that. Its influence was worldwide. He was to\nkindle the new fire, to set alight the spiritual passion in mankind. He\nnotes how, in the man who appeals to Him, every affection had been\nabsorbed and killed by his covetousness. He turns to the multitude and\ninveighs against this insidious vice, and delivers to them the\nparable(304) of the rich man who would pull down his barns and build\ngreater. There is no hidden meaning lying behind this parable as there is\nin those in which He set the Kingdom forth, it is only an instructive\nstory for the hearers to carry away. Then, turning to the disciples, He\nputs the matter in a higher light. His moral is ever this, that to improve\na man\u2019s well being, whether of a material or a social kind, you must begin\nby making the man himself as good as you can. Such material well being as\nis needed for society will follow on the moral and spiritual improvement\nof individual men. \u201cSeek ye _first_,\u201d says He, \u201cthe Kingdom of God and His\nrighteousness, _and all these things shall be added unto you_.\u201d(305)\n\nLet us suppose for a moment that our Lord had listened to this man and\nreviewed his case and left a judgment. What would have been the result? We\nshould have had an isolated case of the Law of inheritance, on which an\nirreversible decision had been pronounced. Every code framed for Christian\nlands would have had to accept and embody this. Endless comments on this\nparticular case would have been written, endless guesses at the\ncircumstances of it would have been made, and every one who contested a\ndistribution would have endeavoured to shew that this decision covered his\nclaims. Moreover, whenever the Christian missionary came to a new country,\ninstead of holding a purely spiritual position he would have brought with\nhim a new law of inheritance as part of the new religion, and people could\nnot have accepted his teaching without changing usages to which they\nclung.\n\n(2) Next comes the case of the woman taken in adultery (see p. 370). In\nthe criminal jurisdiction of Moses the leading thought was to \u201cput away\nevil;\u201d but men had grown less cruel, and pity for the offender and hope of\nhis reformation were coming into play. If the Lord had given judgment\neither in one way or the other we should have been landed in endless\nperplexity. The difficult questions of the distinction between a sin and a\ncrime, and whether it is advisable for a state to enforce morality, would\nhave been complicated by a Divine decision in a case of which the relation\nwould not, unless the account were fuller than the Gospel notices usually\nare, contain all the particulars that are material.\n\nThe two cases that remain refer to polity rather than to law.\n\n(3) The \u201cdidrachma\u201d were levied apparently as a tax for the Temple\nservice, enforced by custom, if not by positive law. Those who collected\nit ask Peter if our Lord does not pay this annual sum, and Peter at once\ndeclares that He does. But our Lord will not leave the matter so. The\nmoney shall be paid, because to refuse the payment would waken ill feeling\nand give an impression altogether false; but our Lord will not sanction\nsuch a payment with His authority, without protest and explanation. It\nmight have been made the ground of supporting many kinds of religious\nimpost if He had. He puts the question in such a light that His practice\ncan never be quoted in support of any such demand.\n\n(4) Those who came asking whether it was lawful to pay tribute to C\u00e6sar,\nlike those who brought the woman taken in adultery, had a hostile intent.\nThey asked with a view only to entangle, not with a desire to learn. Our\nLord always baffles those who address Him in this spirit. In dealing with\nthe question of the tribute, He avoids each horn of the dilemma and\nteaches a grand lesson to the people who heard. For they were to render to\nGod \u201cthe things that were God\u2019s,\u201d that is to say, not a man\u2019s money, but\nthe whole man himself, for he is made in God\u2019s image and carries the\nlikeness of it in his personality, just as the coin carries on its face\nthe name and the impress of C\u00e6sar. Thus, in these words, the whole man is\nclaimed as God\u2019s own by Christ.\n\nIf our Lord had either enforced or forbidden these two payments, His\nauthority, appealed to on this side or that, would have further embittered\nquestions which are bitter enough of themselves. Men have often pored over\nScripture to extract an authority for what they wanted to do, and the case\nof the tribute money, notwithstanding our Lord\u2019s answer, has been pressed\ninto the service of the upholders of imperial power.\n\nDr Bryce speaking of the Medi\u00e6val Empire says:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cFrom the New Testament the authority and eternity of Rome herself\n    was established. Every passage was seized on where submission to\n    the powers that be is enjoined, every instance cited where\n    obedience had actually been rendered to imperial officials, a\n    special emphasis being laid on the sanction which Christ Himself\n    had given to Roman dominion by pacifying the world through\n    Augustus, by being born at the time of the taxing, by paying\n    tribute to C\u00e6sar, by saying to Pilate, \u2018Thou couldest have no\n    power at all against Me except it were given thee from above.\u2019 \u201d\n\n\nIn finishing this notice I must remark that there is one social\ninstitution about which our Lord does not shun to speak; this is marriage.\nHe upholds the sanctity and inviolability of the marriage tie more\nstringently than did the Jewish Law. The scribe who came \u201cmaking trial\u201d of\nour Lord is confounded\u2014not by being put off without an answer\u2014as usually\nhappens in these cases, but by the singular positiveness of the reply.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except for\n    fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and he\n    that marrieth her when she is put away committeth adultery.\u201d(306)\n\n\nThis exception is not inconsistent with the principles governing our\nLord\u2019s acts. Christ\u2019s teaching was meant for all mankind, and Christianity\nwould have been less adapted for universal use if it had been bound up\nwith particular institutions. But marriage is not a particular\ninstitution, it is declared to be as universal as the human race; it goes\ndown deeper than all divisions, it belongs to the stock below the point\nwhere the branches sprout. Thus Christ\u2019s recognition of the sanctity of\nmarriage does not hamper human legislation, or prevent the growth of\nHumanity in any manner consistent with its health.\n\nClose by the side of this matter lies another on which I must only say a\nword. It is one of the Gesta Christi that He has put woman into her right\nplace. Slowly and quietly has this come about, as a growth from seed\nturned up in the soil, and not a construction upreared by men,\u2014as indeed,\nwith the changes that are wrought by Christ is mostly the way. He says not\na word about the social condition of women or their position in the eye of\nthe Law; He puts forward no grievances, He asserts no claim. To have done\neither one or the other in His day would have been to bring about a\nviolent upheaval, which would have destroyed all chance of the germination\nof the seed. Nowhere do men cling to old usages with more tenacity than in\nthe matter of relations between sex and sex. These variations of usage may\nrest upon solid grounds, and it would have stood in the way of the\nadaptability of what He left to the needs of all races and all times, if\nby one rigid ordinance He had enforced uniformity, even in the justest\nway. But though our Lord says little about the right place of women yet He\ntreats them as though that proper place were already theirs; for parts are\ngiven them in His great world-drama consistent with those they take in the\ncommon life of family and home.(307)\n\nOne word that our Lord drops has too important a bearing on this point to\nbe passed by. Frequently as our Lord alludes to eternal life, it is rarely\nthat anything as to the modes of this life can be gathered from His\nspeech, but in the one passage in which He does touch on this directly, He\nimplies that distinction of sex ceases with the life upon earth.\n\n\n    \u201cBut they that are accounted worthy to attain to that world, and\n    the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in\n    marriage: for neither can they die any more: for they are equal\n    unto the angels; and are sons of God, being sons of the\n    resurrection.\u201d(308)\n\n\nThere is to be no marrying or giving in marriage in the Kingdom of God.\nAll will there be as the angels of heaven. There can be no such thing as a\nmale or female soul. Some may be educated for eternal life in the frame of\nman and others in that of woman, but when out of the body all distinction\ncomes to an end, and both one and the other, if deemed worthy of the\nresurrection to life, assume the nature of angels of God. When this comes\nhome to a people and they see that the distinction of male and female is\none of a day, while the angelic existence, in which no distinction shall\nremain, is an everlasting one, then whatever remains that seems degrading\nin the condition of woman will be in the way to disappear.\n\nI will end this by stating the truth which I have had it in view to bring\nout.\n\nSupposing that Christ, lest He should hamper free human growth, was\nunwilling to tie down posterity to particular rules touching the affairs\nof life, and that He also foresaw that in time men would take His\nbehaviour as a model for their own; then the course He actually took, in\nrefusing to sanction by His example this or that course of proceeding in\nmatters coming within man\u2019s cognizance, was admirably suited to His end,\nand met perfectly the circumstances of the case.\n\n\n\n\nOur Lord\u2019s action prospective.\n\n\nBut if our Lord\u2019s behaviour in secular matters is often hard to explain,\nunless we suppose Him to have had a glimpse of what has actually come to\npass, much more is this the case in what concerns the building of His\nChurch. We know from His own words that He saw His end to be near at hand.\nWe know how He loved the Apostles and we know how His heart was set on His\ngreat work; so that it is inexplicable that He should have left the\nApostles without directions for their personal conduct, and as to the\npractical shape they were to give to the work in view. All is explained,\nif they were merely being exposed to a few hours of trial, and if our Lord\nmeant to commission them with definite duties and give the necessary\ndirections, when He rose again. Apart from any miraculous foreknowledge,\nour Lord could foresee that His end was near, and that persecution awaited\nthose who for more than two years had formed the chief visible interest of\nHis life. Would He have left them at Jerusalem perfectly at a loss, would\nHe have left them in the position of a boat\u2019s crew in the open sea, whose\ncaptain has died without giving them their course? If He had not felt\ncertain of being soon again by their side, then indeed we should, with the\nauthor of \u201cEcce Homo,\u201d have felt constrained to confess \u201cthat there was no\nhistorical character whose motives, objects and feelings remained so\nincomprehensible to us.\u201d\n\nAfter the Resurrection, the forms needful for a religious community are\ndelivered to the Apostles. They are given a rite, marking admission to the\nbody, and sacramental words serving as a symbol and the nucleus of a\ncreed. They are to go and baptize all nations in the name of the Father\nand of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Moreover they are told what they\nare, for the moment, to do. They are to remain at Jerusalem, till they be\nendowed with power from on high. Christ opens to them the Scriptures and\npossibly left some instruction as to the earliest form of His Church\nwhich, agreeably to His unfailing method, He does not communicate to\naftertimes. He will not stereotype the outward garb which he would have\nadapt itself to the changing wants of men.\n\nChrist\u2019s intimations of the future wear the appearance of being given,\nless to communicate fore-knowledge than that when the event came to pass\nthe hearers might feel that Christ had \u201ctold them before:\u201d(309) if He had\nthought good He would have made the lessons plainer. It may have helped to\nsustain the Apostles during the terrible hours when their Master lay in\nthe grave, to turn to these words of forecast and from them to gather that\nall was being carried forward towards a purpose preordained of God. It is\ntrue that our Lord had told the Apostles again and again what the end was\nto be, but they could not believe that He would permit His enemies to\nprevail, and our Lord hardly seems to expect that they would take His\nwords as literal truth. If, during the last days, they had really believed\nthat He was about to perish on the cross, they would have been paralysed\nwith anguish and dismay, and the last lessons would have fallen on the\nears of men who were prostrated and stunned.\n\nThat our Lord\u2019s action was suited to what did actually happen, and not to\nwhat was likely to happen after the judgment of men, appears also in\nanother way.\n\nThe Apostles, both in themselves and in virtue of their training, were\nexactly adapted to the part which came into their hands, but they were by\nno means of the sort which the leader either of a political or a religious\nmovement would have picked out to carry it forward when He should die.\nThey were not men to fascinate crowds and lead them whither they would,\nthey were not men to discover that aspect of a dogma which should commend\nitself to the understandings of their hearers. They had no skill in\npolicy, no experience in government or in organising bodies of men; their\nstrength lay not in their talent but their truth. If they had possessed\nbrilliant capacity, and all or any of the qualities named above, the\ndanger of disunion or of there being as many different followings as there\nwere Apostles (see 1 Cor. i. 12) would have been thereby increased. We\nread in History or Philosophy of great men who have left empires or\nsystems for their chosen successors to maintain. Did such successors keep\nfree from dissension and disruption in the way that those did whom Jesus\nchose and trained? Did any such body answer its purpose as the Apostles\ndid?\n\nThe training of the Apostles fitted them admirably, as has been said\nabove, for witnesses who should carry credit with the world; it brought\nthem, by the road of personal devotion to a visible Master, unto Faith in\nan unseen God; it endowed them with wonderful endurance, it taught them\nthe patience whereby they might \u201cwin their souls;\u201d(310) it educated their\nintuitions to discern God\u2019s ways and recognise God\u2019s whisper in the voice\nwhich spake at their hearts. But they were destitute of eloquence and of\nmany of the gifts with which the founder of a sect would have been careful\nto see that those were furnished who were to take His place; and this\nomission only becomes intelligible when we find that the deficiencies are\nsupplied by Christ\u2019s presence with them, and by the Spirit from on high.\n\nWhat was most important of all was, that no act or word of Christ\u2019s should\nseem to shut out from their share in Him any section of mankind. Agreeably\nwith this, He never proclaims Himself the Jewish Messiah. No Greek or\nRoman would have listened for a moment to one who declared Himself the\nespecial prophet of the Jews. Though of the \u201chouse and family of\nDavid,\u201d(311) He will accept no advantage on this score. He repudiates for\nthe Redeemer of the world the title of \u201cSon of David,\u201d(312) which from its\nnature was based on legitimacy and must rest on the veracity of\ngenealogical rolls. The Apostles were to divine the nature of His\nPersonality by long and close intercourse(313) with Him, more than by\ncanvassing claims or interpreting texts. When His disciples ask to be\ntaught to pray, \u201cas John also taught his disciples,\u201d(314) He gives them a\nprayer very unlike what John would have given, for it contains not a word\nof that petition for blessing upon Israel, which, in any prayer that an\nIsraelite offered, contained, to his mind, the gist of the whole. This\nprayer too was offered, not to the \u201cLord God of Israel\u201d or the \u201cGod of\ntheir Fathers,\u201d\u2014as Jewish prayers(315) were; there was not a word in it,\nechoing their boast that God was peculiarly their own\u2014but every human\nbeing is emboldened by it to turn to God as his Father in Heaven. In all\nthis, however, our Lord never loosens the bonds of Israelite life. He\nproceeds always in a positive and not a negative way; without removing the\nKingdom of Israel from view, He lets it dissolve, as it were, into the\nKingdom of God.\n\nThere is another point brought out in this later ministry; Christ does not\nlook forward to ultimate visible success in the way of making converts. No\nhope is held out of the whole world being eventually won over to\nallegiance\u2014of a spiritual conquest, any more than of a material\none\u2014\u201cHowbeit,\u201d says He\u2014and who would have said this but Christ?\u2014\u201cwhen the\nSon of man cometh shall he find Faith upon the earth?\u201d No other than\nChrist ever dared to tell his followers, not only that their Master would\nbe put to death, and they themselves ill used, but also that it was very\ndoubtful whether their cause, as far as visible appearances went, would\nfinally prevail.\n\nWith Christ indeed as with God, there is no speaking of such a thing as\neither failure or success at all; He moves steadily onward toward the\ndevelopment of the Design of the World. But this men do not easily\nperceive; adversaries of the Faith are apt to say \u201cIf this religion were\nof God, the world would have been compelled to accept it.\u201d But of what\ngood could such acceptance have been? Christianity is not a project of\nGod, which it gratifies Him for men to be made to fall in with. Christ\nviews His word as a winnowing fan sorting out those who are God\u2019s, that\nthey may be brought to that knowledge of Him in which eternal life\nresides. At some epochs of the world\u2019s history, the yield will be rich and\nat others poor; and although Christ may come at a moment when the wheat is\nalmost lost in the abundance of the chaff; nevertheless the grain of\nearlier harvests will have been sifted out and garnered in heaven, and\nChrist\u2019s work will have accomplished its end. But besides sifting out\nthose who could be educated to eternal life, it is by Christ\u2019s words and\nwork that the world has been preserved such that Holiness can grow in it;\nwithout this it might have perished of evil. Wickedness might have so got\nthe Mastery that the world could not have served its purpose as an\nexercise ground for man\u2019s capacity for reaching the knowledge of God.\n\nThe whole scheme of Christ\u2019s action is made complete by the promise, \u201cI am\nwith you always until the end of the world.\u201d Not only is it in virtue of\nthis truth that the Church is a living organism, and not merely a body\ndispensing doctrines or following directions which have been received once\nfor all, but I also see the fulfilment of this promise in the alacrity and\nvigour which characterised the Apostles\u2019 work. They must have felt that\nthey were something more than a society of men held together by love for a\nlost Leader; and I cannot explain how the eleven held together, and\nsubordinated every personal care to their Master\u2019s glory;\u2014I cannot account\nfor this personal transformation of them, _everyone_,\u2014except by supposing\nthem animated by the feeling that Christ was among them still.\n\nIt is far more in harmony with our Lord\u2019s ways for Him to put the\nApostles, by His spiritual monitions, into the way of organising their\nSociety for themselves, than that He should peremptorily lay down a formal\nplan to which they must adhere. What Christ left undone, was what it would\nbe good for man to endeavour to do for himself: but if Christ had not been\nby to whisper, men might never have set themselves to the work at all. The\nenergy and persistent determination of the Apostles could hardly have been\nmaintained without a sense of Christ\u2019s abiding presence; and that they had\neye and ear open for discerning this I count to have come, partly of God\u2019s\nfree gift, partly of their ingrained nature, but in far greater degree to\nhave been the outcome of the gentle and almost imperceptible Schooling of\nChrist.\n\n\n\n\nChrist washing the Apostles\u2019 feet. St John xiii. 1-14.\n\n\n    \u201cNow before the feast of the passover, Jesus knowing that his hour\n    was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father,\n    having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto\n    the end. And during supper, the devil having already put into the\n    heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon\u2019s _son_, to betray him, _Jesus_,\n    knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and\n    that he came forth from God, and goeth unto God, riseth from\n    supper, and layeth aside his garments; and he took a towel, and\n    girded himself. Then he poureth water into the bason, and began to\n    wash the disciples\u2019 feet, and to wipe them with the towel\n    wherewith he was girded. So he cometh to Simon Peter. He saith\n    unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said\n    unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt\n    understand hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash\n    my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part\n    with me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but\n    also my hands and my head. Jesus saith to him, He that is bathed\n    needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye\n    are clean, but not all. For he knew him that should betray him;\n    therefore said he, Ye are not all clean. So when he had washed\n    their feet, and taken his garments, and sat down again, he said\n    unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me, Master,\n    and, Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, the Lord and\n    the Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one\n    another\u2019s feet.\u201d(316)\n\n\nMore than once I have characterised certain of \u201cthe things which Jesus\ndid\u201d(317) as \u201cacted parables.\u201d The cursing of the fig-tree, which is the\ntype of the class, shews what is meant by the term. The washing of the\nApostles\u2019 feet is another of these parables of action. These acted\nparables are usually furnished by incidents lying a little out of the main\ndrift of the action; as though Christ, struck by some plant or berry in\nwhich virtue lay, should have stepped to the way-side to gather it and\npreserve it for use.\n\nThe drift of the practical lesson of which we read above, I take to be\nthis. There are men, right in heart towards God, who are beset with\ninfirmities which lead them astray. The more alive their conscience is,\nthe more they are distressed by their lapses into ill. This distress may\ngrow morbid, and lead to ruin and despair. Christ in this symbolic action,\nanticipatory of His Supreme Work, brings healing for such men\u2019s woes. He\ndoes not merely remit the penalty of sin, He actually \u201cputs the sin\naway.\u201d(318) He is like a physician who can assure the patient that the\ncanker he thought was malignant is only skin-deep, and can be removed at\nonce. The parable speaks of a man who is \u201cbathed,\u201d and whose body is\ntherefore clean, but who by travelling along the dusty road has got his\nfeet sullied on the way; he has only to wash them, to become \u201cclean every\nwhit.\u201d So a man, righteous and godfearing at bottom, may be taken off his\nguard and carried away by the stream, or he may contract moral and\nspiritual ill from a physical irritation akin to bodily ailment; these are\nthe evils contracted on \u201clife\u2019s common way.\u201d These kinds of spiritual ill\nanswer to the dust on the feet, they can be wiped off; they have not\nseriously damaged the soul.\n\nThis was a cheering lesson, and it was made to bear on the duty of mutual\nrestoration. They were to wash one another\u2019s feet. It is not the way of\nthe world to do this. If, in a body aiming at holiness of life, one of the\nsociety should go wrong, it might seem the readiest way of upholding the\nsociety\u2019s good name to thrust out the offending member at once; but\nChristians are not to deal with one another thus. It is just when a man\ngoes wrong that he most wants his brethren\u2019s support. Who else is there to\nstand by him? So if a disciple does amiss, the rest are told to wash his\nfeet as Christ had washed theirs\u2014not making out that he was clean\u2014fully\nallowing that he was sullied, but telling him that the soil would wash\noff; telling him that they had not given him up as being bad to the core,\nand that they were sure that his Father in Heaven had not cast him off. So\ndoing they might lift him back into self-respect.\n\nIt is in St John\u2019s Gospel only that this account is found, and it is not\nhard to understand why the writers of the earlier narratives should have\npassed it by. They looked for historical matter that was linked on with\nwhat came before and after, or else, they took for their material pregnant\nsayings along with the events out of which they sprang. They may have\nomitted this incident, because of this washing nothing seemed to come.\nThey did not perceive how significant our Lord\u2019s remark on it was. The\nwriters were just coming to the account of the Lord\u2019s Supper, their minds\nwere taken up with that, and they went straight forward to this crowning\nact. They probably saw in our Lord\u2019s words nothing more than an injunction\nto lay upon themselves the lowliest duties in serving each other. But the\nwords, \u201cWhat I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt understand\nhereafter\u201d rested in St John\u2019s ear. They implied that behind this washing\nof the Apostles\u2019 feet there lay something more than appeared. What could\nthis be? He turned the matter over and over again in his mind, and a\nsparkle of the truth was, perhaps, struck out which served to make him\ncareful to set the matter down precisely as it took place, for men to look\ninto when they should have a better light.\n\nWithout entering into the controverted question as to whether the Last\nSupper was the Passover or not,(319) I adopt Dr Edersheim\u2019s view that the\ncontention for precedence arose as they were taking places at the table.\nSt Luke tells us, \u201cthere arose a contention among them which of them is\naccounted to be greatest.\u201d(320) St John omits the account of the\ncontention and St Luke that of the feetwashing, but the two fit together\nadmirably well. Our Lord, by this action of His, gently gives the Apostles\nthe lesson which they had shewn themselves to need. The scene evidently\nrises before the writer as he takes up his pen, and every movement of our\nLord is followed and set down, from His quitting His seat to His wiping\nthe Apostles\u2019 feet with the towel which He had wrapped round His waist.\n\nThe narrative goes on, \u201cSo he cometh to Simon Peter.\u201d Peter\u2019s\nindividuality is strong and marked in its character. Not only is he\ndemonstrative but he is quick to receive impressions and new emotion soon\ndisplaces the old. His Master\u2019s dignity was dear to him, and when he\nthought this infringed, every other sentiment was lost in his indignation.\nHe says, \u201cThou shalt never wash my feet.\u201d But as soon as he is told that\nunless his Master wash him, \u201che has no part with Him,\u201d he is transported\nto the opposite extreme, and begs our Lord to wash\u2014not his feet only\u2014but\nhis hands and head as well.\n\nThroughout the Gospel history we discern our Lord\u2019s care to keep men in a\nfit condition to serve God by active work. All that would impair their\nefficiency is to be shunned. Now, to repine and brood over some past error\ncuts the sinews of action; from this the Apostles therefore are always\ndiverted, and they are to be watchful to prevent others from sinking into\ndejection and folding their hands in despair. A man who is hopeless has no\nheart for work, but when he is so far encouraged as to be able to exert\nhimself his despondency soon disappears. Thus, by their washing one\nanother\u2019s feet, the efficiency of their Society in all ways would be\nnotably increased.\n\nThe Apostles seem to have rightly learned the lesson which Christ here\ninculcates. St Mark had turned back in his first mission journey, but he\nis afterwards spoken of with affection and found of great service; and St\nPaul\u2019s words, with which I shall close this notice, are quite in the\nspirit of this acted parable.\n\n\n    \u201cBrethren, even if a man be overtaken in any trespass, ye which\n    are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of meekness; looking\n    to thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another\u2019s\n    burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.\u201d(321)\n\n\n\n\nUse of Signs in the later Ministry.\n\n\nEver since the time when after the feeding of the five thousand, the\npeople wanted to take Him and make Him a King, our Lord has been chary of\nworking Signs and Wonders; and such as are wrought are no longer used for\ndemonstration; Signs are now hardly if at all employed to attract\nattention and waken interest. They had already done in this way all the\ngood they were likely to effect, and if they had been employed longer,\nsome of those bye-effects, which potent agencies are almost sure to\nproduce along with that which is intended, might have come into operation\nwith injurious results.\n\nBetween the journey to the feast of Tabernacles and the week of the\nPassion, three only of the leading miracles are recorded; they are the\ngiving of sight to one born blind in Jerusalem, the raising of Lazarus,\nand the opening of the eyes of the blind near Jericho. This last, of which\nI shall first speak, occurred on that final journey of our Lord to\nJerusalem during which He seems to have resumed for a moment His earliest\nfunction, that of witness of the Kingdom of God to the people at large. We\nseem to see, once again, the same Jesus who lived at Capernaum and taught\nthe people by the Lake side.\n\nWhether our Lord, on His way to this last Passover, set out Himself from\nGalilee or joined on the road the great company travelling from the north\nis left uncertain, but we find our Lord among a throng of visitants to the\nfeast, who are proud of having the Great Prophet of Nazareth among them;\nand men come to Him\u2014some with real troubles of soul like the young\nruler\u2014and others, like the Pharisees, either curious to obtain His\ndecision on some vexed question, or maliciously setting Him in a dilemma\nbetween the contravention of Moses\u2019 Law, and the retaining of a burden\nwhich men were loth to bear. One small event, preserved to us in the\naccount of this journey, gives us the clearest glimpse of our Lord\u2019s air\nand general demeanour that we ever obtain. There was, about Him, that\nindefinable something which wins children\u2019s confidence at sight. The\nlittle ones, who swarmed in the hamlets of the Jordan valley, were drawn\nto Him by something in His look, and\u2014after long gazing out of their dark\neastern eyes, in childhood\u2019s own intent way\u2014they made out that they would\nbe safe with Him, and stole to His side.\n\nThe miracle of healing, worked on the way, that of the cure of the blind\nmen in Jericho, is nearly after the old sort. As Jesus nears the end, He\nreverts to the ways with which His revelation began. Our Lord was touched\nno doubt by the affliction of these men and their urgent cry, and this was\na miracle of beneficence, but He takes no pains now to withdraw the act\nfrom public view, He does not call them \u201caside from the multitude,\u201d(322)\nand heal them in private as He had done on His way back from the coasts of\nTyre and Sidon some months before. This miracle stirred the hearts of many\nbeholders, and this emotion of theirs may have played no small part in the\ngreat drama to which this journey was the prelude; for the company that\ncame with our Lord from Galilee formed the staple of that great concourse\nwhich shouted\n\n\n    \u201cBlessed _is_ the kingdom that cometh, _the kingdom_ of our father\n    David: Hosanna in the highest,\u201d(323)\n\n\nand this shout of the people not only roused in the priests that terror\nwhich \u201csits hard by hate,\u201d but gave them the very thing they\nwanted\u2014grounds for calling upon Pilate to prove himself C\u00e6sar\u2019s friend.\n\nIt is not likely that any of our Lord\u2019s doings were without an ordered\npurpose, and that this cessation of Signs certainly was not so, is\napparent from our Lord\u2019s words spoken probably soon after the performance\nof the first of those miracles mentioned above. The words are these.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd when the multitudes were gathering together unto him, he\n    began to say, This generation is an evil generation: it seeketh\n    after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign\n    of Jonah.\u201d(324)\n\n\nOn this text as given by St Matthew I have already commented; it is only\nthe coincidence of the time when it was spoken with the gradual withdrawal\nof visible Signs that I have to notice now. Our Lord looks to sowing the\ngerms of spiritual Faith. This would not grow up either from the curiosity\nof those who sought for Signs, or the stupefaction of those who gazed in\nwonderment. Henceforth it is \u201cthe word of eternal life\u201d which lays hold of\nmen. The questions asked in the deepest earnest turn now upon this.(325)\nThe revelation of it did not come by express statements or descriptions,\nbut rather it grew up in men through their consorting with Christ. They\ncould not believe that He would perish, and He told them that because He\nlived they should live also.(326) Christ, speaking just before the end,\nrests His expectation of bringing about the knowledge of God, not on His\nworks but on His Personality. His reply to the words \u201cShew us the Father,\u201d\nis not, Have I not done mighty works before your eyes? but, \u201cHave I been\nso long time with you and dost thou not know me, Philip?\u201d\n\nI now pass to the raising of Lazarus. It is not within my scope to discuss\nthe nature of the miracle, I have to do with it only in its relation to\nthat Law of the working of Signs, which is suggested in the Temptation of\nthe Pinnacle of the Temple. No Sign is given to men whose belief is in the\nformative stage, in order to force it on; but to those whose belief is\nalready assured a conclusive miracle may be shown, because it does not now\nconstrain judgment but only confirms it. If the miracle had been at once\npublished wherever the gospel was preached, and if it had been supported\nby testimony which no one could dispute, this would have been an exception\nto the rule so often marked in our Lord\u2019s conduct. This miracle is in its\nnature appalling and conclusive, and it could not be attributed to\nBeelzebub; but a loop-hole in point of evidence is left for those\nindisposed to believe, for it rests on the unsupported testimony of St\nJohn. The raising of Lazarus was not, we may conclude, recorded in the\nApostolic memoir which some suppose to have been the basis of the Synoptic\nGospels. I have said in the last chapter that I think it possible that the\nentire body of Apostles were not continuously about the person of our Lord\nduring the six months between the Feast of Tabernacles and the last\njourney. When Thomas said, speaking of the proposed visit to Jerusalem at\nthe time of Lazarus\u2019 death, \u201cLet us also go that we may die with\nHim,\u201d(327) I can hardly suppose that Peter can have been by and have held\nhis peace. Supposing then that the writers of this memoir, among whom\nPeter must have held a foremost place, confined themselves as much as\npossible to what they knew from _personal knowledge_, they would have\nabstained from introducing a matter so wondrous as that of the raising of\nLazarus, which they had not witnessed themselves. In whatever way this\nsilence is to be explained, the silence itself accords with the\nabove-noted Law.\n\nPassing on to the events of the Passion week, we may be struck by the\nabsence of all public and notable Signs at a time when, if ever, they\nseemed of vital importance for the cause. A signal miracle wrought before\nthe crowd in the Temple would have rallied the people to the side of our\nLord in such numbers and with such vehement support, that none of His foes\nwould have dared to lift a hand. For even if the priesthood should have\npersisted in persuading themselves that our Lord\u2019s power did not come from\nGod, yet, they would not have dared to move, if the popular feeling had\nbeen strong, lest they should provoke a riot and the Roman authorities\nshould intervene.\n\nBut the people were themselves disappointed by our Lord\u2019s working no Sign\nor Wonder, during these last days of teaching in the Temple. Some looked\nfor the restoration of Israel, and were impatient at the continued delay,\nwhile the lower part of the populace had set their hearts on seeing a\nprodigy, and none came. It may be true that, among the crowd who had\nshouted \u201cHosanna,\u201d the lead had been taken by the caravan of pilgrims from\nGalilee, but still, at the time of the triumphal entry, the feeling of the\npeople of Jerusalem went the same way; this had cooled down to\nindifference when our Lord left the Temple for the last time; and\ndisappointment had turned into contemptuous chagrin when our Lord, after\nyielding passively to the Temple guard, stood before Pilate apparently as\npowerless as they would have been themselves.\n\nTo Christians of to-day it seems of the essence of Christ\u2019s sacrifice that\nHe should have submitted of His own free will to indignity and torment,\nwhen, by raising a finger or uttering a word, He might have shivered the\npower both of the priesthood and of Rome. His behaviour in this point is\ntherefore exactly what we expect. But this truth, inconceivable for the\npeople, had hardly dawned as yet on the Apostles\u2019 minds. The multitude\nwould be told and would, in general, believe that the miracles of Jesus,\nwhich all had heard of and some had seen, must have been unreal or the\nwork of Beelzebub; while those who had leaned towards Him would conclude\nthat, if He had ever been endowed with Divine power, it had left Him now,\nor He would certainly have used it for defence.\n\nBut the Apostles were not left without fresh assurance, given to them\nalone. Although of Signs, notable and public, during this period there\nwere none, still two Signs of a special character there were, which\nexactly met the requirements of the case; they created no stir, they were\nnot observed by the people, but they served to keep alive in the Apostles\u2019\nhearts the certainty that God was with their Master still. One was the\nwithering of the fig-tree, the other the foretelling that Peter would deny\nhis Lord; of the first of these miracles I have spoken fully before.(328)\n\nThis latter miracle is connected with our Lord\u2019s strange faculty of seeing\nwhat was passing in men\u2019s hearts, and of tracing what the outcome of it\nwould be. When men felt that Christ knew their hearts, they were getting\nnear the idea of His spiritual presence with them; so that all this leads\nup to the crowning point of Christ\u2019s education, the rendering the Apostles\nsensitive to every breath of the Spirit, capable, amid a din of inward\nvoices calling them diverse ways, of discerning with sure ear the tones of\nGod.\n\nThis miracle and this event contain a lesson on forgiven error, intended\nfor all time. Here, as before observed, we have an instance of Christ\u2019s\nway of ensuring that what He desired to preserve should be handed down.\nThis event is stamped with life-like particulars which ensure its currency\nand its becoming familiar in the mouths of men.\n\nThe words \u201cthe cock shall not crow twice\u201d give to the incident a reality\nwhich vitalises the story and preserves it for ever. Contrast the tale\nsuch as we have it, with what it would have been if our Lord had only\nsaid, \u201cYou will deny me before I die.\u201d\n\nAs to the miracle itself a few words must be said. It brings out the\nidentity of the idiosyncrasy of St Peter, who is given up to the impulse\nof the moment.\n\nThe Peter who denied and then wept bitterly, is the same man,\npsychologically, as he who begged his Master to call him to come upon the\nsea, and whose faith failed. This liability to panic clung to him; years\nafter, we find him at Antioch going along with Paul in freeing the\nconverts from Jewish obligations; but, as soon as \u201ccertain came from\nJames,\u201d(329) he was alarmed at his temerity and separated himself,\n\u201cfearing them that were of the circumcision.\u201d (See also pp. 423, 424.)\nNeither by our Lord or any of the brethren is this failing of Peter\u2019s ever\ntouched upon again.\n\nThis is exactly a case of what was noted at page 421. Christ washes from\noff Peter\u2019s feet the soil contracted on the way, and he becomes clean\nevery whit. The evil was only skin deep and had not tainted the blood. For\nthis denial was, I am sure, not due to any base fear. Peter had drawn and\nstruck for his Master, and was naturally bewildered at finding that his\nMaster would neither suffer His disciples to fight nor call the legions of\nangels to His help. In their utter confusion of mind the Apostles fled,\nbut Peter and John followed a little way off. This they would not have\ndone if they had been in actual terror of being punished themselves. But\nthere was no real ground for any such fear; no attempt is made to\napprehend any follower of our Lord. To have tried to do so would have\nincreased that danger of riot, which the rulers shunned. What Peter _did_\nfear was forcible separation from Christ. He was afraid that, if proved to\nbe a follower of Jesus, he would be turned out of the judgment hall of\nCaiaphas. He would have said or done almost anything to avoid that. It\nwas, as we have seen, part of his nature to be mastered by the feeling\nthat was uppermost. He clung to his Master\u2019s side with the instinctive\nfidelity of a Highland henchman to his chief. Thrice he might have gone\naway, but this he will on no account do. After being noticed he on each\noccasion moves away and returns, only shifting his position; he goes into\nthe vestibule, and finally tries to mix with the crowd round the fire,\nwhence, out of the half-darkness which saved him from recognition, he\ncould still see his Master.\n\nBut \u201chis speech bewrayeth\u201d him; he is noticed again as he had been before,\nand for the third time he denies. Whereupon the cock crows, and turning\ntowards the arcade at the end of the court where the trial was going on,\nhe meets our Lord\u2019s eyes fixed upon him. Then, for the first time, it\nstrikes him that he has done wrong. It never occurred to Peter that in\nsaying \u201cI know not the man,\u201d he was being disloyal to the Master he loved.\nHe wanted to keep sight of his Master, and did not feel bound to speak the\ntruth to a foe. No words are needed to shew him his fault. One look of our\nLord settles the matter; it awakens the higher sense of truth, which had\ngone to sleep when the old instinct of the Oriental peasant, the habit of\nconfronting authority with a flat denial, became dominant in Peter\u2019s\nbreast. When the company of Apostles was scattered on their Master\u2019s\napprehension, the strength they had drawn from association with Jesus\nvanished at once; and then Peter dropped from the moral level of a\ndisciple of Christ into the Galilean fisherman he had been before. He had\nbeen used to regard officials of Herod, or any ruling power, as his\nnatural enemies, to whom he was not bound to speak the truth, and to this,\nhis old self, he came back now.\n\nBut though Peter\u2019s heart may have acquitted him of cowardly forsaking his\nMaster,\u2014though he knew that he would, if need were, have gone with him to\nprison and to death,\u2014yet he felt that this denial was, in words\u2014though\nonly in words\u2014a falling away from perfect loyalty; it made clear to him,\nas it may have been meant to do, the weakness of his character in the way\nof yielding to impulse, and awakened floods of self reproach. He went out\nand wept bitterly; but no trace appears afterwards of a loss of self\nrespect, or of his feeling it possible that he could be in disgrace with\nhis Master; in fact his part in his Master becomes all the greater, owing\nto his having needed that He should wash his feet.\n\nThese two miracles of instruction then, the prediction of Peter\u2019s denials\nand the withering of the fig tree, were an assurance to the disciples that\nour Lord still retained His superhuman power, and that whether He should\ndrink of the cup or put it away, up to the last, rested entirely with Him.\nThese powers of His could not be displayed to the people without hindrance\nto the accomplishment of that Baptism with which He \u201chad to be baptised;\u201d\neven the working of miracles of healing might so have moved the crowd that\nthey would have risen in His defence.(330) The Apostles, however, were to\nbe rendered sure that these powers remained what they had ever been and\nthat they were, for them, in operation still; so that they might never\ndoubt but that, amid all the apparent defeat, it was with the voluntary\nsufferer on the Cross that the real Victory\u2014the moral Victory lay.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII. THE LESSONS OF THE RESURRECTION.\n\n\nWhen contemplating the Passion and the Resurrection of Christ, we have\nlittle attention to spare for the subordinate personages in the scene. The\neffects of these manifestations, in working changes in the hearts and\nminds of the witnesses, are put out of sight by the brilliancy and\nintrinsic grandeur of the manifestations themselves, and by the momentous\ncharacter of their direct consequences, universally affecting mankind. But\nthe transformation in temper, in views, and in habits of mind which\nconverted the Apostles of the Gospels into the Apostles of the Acts\u2014a\ntransformation to me otherwise inexplicable\u2014was consummated and clenched\nby the hours of hard trial and bitter anguish of that Sabbath day, when\nthere was nothing to be done but to mourn and to wonder; as well as by the\nburst of gladness when the Risen Lord appeared to the eleven. Throughout\nall the Post-Resurrection interval, during which the Apostles felt that He\nwas close by and might at any time appear\u2014indeed that any stranger\naccosting them might turn out to be He\u2014the changes which had been wrought\nwere taking lasting hold.\n\nThe data for the history of that Passover season of A.D. 30 must have been\nfurnished by the Apostles, yet we find in it scarcely any mention of\nthemselves; all personal thought was driven from their minds; the\nnarrators, like ourselves, had eyes for the Saviour alone.\n\nFrom the hour of cockcrow on the Thursday night to the time when it \u201cbegan\nto dawn toward the first day of the week\u201d all that we hear of the\nApostles, and that comes out incidentally, is that John stood at the foot\nof the Cross. There is not a word to explain their flight at Gethsemane,\nthey do not tell us, that they stood in the crowd or followed to Golgotha;\nneither have we, what for my purpose would be invaluable, any word of how\nthey passed that Sabbath day of enforced inaction, which\u2014in accordance\nwith our Lord\u2019s way of letting intervals of quiet alternate with times of\nstress and strain\u2014followed on the violent perturbation and intense dismay\nof the Crucifixion.\n\nThe Apostles could not be perfected for the part that awaited them, unless\nthey encountered some great desolation of soul. Acute suffering, which\nsearches the innermost nature, works after the law which has become so\ntrite to my readers, it gives to those who have. There are some who under\nits pangs learn that they possess a kind of strength of which they did not\nknow, and find that when some, seemingly more robust, break down in\ntrouble, resource and tenacity are still left in them. This kind of\nstrength the Apostles possessed; they stood the test of being apparently\nforsaken and were the better for it. Each individual after the trial felt\nsurer that he could rely on himself than he had been before, and each then\nknew for certain that he could rely on the rest.\n\nThey might, as soon as the Sabbath was over, have taken their northward\njourney, going every man to his own; and, as they did not feel safe where\nthey were\u2014for they had to close their doors for fear of the Jews\u2014and must\nhave been grievously bewildered, this is what some out of the eleven at\nany rate might have been expected to do. It is the steadfastness of _the\nwhole number_ that is so surprising.\n\nThe trial to which the Apostles were subjected, during those six and\nthirty hours, was excessively severe. They were left as sheep without a\nshepherd, with no rallying point, no organised rule; and not only were\nthey in the deepest anguish, owing to their personal affection for their\nMaster, but the lodestar of their lives, the hope of the Restoration of\nthe Kingdom to Israel, seemed suddenly and totally withdrawn.\n\nThe Jewish notion of a Messiah, who would inaugurate a golden age of\nnational glory and material enjoyment, was so engrained in the Israelite\nnature that only facts could drive it out. Our Lord never argues against\nit; if He beheld, in the course of coming events, a fact approaching,\nwhich would do more to dispel error than all the arguments in the world,\nthis would explain His silence on these points. The awakening would not be\nwithout dangers. It is a perilous moment for a man, when the one dream,\nthe one exalted hope, that has lifted him above selfish considerations is\nrudely dispelled; and God, whom he had thought to serve, seems to\ndisregard him altogether.\n\nThen self and the world say, \u201cWe told you so; now give yourself to us? Our\nvotaries will be found to have taken the right road after all.\u201d Of all the\ntemptations that assailed the Apostles this was perhaps the direst; but\ntheir loyalty to their Master, born of nearly two years\u2019 daily fellowship,\nheld fast. Even if He _were_ gone they could be true to His memory still,\nand that was something left.\n\nOne lesson, which the Apostles could hardly help learning, would arise, in\nthis way, out of the discomfiture of their hopes. They might ask\nthemselves, on what this confident expectation of theirs, of a Messianic\nkingdom, rested by way of grounds. They would have to own that Christ had\nnever spoken of it, but, indeed, had often given hints of what had really\ncome to pass\u2014hints which they had always quickly brushed aside. They had\nbelieved in this material Kingdom because everybody around them had done\nso. They had not formed any notion about it of their own selves; no\nmovement of their own minds had gone towards forming the belief. They had\nimbibed it and that was all. Hence finding themselves deceived by trusting\nto a popular belief, there may have arisen in them a healthy mistrust of\npositiveness about the ways of God. Again, their disappointment might put\nthem in a better direction for finding their way. \u201cSome hope,\u201d they might\nsay, \u201cassuredly Christ did hold out to us,\u201d and the search after this hope\nmight lead them to recollect that latterly they had heard little from Him\nof the Kingdom, and much of the future Life; He had told them that because\nHe lived they should live also; and the conception of a Kingdom, not of\nthis world, might arise in their minds, and take the place of that of the\nexpected Supremacy of Israel, which was dissolving out of sight.\n\nAnother effect of their affliction was that it drew them closer together.\nWhen a family, is orphaned by a heavy blow, what they first feel may be\nhelplessness, but soon follows the feeling that they must cling together\nand be true to one another, and each in his degree supply the help that is\nlost. Soon the elder brothers, if there is good in them, learn what duty\nis, and this new responsibility draws capacity out. Now the Apostles stood\nin the position of elder brethren to all the family of Christ\u2019s disciples.\n\nIt is a striking feature of the change worked in the Apostles, that, after\nthe Resurrection, all thoughts of self disappeared. The Apostles, as the\nHistory shews us, had been originally no less prone to wrangle as to\n\u201cwhich should be greatest\u201d than the average of men. We find in the Gospel\nthe self-regard that we might naturally expect: sometimes it is of a\nhealthy sort, as when Peter says, \u201cWe have left all and followed thee;\u201d\nand sometimes it is unhealthy, like that soreness on points of precedence,\nwhich we mark even just before the Last Supper; but in the Acts we find\namong the Apostles no trace of self-regard at all. The history in our\nhands will account for this change satisfactorily enough; for these men\nwere called to a Work, so transcending all human interests, so absolute,\nthat it would leave no room for any personal thought in their souls. They\nwere to be fellow-workers with the living God. What could be the worth of\nthe difference between this office or dignity in God\u2019s service and that,\ncompared with being counted worthy to take a conscious part in God\u2019s\nservice at all? Some powerful impression must have been employed to bring\nabout such a moral change as this; and what could better account for such\nan impression, than to have witnessed Christ upon the Cross? How could\nthey, the servants, cavil about social consideration or dignity, when\ntheir Master had spurned all dignity and cast away all that common men\nhold dear, and that too, when by speaking a word, all that earth could\nbestow might have been His. Lastly, the sense that Christ was present with\nthem and knew their hearts, was made so real and effectual by the\nPost-Resurrection intercourse, that it afterwards dominated their lives.\nThis feeling would still the disposition to rivalry, if any such lingered\nin their hearts; for, being convinced that their Master knew what went on\nin them, they would know that He grieved over anything that was wrong, as\nHe had done when He was by their side; and they would shrink from causing\nHim pain.\n\nThe story of the Apostles is unique in History in another way. No one of\nthem endeavoured to draw a following about himself, or to claim succession\nto the Master\u2019s place. Little differences of view and little disagreements\nas to the course to be followed now and then there were; if, indeed, our\nrecords did not speak of such we should suspect that something was kept\nback. We have cases enough of causes passed on to a company of successors\nfrom the dying leaders\u2019 hands, but in no instance, that I recollect, have\nthese successors remained united as the Apostles did (p. 414). Monarchs\nhave sometimes left empires in trust to their generals, whose quarrels\nhave finally torn them to bits. Philosophers have left their systems or\ntheir discoveries to their favourite pupils, who, taking hold of them by\ndifferent ends, have set up new philosophies of their own. Kingly\ndynasties and political parties have bequeathed causes claiming to be\nsanctioned by Divine right, or to embody immutable principles, and the\ninheritors have so fallen out over points of policy, that the broad\nprinciple, broken up into branching channels, has lost its momentum and\ndisappeared in the sands.\n\nI pass on to the lessons which our History of the Resurrection conveys.\nThe different narratives relate our Lord\u2019s appearances, with differing\ncircumstances of persons and place. Herein I find that loophole for\ndisbelief which may be discovered in every miraculous manifestation of our\nLord. If the fact of our Lord\u2019s Resurrection had been so attested that no\nsane person could doubt of the fact; if He had appeared in public, and\nappalled Pilate on his judgment seat or Herod on his throne, then\u2014strange\nas it may appear\u2014by the very fact of the historical certainty being thus\nestablished, the moral significance of the Resurrection would be impaired,\nfor the acceptance of it would be independent of that which I have so\noften said is essential to religious belief, the concurrence of the free\nhuman will.\n\nAlthough, as to the occasions and circumstances of the appearances, we\nfind in the different accounts rather more than their customary diversity;\nyet in the _nature_ of the appearances the agreement is so singular, and\nthe conception involved is so unexampled, that it is impossible for\ndifferent writers to have lighted at the same time on the idea, and I can\nfind no explanation for the phenomena, except by supposing that the\npicture was taken from life. The appearances themselves, as we should\nexpect from their nature, leave on the mental retina an impression\nindelible and distinct; but the traditions about _when_ and _how_ they\noccurred, undergo variation as they pass from mouth to mouth.\n\nThe character of our Lord\u2019s appearances, in all the Gospels, is alike.\nMost commonly He is not recognised at first, and does not appear in His\nown form, when other than disciples are by; only to those, who had already\nmastered the words of eternal life, was it given to see Him Risen from the\ndead. He comes men know not how, when they are sitting with fastened doors\nHe appears in the midst; He goes they know not where, and the disciples\nwho beforetime were so full of curiosity, do not venture to ask whither He\ngoes or where He abides. But, what bears most of all on my subject, is the\nmode in which our Lord assuages that dread of a disembodied spirit, which\nwould have paralysed the Apostles\u2019 minds. This terror, reasonable or not,\ncertainly existed, and Christ always deals with the fact He finds.\n\nThere were lessons still to be taught and for the right learning of them\nit was needful that the old confidence between Master and learners should\nstill subsist. Could the disciples have listened to the Lord, as their old\nMaster, receiving his direction to go back to Jerusalem and tarry there\ntill they were \u201cendued with power;\u201d\u2014could they have rested gladly on the\nassurance that He would appear and help them in any need that came, if\nthey had regarded Him as a spectre belonging to another world?\n\nIn order to calm their instinctive terror of a spirit, and be again in\nsome degree what He had been on the Lake shore of Galilee, it was\nnecessary for our Lord to assure the Apostles that He had a body even as\nthey. The deep doctrinal significance of this lies beyond the limited\npurpose of my book, but the point which is within my range\u2014the effect on\nthe Apostles themselves of the conviction of our Lord\u2019s existence in the\nbody\u2014is important and full of instruction. It was essential that\nconfidence should be restored, and the course actually adopted did restore\nit in a wonderful way. Men thought that a spirit might be seen and heard\nbut only a body could be _felt_. Our Lord therefore at once appeals to\ntouch\u2014He eats and drinks before them. He tells them that He has flesh and\nbones. He suffers them to \u201chandle Him and see.\u201d To this corporal presence\nas a crowning fact St John recurs, saying \u201cThat which we beheld and our\nhands handled;\u201d(331) and St Peter says\n\n\n    \u201cHim God raised up the third day, and gave him to be made\n    manifest, not to all the people, but unto witnesses that were\n    chosen before of God, _even_ to us, who did eat and drink with him\n    after he rose from the dead.\u201d(332)\n\n\nOur Lord would not Himself establish a visible Church. I have amply set\nout, p. 236, the difficulties that would have ensued if He had so done;\nbut it was essential that the Apostles should receive some\nindication\u2014though only so much as was essential to the lines upon which\nthey were to build; and this being a matter of human cognisance was to be\ngiven by Christ in His human guise. A phantom, or a voice from Heaven,\nwould have seemed an agency of a different order from the intervention of\nthe Son of Man.\n\nHere I will stop for a moment, to consider these narratives of the\nResurrection under a purely literary point of view. These accounts present\nus with the same general aspect of the risen Lord, and they remain true to\nthe primary conception in unnoticeable points of detail such as no one\nwould have introduced out of purposed imitation. Inasmuch as we cannot\nsuppose that the same wondrous creation of fancy presented itself to\ndifferent writers at the same time, we are driven to suppose, either that\nthe accounts relate actual facts, as Christians generally believe; or else\nthat they were imagined by one person who disseminated the story. But who\nthis writer can have been is not only a mystery but a mystery embodying\nalmost a miracle, for here we have a genius compared with whom\u2014in point of\ndealing naturally with the supernatural\u2014Shakespeare is thrown into the\nshade; and further this genius, we must suppose, never invented or wrote\nanything else in that particular line in which he so wondrously surpassed\nthe rest of mankind. The Orientals delighted in tales. Did they suffer the\ngreatest imaginative genius of the world to live and die unknown?\n\nThere was nothing in Literature to furnish a hint for the portraiture of\nthe risen Lord; the idea of the Resurrection body must have been due to\none man\u2019s imagination and have been presented with extraordinary literary\nskill at a time when imaginative narration was wholly unknown. The writers\nof the age in which the Gospels appeared could set down events and record\ncolloquies, and depict living personalities with truth and force; but they\nwere no more capable of conceiving a character, of making him act, and\nputting into his mouth words which should seem to be his own; or of\nimagining a new supernatural phenomenon, and keeping their account always\ntrue to itself; than they were of conceiving the vibrations of an elastic\nmedium. That this phenomenon also, exactly met the requirements of a most\nsingular condition of things adds greatly to the wonder, but in another\nway.\n\nIf the Christian records had been thrown aside and forgotten, while the\nworld, passing on its way, reached a mental culture such as we now\npossess; and then, in some exploration, the Gospels had been brought to\nlight: would they not have been regarded by the critics of that day as\nwholly anomalous, and as refusing to fit in with any theory of the growth\nand progress of the literary faculty in mankind? The surprise caused by\nthe discovery would have been like that of excavators at Mycenae, if they\nhad found a watch in the treasury of Agamemnon. This aspect of the matter\nbelongs to the realm of critical literature rather than to mine, and I\nonly note it for a hint. The literary aspect of the History of the\nResurrection has yet to be written; it would be curious to see it treated\nfrom the point of view of one, who, shut out from a knowledge of the\nreligious history of mankind, lighted on it as a mere literary treasure.\n\nThere is one point on which I cannot forbear to touch. Our Lord never\nmentions His persecutors, He never touches on the past. The apparition of\na legend usually either reveals a burning secret, or embodies resentment\nfor the past; frequently it personifies hatred or foretells destruction,\nand its fateful whispers make the blood of enemies run cold. But in all\nthe utterances of the Risen Lord not a word is said of the coming\ndestruction of Jerusalem, not a syllable is breathed of the treason of\nJudas, or of the persistent malice of the scribes. There is an ineffable\ngrandeur\u2014so unconscious that we may fail to mark it\u2014in the utter oblivion\nthat is passed on the foes who had beset the path of the Son of Man. He no\nmore resents the ills that men had wrought Him on His way through life,\nthan the traveller, who has reached his home, resents the insect plague of\nthe desert or the tempests he has met with at sea. The past is lost to\nsight, and our Lord displays but one thought and one interest, and that is\nfor the disciples and their work. He has now done with the rest of the\nworld and He belongs wholly to them. He is lifted above all human\ncontention into that serene atmosphere, which we feel ourselves to be\nbreathing, when, reading the story, we seem to find ourselves in the\npresence of the Risen Lord.\n\nI will now quote St Paul\u2019s account of the chief occasions when our Lord\nappeared; but I can only discuss one or two points of the History.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd that he appeared to Cephas; then to the twelve; then he\n    appeared to above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the\n    greater part remain until now, but some are fallen asleep; then he\n    appeared to James; then to all the apostles; and last of all, as\n    unto one born out of due time, he appeared to me also.\u201d(333)\n\n\nI take the view, that within a few days of the Resurrection, the Apostles,\nby our Lord\u2019s command, returned to Galilee. If the Resurrection had been\nimmediately followed by a time of agitation\u2014one of persecution for\ninstance\u2014so that the Apostles could not have let their minds dwell on what\nhad happened, the lessons of that period would have been soon effaced; but\nour Lord, as we have seen, is ever careful to provide seasonable\nopportunity for reflection, and it was not likely that He would suffer it\nto be wanting now.\n\nThe Apostles in Galilee, engaging again in their old callings, would have\nleisure to review, not only the last few days, but the whole of the two\neventful years since they had been called from their work to follow\nChrist. It was probably here in Galilee that the Apostles received a\ncommand to return to Jerusalem; for we cannot account for the presence\nthere of all the eleven, at the time of the Ascension, together with the\nmother and brethren of our Lord, except by special direction of our Lord.\nThey would not, without some injunction, have remained at Jerusalem after\nthe Resurrection,(334) neither would they have gone up thither for\nPentecost, having been so lately at the Passover. Whether the appearance\nto the \u201cfive hundred brethren at once\u201d(335) be, as I think it was,\nidentical with that on the mountain in Galilee recorded in St Matthew\u2019s\nGospel, c. xxviii., v. 16, is a matter of discussion.\n\nBut where else, except in Galilee could five hundred disciples have been\ngot together? It could not have been at Jerusalem, at the Ascension,\nbecause the brethren there only numbered one hundred and twenty\nsouls.(336) St Matthew, it is true, only speaks of the eleven disciples as\ngoing \u201cinto Galilee unto the mountain,\u201d but others must have been present\nbecause we are told that \u201csome doubted,\u201d and the eleven would not have\ndoubted. This admission shews that when the writer drew up his account, he\nfelt no eagerness to strengthen the evidence for the Resurrection; and\nthat He had no fear of its being disbelieved by those for whom he wrote.\nThe eagerness that St Matthew does shew is to find instances of the\nfulfilment of Scripture, not to support his statements of fact. It seems\nto me likely, that, in Galilee, among His earliest followers, our Lord\nshould have appeared more publicly than He did elsewhere; here only could\nHe find a _body_ of believers who should serve as witnesses, and, inasmuch\nas among these five hundred, there must have been men in different states\nof belief, it falls in with our Lord\u2019s way, so often noted, that He should\nappear in a form, not indisputably recognisable at once and by all, but\nwith His aspect so changed, by some glorification perhaps, that those who\nwere half-hearted in their belief might remain in doubt or disbelief if\nthey chose; while the faithful and loving would be in no uncertainty about\ntheir Master\u2019s lineaments and voice.\n\nThe appearance \u201cto James\u201d which is related by St Paul alone, is important,\nand calls for special notice.\n\nThere are three persons called \u201cJames\u201d in the sacred books, and there may\nbe a question which of these it is of whom St Paul speaks. I am of opinion\nthat it is James the brother of our Lord. The Corinthians, to whom St Paul\nis writing, would hardly know of any other; he was the head of the church\nat Jerusalem and when Paul speaks of \u201cJames\u201d simply, as in Galatians ii.\n9, 12, he means always the brother of the Lord. \u201cJames, the son of\nZebedee,\u201d Acts xii. 2, is designated \u201cthe brother of John\u201d for\ndistinction\u2019s sake, and of James the son of Alphaeus we never hear. Every\ndisciple however in the Church at Corinth had heard of James, the \u201cpillar\u201d\nof the Church at Jerusalem.(337)\n\nNothing is heard of our Lord\u2019s brethren during the week of the Passion;\npossibly, they were not in Jerusalem, but, from the Acts, as has been just\nsaid, we find that they were present there at the time of the Ascension.\n\n\n    \u201cThese all with one accord continued steadfastly in prayer, with\n    the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.\u201d\n    Acts i. 14.\n\n\nThis adhesion of the brethren falls in with the supposition that our Lord\nappeared to His brother James after the Resurrection in Galilee. It was\nnatural that James and the younger brethren should have found difficulty\nin comprehending that their elder brother, who had played among them as a\nchild was of a nature essentially different from their own; and that this\nexceptional hindrance to belief should be counterpoised by an exceptional,\nbut not absolutely decisive, revelation is what we might expect. It is not\ninconsistent with our Lord\u2019s treatment of doubt; for the difficulty arose\nout of circumstances and not from adverse will. Of James, our Lord may\nhave felt sure; and Joses and Jude and Simon,(338) no one of whom could\nhave been much over thirty years of age, while one or two of them must\nhave been quite young men, may have been brought to full discipleship by\nwhat they heard from James.\n\nFrom what St Paul says, \u201cAm I not an Apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our\nLord?\u201d(339) it seems likely that to have beheld the Risen Lord was held to\nbe a condition of the status of an Apostle. St Paul must have meant \u201cseen\nthe _Risen_ Jesus,\u201d for to have cast eyes on the bodily presence of Jesus,\nas He journeyed and taught, would have been a distinction shared with\nthousands.\n\nWithout some recognition of James by our Lord, such as is related by St\nPaul, it is hard to account for his being placed at the head of the\nChurch. We hear of no election or form of appointment, but we find him in\nthis position about ten years after this time. It would have been at\nvariance with our Lord\u2019s repeated injunctions to the Apostles not to seek\nauthority one over the other, if the primacy had been made a matter of\ncontest.(340)\n\nOrganisation and graduation of authority grew up in the Church, not after\nany plan settled and declared, but as the need of it arose. It agreed in\nthis respect with the history of those human institutions that have proved\nthe most enduring. In this, as in all matters, our Lord, wherever it was\npossible, left His followers free; not but what, when these same followers\nturned to their Master and prayed for guidance, as in the election of\nMatthias, they found in their hearts an answer positive and plain.\n\nSt Peter, in the earliest days of the Church, stands forth as the foremost\npersonage; but this influence rests on personal qualities and not on any\nformal appointment. He, as I have said (pp. 248, 344), was the man of\naction, the person who in every juncture addressed himself at once to the\nquestion, \u201cWhat is to be done?\u201d It was Peter, who took immediate steps to\nfill up the vacancy which the apostacy of Judas had left. He was the\nspeaker on the day of Pentecost, and he it was who in the case of Ananias\nsternly repressed falsehood unto God. But the impetuosity of Peter, and\nhis disposition to give himself up completely to the impression of the\nmoment, though it served well to carry forward a great movement at its\noutset, may have made him ill adapted for the ruler of an infant Church,\nin which discordant elements had to be welded into one; while the\nwell-poised judgment of James the Just(341) and his practical sense fitted\nhim particularly for this kind of rule. That this admirable selection,\nthis putting of each in his right place, should have come about without\ndispute; and that those who had \u201cborne the burden and heat of the day\u201d\nshould have admitted to equality\u2014or something more\u2014in outward dignity, one\nwho was \u201cof the eleventh hour,\u201d bears out what I have said of the\nphenomenal subordination of self displayed by the Apostles. It shews that\noutward dignity and authority\u2014that which I have taken to be the \u201cfalse\nmammon\u201d of the parable\u2014was as nothing in their eyes compared to the true\nriches, the priceless feeling that their work great or small, as men might\ncount it, was all done for God and all accepted by God.\n\n\n\n\nThe Ascension.\n\n\nWhat was said of the Resurrection we may say of the Ascension too. The\nchanges it brought about in the position and characters of those few \u201cmen\nof Galilee\u201d who stood \u201cgazing up into heaven,\u201d seem small matters compared\nwith the immensity of its import for the Human Race. But, that our Lord\ndid not leave out of sight the effect on the Apostles of the change in\ntheir condition which His departure would cause, is clear from words\nspoken to the Twelve, which are preserved to us by St John, and on which\nthere is something to say.\n\n\n    \u201cNevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I\n    go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto\n    you; but if I go, I will send him unto you.\u201d(342)\n\n\nThis saying the Apostles may have found hard to comprehend; for it must\nhave seemed to them impossible that it could ever be for their good for\ntheir Master to leave them; and, why the Comforter should not come, while\nthey all continued together, would by no means be clear to their minds.\nNeither here nor elsewhere does our Lord explain to the Apostles either\nthe reason of His regimen or the way in which it was to work. He tells\nthem simply the fact, without a word as to _how_ or _why_. He never leads\nthem to examine into the _modus operandi_ of His treatment, He would have\nawakened\u2014what He carefully avoids\u2014self-consciousness, if He had so done.\nThat they could not learn, at the same time, from Him in the body and also\nfrom the Comforter in their own souls, arose, not from any \u201cdeterminate\ncounsel of God,\u201d but because the mind cannot perform two operations at\nonce. It rested on the positive psychological fact that we cannot walk by\nSight and by Faith at the same time; that we cannot turn one ear to an\nearthly monitor, and keep the other open to the whispers of a spiritual\nguide. The posture of our minds when we are hanging on the lips of a\nliving Master, is different from that in which we set ourselves to listen\nfor the Comforting Voice from within. The Apostles would not have learned\nto hearken to the promptings of the Spirit so long as they could turn to\nChrist by their side; and it was therefore \u201cexpedient for them\u201d that\nChrist should go away. They would not otherwise have reached full\ncommunion with the Spirit on high.\n\nInstances in the Acts shew us in what way the Spirit acted in the hearts\nof believers. Sometimes, when human judgment and inclination seemed to\nagree, an unaccountable inward reluctance to follow their dictates was\nnevertheless felt\u2014a repugnance, not resting on a new argument, but simply\nsaying \u201cNo.\u201d When men experienced such feelings, some might overbear them\nby will; but Paul and Silas recognised in them the voice of the Spirit.\nFor we hear that they \u201cwent through the region of Phrygia and Galatia,\nhaving been forbidden of the Holy Ghost to speak the word in Asia; and\nwhen they were come over against Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia;\nand the Spirit of Jesus suffered them not.\u201d(343)\n\nAgain Christ\u2019s Church was to be everlasting and universal, and this it\ncould only become by changing outward and visible for inward spiritual\nrule. So long as the Lord was in bodily presence among them, the disciples\nnaturally looked only to Him. Where He was, there and there only to their\nminds was His Kingdom and His Church. For His sway to become universal it\nwas essential that He should go away, for it is only Spiritual influence\nthat can be everywhere at once. The fire had to be set alight at a\nparticular spot and at a particular time, but it was then to be left to\nspread over the earth and to go on burning, seemingly all of itself.\n\nAll through the Gospel we mark how men cling to the Letter, and how\nChrist, with tender hand extricates the Spirit from it and tells His\nhearers, that it is this which gives the Letter its worth. A law such as\nthat of Moses has its place in the Schooling of a race at a certain epoch\nof national life; but a code or a creed that cannot be expanded must at\nlast be outgrown. If however a Divine and living Spirit be enshrined in a\nChurch, it may direct its development, and transform the outward tenement\nas inward need requires.\n\nChrist came to set men spiritually free; but, strange to say, men are slow\nto take this freedom up. Among some African races, a man set free from a\nmaster at once goes and sells himself to another, he cannot be troubled\nwith managing for himself. This is like the way in which men liberated\nfrom one absolute and infallible authority have so often handed themselves\nover to another. They must have something or somebody to take their\nbeliefs and consciences in charge. Fancying that they are to be saved by\nholding proper opinions\u2014for by belief they often mean no more than taking\nup and maintaining opinion\u2014they come, asking, \u201cWhat are we to believe?\u201d\njust as the Scribe asked, \u201cWhat am I to do?\u201d Christ\u2019s answer to him\npractically was, that he possessed already grounds enough to frame for\nhimself a rule of conduct such as he required. Might He not answer the\nothers nearly in the same strain?\n\nBelief, in Christ\u2019s sense of the word, is not the acceptance of a theory,\nit is something that will actuate the man\u2019s whole being, and which\nrequires the concurrence of an emancipated will. Now this emancipation\nbrings with it a responsibility\u2014a call to mental effort\u2014which a large\nproportion of mankind steadfastly abhor.\n\nThus the Israelitish party in St Paul\u2019s time and after, hugged the chains\nof the Jewish Law; then, after turbulent ages of fierce doctrinal\ndissension, when combative spirits found in polemics the strife which\ntheir temperaments required, the Churches of Greece and of Rome took\ncharge of the consciences of men. A revolt at length took place against\nthe external authority of the Church, but there was no more religious\nfreedom under the new regimes than under the old. Confessions of Faith\ncame into vogue, and men tried to tie down after ages to the ways in which\nthe controversialists of the sixteenth century had, with much giving and\ntaking, agreed to regard the insoluble problems of existence. The Bible\nwas now often held up, not to reveal God\u2019s will and ways, but to yield\ntexts for weapons in disputes. Christ\u2019s care to guard against a bondage\nunto written matter is apparent in the whole form of His teaching; and\nespecially in His leaving no writings of His own, and no directly\naccredited record of His life; but the craving of men after an unerring\ntouchstone of truth has wrapped them again in bonds like those from which\nChrist would have set them free; and the Canonical books have been\ninvested with a character of literal inspiration, not unlike what would\nhave attached to writings of our Lord Himself.\n\nThe verses of John, Chap. xvi. 9, 10 which follow that of which I have\nbeen speaking, while leading us to the profoundest Theology, bear on the\nchange from a visible teacher to a spiritual one, and so far they come\nwithin my scope. I have only to do with them so far as they illustrate\nthis change. The reason given for the intervention of the Spirit is, that\nChrist, in the body, will no longer bring home to the world the sense of\nsin and of righteousness and of judgement.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd he, when he is come, will convict the world in respect of\n    sin, and of righteousness, and of judgement: of sin, because they\n    believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to the Father,\n    and ye behold me no more; of judgement, because the prince of this\n    world has been judged.\u201d John xvi. 8-11.\n\n\nI should place the emphasis on the pronouns\u2014He and I. The Spirit is to\ntake the place of the departed Lord. So long as Christ was in the world He\nHimself brought home to the men who believed on Him the sense of sin; He\npresented the ideal of righteousness, and He enforced the conviction that\nmoral evil brought doom and destruction upon men. Henceforth the witness\nto all this would no longer be Christ in the body, whose contact with the\nworld was necessarily limited to one point, but the Holy Spirit, which\ncould speak to the hearts of all mankind at once. It would lead me too far\nfrom my province if I enlarged on the topic of _Judgment_; and I turn to\nanother matter.\n\nIt may be asked, Why did this Post-Resurrection state last as long as it\ndid and not longer? God\u2019s _reasons_ we leave aside, but this we can say,\nChrist never hurries forward processes in the Apostles\u2019 mind, and these\nprocesses, in this case, needed all the time allowed; also, since a state\nof watchfulness involves a nerve-strain, it agrees with Christ\u2019s\ncarefulness for the body that this condition should not last too long. The\n_durations_ of the different stages of our Lord\u2019s teaching\u2014that while He\nwas in the flesh, and that while He wore the body of the Resurrection\u2014seem\nto me just as wisely ordered for the end in view, as are the other\ncircumstances of the case.\n\nChrist\u2019s way of teaching is the very opposite of that which would make the\nlearner a mere reflection of his Master. In the Mission to the cities and\nin the ministrations of their every-day life, Christ had left the Apostles\nto act very much for themselves, He had kept their self-helpfulness alive\nin various ways; we find them bold to question, and not slow to murmur,\nand both questions and murmurs are readily tolerated by our Lord. But,\neven with all these precautions, if they had remained too long in\nattendance on Him, we can imagine that they would have got confirmed in\nthe habit of looking constantly to their Master and of, at once, carrying\nto Him every difficulty without considering it themselves, and they would\nthus have lost capacity both to think and to act. They might also have\nfallen into habits of mind which, serviceable so long as they were\nsubordinates, would stand in their way when they had to take the lead.\nThey might have become faithful to execute, but helpless to plan. When\nsubordinates, or young people, are too long deprived of opportunity for\njudging and acting for themselves, their minds are apt to become passive\nand purely receptive; they become slow to start a notion or suggest an\nexpedient; ideas of theirs, they fancy, are not wanted, and so they soon\ncease to have ideas at all.\n\nOur Lord guarded against this by restricting the period of the Apostles\u2019\npupilage. As soon as the ground plan of their characters was marked out,\nHe left them to rear the superstructure for themselves. He was so tender\nin preserving every line of individuality that He would not shackle\nfreedom of growth in His disciples, even by prolonging His own\ncompanionship and instruction beyond the proper time.\n\nBut, if the period of our Lord\u2019s stay on earth in the body, served its\neducational purpose all the better from being no longer than it was; so\ndid that also of the forty days after the Resurrection (supposing that we\naccept the traditional chronology) for the opposite reason, from its being\nextended so long. Four days would have served as well as forty for the\nmanifestation of the Risen Lord, for the conclusive witness to His Divine\nnature, and for ratifying the hope of immortality in the bosoms of\nmankind; within this time He could have given His final charge to the\ninfant Church, and have set it on its way. A higher work however remained\nwhich could not be perfected all at once. The Apostles were now to receive\nthe crowning lesson of the course. They were about to pass out of the\ntraining ground into the real arena of danger and of toil. They were to be\ngradually fitted to exercise authority, and to feel trust in the presence\nwith them of a Spiritual Guide.\n\nIt took time for their faculties to grow into shape and adapt themselves\nto the change. Christ always brings His scholars on by gradual progress;\nHe moulds them as nature moulds organic forms; there are with Him no sharp\nor sudden turns, no jerks in the movements, but all proceeds along one\neven curve. If the forty days of this transitional condition had not\nintervened, but the Apostles had been suddenly transformed from disciples\ninto the rulers of a community; if, more than this, they had found\nthemselves all at once exalted into the accredited ministers of the\nAlmighty in the most express and patent of His dispensations, what human\nbeings could have stood the strain? Gradually, during those forty days,\nthey got used to possessing authority. It was not formally conferred; but\nthe other disciples took it for granted that they were to look to them for\ndirection or advice. In this season also, the Apostles acquired a habit of\nwatchfulness over themselves, knowing that Christ was looking into their\nhearts, and might at any moment appear by their side.\n\nThe framing of a society in which Christ\u2019s word should be the outer Law\nand Christ\u2019s spiritual presence be the sustaining life, was to be the work\nof men, because it was to be adapted to human needs. It does not derogate\nfrom man\u2019s free agency, that he should own and follow the promptings of\nGod, for to do this is part of his proper nature; these promptings are not\nan alien influence, but belong to his own self as he was intended to be.\n\nWith the descent of the Holy Spirit at the end of the forty days, the\noutward visible training of the Apostles, which it has been my business to\ntrace, was brought to an end; and the guidance of God\u2019s Spirit, working in\nmen to will and to do of His good pleasure, came in its place.(344)\n\nThe fire which Christ had come into man\u2019s world to kindle, was now alight,\nand the special need for Christ\u2019s presence on earth did not longer exist.\nWhat was it, we may ask, that He left behind? The chief visible outcome of\nHis work was the little band of Apostles; but the mightiest of His\ninfluences were imponderable and unseen. Our Lord\u2019s sojourn on earth had\nchanged the world in which He had dwelt, so that all subsequent History\nreads differently from that which goes before. By what means was this\nchange wrought? Christ left no new code of regulations for men to live by.\nHe introduced no changes into Human Society or into any of the forms of\nGovernment which He found upon earth. If men might not be left to frame\nsuch things for themselves, what had freedom and faculties been given to\nthem for? What Christ did leave, was infinitely more than a reorganisation\nof Society or a scheme for the reformation of men. On that day of\nPentecost a new faculty\u2014that of communing with God\u2019s Spirit\u2014came to the\nbirth. And a new force\u2014that of living religion\u2014sprang into existence as a\nfresh agent in the affairs of the world\u2014a force which Emperors and\nsacerdotal castes and schools of philosophers had soon to reckon with.\n\nThis fire has now and then burned low, but at such times some\n\u201ccircumstance\u201d has often come about, which, answering to some expression\nof our Lord\u2014perhaps one which seemed till then obscure\u2014has opened out a\nvista in the minds of men. People say, \u201cNow we see what that hard saying\nmeant,\u201d or \u201cChrist must have had this in view when He spoke.\u201d Or else\u2014what\nhas sometimes happened\u2014an idea has sprung up in men\u2019s hearts, seemingly\neverywhere at once, and Christ\u2019s words have caught a fuller meaning, read\nby the light of this.\n\nSo far we have traced the steps by which the Apostles were taught Faith in\nthe unseen. First by confidence in a Master at their side, next by the\nassurance that, though unseen, He was close by, and could, if needed,\nappear and help as of old; and now, lastly, when seeing Him no more, there\ncomes in their hearts an assurance that He is with them to the end of the\nworld.\n\nWhen I say that the Apostles were _taught_ Faith, I use the word _taught_\nin a different sense from that which it has when applied to the subjects\nof knowledge. I mean that through wise moral treatment, a quality existing\nonly as a rudiment was so developed as to fit the disciples for communion\nwith God; and not only did they in this sense learn Faith, but\u2014what also\nneed learning, more than we suppose\u2014Love and Hope as well.\n\nI spoke casually just now of the joy which, as appears by the Book of\nActs, illumined the Apostles\u2019 lives. This came greatly of Love; not merely\nfrom the affection of the brethren for each other, but from a general\nLovingness, a capacity for Love, which, on coming into action, made them\nlook differently on all they saw. This, like their Faith, had grown up\nfrom their being in their Master\u2019s company. They felt how He loved them;\nand if ever one among them was disposed to think lightly or unkindly of a\nbrother disciple, he might recollect how dear that brother\u2014faults and\nall\u2014was to Christ; and then he could hardly help feeling that if his\nMaster bore with him he might do so too. They marked also Christ\u2019s\nbeneficence, His eagerness to render kindness, His readiness to use His\nwondrous power for the good of those who had no claim upon Him, His\ngentleness in rebuke, His never recurring to a bygone fault. And this\nsense of being beloved, this living in an atmosphere of affection,\ngenerated in them the capacity for Loving, just as the Home Love that is\nround a child, not only awakens in it affection to those who shew\naffection towards it, but teaches it what Love is; and engenders in it a\ngreat outcome of Lovingness which it strews broadcast, and bestows, not on\npersons only, but on animals, and even on inanimate things.\n\nWe have had sight of the Apostles at a time when this Love was only half\nfledged among them, and did not understand itself. It was yet in this\nstate in St Peter when he asked: How often he must forgive the brother who\nsinned against him.(345) Love with him was then only unfolding in his\nmind, it was still a thing of bounds and measures; later on he learnt\u2014and\nhis Master\u2019s sacrifice crowned the lesson\u2014that it is in essence infinite.\nBy the time when the Apostles had to stand alone and labour for their\ncharge, they had learnt what Love was. From that came the unity and\nharmony of which I have spoken above. A common interest or even common\ndevotion to a cause would not have gone deep enough down to have quenched\nall rivalries. Even if paramount interests had put self out of sight for a\nwhile, it would still have been there, ready to reappear when opportunity\ncame. Impatience would have come out now and then. It is Love only which\nbrings others as close to a man as his own self. This lesson of Love was\nperfected, for the Apostles, by their witnessing Christ\u2019s death upon the\ncross\u2014a death not for friends, not for those under His protection, but for\nmen \u201cwhile they were yet sinners.\u201d(346) They saw, too, that when He rose\nfrom the dead in absolute might Divine, He breathed not a word shewing\nthat He remembered His wrongs, but quietly put the past away. All this\nfilled the Apostles\u2019 hearts with Lovingness; they could not have gone on\nwith their work, with so little return to shew, unless they had loved the\nbrethren and the converts. The joy which we note in the Apostles, resting\nlike a halo upon them, comes of their feeling sure that God loves them,\nand of their loving all God\u2019s creatures in return. It was this Love that\nfascinated their hearers; when the words of Paul, notwithstanding that his\nspeech\u2014so they said\u2014was contemptible, went to the hearts of Greeks and\nBarbarians, as we know they did, what he touched them by was this magic of\nLove.\n\nA word about the nature of that Hope which nestled in the Apostles\u2019 hearts\nmust end my book. If their Master doubted, whether, when He should come at\nthe last, \u201cHe should find Faith upon the earth;\u201d what, it may be asked,\ncould this Hope of the Apostles have been? Now, that these words of Christ\nwere not spoken in despondency is clear enough for many reasons, but this\none reason, that they caused no despondency to the hearers would, to my\nmind, be sufficient of itself.\n\nWhat this saying tells us is, that we are not to look for Christ\u2019s Kingdom\nin the shape of a perfected community existing at the last upon the earth.\nScience and observation seem to point in the same way. Men are never so\nselfish and so regardless of others as when they are pushing for place in\na crowd. Now this globe can only yield food for a time, it must be\nexhausted of its stores, and even, it would seem, of its reproductive\npowers, at last; and a half-regenerated humanity would be apt to\ndegenerate back again when they were struggling for standing room and for\nbread.\n\nTo take another point; though science has not settled the future of this\nplanet of ours, yet opinion leans greatly towards our system\u2019s having an\nend. But, if we accept Christ\u2019s teaching, Man need not come to an end\ntogether with the fabric of the world. The earth is only the spot upon\nwhich he is reared and put to proof. Those who come out of the trial we\nbelieve to be removed, perhaps after an interval, to another kind of life\nelsewhere; so that, though this outer fabric of the world may perish, Man,\nwe may believe, will survive, not in a material but in \u201ca spiritual\nbody\u201d(347) whose nature of course we cannot know. Thus the Human episode\nin the great Epic of Existence, may, as far as life upon this planet goes,\ncome to an end, but the Humanity for which the Christian labours and for\nwhich Christ died, will exist for ever; for the Spirits of just men made\nperfect will have been garnered from age to age into abodes prepared for\nthem from the first. And though Christ, in His wisdom, be sparing of\nutterances about that which is winnowed away, yet there are not wanting\nanalogies justifying hope.\n\nThe education of human souls to fitness for everlasting spiritual life, is\nof all God\u2019s purposes the one which we can most continuously discern. No\nreign of peace and bliss upon this earth could be of indefinite\ncontinuance; a perfected Humanity could only endure for a time.\nConsequently, if we limit our Love to a Humanity visibly existing on the\nearth, we give up our hearts to something which must necessarily come to\nan end: if we make a Deity of this we shall serve but a temporary God.\nBut\u2014although the earth should be calcined to powder, or fly off into\nregions of space where the temperature is fatal to life\u2014still that\nHumanity which has the Son of Man for its central and presiding figure may\nabide with Him for ever, in some of the many mansions of His Father\u2019s\nHouse.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHRONOLOGICAL APPENDIX.\n\n\nIt will be of service to readers to have a summary of the actions and\nmovements of our Lord, in the order in which they are treated of in the\nText. Few of the dates can be fixed with any certitude and it remains a\nmatter of opinion in what order many of the events occurred. The only\ndates which can be historically determined are those of the death of\nHerod, and of the beginning (A.D. 25) and end (A.D. 36) of the\nGovernorship of Pilate; with these latter I am not now concerned. When St\nLuke names the fifteenth year of Tiberius (A.D. 28, A.U.C. 781 beginning\non August 19), it is not quite certain whether he means to fix the time\nwhen John began to preach, or when Jesus was baptised, or when John was\ncast into prison. The grounds for fixing the dates of our Lord\u2019s birth,\nHis appearance in public, and the duration of His Ministry are given in\nTischendorf\u2019s \u201cSynopsis Evangelica.\u201d I assume, as sufficiently admitted\nfor my working hypothesis, (1) that our Lord was born early in the year\nB.C. 4, A.U.C. 750, In which, shortly before the passover, as we learn\nfrom Josephus, Herod the Great died; and also (2) that the Baptism of our\nLord took place in the very beginning of A.D. 28.\n\nI propose to exhibit the order of events, taken month by month, as I\nsuppose them to have occurred. In the greater number of cases I am\nsupported by the authority of Dr Edersheim in his work on the \u201cLife and\nTimes of Jesus the Messiah,\u201d and also frequently by Bishop Ellicott, from\nthe Notes to whose Historical Lectures on the Life of our Lord, delivered\n1860, I have obtained much help in forming this Appendix.\n\nA.D. 28. _January._ A.U.C. 781.\n\nI place the Baptism of our Lord near the close of the month. This was\nimmediately followed by His withdrawal into the wilderness.\n\nA.D. 28. _February._\n\nThe whole of this month I suppose to have been passed by our Lord in the\nwilderness.\n\nA.D. 28. _March._\n\nAbout the 10th or 12th of March our Lord appears \u201cin Bethany (or\nBethabarah) beyond Jordan where John was baptizing.\u201d John i. 28.\n\nOn the next day, John, Simon and Andrew come to our Lord, and on that\nwhich follows our Lord \u201cfindeth Philip,\u201d and \u201cPhilip findeth Nathanael.\u201d\nJohn i. 43, 45.\n\nIndications in the Gospels of the season of the year in which the events\nhappened are so rare that we catch even at slight matters\u2014one such occurs\nhere\u2014Nathanael is seen \u201csitting under the fig tree,\u201d John i. 48; and as he\nwould hardly have done so if the tree had been bare, it is probable that\nat this time the fig tree was already in leaf. It might have been so by\nMarch 10th; for the climate of the Jordan valley, in the deep cleft of the\nlimestone rocks, far beneath the level of the Mediterranean and three\nthousand feet lower than the hills of Jud\u00e6a, was almost tropical; and fig\ntrees, which on the high ground about Jerusalem were not in leaf till\nApril, would be at least a month earlier at this \u201cPer\u00e6an Bethany,\u201d as the\nplace is called by Bishop Ellicott\n\nI suppose our Lord to have left \u201cthe place where John was baptizing\u201d not\nlater than March 10th and to have been present at the marriage at Cana on\nor near the 14th. The Passover in this year fell on the 30th of March,\nand, assuming that our Lord reached Jerusalem on the 28th March, a\nfortnight has to be accounted for. I have explained, p. 165, what I\nsuppose to have happened in the meanwhile, viz. that our Lord returned\nwith His family to Nazareth, which was 4 miles from Cana, and that, owing\nto the displeasure shewn by the inhabitants, either at His pretensions or\nat His having performed His first miracle at another place, He and His\nmother, His brethren and His disciples removed to Capernaum\u2014\u201cthere they\nabode not many days,\u201d John ii. 12. Our Lord then went to Jerusalem, and\nHis family, though not mentioned, may have gone there also. Whether they\never settled again at Nazareth is uncertain. They were at Capernaum in\nMarch, A.D. 29, Mark iii. 21, 32. Observe that the sisters of our Lord are\nnot named: they remained at Nazareth, where they were probably married. We\nread, \u201cAre not His sisters here with us?\u201d (implying that the brothers were\nnot so), Mark vi. 3.\n\nA.D. 28. _April._\n\nOur Lord during this month was with His disciples at Jerusalem; the events\nare related in St John, Chap. ii. 13 to Chap. iii. 21.\n\nA.D. 28. _May._\n\nHenceforth the Chronology depends greatly on the time at which we suppose\nour Lord\u2019s journey through Samaria to have taken place. I place it in May\nA.D. 28, but many authorities put it in the December of that year. We\nread,\n\n\u201cAfter these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Jud\u00e6a;\nand there he tarried with them, and baptized. And John also was baptizing\nin \u00c6non near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came,\nand were baptized.\u201d\u2014John iii. 22, 23.\n\nThis choice of \u00c6non on account of there being \u201cmuch water there\u201d points to\nwater having already become somewhat scarce elsewhere. There are in the\nNorth-eastern part of Jud\u00e6a only a few springs which never fail. These are\nmuch valued, and one such spring at least was found at \u00c6non; its site is\ndoubtful (see Bishop Westcott, \u201cSt John\u2019s Gospel\u201d). If, as some have\nsupposed, it was late in the Autumn when our Lord made this journey, water\nwould be abundant enough in many places, as the streams become full in\nNovember. I speak of this because it bears out my view that our Lord\u2019s\njourney through Samaria took place in the May and not in the December of\nA.D. 28.\n\nIn the latter half of the former month, I suppose that our Lord left Jud\u00e6a\nand passed, with only a few disciples, through Samaria into Galilee (see\npp. 171, 174, 176, 179).\n\nThe verse\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cSay not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh the\n    harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on\n    the fields, that they are white already unto harvest,\u201d John iv.\n    35,\n\n\nis important in determining the dates.\n\nSome regard the above saying as having been spoken soon after seed time;\nand think that the first sentence refers to the state of the corn at that\nmoment, when it would have been just coming up, it being then four months\nfrom harvest: this would agree with the view that the journey was taken at\nthe end of December,(348) and that the \u201cwhiteness to harvest\u201d referred\nmetaphorically to the harvest of conversions the Apostles were to reap.\nOthers, among whom is Dr Edersheim, regard the country as being _at the\ntime of speaking_ white (that is _bright_) with harvest, and consider the\nwords to have been spoken in May and to bear a literal sense. This latter\nview seems to me to agree best with the incidents of the journey, many of\nwhich\u2014our Lord\u2019s weariness, His resting at the fountain(349) and His\nasking for drink\u2014wear, to my mind, an aspect of summer; moreover, the\nwords \u201cSay ye not\u201d apply better to a maxim of husbandry lying in the minds\nof the people, than to such an indisputable fact as the time of year when\nthey were spoken. It would have seemed more natural to say \u201cAre we not\nfour months now from harvest?\u201d It was a fact which was in every\nhusbandman\u2019s mouth, that the interval between seed time (December), and\nbarley harvest (April) was four months, and our Lord\u2019s meaning is, \u201cThe\nhusbandman has to wait four months for his harvest, you begin at once to\nreap; law-givers and prophets and agencies unseen have sown for you.\u201d\n\nA.D. 28. _June._\n\nOur Lord arrives at Cana in Galilee. A \u201ccertain nobleman\u201d comes to Him\nfrom Capernaum; our Lord heals his son, John iv. 46. The words \u201cwhatsoever\nwe have heard done at Capernaum,\u201d Luke iv. 23, refer I think to this, if\nso, they help to fix the date of the Preaching at Nazareth related in St\nLuke\u2019s Gospel, chap. iv. 16-30. For additional reasons for placing the\nSermon in the synagogue at Nazareth at this time instead of after John\u2019s\nimprisonment, see above, pp. 164, 165, 179, and also Dr Edersheim, \u201cLife\nand Times of Jesus,\u201d vol. 1. p. 430.\n\nIt should be noted that we hear nothing of our Lord\u2019s mother and brethren.\nIf they had been in Nazareth, they would probably have interposed as they\nsubsequently did at Capernaum where we find them living, Mark iii. 31.\n\nThe few disciples who came with our Lord through Samaria probably went to\ntheir homes when He reached Galilee, for St John does not speak of them\nafterwards.\n\nThis account of the Preaching at Nazareth is peculiar to St Luke, I\nconceive it to have come into his hands as an isolated piece of\ninformation, which he fits into the history to the best of his judgment.\nThe events at Capernaum, which in the Gospel of St Luke (iv. 31-44) are\nrelated immediately after this sermon, took place after our Lord had come\npreaching the Kingdom (see Mark i. 21-39). In the Sermon at Nazareth there\nis no mention of the \u201cKingdom of God,\u201d nor do the disciples seem to have\nbeen in attendance. This favours the view that the public Ministry in\nGalilee had not yet begun.\n\nA.D. 28. _July, August._\n\nI believe our Lord to have spent this summer preaching in the synagogues,\nnot only of Galilee but also of Jud\u00e6a. With regard to the verse (Luke iv.\n44), \u201cand he was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee,\u201d we have in the\nmargin of the Revised Version \u201cvery many ancient authorities read\n_Jud\u00e6a_.\u201d We can understand Jud\u00e6a being altered into Galilee, to suit the\nmention of Capernaum, but it is not easy to comprehend a change from\nGalilee into Jud\u00e6a (see also Acts x. 37). It agrees with my view of our\nLord\u2019s course that He should at this time have been exploring the tempers\nof the people both in Jud\u00e6a and in Galilee; and I believe the summer of\nA.D. 28 to have been passed in this work. The Lord may have gone about\nunattended or nearly so, He had as yet bidden no one to follow except\nPhilip (John i. 43). The 15th year of Tiberius began in this August, but\npossibly St Luke might speak of the whole year, from Jan. 1st, by this\nname.\n\nA.D. 28. _September._\n\nThe feast of John v. which, both by Bishop Westcott and Dr Edersheim, is\nspoken of as \u201cthe unknown feast,\u201d I believe to have taken place in this\nmonth. I am inclined to identify it with the feast of Tabernacles, see p.\n181. It was, as I think, in this month that John was imprisoned by Herod\nAntipas, who may have feared that the great influence of the prophet would\nbe especially dangerous when the country would be thronged with visitors\nto the great feast. The Feast of Tabernacles in A.U.C. 781 began on Sept.\n18, and lasted till Sept. 29. Josephus, \u201cAntiquities of the Jews,\u201d Bk.\nxviii. Chap. v, Whiston\u2019s translation, gives the following account: \u201cNow,\nwhen [many] others came in crowds about him, for they were greatly moved\n[or pleased] by hearing his words, Herod, who feared lest the great\ninfluence John had over the people might put it into his power and\ninclination to raise rebellion (for they seemed to do any thing he should\nadvise), thought it best, by putting him to death, to prevent any mischief\nhe might cause, and not bring himself into difficulties, by sparing a man\nwho might make him repent of it when it should be too late. Accordingly he\nwas sent a prisoner, out of Herod\u2019s suspicious temper, to Macherus, the\ncastle I before mentioned, and was there put to death.\u201d The Gospel account\nis not at variance with this, for if John denounced Herod\u2019s intentions\nwith regard to Herodias as a violation of Law, this would be likely to\nincrease the disaffection of the people. When the news reaches our Lord\n(probably in Jud\u00e6a) He goes at once into Galilee (Matth. iv. 12, 13; Mark\ni. 14; Acts x. 37) and His public preaching of the Kingdom of God begins.\n\nA.D. 28. _October_, _November_, _December_.\n\nEarly in October our Lord comes to the sea of Galilee and calls Simon and\nAndrew and James and John. Matth. iv. 18; Mark i. 16-19; Luke v. 4.\n\nFollowing this, comes His residence at Capernaum, and the events of Mark\ni. 14-45, and Mark ii.\n\nA.D. 29. _January_, _February_. A.U.C. 782.\n\nThe events of Mark iii. may be placed here.\n\nThe call of the Twelve (Mark iii. 13, 14; Luke vi. 13) probably took place\nearly in February. Neither St Matthew nor St John gives an express account\nof the calling, but both refer to it, \u201cAnd he called unto him his twelve\ndisciples,\u201d Matt. x. 1; and, \u201cJesus said therefore unto the Twelve,\u201d John\nvi. 67. I suppose it to have been near the end of the month when the two\ndisciples sent by John the Baptist came to Christ. Matth. xi. 2; Luke vii.\n18.\n\nA.D. 29. _March._\n\nIn this month I should place the following events in the order given\nbelow:\n\n(1) The teaching by parables. Matth. xiii. 3; Mark iv. 1; Luke viii. 4.\n\n(2) The visit to the country of the Gerasenes (or Gadarenes). Matth. viii.\n28; Mark v. 1; Luke viii. 26.\n\n(3) The raising of Jairus\u2019 daughter. Matth. ix. 18; Mark v. 21-41; Luke\nviii. 41.\n\n(4) The second visit to Nazareth. \u201cAnd he went out from thence; and he\ncometh into his own country; and his disciples follow him;\u201d Mark vi. 1,\nalso Matth. xiii. 54. This mention of \u201cdisciples\u201d is one of many\ncircumstances which distinguish this visit to Nazareth from that of Luke\niv. 15.\n\n(5) The sending out of the twelve two by two. Matth. x. 1; Mark vi. 7;\nLuke ix. 1.\n\n(6) Execution of John the Baptist. Tischendorf is inclined to think that\nHerod was celebrating not his birthday but his accession, which took place\non the death of Herod the Great about ten days before the Passover, which\nin A.U.C. 750 fell on April 2. This conjecture is doubtful. Matth. xiv. 2;\nMark vi. 21; Luke iii. 19.\n\nA.D. 29. _April._\n\nThe order of events in this month I take to have been, approximately, as\nfollows:\n\n(1) Herod\u2019s misgiving that John had risen from the dead. Matth. xiv. 2;\nMark vi. 16.\n\n(2) Our Lord, on the return of the twelve, crosses the lake. Matth. xiv.\n13; Mark vi. 32; Luke ix. 10.\n\n(3) The Passover was now at hand, John vi. 4. Feeding of the five\nthousand, Matth. xiv. 15; Mark vi. 35; Luke ix. 12; John vi. 5. The\nwalking on the sea, Matth. xiv. 25; Mark vi. 48; John vi. 19.\n\nThe day of the passover A.D. 29 was the 18th of April. What is mentioned\nby St Mark, viz. that the multitude sat down on \u201cthe green grass,\u201d agrees\nwith this indication of the season. It was only during a short time in\nspring, and then only in a few places, that green grass was found in\nPalestine. This impressed itself on the narrator, and is an indication of\neye-witness work; it is what critics call \u201cautoptic.\u201d There is no mention\nof green grass in the feeding of the 4000 which was in the late summer.\nThis miracle was followed by the return to Capernaum (Discourse on the\nbread of life, John, chap, vi.) and the controversy with the Pharisees on\ntraditions, Matth. xv. 1, 20; Mark vii. 1-23.\n\nA.D. 29. _May_, _June_, _July_, _August_.\n\n(1) Journey to the borders of Tyre and Sidon, Matth. xv. 21; Mark vii. 24.\n\n(2) Return from thence.\n\n\u201cAnd again he went out from the borders of Tyre, and came through Sidon\nunto the sea of Galilee and through the midst of the borders of Decapolis\u201d\n(on the east of the sea of Galilee), Matth. xv. 29; Mark vii. 31.\n\n(3) There the feeding of the four thousand takes place (see under April).\nMatth. xv. 32; Mark viii. 1.\n\n(4) Our Lord crosses the lake \u201cinto the borders of Magadan,\u201d Matth. xv.\n39; or \u201cinto the parts of Dalmanutha,\u201d Mark viii. 10, this was on the\nwestern coast. He then proceeds to the north of the lake; there He heals\nthe blind man at Bethsaida Julias.\n\n(5) \u201cAnd Jesus went forth, and his disciples into the villages of C\u00e6sarea\nPhilippi,\u201d Mark xiii. 33. Confession of Peter, Matth. xvi. 13; Mark viii.\n29; Luke ix. 20.\n\n(6) The Transfiguration; Matth. xvii. 1; Mark ix. 2; Luke ix. 28.\n\n(7) Return of our Lord with Peter, James and John from the Mount, to the\nplace where He had left the disciples. Mark ix. 9.\n\nA.D. 29. _September._\n\n\u201cThey went forth from thence and passed through Galilee; and he would not\nthat any man should know it,\u201d Mark ix. 30, \u201cand they came to Capernaum,\u201d\nMark ix. 33.\n\nThe miracle of the stater in the fish\u2019s mouth (Matth. xvii. 24) is usually\nplaced at this point of the narrative. We have no other account than that\ngiven in St Matthew\u2019s Gospel, where it seems to be related as happening at\nthis time. But the evidence as to chronology is not conclusive. This\nstater or half-shekel was the payment for the Temple service, and we know\nthat this was levied in March. That the demand should be made in September\nis explained by saying that our Lord\u2019s absence since April might have\nprevented the collection of the tax. It is however possible that this\nevent may have taken place in March, A.D. 30, see below.\n\nOur Lord, leaving Capernaum, made the journey through Samaria to\nJerusalem, John vii. 3, Luke ix. 51, 56, arriving there about the 18th of\nSeptember, which in this year was the middle of the Feast of Tabernacles.\nThe sending out of the Seventy took place soon afterwards, Luke x. 1.\n\nA.D. 29. _October._\n\nOur Lord takes up His residence in Jud\u00e6a, possibly at Bethany, see p. 370.\nIncident of woman taken in adultery, John viii. 1. Our Lord in the house\nof Martha, Luke x. 38-40.\n\n_November._\n\nOur Lord probably passed this month in Jud\u00e6a. Many of the events of Luke,\nchapters xi., xii., xiii. may have occurred at this time, but we must not\nconclude for certain from St Luke\u2019s account that the events of these\nchapters all fell together in one short period. Some of them are related\nby St Matthew in a different connexion; it seems impossible to place them\nin order.\n\nA.D. 29. _December._\n\nThe Feast of dedication (encaenia), John x. 22, fell in this year on the\n20th of December, and lasted eight days. At the end of our Lord\u2019s\ndiscourse at this feast, St John says \u201cThey sought again to take him: and\nhe went forth out of their hand. And he went away again beyond Jordan into\nthe place where John was at first baptizing, and there he abode.\u201d John x.\n39, 40.\n\nA.D. 30. _January._ A.U.C. 783.\n\nOur Lord may have remained at the place just mentioned, \u201cthe Per\u00e6an\nBethany\u201d (see A.D. 28, March), during this month, having probably only a\nfew followers with Him.\n\n\u201cAnd many came unto him; and they said, John indeed did no sign: but all\nthings whatsoever John spake of this man were true.\u201d John x. 41.\n\nThe people contrast Him with John. This agrees with what is said of the\nplace, viz. that John had baptized there; the people recollected him. The\nteaching of our Lord in Per\u00e6a, of which we have an account only in Luke,\nchaps, xv., xvi., was probably given about this time.\n\nA.D. 30. _February._\n\nEarly in this month our Lord leaves Per\u00e6a, where He had been travelling\nabout, being warned by the Pharisees\u2014\n\n\u201cAnd he went on his way through cities and villages, teaching, and\njourneying on unto Jerusalem.\u201d Luke xiii. 22.\n\n\u201cIn that very hour there came certain Pharisees, saying to him, Get thee\nout, and go hence: for Herod would fain kill thee.\u201d St Luke xiii. 31.\n\nA.D. 30. _March._\n\nWhile on this progress the news of the sickness of Lazarus reaches our\nLord. He seems then to have been little more than a day\u2019s journey from\nJerusalem, but outside the limits of Jud\u00e6a:\n\n\u201cThe sisters therefore sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou\nlovest is sick. But when Jesus heard it, he said, This sickness is not\nunto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified\nthereby.\u201d(350) John xi. 3, 4.\n\n\u201cWhen therefore he heard that he was sick, he abode at that time two days\nin the place where he was. Then after this he saith to the disciples, Let\nus go into Jud\u00e6a again.\u201d John xi. 6, 7.\n\nAfter the raising of Lazarus, the chief priests and Pharisees \u201cfrom that\nday forth took counsel that they might put him (Jesus) to death: Jesus\ntherefore walked no more openly among the Jews, but departed thence into\nthe country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim; and there\nhe tarried with the disciples.\u201d John xi. 53, 54.\n\nFrom Ephraim, the position of which is uncertain, (Dr Edersheim, as I\nunderstand him, thinks it may have been near the north end of the sea of\nGalilee, in Decapolis,) our Lord passes through \u201cthe midst of Samaria and\nGalilee\u201d\u2014St Luke xvii. 11.\n\nThis would seem, from the order in which the places are named, to refer to\nthe journey on the way north to Ephraim, but no certain conclusion can be\ndrawn. Towards the end of the month, our Lord joins the company of people\non their way from Galilee to Jerusalem, passing by Jericho. The incidents\nof the journey and the important discourses on the way are related in\nMark, chap, x., and in the parallel passages of Matthew and Luke.\n\nThe question arises, Where did our Lord join this company? I incline to\nthink that after a short stay at Capernaum, He went with the Galilean\ncompany up to the Passover. During the stay at Ephraim, the disciples\nwould have had leisure to turn over in their minds what they had seen and\nheard; especially the raising of Lazarus, and the words to Martha on\neternal life, the plainest our Lord ever spoke; John xi. 25. It is our\nLord\u2019s way, as I have often pointed out, to leave intervals for\nreflection. On the way south (supposing that Ephraim was to the north),\nwith His small company of disciples, He may have made a short stop at\nCapernaum, where, according to my view (see p. 372), St Peter may have\npartly resided since the feast of Tabernacles, joining from time to time\nthe disciples in attendance on our Lord. Jesus would, on this supposition,\nbe in St Peter\u2019s house in the month of March when the officers, in due\ncourse, called for the Temple contribution, and in this way we avoid the\nhypothesis of a payment overdue (see under Sept A.D. 29). It may be noted\nthat the officers make no question about _Peter\u2019s_ paying the half-shekel;\nhe was a regular resident and their claim was undoubted, but our Lord had\nbeen long absent and was only passing through the place, so that in His\ncase the payment was less obligatory. This is one view of the matter, but\nI am inclined to think from the form of the collector\u2019s question, \u201cYour\nMaster, does not He pay?\u201d (Matth. xvii. 24) that they half expected an\nobjection on higher grounds. The internal evidence, that is to say the\ntone of doctrine, which appears in the words, \u201cThen are the children\nfree,\u201d favours the adopting the later period, inasmuch as it reminds us of\nthe later discourses in chaps, xv., xvi., xvii. of John.\n\nA.D. 30. _April._\n\nOur Lord may have made His entry into Jerusalem on Sunday, April 2. He\nreturned that night to Bethany after looking \u201cround about upon all\nthings.\u201d Mark xi. 11.\n\nMonday, April 3. Cursing of fig tree on the way to Jerusalem (see March,\nA.D. 28), Matth. xxi. 19; Mark xi. 13. Cleansing of Temple, Matth. xxi.\n12; Mark xi. 15; Luke xix. 45. Return to Bethany, Mark xi. 19. Either on\nthis day or the next, the Greeks seek Jesus, John xii. 20.\n\nTuesday, April 4. Tree is found withered. Parables delivered in Temple.\nControversies with Pharisees, Herodians and Sadducees. Our Lord takes\nleave of the Temple; Mark xi. 20 and chaps, xii., xiii. and parallel\npassages in Matthew and Luke.\n\nWednesday, April 5. Treason of Judas.\n\nThursday, April 6. Last Supper. Our Lord\u2019s apprehension.\n\nFriday, April 7. The Crucifixion.\n\nSunday, April 9. The Resurrection.\n\nI should place the journey of the Apostles to Galilee in the subsequent\nweek. This change would do the Apostles good in many ways. It would\nrelieve the strain on their minds, and was medicine for the shock they had\nreceived. For our Lord\u2019s care for the physical and mental health of His\nfollowers, see text, p. 302, on the words, \u201cCome ye yourselves apart into\na desert place and rest a while.\u201d\n\nDuring this stay in Galilee, there took place the appearance of our Lord\non the mountain, which I take to be that named, 1 Cor. xv. 6 (see text,\nlast chapter), and at this time I also place the important interview of\nour Lord with James, our Lord\u2019s brother, 1 Cor. xv. 17, and probably with\nthe rest of His brethren, see below.\n\nA.D. 30. _May._\n\nThe appearance at the sea of Tiberias (but see Mr Sanday on the\n\u201cAuthorship of the Fourth Gospel,\u201d chap. xvii.) may have taken place in\nthis month, as also the return of the Apostles from Galilee to Jerusalem\nwith the women and Mary the Mother of Jesus, and the brethren of our Lord.\nThe latter, possibly, had not been in Jerusalem at the Crucifixion, but\nhad at last learned, perhaps through James, the fulness of their brother\u2019s\ngreatness. The Apostles as well as the relations of our Lord must have\nbeen enjoined to return to Jerusalem, or they would not without exception\nhave gone thither. The Feast of Pentecost was not a sufficiently\nimperative call to account for their presence. This injunction must have\nbeen given in Galilee. If we had only St Luke\u2019s account, we should suppose\nthat the Apostles never left Jerusalem; but this would in itself be\nunlikely and is contradicted by the other Evangelists. The day given for\nthe Ascension by Wieseler, \u201cChronologie des Apostolischen Zeitalters,\u201d\n1848, is May 18.\n\nThe Ascension was followed by the choice of Matthias.\n\nThe day of Pentecost, as fixed by Wieseler, was May 27, A.D. 30.\n\n\n\n\n\nINDEX OF TEXTS.\n\n\nGENESIS.\n  iii. 18, 19; 44\n  xxviii. 12; 161\n\nDEUTERONOMY.\n  xviii. 15; 94\n  xix. 16; 396\n       18; 396\n\nII SAMUEL.\n  xii. 13; 420\n\nJOB.\n  xiii. 4; 396\n\nPSALMS.\n  cxix. 162; 232\n\nPROVERBS.\n  vi. 19; 396\n  xii. 17; 396\n\nISAIAH.\n  vi. 10; 321\n  xi. 1; 160\n\nJEREMIAH.\n  vi. 31; 396\n\nS. MATTHEW.\n  iii. 5; 189\n  iv. 1; 117\n      1-11; 114\n      20; 186\n  vi. 25; 404\n  vii. 17; 259\n  viii. 19; 375\n  ix. 14-17; 220\n      36-38;  234\n  x. 2-6; 162\n      5-15; 290\n  xi. 2-6; 262\n      12; 232\n      21; 106\n  xii. 28; 83\n      30; 358\n      46; 180\n  xiii. 10; 321\n  xiv. 17; 22\n      23; 229\n  xvi. 13-20; 327\n  xvi. 22; 126\n      23; 329\n      24, 25; 340\n  xvii. 12; 348\n      25; 133\n  xviii. 1-11; 356\n      21; 469\n      21, 22; 358\n  xix. 6; 408\n  xxii. 42, 43; 415\n  xxiv. 24; 75\n      25; 413\n  xxv. 14-30; 316\n  xxviii. 16; 451\n      19; 250\n  xxviii. 20; 69\n\nS. MARK.\n  i. 12, 13; 114\n      14; 188\n      14, 15; 83, 195\n      16-20; 195\n      20; 305\n      22; 202\n  ii. 16-22; 220\n  iii. 5; 19\n      6, 7; 233\n      13, 14; 239\n      14, 15; 229\n      17-19; 161\n      20, 21; 261\n      26; 126\n      32; 288\n  iv. 11; 30\n      11, 12; 321\n      24; 323\n      35; 283\n      35-40; 274\n      37-40; 283\n  v. 1; 48\n      17; 286\n      19; 84\n      30; 351\n      37; 287\n  vi. 1-6; 180\n      2; 362\n      3; 288, 454\n      7-13; 289\n      30-32; 302\n      30; 300\n      34; 307\n      38; 305\n      39, 40; 278\n      45, 46; 307\n      47-52; 308\n      50; 310\n  vii. 14, 15; 331\n      24; 333\n      33; 427\n      33-35; 91\n  vii. 33-36; 334\n  viii. 5-7; 305\n      11; 335\n      14; 306\n      16, 17; 306\n      23-25; 90\n      23-26; 334\n  ix. 1; 340\n      2-8; 94\n      7; 94\n      9; 345\n      17-29; 350\n      30; 351, 354\n      31; 227\n      33; 354\n      35; 355\n      40-50; 360\n  x. 1; 227, 361\n      17-22; 381\n      24; 383\n      30; 384\n  xi. 10; 427\n      12-14; 96\n      20-22; 96\n  xii. 35-37; 415\n  xiii. 22; 75\n  xiv. 9; 400\n      50; 240\n  xv. 31; 139\n  xvi. 20; 84\n\nS. LUKE.\n  ii. 4; 415\n      35; 52, 161\n  iv. 1-13; 115\n      13; 339\n      14, 15; 179\n  v. 4; 200\n      8; 202\n      17; 218\n      33; 155\n  vi. 12; 239\n      17-19; 253\n      20; 253\n      22, 23; 254\n      23; 79\n      24-26; 255\n      27; 257\n      39, 40; 257\n      43; 259\n  vii. 18-23; 266\n      20; 107\n      21-23; 108\n      23; 264\n      29, 30; 265\n      35; 264\n  viii. 1-3; 276\n      3; 166\n      26; 48\n  ix. 27; 93\n      31; 324\n      37; 348\n      51, 52; 279\n      51-56; 366\n      52; 296\n      48; 355\n      55; 138\n  x. 1-11; 290\n      4-11; 379\n      9-11; 300\n      11; 68, 83\n      13; 106\n      18; 126\n      21; 300\n      21, 22; 178, 302\n      22; 73\n  xi. 1; 155, 221, 415\n      20; 83\n      27; 376\n      29; 428\n  xii. 14; 403\n      16-20; 404\n      36; 404\n      41; 372\n      41-46; 368\n      49, 50; 150\n  xiii. 23; 428\n  xiv. 15; 376\n  xv. 10; 178, 389\n  xvi. 1-12; 391\n      8; 389\n      30; 144\n      31; 63\n  xvii. 5; 397\n  xviii. 8; 27\n      19; 428\n  xix. 11-27; 316\n      26; 319\n      29; 297\n  xx. 35; 68\n      35, 36; 410\n      41; 415\n  xxi. 19; 414\n  xxii. 8; 297\n      24-30; 423\n      28; 178\n      33; 376\n      35-38; 291\n  xxiv. 36; 240\n      48; 241\n\nS. JOHN.\n  i. 32, 33; 109\n      43; 156, 182\n      45; 156\n      46; 156\n      48, 49; 160\n      51; 161\n  ii. 11; 152, 163\n      12; 152, 164, 180\n      16; 167\n      17; 152\n      23; 153, 167\n      24; 176, 246\n      24, 25; 167\n  iii. 2; 148\n      22; 153\n      22, 23; 170\n      25; 155, 330\n      26; 170\n  iv. 1, 2; 171\n      2; 153\n      27; 409\n      31; 175\n      35-38; 177\n      43-45; 164\n      45; 179\n      47; 105\n      48; 76, 104\n  v. 1; 179, 181\n      15-18; 182\n      17; 183\n      26; 89\n      35; 189\n      43; 184, 300\n  vi. 4, 5; 303\n      5; 306\n      8; 157\n      9; 304\n      15; 23, 307\n      25-65; 328\n      44; 338\n      60-63; 332\n      66; 168, 329\n  vii. 2; 181\n      2-10; 363\n      14; 369\n      35; 369\n      53; 370\n  viii. 1; 370\n  ix. 1-3; 46\n  x. 16; 269\n      40; 119, 372\n  xi. 16; 245, 372, 430\n      48; 183\n  xii. 20-22; 158\n  xiii. 1-14; 420\n  xiv. 4-11; 101\n      6; 73\n      9; 159, 415\n      11; 102\n      19; 428\n  xv. 15; 176\n      23, 24; 106\n      27; 241\n  xvi. 4; 352\n      7, 8; 457\n      8-11; 462\n      12; 69\n  xvii. 3; 68\n  xvii. 6; 68\n  xxi. 2; 156\n      25; 420\n\nACTS.\n  i. 8; 216, 241\n      14; 362, 453\n      15; 452\n      22; 241\n  ii. 32; 241\n      41; 199\n  iii. 15; 241\n  iv. 32; 385\n      35; 383\n  x. 40, 41; 143, 447\n      34, 35; 95\n      41; 241\n  xii. 139\n      2; 369, 453\n  xiii. 31; 241\n  xvi. 6-8; 459\n  xviii. 21; 100\n\nROMANS.\n  v. 8; 470\n\n1 CORINTHIANS.\n  i. 12; 174\n      14-15; 155\n  ix. 1; 454\n  xiv. 24; 71\n  xv. 5-8; 450\n      6; 451\n      44; 471\n\nGALATIANS.\n  i. 13; 97\n  ii. 9-12; 453\n      11-14; 433\n  iv. 6; 68, 72\n  vi. 1, 2; 425\n\nPHILIPPIANS.\n  ii. 13; 466\n\n1 TIMOTHY.\n  vi. 17; 396\n\n2 TIMOTHY.\n  iv. 2; 173\n      13; 119\n\nHEBREWS.\n  xi. 1; 273\n\nJAMES.\n  i. 20; 245\n\n1 PETER.\n  ii. 23; 167\n\n1 JOHN.\n  i. 1; 446\n\n\n\n\n\nGENERAL INDEX.\n\n\nAddress to newly chosen Apostles, 253-261\n\nAdvent of our Lord into Galilee, 188, 189\n\nAndrew, 157\n\nAnimosity of people of Nazareth, when first shewn, 165\n\nApologue, 125, 126\n\nApostles (The), named in pairs by Matthew, reason suggested, 162;\n  must have been directed to return to Jerusalem for the Ascension, 194,\n              451;\n  not fit men to promulgate Theological doctrines, 230;\n  general characteristics of the, 247;\n  not men whom the Founder of a policy would have chosen, 249;\n  the chosen three, 325, 327;\n  the crowning lesson of, 465;\n  steps by which they learnt Faith in an unseen presence, 467;\n  taught Love, 468; taught Hope, 470\n\nAscension, 457;\n  expedient that Christ should go away, 457;\n  Holy Spirit swaying human action, 459\n\nAstonishment produced by our Lord\u2019s teaching, 202\n\nAuthority manifested by Christ, 167, 203-206\n\nBaptist (The) and his disciples, 153-155;\n  competition with, shunned by our Lord, 173\n\nBaptist\u2019s (The) messengers, their arrival, 262;\n  their question and their answer, 268\n\nBartholomew, 159, see Nathanael\n\nBethany in Per\u00e6a (Bethabara), 119, 161, 168, 189 note\n\nBethany in Jud\u00e6a, when did our Lord first resort thither? 370\n\nBethsaida Julias, 334\n\nBrethren of our Lord, 362, 453\n\nChrist leaves disciples independent, 5;\n  with them after the Resurrection, 9, 274;\n  influence of His Personality, 16, 17;\n  did He from the first see all that lay before Him? 140;\n  explores the tempers of different classes of men, 148;\n  His return from the wilderness, 151;\n  calls to him certain disciples, 151;\n  at Cana and Capernaum, 152;\n  leaves time for impressions to fix themselves, 185;\n  arrives at the Lake of Galilee and calls the brethren, 195-198;\n  His way of proceeding positive, 208;\n  enjoins no system of religious observance, 222;\n  why did He not found a church Himself? 236;\n  lays stress on what men are, as well as on what they do, 259;\n  ceases to have a stationary abode, 270;\n  educational effects of the change of place, 275-279;\n  journey to borders of Tyre and Sidon, 333;\n  at C\u00e6sarea Philippi, 336-338 (see Transfiguration);\n  returns to Capernaum after the Transfiguration, 354;\n  sets out for the feast of Tabernacles, 359-362;\n  refusing to judge, 399;\n  upholds sanctity of marriage, 409;\n  disclaims for the Messiah the title of Son of David, 415;\n  does not look to visibly converting the world, 416;\n  the washing the disciples\u2019 feet, an acted parable, 419;\n  always endeavours to set men free, 460;\n  calls the conscience into play, 467;\n  His Kingdom not upon earth, 471\n\nChristian revelation centred in a Fact, 230\n\nDemoniac in country of Gadarenes, 285\n\nDidrachma, paying of, 406\n\nDisciples not in attendance at first visit to Nazareth, 180;\n  doubtful if present at feast, John v., 181;\n  early Jud\u00e6an, 188\n\nDives and Lazarus, parable of, 62\n\nEcce Homo, quoted, p. 412.\n\nEdersheim, Dr, life and times of Jesus the Messiah, quoted, 139, 140, 329,\n            334, 394;\n  on our Lord\u2019s conversing with the woman at Sychar, 409\n\nEloquence, its small part in the Divine economy, 250\n\nErskine of Linlathen, quotation, 40\n\nEvil, existence of, 29;\n  functions of, in the world, 43-51\n\nFamily, description of a, restrained from knowing evil, 30-36\n\nFeast of the Jews, John v. 1, 181\n\nFive (The) first called, John, Andrew, Peter, Philip, Nathanael, 156\n\nForm of Christ\u2019s Teaching, 209\n\nFree Will, 29;\n  implies liberty to go wrong, 41\n\nGalil\u00e6ans receive our Lord, 179\n\nGalilee, why suited for cradle of movement, 169\n\nGospel of St John, surely written by a disciple, 151, 157\n\nGospels, advantages of narrative form, 13, 461\n\nHerodians, 233\n\nInheritance, The disputed, 403\n\nJames, our Lord\u2019s brother, 452-454\n\nJames and John, the sons of thunder, 365, 368\n\nJerusalem, not a favourable spot for the schooling of the apostles, 190;\n  not desirable that the Christian community should originate there, 192\n\nJudas Iscariot, 246\n\nLaws of our Lord\u2019s conduct\u2014sense in which term is used, 2, 18-20, 306\n\nLazarus, raising of, 429\n\nLevi (see also Matthew), 214\n\nLevitical Law, 207\n\nMammon of unrighteousness, 395-397\n\nMatthew, 214-216;\n  his call a proof that Christ was no respecter of persons, 217\n\nMessiah, what the people expected him to be, 329\n\nMilton, \u201cParadise Regained,\u201d 124\n\nMiracle of feeding of the 5000, 304;\n  of Christ walking on sea, 308;\n  of feeding of the 4000, 305\n\nMiracles, standing, not to be expected, 65;\n  use of, 75;\n  Laws of, 112;\n  as works of beneficence, 333\n\nMiraculous draught of fishes, 198, 202\n\nMission (The) to the cities, 8, 288;\n  referred to by our Lord, 291-293;\n  effects of these mission journeys, 295;\n  directions given, 295-300\n\nMission of Seventy, 289, 301-302\n\nMoses, 207\n\nNathanael, 159, 161\n\nNatural Selection, 26, 314\n\nNazareth, preaching in synagogues at, 79;\n  second visit of Christ to, 287\n\nNegative characteristics of Christ\u2019s teaching, 10\n\nNicodemus, 148, 169, 172\n\nParables, 312;\n  that of the talents, 317;\n  that of the pounds, 318;\n  intended not to hide truth but to show it, 323;\n  of the unjust steward, 388 and preface\n\nPassover, 2nd, at time of feeding of the 5000, 303;\n  see Teaching\n\nPeter, with our Lord at the Passover, A.D. 28, probably returned to\n            Galilee, 166;\n  how far in attendance before call, 166;\n  his giving himself up on a sudden, to one impression, 244;\n  was he in constant attendance during the winter, A.D. 29, 30? 372 note;\n  his practical character, 248, 455;\n  denials of, 433\n\nPharisees, their hostility and that of the Sadducees contrasted, 218\n\nPhilip, 158, 306\n\nPreparatio Evangelica, 153-194\n\nPreparation, noted in our Lord\u2019s ways, 80, 94\n\nProspective action of our Lord, 411\n\nReceiving a hundred fold \u201cwith persecutions,\u201d 381\n\nResurrection, grandeur in the conception of the Risen Christ, 450;\n  appearance of Christ to 500 brethren at once, 451;\n  appearance to James, 453;\n  literary aspect of the history of, 449;\n  duration of post Resurrection period, 464\n\nRevelation, 52-73;\n  \u201cshould be written in the skies,\u201d this demand considered, 59\n\nRuler, the young, 381\n\nSabbath, its value, 219;\n  our Lord\u2019s practice in relation to, 220\n\nSamaria, 1st journey through, 175\n\nSanday, Mr, authorship and historical character of the fourth Gospel,\n            references, 105, 328\n\nSatan, 120, 125\n\n_Seed thoughts_, 212;\n  see Sermon on the Mount\n\nSermon on the Mount, not a Code of Laws, 210, 211;\n  contains _seed thoughts_, 212\n\nSex ceases with life upon earth, 410\n\nSigns and Wonders: their laws, 21;\n  distinguished, 75;\n  functions of, to attract hearers, 77;\n  for selection, 79;\n  for preparation, 80;\n  for setting forth the kingdom, 82;\n  for general teaching, 84;\n  they shew that God does not respect persons, 87;\n  they do not wholly supersede the processes of nature, 88, 89;\n  practical lessons furnished by them to disciples, 91;\n  Laws of, recapitulated, 112\n\nSigns, sparingly displayed after the Feast of Tabernacles, 425;\n  absence of public and notable signs during the Passion week, 430\n\nSilas, 139\n\nSimon the Zealot, 245\n\nSpiritual order, how far analogous to natural selection, 314, 315\n\nStorm on sea of Galilee, 283\n\nSuccessors inheriting a cause, 414, 443\n\nSuffer me first to bury my father, 377\n\nSynoptists, term explained, 157 note\n\nTabernacles, Feast of, 181\n\nTeaching in parables, 12, 280-282, 321\n\nTeaching of Christ, its form, 209;\n  that for the multitudes and that for the disciples, 225\n\nTemptation, to turn stones into loaves, 127-135;\n  on the Mount, 134-139;\n  on the pinnacle of Temple, 139-141\n\nTemptations in the wilderness, form of the narrative, 113-117;\n  where communicated to disciples, 119;\n  whether literal history, 119\n\nTransfiguration, 93, 341-348\n\nTrench, Archbishop, on demoniacs, 284;\n  on the miracles, 396\n\nTribute to C\u00e6sar, 406\n\nTwelve, the, their call, 239;\n  their fitness for the work which fell to them, 239;\n  their character as witnesses, 241-243\n\nUniversality of Christ\u2019s Kingdom, 10, 415\n\nWisdom justified of all her children, 264-269\n\nWithering of fig-tree, 95, 432\n\nWitnessing to Christ the first function of the Apostles, 216, 241\n\nWoman taken in adultery, 405\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\n    1 Matth. xiii. 12.\n\n    2 Mark iii. 5.\n\n    3 St Matth. xiv. 17.\n\n    4 John vi. 15.\n\n    5 Luke xviii. 8.\n\n    6 Mark iv. II.\n\n    7 Gen. iii. 18, 19.\n\n    8 John ix. 1-3.\n\n    9 St Luke viii. 26; St Mark v. 1.\n\n   10 Luke ii. 35.\n\n   11 Luke xvi. 31.\n\n   12 Trench, Parables, 4th Edition, p. 453. \u201cThe rebuke of unbelief is\n      the aim and central thought of the parable.\u201d\n\n   13 Galatians iv. 6.\n\n   14 John xvii. 6.\n\n   15 Luke x. 11.\n\n   16 John xvii. 3.\n\n   17 Luke xx. 35.\n\n   18 Matth. xxviii. 20.\n\n   19 John xvi. 12.\n\n   20 1 Cor. xiv. 25. This is commonly referred to a sense of guilt, which\n      is included, no doubt, but the words bear a wider meaning.\n\n   21 Galatians iv. 6.\n\n   22 Luke x. 22.\n\n   23 John xiv. 6.\n\n   24 Mark xiii. 22; Matth. xxiv. 24.\n\n   25 John iv. 48.\n\n   26 Luke vi. 23.\n\n   27 A friend recalls to me St Augustine\u2019s words, \u201cDeus patiens est quia\n      \u00e6ternus.\u201d\n\n   28 Luke xi. 20.\n\n   29 Luke x. 11.\n\n   30 Mark i. 14, 15.\n\n   31 Mark xvi. 20.\n\n   32 Mark v. 19.\n\n   33 John v. 26.\n\n   34 Mark viii. 23-25.\n\n   35 Mark vii. 33-35.\n\n   36 Mark ix. 1. Luke ix. 27.\n\n   37 Mark ix. 2-8.\n\n   38 Mark ix. 7. Compare Deuteronomy xviii. 15, \u201cUnto him ye shall\n      hearken.\u201d\n\n   39 Acts x. 34, 35.\n\n   40 Mark xi. 12-14.\n\n   41 Mark xi. 20-22.\n\n   42 \u1f41 \u1f38\u03bf\u03c5\u03b4\u03b1\u03ca\u03c3\u03bc\u03cc\u03c2, Gal. i. 13.\n\n   43 Acts xviii. 28.\n\n   44 See next chapter.\n\n   45 John xiv. 4-11.\n\n   46 John xiv. 11.\n\n   47 John iv. 48.\n\n   48 Matt. xii. 39.\n\n   49 John iv. 47. Mr Sanday considers this miracle to be identical with\n      the healing of the centurion\u2019s servant, and that the \u201cye see\u201d is\n      addressed to the elders who stand by. With this I am not prepared to\n      agree. See the Authorship of the Fourth Gospel, W. Sanday, M.A.,\n      Macmillan and Co., a well-known and excellent book.\n\n   50 Matth. xi. 21; Luke x. 13.\n\n   51 John xv. 23, 24.\n\n   52 Luke vii. 20.\n\n   53 Luke vii. 21-23.\n\n   54 John i. 32, 33.\n\n   55 Matth. iv. 1-11.\n\n   56 Mark i. 12, 13.\n\n   57 Luke iv. 1-13.\n\n   58 Matth. iv. 1.\n\n   59 2 Timothy iv. 13.\n\n   60 Dec. 20, a.d. 29.\n\n   61 John x. 40.\n\n   62 Luke x. 18.\n\n   63 Mark iii. 26.\n\n   64 Matth. xvi. 22.\n\n   65 Matth. xvii. 25.\n\n   66 Luke ix. 55.\n\n   67 Mark xv. 31.\n\n   68 Acts xii. 7, 8. Acts xvi. 26.\n\n_   69 The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah._ Dr. Edersheim, i. p. 304.\n\n   70 See pp. 23, 24, and pp. 57, 58.\n\n   71 Dr Edersheim.\n\n   72 Acts x. 40, 41.\n\n   73 Luke xvi. 30.\n\n   74 John iii. 2.\n\n   75 Luke xii. 49, 50.\n\n   76 John ii. 11.\n\n   77 John ii. 12.\n\n   78 John ii. 17.\n\n   79 John ii. 23.\n\n   80 John iii. 22, iv. 2.\n\n   81 \u201cI thank God that I baptized none of you save Crispus and Gaius;\n      lest any man should say that ye were baptized into my name.\u201d 1 Cor.\n      i. 14, 15. This, with the context, illustrates the notion of a\n      personal tie established by baptism. St Paul is combating the charge\n      of establishing a sect of his own.\n\n   82 Luke xi. 1.\n\n   83 Luke v. 33.\n\n   84 John iii. 25.\n\n   85 John i. 43.\n\n   86 John i. 45; xxi. 2.\n\n   87 \u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u1f00\u03c0\u1f78 \u039d\u03b1\u03b6\u03b1\u03c1\u03ad\u03c4. John i. 46.\n\n   88 A fragment of a very ancient account of the Canon of the N. Test.\n      has been preserved by Muratori. I will quote the translation of it\n      from Professor Westcott\u2019s work. (Prof. Westcott, _Gospel of St\n      John_, p. xxxv.) \u201cThe fourth Gospel [was written by] John, one of\n      the disciples (_i.e._ Apostles). When his fellow-disciples and\n      bishops urgently pressed (_cohortantibus_) him, he said, \u2018Fast with\n      me [from] to-day, for three days, and let us tell one another any\n      revelation which may be made to us, either for or against [the plan\n      of writing] (_quid cuique fuerit revelatum alterutrum_)\u2019. On the\n      same night it was revealed to Andrew, one of the Apostles, that John\n      should relate all in his own name, and that all should review [his\n      writing].\u201d If we accept this authority, John and Andrew were\n      together in their age as they had been in their youth. Philip also\n      was at Hierapolis not very far off.\n\n   89 John vi. 8.\n\n_   90 I.e._ the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke.\n\n   91 John xii. _vv._ 20-22.\n\n   92 John xiv. 9.\n\n   93 Bartholomew = son of Tolmai, so that Nathanael son of Tolmai or (as\n      Dr Edersheim writes it) of Temalgon, would be the full name.\n\n   94 Tacitus speaking of Lugdunum and Vienna on opposite sides of the\n      Rhone, tells us that they regarded each other with the animosity\n      which \u201cserves as a link between those whom only a river separates\u201d\n      (\u201cunde aemulatio et invidia et uno amne discretis connexum odium\u201d).\n      Tac. _Hist._ i. c. 65.\n\n      St Matthew speaks of that \u201cwhich was spoken by the prophets, He\n      shall be called a Nazarene.\u201d This prophecy, in the words given, is\n      not found in our canonical books. The Evangelist is supposed to\n      refer to Is. xi. 1. The Hebrew word for a Branch, there used, is\n      _Natsar_.\n\n   95 John i. 48, 49.\n\n   96 Luke ii. 35.\n\n   97 Genesis xxviii. 12.\n\n   98 John i. 51.\n\n   99 Mark iii. 17-19.\n\n  100 Matth. x. 2-6.\n\n  101 If a party of young men were in the habit of separating for\n      excursions and going two by two, and one of the party were\n      afterwards asked for a list of the company; it would help his memory\n      to recall them, pair by pair. The Evangelist is going to tell us of\n      our Lord\u2019s directions to the twelve about their mission. It then\n      strikes him that he must record their names.\n\n  102 John ii. 11.\n\n  103 John ii. 12.\n\n  104 John iv. 43-45.\n\n  105 The tone of His discourse delivered there, after His visit to\n      Jerusalem, falls in with this view.\n\n  106 It must be recollected that there is no mention in St John\u2019s Gospel\n      of any disciple _by name_, after the first chapter, until we come to\n      the sixth.\n\n  107 It may be asked, How were the disciples maintained during several\n      weeks at Jerusalem? Though not of the poorest class they could not\n      have lived long without labour. John may have been spared because\n      James remained to help his father in his work. But if Peter and\n      Andrew had both stayed at Jerusalem through all the early summer, it\n      is hard to see how they, and Peter\u2019s wife, could have been\n      supported. I should conjecture therefore that if Peter went to\n      Jerusalem to the first passover, he only made a brief stay. There\n      were, at this time, apparently no contributions such as we hear of\n      afterwards (Luke viii. 3).\n\n  108 1 Peter ii. 23.\n\n  109 John ii. 16.\n\n  110 John ii. 23.\n\n  111 John ii. 24, 25.\n\n  112 John vi. 66.\n\n  113 John iii. 22, 23.\n\n  114 John iii. 26.\n\n  115 John iv. 1, 2.\n\n  116 2 Tim. iv. 2.\n\n  117 1 Cor. i. 12.\n\n  118 John iv. 31. They press Him to take bodily support about which they\n      thought Him careless. This must be an eye-witness\u2019s account.\n\n  119 John xv. 15.\n\n  120 John ii. 24.\n\n  121 John iv. 35-38. See Chronological Appendix.\n\n  122 Luke x. 21, 22.\n\n  123 Luke xxii. 28.\n\n  124 Luke xv. 10.\n\n  125 Mark x. 33, 34.\n\n  126 John v. 1.\n\n  127 Luke iv. 14, 15.\n\n  128 John iv. 45.\n\n  129 If a body of disciples had accompanied our Lord to Nazareth, they\n      would probably have offered some opposition to the Nazarenes. The\n      absence of all mention of disciples in St Luke, chap. iv. gives\n      reason for supposing that the visit to Nazareth here recorded is not\n      the same with that related in St Matthew and St Mark; for the\n      disciples were then present. See Mark vi. 1-6, Matth. xiii. 53.\n\n  130 I incline to the old view which identified this feast with the feast\n      of Tabernacles; the time suits well with my chronological scheme.\n      This was \u201c_the_ feast\u201d of the Jews, it caused great stir. Now\n      Josephus tells us, that Herod put John in prison because men came to\n      him in crowds. This was more likely to happen when men were set free\n      from their work by the holiday than at other times. It is true that\n      in ch. vii. 2, John calls the feast of tabernacles by name. But he\n      is there writing his own account, while here he is only recasting,\n      as I believe, what he has received from an eye-witness. This may\n      account for the difference of expression. Some MSS. but not the\n      weightiest, read \u201c_the_ feast,\u201d in John v. 1. If this were received\n      it would go far to settle the point.\n\n  131 John i. 43.\n\n  132 The historical part of John Chap. 5, vv. 1-18 has the air of an\n      account condensed from materials furnished by another. We are told\n      that Philip was bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia. He may therefore\n      have kept up communication with John at Ephesus.\n\n  133 John v. 15-18.\n\n  134 John xi. 48.\n\n  135 John v. 17.\n\n  136 Matth. v. 45.\n\n  137 John v. 43.\n\n  138 Matth. iv. 20.\n\n  139 I place this advent of our Lord into Galilee at the end of September\n      A.D. 28, but the evidence is insufficient for a positive opinion. My\n      reasons for supposing that John was not imprisoned till after this\n      feast are as follows. The Synoptists say that after John\u2019s\n      imprisonment our Lord came into Galilee preaching the Kingdom. Now\n      when He returned through Samaria He did _not_ begin to preach the\n      Kingdom, and therefore the advent of Mark i. 14 refers to some other\n      occasion; I believe to a subsequent one. In St John\u2019s Gospel chaps.\n      iv. and v. we hear nothing of \u201cthe Kingdom\u201d and no disciples are\n      mentioned as attending our Lord. I think therefore that the events\n      related in these chapters occurred before the advent into Galilee;\n      this is one argument for placing this visit to the feast, where I\n      do. Moreover it is hard to find another place for it. The Synoptical\n      narrative is fairly continuous from the advent (Mark i. 14) up to\n      the journey to the Feast of Tabernacles, and there is in it no\n      mention either of a visit to Jerusalem, which must have occupied\n      several days, or of our Lord\u2019s quitting His disciples. All proceeds\n      consistently if we suppose, as I have done, that John was put in\n      prison at the time of this feast or soon after. But there is one\n      difficulty about this. Our Lord says of the Baptist John v. 35, \u201cHe\n      _was_ the lamp that burneth and shineth, and you were willing for a\n      season to rejoice in his light.\u201d The use of the imperfect tense is\n      supposed to show that John was in prison when this was said, but\n      surely if it is to be pressed rigorously it would mean that he was\n      _dead_: for he received his disciples in prison and could give\n      counsel and direction to those without. He did not cease to shine\n      for _them_. I take these words to mean that he was no longer a light\n      to the Priests and Levites. They had gone to him when he was\n      preaching in the wilderness of Jud\u00e6a, Matth. iii. 5, and afterwards\n      they had sent to him in Bethany beyond Jordan: he was now in the\n      territory of Herod, and there he was out of sight, and with the\n      Priests and Levites he was out of mind. They could not make him a\n      partisan or an ally and they had given him up. If John was in prison\n      at this time, his imprisonment must have been a recent event, and we\n      should expect our Lord to allude to it when He speaks of him.\n\n  140 Mark i. 14, 15.\n\n  141 Mark i. 16-20.\n\n  142 For instance, if the separate probability of each of two events is\n      1/10, that of the joint event is 1/10 x 1/10 or 1/100, or there are\n      ninety-nine chances to one against it.\n\n  143 Acts ii. 41.\n\n  144 Luke v. 4.\n\n  145 Luke v. 8.\n\n  146 Mark i. 22.\n\n  147 By comparing the Sermon on the Mount with the parallel passages in\n      St Luke we find that much of it must have been spoken after the call\n      of the Apostles: this applies particularly to the latter half of the\n      discourse.\n\n  148 Matt. v. 38-41.\n\n  149 Acts i. 8.\n\n  150 Luke v. 17.\n\n  151 Matth. ix. 14-17. I here adopt St Matthew\u2019s version in preference to\n      that of St Mark ii. 16-22. St Matthew was not likely to forget any\n      circumstance of his call, least of all the words then used by our\n      Lord; and the quotation \u201cI will have mercy and not sacrifice\u201d which\n      he alone relates, is exactly in our Lord\u2019s manner. The passage\n      printed above differs also from St Mark\u2019s version in this, that in\n      the latter the _disciples of the Pharisees_ put the question\n      together with John\u2019s disciples. Some disciples of John may have\n      belonged to the Pharisees as their religious party.\n\n  152 Luke xi. 1.\n\n  153 St Mark distinguishes between these two objects of our Lord\u2019s care,\n      the multitude and the disciples. When our Lord after His journey to\n      the North is passing through Galilee we read that \u201cHe passed through\n      Galilee, and would not that any man should know it, for he taught\n      His _disciples_.\u201d Mark ix. 31. And soon after, when he is beyond\n      Jordan, we have \u201cand _multitudes_ came together unto him again; and,\n      as he was wont, he taught _them_ again.\u201d Mark x. 1.\n\n  154 viz. after the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand. Matth.\n      xiv. 23.\n\n  155 viz., \u201cthat they might be with him and that he might send them forth\n      to preach and to have authority to cast out devils.\u201d Mark iii. 14,\n      15.\n\n  156 \u03b2\u03b9\u03b1\u03c3\u03c4\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f00\u03c1\u03c0\u03ac\u03b6\u03bf\u03c5\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u03ae\u03bd, Matth. xi. 12. \u201c\u1f04\u03c1\u03c0\u03b1\u03b3\u03bc\u03b1 especially with\n      such verbs as \u1f21\u03b3\u03b5\u1fd6\u03c3\u03b8\u03b1\u03b9 etc. is employed to denote \u2018a highly prized\n      possession, an unexpected gain.\u2019 \u201d Bishop Lightfoot\u2019s _Philippians_,\n      p. 111. Compare Ps. cxix. 162. \u201cI am as glad of thy word as one that\n      findeth great spoils.\u201d\n\n  157 Mark iii. 6, 7.\n\n  158 Matth. ix. 36-38.\n\n  159 p. 234.\n\n  160 Luke vi. 12.\n\n  161 Mark iii. 13, 14.\n\n  162 Mark xiv. 50.\n\n  163 Luke xxiv. 36.\n\n  164 John xv. 27.\n\n  165 Acts i. 8.\n\n  166 Acts i. 22.\n\n  167 Acts x. 41. For other instances see Luke xxiv. 48; Acts ii. 32; iii.\n      15; xiii. 31.\n\n  168 John xi. 16.\n\n  169 James i. 20.\n\n  170 John ii. 24.\n\n  171 Matt. xxviii. 19.\n\n  172 Luke vi. 17-19.\n\n  173 Luke vi. 20.\n\n  174 Luke vi. 22, 23.\n\n  175 Luke vi. 24-26.\n\n  176 Luke vi. 27.\n\n  177 Luke vi. 39, 40.\n\n  178 Luke vi. 43, also Matth. vii. 17 where the converse is added.\n\n  179 Mark iii. 20, 21.\n\n  180 Matt. xi. 2-6. See also Luke vii. 18-23.\n\n  181 Luke vii. 23.\n\n  182 Marginal rendering, _was_.\n\n  183 Luke vii. 35.\n\n  184 Luke vii. 29, 30.\n\n  185 John x. 16.\n\n  186 p. 265.\n\n  187 Heb. xi. 1.\n\n  188 Mark iv. 35-40.\n\n  189 Luke viii. 1-3.\n\n  190 Mark vi. 39, 40.\n\n  191 Possibly Philip had this charge, see page 306.\n\n  192 Luke ix. 51, 52.\n\n  193 Mark iv. 35.\n\n  194 Mark iv. 37-40.\n\n  195 In \u201cTrench on the Miracles\u201d this miracle and the question of the\n      demoniacs in the New Testament are thoroughly discussed. I purposely\n      confine myself to what bears on the education of the Apostles. See\n      also above Chap. 2, p. 48.\n\n  196 See above, p. 49.\n\n  197 Mark v. 17.\n\n  198 Mark v. 37.\n\n  199 Compare Mark iii. 32 and Mark vi. 3.\n\n  200 Mark vi. 7-13.\n\n  201 Luke x. 1-11.\n\n  202 Matth. x. 5-15.\n\n  203 Luke xxii. 35-38.\n\n  204 Luke ix. 52.\n\n  205 Luke xix. 29.\n\n  206 Luke xxii. 8.\n\n  207 Luke x. 9-11.\n\n  208 Mark vi. 30.\n\n  209 John v. 43.\n\n  210 Luke x. 21.\n\n  211 Luke x. 21, 22.\n\n  212 Mark vi. 30-32.\n\n  213 John vi. 4, 5.\n\n  214 See p. 22.\n\n  215 John vi. 9.\n\n  216 Mark i. 20.\n\n  217 Mark vi. 38.\n\n  218 Mark viii. 5-7.\n\n  219 That the disciples habitually carried loaves with them on their\n      journey is clear from Mark viii. 14.\n\n  220 Mark viii. 16, 17.\n\n  221 John vi. 5.\n\n  222 Mark vi. 34.\n\n  223 John vi. 15.\n\n  224 Mark vi. 45, 46.\n\n  225 Mark vi. 47-52.\n\n  226 See pp. 199, 200.\n\n  227 Mark vi. 50.\n\n  228 Matth. xxv. 14-30; Luke xix. 11-27.\n\n  229 Luke xix. 26.\n\n  230 Matth. xiii. 10.\n\n  231 Mark iv. 11, 12. See also Isaiah vi. 10.\n\n  232 Mark iv. 24.\n\n  233 Luke ix. 31.\n\n  234 Three it would seem is the number adopted for _witnesses_ just as\n      two is that for missionaries on their way.\n\n  235 John vi. 25-65.\n\n  236 W. Sanday, \u201cAuthorship and Historical character of the Fourth\n      Gospel.\u201d\n\n  237 Speaking of the beliefs of the Rabbis as to the days of the Messiah,\n      Dr Edersheim, quoting from the Rabbis, says: \u201cIn that vast new\n      Jerusalem (not in heaven but in the literal Palestine) the windows\n      and gates were to be of precious stones, the walls of silver, gold,\n      and gems, while all kinds of jewels would be strewed about, of which\n      every Israelite was at liberty to take.... The land would\n      spontaneously produce the best dresses and the finest cakes.\u201d \u201cJesus\n      the Messiah,\u201d Book v. p. 438.\n\n  238 John vi. 66.\n\n  239 Cf. John iii. 25.\n\n  240 Mark vii. 14, 15.\n\n  241 John vi. 60-63.\n\n  242 Mark vii. 24.\n\n  243 Mark vii. 33-36.\n\n  244 Bethsaida means Fishertown; many places were so named. Dr Edersheim.\n\n  245 Mark viii. 23-26.\n\n  246 Mark viii. 11.\n\n  247 Matth. xvi. 13-20.\n\n  248 John vi. 44.\n\n  249 Matth. xvi. 23.\n\n  250 Luke iv. 13.\n\n  251 Matth. xvi. 24, 25.\n\n  252 Mark ix. 1.\n\n  253 Mark ix. 9.\n\n  254 Matthew xvii. 12.\n\n  255 Luke ix. 37.\n\n  256 Mark ix. 17-29.\n\n  257 See page 95.\n\n  258 Mark v. 30.\n\n  259 Mark ix. 30.\n\n  260 John xvi. 4.\n\n  261 Mark ix. 33.\n\n  262 Mark ix. 30.\n\n  263 Mark ix. 35.\n\n  264 Luke ix. 48.\n\n  265 Matt. xviii. 1-11.\n\n  266 This incident shews that the Apostles even while journeying along\n      with our Lord were sometimes out of His sight and acted\n      independently. Perhaps they were in some degree dispersed when they\n      halted for the night. This forbidding cannot have taken place while\n      our Lord was in the Mount because John was there with Him.\n\n  267 Matthew xii. 30.\n\n  268 xviii. 21, 22.\n\n  269 Compare the Revised Version with that of 1611.\n\n  270 Mark ix. 49, 50.\n\n  271 Mark x. 1.\n\n  272 Luke ix. 51, 52.\n\n  273 John vii. 2-10.\n\n  274 Acts i. 14, \u201cwith his brethren.\u201d\n\n  275 Mark vi. 2.\n\n  276 Luke ix. 51-56.\n\n  277 Luke xii. 41-46.\n\n  278 Acts xii. 2.\n\n  279 John vii. 14.\n\n  280 That our Lord spoke Greek when required is inferred from His being\n      understood by the Syro-Ph\u0153nician woman and by Pilate, who probably\n      knew no Hebrew, see John xviii. 33-38. See also John vii. 35,\n      Revised Version.\n\n  281 Page 191.\n\n  282 John vii. 53; viii. 1.\n\n  283 The third is preserved only by Luke.\n\n  284 Matthew viii. 19.\n\n  285 Luke xi. 27.\n\n  286 Luke xxii. 33.\n\n  287 See also Luke xiv. 15. The exclamation, \u201cBlessed is he that shall\n      eat bread in the kingdom of God\u201d is met by the parable of the Great\n      Supper.\n\n  288 Luke x. 4-11.\n\n  289 Mark x. 17-22.\n\n  290 Articles of Religion, XIII.\n\n  291 Acts iv. 35.\n\n  292 Mark x. 24.\n\n  293 Mark x. 30.\n\n  294 Acts iv. 32.\n\n  295 Luke xv. 10.\n\n  296 Luke xvi. 8.\n\n  297 Luke xvi. 1-12.\n\n  298 \u201cLife and times of Jesus the Messiah,\u201d p. 267.\n\n  299 \u201cThe use of \u1f04\u03b4\u03b9\u03ba\u03bf\u03c2 for \u2018false\u2019 runs through the whole Septuagint.\n      Thus, Deut. xix. 16, \u03bc\u03ac\u03c1\u03c4\u03c5\u03c2 \u1f04\u03b4\u03b9\u03ba\u03bf\u03c2, a false witness; and ver. 18,\n      \u1f10\u03bc\u03b1\u03c1\u03c4\u03cd\u03c1\u03b7\u03c3\u03b5\u03bd \u1f04\u03b4\u03b9\u03ba\u03b1, he hath witnessed falsely. See Prov. vi. 19; xii.\n      17; Jer. v. 31, \u2018The prophets prophesy falsely\u2019 (\u1f04\u03b4\u03b9\u03ba\u03b1), and many\n      more examples might be adduced. So here the \u2018_unrighteous_\u2019 mammon\n      is the false mammon, that which will betray the reliance which is\n      placed on it (1 Tim. vi. 17). Thus \u1f30\u03b1\u03c4\u03c1\u03bf\u1f76 \u1f04\u03b4\u03b9\u03ba\u03bf\u03b9 (Job xiii. 4),\n      \u2018physicians of no value.\u2019 \u201d Trench, \u201cOn the Parables,\u201d The unjust\n      Steward.\n\n  300 Luke xvii. 5.\n\n  301 It is clear that \u201cunrighteous,\u201d in verse 10 means \u201csuperficial\u201d and\n      \u201cunreal,\u201d because it is contrasted with \u201ctrue.\u201d The opposite of\n      \u1f04\u03b4\u03b9\u03ba\u03bf\u03c2 is here \u1f00\u03bb\u03b7\u03b8\u03b9\u03bd\u03cc\u03c2.\n\n  302 Mark xiv. 9.\n\n  303 Luke xii. 14.\n\n  304 Luke xii. 16-20.\n\n  305 Luke xii. 36. Matt. vi. 25.\n\n  306 Matthew xix. 9.\n\n  307 On the conversation of our Lord at Sychar with the woman of Samaria,\n      Dr Edersheim says: \u201cThat Jesus should converse with a woman was so\n      contrary to all Jewish notions of a Rabbi that they wondered.\u201d The\n      disciples \u201cmarvelled that he was speaking with a woman,\u201d John iv.\n      27; and in a note Dr Edersheim has: \u201cReaders know how thoroughly\n      opposed to Jewish notions was any needless converse with a woman.\u201d\n\n  308 Luke xx. 35, 36.\n\n  309 Matth. xxiv. 25.\n\n  310 Luke xxi. 19.\n\n  311 Luke ii. 4.\n\n  312 Matth. xxii. 42, 43. Mark xii. 35-37. Luke xx. 41.\n\n  313 See John xiv. 9.\n\n  314 Luke xi. 1.\n\n  315 See Edersheim, vol. I. p. 440.\n\n  316 John xiii. 1-14.\n\n  317 John xxi. 25.\n\n  318 2 Sam. xii. 13.\n\n  319 Dr Edersheim, who takes the view that this is the Paschal meal, says\n      that it was usual for the head of the company to wash the hands of\n      the guests. The washing of the feet would therefore only be an\n      extension of a common practice and would excite no great attention.\n      \u201cLife and Times of Jesus the Messiah,\u201d vol. II. pp. 495-498.\n\n  320 Luke xxii. 24, 30.\n\n  321 Galatians vi. 1, 2.\n\n  322 Mark vii. 33. See p. 333.\n\n  323 Mark xi. 10.\n\n  324 Luke xi. 29. See p. 104.\n\n  325 Luke xiii. 23; xviii. 19.\n\n  326 John xiv. 19.\n\n  327 John xi. 16, see p. 372.\n\n  328 pp. 95, 96, 97.\n\n  329 Galatians ii. 11-14.\n\n  330 See Preface.\n\n  331 1 John i. 1.\n\n  332 Acts x. 40, 41.\n\n  333 1 Cor. xv. 5, 6, 7, 8.\n\n  334 See Chronol. Append., May A.D. 30.\n\n  335 1 Cor. xv. 6.\n\n  336 Acts i. 15.\n\n  337 I would point out that in the passage from 1 Cor. xv. quoted p. 450,\n      we have \u201cthen to the _Twelve_,\u201d and later, \u201cthen to _all the\n      Apostles_.\u201d May not St Paul have meant the latter term to be a wider\n      one than the former, and, possibly, to include James?\n\n  338 Mark vi. 3.\n\n  339 1 Cor. ix. 1.\n\n  340 \u201cClement of Alexandria says that Peter, James and John after our\n      Lord\u2019s ascension were not ambitious of dignity, honoured though they\n      had been by the preference of their Master, but chose James the Just\n      as Bishop of Jerusalem.\u201d Dr Salmon, \u201cIntroduction to the New\n      Testament,\u201d p. 565.\n\n  341 \u201cThis James whom the ancients ... surnamed the Just.\u201d Eusebius,\n      _Eccl. Hist._ 6, ii. c. 1.\n\n  342 John xvi. 7, 8.\n\n  343 Acts xvi. 6-8.\n\n  344 Philippians ii. 13.\n\n  345 Matth. xviii. 21.\n\n  346 Romans v. 8.\n\n  347 1 Cor. xv. 44.\n\n  348 The harvest in Palestine ripens at different times in different\n      localities; but as a general rule the barley-harvest may be\n      considered as taking place from the middle to the close of April,\n      and the wheat-harvest about a fortnight later; see Robinson,\n      _Palestine_, Vol. 1. p. 431 (ed. 2), and compare Stanley,\n      _Palestine_, p. 240, note (ed. 2). Note taken from Bishop Ellicott\u2019s\n      Historical Lectures on the \u201cLife of our Lord,\u201d page 106.\n\n  349 John iv. 6. The marginal rendering of the Revised Version is \u201cJesus\n      ... sat _as he was_ by the well.\u201d The words in italics answer to\n      \u201cthus,\u201d \u03bf\u1f55\u03c4\u03c9\u03c2. This means that He did not call for His cloke and\n      wrap it round Him, as in winter He would have done. This is clearly\n      eye-witness narration.\n\n  350 This _glorifying_ consisted not in its gaining Him glory in the\n      common sense but in its being an event leading Him to the Cross, to\n      the fullest abandonment to His Father\u2019s will. This is the true\n      glory. Compare John xii. 28, xxi. 19.\n\n\n\n\n\n<pre id=\"pg-footer\">","title":"Pastor Pastorum; Or, The Schooling of the Apostles by Our Lord","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":126808}