{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_37120/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_37120","id":"gutenberg_37120","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37120","summary":null,"tags":["Bible. Mark -- Commentaries","Category: Religion/Spirituality"],"text":"</pre>\n\n\n\n\n                          The Expositor\u2019s Bible\n\n                     The Gospel According to St. Mark\n\n                                  By The\n\n                      Very Rev. G. A. Chadwick, D.D.\n\n                              Dean of Armagh\n\n                            Hodder & Stoughton\n\n                                 New York\n\n                         George H. Doran Company\n\n                                   1900\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nChapter I.\nChapter II.\nChapter III.\nChapter IV.\nChapter V.\nChapter VI.\nChapter VII.\nChapter VIII.\nChapter IX.\nChapter X.\nChapter XI.\nChapter XII.\nChapter XIII.\nChapter XIV.\nChapter XV.\nChapter XVI.\nFootnotes\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n\n\n\nThe Beginning Of The Gospel.\n\n\n    \u201cThe beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Even\n    as it is written in Isaiah the prophet, Behold, I send My\n    messenger before Thy face, who shall prepare Thy way; The voice of\n    one crying in the wilderness, Make ye ready the way of the Lord,\n    Make His paths straight; John came, who baptized in the wilderness\n    and preached the baptism of repentance unto remission of sins. And\n    there went out unto him all the country of Jud\u00e6a, and all they of\n    Jerusalem; and they were baptized of him in the river Jordan,\n    confessing their sins. And John was clothed with camel\u2019s hair, and\n    had a leathern girdle about his loins, and did eat locusts and\n    wild honey.\u201d\u2014MARK, i. 1-6 (R.V.).\n\n\nThe opening of St. Mark\u2019s Gospel is energetic and full of character. St.\nMatthew traces for Jews the pedigree of their Messiah; St. Luke\u2019s\nworldwide sympathies linger with the maiden who bore Jesus, and the\nvillage of His boyhood; and St. John\u2019s theology proclaims the Divine\norigin of the Eternal Lord. But St. Mark trusts the public acts of the\nMighty Worker to do for the reader what they did for those who first\n\u201cbeheld His glory.\u201d How He came to earth can safely be left untold: what\nHe was will appear by what He wrought. It is enough to record, with\nmatchless vividness, the toils, the energy, the love and wrath, the defeat\nand triumph of the brief career which changed the world. It will prove\nitself to be the career of \u201cthe Son of God.\u201d\n\nIn so deciding, he followed the example of the Apostolic teaching. The\nfirst vacant place among the Twelve was filled by an eye-witness,\ncompetent to tell what Jesus did \u201cfrom the baptism of John to the day when\nHe was received up,\u201d the very space covered by this Gospel. That \u201cGospel\nof peace,\u201d which Cornelius heard from St. Peter (and hearing, received the\nHoly Ghost) was the same story of Jesus \u201cafter the baptism which John\npreached.\u201d And this is throughout the substance of the primitive teaching.\nThe Apostles act as men who believe that everything necessary to salvation\nis (implicit or explicit) in the history of those few crowded years.\nTherefore this is \u201cthe gospel.\u201d\n\nMen there are who judge otherwise, and whose gospel is not the story of\nsalvation wrought, but the plan of salvation applied, how the Atonement\navails for us, how men are converted, and what privileges they then\nreceive. But in truth men are not converted by preaching conversion, any\nmore than citizens are made loyal by demanding loyalty. Show men their\nprince, and convince them that he is gracious and truly royal, and they\nwill die for him. Show them the Prince of Life, and He, being lifted up,\nwill draw all men unto Him; and thus the truest gospel is that which\ndeclares Christ and Him crucified. As all science springs from the\nphenomena of the external world, so do theology and religion spring from\nthe life of Him who was too adorable to be mortal, and too loving to be\ndisobeyed.\n\nTherefore St. Paul declares that the gospel which he preached to the\nCorinthians and by which they were saved, was, that Christ died for our\nsins and was buried and rose again, and was seen of sufficient witnesses\n(1 Cor. xv. 1-8).\n\nAnd therefore St. Mark is contented with a very brief record of those\nwondrous years; a few facts, chosen with a keen sense of the intense\nenergy and burning force which they reveal, are what he is inspired to\ncall the gospel.\n\nHe presently uses the word in a somewhat larger sense, telling how Jesus\nHimself, before the story of His life could possibly be unfolded, preached\nas \u201cthe gospel of God\u201d that \u201cthe time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God\nis at hand,\u201d and added (what St. Mark only has preserved for us), \u201cRepent,\nand believe in the gospel\u201d (i. 14-15). So too it is part of St. Paul\u2019s\n\u201cgospel\u201d that \u201cGod shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ\u201d (Rom.\nii. 16). For this also is good news of God, \u201cthe gospel of the kingdom.\u201d\nAnd like \u201cthe gospel of Jesus Christ,\u201d it treats of His attitude toward\nus, more than ours toward Him, which latter is the result rather than the\nsubstance of it. That He rules, and not the devil; that we shall answer at\nlast to Him and to none lower; that Satan lied when he claimed to possess\nall the kingdoms of the earth, and to dispose of them; that Christ has now\nreceived from far different hands \u201call power on earth\u201d; this is a gospel\nwhich the world has not yet learned to welcome, nor the Church fully to\nproclaim.\n\nNow the scriptural use of this term is quite as important to religious\nemotion as to accuracy of thought. All true emotions hide their fountain\ntoo deep for self-consciousness to find. We feel best when our feeling is\nforgotten. Not while we think about finding peace, but while we approach\nGod as a Father, and are anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer\nand supplication with thanksgiving make known our requests, is it promised\nthat the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall guard our\nhearts and our thoughts (Phil. iv. 7). And many a soul of the righteous,\nwhom faith in the true gospel fills with trembling adoration, is made sad\nby the inflexible demand for certain realised personal experiences as the\ntitle to recognition as a Christian. That great title belonged at the\nfirst to all who would learn of Jesus: the disciples were called\nChristians. To acquaint ourselves with Him, that is to be at peace.\n\nMeantime, we observe that the new movement which now begins is not, like\nJudaism, a law which brings death; nor like Buddhism, a path in which one\nmust walk as best he may: it differs from all other systems in being\nessentially the announcement of good tidings from above.\n\nYet \u201cthe beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ\u201d is a profound agitation\nand widespread alarm. Lest the soothing words of Jesus should blend like\nmusic with the slumber of sinners at ease in Zion, John came preaching\nrepentance, and what is more, a baptism of repentance; not such a\nlustration as was most familiar to the Mosaic law, administered by the\nworshipper to himself, but an ablution at other hands, a confession that\none is not only soiled, but soiled beyond all cleansing of his own. Formal\nJudaism was one long struggle for self-purification. The dawn of a new\nsystem is visible in the movement of all Jud\u00e6a towards one who bids them\nthrow every such hope away, and come to him for the baptism of repentance,\nand expect A Greater One, who shall baptize them with the Holy Ghost and\nwith fire. And the true function of the predicted herald, the best\nlevelling of the rugged ways of humanity for the Promised One to traverse,\nwas in this universal diffusion of the sense of sin. For Christ was not\ncome to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.\n\nIn truth, the movement of the Baptist, with its double aspect, gathers up\nall the teaching of the past. He produced conviction, and he promised\nhelp. One lesson of all sacred history is universal failure. The innocence\nof Eden cannot last. The law with its promise of life to the man who doeth\nthese things, issued practically in the knowledge of sin; it entered that\nsin might abound; it made a formal confession of universal sin, year by\nyear, continually. And therefore its fitting close was a baptism of\nrepentance universally accepted. Alas, not universally. For while we read\nof all the nation swayed by one impulse, and rushing to the stern teacher\nwho had no share in its pleasures or its luxuries, whose life was\nseparated from its concerns, and whose food was the simplest that could\nsustain existence, yet we know that when they heard how deep his censures\npierced, and how unsparingly he scourged their best loved sins, the\nloudest professors of religion rejected the counsel of God against\nthemselves, being not baptized of Him. Nevertheless, by coming to Him,\nthey also had pleaded guilty. Something they needed; they were sore at\nheart, and would have welcomed any soothing balm, although they refused\nthe surgeon\u2019s knife.\n\nThe law did more than convict men; it inspired hope. The promise of a\nRedeemer shone like a rainbow across the dark story of the past. He was\nthe end of all the types, at once the Victim and the Priest. To Him gave\nall the prophets witness, and the Baptist brought all past attainment to\nits full height, and was \u201cmore than a prophet\u201d when he announced the\nactual presence of the Christ, when he pointed out to the first two\nApostles, the Lamb of God.\n\n\n\n\nAt The Jordan.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd he preached, saying, There cometh after me He that is\n    mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to\n    stoop down and unloose. I baptized you with water; but He shall\n    baptize you with the Holy Ghost. And it came to pass in those\n    days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized\n    of John in the Jordan. And straightway coming up out of the water,\n    He saw the heavens rent asunder, and the Spirit as a dove\n    descending upon Him: and a voice came out of the heavens, Thou art\n    My Beloved Son, in Thee I am well pleased.\u201d\u2014MARK i. 7-11 (R.V.).\n\n\nIt was when all men mused in their hearts whether John was the Christ or\nno, that he announced the coming of a Stronger One. By thus promptly\nsilencing a whisper, so honourable to himself, he showed how strong he\nreally was, and how unselfish \u201ca friend of the Bridegroom.\u201d Nor was this\nthe vague humility of phrase which is content to be lowly in general, so\nlong as no specified individual stands higher. His word is definite, and\naccepts much for himself. \u201cThe Stronger One than I cometh,\u201d and it is in\npresence of the might of Jesus (whom yet this fiery reformer called a\nLamb), that he feels himself unworthy to bend to the dust and unbind the\nlatchets or laces of his shoe.\n\nSo then, though asceticism be sometimes good, it is consciously not the\nhighest nor the most effective goodness. Perhaps it is the most\nimpressive. Without a miracle, the preaching of John shook the nation as\nwidely as that of Jesus melted it, and prepared men\u2019s hearts for His. A\nking consulted and feared him. And when the Pharisees were at open feud\nwith Jesus, they feared to be stoned if they should pronounce John\u2019s\nbaptism to be of men.\n\nYet is there weakness lurking even in the very quality which gives\nasceticism its power. That stern seclusion from an evil world, that\nperemptory denial of its charms, why are they so impressive? Because they\nset an example to those who are hard beset, of the one way of escape, the\ncutting off of the hand and foot, the plucking out of the eye. And our\nLord enjoins such mutilation of the life upon those whom its gifts betray.\nYet is it as the halt and maimed that such men enter into life. The\nascetic is a man who needs to sternly repress and deny his impulses, who\nis conscious of traitors within his breast that may revolt if the enemy be\nsuffered to approach too near.\n\nIt is harder to be a holy friend of publicans and sinners, a witness for\nGod while eating and drinking with these, than to remain in the desert\nundefiled. It is greater to convert a sinful woman in familiar converse by\nthe well, than to shake trembling multitudes by threats of the fire for\nthe chaff and the axe for the barren tree. And John confessed this. In the\nsupreme moment of his life, he added his own confession to that of all his\nnation. This rugged ascetic had need to be baptized of Him who came eating\nand drinking.\n\nNay, he taught that all his work was but superficial, a baptism with water\nto reach the surface of men\u2019s life, to check, at the most, exaction and\nviolence and neglect of the wants of others, while the Greater One should\nbaptize with the Holy Ghost, should pierce the depths of human nature, and\nthoroughly purge His floor.\n\nNothing could refute more clearly than our three simple narratives, the\nsceptical notion that Jesus yielded for awhile to the dominating influence\nof the Baptist. Only from the Gospels can we at all connect the two. And\nwhat we read here is, that before Jesus came, John expected his Superior;\nthat when they met, John declared his own need to be baptized of Him, that\nhe, nevertheless, submitted to the will of Jesus, and thereupon heard a\nvoice from the heavens which must for ever have destroyed all notion of\nequality; that afterwards he only saw Jesus at a distance, and made a\nconfession which transferred two of his disciples to our Lord.\n\nThe criticism which transforms our Lord\u2019s part in these events to that of\na pupil is far more wilful than would be tolerated in dealing with any\nother record. And it too palpably springs from the need to find some human\ninspiration for the Word of God, some candle from which the Sun of\nRighteousness took fire, if one would escape the confession that He is not\nof this world.\n\nBut here we meet a deeper question: Not why Jesus accepted baptism from an\ninferior, but why, being sinless, He sought for a baptism of repentance.\nHow is this act consistent with absolute and stainless purity?\n\nNow it sometimes lightens a difficulty to find that it is not occasional\nnor accidental, but wrought deep into the plan of a consistent work. And\nthe Gospels are consistent in representing the innocence of Jesus as\nrefusing immunity from the consequences of guilt. He was circumcised, and\nHis mother then paid the offering commanded by the law, although both\nthese actions spoke of defilement. In submitting to the likeness of sinful\nflesh He submitted to its conditions. He was present at feasts in which\nnational confessions led up to sacrifice, and the sacrificial blood was\nsprinkled to make atonement for the children of Israel, because of all\ntheir sins. When He tasted death itself, which passed upon all men, for\nthat all have sinned, He carried out to the utmost the same stern rule to\nwhich at His baptism He consciously submitted. Nor will any theory of His\natonement suffice, which is content with believing that His humiliations\nand sufferings, though inevitable, were only collateral results of contact\nwith our fallen race. Baptism was avoidable, and that without any\ncompromise of His influence, since the Pharisees refused it with impunity,\nand John would fain have exempted Him. Here at least He was not \u201centangled\nin the machinery,\u201d but deliberately turned the wheels upon Himself. And\nthis is the more impressive because, in another aspect of affairs, He\nclaimed to be out of the reach of ceremonial defilement, and touched\nwithout reluctance disease, leprosy and the dead.\n\nHumiliating and penal consequences of sin, to these He bowed His head. Yet\nto a confession of personal taint, never. And all the accounts agree that\nHe never was less conscience-stricken than when He shared the baptism of\nrepentance. St. Matthew implies, what St. Luke plainly declares, that He\ndid not come to baptism along with the crowds of penitents, but\nseparately. And at the point where all others made confession, in the hour\nwhen even the Baptist, although filled with the Holy Ghost from his\nmother\u2019s womb, had need to be baptized, He only felt the propriety, the\nfitness of fulfilling all righteousness. That mighty task was not even a\nyoke to Him, it was an instinct like that of beauty to an artist, it was\nwhat became Him.\n\nSt. Mark omits even this evidence of sinlessness. His energetic method is\nlike that of a great commander, who seizes at all costs the vital point\nupon the battle field. He constantly omits what is subordinate (although\nvery conscious of the power of graphic details), when by so doing he can\nforce the central thought upon the mind. Here he concentrates our\nattention upon the witness from above, upon the rending asunder of the\nheavens which unfold all their heights over a bended head, upon the\nvisible descent of the Holy Spirit in His fulness, upon the voice from the\nheavens which pealed through the souls of these two peerless worshippers,\nand proclaimed that He who had gone down to the baptismal flood was no\nsinner to be forgiven, but the beloved Son of God, in whom He is well\npleased.\n\nThat is our Evangelist\u2019s answer to all misunderstanding of the rite, and\nit is enough.\n\nHow do men think of heaven? Perhaps only as a remote point in space, where\nflames a material and solid structure into which it is the highest bliss\nto enter. A place there must be to which the Body of our Lord ascended and\nwhither He shall yet lead home His followers in spiritual bodies to be\nwith Him where He is. If, however, only this be heaven, we should hold\nthat in the revolutions of the solar system it hung just then vertically\nabove the Jordan, a few fathoms or miles aloft. But we also believe in a\nspiritual city, in which the pillars are living saints, an all-embracing\nblessedness and rapture and depth of revelation, whereinto holy mortals in\ntheir highest moments have been \u201ccaught up,\u201d a heaven whose angels ascend\nand descend upon the Son of man. In this hour of highest consecration,\nthese heavens were thrown open\u2014rent asunder\u2014for the gaze of our Lord and\nof the Baptist. They were opened again when the first martyr died. And we\nread that what eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor heart conceived of the\npreparation of God for them that love Him, He hath already revealed to\nthem by His Spirit. To others there is only cloud or \u201cthe infinite azure,\u201d\nas to the the crowd by the Jordan and the murderers of Stephen.\n\nNow it is to be observed that we never read of Jesus being caught up into\nheaven for a space, like St. Paul or St. John. What we read is, that while\non earth the Son of man is in Heaven (John iii. 13),(1) for heaven is the\nmanifestation of God, whose truest glory was revealed in the grace and\ntruth of Jesus.\n\nAlong with this revelation, the Holy Spirit was manifested wondrously. His\nappearance, indeed, is quite unlike what it was to others. At Pentecost He\nbecame visible, but since each disciple received only a portion,\n\u201caccording to his several ability,\u201d his fitting symbol was \u201ctongues\nparting asunder like as of fire.\u201d He came as an element powerful and\npervasive, not as a Personality bestowed in all His vital force on any\none.\n\nSo, too, the phrase which John used, when predicting that Jesus should\nbaptize with the Holy Ghost, slightly though it differs from what is here,\nimplies(2) that only a portion is to be given, not the fulness. And the\nangel who foretold to Zacharias that John himself should be filled with\nthe Holy Ghost, conveyed the same limitation in his words. John received\nall that he was able to receive: he was filled. But how should mortal\ncapacity exhaust the fulness of Deity? And Who is this, upon Whom, while\nJohn is but an awe-stricken beholder, the Spirit of God descends in all\ncompleteness, a living organic unity, like a dove? Only the Infinite is\ncapable of receiving such a gift, and this is He in Whom dwelleth all the\nfulness of the Godhead bodily. No wonder then that \u201cin bodily form\u201d as a\ndove, the Spirit of God descended upon Him alone. Henceforward He became\nthe great Dispenser, and \u201cthe Spirit emanated from Him as perfume from the\nrose when it has opened.\u201d\n\nAt the same time was heard a Voice from heaven. And the bearing of this\npassage upon the Trinity becomes clear, when we combine the manifestation\nof the Spirit in living Personality, and the Divine Voice, not from the\nDove but from the heavens, with the announcement that Jesus is not merely\nbeloved and well-pleasing, but a Son, and in this high sense the only Son,\nsince the words are literally \u201cThou art the Son of Me, the beloved.\u201d And\nyet He is to bring many sons unto glory.\n\nIs it consistent with due reverence to believe that this voice conveyed a\nmessage to our Lord Himself? Even so liberal a critic as Neander has\ndenied this. But if we grasp the meaning of what we believe, that He upon\ntaking flesh \u201cemptied Himself,\u201d that He increased in wisdom during His\nyouth, and that there was a day and hour which to the end of life He knew\nnot, we need not suppose that His infancy was so unchildlike as the\nrealisation of His mysterious and awful Personality would make it. There\nmust then have been a period when His perfect human development rose up\ninto what Renan calls (more accurately than he knows) identification of\nHimself with the object of His devotion, carried to the utmost limit. Nor\nis this period quite undiscoverable, for when it arrived it would seem\nhighly unnatural to postpone His public ministry further. Now this\nreasonable inference is entirely supported by the narrative. St. Matthew\nindeed regards the event from the Baptist\u2019s point of vision. But St. Mark\nand St. Luke are agreed that to Jesus Himself it was also said, \u201c_Thou_\nart My beloved Son.\u201d Now this is not the way to teach us that the\ntestimony came only to John. And how solemn a thought is this, that the\nfull certitude of His destiny expanded before the eyes of Jesus, just when\nHe lifted them from those baptismal waters in which He stooped so low.\n\n\n\n\nThe Temptation.\n\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\n    Him.\u201d\u2014MARK i. 12, 13 (R.V.).\n\n\nSt. Mark has not recorded the details of our Lord\u2019s temptations, and lays\nmore stress upon the duration of the struggle, than the nature of the last\nand crowning assaults. But he is careful, like the others, to connect it\nclosely with the baptism of Jesus, and the miraculous testimony then borne\nto Him.\n\nIt is indeed instructive that He should have suffered this affront,\nimmediately upon being recognised as the Messiah. But the explanation will\nnot be found in the notion, which Milton has popularised, that only now\nSatan was assured of the urgent necessity for attacking Him:\n\n\n    \u201cThat heard the adversary ... and with the voice Divine\n    Nigh thunderstruck, the exalted Man, to whom\n    Such high attest was given, awhile surveyed\n    With wonder.\u201d\n\n\nAs if Satan forgot the marvels of the sacred infancy. As if the spirits\nwho attack all could have failed to identify, after thirty years of\ndefeat, the Greater One whom the Baptist had everywhere proclaimed. No.\nBut Satan admirably chose the time for a supreme effort. High places are\ndizzy, and especially when one has just attained them; and therefore it\nwas when the voice of the herald and the Voice from the heavens were\nblended in acclaim, that the Evil One tried all his arts. He had formerly\nplunged Elijah into despair and a desire to die, immediately after fire\nfrom heaven responded to the prophet\u2019s prayer. Soon after this, he would\ndegrade Peter to be his mouthpiece, just when his noblest testimony was\nborne, and the highest approval of his Lord was won. In the flush of their\ntriumphs he found his best opportunity; but Jesus remained unflushed, and\nmet the first recorded temptation, in the full consciousness of\nMessiahship, by quoting the words which spoke to every man alike, and as\nman.\n\nIt is a lesson which the weakest needs to learn, for little victories can\nintoxicate little men.\n\nIt is easy then to see why the recorded temptations insist upon the\nexceptional dignity of Christ, and urge Him to seize its advantages, while\nHe insists on bearing the common burden, and proves Himself greatest by\nbecoming least of all. The sharp contrast between His circumstances and\nHis rank drove the temptations deep into His consciousness, and wounded\nHis sensibilities, though they failed to shake His will.\n\nHow unnatural that the Son of God should lack and suffer hunger, how right\nthat He should challenge recognition, how needful (though now His sacred\nPersonality is cunningly allowed to fall somewhat into the background)\nthat He should obtain armies and splendour.\n\nThis explains the possibility of temptation in a sinless nature, which\nindeed can only be denied by assuming that sin is part of the original\ncreation. Not because we are sinful, but because we are flesh and blood\n(of which He became partaker), when we feel the pains of hunger we are\nattracted by food, at whatever price it is offered. In truth, no man is\nallured by sin, but only by the bait and bribe of sin, except perhaps in\nthe last stages of spiritual decomposition.\n\nNow, just as the bait allures, and not the jaws of the trap, so the power\nof a temptation is not its wickedness, not the guilty service, but the\nproffered recompense; and this appeals to the most upright man, equally\nwith the most corrupt. Thus the stress of a temptation is to be measured\nby our gravitation, not towards the sin, but towards the pleasure or\nadvantage which is entangled with that. And this may be realised even more\npowerfully by a man of keen feeling and vivid imagination who does not\nfalter, than by a grosser nature which succumbs.\n\nNow Jesus was a perfect man. To His exquisite sensibilities, which had\nneither inherited nor contracted any blemish, the pain of hunger at the\nopening of His ministry, and the horror of the cross at its close, were\nnot less intense, but sharper than to ours. And this pain and horror\nmeasured the temptation to evade them. The issue never hung in the scales;\neven to hesitate would have been to forfeit the delicate bloom of absolute\nsinlessness; but, none the less, the decision was costly, the temptation\npoignant.\n\nSt. Mark has given us no details; but there is immense and compressed\npower in the assertion, only his, that the temptation lasted all through\nthe forty days. We know the power of an unremitting pressure, an incessant\nimportunity, a haunting thought. A very trifling annoyance, long\nprotracted, drives men to strange remedies. And the remorseless urgency of\nSatan may be measured by what St. Matthew tells us, that only after the\nforty days Jesus became aware of the pains of hunger. Perhaps the\nassertion that He was with the wild beasts may throw some ray of light\nupon the nature of the temptation. There is no intimation of bodily peril.\nOn the other hand it seems incredible that what is hinted is His own\nconsciousness of the supernatural dignity from which\n\n\n    \u201cThe fiery serpent fled, and noxious worm;\n    The lion and fierce tiger glared aloof.\u201d\n\n\nSuch a consciousness would have relieved the strain of which their\npresence is evidently a part. Nay, but the oppressive solitude, the waste\nregion so unlike His blooming Nazareth, and the ferocity of the brute\ncreation, all would conspire to suggest those dread misgivings and\nquestionings which are provoked by \u201cthe something that infects the world.\u201d\n\nSurely we may believe that He Who was tempted at all points like as we\nare, felt now the deadly chill which falls upon the soul from the shadow\nof our ruined earth. In our nature He bore the assault and overcame. And\nthen His human nature condescended to accept help, such as ours receives,\nfrom the ministering spirits which are sent forth to minister to them that\nshall be heirs of salvation. So perfectly was He made like unto His\nbrethren.\n\n\n\n\nThe Early Preaching And The First Disciples.\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. And passing along by the sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and\n    Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net in the sea; for they\n    were fishers. And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after Me, and I\n    will make you to become fishers of men. And straightway they left\n    the nets, and followed Him. And going on a little further, He saw\n    James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in\n    the boat mending the nets. And straightway He called them: and\n    they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired\n    servants, and went after Him.\u201d\u2014MARK i. 14-20 (R.V.).\n\n\nSt. Mark has shown us the Baptist proclaiming Christ. He now tells us that\nwhen John was imprisoned, Jesus, turning from that Judean ministry which\nstirred the jealousy of John\u2019s disciples (John iii. 26), \u201ccame into\nGalilee, preaching.\u201d And one looks twice before observing that His\nteaching is a distinct advance upon the herald\u2019s. Men are still to repent;\nfor however slightly modern preachers may heal the hurt of souls, real\ncontrition is here taken over into the gospel scheme. But the time which\nwas hitherto said to be at hand is now fulfilled. And they are not only to\nbelieve the gospel, but to \u201cbelieve in it.\u201d Reliance, the effort of the\nsoul by which it ceases equally to be self-confident and to despair,\nconfiding itself to some word which is a gospel, or some being who has\nsalvation to bestow, that is belief in its object. And it is highly\nimportant to observe that faith is thus made prominent so early in our\nLord\u2019s teaching. The vitalizing power of faith was no discovery of St.\nPaul; it was not evolved by devout meditation after Jesus had passed from\nview, nor introduced into His system when opposition forced Him to bind\nmen to Him in a stronger allegiance. The power of faith is implied in His\nearliest preaching, and it is connected with His earliest miracles. But no\nsuch phrase as the power of faith is ever used. Faith is precious only as\nit leans on what is trustworthy. And it is produced, not by thinking of\nfaith itself, but of its proper object. Therefore Christ did not come\npreaching faith, but preaching the gospel of God, and bidding men believe\nin that.\n\nShall we not follow His example? It is morally certain that Abraham never\nheard of salvation by faith, yet he was justified by faith when he\nbelieved in Him Who justifieth the ungodly. To preach Him, and His gospel,\nis the way to lead men to be saved by faith.\n\nFew things are more instructive to consider than the slow, deliberate, yet\nfirm steps by which Christ advanced to the revelation of God in flesh.\nThirty years of silence, forty days of seclusion after heaven had\nproclaimed Him, leisurely intercourse with Andrew and John, Peter and\nNathanael, and then a brief ministry in a subject nation, and chiefly in a\ndespised province. It is not the action of a fanatic. It exactly fulfils\nHis own description of the kingdom which He proclaimed, which was to\nexhibit first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. And\nit is a lesson to all time, that the boldest expectations possible to\nfaith do not justify feverish haste and excited longings for immediate\nprominence or immediate success. The husbandman who has long patience with\nthe seed is not therefore hopeless of the harvest\n\nPassing by the sea of Galilee, Jesus finds two fishermen at their toil,\nand bids them follow Him. Both are men of decided and earnest character;\none is to become the spokesman and leader of the Apostolic band, and the\nlittle which is recorded of the other indicates the same temperament,\nsomewhat less developed. Our Lord now calls upon them to take a decided\nstep. But here again we find traces of the same deliberate progression,\nthe same absence of haste, as in His early preaching. He does not, as\nunthinking readers fancy, come upon two utter strangers, fascinate and\narrest them in a moment, and sweep their lives into the vortex of His own.\nAndrew had already heard the Baptist proclaim the Lamb of God, had\nfollowed Jesus home, and had introduced his brother, to whom Jesus then\ngave the new name Cephas. Their faith had since been confirmed by\nmiracles. The demands of our Lord may be trying, but they are never\nunreasonable, and the faith He claims is not a blind credulity.\n\nNor does He, even now, finally and entirely call them away from their\noccupation. Some time is still to elapse, and a sign, especially\nimpressive to fishermen, the miraculous draught of fishes, is to burn into\ntheir minds a profound sense of their unworthiness, before the vocation\nnow promised shall arrive. Then He will say, From henceforth ye shall\ncatch men: now He says, I will prepare you for that future, I will make\nyou to become fishers of men. So ungrounded is the suspicion of any\nconfusion between the stories of the three steps by which they rose to\ntheir Apostleship.\n\nA little further on, He finds the two sons of Zebedee, and calls them\nalso. John had almost certainly been the companion of Andrew when he\nfollowed Jesus home, and his brother had become the sharer of his hopes.\nAnd if there were any hesitation, the example of their comrades helped\nthem to decide\u2014so soon, so inevitably does each disciple begin to be a\nfisher of other men\u2014and leaving their father, as we are gracefully told,\nnot desolate, but with servants, they also follow Jesus.\n\nThus He asks, from each group, the sacrifice involved in following Him at\nan inconvenient time. The first are casting their nets and eager in their\nquest. The others are mending their nets, perhaps after some large draught\nhad broken them. So Levi was sitting at the receipt of toll. Not one of\nthe Twelve was chosen to that high rank when idle.\n\nVery charming, very powerful still is the spell by which Christ drew His\nfirst apostles to His side. Not yet are they told anything of thrones on\nwhich they are to sit and judge the tribes of Israel, or that their names\nshall be engraven on the foundations of the heavenly city besides being\ngreat on earth while the world stands. For them, the capture of men was\nless lucrative than that of fish, and less honourable, for they suffered\nthe loss of all things and were made as the filth of the earth. To learn\nChrist\u2019s art, to be made helpful in drawing souls to Him, following Jesus\nand catching men, this was enough to attract His first ministers; God\ngrant that a time may never come when ministers for whom this is enough,\nshall fail. Where the spirit of self devotion is absent how can the Spirit\nof Christ exist?\n\n\n\n\nTeaching With Authority.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd they go into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day He\n    entered into the synagogue and taught. And they were astonished at\n    His teaching: for He taught them as having authority, and not as\n    the scribes.\u201d\u2014MARK i. 21, 22 (R.V.).\n\n\nThe worship of the synagogues, not having been instituted by Moses, but\ngradually developed by the public need, was comparatively free and\nunconventional. Sometimes it happened that remarkable and serious-looking\nstrangers were invited, if they had any word of exhortation, to say on\n(Acts xiii. 15). Sometimes one presented himself, as the custom of our\nLord was (Luke iv. 16). Amid the dull mechanical tendencies which were\nthen turning the heart of Judaism to stone, the synagogue may have been\noften a centre of life and rallying-place of freedom. In Galilee, where\nsuch worship predominated over that of the remote Temple and its\nhierarchy, Jesus found His trusted followers and the nucleus of the\nChurch. In foreign lands, St. Paul bore first to his brethren in their\nsynagogues the strange tidings that their Messiah had expired upon a\ncross. And before His rupture with the chiefs of Judaism, the synagogues\nwere fitting places for our Lord\u2019s early teaching. He made use of the\nexisting system, and applied it, just as we have seen Him use the teaching\nof the Baptist as a starting-point for His own. And this ought to be\nobserved, that Jesus revolutionized the world by methods the furthest from\nbeing revolutionary. The institutions of His age and land were corrupt\nwell-nigh to the core, but He did not therefore make a clean sweep, and\nbegin again. He did not turn His back on the Temple and synagogues, nor\noutrage sabbaths, nor come to destroy the law and the prophets. He bade\nHis followers reverence the seat where the scribes and Pharisees sat, and\ndrew the line at their false lives and perilous examples. Amid that evil\ngeneration He found soil wherein His seed might germinate, and was content\nto hide His leaven in the lump where it should gradually work out its\ndestiny. In so doing He was at one with Providence, which had slowly\nevolved the convictions of the Old Testament, spending centuries upon the\nprocess. Now the power which belongs to such moderation has scarcely been\nrecognised until these latter days. The political sagacity of Somers and\nBurke, and the ecclesiastical wisdom of our own reformers, had their\noccult and unsuspected fountains in the method by which Jesus planted the\nkingdom which came not with observation. But who taught the Carpenter? It\nis therefore significant that all the Gospels of the Galilean ministry\nconnect our Lord\u2019s early teaching with the synagogue.\n\nSt. Mark is by no means the evangelist of the discourses. And this adds to\nthe interest with which we find him indicate, with precise exactitude, the\nfirst great difference that would strike the hearers of Christ between His\nteaching and that of others. He taught with authority, and not as the\nscribes. Their doctrine was built with dreary and irrational ingenuity,\nupon perverted views of the old law. The shape of a Hebrew letter, words\nwhereof the initials would spell some important name, wire-drawn\ninferences, astounding allusions, ingenuity such as men waste now upon the\nnumber of the beast and the measurement of a pyramid, these were the\ndoctrine of the scribes.\n\nAnd an acute observer would remark that the authority of Christ\u2019s teaching\nwas peculiar in a farther-reaching sense. If, as seems clear, Jesus said,\n\u201cYe have heard that it hath been said\u201d (not \u201cby,\u201d but) \u201cto them of old\ntime, but I say unto you,\u201d He then claimed the place, not of Moses who\nheard the Divine Voice, but of Him Who spoke. Even if this could be\ndoubted, the same spirit is elsewhere unmistakable. The tables which Moses\nbrought were inscribed by the finger of Another: none could make him the\nSupreme arbitrator while overhead the trumpet waxed louder and louder,\nwhile the fiery pillar marshalled their journeying, while the mysterious\nPresence consecrated the mysterious shrine. Prophet after prophet opened\nand closed his message with the words, \u201cThus saith the Lord.\u201d ... \u201cFor the\nmouth of the Lord hath spoken it.\u201d Jesus was content with the attestation,\n\u201cVerily, I say unto you.\u201d Blessed as a wise builder was the hearer and\ndoer of \u201cthese words of Mine.\u201d Everywhere in His teaching the centre of\nauthority is personal. He distinctly recognises the fact that He is adding\nto the range of the ancient law of respect for human life, and for purity,\nveracity and kindness. But He assigns no authority for these additions,\nbeyond His own. Persecution by all men is a blessed thing to endure, if it\nbe for His sake and the gospel\u2019s. Now this is unique. Moses or Isaiah\nnever dreamed that devotion to himself took rank with devotion to his\nmessage. Nor did St. Paul. But Christ opens His ministry with the same\npretensions as at the close, when others may not be called Rabbi, nor\nMaster, because these titles belong to Him.\n\nAnd the lapse of ages renders this \u201cauthority\u201d of Christ more wonderful\nthan at first. The world bows down before something other than His\nclearness of logic or subtlety of inference. He still announces where\nothers argue, He reveals, imposes on us His supremacy, bids us take His\nyoke and learn. And we still discover in His teaching a freshness and\nprofundity, a universal reach of application and yet an unearthliness of\naspect, which suit so unparalleled a claim. Others have constructed\ncisterns in which to store truth, or aqueducts to convey it from higher\nlevels. Christ is Himself a fountain; and not only so, but the water which\nHe gives, when received aright, becomes in the faithful heart a well of\nwater springing up in new, inexhaustible developments.\n\n\n\n\nMiracles.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd straightway there was in their synagogue a man with an\n    unclean spirit.\u201d\u2014MARK i. 23 (R.V.).\n\n\nWe have just read that Christ\u2019s teaching astonished the hearers. He was\nabout to astonish them yet more, for we have now reached the first miracle\nwhich St. Mark records. With what sentiments should such a narrative be\napproached? The evangelist connects it emphatically with Christ\u2019s\nassertion of authority. Immediately upon the impression which His manner\nof teaching produced, straightway, there was in the synagogue a man with\nan unclean spirit. And upon its expulsion, what most impressed the people\nwas, that as He taught with authority, so \u201cwith authority He commandeth\neven the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.\u201d\n\nLet us try whether this may not be a providential clue, to guide us amid\nthe embarrassments which beset, in our day, the whole subject of miracles.\n\nA miracle, we are told, is an interference with the laws of nature; and it\nis impossible, because they are fixed and their operation is uniform. But\nthese bold words need not disconcert any one who has learned to ask, In\nwhat sense are the operations of nature uniform? Is the operation of the\nlaws which govern the wind uniform, whether my helm is to port or\nstarboard? Can I not modify the operation of sanitary laws by\ndeodorization, by drainage, by a thousand resources of civilization? The\ntruth is, that while natural laws remain fixed, human intelligence\nprofoundly modifies their operation. How then will the objector prove that\nno higher Being can as naturally do the same? He answers, Because the sum\ntotal of the forces of nature is a fixed quantity: nothing can be added to\nthat sum, nothing taken from it: the energy of all our machinery existed\nages ago in the heat of tropical suns, then in vegetation, and ever since,\nthough latent, in our coal beds; and the claim to add anything to that\ntotal is subversive of modern science. But again we ask, If the physician\nadds nothing to the sum of forces when he banishes one disease by\ninoculation, and another by draining a marsh, why must Jesus have added to\nthe sum of forces in order to expel a demon or to cool a fever? It will\nnot suffice to answer, because His methods are contrary to experience.\nBeyond experience they are. But so were the marvels of electricity to our\nparents and of steam to theirs. The chemistry which analyses the stars is\nnot incredible, although thirty years ago its methods were \u201ccontrary\u201d to\nthe universal experience of humanity. Man is now doing what he never did\nbefore, because he is a more skilful and better informed agent than he\never was. Perhaps at this moment, in the laboratory of some unknown\nstudent, some new force is preparing to amaze the world. But the sum of\nthe forces of nature will remain unchanged. Why is it assumed that a\nmiracle must change them? Simply because men have already denied God, or\nat least denied that He is present within His world, as truly as the\nchemist is within it. If we think of Him as interrupting its processes\nfrom without, laying upon the vast machine so powerful a grasp as to\narrest its working, then indeed the sum of forces is disturbed, and the\ncomplaints of science are justified. This may, or it may not, have been\nthe case in creative epochs, of which science knows no more than of the\nbeginning of life and of consciousness. But it has nothing to say against\nthe doctrine of the miracles of Jesus. For this doctrine assumes that God\nis ever present in His universe; that by Him all things consist; that He\nis not far from any one of us, for in Him we live and move and have our\nbeing, although men may be as unconscious of Him as of gravitation and\nelectricity. When these became known to man, the stability of law was\nunaffected. And it is a wild assumption that if a supreme and vital force\nexist, a living God, He cannot make His energies visible without affecting\nthe stability of law.\n\nNow Christ Himself appeals expressly and repeatedly to this immanent\npresence of God as the explanation of His \u201cworks.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy Father worketh hitherto, and I work.\u201d \u201cThe Father loveth the Son, and\nshoweth Him all things that Himself doeth.\u201d \u201cI, by the finger of God, cast\nout devils.\u201d\n\nThus a miracle, even in the Old Testament, is not an interruption of law\nby God, but a manifestation of God who is within nature always; to common\nevents it is as the lightning to the cloud, a revelation of the\nelectricity which was already there. God was made known, when invoked by\nHis agents, in signs from heaven, in fire and tempest, in drought and\npestilence, a God who judgeth. These are the miracles of God interposing\nfor His people against their foes. But the miracles of Christ are those of\nGod carrying forward to the uttermost His presence in the world, God\nmanifest in the flesh. They are the works of Him in Whom dwelleth all the\nfulness of the Godhead bodily.\n\nAnd this explains what would otherwise be so perplexing, the essentially\ndifferent nature of His miracles from those of the Old Testament.\nInfidelity pretends that those are the models on which myth or legend\nformed the miracles of Jesus, but the plain answer is that they are built\non no model of the kind. The difference is so great as to be startling.\n\nTremendous convulsions and visitations of wrath are now unknown, because\nGod is now reconciling the world unto Himself, and exhibiting in miracles\nthe presence of Him Who is not far from every one of us, His presence in\nlove to redeem the common life of man, and to bless, by sharing it.\nTherefore His gifts are homely, they deal with average life and its\nnecessities, bread and wine and fish are more to the purpose than that man\nshould eat angels\u2019 food, the rescue of storm-tossed fishermen than the\nengulfment of pursuing armies, the healing of prevalent disease than the\nplaguing of Egypt or the destruction of Sennacherib.\n\nSuch a Presence thus manifested is the consistent doctrine of the Church.\nIt is a theory which men may reject at their own peril if they please. But\nthey must not pretend to refute it by any appeal to either the uniformity\nof law or the stability of force.\n\nMen tell us that the divinity of Jesus was an afterthought; what shall we\nsay then to this fact, that men observed from the very first a difference\nbetween the manner of His miracles and all that was recorded in their\nScriptures, or that they could have deemed fit? It is exactly the same\npeculiarity, carried to the highest pitch; as they already felt in His\ndiscourses. They are wrought without any reference whatever to a superior\nwill. Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do? Elijah said,\nHear me O Lord, hear me. But Jesus said, I will ... I charge thee come out\n... I am able to do this. And so marked is the change, that even His\nfollowers cast out devils in His name, and say not, Where is the Lord God\nof Israel? but, In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. His power is\ninherent, it is self-possessed, and His acts in the synoptics are only\nexplained by His words in St. John, \u201cWhat things soever the Father doeth,\nthese the Son also doeth in like manner.\u201d No wonder that St. Mark adds to\nHis very first record of a miracle, that the people were amazed, and\nasked, What is this? a new teaching! with authority He commandeth even the\nunclean spirits and they do obey Him! It was divinity which, without\nrecognising, they felt, implicit in His bearing. No wonder also that His\nenemies strove hard to make Him say, Who gave Thee this authority? Nor\ncould they succeed in drawing from Him any sign from heaven. The centre\nand source of the supernatural, for human apprehension, has shifted\nitself, and the vision of Jesus is the vision of the Father also.\n\n\n\n\nThe Demoniac.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd straightway there was in their synagogue a man with an\n    unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying, What have we to do with\n    Thee, Thou Jesus of Nazareth? art Thou come to destroy us? I know\n    Thee Who Thou art, the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him,\n    saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And the unclean\n    spirit, tearing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.\n    And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among\n    themselves, saying, What is this? a new teaching! with authority\n    He commandeth even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him. And the\n    report of Him went out straightway everywhere into all the region\n    of Galilee round about.\u201d\u2014MARK i. 23-28 (R.V.).\n\n\nWe have seen that belief in the stability of natural law does not forbid\nus to believe in miracles.\n\nSpecial objections are urged, however, against the belief in demoniacal\npossession. The very existence of demons is declared to be inconsistent\nwith the omnipotence of God, or else with His goodness.\n\nAnd it may be granted that abstract reasoning in an ideal world, thought\nmoving in a vacuum, would scarcely evolve a state of things so far removed\nfrom the ideal. This, however, is an argument against the existence, not\nof demons, but of evil in any shape. It is the familiar insoluble problem\nof all religions, How can evil exist in the universe of God? And it is\nbalanced by the insoluble problem of all irreligious systems: In a\nuniverse without God, how can either good or evil exist, as distinguished\nfrom the advantageous and the unprofitable? Whence comes the\nunquestionable difference between a lie and a bad bargain?\n\nBut the argument against evil spirits professes to be something more than\na disguised reproduction of this abstract problem. What more is it? What\nis gained by denying the fiends, as long as we cannot deny the fiends\nincarnate\u2014the men who take pleasure in unrighteousness, in the seduction\nand ruin of their fellows, in the infliction of torture and outrage, in\nthe ravage and desolation of nations? Such freedom has been granted to the\nhuman will, for even these ghastly issues have not been judged so deadly\nas coercion and moral fatalism. What presumption can possibly remain\nagainst the existence of other beings than men, who have fallen yet\nfarther? If, indeed, it be certainly so much farther. For we know that men\nhave lived, not outcasts from society, but boastful sons of Abraham, who\nwilled to perform the lusts (\u03c4\u1f70 \u1f10\u03c0\u03b9\u03b8\u03c5\u03bc\u03af\u03b1\u03c2) of their father the devil. Now\nsince we are not told that the wickedness of demons is infinite,(3) but\nonly that it is abysmal, and since we know that abysses of wickedness do\nactually exist, what sort of vindication of Deity is this which will\nbelieve that such gulfs are yawning only in the bosom of man?\n\nIt alarms and shocks us to think that evil spirits have power over the\nhuman mind, and still more that such power should extend, as in cases of\npossession, even to the body. Evil men, however, manifestly wield such\npower. \u201cThey got rid of the wicked one,\u201d said Goethe, \u201cbut they could not\nget rid of the wicked ones.\u201d Social and intellectual charm, high rank, the\nmysterious attraction of a strong individuality, all are employed at times\nto mislead and debase the shuddering, reluctant, mesmerised wills of\nweaker men and women. And then the mind acts upon the body, as perhaps it\nalways does. Drunkenness and debauchery shake the nerves. Paralysis and\nlunacy tread hard on the footsteps of excess. Experience knows no reason\nfor denying that when wickedness conquers the soul it will also deal\nhardly with the body.\n\nBut we must not stop here. For the Gospels do not countenance the popular\nnotion that special wickedness was the cause of the fearful wretchedness\nof the possessed. Young children suffered. Jesus often cautioned a\nsufferer to sin no more lest worse results should follow than those He had\nremoved; but He is never known to have addressed this warning to\ndemoniacs. They suffered from the tyranny of Satan, rather than from his\nseduction; and the analogies which make credible so frightful an outrage\nupon human nature, are the wrongs done by despots and mobs, by invading\narmies and persecuting religionists. Yet people who cannot believe that a\ndemon could throw a child upon the fire, are not incredulous of Attila,\nNapoleon, and the Inquisition.\n\nThus it appears that such a narrative need startle no believer in God, and\nin moral good and evil, who considers the unquestionable facts of life.\nAnd how often will the observant Christian be startled at the wild\ninsurrection and surging up of evil thought and dark suggestions, which he\ncannot believe to be his own, which will not be gainsaid nor repulsed. How\neasily do such experiences fall in with the plain words of Scripture, by\nwhich the veil is drawn aside, and the mystery of the spiritual world laid\nbare. Then we learn that man is not only fallen but assaulted, not only\nfeeble but enslaved, not only a wandering sheep but led captive by the\ndevil at his will.\n\nWe turn to the narrative before us. They are still wondering at our Lord\u2019s\nauthoritative manner, when \u201cstraightway,\u201d for opportunities were countless\nuntil unbelief arose, a man with an unclean spirit attracts attention. We\ncan only conjecture the special meaning of this description. A recent\ncommentator assumes that \u201clike the rest, he had his dwelling among the\ntombs: an overpowering influence had driven him away from the haunts of\nmen.\u201d (Canon Luckock, _in loco_). To others this feature in the\nwretchedness of the Gadarene may perhaps seem rather to be exceptional,\nthe last touch in the appalling picture of his misery. It may be that\nnothing more outrageous than morbid gloom or sullen mutterings had\nhitherto made it necessary to exclude this sufferer from the synagogue. Or\nthe language may suggest that he rushed abruptly in, driven by the frantic\nhostility of the fiend, or impelled by some mysterious and lingering hope,\nas the demoniac of Gadara ran to Christ.\n\nWhat we know is that the sacred Presence provoked a crisis. There is an\nunbelief which never can be silent, never wearies railing at the faith,\nand there is a corruption which resents goodness and hates it as a\npersonal wrong. So the demons who possessed men were never able to\nconfront Jesus calmly. They resent His interference; they cry out; they\ndisclaim having anything to do with Him; they seem indignant that He\nshould come to destroy them who have destroyed so many. There is something\nweird and unearthly in the complaint. But men also are wont to forget\ntheir wrong doing when they come to suffer, and it is recorded that even\nNero had abundance of compassion for himself. Weird also and terrible is\nit, that this unclean spirit should choose for his confession that pure\nand exquisite epithet, the Holy One of God. The phrase only recurs in the\nwords of St. Peter, \u201cWe have believed and know that Thou art the Holy One\nof God\u201d (John vi. 69, R.V.). Was it not a mournful association of ideas\nwhich then led Jesus to reply, \u201cHave I not chosen you the Twelve, and one\nof you is a devil?(4)\u201d But although the phrase is beautiful, and possibly\n\u201cwild with all regret,\u201d there is no relenting, no better desire than to be\n\u201clet alone.\u201d And so Jesus, so gentle with sinful men, yet sometime to be\ntheir judge also, is stern and cold. \u201cHold thy peace\u2014be muzzled,\u201d He\nanswers, as to a wild beast, \u201cand come out of him.\u201d Whereupon the evil\nspirit exhibits at once his ferocity and his defeat. Tearing and\nscreaming, he came out, but we read in St. Luke that he did the man no\nharm.\n\nAnd the spectators drew the proper inference. A new power implied a new\nrevelation. Something far-reaching and profound might be expected from Him\nwho commanded even the unclean spirits with authority, and was obeyed.\n\nIt is the custom of unbelievers to speak as if the air of Palestine were\nthen surcharged with belief in the supernatural. Miracles were everywhere.\nThus they would explain away the significance of the popular belief that\nour Lord wrought signs and wonders. But in so doing they set themselves a\nworse problem than they evade. If miracles were so very common, it would\nbe as easy to believe that Jesus wrought them as that He worked at His\nfather\u2019s bench. But also it would be as inconclusive. And how then are we\nto explain the astonishment which all the evangelists so constantly\nrecord? On any conceivable theory, these writers shared the beliefs of\nthat age. And so did the readers who accepted their assurance that all\nwere amazed, and that His report \u201cwent out straightway everywhere into all\nthe region of Galilee.\u201d These are emphatic words, and both the author and\nhis readers must have considered a miracle to be more surprising than\nmodern critics believe they did.\n\nYet we do not read that any one was converted by this miracle. All were\namazed, but wonder is not self-surrender. They were content to let their\nexcitement die out, as every violent emotion must, without any change of\nlife, any permanent devotion to the new Teacher and His doctrine.\n\n\n\n\nA Group Of Miracles.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd straightway, when they were come out of the synagogue, they\n    came into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now\n    Simon\u2019s wife\u2019s mother lay sick of a fever; and straightway they\n    tell Him of her: and He came and took her by the hand, and raised\n    her up; and the fever left her, and she ministered unto them. And\n    at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto Him all that were\n    sick, and them that were possessed with devils. And all the city\n    was gathered together at the door. And He healed many that were\n    sick with divers diseases, and cast out many devils; and He\n    suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew Him.\u201d\u2014MARK i.\n    29-34 (R.V.).\n\n\nSt. Matthew tells us that on leaving the synagogue they entered into\nPeter\u2019s house. St. Mark, with his peculiar sources of information, is\naware that Andrew shared the house with his brother.\n\nEspecial interest attaches to the mention of the mother-in-law of Peter,\nas proving that Jesus chose a married man to be an apostle, the very\napostle from whom the celibate ministry of Rome professes to have received\nthe keys. The evidence does not stand alone. When St. Paul\u2019s apostolic\nauthority was impugned, he insisted that he had the same right to bring\nwith him in his travels a believing wife, which Peter exercised. And\nClement of Alexandria tells us that Peter\u2019s wife acted as his coadjutor,\nministering to women in their own homes, by which means the gospel of\nChrist penetrated without scandal the privacy of women\u2019s apartments. Thus\nthe notion of a Zenana mission is by no means modern.\n\nThe mother of such a wife is afflicted by fever of a kind which still\nhaunts that district. \u201cAnd they tell Him of her.\u201d Doubtless there was\nsolicitude and hope in their voices, even if desire did not take the shape\nof formal prayer. We are just emerging from that early period when belief\nin His power to heal might still be united with some doubt whether free\napplication might be made to Him. His disciples might still be as unwise\nas those modern theologians who are so busy studying the miracles as a\nsign that they forget to think of them as works of love. Any such\nhesitation was now to be dispelled for ever.\n\nIt is possible that such is the meaning of the expression, and if so, it\nhas a useful lesson. Sometimes there are temporal gifts which we scarce\nknow whether we should pray for, so complex are our feelings, so entangled\nour interests with those of others, so obscure and dubious the springs\nwhich move our desire. Is it presumptuous to ask? Yet can it be right to\nkeep anything back, in our communion with our Father?\n\nNow there is a curious similarity between the expression \u201cthey tell Jesus\nof her\u201d and that phrase which is only applied to prayer when St. Paul bids\nus pray for all that is in our hearts. \u201cIn nothing be anxious, but in\neverything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests\nbe made known unto God.\u201d So shall the great benediction be fulfilled: \u201cThe\npeace of God which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and\nyour thoughts\u201d (Phil. iv. 6, 7). All that is unholy shall be purified, all\nthat is unwise subdued, all that is expedient granted.\n\nIf this be indeed the force of St. Mark\u2019s phrase, Jesus felt their modest\nreticence to be a strong appeal, for St. Luke says \u201cthey besought Him,\u201d\nwhile St. Matthew merely writes that He saw her lying. The \u201cInterpreter of\nSt. Peter\u201d is most likely to have caught the exact shade of anxiety and\nappeal by which her friends drew His attention, and which was indeed a\nprayer.\n\nThe gentle courtesy of our Lord\u2019s healings cannot be too much studied by\nthose who would know His mind and love Him. Never does He fling a careless\nblessing as coarse benefactors fling their alms; we shall hereafter see\nhow far He was from leaving fallen bread to be snatched as by a dog, even\nby one who would have welcomed a boon thus contemptuously given to her;\nand in the hour of His arrest, when He would heal the ear of a persecutor,\nHis courtesy appeals to those who had laid hold on Him, \u201cSuffer ye thus\nfar.\u201d Thus He went to this woman and took her by the hand and raised her\nup, laying a cool touch upon her fevered palm, bestowing His strength upon\nher weakness, healing her as He would fain heal humanity. For at His touch\nthe disease was banished; with His impulse her strength returned.\n\nWe do not read that she felt bound thereupon to become an obtrusive public\nwitness to His powers: that was not her function; but in her quiet home\nshe failed not to minister unto Him who had restored her powers. Would\nthat all whose physical powers Jesus renews from sickness, might devote\ntheir energies to Him. Would that all for whom He has calmed the fever of\nearthly passion, might arise and be energetic in His cause.\n\nThink of the wonder, the gladness and gratitude of their humble feast. But\nif we felt aright the sickness of our souls, and the grace which heals\nthem, equal gratitude would fill our lives as He sups with us and we with\nHim.\n\nTidings of the two miracles have quickly gone abroad, and as the sun sets,\nand the restraint of the sabbath is removed, all the city gathers all the\nsick around His door.\n\nNow here is a curious example of the peril of pressing too eagerly our\ninferences from the expressions of an evangelist. St. Mark tells us that\nthey brought \u201call their sick and them that were possessed with devils. And\nHe healed\u201d (not all, but) \u201cmany that were sick, and cast out many devils.\u201d\nHow easily we might distinguish between the \u201call\u201d who came, and the \u201cmany\u201d\nwho were healed. Want of faith would explain the difference, and spiritual\nanalogies would be found for those who remained unhealed at the feet of\nthe good Physician. These lessons might be very edifying, but they would\nbe out of place, for St. Matthew tells us that He healed them all.\n\nBut who can fail to contrast this universal movement, the urgent quest of\nbodily health, and the willingness of friends and neighbours to convey\ntheir sick to Jesus, with our indifference to the health of the soul, and\nour neglect to lead others to the Saviour. Disease being the cold shadow\nof sin, its removal was a kind of sacrament, an outward and visible sign\nthat the Healer of souls was nigh. But the chillness of the shadow\nafflicts us more than the pollution of the substance, and few professing\nChristians lament a hot temper as sincerely as a fever.\n\nAs Jesus drove out the demons, He suffered them not to speak because they\nknew Him. We cannot believe that His rejection of their impure testimony\nwas prudential only, whatever possibility there may have been of that\ncharge of complicity which was afterwards actually brought. Any help which\nmight have come to Him from the lips of hell was shocking and revolting to\nour Lord. And this is a lesson for all religious and political partisans\nwho stop short of doing evil themselves, but reject no advantage which the\nevil deeds of others may bestow. Not so cold and negative is the morality\nof Jesus. He regards as contamination whatever help fraud, suppressions of\ntruth, injustice, by whomsoever wrought, can yield. He rejects them by an\ninstinct of abhorrence, and not only because shame and dishonour have\nalways befallen the purest cause which stooped to unholy alliances.\n\nJesus that day showed Himself powerful alike in the congregation, in the\nhome, and in the streets, and over evil spirits and physical disease\nalike.\n\n\n\n\nJesus In Solitude.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd in the morning, a great while before day, He rose up and went\n    out, and departed into a desert place, and there prayed. And Simon\n    and they that were with him followed after Him; and they found\n    Him, and say unto Him, All are seeking Thee. And He saith unto\n    them, Let us go elsewhere into the next towns, that I may preach\n    there also; for to this end came I forth. And He went into their\n    synagogues throughout all Galilee, and preaching casting out\n    devils.\u201d\u2014MARK i. 35-39 (R.V.).\n\n\nSt. Mark is pre-eminently the historian of Christ\u2019s activities. From him\nchiefly we learn to add to our thought of perfect love and gentleness that\nof One whom the zeal of God\u2019s house ate up. But this evangelist does not\nomit to tell us by what secret fountains this river of life was fed; how\nthe active labours of Jesus were inspired in secret prayers. Too often we\nallow to one side of religion a development which is not excessive, but\ndisproportionate, and we are punished when contemplation becomes\nnerveless, or energy burns itself away.\n\nAfter feeding the five thousand, St. Mark tells us that Jesus, while the\nstorm gathered over His disciples on the lake, went up into a mountain to\npray. And St. Luke tells of a whole night of prayer before choosing His\ndisciples, and how it was to pray that He climbed the mountain of\ntransfiguration.\n\nAnd we read of Him going into a desert place with His disciples, and to\nOlivet, and oft-times resorting to the garden where Judas found Him,\nwhere, in the dead of night, the traitor naturally sought Him.\n\nPrayer was the spring of all His energies, and His own saying indicated\nthe habit of His mortal life as truly as the law of His mysterious\ngeneration: \u201cI live by the Father.\u201d\n\nHis prayers impress nothing on us more powerfully than the reality of His\nmanhood. He, Who possesses all things, bends His knees to crave, and His\nprayers are definite, no empty form, no homage without sense of need, no\nfiring of blank cartridge without an aim. He asks that His disciples may\nbe with Him where He is, that Simon\u2019s strength may fail not, that He may\nHimself be saved from a dreadful hour. \u201cSuch touches\u201d said Godet \u201cdo not\nlook like an artificial apotheosis of Jesus, and they constitute a\nstriking difference between the gospel portrait and the legendary\ncaricature.\u201d\n\nThe entire evening had been passed in healing the diseases of the whole\ntown; not the light and careless bestowal of a boon which cost nothing,\nbut wrought with so much sympathy, such draining of His own vital forces,\nthat St. Matthew found in it a fulfilment of the prophecy that He should\nHimself bear our sicknesses. And thus exhausted, the frame might have been\nforgiven for demanding some indulgence, some prolongation of repose.\n\nBut the course of our Lord\u2019s ministry was now opening up before Him, and\nthe hindrances becoming visible. How much was to be hoped from the great\nimpression already made; how much to be feared from the weakness of His\nfollowers, the incipient envy of priest and Pharisee, and the volatile\nexcitability of the crowd. At such a time, to relieve His burdened heart\nwith Divine communion was more to Jesus than repose, as, at another time,\nto serve Him was meat to eat. And therefore, in the still fresh morning,\nlong before the dawn, while every earthly sight was dim but the abysses of\nheaven were vivid, declaring without voice, amid the silence of earth\u2019s\ndiscord, the glory and the handiwork of His Father, Jesus went into a\nsolitary place and prayed.\n\nWhat is it that makes solitude and darkness dreadful to some, and\noppressive to very many?\n\nPartly the sense of physical danger, born of helplessness and uncertainty.\nThis He never felt, who knew that He must walk to-day and to-morrow, and\non the third day be perfected. And partly it is the weight of unwelcome\nreflection, the searching and rebukes of memory, fears that come of guilt,\nand inward distractions of a nature estranged from the true nature of the\nuniverse. Jesus was agitated by no inward discords, upbraided by no\nremorse. And He had probably no reveries; He is never recorded to\nsoliloquise; solitude to Him was but another name for communion with God\nHis Father; He was never alone, for God was with Him.\n\nThis retirement enabled Him to remain undisturbed until His disciples\nfound Him, long after the crowds had besieged their dwelling. They had not\nyet learned how all true external life must rest upon the hidden life of\ndevotion, and there is an accent of regret in the words, \u201cAll are seeking\nThee,\u201d as if Jesus could neglect in self-culture any true opportunity for\nservice.\n\nThe answer, noteworthy in itself, demands especial attention in these\ntimes of missions, demonstrations, Salvation Armies, and other wise and\nunwise attempts to gather excited crowds around the cross.\n\nMere sensation actually repelled Jesus. Again and again He charged men not\nto make Him known, in places where He would stay; while in Gadara, which\nHe had to leave, His command to the demoniac was the reverse. Deep and\nreal convictions are not of kin with sight-seeing and the pursuit of\nwonders. Capernaum has now heard His message, has received its full share\nof physical blessing, is exalted unto heaven. Those who were looking for\nredemption knew the gospel, and Jesus must preach it in other towns also.\nTherefore, and not to be the centre of admiring multitudes, came He forth\nfrom His quiet home.\n\nSuch is the sane and tranquil action of Jesus, in face of the excitement\ncaused by His many miracles. Now the miracles themselves, and all that\ndepends on them, are declared to be the creation of the wildest\nfanaticism, either during His lifetime or developing His legend\nafterwards. And if so, we have here, in the action of human mind, the\nmarvel of modern physicists, ice from a red-hot retort, absolute\nmoderation from a dream of frenzy. And this paradox is created in the act\nof \u201cexplaining\u201d the miracles. The explanation, even were it sustained by\nany evidence, would be as difficult as any miracle to believe.\n\n\n\n\nThe Leper.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd there cometh to Him a leper, beseeching Him, and kneeling\n    down to Him, and saying unto Him, If Thou wilt, Thou canst make me\n    clean. And being moved with compassion, He stretched forth His\n    hand, and touched him, and saith unto him I will; be thou made\n    clean. And straightway the leprosy departed from him, and he was\n    made clean. And He strictly charged him, and straightway sent him\n    out, and saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any man: but go\n    thy way, show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing\n    the things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. But\n    he went out, and began to publish it much, and to spread abroad\n    the matter insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into a\n    city, but was without in desert places: and they came to Him from\n    every quarter.\u201d\u2014MARK i. 40-45 (R.V.).\n\n\nThe disease of leprosy was peculiarly fearful to a Jew. In its stealthy\nbeginning, its irresistible advance, the utter ruin which it wrought from\nthe blood outward until the flesh was corroded and fell away, it was a fit\ntype of sin, at first so trivial in its indications, but gradually\nusurping all the nature and corrupting it. And the terrible fact, that the\nchildren of its victims were also doomed, reminded the Israelite of the\ntransmission of the taint of Adam.\n\nThe story of Naaman and that of Gehazi make it almost certain that the\nleprosy of Scripture was not contagious, for they were intimate with\nkings. But apparently to complete the type, the law gave to it the\nartificial contagion of ceremonial uncleanness, and banished the unhappy\nsufferer from the dwellings of men. Thus he came to be regarded as under\nan especial ban, and the prophecy which announced that the illustrious Man\nof Sorrows would be esteemed \u201cstricken of God,\u201d was taken to mean that He\nshould be a leper. This banishment of the leper was indeed a remarkable\nexception to the humanity of the ancient law, but when his distress began\nto be extreme, and \u201cthe plague was turned into white,\u201d he was released\nfrom his uncleanness (Lev. xiii. 17). And this may teach us that sin is to\nbe dreaded most while it is yet insidious; when developed it gives a\nsufficient warning against itself. And now such a sufferer appeals to\nJesus. The incident is one of the most pathetic in the Gospel; and its\ngraphic details, and the shining character which it reveals, make it very\nperplexing to moderate and thoughtful sceptics.\n\nThose who believe that the charm of His presence was \u201cworth all the\nresources of medicine,\u201d agree that Christ may have cured even leprosy, and\ninsist that this story, as told by St. Mark, \u201cmust be genuine.\u201d Others\nsuppose that the leper was already cured, and Jesus only urged him to\nfulfil the requirements of the law. And why not deny the story boldly? Why\nlinger so longingly over the details, when credence is refused to what is\nplainly the mainspring of the whole, the miraculous power of Jesus? The\nanswer is plain. Honest minds feel the touch of a great nature; the misery\nof the suppliant and the compassion of his Restorer are so vivid as to\nprove themselves; no dreamer of a myth, no process of legend-building,\never wrought after this fashion. But then, the misery and compassion being\ngranted, the whole story is practically conceded. It only remains to ask,\nwhether the \u201cpresence of the Saintly Man\u201d could work a chemical change in\ntainted blood. For it must be insisted that the man was \u201cfull of leprosy,\u201d\nand not, as one suggests, already far advanced towards cure. The contrast\nbetween his running and kneeling at the very feet of Jesus, and the\nconduct of the ten lepers, not yet released from their exclusion, who\nstood afar off while they cried out (Luke xvii. 12), is sufficient\nevidence of this, even if the express statement of St. Luke were not\ndecisive.\n\nRepulsive, and until now despairing, only tolerated among men through the\ncompleteness of his plague, this man pushes through the crowd which\nshrinks from him, kneels in an agony of supplication, and says \u201cIf Thou\nwilt, Thou canst make me clean.\u201d If Thou wilt! The cruelty of man has\ntaught him to doubt the heart, even though satisfied of the power of\nJesus. In a few years, men came to assume the love, and exult in the\nreflection that He was \u201cable to keep what \u2018was\u2019 committed to Him,\u201d \u201cable\nto do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.\u201d It did not\noccur to St. Paul that any mention of His will was needed.\n\nNor did Jesus Himself ask a later suppliant, \u201cBelievest thou that I am\nwilling,\u201d but \u201cBelievest thou that I am able to do this?\u201d\n\nBut the charm of this delightful incident is the manner in which our Lord\ngrants the impassioned prayer. We might have expected a shudder, a natural\nrecoil from the loathsome spectacle, and then a wonder-working word. But\nmisery which He could relieve did not repel Jesus; it attracted Him. His\nimpulse was to approach. He not only answered \u201cI will,\u201d\u2014and deep is the\nwill to remove all anguish in the wonderful heart of Jesus,\u2014but He\nstretched forth an unshrinking hand, and touched that death in life. It is\na parable of all His course, this laying of a clean hand on the sin of the\nworld to cleanse it. At His touch, how was the morbid frame thrilled with\ndelightful pulses of suddenly renovated health. And how was the\ndespairing, joyless heart, incredulous of any real will to help him,\nsoothed and healed by the pure delight of being loved.\n\nThis is the true lesson of the narrative. St. Mark treats the miraculous\ncure much more lightly than the tender compassion and the swift movement\nto relieve suffering. And He is right. The warm and generous nature\nrevealed by this fine narrative is what, as we have seen, most impresses\nthe doubter, and ought most to comfort the Church. For He is the same\nyesterday and to-day. And perhaps, if the divinity of love impressed men\nas much as that of power, there would be less denial of the true Godhead\nof our Lord.\n\nThe touch of a leper made a Jew unclean. And there is a surprising theory,\nthat when Jesus could no more openly enter into a city, it was because the\nleper had disobediently published what implied His ceremonial defilement.\nAs if our Lord were one to violate the law by stealth.\n\nBut is it very remarkable that Christ, Who was born under the law, never\nbetrayed any anxiety about cleanness. The law of impurity was in fact an\nexpression of human frailty. Sin spreads corruption far more easily than\nvirtue diffuses purity. The touch of goodness fails to reproduce goodness.\nAnd the prophet Haggai has laid stress upon this contrast, that bread or\npottage or wine or oil or any meat will not become holy at the touch of\none who bears holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, but if one that is\nunclean by a dead body touch any of these, it shall be unclean (ii. 12,\n13). Our hearts know full well how true to nature is the ordinance.\n\nBut Christ brought among us a virtue more contagious than our vices are,\nbeing not only a living soul, but a life-imparting Spirit. And thus He\nlays His hand upon this leper, upon the bier at Nain, upon the corpse of\nthe daughter of Jairus, and as fire is kindled at the touch of fire, so\ninstead of pollution to Him, the pureness of healthful life is imparted to\nthe defiling and defiled.\n\nAnd His followers also are to possess a religion that is vitalizing, to be\nthe light of the world, and the salt of the earth.\n\nIf we are thus to further His cause, we must not only be zealous but\nobedient, Jesus strictly charged the leper not to fan the flame of an\nexcitement which already impeded His work. But there was an invaluable\nservice which he might render: the formal registration of his cure, the\nsecuring its official recognition by the priests, and their consent to\noffer the commanded sacrifices. In many a subsequent controversy, that\n\u201ctestimony unto them\u201d might have been embarrassing indeed. But the leper\nlost his opportunity, and put them upon their guard. And as through his\nimpulsive clamour Jesus could no more openly enter into a city, but even\nin desert places was beset by excited crowds, so is He deprived today of\nmany a tranquil ministration and lowly service, by the zeal which despises\norder and quiet methods, by the undisciplined and ill-judged\ndemonstrations of men and women whom He has blessed.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\n\n\n\nThe Sick Of The Palsy.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd when He entered again into Capernaum after some days, it was\n    noised that He was in the house.\u201d\u2014MARK ii. 1 (R.V.).\n\n\nJesus returns to Capernaum, and an eager crowd blocks even the approaches\nto the house where He is known to be. St. Mark, as we should expect,\nrelates the course of events, the multitudes, the ingenious device by\nwhich a miracle is obtained, the claim which Jesus advances to yet greater\nauthority than heretofore, and the impression produced. But St. Luke\nexplains that there were \u201csitting by,\u201d having obtained the foremost places\nwhich they loved, Pharisees and doctors of the law from every village of\nGalilee and Jud\u00e6a, and from Jerusalem itself. And this concourse,\nevidently preconcerted and unfriendly, explains the first murmurs of\nopposition recorded by St. Mark. It was the jealousy of rival teachers\nwhich so readily pronounced Him a blasphemer.\n\nThe crowds besieged the very passages, there was no room, no, not around\nthe door, and even if one might struggle forward, four men bearing a\nlitter might well despair. But with palsied paralysis at stake, they would\nnot be repulsed. They gained the roof by an outer staircase, such as the\nfugitives from Jerusalem should hereafter use, not going through the\nhouse. Then they uncovered and broke up the roof, by which strong phrases\nSt. Mark means that they first lifted the tiles which lay in a bed of\nmortar or mud, broke through this, and then tore up the poles and light\nrafters by which all this covering was supported. Then they lowered the\nsick man upon his pallet, in front of the Master as He taught.\n\nIt was an unceremonious act. However carefully performed, the audience\nbelow must have been not only disturbed but inconvenienced, and doubtless\namong the precise and unmerciful personages in the chief seats there was\nmany an angry glance, many a murmur, many a conjecture of rebukes\npresently to be inflicted on the intruders.\n\nBut Jesus never in any circumstances rebuked for intrusion any suppliant.\nAnd now He discerned the central spiritual impulse of these men, which was\nnot obtrusiveness nor disrespect. They believed that neither din while He\npreached, nor rubbish falling among His audience, nor the strange\ninterruption of a patient and a litter intruded upon His discourse, could\nweigh as much with Jesus as the appeal on a sick man\u2019s face. And this was\nfaith. These peasants may have been far enough from intellectual\ndiscernment of Christ\u2019s Personality and the scheme of salvation. They had\nhowever a strong and practical conviction that He would make whole their\npalsied friend.\n\nNow the preaching of faith is suspected of endangering good works. But was\nthis persuasion likely to make these men torpid? Is it not plain that all\nspiritual apathy comes not from over-trust but from unbelief, either\ndoubting that sin is present death, or else that holiness is life, and\nthat Jesus has a gift to bestow, not in heaven, but promptly, which is\nbetter to gain than all the world? Therefore salvation is linked with\nfaith, which earns nothing but elicits all, like the touch that evokes\nelectricity, but which no man supposes to have made it.\n\nBecause they knew the curse of palsy, and believed in a present remedy,\nthese men broke up the roof to come where Jesus was. They won their\nblessing, but not the less it was His free gift.\n\nJesus saw and rewarded the faith of all the group. The principle of mutual\nsupport and co-operation is the basis alike of the family, the nation, and\nthe Church. Thus the great Apostle desired obscure and long-forgotten men\nand women to help together with him in their prayers. And He who visits\nthe sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth\ngeneration, shows mercy unto many more, unto thousands, in them that love\nHim. What a rebuke is all this to men who think it enough that they should\ndo no harm, and live inoffensive lives. Jesus now bestowed such a blessing\nas awoke strange misgivings among the bystanders. He divined the true\nburden of that afflicted heart, the dreary memories and worse fears which\nhaunted that sick bed,\u2014and how many are even now preparing such remorse\nand gloom for a bed of pain hereafter!\u2014and perhaps He discerned the\nconsciousness of some guilty origin of the disease. Certainly He saw there\none whose thoughts went beyond his malady, a yearning soul, with hope\nglowing like red sparks amid the ashes of his self-reproach, that a\nteacher so gracious as men reported Jesus, might bring with Him a gospel\nindeed. We know that he felt thus, for Jesus made him of good cheer by\npardon rather than by healing, and spoke of the cure itself as wrought\nless for his sake than as evidence.\n\nSurely that was a great moment when the wistful gaze of eyes which disease\nhad dimmed, met the eyes which were as a flame of fire, and knew that all\nits sullied past was at once comprehended and forgiven.\n\nJesus said to him, \u201cSon, thy sins are forgiven thee.\u201d The term of\nendearment was new to his lips, and very emphatic; the same which Mary\nused when she found Him in the temple, the same as when He argued that\neven evil men give good gifts unto their children. Such a relation towards\nHimself He recognised in this afflicted penitent. On the other hand, the\ndry argumentative temper of the critics is well expressed by the short\ncrackling unemotional utterances of their orthodoxy: \u201cWhy doth this man\nthus speak? He blasphemeth. Who can forgive sins but one, God.\u201d There is\nno zeal in it, no passion for God\u2019s honour, no spiritual insight, it is as\nheartless as a syllogism. And in what follows a fine contrast is implied\nbetween their perplexed orthodoxy, and Christ\u2019s profound discernment. For\nas He had just read the sick man\u2019s heart, so He \u201cperceived in His spirit\nthat they so reasoned within themselves.\u201d And He asks them the searching\nquestion, \u201cWhether is easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say,\nArise and walk?\u201d Now which is really easier? It is not enough to lay all\nthe emphasis upon \u201cto say,\u201d as if with Jesus the ease of an utterance\ndepended on the difficulty of testing it. There is indeed a certain irony\nin the question. They doubtless imagined that Jesus was evading their\nscrutiny by only bestowing what they could not test. To them forgiveness\nseemed more easily offered than a cure. To the Christian, it is less to\nheal disease, which is a mere consequence, than sin, which is the source\nof all our woes. To the power of Jesus they were alike, and connected with\neach other as the symptom and the true disease. In truth, all the\ncompassion which blesses our daily life is a pledge of grace; and He Who\nhealeth all our diseases forgiveth also all our iniquities. But since\nhealing was the severer test in their reckoning, Jesus does not evade it.\nHe restores the palsied man to health, that they might know that the Son\nof man hath authority on earth to forgive sins. So then, pardon does not\nlie concealed and doubtful in the councils of an unknown world, it is\npronounced on earth. The Son of man, wearing our nature and touched with\nour infirmities, bestows it still, in the Scriptures, in the Sacraments,\nin the ministrations of His servants. Wherever He discerns faith, He\nresponds with assurance of the absolution and remission of sins.\n\nHe claims to do this, as men had so lately observed that He both taught\nand worked miracles, \u201cwith authority.\u201d We then saw that this word\nexpressed the direct and personal mastery with which He wrought, and which\nthe apostles never claimed for themselves.\n\nTherefore this text cannot be quoted in defence of priestly absolutions,\nas long as these are hypothetical, and depend on the recipient\u2019s\nearnestness, or on any supposition, any uncertainty whatever. Christ did\nnot utter a hypothesis.\n\nFortunately, too, the argument that men, priestly men, must have authority\non earth to forgive sins, because the Son of man has such authority, can\nbe brought to an easy test. There is a passage elsewhere, which asserts\nHis authority, and upon which the claim to share it can be tried. The\nwords are, \u201cThe Father gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He\nis the Son of man,\u201d and they are immediately followed by an announcement\nof the resurrection to judgment (John v. 27, 29). Is any one prepared to\ncontend that such authority as that is vested in other sons of men? And if\nnot that, why this?\n\nBut if priestly absolutions are not here, there remains the certainty that\nJesus brought to earth, to man, the gift of prompt effective pardon, to be\nrealized by faith.\n\nThe sick man is ordered to depart at once. Further discourse might perhaps\nbe reserved for others, but he may not linger, having received his own\nbodily and spiritual medicine. The teaching of Christ is not for\ncuriosity. It is good for the greatly blessed to be alone. And it is\nsometimes dangerous for obscure people to be thrust into the centre of\nattention.\n\nHereupon, another touch of nature discovers itself in the narrative, for\nit is now easy to pass through the crowd. Men who would not in their\nselfishness give place for palsied misery, readily make room for the\ndistinguished person who has received a miraculous blessing.\n\n\n\n\nThe Son Of Man.\n\n\n    \u201cThe Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins.\u201d\u2014MARK ii. 10.\n\n\nWhen asserting His power to forgive sins, Jesus, for the first time in our\nGospel, called Himself the Son of man.\n\nIt is a remarkable phrase. The profound reverence which He from the first\ninspired, restrained all other lips from using it, save only when the\nfirst martyr felt such a rush of sympathy from above poured into his soul,\nthat the thought of Christ\u2019s humanity was more moving than that of His\ndeity. So too it is then alone that He is said to be not enthroned in\nheaven, but standing, \u201cthe Son of man, standing on the right hand of God\u201d\n(Acts vii. 56).(5)\n\nWhat then does this title imply? Beyond doubt it is derived from Daniel\u2019s\nvision: \u201cBehold there came with the clouds of heaven one like unto a Son\nof man, and He came even to the Ancient of Days\u201d (vii. 13). And it was by\nthe bold and unequivocal appropriation of this verse that Jesus brought\nupon Himself the judgment of the council (Matt. xxvi. 64; Mark xiv. 62).\n\nNow the first impression which the phrase in Daniel produces is that of\nstrong and designed contrast between the Son of man and the Eternal God.\nWe wonder at seeing man \u201cbrought nigh\u201d to Deity. Nor may we suppose that\nto be \u201clike unto a Son of man,\u201d implies only an appearance of manhood. In\nDaniel the Messiah can be cut off. When Jesus uses the epithet, and even\nwhen He quotes the prophecy, He not only resembles a Son of man, He is\ntruly such; He is most frequently \u201c_the_ Son of man,\u201d the pre-eminent,\nperhaps the only one.(6)\n\nBut while the expression intimates a share in the lowliness of human\nnature, it does not imply a lowly rank among men.\n\nOur Lord often suggested by its use the difference between His\ncircumstances and His dignity. \u201cThe Son of man hath not where to lay His\nhead:\u201d \u201cBetrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss,\u201d in each of these we\nfeel that the title asserts a claim to different treatment. And in the\ngreat verse, God \u201chath given Him authority to execute judgment, because He\nis the Son of man,\u201d we discern that although human hands are chosen as\nfittest to do judgment upon humanity, yet His extraordinary dignity is\nalso taken into account. The title belongs to our Lord\u2019s humiliation, but\nis far from an additional abasement; it asserts His supremacy over those\nwhom He is not ashamed to call brethren.\n\nWe all are sons of men; and Jesus used the phrase when He promised that\nall manner of sins and blasphemies shall be forgiven to us. But there is a\nhigher sense in which, among thousands of the ignoble, we single out one\n\u201creal man;\u201d and in this sense, as fulfilling the idea, Jesus was the\nSecond Man. What a difference exists between the loftiest sons of vulgar\nmen, and the Son of our complete humanity, of the race, \u201cof Man.\u201d The\npre-eminence even of our best and greatest is fragmentary and incomplete.\nIn their veins runs but a portion of the rich life-blood of the race: but\na share of its energy throbs in the greatest bosom. We seldom find the\ntypical thinker in the typical man of action. Originality of purpose and\nof means are not commonly united. To know all that holiness embraces, we\nmust combine the energies of one saint with the gentler graces of a second\nand the spiritual insight of a third. There is no man of genius who fails\nto make himself the child of his nation and his age, so that Shakespeare\nwould be impossible in France, Hugo in Germany, Goethe in England. Two\ngreat nations slay their kings and surrender their liberties to military\ndictators, but Napoleon would have been unendurable to us, and Cromwell\nridiculous across the channel.\n\nLarge allowances are to be made for the Greek in Plato, the Roman in\nEpictetus, before we can learn of them. Each and all are the sons of their\ntribe and century, not of all mankind and all time. But who will point out\nthe Jewish warp in any word or institution of Jesus? In the new man which\nis after His image there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and\nuncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondman, freeman, but Christ is all\nand in all, something of Him represented by each, all of them concentrated\nin Him. He alone speaks to all men without any foreign accent, and He\nalone is recognised and understood as widely as the voices of nature, as\nthe sigh of waves and breezes, and the still endurance of the stars.\nReading the Gospels, we become aware that four writers of widely different\nbias and temperament have all found an equally congenial subject, so that\neach has given a portrait harmonious with the others, and yet unique. It\nis because the sum total of humanity is in Christ, that no single writer\ncould have told His story.\n\nBut now consider what this implies. It demands an example from which\nlonely women and heroic leaders of action should alike take fire. It\ndemands that He should furnish meditation for sages in the closet, and\nshould found a kingdom more brilliant than those of conquerors. It demands\nthat He should strike out new paths towards new objects, and be supremely\noriginal without deviating from what is truly sane and human, for any\nselfish or cruel or unwholesome joy. It demands the gentleness of a sheep\nbefore her shearers, and such burning wrath as seven times over denounced\nagainst the hypocrites of Jerusalem woe and the damnation of hell. It\ndemands the sensibilities which made Gethsemane dreadful, and the strength\nwhich made Calvary sublime. It demands that when we approach Him we should\nlearn to feel the awe of other worlds, the nearness of God, the sinfulness\nof sin, the folly of laying up much goods for many years; that life should\nbe made solemn and profound, but yet that it should not be darkened nor\ndepressed unduly; that nature and man should be made dear to us, little\nchildren, and sinners who are scorned yet who love much, and lepers who\nstand afar off\u2014yes, and even the lilies of the field, and the fowls of the\nair; that He should not be unaware of the silent processes of nature which\nbears fruit of itself, of sunshine and rain, and the fury of storms and\ntorrents, and the leap of the lightning across all the sky. Thus we can\nbring to Jesus every anxiety and every hope, for He, and only He, was\ntempted in all points like unto us. Universality of power, of sympathy,\nand of influence, is the import of this title which Jesus claims. And that\ndemand Jesus only has satisfied, Who is the Master of Sages, the Friend of\nsinners, the Man of Sorrows, and the King of kings, the one perfect\nblossom on the tree of our humanity, the ideal of our nature incarnate,\nthe Second Adam in Whom the fulness of the race is visible. The Second Man\nis the Lord from Heaven. And this strange and solitary grandeur He\nforetold, when He took to Himself this title, itself equally strange and\nsolitary, the Son of man.\n\n\n\n\nThe Call And Feast Of Levi.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd He went forth again by the sea side; and all the multitude\n    resorted unto Him, and He taught them. And as He passed by, He saw\n    Levi the _son_ of Alph\u00e6us sitting at the place of toll, and He\n    saith unto him, Follow Me. And he arose and followed Him. And it\n    came to pass, that He was sitting at meat in his house, and many\n    publicans and sinners sat down with Jesus and His disciples: for\n    there were many, and they followed Him. And the scribes of the\n    Pharisees, when they saw that He was eating with the sinners and\n    publicans, said unto His disciples, He eateth and drinketh with\n    publicans and sinners. And when Jesus heard it, He saith unto\n    them, They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they\n    that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but\n    sinners.\u201d\u2014MARK ii. 13-17 (R.V.).\n\n\nJesus loved the open air. His custom when teaching was to point to the\nsower, the lily, and the bird. He is no pale recluse emerging from a\nlibrary to instruct, in the dim religious light of cloisters, a world\nunknown except by books. Accordingly we find Him \u201cagain by the sea-side.\u201d\nAnd however the scribes and Pharisees may have continued to murmur, the\nmultitudes resorted to Him, confiding in the evidence of their experience,\nwhich never saw it on this fashion.\n\nThat argument was perfectly logical; it was an induction, yet it led them\nto a result curiously the reverse of theirs who reject miracles for being\ncontrary to experience. \u201cYes,\u201d they said, \u201cwe appeal to experience, but\nthe conclusion is that good deeds which it cannot parallel must come\ndirectly from the Giver of all good.\u201d\n\nSuch good deeds continue. The creed of Christ has re-formed Europe, it is\nawakening Asia, it has transformed morality, and imposed new virtues on\nthe conscience. It is the one religion for the masses, the lapsed, and\nindeed for the sick in body as truly as in soul; for while science\ndiscourses with enthusiasm upon progress by the rejection of the less fit,\nour faith cherishes these in hospitals, asylums, and retreats, and\nprospers by lavishing care upon the outcast and rejected of the world. Now\nthis transcends experience: we never saw it on this fashion; it is\nsupernatural. Or else let scientific atheism produce its reformed\nmagdalens, and its homes for the hopelessly diseased and imbecile, and all\n\u201cthe weakest\u201d who go, as she tenderly assures us, \u201cto the wall.\u201d\n\nJesus now gave a signal proof of His independence of human judgment, His\ncare for the despised and rejected. For such a one He completed the\nrupture between Himself and the rulers of the people.\n\nSitting at the receipt of toll, in the act of levying from his own nation\nthe dues of the conqueror, Levi the publican received the call to become\nan Apostle and Evangelist. It was a resolute defiance of the pharisaic\njudgment. It was a memorable rebuke for those timid slaves of expediency\nwho nurse their influence, refuse to give offence, fear to \u201cmar their\nusefulness\u201d by \u201ccompromising themselves,\u201d and so make their whole life one\nabject compromise, and let all emphatic usefulness go by.\n\nHere is one upon whom the bigot scowls more darkly still than upon Jesus\nHimself, by whom the Roman yoke is pressed upon Hebrew necks, an apostate\nin men\u2019s judgment from the national faith and hope. And such judgments\nsadly verify themselves; a despised man easily becomes despicable.\n\nBut however Levi came by so strange and hateful an office, Jesus saw in\nhim no slavish earner of vile bread by doing the foreigner\u2019s hateful work.\nHe was more willing than they who scorned him to follow the true King of\nIsrael. It is even possible that the national humiliations to which his\nvery office testified led him to other aspirations, longings after a\nspiritual kingdom beyond reach of the sword or the exactions of Rome. For\nhis Gospel is full of the true kingdom of heaven, the spiritual\nfulfilments of prophecy, and the relations between the Old Testament and\nthe Messiah.\n\nHere then is an opportunity to show the sneering scribe and carping\nPharisee how little their cynical criticism weighs with Jesus. He calls\nthe despised agent of the heathen to His side, and is obeyed. And now the\nname of the publican is engraven upon one of the foundations of the city\nof God.\n\nNor did Jesus refuse to carry such condescension to its utmost limit,\neating and drinking in Levi\u2019s house with many publicans and sinners, who\nwere already attracted by His teaching, and now rejoiced in His\nfamiliarity. Just in proportion as He offended the pharisaic scribes, so\ndid He inspire with new hope the unhappy classes who were taught to\nconsider themselves castaway. His very presence was medicinal, a rebuke to\nfoul words and thoughts, an outward and visible sign of grace. It brought\npure air and sunshine into a fever-stricken chamber.\n\nAnd this was His justification when assailed. He had borne healing to the\nsick. He had called sinners to repentance. And therefore His example has a\ndouble message. It rebukes those who look curiously on the intercourse of\nreligious people with the world, who are plainly of opinion that the\nleaven should be hid anywhere but in the meal, who can never fairly\nunderstand St. Paul\u2019s permission to go to an idolater\u2019s feast. But it\ngives no licence to go where we cannot be a healing influence, where the\nlight must be kept in a dark lantern if not under a bushel, where, instead\nof drawing men upward, we shall only confirm their indolent\nself-satisfaction.\n\nChrist\u2019s reason for seeking out the sick, the lost, is ominous indeed for\nthe self-satisfied. The whole have no need of a physician; He came not to\ncall the righteous. Such persons, whatever else they be, are not\nChristians until they come to a different mind.\n\nIn calling Himself the Physician of sick souls, Jesus made a startling\nclaim, which becomes more emphatic when we observe that He also quoted the\nwords of Hosea, \u201cI will have mercy and not sacrifice\u201d (Matt. ix. 13; Hos.\nvi. 6). For this expression occurs in that chapter which tells how the\nLord Himself hath smitten and will bind us up. And the complaint is just\nbefore it that when Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah saw his wound, then\nwent Ephraim to Assyria and sent to king Jareb, but he is not able to heal\nyou, neither shall he cure you of your wound (Hos. v. 13-vi. 1). As the\nLord Himself hath torn, so He must heal.\n\nNow Jesus comes to that part of Israel which the Pharisees despise for\nbeing wounded and diseased, and justifies Himself by words which must,\nfrom their context, have reminded every Jew of the declaration that God is\nthe physician, and it is vain to seek healing elsewhere. And immediately\nafterwards, He claims to be the Bridegroom, whom also Hosea spoke of as\ndivine. Yet men profess that only in St. John does He advance such claims\nthat we should ask, Whom makest Thou Thyself? Let them try the experiment,\nthen, of putting such words into the lips of any mortal.\n\nThe choice of the apostles, and most of all that of Levi, illustrates the\npower of the cross to elevate obscure and commonplace lives. He was born,\nto all appearance, to an uneventful, unobserved existence. We read no\nremarkable action of the Apostle Matthew; as an Evangelist he is simple,\norderly and accurate, as becomes a man of business, but the graphic energy\nof St. Mark, the pathos of St. Luke, the profundity of St. John are\nabsent. Yet his greatness will outlive the world.\n\nNow as Christ provided nobility and a career for this man of the people,\nso He does for all. \u201cAre all apostles?\u201d Nay, but all may become pillars in\nthe temple of eternity. The gospel finds men plunged in monotony, in the\nroutine of callings which machinery and the subdivision of labour make\never more colourless, spiritless, and dull. It is a small thing that it\nintroduces them to a literature more sublime than Milton, more sincere and\ndirect than Shakespere. It brings their little lives into relationship\nwith eternity. It braces them for a vast struggle, watched by a great\ncloud of witnesses. It gives meaning and beauty to the sordid present, and\nto the future a hope full of immortality. It brings the Christ of God\nnearer to the humblest than when of old He ate and drank with publicans\nand sinners.\n\n\n\n\nThe Controversy Concerning Fasting.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd John\u2019s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting: and they\n    come and say unto Him, Why do John\u2019s disciples and the disciples\n    of the Pharisees fast, but Thy disciples fast not?\u201d\u2014MARK ii. 18\n    (R.V.).\n\n\nThe Pharisees had just complained to the disciples that Jesus ate and\ndrank in questionable company. Now they join with the followers of the\nascetic Baptist in complaining to Jesus that His disciples eat and drink\nat improper seasons, when others fast. And as Jesus had then replied, that\nbeing a Physician, He was naturally found among the sick, so He now\nanswered, that being the Bridegroom, fasting in His presence is\nimpossible: \u201cCan the sons of the bridechamber fast while the Bridegroom is\nwith them?\u201d A new spirit is working in Christianity, far too mightily to\nbe restrained by ancient usages; if the new wine be put into such\nwineskins it will spoil them, and itself be lost.\n\nHereupon three remarkable subjects call for attention: the immense\npersonal claim advanced; the view which Christ takes of fasting; and,\narising out of this, the principle which He applies to all external rites\nand ceremonies.\n\nI. Jesus does not inquire whether the fasts of other men were unreasonable\nor not. In any case, He declares that His mere presence put everything on\na new footing for His followers who could not fast simply because He was\nby. Thus He assumes a function high above that of any prophet or teacher:\nHe not only reveals duty, as a lamp casts light upon the compass by which\nmen steer; but He modifies duty itself, as iron deflects the needle.\n\nThis is because He is the Bridegroom.\n\nThe disciples of John would hereupon recall his words of self-effacement;\nthat He was only the friend of the Bridegroom, whose fullest joy was to\nhear the Bridegroom\u2019s exultant voice.\n\nBut no Jew could forget the Old Testament use of the phrase. It is clear\nfrom St. Matthew that this controversy followed immediately upon the last,\nwhen Jesus assumed a function ascribed to God Himself by the very passage\nfrom Hosea which He then quoted. Then He was the Physician for the soul\u2019s\ndiseases; now He is the Bridegroom, in Whom centre its hopes, its joys,\nits affections, its new life. That position in the spiritual existence\ncannot be given away from God without idolatry. The same Hosea who makes\nGod the Healer, gives to Him also, in the most explicit words, what Jesus\nnow claims for Himself. \u201cI will betroth thee unto Me for ever.... I will\neven betroth thee unto Me in faithfulness, and thou shalt know the Lord\u201d\n(ii. 19, 20). Isaiah too declares \u201cthy Maker is thy husband,\u201d and \u201cas the\nbridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee\u201d\n(liv. 5; lxii. 5). And in Jeremiah, God remembers the love of Israel\u2019s\nespousals, who went after Him in the wilderness, in a land that was not\nsown (ii. 2). Now all this is transferred throughout the New Testament to\nJesus. The Baptist is not alone in this respect. St. John regards the\nBride as the wife of the Lamb (Rev. xxi. 9). St. Paul would fain present\nhis Corinthian Church as a pure virgin to Christ, as to one husband (2\nCor. xi. 2). For him, the absolute oneness of marriage is a mystery of the\nunion betwixt Christ and His Church (Eph. v. 32). If Jesus be not God,\nthen a relation hitherto exclusively belonging to Jehovah, to rob Him of\nwhich is the adultery of the soul, has been systematically transferred by\nthe New Testament to a creature. His glory has been given to another.\n\nThis remarkable change is clearly the work of Jesus Himself. The marriage\nsupper of which He spoke is for the King\u2019s son. At His return the cry will\nbe heard, Behold the Bridegroom cometh. In this earliest passage His\npresence causes the joy of the Bride, who said to the Lord in the Old\nTestament, Thou art my Husband (Hosea ii. 16).\n\nThere is not to be found in the Gospel of St. John a passage more\ncertainly calculated to inspire, when Christ\u2019s dignity was assured by His\nresurrection and ascension, the adoration which His Church has always paid\nto the Lamb in the midst of the throne.\n\nII. The presence of the Bridegroom dispenses with the obligation to fast.\nYet it is beyond denial that fasting as a religious exercise comes within\nthe circle of New Testament sanctions. Jesus Himself, when taking our\nburdens upon Him, as He had stooped to the baptism of repentance,\ncondescended also to fast. He taught His disciples when they fasted to\nanoint their head and wash their face. The mention of fasting is indeed a\nlater addition to the words \u201cthis kind (of demon) goeth not out but by\nprayer\u201d (Mark ix. 29), but we know that the prophets and teachers of\nAntioch were fasting when bidden to consecrate Barnabas and Saul, and they\nfasted again and prayed before they laid their hands upon them (Acts xiii.\n2, 3).\n\nThus it is right to fast, at times and from one point of view; but at\nother times, and from Jewish and formal motives, it is unnatural and\nmischievous. It is right when the Bridegroom is taken away, a phrase which\ncertainly does not cover all this space between the Ascension and the\nSecond Advent, since Jesus still reveals Himself to His own though not\nunto the world, and is with His Church all the days. Scripture has no\ncountenance for the notion that we lost by the Ascension in privilege or\njoy. But when the body would fain rise up against the spirit, it must be\nkept under and brought into subjection (1 Cor. ix. 27). When the closest\ndomestic joys would interrupt the seclusion of the soul with God, they may\nbe suspended, though but for a time (1 Cor. vii. 5). And when the supreme\nblessing of intercourse with God, the presence of the Bridegroom, is\nobscured or forfeited through sin, it will then be as inevitable that the\nloyal heart should turn away from worldly pleasures, as that the first\ndisciples should reject these in the dread hours of their bereavement.\n\nThus Jesus abolished the superstition that grace may be had by a\nmechanical observance of a prescribed regimen at an appointed time. He did\nnot deny, but rather implied the truth, that body and soul act and\ncounteract so that spiritual impressions may be weakened and forfeited by\nuntimely indulgence of the flesh.\n\nBy such teaching, Jesus carried forward the doctrine already known to the\nOld Testament. There it was distinctly announced that the return from\nexile abrogated those fasts which commemorated national calamities, so\nthat \u201cthe fast of the fourth month, and of the fifth, and of the seventh\nand of the tenth shall be to the house of Israel joy and gladness,\ncheerful feasts\u201d (Zech. vii. 3, viii. 19). Even while these fasts had\nlasted they had been futile, because they were only formal. \u201cWhen ye\nfasted and mourned, did ye at all fast unto me? And when ye eat, and when\nye drink, do ye not eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?\u201d (Zech.\nvii. 5, 6). And Isaiah had plainly laid down the great rule, that a fast\nand an acceptable day unto the Lord was not a day to afflict the soul and\nbow the head, but to deny and discipline our selfishness for some good\nend, to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and\nto let the oppressed go free, to deal bread to the hungry, and to bring\nhome the poor that is cast out (Isa. lviii. 5-7).\n\nThe true spirit of fasting breathes an ampler breath in any of the\nthousand forms of Christian self-denial, than in those petty abstinences,\nthose microscopic observances, which move our wonder less by the\nsuperstition which expects them to bring grace than by the childishness\nwhich expects them to have any effect whatever.\n\nIII. Jesus now applies a great principle to all external rites and\nceremonies. They have their value. As the wineskin retains the wine, so\nare feelings and aspirations aided, and even preserved, by suitable\nexternal forms. Without these, emotion would lose itself for want of\nrestraint, wasted, like spilt wine, by diffuseness. And if the forms are\nunsuitable and outworn, the same calamity happens, the strong new feelings\nbreak through them, \u201cand the wine perisheth, and the skins.\u201d In this\nrespect, how many a sad experience of the Church attests the wisdom of her\nLord; what losses have been suffered in the struggle between forms that\nhad stiffened into archaic ceremonialism and new zeal demanding scope for\nits energy, between the antiquated phrases of a bygone age and the new\nexperience, knowledge and requirements of the next, between the frosty\nprecisions of unsympathetic age and the innocent warmth and freshness of\nthe young, too often, alas, lost to their Master in passionate revolt\nagainst restraints which He neither imposed nor smiled upon.\n\nTherefore the coming of a new revelation meant the repeal of old\nobservances, and Christ refused to sew His new faith like a patchwork upon\nancient institutions, of which it would only complete the ruin. Thus He\nanticipated the decision of His apostles releasing the Gentiles from the\nlaw of Moses. And He bestowed on His Church an adaptiveness to various\ntimes and places, not always remembered by missionaries among the heathen,\nby fastidious critics of new movements at home, nor by men who would\nreduce the lawfulness of modern agencies to a question of precedent and\narch\u00e6ology.\n\n\n\n\nThe Sabbath.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd it came to pass, that He was going on the sabbath day through\n    the cornfields; and His disciples began, as they went, to pluck\n    the ears of corn. And the Pharisees said unto Him, Behold, why do\n    they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful? And He said unto\n    them, Did ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was\n    an hungred, he, and they that were with him? How he entered into\n    the house of God when Abiathar was high priest, and did eat the\n    shewbread, which it is not lawful to eat save for the priests, and\n    gave also to them that were with him? And He said unto them, The\n    sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: so that the\n    Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath.\u201d\u2014MARK ii. 23-28 (R.V.).\n\n\nTwice in succession Christ had now asserted the freedom of the soul\nagainst His Jewish antagonists. He was free to eat with sinners, for their\ngood, and His followers were free to disregard fasts, because the\nBridegroom was with them. A third attack in the same series is prepared.\nThe Pharisees now take stronger ground, since the law itself enforced the\nobligation of the Sabbath. Even Isaiah, the most free-spirited of all the\nprophets, in the same passage where he denounced the fasts of the\nself-righteous, bade men to keep their foot from the Sabbath (Isa. lviii.\n13, 14). Here they felt sure of their position; and when they found the\ndisciples, in a cornfield where the long stems had closed over the path,\n\u201cmaking a way,\u201d which was surely forbidden labour, and this by \u201cplucking\nthe ears,\u201d which was reaping, and then rubbing these in their hands to\nreject the chaff, which was winnowing, they cried out in affected horror,\nBehold, why do they that which is not lawful? To them it mattered nothing\nthat the disciples really hungered, and that abstinence, rather than the\nslight exertion which they condemned, would cause real inconvenience and\nunrest.\n\nPerhaps the answer of our Lord has been as much misunderstood as any other\nwords He ever spoke. It has been assumed that He spoke across the boundary\nbetween the new dispensation and the old, as One from whose movements the\nrestraints of Judaism had entirely fallen away, to those who were still\nentangled. And it has been inferred that the Fourth Commandment was no\nmore than such a restraint, now thrown off among the rest. But this is\nquite a misapprehension both of His position and theirs. On earth He was a\nminister of the circumcision. He bade His disciples to observe and do all\nthat was commanded from the seat of Moses. And it is by Old Testament\nprecedent, and from Old Testament principles, that He now refutes the\nobjection of the Pharisees. This is what gives the passage half its charm,\nthis discovery of freedom like our own in the heart of the stern old\nHebrew discipline, as a fountain and flowers on the face of a granite\ncrag, this demonstration that all we now enjoy is developed from what\nalready lay in germ enfolded in the law.\n\nDavid and his followers, when at extremity, had eaten the shewbread which\nit was not lawful for them to eat. It is a striking assertion. We should\nprobably have sought a softer phrase. We should have said that in other\ncircumstances it would have been unlawful, that only necessity made it\nlawful; we should have refused to look straight in the face the naked ugly\nfact that David broke the law. But Jesus was not afraid of any fact. He\nsaw and declared that the priests in the Temple itself profaned the\nSabbath when they baked the shewbread and when they circumcised children.\nThey were blameless, not because the Fourth Commandment remained\ninviolate, but because circumstances made it right for them to profane the\nSabbath. And His disciples were blameless also, upon the same principle,\nthat the larger obligation overruled the lesser, that all ceremonial\nobservance gave way to human need, that mercy is a better thing than\nsacrifice.\n\nAnd thus it appeared that the objectors were themselves the transgressors;\nthey had condemned the guiltless.\n\nA little reflection will show that our Lord\u2019s bold method, His startling\nadmission that David and the priests alike did that which was not lawful,\nis much more truly reverential than our soft modern compromises, our\nshifty devices for persuading ourselves that in various permissible and\neven necessary deviations from prescribed observances, there is no real\ninfraction of any law whatever.\n\nTo do this, we reduce to a minimum the demands of the precept. We train\nourselves to think, not of its full extension, but of what we can compress\nit into. Therefore, in future, even when no urgency exists, the precept\nhas lost all beyond this minimum; its sharp edges are filed away. Jesus\nleaves it to resume all its energy, when mercy no longer forbids the\nsacrifice.\n\nThe text, then, says nothing about the abolition of a Day of Rest. On the\ncontrary, it declares that this day is not a Jewish but a universal\nordinance, it is made for man. At the same time, it refuses to place the\nSabbath among the essential and inflexible laws of right and wrong. It is\nmade for man, for his physical repose and spiritual culture; man was not\nmade for it, as he is for purity, truth, and godliness. Better for him to\ndie than outrage these; they are the laws of his very being; he is royal\nby serving them; in obeying them he obeys his God. It is not thus with\nanything external, ceremonial, any ritual, any rule of conduct, however\nuniversal be its range, however permanent its sanctions. The Sabbath is\nsuch a rule, permanent, far-reaching as humanity, made \u201cfor man.\u201d But this\nvery fact, Jesus tells us, is the reason why He Who represented the race\nand its interests, was \u201cLord even of the Sabbath.\u201d\n\nLet those who deny the Divine authority of this great institution ponder\nwell the phrase which asserts its universal range, and which finds it a\nlarge assertion of the mastery of Christ that He is Lord \u201ceven of the\nSabbath.\u201d But those who have scruples about the change of day by which\nhonour is paid to Christ\u2019s resurrection, and those who would make\nburdensome and dreary, a horror to the young and a torpor to the old, what\nshould be called a delight and honourable, these should remember that the\nordinance is blighted, root and branch, when it is forbidden to minister\nto the physical or spiritual welfare of the human race.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\n\n\n\nThe Withered Hand.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd He entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man\n    there which had his hand withered. And they watched Him, whether\n    He would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse Him.\n    And He saith unto the man that had his hand withered, Stand forth.\n    And He saith unto them, Is it lawful on the sabbath day to do good\n    or to do harm? to save a life, or to kill? But they held their\n    peace. And when He had looked round about on them with anger,\n    being grieved at the hardening of their heart, He saith unto the\n    man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he stretched it forth: and his\n    hand was restored. And the Pharisees went out, and straightway\n    with the Herodians took counsel against Him, how they might\n    destroy Him.\u201d\u2014MARK iii. 1-6 (R.V.).\n\n\nIn the controversies just recorded, we have recognised the ideal Teacher,\nclear to discern and quick to exhibit the decisive point at issue,\ncareless of small pedantries, armed with principles and precedents which\ngo to the heart of the dispute.\n\nBut the perfect man must be competent in more than theory; and we have now\na marvellous example of tact, decision and self-control in action. When\nSabbath observance is again discussed, his enemies have resolved to push\nmatters to extremity. They watch, no longer to cavil, but that they may\naccuse Him. It is in the synagogue; and their expectations are sharpened\nby the presence of a pitiable object, a man whose hand is not only\nparalyzed in the sinews, but withered up and hopeless. St. Luke tells us\nthat it was the right hand, which deepened his misery. And St. Matthew\nrecords that they asked Christ, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day?\nthus urging Him by a challenge to the deed which they condemned. What a\nmiserable state of mind! They believe that Jesus can work the cure, since\nthis is the very basis of their plot; and yet their hostility is not\nshaken, for belief in a miracle is not conversion; to acknowledge a\nprodigy is one thing, and to surrender the will is quite another. Or how\nshould we see around us so many Christians in theory, reprobates in life?\nThey long to see the man healed, yet there is no compassion in this\ndesire, hatred urges them to wish what mercy impels Christ to grant. But\nwhile He relieves the sufferer, He will also expose their malice.\nTherefore He makes His intention public, and whets their expectation, by\ncalling the man forth into the midst. And then He meets their question\nwith another: Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath day or evil, to save\nlife or to kill? And when they preserved their calculated silence, we know\nhow He pressed the question home, reminding them that not one of them\nwould fail to draw His own sheep out of a pit upon the Sabbath day.\nSelfishness made the difference, for a man was better than a sheep, but\ndid not, like the sheep, belong to them. They do not answer: instead of\nwarning Him away from guilt, they eagerly await the incriminating act: we\ncan almost see the spiteful subtle smile playing about their bloodless\nlips; and Jesus marks them well. He looked round about them in anger, but\nnot in bitter personal resentment, for He was grieved at the hardness of\ntheir hearts, and pitied them also, even while enduring such contradiction\nof sinners against Himself. This is the first mention by St. Mark of that\nimpressive gaze, afterwards so frequent in every Gospel, which searched\nthe scribe who answered well, and melted the heart of Peter.\n\nAnd now, by one brief utterance, their prey breaks through their meshes.\nAny touch would have been a work, a formal infraction of the law.\nTherefore there is no touch, neither is the helpless man bidden to take up\nany burden, or instigated to the slightest ritual irregularity. Jesus only\nbids him do what was forbidden to none, but what had been impossible for\nhim to perform; and the man succeeds, he does stretch forth his hand: he\nis healed: the work is done. Yet nothing has been done; as a work of\nhealing not even a word has been said. For He who would so often defy\ntheir malice has chosen to show once how easily He can evade it, and not\none of them is more free from any blame, however technical, than He. The\nPharisees are so utterly baffled, so helpless in His hands, so \u201cfilled\nwith madness\u201d that they invoke against this new foe the help of their\nnatural enemies, the Herodians. These appear on the stage because the\nimmense spread of the Messianic movement endangers the Idum\u00e6an dynasty.\nWhen first the wise men sought an infant King of the Jews, the Herod of\nthat day was troubled. That instinct which struck at His cradle is now\nreawakened, and will not slumber again until the fatal day when the new\nHerod shall set Him at nought and mock Him. In the meanwhile these strange\nallies perplex themselves with the hard question, How is it possible to\ndestroy so acute a foe.\n\nWhile observing their malice, and the exquisite skill which baffles it, we\nmust not lose sight of other lessons. It is to be observed that no offence\nto hypocrites, no danger to Himself, prevented Jesus from removing human\nsuffering. And also that He expects from the man a certain co-operation\ninvolving faith: he must stand forth in the midst; every one must see his\nunhappiness; he is to assume a position which will become ridiculous\nunless a miracle is wrought. Then he must make an effort. In the act of\nstretching forth his hand the strength to stretch it forth is given; but\nhe would not have tried the experiment unless he trusted before he\ndiscovered the power. Such is the faith demanded of our sin-stricken and\nhelpless souls; a faith which confesses its wretchedness, believes in the\ngood will of God and the promises of Christ, and receives the experience\nof blessing through having acted on the belief that already the blessing\nis a fact in the Divine volition.\n\nNor may we overlook the mysterious impalpable spiritual power which\neffects its purposes without a touch, or even an explicit word of healing\nimport. What is it but the power of Him Who spake and it was done, Who\ncommanded and it stood fast?\n\nAnd all this vividness of look and bearing, this innocent subtlety of\ndevice combined with a boldness which stung His foes to madness, all this\nrichness and verisimilitude of detail, this truth to the character of\nJesus, this spiritual freedom from the trammels of a system petrified and\ngrown rigid, this observance in a secular act of the requirements of the\nspiritual kingdom, all this wealth of internal evidence goes to attest one\nof the minor miracles which sceptics declare to be incredible.\n\n\n\n\nThe Choice Of The Twelve.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd Jesus with His disciples withdrew to the sea: and a great\n    multitude from Galilee followed: and from Jud\u00e6a, and from\n    Jerusalem, and from Idum\u00e6a, and beyond Jordan, and about Tyre and\n    Sidon, a great multitude, hearing what great things He did, came\n    unto Him. And He spake to His disciples, that a little boat should\n    wait on Him because of the crowd, lest they should throng Him: for\n    He had healed many; insomuch that as many as had plagues pressed\n    upon Him that they might touch Him. And the unclean spirits,\n    whensoever they beheld Him, fell down before Him, and cried,\n    saying, Thou art the Son of God. And He charged them much that\n    they should not make Him known. And He goeth up into the mountain,\n    and calleth unto Him whom He Himself would: and they went unto\n    Him. And He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him, and\n    that He might send them forth to preach, and to have authority to\n    cast out devils: and Simon he surnamed Peter; and James the _son_\n    of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and them He surnamed\n    Boanerges, which is, Sons of thunder: and Andrew, and Philip, and\n    Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the _son_ of\n    Alph\u00e6us, and Thadd\u00e6us, and Simon the Canan\u00e6an, and Judas Iscariot,\n    which also betrayed Him.\u201d\u2014MARK iii. 7-19 (R.V.).\n\n\nWe have reached a crisis in the labours of the Lord, when hatred which has\nbecome deadly is preparing a blow. The Pharisees are aware, by a series of\nexperiences, that His method is destructive to their system, that He is\ntoo fearless to make terms with them, that He will strip the mask off\ntheir faces. Their rage was presently intensified by an immense extension\nof His fame. And therefore He withdrew from the plots which ripen most\neasily in cities, the hotbeds of intrigue, to the open coast. It is His\nfirst retreat before opposition, and careful readers of the Gospels must\nobserve that whenever the pressure of His enemies became extreme, He\nturned for safety to the simple fishermen, among whom they had no party,\nsince they had preached no gospel to the poor, and that He was frequently\nconveyed by water from point to point, easily reached by followers, who\nsometimes indeed outran Him upon foot, but where treason had to begin its\nwiles afresh. Hither, perhaps camping along the beach, came a great\nmultitude not only from Galilee but also from Jud\u00e6a, and even from the\ncapital, the headquarters of the priesthood, and by a journey of several\ndays from Idum\u00e6a, and from Tyre and Sidon, so that afterwards, even there,\nHe could not be hid. Many came to see what great things He did, but others\nbore with them some afflicted friend, or were themselves sore stricken by\ndisease. And Jesus gave like a God, opening His hand and satisfying their\ndesires, \u201cfor power went out of Him, and healed them all.\u201d Not yet had the\nunbelief of man restrained the compassion of His heart, and forced Him to\nexhibit another phase of the mind of God, by refusing to give that which\nis holy to the dogs. As yet, therefore, He healeth all their diseases.\nThen arose an unbecoming and irreverent rush of as many as had plagues to\ntouch Him. A more subtle danger mingled itself with this peril from undue\neagerness. For unclean spirits, who knew His mysterious personality,\nobserved that this was still a secret, and was no part of His teaching,\nsince His disciples could not bear it yet. Many months afterwards, flesh\nand blood had not revealed it even to Peter. And therefore the demons made\nmalicious haste to proclaim Him the Son of God, and Jesus was obliged to\ncharge them much that they should not make Him known. This action of His\nmay teach His followers to be discreet. Falsehood indeed is always evil,\nbut at times reticence is a duty, because certain truths are a medicine\ntoo powerful for some stages of spiritual disease. The strong sun which\nripens the grain in autumn, would burn up the tender germs of spring.\n\nBut it was necessary to teach as well as to heal. And Jesus showed his\nready practical ingenuity, by arranging that a little boat should wait on\nHim, and furnish at once a pulpit and a retreat.\n\nAnd now Jesus took action distinctly Messianic. The harvest of souls was\nplenteous, but the appointed labourers were unfaithful, and a new\norganisation was to take their place. The sacraments and the apostolate\nare indeed the only two institutions bestowed upon His Church by Christ\nHimself; but the latter is enough to show that, so early in His course, He\nsaw His way to a revolution. He appointed twelve apostles, in clear\nallusion to the tribes of a new Israel, a spiritual circumcision, another\npeculiar people. A new Jerusalem should arise, with their names engraven\nupon its twelve foundation stones. But since all great changes arrive, not\nby manufacture but by growth, and in co-operation with existing\ncircumstances, since nations and constitutions are not made but evolved,\nso was it also with the Church of Christ. The first distinct and format\nannouncement of a new sheepfold, entered by a new and living Way, only\ncame when evoked by the action of His enemies in casting out the man who\nwas born blind. By that time, the apostles were almost ready to take their\nplace in it. They had learned much. They had watched the marvellous career\nto which their testimony should be rendered. By exercise they had learned\nthe reality, and by failure the condition of the miraculous powers which\nthey should transmit. But long before, at the period we have now reached,\nthe apostles had been chosen under pressure of the necessity to meet the\nhostility of the Pharisees with a counter-agency, and to spread the\nknowledge of His power and doctrine farther than One Teacher, however\nendowed, could reach. They were to be workers together with Him.\n\nSt. Mark tells us that He went up into the mountain, the well known hill\nof the neighbourhood, as St. Luke also implies, and there called unto Him\nwhom He Himself would. The emphasis refutes a curious conjecture, that\nJudas may have been urged upon Him with such importunity by the rest that\nto reject became a worse evil than to receive him.(7) The choice was all\nHis own, and in their early enthusiasm not one whom He summoned refused\nthe call. Out of these He chose the Twelve, elect of the election.\n\nWe learn from St. Luke (v. 12) that His choice, fraught with such\nmomentous issues, was made after a whole night of prayer, and from St.\nMatthew that He also commanded the whole body of His disciples to pray the\nLord of the Harvest, not that they themselves should be chosen, but that\nHe would send forth labourers into His harvest.\n\nNow who were these by whose agency the downward course of humanity was\nreversed, and the traditions of a Divine faith were poured into a new\nmould?\n\nIt must not be forgotten that their ranks were afterwards recruited from\nthe purest Hebrew blood and ripest culture of the time. The addition of\nSaul of Tarsus proved that knowledge and position were no more proscribed\nthan indispensable. Yet is it in the last degree suggestive, that Jesus\ndrew His personal followers from classes, not indeed oppressed by want,\nbut lowly, unwarped by the prejudices of the time, living in close contact\nwith nature and with unsophisticated men, speaking and thinking the words\nand thoughts of the race and not of its coteries, and face to face with\nthe great primitive wants and sorrows over which artificial refinement\nspreads a thin, but often a baffling veil.\n\nWith one exception the Nazarene called Galileans to His ministry; and the\nCarpenter was followed by a group of fishermen, by a despised publican, by\na zealot whose love of Israel had betrayed him into wild and lawless\ntheories at least, perhaps into evil deeds, and by several whose previous\nlife and subsequent labours are unknown to earthly fame. Such are the\nJudges enthroned over the twelve tribes of Israel.\n\nA mere comparison of the lists refutes the notion that any one Evangelist\nhas worked up the materials of another, so diverse are they, and yet so\neasily reconciled. Matthew in one is Levi in another. Thadd\u00e6us, Jude, and\nLebb\u00e6us, are interchangeable. The order of the Twelve differs in all the\nfour lists, and yet there are such agreements, even in this respect, as to\nprove that all the Evangelists were writing about what they understood.\nDivide the Twelve into three ranks of four, and in none of the four\ncatalogues will any name, or its equivalent, be found to have wandered out\nof its subdivision, out of the first, second, or third rank, in which\ndoubtless that apostle habitually followed Jesus. Within each rank there\nis the utmost diversity of place, except that the foremost name in each is\nnever varied; Peter, Philip, and the Lesser James, hold the first, fifth,\nand ninth place in every catalogue. And the traitor is always last. These\nare coincidences too slight for design and too striking for accident, they\nare the natural signs of truth. For they indicate, without obtruding or\nexplaining, some arrangement of the ranks, and some leadership of an\nindividual in each.\n\nMoreover, the group of the apostles presents a wonderfully lifelike\naspect. Fear, ambition, rivalry, perplexity, silence when speech is called\nfor, and speech when silence is befitting, vows, failures, and yet real\nloyalty, alas! we know them all. The incidents which are recorded of the\nchosen of Christ no inventor of the second century would have dared to\ndevise; and as we study them, we feel the touch of genuine life; not of\ncolossal statues such as repose beneath the dome of St. Peter\u2019s, but of\nmen, genuine, simple and even somewhat childlike, yet full of strong,\nfresh, unsophisticated feeling, fit therefore to become a great power, and\nespecially so in the capacity of witnesses for an ennobling yet\ncontroverted fact.\n\n\n\n\nCharacteristics Of The Twelve.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him, and that He\n    might send them forth to preach, and to have authority to cast out\n    devils: and Simon He surnamed Peter; and James the _son_ of\n    Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and them He surnamed\n    Boanerges, which is, Sons of thunder: and Andrew, and Philip, and\n    Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the _son_ of\n    Alph\u00e6us, and Thadd\u00e6us, and Simon the Canan\u00e6an, and Judas Iscariot,\n    which also betrayed Him.\u201d\u2014MARK iii. 14-19 (R.V.).\n\n\nThe pictures of the Twelve, then, are drawn from a living group. And when\nthey are examined in detail, this appearance of vitality is strengthened,\nby the richest and most vivid indications of individual character, such\nindeed as in several cases to throw light upon the choice of Jesus. To\ninvent such touches is the last attainment of dramatic genius, and the\nartist rarely succeeds except by deliberate and palpable\ncharacter-painting. The whole story of Hamlet and of Lear is constructed\nwith this end in view, but no one has ever conjectured that the Gospels\nwere psychological studies. If, then, we can discover several well-defined\ncharacters, harmoniously drawn by various writers, as natural as the\ncentral figure is supernatural, and to be recognised equally in the common\nand the miraculous narratives, this will be an evidence of the utmost\nvalue.\n\nWe are all familiar with the impetuous vigour of St. Peter, a quality\nwhich betrayed him into grave and well-nigh fatal errors, but when\nchastened by suffering made him a noble and formidable leader of the\nTwelve. We recognise it when He says, \u201cThou shalt never wash my feet,\u201d\n\u201cThough all men should deny Thee, yet will I never deny Thee,\u201d \u201cLord, to\nwhom should we go? Thou hast the words of everlasting life,\u201d \u201cThou art the\nChrist, the Son of the living God,\u201d and in his rebuke of Jesus for\nself-sacrifice, and in his rash blow in the garden. Does this, the best\nestablished mental quality of any apostle, fail or grow faint in the\nmiraculous stories which are condemned as the accretions of a later time?\nIn such stories he is related to have cried out, \u201cDepart from me, for I am\na sinful man, O Lord,\u201d he would walk upon the sea to Jesus, he proposed to\nshelter Moses and Elijah from the night air in booths (a notion so natural\nto a bewildered man, so exquisite in its officious well-meaning absurdity\nas to prove itself, for who could have invented it?), he ventured into the\nempty sepulchre while John stood awe-stricken at the portal, he plunged\ninto the lake to seek his risen Master on the shore, and he was presently\nthe first to draw the net to land. Observe the restless curiosity which\nbeckoned to John to ask who was the traitor, and compare it with his\nquestion, \u201cLord, and what shall this man do?\u201d But the second of these was\nafter the resurrection, and in answer to a prophecy. Everywhere we find a\nreal person and the same, and the vehemence is everywhere that of a warm\nheart, which could fail signally but could weep bitterly as well, which\ncould learn not to claim, though twice invited, greater love than that of\nothers, but when asked \u201cLovest thou Me\u201d at all, broke out into the\npassionate appeal, \u201cLord, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I\nlove Thee.\u201d Dull is the ear of the critic which fails to recognise here\nthe voice of Simon. Yet the story implies the resurrection.\n\nThe mind of Jesus was too lofty and grave for epigram; but He put the\nwilful self-reliance which Peter had to subdue even to crucifixion, into\none delicate and subtle phrase: \u201cWhen thou wast young, thou girdedst\nthyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest.\u201d That self-willed stride,\nwith the loins girded, is the natural gait of Peter, when he was young.\n\nSt. James, the first apostolic martyr, seems to have over-topped for a\nwhile his greater brother St. John, before whom he is usually named, and\nwho is once distinguished as \u201cthe brother of James.\u201d He shares with him\nthe title of a Son of Thunder (Mark iii. 17). They were together in\ndesiring to rival the fiery and avenging miracle of Elijah, and to partake\nof the profound baptism and bitter cup of Christ. It is an undesigned\ncoincidence in character, that while the latter of these events is\nrecorded by St. Matthew and St. Mark, the former, which, it will be\nobserved implies perfect confidence in the supernatural power of Christ,\nis found in St. Luke alone, who has not mentioned the title it justifies\nso curiously (Matt. xx. 20; Mark x. 35; Luke ix. 54). It is more\nremarkable that he whom Christ bade to share his distinctive title with\nanother, should not once be named as having acted or spoken by himself.\nWith a fire like that of Peter, but no such power of initiative and of\nchieftainship, how natural it is that his appointed task was martyrdom. Is\nit objected that his brother also, the great apostle St. John, received\nonly a share in that divided title? But the family trait is quite as\npalpable in him. The deeds of John were seldom wrought upon his own\nresponsibility, never if we except the bringing of Peter into the palace\nof the high priest. He is a keen observer and a deep thinker. But he\ncannot, like his Master, combine the quality of leader with those of\nstudent and sage. In company with Andrew he found the Messiah. We have\nseen James leading him for a time. It was in obedience to a sign from\nPeter that He asked who was the traitor. With Peter, when Jesus was\narrested, he followed afar off. It is very characteristic that he shrank\nfrom entering the sepulchre until Peter, coming up behind, went in first,\nalthough it was John who thereupon \u201csaw and believed.\u201d(8)\n\nWith like discernment, he was the first to recognise Jesus beside the\nlake, but then it was equally natural that he should tell Peter, and\nfollow in the ship, dragging the net to land, as that Peter should gird\nhimself and plunge into the lake. Peter, when Jesus drew him aside, turned\nand saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, with the same silent,\ngentle, and sociable affection, which had so recently joined him with the\nsaddest and tenderest of all companions underneath the cross. At this\npoint there is a delicate and suggestive turn of phrase. By what incident\nwould any pen except his own have chosen to describe the beloved disciple\nas Peter then beheld him? Assuredly we should have written, The disciple\nwhom Jesus loved, who also followed Him to Calvary, and to whom He\nconfided His mother. But from St. John himself there would have been a\ntrace of boastfulness in such a phrase. Now the author of the Fourth\nGospel, choosing rather to speak of privilege than service, wrote \u201cThe\ndisciple whom Jesus loved, which also leaned back on His breast at the\nsupper, and said, Lord, who is he that betrayeth Thee?\u201d\n\nSt. John was again with St. Peter at the Beautiful Gate, and although it\nwas not he who healed the cripple, yet his co-operation is implied in the\nwords, \u201cPeter, fastening his eyes on him, _with John_.\u201d And when the\nCouncil would fain have silenced them, the boldness which spoke in Peter\u2019s\nreply was \u201cthe boldness of Peter and John.\u201d\n\nCould any series of events justify more perfectly a title which implied\nmuch zeal, yet zeal that did not demand a specific unshared epithet? But\nthese events are interwoven with the miraculous narratives.\n\nAdd to this the keenness and deliberation which so much of his story\nexhibits, which at the beginning tendered no hasty homage, but followed\nJesus to examine and to learn, which saw the meaning of the orderly\narrangment of the graveclothes in the empty tomb, which was first to\nrecognise the Lord upon the beach, which before this had felt something in\nChrist\u2019s regard for the least and weakest, inconsistent with the\nforbidding of any one to cast out devils, and we have the very qualities\nrequired to supplement those of Peter, without being discordant or\nuncongenial. And therefore it is with Peter, even more than with his\nbrother, that we have seen John associated. In fact Christ, who sent out\nHis apostles by two and two, joins these in such small matters as the\ntracking a man with a pitcher into the house where He would keep the\nPassover. And so, when Mary of Magdala would announce the resurrection,\nshe found the penitent Simon in company with this loving John, comforted,\nand ready to seek the tomb where he met the Lord of all Pardons.\n\nAll this is not only coherent, and full of vital force, but it also\nstrengthens powerfully the evidence for his authorship of the Gospel,\nwritten the last, looking deepest into sacred mysteries, and comparatively\nunconcerned for the mere flow of narrative, but tender with private and\nloving discourse, with thoughts of the protecting Shepherd, the sustaining\nVine, the Friend Who wept by a grave, Who loved John, Who provided amid\ntortures for His mother, Who knew that Peter loved Him, and bade him feed\nthe lambs\u2014and yet thunderous as becomes a Boanerges, with indignation half\nsuppressed against \u201cthe Jews\u201d (so called as if he had renounced his\nmurderous nation), against the selfish high-priest of \u201cthat same year,\u201d\nand against the son of perdition, for whom certain astute worldlings have\nsurmised that his wrath was such as they best understand, personal, and\nperhaps a little spiteful. The temperament of John, revealed throughout,\nwas that of August, brooding and warm and hushed and fruitful, with low\nrumblings of tempest in the night.\n\nIt is remarkable that such another family resemblance as between James and\nJohn exists between Peter and Andrew. The directness and self-reliance of\nhis greater brother may be discovered in the few incidents recorded of\nAndrew also. At the beginning, and after one interview with Jesus, when he\nfinds his brother, and becomes the first of the Twelve to spread the\ngospel, he utters the short unhesitating announcement, \u201cWe have found the\nMessiah.\u201d When Philip is uncertain about introducing the Greeks who would\nsee Jesus, he consults Andrew, and there is no more hesitation, Andrew and\nPhilip tell Jesus. And in just the same way, when Philip argues that two\nhundred pennyworth of bread are not enough for the multitude, Andrew\nintervenes with practical information about the five barley loaves and the\ntwo small fishes, insufficient although they seem. A man prompt and ready,\nand not blind to the resources that exist because they appear scanty.\n\nTwice we have found Philip mentioned in conjunction with him. It was\nPhilip, apparently accosted by the Greeks because of his Gentile name, who\ncould not take upon himself the responsibility of telling Jesus of their\nwish. And it was he, when consulted about the feeding of the five\nthousand, who went off into a calculation of the price of the food\nrequired\u2014two hundred pennyworth, he says, would not suffice. Is it not\nhighly consistent with this slow deliberation, that he should have\naccosted Nathanael with a statement so measured and explicit: \u201cWe have\nfound Him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did write, Jesus of\nNazareth, the Son of Joseph.\u201d What a contrast to Andrew\u2019s terse\nannouncement, \u201cWe have found the Messiah.\u201d And how natural that Philip\nshould answer the objection, \u201cCan any good thing come out of Nazareth?\u201d\nwith the passionless reasonable invitation, \u201cCome and see.\u201d It was in the\nsame unimaginative prosaic way that he said long after, \u201cLord, show us the\nFather, and it sufficeth us.\u201d To this comparatively sluggish temperament,\ntherefore, Jesus Himself had to address the first demand He made on any.\n\u201cFollow me,\u201d He said, and was obeyed. It would not be easy to compress\ninto such brief and incidental notices a more graphic indication of\ncharacter.\n\nOf the others we know little except the names. The choice of Matthew, the\nman of business, is chiefly explained by the nature of his Gospel, so\nexplicit, orderly, and methodical, and until it approaches the\ncrucifixion, so devoid of fire.\n\nBut when we come to Thomas, we are once more aware of a defined and vivid\npersonality, somewhat perplexed and melancholy, of little hope but settled\nloyalty.\n\nAll the three sayings reported of him belong to a dejected temperament:\n\u201cLet us also go, that we may die with Him\u201d\u2014as if there could be no\nbrighter meaning than death in Christ\u2019s proposal to interrupt a dead man\u2019s\nsleep. \u201cLord, we know not whither Thou goest, and how can we know the\nway?\u201d\u2014these words express exactly the same despondent failure to\napprehend. And so it comes to pass that nothing short of tangible\nexperience will convince him of the resurrection. And yet there is a warm\nand devoted heart to be recognised in the proposal to share Christ\u2019s\ndeath, in the yearning to know whither He went, and even in that agony of\nunbelief, which dwelt upon the cruel details of suffering, until it gave\nway to one glad cry of recognition and of worship; therefore his demand\nwas granted, although a richer blessing was reserved for those who, not\nhaving seen, believed.\n\n\n\n\nThe Apostle Judas.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed Him.\u201d\u2014MARK iii. 19.\n\n\nThe evidential value of what has been written about the apostles will, to\nsome minds, seem to be overborne by the difficulties which start up at the\nname of Judas. And yet the fact that Jesus chose him\u2014that awful fact which\nhas offended many\u2014is in harmony with all that we see around us, with the\nprodigious powers bestowed upon Napoleon and Voltaire, bestowed in full\nknowledge of the dark results, yet given because the issues of human\nfreewill never cancel the trusts imposed on human responsibility.\nTherefore the issues of the freewill of Judas did not cancel the trust\nimposed upon his responsibility; and Jesus acted not on His foreknowledge\nof the future, but on the mighty possibilities, for good as for evil,\nwhich heaved in the bosom of the fated man as he stood upon the mountain\nsward.\n\nIn the story of Judas, the principles which rule the world are made\nvisible. From Adam to this day men have been trusted who failed and fell,\nand out of their very downfall, but not by precipitating it, the plans of\nGod have evolved themselves.\n\nIt is not possible to make such a study of the character of Judas as of\nsome others of the Twelve. A traitor is naturally taciturn. No word of his\ndraws our attention to the fact that he had gained possession of the bag,\neven though one who had sat at the receipt of custom might more naturally\nhave become the treasurer. We do not hear his voice above the rest, until\nSt. John explains the source of the general discontent, which remonstrated\nagainst the waste of ointment. He is silent even at the feast, in despite\nof the words which revealed his guilty secret, until a slow and tardy\nquestion is wrung from him, not \u201cIs it I, Lord?\u201d but \u201cRabbi, is it I?\u201d His\ninfluence is like that of a subtle poison, not discerned until its effects\nbetray it.\n\nBut many words of Jesus acquire new force and energy when we observe that,\nwhatever their drift beside, they were plainly calculated to influence and\nwarn Iscariot. Such are the repeated and urgent warnings against\ncovetousness, from the first parable, spoken so shortly after his\nvocation, which reckons the deceitfulness of riches and the lust of other\nthings among the tares that choke the seed, down to the declaration that\nthey who trust in riches shall hardly enter the kingdom. Such are the\ndenunciations against hypocrisy, spoken openly, as in the Sermon on the\nMount, or to His own apart, as when He warned them of the leaven of the\nPharisees which is hypocrisy, that secret vice which was eating out the\nsoul of one among them. Such were the opportunities given to retreat\nwithout utter dishonour, as when He said, \u201cDo ye also will to go away? ...\nDid I not choose you the Twelve, and one of you is a devil?\u201d (John vi. 67,\n70). And such also were the awful warnings given of the solemn\nresponsibilities of special privileges. The exalted city which is brought\ndown to hell, the salt which is trodden under foot, the men whose sin\nremained because they can claim to see, and still more plainly, the first\nthat shall be last, and the man for whom it were good that he had not been\nborn. In many besides the last of these, Judas must have felt himself\nsternly because faithfully dealt with. And the exasperation which always\nresults from rejected warnings, the sense of a presence utterly repugnant\nto his nature, may have largely contributed to his final and disastrous\ncollapse.\n\nIn the life of Judas there was a mysterious impersonation of all the\ntendencies of godless Judaism, and his dreadful personality seems to\nexpress the whole movement of the nation which rejected Christ. We see\nthis in the powerful attraction felt toward Messiah before His aims were\nunderstood, in the deadly estrangement and hostility which were kindled by\nthe gentle and self-effacing ways of Jesus, in the treachery of Judas in\nthe garden and the unscrupulous wiliness of the priests accusing Christ\nbefore the governor, in the fierce intensity of rage which turned his\nhands against himself and which destroyed the nation under Titus. Nay the\nvery sordidness which made a bargain for thirty pieces of silver has ever\nsince been a part of the popular conception of the race. We are apt to\nthink of a gross love of money as inconsistent with intense passion, but\nin Shylock, the compatriot of Judas, Shakespeare combines the two.\n\nContemplating this blighted and sinister career, the lesson is burnt in\nupon the conscience, that since Judas by transgression fell, no place in\nthe Church of Christ can render any man secure. And since, falling, he was\nopenly exposed, none may flatter himself that the cause of Christ is bound\nup with his reputation, that the mischief must needs be averted which his\ndownfall would entail, that Providence must needs avert from him the\nnatural penalties of evil-doing. Though one was as the signet upon the\nLord\u2019s hand, yet was he plucked thence. There is no security for any soul\nanywhere except where love and trust repose, upon the bosom of Christ.\n\nNow if this be true, and if sin and scandal may conceivably penetrate even\nthe inmost circle of the chosen, how great an error is it to break,\nbecause of these offences, the unity of the Church, and institute some new\ncommunion, purer far than the Churches of Corinth and Galatia, which were\nnot abandoned but reformed, and more impenetrable to corruption than the\nlittle group of those who ate and drank with Jesus.\n\n\n\n\nChrist And Beelzebub.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not\n    so much as eat bread. And when his friends heard it, they went out\n    to lay hold on Him: for they said, He is beside Himself. And the\n    scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub,\n    and, By the prince of the devils casteth He out the devils. And He\n    called them unto Him, and said unto them in parables, How can\n    Satan cast out Satan? And if a kingdom be divided against itself,\n    that kingdom cannot stand. And if an house be divided against\n    itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan hath\n    risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but\n    hath an end. But no one can enter into the house of the strong\n    _man_, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong _man_;\n    and then he will spoil his house.\u201d\u2014MARK iii. 20-27 (R.V.).\n\n\nWhile Christ was upon the mountain with His more immediate followers, the\nexcitement in the plain did not exhaust itself; for even when He entered\ninto a house, the crowds prevented Him and His followers from taking\nnecessary food. And when His friends heard of this, they judged Him as men\nwho profess to have learned the lesson of His life still judge, too often,\nall whose devotion carries them beyond the boundaries of convention and of\nconvenience. For there is a curious betrayal of the popular estimate of\nthis world and the world to come, in the honour paid to those who cast\naway life in battle, or sap it slowly in pursuit of wealth or honours, and\nthe contempt expressed for those who compromise it on behalf of souls, for\nwhich Christ died. Whenever by exertion in any unselfish cause health is\nbroken, or fortune impaired, or influential friends estranged, the\nfollower of Christ is called an enthusiast, a fanatic, or even more\nplainly a man of unsettled mind. He may be comforted by remembering that\nJesus was said to be beside Himself when teaching and healing left Him not\nleisure even to eat.\n\nTo this incessant and exhausting strain upon His energies and sympathies,\nSt. Matthew applies the prophetic words, \u201cHimself took our infirmities and\nbare our diseases\u201d (viii. 17). And it is worth while to compare with that\npassage and the one before us, Renan\u2019s assertion, that He traversed\nGalilee \u201cin the midst of a perpetual f\u00eate,\u201d and that \u201cjoyous Galilee\ncelebrated in f\u00eates the approach of the well-beloved.\u201d (_Vie de J._, pp.\n197, 202). The contrast gives a fine illustration of the inaccurate\nshallowness of the Frenchman\u2019s whole conception of the sacred life.\n\nBut it is remarkable that while His friends could not yet believe His\nclaims, and even strove to lay hold on Him, no worse suspicion ever\ndarkened the mind of those who knew Him best than that His reason had been\ndisturbed. Not these called Him gluttonous and a winebibber. Not these\nblasphemed His motives. But the envoys of the priestly faction, partisans\nfrom Jerusalem, were ready with an atrocious suggestion. He was Himself\npossessed with a worse devil, before whom the lesser ones retired. By the\nprince of the devils He cast out the devils. To this desperate evasion,\nSt. Matthew tells us, they were driven by a remarkable miracle, the\nexpulsion of a blind and dumb spirit, and the perfect healing of his\nvictim. Now the literature of the world cannot produce invective more\nterrible than Jesus had at His command for these very scribes and\nPharisees, hypocrites. This is what gives majesty to His endurance. No\npersonal insult, no resentment at His own wrong, could ruffle the sublime\ncomposure which, upon occasion, gave way to a moral indignation equally\nsublime. Calmly He calls His traducers to look Him in the face, and\nappeals to their own reason against their blasphemy. Neither kingdom nor\nhouse divided against itself can stand. And if Satan be divided against\nhimself and his evil works, undoing the miseries and opening the eyes of\nmen, his kingdom has an end. All the experience of the world since the\nbeginning was proof enough that such a suicide of evil was beyond hope.\nThe best refutation of the notion that Satan had risen up against himself\nand was divided was its clear expression. But what was the alternative? If\nSatan were not committing suicide, he was overpowered. There is indeed a\nfitful temporary reformation, followed by a deeper fall, which St. Matthew\ntells us that Christ compared to the cleansing of a house from whence the\nevil tenant has capriciously wandered forth, confident that it is still\nhis own, and prepared to return to it with seven other and worse fiends. A\nlittle observation would detect such illusory improvement. But the case\nbefore them was that of an external summons reluctantly obeyed. It\nrequired the interference of a stronger power, which could only be the\npower of God. None could enter into the strong man\u2019s house, and spoil his\ngoods, unless the strong man were first bound, \u201cand then he will spoil his\nhouse.\u201d No more distinct assertion of the personality of evil spirits than\nthis could be devised. Jesus and the Pharisees are not at all at issue\nupon this point. He does not scout as a baseless superstition their belief\nthat evil spirits are at work in the world. But He declares that His own\nwork is the reversal of theirs. He is spoiling the strong man, whose\nterrible ascendancy over the possessed resembles the dominion of a man in\nhis own house, among chattels without a will.\n\nThat dominion Christ declares that only a stronger can overcome, and His\nargument assumes that the stronger must needs be the finger of God, the\npower of God, come unto them. The supernatural exists only above us and\nbelow.\n\nAges have passed away since then. Innumerable schemes have been devised\nfor the expulsion of the evils under which the world is groaning, and if\nthey are evils of merely human origin, human power should suffice for\ntheir removal. The march of civilisation is sometimes appealed to. But\nwhat blessings has civilisation without Christ ever borne to savage men?\nThe answer is painful: rum, gunpowder, slavery, massacre, small-pox,\npulmonary consumption, and the extinction of their races, these are all it\nhas been able to bestow. Education is sometimes spoken of, as if it would\ngradually heal our passions and expel vice and misery from the world, as\nif the worst crimes and most flagrant vices of our time were peculiar to\nthe ignorant and the untaught, as if no forger had ever learned to write.\nAnd sometimes great things are promised from the advance of science, as if\nall the works of dynamite and nitro-glycerine, were, like those of the\nCreator, very good.\n\nNo man can be deceived by such flattering hopes, who rightly considers the\nvolcanic energies, the frantic rage, the unreasoning all-sacrificing\nrecklessness of human passions and desires. Surely they are set on fire of\nhell, and only heaven can quench the conflagration. Jesus has undertaken\nto do this. His religion has been a spell of power among the degraded and\nthe lost; and when we come to consider mankind in bulk, it is plain enough\nthat no other power has had a really reclaiming, elevating effect upon\ntribes and races. In our own land, what great or lasting work of\nreformation, or even of temporal benevolence, has ever gone forward\nwithout the blessing of religion to sustain it? Nowhere is Satan cast out\nbut by the Stronger than he, binding him, overmastering the evil principle\nwhich tramples human nature down, as the very first step towards spoiling\nhis goods. The spiritual victory must precede the removal of misery,\nconvulsion and disease. There is no golden age for the world, except the\nreign of Christ.\n\n\n\n\n\u201cEternal Sin.\u201d\n\n\n    \u201cVerily I say unto you, All their sins shall be forgiven unto the\n    sons of men, and their blasphemies wherewith soever they shall\n    blaspheme: but whosoever shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit\n    hath never forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.\u201d\u2014MARK\n    iii. 28, 29 (R.V.).\n\n\nHaving first shown that His works cannot be ascribed to Satan, Jesus\nproceeds to utter the most terrible of warnings, because they said, He\nhath an unclean spirit.\n\n\u201cAll their sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and their\nblasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme, but whosoever shall\nblaspheme against the Holy Spirit hath never forgiveness; but is guilty of\nan eternal sin.\u201d\n\nWhat is the nature of this terrible offence? It is plain that their\nslanderous attack lay in the direction of it, since they needed warning;\nand probable that they had not yet fallen into the abyss, because they\ncould still be warned against it. At least, if the guilt of some had\nreached that depth, there must have been others involved in their offence\nwho were still within reach of Christ\u2019s solemn admonition. It would seem\ntherefore that in saying, \u201cHe casteth out devils by Beelzebub.... He hath\nan unclean spirit,\u201d they approached the confines and doubtful boundaries\nbetween that blasphemy against the Son of man which shall be forgiven, and\nthe blasphemy against the Holy Spirit which hath never forgiveness.\n\nIt is evident also that any crime declared by Scripture elsewhere to be\nincurable, must be identical with this, however different its guise, since\nJesus plainly and indisputably announces that all other sins but this\nshall be forgiven.\n\nNow there are several other passages of the kind. St. John bade his\ndisciples to pray, when any saw a brother sinning a sin not unto death,\n\u201cand God will give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a\nsin unto death: not concerning this do I say that he should make request\u201d\n(1 John v. 16). It is idle to suppose that, in the case of this sin unto\ndeath, the Apostle only meant to leave his disciples free to pray or not\nto pray. If death were not certain, it would be their duty, in common\ncharity, to pray. But the sin is so vaguely and even mysteriously referred\nto, that we learn little more from that passage than that it was an overt\npublic act, of which other men could so distinctly judge the flagrancy\nthat from it they should withhold their prayers. It has nothing in common\nwith those unhappy wanderings of thought or affection which morbid\nintrospection broods upon, until it pleads guilty to the unpardonable sin,\nfor lapses of which no other could take cognizance. And in Christ\u2019s words,\nthe very epithet, blasphemy, involves the same public, open revolt against\ngood.(9) And let it be remembered that every other sin shall be forgiven.\n\nThere are also two solemn passages in the Epistle to the Hebrews (vi. 4-6;\nx. 26-31). The first of these declares that it is impossible for men who\nonce experienced all the enlightening and sweet influences of God, \u201cand\nthen fell away,\u201d to be renewed again unto repentance. But falling upon the\nroad is very different from thus falling away, or how could Peter have\nbeen recovered? Their fall is total apostasy, \u201cthey crucify to themselves\nthe Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame.\u201d They are not\nfruitful land in which tares are mingled; they bear only thorns and\nthistles, and are utterly rejected. And so in the tenth chapter, they who\nsin wilfully are men who tread under foot the Son of God, and count the\nblood of the covenant an unholy thing, and do despite (insult) unto the\nSpirit of grace.\n\nAgain we read that in the last time there will arise an enemy of God so\nunparalleled that his movement will outstrip all others, and be \u201c_the_\nfalling away,\u201d and he himself will be \u201cthe man of sin\u201d and \u201cthe son of\nperdition,\u201d which latter title he only shares with Iscariot. Now the\nessence of his portentous guilt is that \u201che opposeth and exalteth himself\nagainst all that is called God or that is worshipped\u201d: it is a monstrous\negotism, \u201csetting himself forth as God,\u201d and such a hatred of restraint as\nmakes him \u201cthe lawless one\u201d (2 Thess. ii. 3-10).\n\nSo far as these passages are at all definite in their descriptions, they\nare entirely harmonious. They describe no sin of the flesh, of impulse,\nfrailty or passion, nor yet a spiritual lapse of an unguarded hour, of\nrash speculation, of erring or misled opinion. They speak not of sincere\nfailure to accept Christ\u2019s doctrine or to recognise His commission, even\nthough it breathe out threats and slaughters. They do not even apply to\nthe dreadful sin of denying Christ in terror, though one should curse and\nswear, saying, I know not the man. They speak of a deliberate and\nconscious rejection of good and choice of evil, of the wilful aversion of\nthe soul from sacred influences, the public denial and trampling under\nfoot of Christ, the opposing of all that is called God.\n\nAnd a comparison of these passages enables us to understand why this sin\nnever can be pardoned. It is because good itself has become the food and\nfuel of its wickedness, stirring up its opposition, calling out its rage,\nthat the apostate cannot be renewed again unto repentance. The sin is\nrather indomitable than unpardonable: it has become part of the sinner\u2019s\npersonality; it is incurable, an eternal sin.\n\nHere is nothing to alarm any mourner whose contrition proves that it has\nactually been possible to renew him unto repentance. No penitent has ever\nyet been rejected for this guilt, for no penitent has ever been thus\nguilty.\n\nAnd this being so, here is the strongest possible encouragement for all\nwho desire mercy. Every other sin, every other blasphemy shall be\nforgiven. Heaven does not reject the vilest whom the world hisses at, the\nmost desperate and bloodstained whose life the world exacts in vengeance\nfor his outrages. None is lost but the hard and impenitent heart which\ntreasures up for itself wrath against the day of wrath.\n\n\n\n\nThe Friends Of Jesus.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd there come His mother and His brethren; and, standing\n    without, they sent unto Him, calling Him. And a multitude was\n    sitting about Him; and they say unto Him, Behold, Thy mother and\n    Thy brethren without seek for Thee. And He answereth them, and\n    saith, Who is My mother and My brethren? And looking round on them\n    which sat round about Him He saith, Behold My mother and My\n    brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is My\n    brother, and sister, and mother.\u201d\u2014MARK iii. 31-35 (R.V.).\n\n\nWe have lately read that the relatives of Jesus, hearing of His\nself-sacrificing devotion, sought to lay hold on Him, because they said,\nHe is beside Himself. Their concern would not be lightened upon hearing of\nHis rupture with the chiefs of their religion and their nation. And so it\nwas, that while a multitude hung upon His lips, some unsympathizing\ncritic, or perhaps some hostile scribe, interrupted Him with their\nmessage. They desired to speak with Him, possibly with rude intentions,\nwhile in any case, to grant their wish might easily have led to a painful\naltercation, offending weak disciples, and furnishing a scandal to His\neager foes.\n\nTheir interference must have caused the Lord a bitter pang. It was sad\nthat they were not among His hearers, but worse that they should seek to\nmar His work. To Jesus, endowed with every innocent human instinct, worn\nwith labour and aware of gathering perils, they were an offence of the\nsame kind as Peter made himself when he became the mouthpiece of the\ntempter. For their own sakes, whose faith He was yet to win, it was\nneedful to be very firm. Moreover, He was soon to make it a law of the\nkingdom that men should be ready for His sake to leave brethren, or\nsisters, or mother, and in so doing should receive back all these a\nhundredfold in the present time (x. 29, 30). To this law it was now His\nown duty to conform. Yet it was impossible for Jesus to be harsh and stern\nto a group of relatives with His mother in the midst of them; and it would\nbe a hard problem for the finest dramatic genius to reconcile the\nconflicting claims of the emergency, fidelity to God and the cause, a\nstriking rebuke to the officious interference of His kinsfolk, and a full\nand affectionate recognition of the relationship which could not make Him\nswerve. How shall He \u201cleave\u201d His mother and His brethren, and yet not deny\nHis heart? How shall He be strong without being harsh?\n\nJesus reconciles all the conditions of the problem, as pointing to His\nattentive hearers, He pronounces these to be His true relatives, but yet\nfinds no warmer term to express what He feels for them than the dear names\nof mother, sisters, brethren.\n\nObservers whose souls were not warmed as He spoke, may have supposed that\nit was cold indifference to the calls of nature which allowed His mother\nand brethren to stand without. In truth, it was not that He denied the\nclaims of the flesh, but that He was sensitive to other, subtler,\nprofounder claims of the spirit and spiritual kinship. He would not\ncarelessly wound a mother\u2019s or a brother\u2019s heart, but the life Divine had\nalso its fellowships and its affinities, and still less could He throw\nthese aside. No cold sense of duty detains Him with His congregation while\naffection seeks Him in the vestibule; no, it is a burning love, the love\nof a brother or even of a son, which binds Him to His people.\n\nHappy are they who are in such a case. And Jesus gives us a ready means of\nknowing whether we are among those whom He so wonderfully condescends to\nlove. \u201cWhosoever shall do the will of My Father which is in heaven.\u201d\nFeelings may ebb, and self-confidence may be shaken, but obedience depends\nnot upon excitement, and may be rendered by a breaking heart.\n\nIt is important to observe that this saying declares that obedience does\nnot earn kinship; but only proves it, as the fruit proves the tree.\nKinship must go before acceptable service; none can do the will of the\nFather who is not already the kinsman of Jesus, for He says, Whosoever\nshall (_hereafter_) do the will of My Father, the same is (_already_) My\nbrother and sister and mother. There are men who would fain reverse the\nprocess, and do God\u2019s will in order to merit the brotherhood of Jesus.\nThey would drill themselves and win battles for Him, in order to be\nenrolled among His soldiers. They would accept the gospel invitation as\nsoon as they refute the gospel warnings that without Him they can do\nnothing, and that they need the creation of a new heart and the renewal of\na right spirit within them. But when homage was offered to Jesus as a\nDivine teacher and no more, He rejoined, Teaching is not what is required:\nholiness does not result from mere enlightenment: Verily, verily, I say\nunto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.\nBecause the new birth is the condition of all spiritual power and energy,\nit follows that if any man shall henceforth do God\u2019s will, he must already\nbe of the family of Christ.\n\nMen may avoid evil through self-respect, from early training and\nrestraints of conscience, from temporal prudence or dread of the future.\nAnd this is virtuous only as the paying of a fire-insurance is so. But\nsecondary motives will never lift any man so high as to satisfy this\nsublime standard, the doing of the will of the Father. That can only be\nattained, like all true and glorious service in every cause, by the heart,\nby enthusiasm, by love. And Jesus was bound to all who loved His Father by\nas strong a cord as united His perfect heart with brother and sister and\nmother.\n\nBut as there is no true obedience without relationship, so is there no\ntrue relationship unfollowed by obedience. Christ was not content to say,\nWhoso doeth God\u2019s will is My kinsman: He asked, Who is My kinsman? and\ngave this as an exhaustive reply. He has none other. Every sheep in His\nfold hears His voice and follows Him. We may feel keen emotions as we\nlisten to passionate declamations, or kneel in an excited prayer-meeting,\nor bear our part in an imposing ritual; we may be moved to tears by\nthinking of the dupes of whatever heterodoxy we most condemn; tender and\nsoft emotions may be stirred in our bosom by the story of the perfect life\nand Divine death of Jesus; and yet we may be as far from a renewed heart\nas was that ancient tyrant from genuine compassion, who wept over the\nbrevity of the lives of the soldiers whom he sent into a wanton war.\n\nMere feeling is not life. It moves truly; but only as a balloon moves,\nrising by virtue of its emptiness, driven about by every blast that veers,\nand sinking when its inflation is at an end. But mark the living creature\npoised on widespread wings; it has a will, an intention, and an\ninitiative, and as long as its life is healthy and unenslaved, it moves at\nits own good pleasure. How shall I know whether or not I am a true kinsman\nof the Lord? By seeing whether I advance, whether I work, whether I have\nreal and practical zeal and love, or whether I have grown cold, and make\nmore allowance for the flesh than I used to do, and expect less from the\nspirit. Obedience does not produce grace. But it proves it, for we can no\nmore bear fruit except we abide in Christ, than the branch that does not\nabide in the vine.\n\nLastly, we observe the individual love, the personal affection of Christ\nfor each of His people. There is a love for masses of men and\nphilanthropic causes, which does not much observe the men who compose the\nmasses, and upon whom the causes depend. Thus, one may love his country,\nand rejoice when her flag advances, without much care for any soldier who\nhas been shot down, or has won promotion. And so we think of Africa or\nIndia, without really feeling much about the individual Egyptian or\nHindoo. Who can discriminate and feel for each one of the multitudes\nincluded in such a word as Want, or Sickness, or Heathenism? And judging\nby our own frailty, we are led to think that Christ\u2019s love can mean but\nlittle beyond this. As a statesman who loves the nation may be said, in\nsome vague way, to love and care for me, so people think of Christ as\nloving and pitying us because we are items in the race He loves. But He\nhas eyes and a heart, not only for all, but for each one. Looking down the\nshadowy vista of the generations, every sigh, every broken heart, every\nblasphemy, is a separate pang to His all-embracing heart. \u201cBefore that\nPhilip called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw _thee_,\u201d\nlonely, unconscious, undistinguished drop in the tide of life, one leaf\namong the myriads which rustle and fall in the vast forest of existence.\nSt. Paul speaks truly of Christ \u201cWho loved me, and gave Himself for me.\u201d\nHe shall bring every secret sin to judgment, and shall we so far wrong Him\nas to think His justice more searching, more penetrating, more\nindividualizing than His love, His memory than His heart? It is not so.\nThe love He offers adapts itself to every age and sex: it distinguishes\nbrother from sister, and sister again from mother. It is mindful of \u201cthe\nleast of these My brethren.\u201d But it names no Father except One.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\n\n\n\nThe Parables.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd again He began to teach by the sea side. And there is\n    gathered unto Him a very great multitude, so that He entered into\n    a boat, and sat in the sea; and all the multitude were by the sea\n    on the land. And He taught them many things in parables, and said\n    unto them in His teaching....\n\n    \u201cAnd when He was alone, they that were about Him with the twelve\n    asked of Him the parables. And He said unto them, Unto you is\n    given the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are\n    without, all things are done in parables: that seeing they may\n    see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not\n    understand; lest haply they should turn again, and it should be\n    forgiven them. And He saith unto them, Know ye not this parable?\n    and how shall ye know all the parables?\u201d\u2014MARK iv. 1, 2, 10-13\n    (R.V.).\n\n\nAs opposition deepened, and to a vulgar ambition, the temptation to retain\ndisciples by all means would have become greater, Jesus began to teach in\nparables. We know that He had not hitherto done so, both by the surprise\nof the Twelve, and by the necessity which He found, of giving them a clue\nto the meaning of such teachings, and so to \u201call the parables.\u201d His own\nought to have understood. But He was merciful to the weakness which\nconfessed its failure and asked for instruction.\n\nAnd yet He foresaw that they which were without would discern no spiritual\nmeaning in such discourse. It was to have, at the same time, a revealing\nand a baffling effect, and therefore it was peculiarly suitable for the\npurposes of a Teacher watched by vindictive foes. Thus, when\ncross-examined about His authority by men who themselves professed to know\nnot whence John\u2019s baptism was, He could refuse to be entrapped, and yet\ntell of One Who sent His own Son, His Beloved, to receive the fruit of the\nvineyard.\n\nThis diverse effect is derived from the very nature of the parables of\nJesus. They are not, like some in the Old Testament, mere fables, in which\nthings occur that never happen in real life. Jotham\u2019s trees seeking a\nking, are as incredible as \u00c6sop\u2019s fox leaping for grapes. But Jesus never\nuttered a parable which was not true to nature, the kind of thing which\none expects to happen. We cannot say that a rich man in hell actually\nspoke to Abraham in heaven. But if he could do so, of which we are not\ncompetent to judge, we can well believe that he would have spoken just\nwhat we read, and that his pathetic cry, \u201cFather Abraham,\u201d would have been\nas gently answered, \u201cSon, remember.\u201d There is no ferocity in the skies;\nneither has the lost soul become a fiend. Everything commends itself to\nour judgment. And therefore the story not only illustrates, but appeals,\nenforces, almost proves.\n\nGod in nature does not arrange that all seeds should grow: men have\npatience while the germ slowly fructifies, they know not how; in all\nthings but religion such sacrifices are made, that the merchant sells all\nto buy one goodly pearl; an earthly father kisses his repentant prodigal;\nand even a Samaritan can be neighbour to a Jew in his extremity. So the\nworld is constructed: such is even the fallen human heart. Is it not\nreasonable to believe that the same principles will extend farther; that\nas God governs the world of matter so He may govern the world of spirits,\nand that human helpfulness and clemency will not outrun the graces of the\nGiver of all good?\n\nThis is the famous argument from analogy, applied long before the time of\nButler, to purposes farther-reaching than his. But there is this\nremarkable difference, that the analogy is never pressed, men are left to\ndiscover it for themselves, or at least, to ask for an explanation,\nbecause they are conscious of something beyond the tale, something\nspiritual, something which they fain would understand.\n\nNow this difference is not a mannerism; it is intended. Butler pressed\nhome his analogies because he was striving to silence gainsayers. His Lord\nand ours left men to discern or to be blind, because they had already\nopportunity to become His disciples if they would. The faithful among them\nought to be conscious, or at least they should now become conscious, of\nthe God of grace in the God of nature. To them the world should be\neloquent of the Father\u2019s mind. They should indeed find tongues in trees,\nbooks in the running brooks, sermons in stones. He spoke to the sensitive\nmind, which would understand Him, as a wife reads her husband\u2019s secret\njoys and sorrows by signs no stranger can understand. Even if she fails to\ncomprehend, she knows there is something to ask about. And thus, when they\nwere alone, the Twelve asked Him of the parables. When they were\ninstructed, they gained not only the moral lesson, and the sweet pastoral\nnarrative, the idyllic picture which conveyed it, but also the assurance\nimparted by recognizing the same mind of God which is revealed in His\nworld, or justified by the best impulses of humanity. Therefore, no\nparable is sensational. It cannot root itself in the exceptional, the\nabnormal events on which men do not reckon, which come upon us with a\nshock. For we do not argue from these to daily life.\n\nBut while this mode of teaching was profitable to His disciples, and\nprotected Him against His foes, it had formidable consequences for the\nfrivolous empty followers after a sign. Because they were such they could\nonly find frivolity and lightness in these stories; the deeper meaning lay\nfarther below the surface than such eyes could pierce. Thus the light they\nhad abused was taken from them. And Jesus explained to His disciples that,\nin acting thus, He pursued the fixed rule of God. The worst penalty of\nvice is that it loses the knowledge of virtue, and of levity that it\ncannot appreciate seriousness. He taught in parables, as Isaiah\nprophesied, \u201cthat seeing they may see, and not perceive, and hearing they\nmay hear, and not understand; lest haply they should turn again and it\nshould be forgiven them.\u201d These last words prove how completely penal, how\nfree from all caprice, was this terrible decision of our gentle Lord, that\nprecautions must be taken against evasion of the consequences of crime.\nBut it is a warning by no means unique. He said, \u201cThe things which make\nfor thy peace ... are hid from thine eyes\u201d (Luke xix. 42). And St. Paul\nsaid, \u201cIf our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in them that are perishing\u201d;\nand still more to the point, \u201cThe natural man receiveth not the things of\nthe Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know\nthem, because they are spiritually discerned\u201d (2 Cor. iv. 3; 1 Cor. ii.\n14). To this law Christ, in speaking by parables, was conscious that He\nconformed.\n\nBut now let it be observed how completely this mode of teaching suited our\nLord\u2019s habit of mind. If men could finally rid themselves of His Divine\nclaim, they would at once recognise the greatest of the sages; and they\nwould also find in Him the sunniest, sweetest and most accurate\ndiscernment of nature, and its more quiet beauties, that ever became a\nvehicle for moral teaching. The sun and rain bestowed on the evil and the\ngood, the fountain and the trees which regulate the waters and the fruit,\nthe death of the seed by which it buys its increase, the provision for\nbird and blossom without anxiety of theirs, the preference for a lily over\nSolomon\u2019s gorgeous robes, the meaning of a red sky at sunrise and sunset,\nthe hen gathering her chickens under her wing, the vine and its branches,\nthe sheep and their shepherd, the lightning seen over all the sky, every\none of these needed only to be re-set and it would have become a parable.\n\nAll the Gospels, including the fourth, are full of proofs of this rich and\nattractive endowment, this warm sympathy with nature; and this fact is\namong the evidences that they all drew the same character, and drew it\nfaithfully,\n\n\n\n\nThe Sower.\n\n\n    \u201cHearken: Behold the sower went forth to sow: and it came to pass,\n    as he sowed, some _seed_ fell by the way side, and the birds came\n    and devoured it. And other fell on the rocky _ground_, where it\n    had not much earth; and straightway it sprang up, because it had\n    no deepness of earth: and when the sun was risen, it was scorched;\n    and because it had no root, it withered away. And other fell among\n    the thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded\n    no fruit. And others fell into the good ground, and yielded fruit,\n    growing up and increasing; and brought forth, thirtyfold, and\n    sixtyfold, and a hundredfold. And He said, Who hath ears to hear,\n    let him hear....\n\n    \u201cThe sower soweth the word. And these are they by the wayside,\n    where the word is sown; and when they have heard, straightway\n    cometh Satan, and taketh away the word which hath been sown in\n    them. And these in like manner are they that are sown upon the\n    rocky _places_, who, when they have heard the word, straightway\n    receive it with joy; and they have no root in themselves, but\n    endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution ariseth\n    because of the word, straightway they stumble. And others are they\n    that are sown among the thorns; these are they that have heard the\n    word, and the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches,\n    and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it\n    becometh unfruitful. And those are they that were sown upon the\n    good ground; such as hear the word, and accept it, and bear fruit,\n    thirtyfold, and sixtyfold, and a hundredfold.\u201d\u2014MARK iv. 3-9, 14-20\n    (R.V.).\n\n\n\u201cHearken\u201d Jesus said; willing to caution men against the danger of\nslighting His simple story, and to impress on them that it conveyed more\nthan met their ears. In so doing He protested in advance against\nfatalistic abuses of the parable, as if we were already doomed to be hard,\nor shallow, or thorny, or fruitful soil. And at the close He brought out\nstill more clearly His protest against such doctrine, by impressing upon\nall, that if the vitalising seed were the imparted word, it was their part\nto receive and treasure it. Indolence and shallowness _must_ fail to bear\nfruit: that is the essential doctrine of the parable; but it is not\nnecessary that we should remain indolent or shallow: \u201cHe that hath ears to\nhear, let him hear.\u201d\n\nAnd when the Epistle to the Hebrews reproduces the image of land which\nbringeth forth thorns and thistles, our Revised Version rightly brings out\nthe fact, on which indeed the whole exhortation depends, that the same\npiece of land might have borne herbs meet for those for whose sake it is\ntilled (vi. 7).\n\nHaving said \u201cHearken,\u201d Jesus added, \u201cBehold.\u201d It has been rightly inferred\nthat the scene was before their eyes. Very possibly some such process was\nwithin sight of the shore on which they were gathered; but in any case, a\nprocess was visible, if they would but see, of which the tilling of the\nground was only a type. A nobler seed was being scattered for a vaster\nharvest, and it was no common labourer, but the true sower, who went forth\nto sow. \u201cThe sower soweth the word.\u201d But who was he? St. Matthew tells us\n\u201cthe sower is the Son of man,\u201d and whether the words were expressly\nuttered, or only implied, as the silence of St. Mark and St. Luke might\npossibly suggest, it is clear that none of His disciples could mistake His\nmeaning. Ages have passed and He is the sower still, by whatever\ninstrument He works, for we are God\u2019s husbandry as well as God\u2019s building.\nAnd the seed is the Word of God, so strangely able to work below the\nsurface of human life, invisible at first, yet vital, and grasping from\nwithin and without, from secret thoughts and from circumstances, as from\nthe chemical ingredients of the soil and from the sunshine and the shower,\nall that will contribute to its growth, until the field itself is\nassimilated, spread from end to end with waving ears, a corn-field now.\nThis is why Jesus in His second parable did not any longer say \u201cthe seed\nis the word,\u201d but \u201cthe good seed are the sons of the kingdom\u201d (Matt. xiii.\n38). The word planted was able to identify itself with the heart.\n\nAnd this seed, the Word of God, is sown broadcast as all our opportunities\nare given. A talent was not refused to him who buried it. Judas was an\napostle. Men may receive the grace of God in vain, and this in more ways\nthan one. On some it produces no vital impression whatever; it lies on the\nsurface of a mind which the feet of earthly interests have trodden hard.\nThere is no chance for it to expand, to begin its operation by sending out\nthe smallest tendrils to grasp, to appropriate anything, to take root. And\nit may well be doubted whether any soul, wholly indifferent to religious\ntruth, ever retained even its theoretic knowledge long. The foolish heart\nis darkened. The fowls of the air catch away for ever the priceless seed\nof eternity. Now it is of great importance to observe how Jesus explained\nthis calamity. We should probably have spoken of forgetfulness, the fading\naway of neglected impressions, or at most of some judicial act of\nprovidence hiding the truth from the careless. But Jesus said,\n\u201cstraightway cometh Satan and taketh away the word which hath been sown in\nthem.\u201d No person can fairly explain this text away, as men have striven to\nexplain Christ\u2019s language to the demoniacs, by any theory of the use of\npopular language, or the toleration of harmless notions. The introduction\nof Satan into this parable is unexpected and uncalled for by any demand\nsave one, the necessity of telling all the truth. It is true therefore\nthat an active and deadly enemy of souls is at work to quicken the\nmischief which neglect and indifference would themselves produce, that\nevil processes are helped from beneath as truly as good ones from above;\nthat the seed which is left to-day upon the surface may be maliciously\ntaken thence long before it would have perished by natural decay; that men\ncannot reckon upon stopping short in their contempt of grace, since what\nthey neglect the devil snatches quite away from them. And as seed is only\nsafe from fowls when buried in the soil, so is the word of life only safe\nagainst the rapacity of hell when it has sunk down into our hearts.\n\nIn the story of the early Church, St. Paul sowed upon such ground as this\nin Athens. Men who spent their time in the pursuit of artistic and\ncultivated novelties, in hearing and telling some new thing, mocked the\ngospel, or at best proposed to hear its preacher yet again. How long did\nsuch a purpose last?\n\nBut there are other dangers to dread, besides absolute indifference to\ntruth. And the first of these is a too shallow and easy acquiescence. The\nmessage of salvation is designed to affect the whole of human life\nprofoundly. It comes to bind a strong man armed, it summons easy and\nindifferent hearts to wrestle against spiritual foes, to crucify the\nflesh, to die daily. On these conditions it offers the noblest blessings.\nBut the conditions are grave and sobering. If one hears them without\nsolemn and earnest searching of heart, he has only, at the best,\napprehended half the message. Christ has warned us that we cannot build a\ntower without sitting down to count our means, nor fight a hostile king\nwithout reckoning the prospects of invasion. And it is very striking to\ncompare the gushing and impulsive sensationalism of some modern schools,\nwith the deliberate and circumspect action of St. Paul, even after God had\nbeen pleased miraculously to reveal His Son in him. He went into\nseclusion. He returned to Damascus to his first instructor. Fourteen years\nafterwards he deliberately laid his gospel before the Apostles, lest by\nany means he should be running or had run in vain. Such is the action of\none penetrated with a sense of reality and responsibility in his decision;\nit is not the action likely to result from teaching men that it suffices\nto \u201csay you believe\u201d and to be \u201cmade happy.\u201d And in this parable, our\nSaviour has given striking expression to His judgment of the school which\nrelies upon mere happiness. Next to those who leave the seed for Satan to\nsnatch away, He places them \u201cwho, when they have heard the word,\nstraightway receive it with joy.\u201d They have taken the promises without the\nprecepts, they have hoped for the crown without the cross. Their type is\nthe thin layer of earth spread over a shelf of rock. The water, which\ncannot sink down, and the heat reflected up from the stone, make it for a\ntime almost a hot bed. Straightway the seed sprang up, because it had no\ndeepness of earth. But the moisture thus detained upon the surface\nvanished utterly in time of drought; the young roots, unable to penetrate\nto any deeper supplies, were scorched; and it withered away. That\nsuperficial heat and moisture was impulsive emotion, glad to hear of\nheaven, and love, and privilege, but forgetful to mortify the flesh, and\nto be partaker with Christ in His death. The roots of a real Christian\nlife must strike deeper down. Consciousness of sin and its penalty and of\nthe awful price by which that penalty has been paid, consciousness of what\nlife should have been and how we have degraded it, consciousness of what\nit must yet be made by grace\u2014these do not lead to joy so immediate, so\nimpulsive, as the growth of this shallow vegetation. A mature and settled\njoy is among \u201cthe fruits of the spirit:\u201d it is not the first blade that\nshoots up.\n\nNow because the sense of sin and duty and atonement have not done their\nsobering work, the feelings, so easily quickened, are also easily\nperverted: \u201cWhen tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word,\nstraightway they stumble.\u201d These were not counted upon. Neither trouble of\nmind nor opposition of wicked men was included in the holiday scheme of\nthe life Divine. And their pressure is not counter-weighted by that of any\ndeep convictions. The roots have never penetrated farther than temporal\ncalamities and trials can reach. In the time of drought they have _not_\nenough. They endure, but only for a while.\n\nSt. Paul sowed upon just such soil in Galatia. There his hearers spoke of\nsuch blessedness that they would have plucked out their eyes for him. But\nhe became their enemy because he told them all the truth, when only a part\nwas welcome. And as Christ said, Straightway they stumble, so St. Paul had\nto marvel that they were so soon subverted.\n\nIf indifference be the first danger, and shallowness the second, mixed\nmotive is the third. Men there are who are very earnest, and far indeed\nfrom slight views of truth, who are nevertheless in sore danger, because\nthey are equally earnest about other things; because they cannot resign\nthis world, whatever be their concern about the next; because the soil of\ntheir life would fain grow two inconsistent harvests. Like seed sown among\nthorns, \u201cchoked\u201d by their entangling roots and light-excluding growths,\nthe word in such hearts, though neither left upon a hard surface nor\nforbidden by rock to strike deep into the earth, is overmastered by an\nunworthy rivalry. A kind of vegetation it does produce, but not such as\nthe tiller seeks: the word becometh unfruitful. It is the same lesson as\nwhen Jesus said, \u201cNo man can serve two masters. Ye cannot serve God and\nmammon.\u201d\n\nPerhaps it is the one most needed in our time of feverish religious\ncontroversy and heated party spirit, when every one hath a teaching, hath\na revelation, hath a tongue, hath an interpretation, but scarcely any have\ndenied the world and taken in exchange a cross.\n\nSt. Paul found a thorny soil in Corinth which came behind in no gift, if\nonly gifts had been graces, but was indulgent, factious and selfish,\npuffed up amid flagrant vices, one hungry and another drunken, while\nwrangling about the doctrine of the resurrection.\n\nThe various evils of this parable are all of them worldliness, differently\nmanifested. The deadening effect of habitual forgetfulness of God,\ntreading the soil so hard that no seed can enter it; the treacherous\neffect of secret love of earth, a buried obstruction refusing to admit the\ngospel into the recesses of the life, however it may reach the feelings;\nand the fierce and stubborn competition of worldly interests, wherever\nthey are not resolutely weeded out, against these Jesus spoke His earliest\nparable. And it is instructive to review the foes by which He represented\nHis Gospel as warred upon. The personal activity of Satan; \u201ctribulation or\npersecution\u201d from without, and within the heart \u201ccares\u201d rather for self\nthan for the dependent and the poor, \u201cdeceitfulness of riches\u201d for those\nwho possess enough to trust in, or to replace with a fictitious importance\nthe only genuine value, which is that of character (although men are still\nesteemed for being \u201cworth\u201d a round sum, a strange estimate, to be made by\nChristians, of a being with a soul burning in him); and alike for rich and\npoor, \u201cthe lusts of other things,\u201d since none is too poor to covet, and\nnone so rich that his desires shall not increase, like some diseases, by\nbeing fed.\n\nLastly, we have those on the good ground, who are not described by their\nsensibilities or their enjoyments, but by their loyalty. They \u201chear the\nword and accept it and bear fruit.\u201d To accept is what distinguishes them\nalike from the wayside hearers into whose attention the word never sinks,\nfrom the rocky hearers who only receive it with a superficial welcome, and\nfrom the thorny hearers who only give it a divided welcome. It is not\nsaid, as if the word were merely the precepts, that they obey it. The\nsower of this seed is not he who bade the soldier not to do violence, and\nthe publican not to extort: it is He who said, Repent, and believe the\ngospel. He implanted new hopes, convictions, and affections, as the germ\nwhich should unfold in a new life. And the good fruit is borne by those\nwho honestly \u201caccept\u201d His word.\n\nFruitfulness is never in the gospel the condition by which life is earned,\nbut it is always the test by which to prove it. In all the accounts of the\nfinal judgment, we catch the principle of the bold challenge of St. James,\n\u201cShow me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my\nworks.\u201d The talent must produce more talents, and the pound more pounds;\nthe servant must have his loins girt and a light in his hand; the blessed\nare they who did unto Jesus the kindness they did unto the least of His\nbrethren, and the accursed are they who did it not to Jesus in His people.\n\nWe are not wrong in preaching that honest faith in Christ is the only\ncondition of acceptance, and the way to obtain strength for good works.\nBut perhaps we fail to add, with sufficient emphasis, that good works are\nthe only sufficient evidence of real faith, of genuine conversion. Lydia,\nwhose heart the Lord opened and who constrained the Apostle to abide in\nher house, was converted as truly as the gaoler who passed through all the\nvicissitudes of despair, trembling and astonishment, and belief.\n\n\u201cThey bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and an hundredfold.\u201d And all\nare alike accepted. But the parable of the pounds shows that all are not\nalike rewarded, and in equal circumstances superior efficiency wins a\nsuperior prize. One star differeth from another star in glory, and they\nwho turn many to righteousness shall shine as the sun for ever.\n\n\n\n\nLamp And Stand.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd He said unto them, Is the lamp brought to be put under the\n    bushel, or under the bed? and not to be put on the stand? For\n    there is nothing hid, save that it should be manifested; neither\n    was anything made secret, but that it should come to light. If any\n    man hath ears to hear, let him hear. And He said unto them, Take\n    heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete it shall be measured\n    unto you: and more shall be given unto you. For he that hath, to\n    him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken\n    away even that which he hath.\u201d\u2014MARK iv. 21-25 (R.V.).\n\n\nJesus had now taught that the only good ground was that in which the good\nseed bore fruit. And He adds explicitly, that men receive the truth in\norder to spread it, and are given grace that they may become, in turn,\ngood stewards of the manifold grace of God.\n\n\u201cIs the lamp brought to be put under the bushel or under the bed, and not\nto be put on the stand?\u201d The language may possibly be due, as men have\nargued, to the simple conditions of life among the Hebrew peasantry, who\npossessed only one lamp, one corn-measure, and perhaps one bed. All the\ngreater marvel is it that amid such surroundings He should have announced,\nand not in vain, that His disciples, His Church, should become the light\nof all humanity, \u201cthe lamp.\u201d Already He had put forward the same claim\neven more explicitly, saying, \u201cYe are the light of the world.\u201d And in each\ncase, He spoke not in the intoxication of pride or self-assertion, but in\nall gravity, and as a solemn warning. The city on the hill could not be\nhid. The lamp would burn dimly under the bed; it would be extinguished\nentirely by the bushel. Publicity is the soul of religion, since religion\nis light. It is meant to diffuse itself, to be, as He expressed it, like\nleaven which may be hid at first, but cannot be concealed, since it will\nleaven all the lump. And so, if He spoke in parables, and consciously hid\nHis meaning by so doing, this was not to withdraw His teaching from the\nmasses, it was to shelter the flame which should presently illuminate all\nthe house. Nothing was hid, save that it should be manifested, nor made\nsecret, but that it should come to light. And it has never been otherwise.\nOur religion has no privileged inner circle, no esoteric doctrine; and its\nchiefs, when men glorified one or another, asked, What then is Apollos?\nAnd what is Paul? Ministers through whom ye believed. Agents only, for\nconveying to others what they had received from God. And thus He Who now\nspoke in parables, and again charged them not to make Him known, was able\nat the end to say, In secret have I spoken nothing. Therefore He repeats\nwith emphasis His former words, frequent on His lips henceforward, and\nringing through the messages He spoke in glory to His Churches. If any man\nhath ears to hear, let him hear. None is excluded but by himself.\n\nYet another caution follows. If the seed be the Word, there is sore danger\nfrom false teaching; from strewing the ground with adulterated grain. St.\nMark, indeed, has not recorded the Parable of the Tares. But there are\nindications of it, and the same thought is audible in this saying, \u201cTake\nheed what ye hear.\u201d The added words are a little surprising: \u201cWith what\nmeasure ye mete it shall be measured unto you, and more shall be given\nunto you.\u201d The last clause expresses exactly the principle on which the\nforfeited pound was given to Him who had ten pounds already, the open hand\nof God lavishing additional gifts upon him who was capable of using them.\nBut does not the whole statement seem to follow more suitably upon a\ncommand to beware what we teach, and thus \u201cmete\u201d to others, than what we\nhear? A closer examination finds in this apparent unfitness, a deeper\nharmony of thought. To \u201caccept\u201d the genuine word is the same as to bring\nforth fruit for God; it is to reckon with the Lord of the talents, and to\nyield the fruit of the vineyard. And this is to \u201cmete,\u201d not indeed unto\nman, but unto God, Who shows Himself froward with the froward, and from\nhim that hath not, whose possession is below his accountability, takes\naway even that he hath, but gives exceeding abundantly above all they ask\nor think to those who have, who are not disobedient to the heavenly\ncalling.\n\nAll this is most delicately connected with what precedes it; and the\nparables, hiding the truth from some, giving it authority, and colour, and\neffect to others, were a striking example of the process here announced\n\nNever was the warning to be heedful what we hear, more needed than at\npresent. Men think themselves free to follow any teacher, especially if he\nbe eloquent, to read any book, if only it be in demand, and to discuss any\ntheory, provided it be fashionable, while perfectly well aware that they\nare neither earnest inquirers after truth, nor qualified champions against\nits assailants. For what then do they read and hear? For the pleasure of a\nrounded phrase, or to augment the prattle of conceited ignorance in a\ndrawing-room.\n\nDo we wonder when these players with edged tools injure themselves, and\nbecome perverts or agnostics? It would be more wonderful if they remained\nunhurt, since Jesus said, \u201cTake heed what ye hear ... from him that hath\nnot shall be taken even that he hath.\u201d A rash and uninstructed exposure of\nour intellects to evil influences, is meting to God with an unjust\nmeasure, as really as a wilful plunge into any other temptation, since we\nare bidden to cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the spirit as well\nas of the flesh.\n\n\n\n\nThe Seed Growing Secretly.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd He said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast\n    seed upon the earth; and should sleep and rise night and day, and\n    the seed should spring up and grow, he knoweth not how. The earth\n    beareth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, then the\n    full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is ripe, straightway he\n    putteth forth the sickle, because the harvest is come.\u201d\u2014MARK iv.\n    26-29 (R.V.).\n\n\nSt. Mark alone records this parable of a sower who sleeps by night, and\nrises for other business by day, and knows not how the seed springs up.\nThat is not the sower\u2019s concern: all that remains for him is to put forth\nthe sickle when the harvest is come.\n\nIt is a startling parable for us who believe in the fostering care of the\nDivine Spirit. And the paradox is forced on our attention by the words\n\u201cthe earth beareth fruit of herself,\u201d contrasting strangely as it does\nwith such other assertions, as that the branch cannot bear fruit of\nitself, that without Christ we can do nothing, and that when we live it is\nnot we but Christ who liveth in us.\n\nIt will often help us to understand a paradox if we can discover another\nlike it. And exactly such an one as this will be found in the record of\ncreation. God rested on the seventh day from all His work, yet we know\nthat His providence never slumbers, that by Him all things consist, and\nthat Jesus defended His own work of healing on a Sabbath day by urging\nthat the Sabbath of God was occupied in gracious provision for His world.\n\u201cMy Father worketh hitherto, and I work.\u201d Thus the rest of God from\ncreative work says nothing about His energies in that other field of\nprovidential care. Exactly so Jesus here treats only of what may be called\nthe creative spiritual work, the deposit of the seed of life. And the\nessence of this remarkable parable is the assertion that we are to expect\nan orderly, quiet and gradual development from this principle of life, not\na series of communications from without, of additional revelations, of\nsemi-miraculous interferences. The life of grace is a natural process in\nthe supernatural sphere. In one sense it is all of God, who maketh His sun\nto rise, and sendeth rain, without which the earth could bear no fruit of\nherself. In another sense we must work out our own salvation all the more\nearnestly because it is God that worketh in us.\n\nNow this parable, thus explained, has been proved true in the wonderful\nhistory of the Church. She has grown, not only in extent but by\ndevelopment, as marvellously as a corn of wheat which is now a waving\nwheat-stem with its ripening ear. When Cardinal Newman urged that an\nancient Christian, returning to earth, would recognise the services and\nthe Church of Rome, and would fail to recognise ours, he was probably\nmistaken. To go no farther, there is no Church on earth so unlike the\nChurches of the New Testament as that which offers praise to God in a\nstrange tongue. St. Paul apprehended that a stranger in such an assembly\nwould reckon the worshippers mad. But in any case the argument forgets\nthat the whole kingdom of God is to resemble seed, not in a drawer, but in\nthe earth, and advancing towards the harvest. It must \u201cdie\u201d to much if it\nwill bring forth fruit. It must acquire strange bulk, strange forms,\nstrange organisms. It must become, to those who only knew it as it was,\nquite as unrecognisable as our Churches are said to be. And yet the\nchanges must be those of logical growth, not of corruption. And this\nparable tells us they must be accomplished without any special\ninterference such as marked the sowing time. Well then, the parable is a\nprophecy. Movement after movement has modified the life of the Church.\nEven its structure is not all it was. But these changes have every one\nbeen wrought by human agency, they have come from within it, like the\nforce which pushes the germ out of the soil, and expands the bud into the\nfull corn in the ear. There has been no grafting knife to insert a new\nprinciple of richer life; the gospel and the sacraments of our Lord have\ncontained in them the promise and potency of all that was yet to be\nunfolded, all the gracefulness and all the fruit. And these words, \u201cthe\nearth beareth fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear, then the\nfull corn in the ear,\u201d each so different, and yet so dependent on what\npreceded, teach us two great ecclesiastical lessons. They condemn the\nviolent and revolutionary changes, which would not develop old germs but\ntear them open or perhaps pull them up. Much may be distasteful to the\nspirit of sordid utilitarianism; a mere husk, which nevertheless within it\nshelters precious grain, otherwise sure to perish. If thus we learn to\nrespect the old, still more do we learn that what is new has also its\nall-important part to play. The blade and the ear in turn are innovations.\nWe must not condemn those new forms of Christian activity, Christian\nassociation, and Christian councils, which new times evoke, until we have\nconsidered well whether they are truly expansions, in the light and heat\nof our century, of the sacred life-germ of the ancient faith and the\nancient love.\n\nAnd what lessons has this parable for the individual? Surely that of\nactive present faith, not waiting for future gifts of light or feeling,\nbut confident that the seed already sown, the seed of the word, has power\nto develop into the rich fruit of Christian character. In this respect the\nparable supplements the first one. From that we learned that if the soil\nwere not in fault, if the heart were honest and good, the seed would\nfructify. From this we learn that these conditions suffice for a perfect\nharvest. The incessant, all-important help of God, we have seen, is not\ndenied; it is taken for granted, as the atmospheric and magnetic\ninfluences upon the grain. So should we reverentially and thankfully rely\nupon the aid of God, and then, instead of waiting for strange visitations\nand special stirrings of grace, account that we already possess enough to\nmake us responsible for the harvest of the soul. Multitudes of souls,\nwhose true calling is, in obedient trust, to arise and walk, are at this\nmoment lying impotent beside some pool which they expect an angel to stir,\nand into which they fain would then be put by some one, they know not\nwhom\u2014multitudes of expectant, inert, inactive souls, who know not that the\ntext they have most need to ponder is this: \u201cthe earth beareth fruit of\nitself.\u201d For want of this they are actually, day by day, receiving the\ngrace of God in vain.\n\nWe learn also to be content with gradual progress. St. John did not blame\nthe children and young men to whom he wrote, because they were not mature\nin wisdom and experience. St. Paul exhorts us to grow up in all things\ninto Him which is the Head, even Christ. They do not ask for more than\nsteady growth; and their Master, as He distrusted the fleeting joy of\nhearers whose hearts were shallow, now explicitly bids us not to be\ncontent with any first attainment, not to count all done if we are\nconverted, but to develop first the blade, then the ear, and lastly the\nfull corn in the ear.\n\nDoes it seem a tedious weary sentence? Are we discontent for want of\nconscious interferences of heaven? Do we complain that, to human\nconsciousness, the great Sower sleeps and rises up and leaves the grain to\nfare He knows not how? It is only for a little while. When the fruit is\nripe, He will Himself gather it into His eternal garner.\n\n\n\n\nThe Mustard Seed.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd He said, How shall we liken the kingdom of God? or in what\n    parable shall we set it forth? It is like a grain of mustard seed,\n    which, when it is sown upon the earth, though it be less than all\n    the seeds that are upon the earth, yet when it is sown, groweth\n    up, and becometh greater than all the herbs, and putteth out great\n    branches; so that the birds of the heaven can lodge under the\n    shadow thereof. And with many such parables spake He the word unto\n    them, as they were able to hear it: and without a parable spake He\n    not unto them: but privately to His own disciples He expounded all\n    things.\u201d\u2014MARK iv. 30-34 (R.V.).\n\n\nSt. Mark has recorded one other parable of this great cycle. Jesus now\ninvites the disciples to let their own minds play upon the subject. Each\nis to ask himself a question: How shall we liken the kingdom of God? or in\nwhat parable shall we set it forth?\n\nA gentle pause, time for them to form some splendid and ambitious image in\ntheir minds, and then we can suppose with what surprise they heard His own\nanswer, \u201cIt is like a grain of mustard seed.\u201d And truly some Christians of\na later day might be astonished also, if they could call up a fair image\nof their own conceptions of the kingdom of God, and compare it with this\nfigure, employed by Jesus.\n\nBut here one must observe a peculiarity in our Saviour\u2019s use of images.\nHis illustrations of His first coming, and of His work of grace, which are\nmany, are all of the homeliest kind. He is a shepherd who seeks one sheep.\nHe is not an eagle that fluttereth over her young and beareth them on her\npinions, but a hen who gathereth her chickens under her wings. Never once\ndoes He rise into that high and poetic strain with which His followers\nhave loved to sing of the Star of Bethlehem, and which Isaiah lavished\nbeforehand upon the birth of the Prince of Peace. There is no language\nmore intensely concentrated and glowing than He has employed to describe\nthe judgment of the hypocrites who rejected Him, of Jerusalem, and of the\nworld at last. But when He speaks of His first coming and its effects, it\nis not of that sunrise to which all kings and nations shall hasten, but of\na little grain of mustard seed, which is to become \u201cgreater than all the\nherbs,\u201d and put forth great branches, \u201cso that the birds of the heaven can\nlodge under the shadow of them.\u201d When one thinks of such an image for such\nan event, of the founding of the kingdom of God, and its advance to\nuniversal supremacy, represented by the small seed of a shrub which grows\nto the height of a tree, and even harbours birds, he is conscious almost\nof incongruity. But when one reconsiders it, he is filled with awe and\nreverence. For this exactly expresses the way of thinking natural to One\nwho has stooped immeasurably down to the task which all others feel to be\nso lofty. There is a poem of Shelley, which expresses the relative\ngreatness of three spirits by the less and less value which they set on\nthe splendours of the material heavens. To the first they are a\npalace-roof of golden lights, to the second but the mind\u2019s first chamber,\nto the last only drops which Nature\u2019s mighty heart drives through thinnest\nveins. Now that which was to Isaiah the exalting of every valley and the\nbringing low of every mountain, and to Daniel the overthrow of a mighty\nimage whose aspect was terrible, by a stone cut out without hands, was to\nJesus but the sowing of a grain of mustard seed. Could any other have\nspoken thus of the founding of the kingdom of God? An enthusiast\nover-values his work, he can think of nothing else; and he expects\nimmediate revolutions. Jesus was keenly aware that His work in itself was\nvery small, no more than the sowing of a seed, and even of the least,\npopularly speaking, among all seeds. Clearly He did not over-rate the\napparent effect of His work on earth. And indeed, what germ of religious\nteaching could be less promising than the doctrine of the cross, held by a\nfew peasants in a despised province of a nation already subjugated and\nsoon to be overwhelmed?\n\nThe image expresses more than the feeble beginning and victorious issue of\nHis work, more than even the gradual and logical process by which this\nfinal triumph should be attained. All this we found in the preceding\nparable. But here the emphasis is laid on the development of Christ\u2019s\ninfluence in unexpected spheres. Unlike other herbs, the mustard in\nEastern climates does grow into a tree, shoot out great branches from the\nmain stem, and give shelter to the birds of the air. So has the Christian\nfaith developed ever new collateral agencies, charitable, educational, and\nsocial: so have architecture, music, literature, flourished under its\nshade, and there is not one truly human interest which would not be\ndeprived of its best shelter if the rod of Jesse were hewn down. Nay, we\nmay urge that the Church itself has become the most potent force in\ndirections not its own: it broke the chains of the negro; it asserts the\nrights of woman and of the poor; its noble literature is finding a\nresponse in the breast of a hundred degraded races; the herb has become a\ntree.\n\nAnd so in the life of individuals, if the seed be allowed its due scope\nand place to grow, it gives shelter and blessing to whatsoever things are\nhonest and lovely, not only if there be any virtue, but also if there be\nany praise.\n\nWell is it with the nation, and well with the soul, when the faith of\nJesus is not rigidly restricted to a prescribed sphere, when the leaves\nwhich are for the healing of the nations cast their shadow broad and cool\nover all the spaces in which all its birds of song are nestling.\n\nA remarkable assertion is added. Although the parabolic mode of teaching\nwas adopted in judgment, yet its severe effect was confined within the\nnarrowest limits. His many parables were spoken \u201cas they were able to\nhear,\u201d but only to His own disciples privately was all their meaning\nexpounded.\n\n\n\n\nFour Miracles.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd there was a great calm.\u201d\u2014MARK iv. 39 (R.V.).\n\n    \u201cBehold, him that was possessed with devils, sitting, clothed and\n    in his right mind, _even_ him that had the legion.\u201d\u2014v. 15 (R.V.).\n\n    \u201cWho touched Me?\u201d\u2014v. 31 (R.V.).\n\n    \u201cTalitha cumi.\u201d\u2014v. 41 (R.V.).\n\n\nThere are two ways, equally useful, of studying Scripture, as there are of\nregarding the other book of God, the face of Nature. We may bend over a\nwild flower, or gaze across a landscape; and it will happen that a\nnaturalist, pursuing a moth, loses sight of a mountain-range. It is a\nwell-known proverb, that one may fail to see the wood for the trees,\nlosing in details the general effect. And so the careful student of\nisolated texts may never perceive the force and cohesion of a connected\npassage.\n\nThe reader of a Gospel narrative thinks, that by pondering it as a whole,\nhe secures himself against any such misfortune. But a narrative\ndislocated, often loses as much as a detached verse. The actions of our\nLord are often exquisitely grouped, as becometh Him Who hath made\neverything not beautiful only, but especially beautiful in its season. And\nwe should not be content without combining the two ways of reading\nScripture, the detailed and the rapid,\u2014lingering at times to apprehend the\nmarvellous force of a solitary verse, and again sweeping over a broad\nexpanse, like a surveyor, who, to map a country, stretches his triangles\nfrom mountain peak to peak.\n\nWe have reached a point at which St. Mark records a special outshining of\nmiraculous power. Four striking works follow each other without a break,\nand it must not for a moment be supposed that the narrative is thus\nconstructed, certain intermediate discourses and events being sacrificed\nfor the purpose, without a deliberate and a truthful intention. That\nintention is to represent the effect, intense and exalting, produced by\nsuch a cycle of wonders on the minds of His disciples. They saw them come\nclose upon each other: we should lose the impression as we read, if other\nincidents were allowed to interpose themselves. It is one more example of\nSt. Mark\u2019s desire to throw light, above all things, upon the energy and\npower of the sacred life.\n\nWe have to observe therefore the bearing of these four miracles on each\nother, and upon what precedes, before studying them one by one.\n\nIt was a time of trial. The Pharisees had decided that He had a devil. His\nrelatives had said He was beside Himself. His manner of teaching had\nchanged, because the people should see without perceiving, and hear\nwithout understanding. They who understood His parables heard much of seed\nthat failed, of success a great way off, of a kingdom which would indeed\nbe great at last, but for the present weak and small. And it is certain\nthat there must have been heavy hearts among those who left, with Him, the\npopulous side of the lake, to cross over into remote and semi-pagan\nretirement. To encourage them, and as if in protest against His rejection\nby the authorities, Jesus enters upon this great cycle of miracles.\n\nThey find themselves, as the Church has often since been placed, and as\nevery human soul has had to feel itself, far from shore, and\ntempest-beaten. The rage of human foes is not so deaf, so implacable, as\nthat of wind and wave. It is the stress of adverse circumstances in the\ndirest form. But Jesus proves Himself to be Master of the forces of nature\nwhich would overwhelm them.\n\nNay, they learn that His seeming indifference is no proof that they are\nneglected, by the rebuke He speaks to their over-importunate appeals, Why\nare ye so fearful? have ye not yet faith? And they, who might have been\nshaken by the infidelity of other men, fear exceedingly as they behold the\nobedience of the wind and the sea, and ask, Who then is this?\n\nBut in their mission as His disciples, a worse danger than the enmity of\nman or convulsions of nature awaits them. On landing, they are at once\nconfronted by one whom an evil spirit has made exceeding fierce, so that\nno man could pass by that way. It is their way nevertheless, and they must\ntread it. And the demoniac adores, and the evil spirits themselves are\nabject in supplication, and at the word of Jesus are expelled. Even the\ninhabitants, who will not receive Him, are awe-struck and deprecatory, and\nif at their bidding Jesus turns away again, His followers may judge\nwhether the habitual meekness of such a one is due to feebleness or to a\nnoble self-command.\n\nLanding once more, they are soon accosted by a ruler of the synagogue,\nwhom sorrow has purified from the prejudices of his class. And Jesus is\nabout to heal the daughter of Jairus, when another form of need is brought\nto light. A slow and secret decline, wasting the vital powers, a silent\nwoe, speechless, stealthily approaching the Healer\u2014over this grief also He\nis Lord. And it is seen that neither the visible actions of Jesus nor the\naudible praises of His petitioners can measure the power that goes out of\nHim, the physical benefits which encompass the Teacher as a halo envelopes\nflame.\n\nCircumstances, and the fiends of the pit, and the woes that waste the\nlives of men, over these He has been seen to triumph. But behind all that\nwe strive with here, there lurks the last enemy, and he also shall be\nsubdued. And now first an example is recorded of what we know to have\nalready taken place, the conquest of death by his predicted Spoiler. Youth\nand gentle maidenhood, high hope and prosperous circumstances have been\nwasted, but the call of Jesus is heard by the ear that was stopped with\ndust, and the spirit obeys Him in the far off realm of the departed, and\nthey who have just seen such other marvels, are nevertheless amazed with a\ngreat amazement.\n\nNo cycle of miracles could be more rounded, symmetrical and exhaustive;\nnone could better vindicate to His disciples His impugned authority, or\nbrace their endangered faith, or fit them for what almost immediately\nfollowed, their own commission, and the first journey upon which they too\ncast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and\nhealed them.\n\n\n\n\nThe Two Storms.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd on that day, when even was come, He saith unto them, Let us\n    go over unto the other side. And leaving the multitude, they take\n    Him with them, even as He was, in the boat. And other boats were\n    with Him. And there ariseth a great storm of wind, and the waves\n    beat into the boat, insomuch that the boat was now filling. And He\n    Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion: and they awake\n    Him, and say unto Him, Master, carest Thou not that we perish? And\n    He 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? And\n    they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, Who then is\n    this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?\u201d\u2014MARK iv. 35-41\n    (R.V.).\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 hearts were hardened.\u201d\u2014MARK vi. 47-52\n    (R.V.).\n\n\nFew readers are insensible to the wonderful power with which the Gospels\ntell the story of the two storms upon the lake. The narratives are\nfavourites in every Sunday school; they form the basis of countless hymns\nand poems; and we always recur to them with fresh delight.\n\nIn the first account we see as in a picture the weariness of the great\nTeacher, when, the long day being over and the multitude dismissed, He\nretreats across the sea without preparation, and \u201cas He was,\u201d and sinks to\nsleep on the one cushion in the stern, undisturbed by the raging tempest\nor by the waves which beat into the boat. We observe the reluctance of the\ndisciples to arouse Him until the peril is extreme, and the boat is \u201cnow\u201d\nfilling. We hear from St. Mark, the associate of St. Peter, the\npresumptuous and characteristic cry which expresses terror, and perhaps\ndread lest His tranquil slumbers may indicate a separation between His\ncause and theirs, who perish while He is unconcerned. We admire equally\nthe calm and masterful words which quell the tempest, and those which\nenjoin a faith so lofty as to endure the last extremities of peril without\ndismay, without agitation in its prayers. We observe the strange incident,\nthat no sooner does the storm cease than the waters, commonly seething for\nmany hours afterwards, grow calm. And the picture is completed by the\nmention of their new dread (fear of the supernatural Man replacing their\nterror amid the convulsions of nature), and of their awestruck questioning\namong themselves.\n\nIn the second narrative we see the ship far out in the lake, but watched\nby One, Who is alone upon the land. Through the gloom He sees them\n\u201ctormented\u201d by fruitless rowing; but though this is the reason why He\ncomes, He is about to pass them by. The watch of the night is remembered;\nit is the fourth. The cry of their alarm is universal, for they all saw\nHim and were troubled. We are told of the promptitude with which He\nthereupon relieved their fears; we see Him climb up into the boat, and the\nsudden ceasing of the storm, and their amazement. Nor is that\nafter-thought omitted in which they blamed themselves for their\nastonishment. If their hearts had not been hardened, the miracle of the\nloaves would have taught them that Jesus was the master of the physical\nworld.\n\nNow all this picturesque detail belongs to a single Gospel. And it is\nexactly what a believer would expect. How much soever the healing of\ndisease might interest St. Luke the physician, who relates all such events\nso vividly, it would have impressed the patient himself yet more, and an\naccount of it by him, if we had it, would be full of graphic touches. Now\nthese two miracles were wrought for the rescue of the apostles themselves.\nThe Twelve took the place held in others by the lame, the halt and the\nblind: the suspense, the appeal, and the joy of deliverance were all their\nown. It is therefore no wonder that we find their accounts of these\nespecial miracles so picturesque. But this is a solid evidence of the\ntruth of the narratives; for while the remembrance of such actual events\nshould thrill with agitated life, there is no reason why a legend of the\nkind should be especially clear and vivid. The same argument might easily\nbe carried farther. When the disciples began to reproach themselves for\ntheir unbelieving astonishment, they were naturally conscious of having\nfailed to learn the lesson which had been taught them just before. Later\nstudents and moralists would have observed that another miracle, a little\nearlier, was a still closer precedent, but they naturally blamed\nthemselves most for being blind to what was immediately before their eyes.\nNow when Jesus walked upon the waters and the disciples were amazed, it is\nnot said that they forgot how He had already stilled a tempest, but they\nconsidered not the miracle of the loaves, for their heart was hardened. In\ntouches like this we find the influence of a bystander beyond denial.\n\nEvery student of Scripture must have observed the special significance of\nthose parables and miracles which recur a second time with certain\ndesigned variations. In the miraculous draughts of fishes, Christ Himself\navowed an allusion to the catching of men. And the Church has always\ndiscerned a spiritual intention in these two storms, in one of which\nChrist slept, while in the other His disciples toiled alone, and which\nexpress, between them, the whole strain exercised upon a devout spirit by\nadverse circumstances. Dangers never alarmed one who realized both the\npresence of Jesus and His vigilant care. Temptation enters only because\nthis is veiled. Why do adversities press hard upon me, if indeed I belong\nto Christ? He must either be indifferent and sleeping, or else absent\naltogether from my frail and foundering bark. It is thus that we let go\nour confidence, and incur agonies of mental suffering, and the rebuke of\nour Master, even though He continues to be the Protector of His unworthy\npeople.\n\nOn the voyage of life we may conceive of Jesus as our Companion, for He is\nwith us always, or as watching us from the everlasting hills, whither it\nwas expedient for us that He should go. Nevertheless, we are storm-tossed\nand in danger. Although we are His, and not separated from Him by any\nconscious disobedience, yet the conditions of life are unmitigated, the\nwinds as wild, the waves as merciless, the boat as cruelly \u201ctormented\u201d as\never. And no rescue comes: Jesus is asleep: He cares not that we perish.\nThen we pray after a fashion so clamorous, and with supplication so like\ndemands, that we too appear to have undertaken to awake our Lord. Then we\nhave to learn from the first of these miracles, and especially from its\ndelay. The disciples were safe, had they only known it, whether Jesus\nwould have interposed of His own accord, or whether they might still have\nneeded to appeal to Him, but in a gentler fashion. We may ask help,\nprovided that we do so in a serene and trustful spirit, anxious for\nnothing, not seeking to extort a concession, but approaching with boldness\nthe throne of grace, on which our Father sits. It is thus that the peace\nof God shall rule our hearts and minds, for want of which the apostles\nwere asked, Where is your faith? Comparing the narratives, we learn that\nJesus reassured their hearts even before He arose, and then, having first\nsilenced by His calmness the storm within them, He stood up and rebuked\nthe storm around.\n\nSt. Augustine gave a false turn to the application, when he said, \u201cIf\nJesus were not asleep within thee, thou wouldst be calm and at rest. But\nwhy is He asleep? Because thy faith is asleep,\u201d etc, (Sermon lxiii.) The\nsleep of Jesus was natural and right; and it answers not to our spiritual\ntorpor, but to His apparent indifference and non-intervention in our time\nof distress. And the true lesson of the miracle is that we should trust\nHim Whose care fails not when it seems to fail, Who is able to save to the\nuttermost, and Whom we should approach in the direst peril without panic.\nIt was fitly taught them first when all the powers of the State and the\nChurch were leagued against Him, and He as a blind man saw not and as a\ndumb man opened not His mouth.\n\nThe second storm should have found them braver by the experience of the\nfirst; but spiritually as well as bodily they were farther removed from\nChrist. The people, profoundly moved by the murder of the Baptist, wished\nto set Jesus on the throne, and the disciples were too ambitious to be\nallowed to be present while He dismissed the multitudes. They had to be\nsent away, and it was from the distant hillside that Jesus saw their\ndanger. Surely it is instructive, that neither the shades of night, nor\nthe abstracted fervour of His prayers, prevented him from seeing it, nor\nthe stormlashed waters from bringing aid. And significant also, that the\nexperience of remoteness, though not sinful, since He had sent them away,\nwas yet the result of their own worldliness. It is when we are out of\nsympathy with Jesus that we are most likely to be alone in trouble. None\nwas in their boat to save them, and in heart also they had gone out from\nthe presence of their God. Therefore they failed to trust in His guidance\nWho had sent them into the ship: they had no sense of protection or of\nsupervision; and it was a terrible moment when a form was vaguely seen to\nglide over the waves. Christ, it would seem, would have gone before and\nled them to the haven where they would be. Or perhaps He \u201cwould have\npassed by them,\u201d as He would afterwards have gone further than Emmaus, to\nelicit any trustful half-recognition which might call to Him and be\nrewarded. But they cried out for fear. And so it is continually with God\nin His world, men are terrified at the presence of the supernatural,\nbecause they fail to apprehend the abiding presence of the supernatural\nChrist. And yet there is one point at least in every life, the final\nmoment, in which all else must recede, and the soul be left alone with the\nbeings of another world. Then, and in every trial, and especially in all\ntrials which press in upon us the consciousness of the spiritual universe,\nwell is it for him who hears the voice of Jesus saying, It is I, be not\nafraid.\n\nFor only through Jesus, only in His person, has that unknown universe\nceased to be dreadful and mysterious. Only when He is welcomed does the\nstorm cease to rage around us.\n\nIt was the earlier of these miracles which first taught the disciples that\nnot only were human disorders under His control, and gifts and blessings\nat His disposal, but also the whole range of nature was subject to Him,\nand the winds and the sea obey Him.\n\nShall we say that His rebuke addressed to these was a mere figure of\nspeech? Some have inferred that natural convulsions are so directly the\nwork of evil angels that the words of Jesus were really spoken to them.\nBut the plain assertion is that He rebuked the winds and the waves, and\nthese would not become identical with Satan even upon the supposition that\nhe excites them. We ourselves continually personify the course of nature,\nand even complain of it, wantonly enough, and Scripture does not deny\nitself the use of ordinary human forms of speech. Yet the very peculiar\nword employed by Jesus cannot be without significance. It is the same with\nwhich He had already confronted the violence of the demoniac in the\nsynagogue, Be muzzled. At the least it expresses stern repression, and\nthus it reminds us that creation itself is made subject to vanity, the\nworld deranged by sin, so that all around us requires readjustment as\ntruly as all within, and Christ shall at last create a new earth as well\nas a new heaven.\n\nSome pious people resign themselves much too passively to the mischiefs of\nthe material universe, supposing that troubles which are not of their own\nmaking, must needs be a Divine infliction, calling only for submission.\nBut God sends oppositions to be conquered as well as burdens to be borne;\nand even before the fall the world had to be subdued. And our final\nmastery over the surrounding universe was expressed, when Jesus our Head\nrebuked the winds, and stilled the waves when they arose.\n\nAs they beheld, a new sense fell upon His disciples of a more awful\npresence than they had yet discerned. They asked not only what manner of\nman this is? but, with surmises which went out beyond the limits of human\ngreatness, Who then is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\n\n\n\nThe Demoniac Of Gadara.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd they came to the other side of the sea, into the country of\n    the Gerasenes. And when He was come out of the boat, straightway\n    there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who\n    had his dwelling in the tombs; and no man could any more bind him,\n    no, not with a chain; because that he had been often bound with\n    fetters and chains, and the chains had been rent asunder by him,\n    and the fetters broken in pieces: and no man had strength to tame\n    him. And always, night and day, in the tombs and in the mountains,\n    he was crying out, and cutting himself with stones. And when he\n    saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshipped Him; and crying out\n    with a loud voice, he saith, What have I to do with Thee, Jesus,\n    Thou Son of the Most High God? I adjure Thee by God, torment me\n    not. For He said unto him, Come forth, thou unclean spirit, out of\n    the man. And He asked him, What is thy name? And he saith unto\n    Him, My name is Legion; for we are many. And he besought Him much\n    that He would not send them away out of the country. Now there was\n    there on the mountain side a great herd of swine feeding. And they\n    besought Him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter\n    into them. And He gave them leave. And the unclean spirits came\n    out, and entered into the swine: and the herd rushed down the\n    steep into the sea, _in number_ about two thousand; and they were\n    choked in the sea. And they that fed them fled, and told it in the\n    city, and in the country. And they came to see what it was that\n    had come to pass. And they come to Jesus, and behold him that was\n    possessed with devils sitting, clothed and in his right mind,\n    _even_ him that had the legion: and they were afraid. And they\n    that saw it declared unto them how it befell him that was\n    possessed with devils, and concerning the swine. And they began to\n    beseech Him to depart from their borders. And as He was entering\n    into the boat, he that had been possessed with devils besought Him\n    that he might be with Him. And He suffered him not, but saith unto\n    him, Go to thy house unto thy friends, and tell them how great\n    things the Lord hath done for thee, and _how_ He had mercy on\n    thee. And he went his way, and began to publish in Decapolis how\n    great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel.\u201d\u2014MARK\n    v. 1-20 (R.V.).\n\n\nFresh from asserting His mastery over winds and waves, the Lord was met by\na more terrible enemy, the rage of human nature enslaved and impelled by\nthe cruelty of hell. The place where He landed was a theatre not unfit for\nthe tragedy which it revealed. A mixed race was there, indifferent to\nreligion, rearing great herds of swine, upon which the law looked askance,\nbut the profits of which they held so dear that they would choose to\nbanish a Divine ambassador, and one who had released them from an\nincessant peril, rather than be deprived of these. Now it has already been\nshown that the wretches possessed by devils were not of necessity stained\nwith special guilt. Even children fell into this misery. But yet we should\nexpect to find it most rampant in places where God was dishonoured, in\nGerasa and in the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And it is so. All misery is\nthe consequence of sin, although individual misery does not measure\nindividual guilt. And the places where the shadow of sin has fallen\nheaviest are always the haunts of direst wretchedness.\n\nThe first Gospel mentions two demoniacs, but one was doubtless so\npre-eminently fierce, and possibly so zealous afterward in proclaiming his\ndeliverance, that only St. Matthew learned the existence of another, upon\nwhom also Satan had wrought, if not his worst, enough to show his hatred,\nand the woes he would fain bring upon humanity.\n\nAmong the few terrible glimpses given us of the mind of the fallen angels,\none is most significant and sinister. When the unclean spirit is gone out\nof a man, to what haunts does he turn? He has no sympathy with what is\nlovely or sublime; in search of rest he wanders through dry places,\ndeserts of arid sand in which his misery may be soothed by congenial\ndesolation. Thus the ruins of the mystic Babylon become an abode of\ndevils. And thus the unclean spirit, when he mastered this demoniac, drove\nhim to a foul and dreary abode among the tombs. One can picture the victim\nin some lucid moment, awakening to consciousness only to shudder in his\ndreadful home, and scared back again into that ferocity which is the child\nof terror.\n\n\n                \u201cIs it not very like,\n    The horrible conceit of death and night,\n    Together with the terror of the place\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    Oh! if I wake, shall I not be distraught,\n    Environed with all these hideous fears?\u201d\n\n    _Romeo and Juliet_, iv. 3.\n\n\nThere was a time when he had been under restraint, but \u201cnow no man could\nany more bind him\u201d even with iron upon feet and wrists. The ferocity of\nhis cruel subjugator turned his own strength against himself, so that\nnight and day his howling was heard, as he cut himself with stones, and\nhis haunts in the tombs and in the mountains were as dangerous as the lair\nof a wild breast, which no man dared pass by. What strange impulse drove\nhim thence to the feet of Jesus? Very dreadful is the picture of his\nconflicting tendencies: the fiend within him struggling against something\nstill human and attracted by the Divine, so that he runs from afar, yet\ncries aloud, and worships yet disowns having anything to do with Him; and\nas if the fiend had subverted the true personality, and become the very\nman, when ordered to come out he adjures Jesus to torment him not.\n\nAnd here we observe the knowledge of Christ\u2019s rank possessed by the evil\nones. Long before Peter won a special blessing for acknowledging the Son\nof the living God, the demoniac called Him by the very name which flesh\nand blood did not reveal to Cephas. For their chief had tested and\ndiscovered Him in the wilderness, saying twice with dread surmise, If Thou\nbe the Son of God. It is also noteworthy that the phrase, the most High\nGod, is the name of Jehovah among the non-Jewish races. It occurs in both\nTestaments in connection with Melchizedek the Canaanite. It is used\nthroughout the Babylonian proclamations in the book of Daniel. Micah puts\nit into the lips of Balaam. And the damsel with a spirit of divination\nemployed it in Philippi. Except once, in a Psalm which tells of the return\nof apostate Israel to the Most High God (lxxviii. 35), the epithet is used\nonly in relation with the nations outside the covenant. Its occurrence\nhere is probably a sign of the pagan influences by which Gadara was\ninfected, and for which it was plagued. By the name of God then, whose Son\nHe loudly confessed that Jesus was, the fiend within the man adjures Him\nto torment Him not. But Jesus had not asked to be acknowledged: He had\nbidden the devil to come out. And persons who substitute loud confessions\nand clamorous orthodoxies for obedience should remember that so did the\nfiend of Gadara. Jesus replied by asking, What is thy name? The question\nwas not an idle one, but had a healing tendency. For the man was beside\nhimself; it was part of his cure that he was found in his right mind; and\nmeanwhile his very consciousness was merged in that of the fiends who\ntortured him, so that his voice was their voice, and they returned a\nvaunting answer through His lips. Our Lord sought therefore both to calm\nHis excitement and to remind him of himself, and of what he once had been\nbefore evil beings dethroned his will. These were not the man, but his\nenemies by whom he was \u201ccarried about,\u201d and \u201cled captive at their will.\u201d\nAnd it is always sobering to think of \u201cMyself,\u201d the lonely individual,\napart from even those who most influence me, with a soul to lose or save.\nWith this very question the Church Catechism begins its work of arousing\nand instructing the conscience of each child, separating him from his\nfellows in order to lead him on to the knowledge of the individualising\ngrace of God.\n\nIt may be that the fiends within him dictated his reply, or that he\nhimself, conscious of their tyranny, cried out in agony, We are many; a\nregiment like those of conquering Rome, drilled and armed to trample and\ndestroy, a legion. This answer distinctly contravened what Christ had just\nimplied, that he was one, an individual, and precious in his Maker\u2019s eyes.\nBut there are men and women in every Christian land, whom it might startle\nto look within, and see how far their individuality is oppressed and\noverlaid by a legion of impulses, appetites, and conventionalities, which\nleave them nothing personal, nothing essential and characteristic, nothing\nthat deserves a name. The demons, now conscious of the power which calls\nthem forth, besought Him to leave them a refuge in that country. St. Luke\nthrows light upon this petition, as well as their former complaint, when\nhe tells us they feared to be sent to \u201cthe abyss\u201d of their final\nretribution. And as we read of men who are haunted by a fearful looking\nfor of judgment and a fierceness of fire, so they had no hope of escape,\nexcept until \u201cthe time.\u201d For a little respite they prayed to be sent even\ninto the swine, and Jesus gave them leave.\n\nWhat a difference there is between the proud and heroic spirits whom\nMilton celebrated, and these malignant but miserable beings, haunting the\nsepulchres like ghosts, truculent and yet dastardly, as ready to\nsupplicate as to rend, filled with dread of the appointed time and of the\nabyss, clinging to that outlying country as a congenial haunt, and\ndevising for themselves a last asylum among the brutes. And yet they are\nequally far from the materialistic superstitions of that age and place;\nthey are not amenable to fumigations or exorcisms, and they do not upset\nthe furniture in rushing out. Many questions have been asked about the\npetition of the demons and our Lord\u2019s consent. But none of them need much\ndistress the reverential enquirer, who remembers by what misty horizons\nall our knowledge is enclosed. Most absurd is the charge that Jesus acted\nindefensibly in destroying property. Is it then so clear that the owners\ndid not deserve their loss through the nature of their investments? Was it\nmerely as a man, or as the Son of the living God, that His consent was\nfelt to be necessary? And was it any part of His mission to protect brutes\nfrom death?\n\nThe loss endured was no greater than when a crop is beaten down by hail,\nor a vineyard devastated by insects, and in these cases an agency beyond\nthe control of man is sent or permitted by God, Who was in Christ.\n\nA far harder question it is, How could devils enter into brute creatures?\nand again, Why did they desire to do so? But the first of these is only a\nsubdivision of the vaster problem, at once inevitable and insoluble, How\ndoes spirit in any of its forms animate matter, or even manipulate it? We\nknow not by what strange link a thought contracts a sinew, and transmutes\nitself into words or deeds. And if we believe the dread and melancholy\nfact of the possession of a child by a fiend, what reason have we, beyond\nprejudice, for doubting the possession of swine? It must be observed also,\nthat no such possession is proved by this narrative to be a common event,\nbut the reverse. The notion is a last and wild expedient of despair,\nproposing to content itself with the uttermost abasement, if only the\ndemons might still haunt the region where they had thriven so well. And\nthe consent of Jesus does not commit Him to any judgment upon the merit or\nthe possibility of the project. He leaves the experiment to prove itself,\nexactly as when Peter would walk upon the water; and a laconic \u201cGo\u201d in\nthis case recalls the \u201cCome\u201d in that; an assent, without approval, to an\nattempt which was about to fail. Not in the world of brutes could they\nfind shelter from the banishment they dreaded; for the whole herd, frantic\nand ungoverned, rushed headlong into the sea and was destroyed. The second\nvictory of the series was thus completed. Jesus was Master over the evil\nspirits which afflict humanity, as well as over the fierceness of the\nelements which rise against us.\n\n\n\n\nThe Men Of Gadara.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd they that fed them fled, and told it in the city, and in the\n    country. And they came to see what it was that had come to pass.\n    And they come to Jesus, and behold him that was possessed with\n    devils sitting, clothed and in his right mind, _even_ him that had\n    the legion: and they were afraid. And they that saw it declared\n    unto them how it befell him that was possessed with devils, and\n    concerning the swine. And they began to beseech him to depart from\n    their borders. And as He was entering into the boat, he that had\n    been possessed with devils besought Him that he might be with Him.\n    And He suffered him not but saith unto him, Go to thy house unto\n    thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for\n    thee, and _how_ He had mercy on thee. And he went his way, and\n    began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for\n    him: and all men did marvel.\u201d\u2014MARK v. 14-20 (R.V.).\n\n\nThe expulsion of the demons from the possessed, their entrance into the\nherd, and the destruction of the two thousand swine, were virtually one\ntransaction, and must have impressed the swineherds in its totality. They\nsaw on the one hand the restoration of a dangerous and raging madman,\nknown to be actuated by evil spirits, the removal of a standing peril\nwhich had already made one tract of country impassable, and (if they\nconsidered such a thing at all) the calming of a human soul, and its\nadvent within the reach of all sacred influences. On the other side what\nwas there? The loss of two thousand swine; and the consciousness that the\nkingdom of God was come nigh unto them. This was always an alarming\ndiscovery. Isaiah said, Woe is me! when his eyes beheld God high and\nlifted up. And Peter said, Depart from me, when he learned by the\nmiraculous draught of fish that the Lord was there. But Isaiah\u2019s concern\nwas because he was a man of unclean lips, and Peter\u2019s was because he was a\nsinful man. Their alarm was that of an awakened conscience, and therefore\nthey became the heralds of Him Whom they feared. But these men were simply\nscared at what they instinctively felt to be dangerous; and so they took\nrefuge in a crowd, that frequent resort of the frivolous and\nconscience-stricken, and told in the city what they had seen. And when the\ninhabitants came forth, a sight met them which might have won the\nsternest, the man sitting, clothed (a nice coincidence, since St. Mark had\nnot mentioned that he \u201cware no clothes,\u201d) and in his right mind, even him\nthat had the legion, as the narrative emphatically adds. And doubtless the\nmuch debated incident of the swine had greatly helped to reassure this\nafflicted soul; the demons were palpably gone, visibly enough they were\novermastered. But the citizens, like the swineherds, were merely\nterrified, neither grateful nor sympathetic; uninspired with hope of pure\nteaching, of rescue from other influences of the evil one, or of any\nunearthly kingdom. Their formidable visitant was one to treat with all\nrespect, but to remove with all speed, \u201cand they began to beseech Him to\ndepart from their borders.\u201d They began, for it did not require long\nentreaty; the gospel which was free to all was not to be forced upon any.\nBut how much did they blindly fling away, who refused the presence of the\nmeek and lowly Giver of rest unto souls; and chose to be denied, as\nstrangers whom He never knew, in the day when every eye shall see Him.\n\nWith how sad a heart must Jesus have turned away. Yet one soul at least\nwas won, for as He was entering into the boat, the man who owed all to Him\nprayed Him that he might be with Him. Why was the prayer refused?\nDoubtless it sprang chiefly from gratitude and love, thinking it hard to\nlose so soon the wondrous benefactor, the Man at whose feet he had sat\ndown, Who alone had looked with pitiful and helpful eyes on one whom\nothers only sought to \u201ctame.\u201d Such feelings are admirable, but they must\nbe disciplined so as to seek, not their own indulgence, but their Master\u2019s\nreal service. Now a reclaimed demoniac would have been a suspected\ncompanion for One who was accused of league with the Prince of the devils.\nThere is no reason to suppose that he had any fitness whatever to enter\nthe immediate circle of our Lord\u2019s intimate disciples. His special\ntestimony would lose all its force when he left the district where he was\nknown; but there, on the contrary, the miracle could not fail to be\nimpressive, as its extent and permanence were seen. This man was perhaps\nthe only missionary who could reckon upon a hearing from those who\nbanished Jesus from their coasts. And Christ\u2019s loving and unresentful\nheart would give this testimony to them in its fulness. It should begin at\nhis own house and among his friends, who would surely listen. They should\nbe told how great things the Lord had done for him, and Jesus expressly\nadded, how He had mercy upon thee, that so they might learn their mistake,\nwho feared and shrank from such a kindly visitant. Here is a lesson for\nthese modern days, when the conversion of any noted profligate is sure to\nbe followed by attempts to push him into a vagrant publicity, not only\nfull of peril in itself, but also removing him from the familiar sphere in\nwhich his consistent life would be more convincing than all sermons, and\nwhere no suspicion of self-interest could overcloud the brightness of his\ntestimony.\n\nPossibly there was yet another reason for leaving him in his home. He may\nhave desired to remain close to Jesus, lest, when the Saviour was absent,\nthe evil spirits should resume their sway. In that case it would be\nnecessary to exercise his faith and convince him that the words of Jesus\nwere far-reaching and effectual, even when He was Himself remote. If so,\nhe learned the lesson well, and became an evangelist through all the\nregion of Decapolis. And where all did marvel, we may hope that some were\nwon. What a revelation of mastery over the darkest and most dreadful\nforces of evil, and of respect for the human will (which Jesus never once\ncoerced by miracle, even when it rejected Him), what unwearied care for\nthe rebellious, and what a sense of sacredness in lowly duties, better for\nthe demoniac than the physical nearness of his Lord, are combined in this\nastonishing narrative, which to invent in the second century would itself\nhave required miraculous powers.\n\n\n\n\nWith Jairus.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd when Jesus had crossed over again in the boat unto the other\n    side, a great multitude was gathered unto Him: and He was by the\n    sea. And there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus\n    by name; and seeing Him, he falleth at His feet, and beseecheth\n    Him much, saying, My little daughter is at the point of death: _I\n    pray Thee_ that Thou come and lay Thy hands on her, that she may\n    be made whole, and live. And He went with him; and a great\n    multitude followed Him, and they thronged Him. And a woman, which\n    had an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered many things\n    of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was\n    nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, having heard the things\n    concerning Jesus, came in the crowd behind, and touched His\n    garment. For she said, If I touch but His garments, I shall be\n    made whole. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried\n    up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her plague.\n    And straightway Jesus, perceiving in Himself that the power\n    _proceeding_ from Him had gone forth, turned Him about in the\n    crowd, and said, Who touched My garments? And His disciples said\n    unto Him, Thou seest the multitude thronging Thee, and sayest\n    Thou, Who touched Me? And He looked round about to see her that\n    had done this thing. But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing\n    what had been done to her, came and fell down before Him, and told\n    Him all the truth. And He said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath\n    made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague. While He\n    yet spake, they come from the ruler of the synagogue\u2019s _house_,\n    saying, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any\n    further? But Jesus not heeding the word spoken, saith unto the\n    ruler of the synagogue, Fear not, only believe. And He suffered no\n    man to follow with Him, save Peter, and James, and John the\n    brother of James. And they come to the house of the ruler of the\n    synagogue; and He beholdeth a tumult, and _many_ weeping and\n    wailing greatly. And when He was entered in, He saith unto them,\n    Why make ye a tumult, and weep? the child is not dead, but\n    sleepeth. And they laughed Him to scorn. But He, having put them\n    all forth, taketh the father of the child and her mother and them\n    that were with Him, and goeth in where the child was. And taking\n    the child by the hand, He saith unto her, Talitha cumi; which is,\n    being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, Arise. And straightway\n    the damsel rose up, and walked; for she was twelve years old. And\n    they were amazed straightway with a great amazement. And He\n    charged them much that no man should know this; and He commanded\n    that _something_ should be given her to eat.\u201d\u2014MARK v. 21-43\n    (R.V.).\n\n\nRepulsed from Decapolis, but consoled by the rescue and zeal of the\ndemoniac, Jesus returned to the western shore, and a great multitude\nassembled. The other boats which were with Him had doubtless spread the\ntidings of the preternatural calm which rescued them from deadly peril,\nand it may be that news of the event of Gadara arrived almost as soon as\nHe Whom they celebrated. We have seen that St. Mark aims at bringing the\nfour great miracles of this period into the closest sequence. And so he\npasses over a certain brief period with the words \u201cHe was by the sea.\u201d But\nin fact Jesus was reasoning with the Pharisees, and with the disciples of\nJohn, who had assailed Him and His followers, when one of their natural\nleaders threw himself at His feet.\n\nThe contrast is sharp enough, as He rises from a feast to go to the house\nof mourning, from eating with publicans and sinners to accompany a ruler\nof the synagogue. These unexpected calls, these sudden alternations all\nfound Him equally ready to bear the same noble part, in the most\ndissimilar scenes, and in treating temperaments the most unlike. But the\ncontrast should also be observed between those harsh and hostile critics\nwho hated Him in the interests of dogma and of ceremonial, and Jairus,\nwhose views were theirs, but whose heart was softened by trouble. The\ndanger of his child was what drove him, perhaps reluctantly enough, to\nbeseech Jesus much. And nothing could be more touching than his prayer for\nhis \u201clittle daughter,\u201d its sequence broken as if with a sob; wistfully\npictorial as to the process, \u201cthat Thou come and lay Thy hands upon her,\u201d\nand dilating wistfully too upon the effect, \u201cthat she may be made whole\nand live.\u201d If a miracle were not in question, the dullest critic in Europe\nwould confess that this exquisite supplication was not composed by an\nevangelist, but a father. And he would understand also why the very words\nin their native dialect were not forgotten, which men had heard awake the\ndead.\n\nAs Jesus went with him, a great multitude followed Him, and they thronged\nHim. It is quite evident that Jesus did not love these gatherings of the\nidly curious. Partly from such movements He had withdrawn Himself to\nGadara; and partly to avoid exciting them He strove to keep many of His\nmiracles a secret. Sensationalism is neither grace nor a means of grace.\nAnd it must be considered that the perfect Man, as far from mental apathy\nor physical insensibility as from morbid fastidiousness, would find much\nto shrink away from in the pressure of a city crowd. The contact of\ninferior organizations, selfishness driving back the weak and gentle,\nvulgar scrutiny and audible comment, and the desire for some miracle as an\nidle show, which He would only work because His gentle heart was full of\npity, all these would be utterly distressing to Him who was\n\n\n    \u201cThe first true gentleman that ever breathed,\u201d\n\n\nas well as the revelation of God in flesh. It is therefore noteworthy that\nwe have many examples of His grace and goodness amid such trying scenes,\nas when He spoke to Zacch\u00e6us, and called Bartim\u00e6us to Him to be healed.\nJesus could be wrathful but He was never irritated. Of these examples one\nof the most beautiful is here recorded, for as He went with Jairus, amidst\nthe rude and violent thronging of the crowds, moving alone (as men often\nare in sympathy and in heart alone amid seething thoroughfares), He\nsuddenly became aware of a touch, the timid and stealthy touch of a\nbroken-hearted woman, pale and wasted with disease, but borne through the\ncrowd by the last effort of despair and the first energy of a newborn\nhope. She ought not to have come thither, since her touch spread\nceremonial uncleanness far and wide. Nor ought she to have stolen a\nblessing instead of praying for it. And if we seek to blame her still\nfurther, we may condemn the superstitious notion that Christ\u2019s gifts of\nhealing were not conscious and loving actions, but a mere contagion of\nhealth, by which one might profit unfelt and undiscovered. It is urged\nindeed that hers was not a faith thus clouded, but so majestic as to\nbelieve that Christ would know and respond to the silent hint of a gentle\ntouch. And is it supposed that Jesus would have dragged into publicity\nsuch a perfect lily of the vale as this? and what means her trembling\nconfession, and the discovery that she could not be hid? But when our\nkeener intellects have criticised her errors, and our clearer ethics have\nfrowned upon her misconduct, one fact remains. She is the only woman upon\nwhom Jesus is recorded to have bestowed any epithet but a formal one. Her\nmisery and her faith drew from His guarded lips, the tender and yet lofty\nword Daughter.\n\nSo much better is the faith which seeks for blessing, however erroneous be\nits means, than the heartless propriety which criticises with most\ndispassionate clearness, chiefly because it really seeks nothing for\nitself at all. Such faith is always an appeal, and is responded to, not as\nshe supposed, mechanically, unconsciously, nor, of course, by the _opus\noperatum_ of a garment touched (or of a sacrament formally received), but\nby the going forth of power from a conscious Giver, in response to the\nneed which has approached His fulness. He knew her secret and fearful\napproach to Him, as He knew the guileless heart of Nathanael, whom He\nmarked beneath the fig-tree. And He dealt with her very gently. Doubtless\nthere are many such concealed woes, secret, untold miseries which eat deep\ninto gentle hearts, and are never spoken, and cannot, like Bartim\u00e6us, cry\naloud for public pity. For these also there is balm in Gilead, and if the\nLord requires them to confess Him publicly, He will first give them due\nstrength to do so. This enfeebled and emaciated woman was allowed to feel\nin her body that she was healed of her plague, before she was called upon\nfor her confession. Jesus asked, Who touched my clothes? It was one thing\nto press Him, driven forward by the multitude around, as circumstances\nimpel so many to become churchgoers, readers of Scripture, interested in\nsacred questions and controversies until they are borne as by physical\npropulsion into the closest contact with our Lord, but not drawn thither\nby any personal craving or sense of want, nor expecting any blessed\nreaction of \u201cthe power proceeding from Him.\u201d It was another thing to reach\nout a timid hand and touch appealingly even that tasselled fringe of His\ngarment which had a religious significance, whence perhaps she drew a\nsemi-superstitious hope. In the face of this incident, can any orthodoxy\nforbid us to believe that the grace of Christ extends, now as of yore, to\nmany a superstitious and erring approach by which souls reach after\nChrist?\n\nThe disciples wondered at His question: they knew not that \u201cthe flesh\npresses but faith touches;\u201d but as He continued to look around and seek\nher that had done this thing, she fell down and told Him all the truth.\nFearing and trembling she spoke, for indeed she had been presumptuous, and\nventured without permission. But the chief thing was that she had\nventured, and so He graciously replied, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee\nwhole, go in peace and be whole of thy plague. Thus she received more than\nshe had asked or thought; not only healing for the body, but also a\nvictory over that self-effacing, fearful, half morbid diffidence, which\nlong and weakening disease entails. Thus also, instead of a secret cure,\nshe was given the open benediction of her Lord, and such confirmation in\nher privilege as many more would enjoy if only with their mouth confession\nwere made unto salvation.\n\nWhile He yet spoke, and the heart of Jairus was divided between joy at a\nnew evidence of the power of Christ, and impatience at every moment of\ndelay, not knowing that his Benefactor was the Lord of time itself, the\nfatal message came, tinged with some little irony as it asked, Why\ntroublest thou the Teacher any more? It is quite certain that Jesus had\nbefore now raised the dead, but no miracle of the kind had acquired such\nprominence as afterwards to claim a place in the Gospel narratives.\n\nOne is led to suspect that the care of Jesus had prevailed, and they had\nnot been widely published. To those who brought this message, perhaps no\nsuch case had travelled, certainly none had gained their credence. It was\nin their eyes a thing incredible that He should raise the dead, and indeed\nthere is a wide difference between every other miracle and this. We\nstruggle against all else, but when death comes we feel that all is over\nexcept to bury out of our sight what once was beautiful and dear. Death is\ndestiny made visible; it is the irrevocable. Who shall unsay the words of\na bleeding heart, I shall go to him but he shall not return to me? But\nChrist came to destroy him that had the power of death. Even now, through\nHim, we are partakers of a more intense and deeper life, and have not only\nthe hope but the beginning of immortality. And it was the natural seal\nupon His lofty mission, that He should publicly raise up the dead. For so\ngreat a task, shall we say that Jesus now gathers all His energies? That\nwould be woefully to misread the story; for a grand simplicity, the easy\nbearing of unstrained and amply adequate resources, is common to all the\nnarratives of life brought back. We shall hereafter see good reason why\nJesus employed means for other miracles, and even advanced by stages in\nthe work. But lest we should suppose that effort was necessary, and His\npower but just sufficed to overcome the resistance, none of these supreme\nmiracles is wrought with the slightest effort. Prophets and apostles may\nneed to stretch themselves upon the bed or to embrace the corpse; Jesus,\nin His own noble phrase, awakes it out of sleep. A wonderful ease and\nquietness pervade the narratives, expressing exactly the serene bearing of\nthe Lord of the dead and of the living. There is no holding back, no\ntoying with the sorrow of the bereaved, such as even Euripides, the\ntenderest of the Greeks, ascribed to the demigod who tore from the grip of\ndeath the heroic wife of Admetus. Hercules plays with the husband\u2019s\nsorrow, suggests the consolation of a new bridal, and extorts the angry\ncry, \u201cSilence, what have you said? I would not have believed it of you.\u201d\nBut what is natural to a hero, flushed with victory and the sense of\npatronage, would have ill become the absolute self-possession and gentle\ngrace of Jesus. In every case, therefore, He is full of encouragement and\nsympathy, even before His work is wrought. To the widow of Nain He says,\n\u201cWeep not.\u201d He tells the sister of Lazarus, \u201cIf thou wilt believe, thou\nshalt see the salvation of God.\u201d And when these disastrous tidings shake\nall the faith of Jairus, Jesus loses not a moment in reassuring Him: \u201cFear\nnot, only believe,\u201d He says, not heeding the word spoken; that is to say,\nHimself unagitated and serene.(10)\n\nIn every case some co-operation was expected from the bystanders. The\nbearers of the widow\u2019s son halted, expectant, when this majestic and\ntender Wayfarer touched the bier. The friends of Lazarus rolled away the\nstone from the sepulchre. But the professional mourners in the house of\nJairus were callous and insensible, and when He interrupted their\nclamorous wailing, with the question, Why make ye tumult and weep? they\nlaughed Him to scorn; a fit expression of the world\u2019s purblind\nincredulity, its reliance upon ordinary \u201cexperience\u201d to disprove all\npossibilities of the extraordinary and Divine, and its heartless\ntransition from conventional sorrow to ghastly laughter, mocking in the\npresence of death\u2014which is, in its view, so desperate\u2014the last hope of\nhumanity. Laughter is not the fitting mood in which to contradict the\nChristian hope, that our lost ones are not dead, but sleep. The new and\nstrange hope for humanity which Jesus thus asserted, He went on to prove,\nbut not for them. Exerting that moral ascendency, which sufficed Him twice\nto cleanse the Temple, He put them all forth, as already He had shut out\nthe crowd, and all His disciples but \u201cthe elect of His election,\u201d the\nthree who now first obtain a special privilege. The scene was one of\nsurpassing solemnity and awe; but not more so than that of Nain, or by the\ntomb of _Lazarus_. Why then were not only the idly curious and the\nscornful, but nine of His chosen ones excluded? Surely we may believe, for\nthe sake of the little girl, whose tender grace of unconscious maidenhood\nshould not, in its hour of reawakened vitality, be the centre of a gazing\ncircle. He kept with Him the deeply reverential and the loving, the ripest\napostles and the parents of the child, since love and reverence are ever\nthe conditions of real insight. And then, first, was exhibited the gentle\nand profound regard of Christ for children. He did not arouse her, as\nothers, with a call only, but took her by the hand, while He spoke to her\nthose Aramaic words, so marvellous in their effect, which St. Peter did\nnot fail to repeat to St. Mark as he had heard them, Talitha cumi; Damsel,\nI say unto thee, Arise. They have an added sweetness when we reflect that\nthe former word, though applied to a very young child, is in its root a\nvariation of the word for a little lamb. How exquisite from the lips of\nthe Good Shepherd, Who gave His life for the sheep. How strange to be thus\nawakened from the mysterious sleep, and to gaze with a child\u2019s fresh eyes\ninto the loving eyes of Jesus. Let us seek to realise such positions, to\ncomprehend the marvellous heart which they reveal to us, and we shall\nderive more love and trust from the effort than from all such doctrinal\ninference and allegorizing as would dry up, into a _hortus siccus_, the\nsweetest blooms of the sweetest story ever told.\n\nSo shall we understand what happened next in all three cases. Something\npreternatural and therefore dreadful, appeared to hang about the lives so\nwondrously restored. The widow of Nain did not dare to embrace her son\nuntil Christ \u201cgave him to his mother.\u201d The bystanders did not touch\nLazarus, bound hand and foot, until Jesus bade them \u201cloose him and let him\ngo.\u201d And the five who stood about this child\u2019s bed, amazed straightway\nwith a great amazement, had to be reminded that being now in perfect\nhealth, after an illness which left her system wholly unsupplied,\nsomething should be given her to eat. This is the point at which Euripides\ncould find nothing fitter for Hercules to utter than the awkward boast,\n\u201cThou wilt some day say that the son of Jove was a capital guest to\nentertain.\u201d What a contrast. For Jesus was utterly unflushed, undazzled,\napparently unconscious of anything to disturb His composure. And so far\nwas He from the unhappy modern notion, that every act of grace must be\nproclaimed on the housetop, and every recipient of grace however young,\nhowever unmatured, paraded and exhibited, that He charged them much that\nno man should know this.\n\nThe story throughout is graphic and full of character; every touch, every\nword reveals the Divine Man; and only reluctance to believe a miracle\nprevents it from proving itself to every candid mind. Whether it be\naccepted or rejected, it is itself miraculous. It could not have grown up\nin the soil which generated the early myths and legends, by the working of\nthe ordinary laws of mind. It is beyond their power to invent or to dream,\nsupernatural in the strictest sense.\n\nThis miracle completes the cycle. Nature, distracted by the Fall, has\nrevolted against Him in vain. Satan, intrenched in his last stronghold,\nhas resisted, and humbled himself to entreaties and to desperate\ncontrivances, in vain. Secret and unspoken woes, and silent germs of\nbelief, have hidden from Him in vain. Death itself has closed its bony\nfingers upon its prey, in vain. Nothing can resist the power and love,\nwhich are enlisted on behalf of all who put their trust in Jesus.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\n\n\n\nRejected In His Own Country.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd He went out from thence; and He cometh into His own country;\n    and His disciples follow Him.\u201d\u2014MARK vi. 1-6 (R.V.).\n\n\nWe have seen how St. Mark, to bring out more vividly the connection\nbetween four mighty signs, their ideal completeness as a whole, and that\nmastery over nature and the spiritual world which they reveal, grouped\nthem resolutely together, excluding even significant incidents which would\nbreak in upon their sequence. Bearing this in mind, how profoundly\ninstructive it is that our Evangelist shows us this Master over storm and\ndemons, over too-silent disease, and over death, too clamorously bewailed,\nin the next place teaching His own countrymen in vain, and an offence to\nthem. How startling to read, at this juncture, when legend would surely\nhave thrown all men prostrate at his feet, of His homely family and His\ntrade, and how He Who rebuked the storm \u201ccould there do no mighty work.\u201d\n\nFirst of all, it is touching to see Jesus turning once more to \u201cHis own\ncountry,\u201d just at this crisis. They had rejected Him in a frenzy of rage,\nat the outset of His ministry. And He had very lately repulsed the rude\nattempt of His immediate relatives to interrupt His mission. But now His\nheart leads Him thither, once again to appeal to the companions of His\nyouth, with the halo of His recent and surpassing works upon His forehead.\nHe does not abruptly interrupt their vocations, but waits as before for\nthe Sabbath, and the hushed assembly in the sacred place. And as He\nteaches in the synagogue, they are conscious of His power. Whence could He\nhave these things? His wisdom was an equal wonder with His mighty works,\nof the reality of which they could not doubt. And what excuse then had\nthey for listening to His wisdom in vain? But they went on to ask, Is not\nthis the carpenter? the Son of Mary? they knew His brothers, and His\nsisters were living among them. And they were offended in Him, naturally\nenough. It _is_ hard to believe in the supremacy of one, whom\ncircumstances marked as our equal, and to admit the chieftainship of one\nwho started side by side with us. In Palestine it was not disgraceful to\nbe a tradesman, but yet they could fairly claim equality with \u201cthe\ncarpenter.\u201d And it is plain enough that they found no impressive or\nsignificant difference from their neighbours in the \u201csisters\u201d of Jesus,\nnor even in her whom all generations call blessed. Why then should they\nabase themselves before the claims of Jesus?\n\nIt is an instructive incident. First of all, it shows us the perfection of\nour Lord\u2019s abasement. He was not only a carpenter\u2019s son, but what this\npassage only declares to us explicitly, He wrought as an artizan, and\nconsecrated for ever a lowly trade, by the toil of those holy limbs whose\nsufferings should redeem the world.\n\nAnd we learn the abject folly of judging by mere worldly standards. We are\nbound to give due honour and precedence to rank and station. Refusing to\ndo this, we virtually undertake to dissolve society, and readjust it upon\nother principles, or by instincts and intuitions of our own, a grave task,\nwhen it is realized. But we are not to be dazzled, much less to be misled,\nby the advantages of station or of birth. Yet if, as it would seem,\nNazareth rejected Christ because He was not a person of quality, this is\nonly the most extreme and ironical exhibition of what happens every day,\nwhen a noble character, self-denying, self-controlled and wise, fails to\nwin the respect which is freely and gladly granted to vice and folly in a\ncoronet.\n\nAnd yet, to one who reflected, the very objection they put forward was an\nevidence of His mission. His wisdom was confessed, and His miracles were\nnot denied; were they less wonderful or more amazing, more supernatural,\nas the endowments of the carpenter whom they knew? Whence, they asked, had\nHe derived His learning, as if it were not more noble for being original.\n\nAre we sure that men do not still make the same mistake? The perfect and\nlowly humanity of Jesus is a stumbling block to some who will freely admit\nHis ideal perfections, and the matchless nobility of His moral teaching.\nThey will grant anything but the supernatural origin of Him to Whom they\nattribute qualities beyond parallel. But whence had He those qualities?\nWhat is there in the Galilee of the first century which prepares one for\ndiscovering there and then the revolutionizer of the virtues of the world,\nthe most original, profound, and unique of all teachers, Him Whose example\nis still mightier than His precepts, and only not more perfect, because\nthese also are without a flaw, Him Whom even unbelief would shrink from\nsaluting by so cold a title as that of the most saintly of the saints. To\nask with a clear scrutiny, whence the teaching of Jesus came, to realize\nthe isolation from all centres of thought and movement, of this Hebrew,\nthis provincial among Hebrews, this villager in Galilee, this carpenter in\na village, and then to observe His mighty works in every quarter of the\nglobe, is enough to satisfy all candid minds that His earthly\ncircumstances have something totally unlike themselves behind them. And\nthe more men give ear to materialism and to materialistic evolution\nwithout an evolving mind, so much the more does the problem press upon\nthem, Whence hath this man this wisdom? and what mean these mighty works?\n\nFrom our Lord\u2019s own commentary upon their rejection we learn to beware of\nthe vulgarising effects of familiarity. They had seen His holy youth,\nagainst which no slander was ever breathed. And yet, while His teaching\nastonished them, He had no honour in his own house. It is the same result\nwhich so often seems to follow from a lifelong familiarity with Scripture\nand the means of grace. We read, almost mechanically, what melts and\namazes the pagan to whom it is a new word. We forsake, or submit to the\ndull routine of, ordinances the most sacred, the most searching, the most\ninvigorating and the most picturesque.\n\nAnd yet we wonder that the men of Nazareth could not discern the divinity\nof \u201cthe carpenter,\u201d whose family lived quiet and unassuming lives in their\nown village.\n\nIt is St. Mark, the historian of the energies of Christ, who tells us that\nHe \u201ccould there do no mighty work,\u201d with only sufficient exception to\nprove that neither physical power nor compassion was what failed Him,\nsince \u201cHe laid His hands upon a few sick folk and healed them.\u201d What then\nis conveyed by this bold phrase? Surely the fearful power of the human\nwill to resist the will of man\u2019s compassionate Redeemer. He would have\ngathered Jerusalem under His wing, but she would not; and the temporal\nresults of her disobedience had to follow; siege, massacre and ruin. God\nhas no pleasure in the death of him who dieth, yet death follows, as the\ninevitable wages of sin. Therefore, as surely as the miracles of Jesus\ntypified His gracious purposes for the souls of men, Who forgiveth all our\niniquities, Who healeth all our diseases, so surely the rejection and\ndefeat of those loving purposes paralysed the arm stretched out to heal\ntheir sick.\n\nDoes it seem as if the words \u201cHe could not,\u201d even thus explained, convey a\ncertain affront, throw a shadow upon the glory of our Master? And the\nwords \u201cthey mocked, scourged, crucified Him,\u201d do these convey no affront?\nThe suffering of Jesus was not only physical: His heart was wounded; His\novertures were rejected; His hands were stretched out in vain; His pity\nand love were crucified.\n\nBut now let this be considered, that men who refuse His Spirit continually\npresume upon His mercy, and expect not to suffer the penalty of their evil\ndeeds. Alas, that is impossible. Where unbelief rejected His teaching, He\n\u201ccould not\u201d work the marvels of His grace. How shall they escape who\nreject so great salvation?\n\n\n\n\nThe Mission Of The Twelve.\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\n    in their purse; but _to go_ shod with sandals: and, _said He_, put\n    not on two coats. And He said unto them, Wheresoever ye enter into\n    a 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\n    repent. And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many\n    that were sick, and healed them.\u201d\u2014MARK vi. 7-13 (R.V.).\n\n\nRepulsed a second time from the cradle of His youth, even as lately from\nDecapolis, with what a heavy heart must the Loving One have turned away.\nYet we read of no abatement of His labours. He did not, like the fiery\nprophet, wander into the desert and make request that He might die. And it\nhelps us to realise the elevation of our Lord, when we reflect how utterly\nthe discouragement with which we sympathise in the great Elijah would ruin\nour conception of Jesus.\n\nIt was now that He set on foot new efforts, and advanced in the training\nof His elect. For Himself, He went about the villages, whither slander and\nprejudice had not yet penetrated, and was content to break new ground\namong the most untaught and sequestered of the people. The humblest field\nof labour was not too lowly for the Lord, although we meet, every day,\nwith men who are \u201cthrown away\u201d and \u201cburied\u201d in obscure fields of\nusefulness. We have not yet learned to follow without a murmur the\nCarpenter, and the Teacher in villages, even though we are soothed in\ngrief by thinking, because we endure the inevitable, that we are followers\nof the Man of Sorrows. At the same moment when democracies and priesthoods\nare rejecting their Lord, a king had destroyed His forerunner. On every\naccount it was necessary to vary as well as multiply the means for the\nevangelisation of the country. Thus the movement would be accelerated, and\nit would no longer present one solitary point of attack to its\nunscrupulous foes.\n\nJesus therefore called to Him the Twelve, and began to send them forth. In\nso doing, His directions revealed at once His wisdom and His fears for\nthem.\n\nNot even for unfallen man was it good to be alone. It was a bitter\ningredient in the cup which Christ Himself drank, that His followers\nshould be scattered to their own and leave Him alone. And it was at the\nlast extremity, when he could no longer forbear, that St. Paul thought it\ngood to be at Athens alone. Jesus therefore would not send His\ninexperienced heralds forth for the first time except by two and two, that\neach might sustain the courage and wisdom of his comrade. And His example\nwas not forgotten. Peter and John together visited the converts in\nSamaria. And when Paul and Barnabas, whose first journey was together,\ncould no longer agree, each of them took a new comrade and departed.\nPerhaps our modern missionaries lose more in energy than is gained in area\nby neglecting so humane a precedent, and forfeiting the special presence\nvouchsafed to the common worship of two or three.\n\nSt. Mark has not recorded the mission of the seventy evangelists, but this\nnarrative is clearly coloured by his knowledge of that event. Thus He does\nnot mention the gift of miraculous power, which was common to both, but He\ndoes tell of the authority over unclean spirits, which was explicitly\ngiven to the Twelve, and which the Seventy, returning with joy, related\nthat they also had successfully dared to claim. In conferring such power\nupon His disciples, Jesus took the first step towards that marvellous\nidentification of Himself and His mastery over evil, with all His\nfollowers, that giving of His presence to their assemblies, His honour to\ntheir keeping, His victory to their experience, and His lifeblood to their\nveins, which makes Him the second Adam, represented in all the newborn\nrace, and which finds its most vivid and blessed expression in the\nsacrament where His flesh is meat indeed and His blood is drink indeed.\nNow first He is seen to commit His powers and His honour into mortal\nhands.\n\nIn doing this, He impressed on them the fact that they were not sent at\nfirst upon a toilsome and protracted journey. Their personal connection\nwith Him was not broken but suspended for a little while. Hereafter, they\nwould need to prepare for hardship, and he that had two coats should take\nthem. It was not so now: sandals would suffice their feet; they should\ncarry no wallet; only a staff was needed for their brief excursion through\na hospitable land. But hospitality itself would have its dangers for them,\nand when warmly received they might be tempted to be f\u00eated by various\nhosts, enjoying the first enthusiastic welcome of each, and refusing to\nshare afterwards the homely domestic life which would succeed. Yet it was\nwhen they ceased to be strangers that their influence would really be\nstrongest; and so there was good reason, both for the sake of the family\nthey might win, and for themselves who should not become self-indulgent,\nwhy they should not go from house to house.\n\nThese directions were not meant to become universal rules, and we have\nseen how Jesus afterwards explicitly varied them. But their spirit is an\nadmonition to all who are tempted to forget their mission in personal\nadvantages which it may offer. Thus commissioned and endowed, they should\nfeel as they went the greatness of the message they conveyed. Wherever\nthey were rejected; no false meekness should forbid their indignant\nprotest, and they should refuse to carry even the dust of that evil and\ndoomed place upon their feet.\n\nAnd they went forth and preached repentance, casting out many devils, and\nhealing many that were sick. In doing this, they anointed them with oil,\nas St. James afterwards directed, but as Jesus never did. He used no\nmeans, or when faith needed to be helped by a visible application, it was\nalways the touch of His own hand or the moisture of His own lip. The\ndistinction is significant. And also it must be remembered that oil was\nnever used by disciples for the edification of the dying, but for the\nrecovery of the sick.\n\nBy this new agency the name of Jesus was more than ever spread abroad,\nuntil it reached the ears of a murderous tyrant, and stirred in his bosom\nnot the repentance which they preached, but the horrors of ineffectual\nremorse.\n\n\n\n\nHerod.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd king Herod heard _thereof;_ for His name had become known:\n    and he said, John the Baptist is risen from the dead, and\n    therefore do these powers work in him. But others said, It is\n    Elijah. And others said, _It is_ a prophet, _even_ as one of the\n    prophets. But Herod, when he heard _thereof_, said, John, whom I\n    beheaded, he is risen. For Herod himself had sent forth and laid\n    hold upon John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias,\n    his brother Philip\u2019s wife: for he had married her. For John said\n    unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother\u2019s wife.\n    And Herodias set herself against him, and desired to kill him; and\n    she could not; for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a\n    righteous man and a holy, and kept him safe. And when he heard\n    him, he was much perplexed; and he heard him gladly. And when a\n    convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper\n    to his lords, and the high captains, and the chief men of Galilee;\n    and when the daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced, she\n    pleased Herod and them that sat at meat with him; and the king\n    said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will\n    give it thee. And he sware unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of\n    me, I will give it thee, unto the half of my kingdom. And she went\n    out, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The\n    head of John the Baptist. And she came in straightway with haste\n    unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou forthwith give\n    me in a charger the head of John the Baptist. And the king was\n    exceeding sorry; but for the sake of his oaths, and of them that\n    sat at meat, he would not reject her. And straightway the king\n    sent forth a soldier of his guard, and commanded to bring his\n    head: and he went and beheaded him in the prison, and brought his\n    head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel; and the damsel gave\n    it to her mother. And when his disciples heard _thereof_, they\n    came and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb.\u201d\u2014MARK vi.\n    14-29 (R.V.).\n\n\nThe growing influence of Jesus demanded the mission of the Twelve, and\nthis in its turn increased His fame until it alarmed the tetrarch Herod.\nAn Idum\u00e6an ruler of Israel was forced to dread every religious movement,\nfor all the waves of Hebrew fanaticism beat against the foreign throne.\nAnd Herod Antipas was especially the creature of circumstances, a weak and\nplastic man. He is the Ahab of the New Testament, and it is a curious\ncoincidence that he should have to do with its Elijah. As Ahab fasted when\nhe heard his doom, and postponed the evil by his submission, so Herod was\nimpressed and agitated by the teaching of the Baptist. But Ahab\nsurrendered his soul to the imperious Jezebel, and Herod was ruined by\nHerodias. Each is the sport of strong influences from without, and warns\nus that a man, no more than a ship, can hope by drifting to come safe to\nhaven.\n\nNo contrast could be imagined more dramatic than between the sleek seducer\nof his brother\u2019s wife and the imperious reformer, rude in garment and\nfrugal of fare, thundering against the generation of vipers who were the\nchiefs of his religion.\n\nHow were these two brought together? Did the Baptist stride unsummoned\ninto the court? Did his crafty foemen contrive his ruin by inciting the\nTetrarch to consult him? Or did that restless religious curiosity, which\nafterwards desired to see Jesus, lead Herod to consult his forerunner? The\nabrupt words of John are not unlike an answer to some feeble question of\ncasuistry, some plea of extenuating circumstances such as all can urge in\nmitigation of their worst deeds. He simply and boldly states the\ninflexible ordinance of God: It is not lawful for thee to have her.\n\nWhat follows may teach us much.\n\n1. It warns us that good inclinations, veneration for holiness in others,\nand ineffectual struggles against our own vices, do not guarantee\nsalvation. He who feels them is not God-forsaken, since every such emotion\nis a grace. But he must not infer that he never may be forsaken, or that\nbecause he is not wholly indifferent or disobedient, God will some day\nmake him all that his better moods desire. Such a man should be warned by\nHerod Antipas. Ruggedly and abruptly rebuked, his soul recognised and did\nhomage to the truthfulness of his teacher. Admiration replaced the anger\nin which he cast him into prison. As he stood between him and the\nrelentless Herodias, and \u201ckept him safely,\u201d he perhaps believed that the\ngloomy dungeon, and the utter interruption of a great career, were only\nfor the Baptist\u2019s preservation. Alas, there was another cause. He was\n\u201cmuch perplexed\u201d: he dared not provoke his temptress by releasing the man\nof God. And thus temporizing, and daily weakening the voice of conscience\nby disobedience, he was lost.\n\n2. It is distinctly a bad omen that he \u201cheard him gladly,\u201d since he had no\nclaim to well-founded religious happiness. Our Lord had already observed\nthe shallowness of men who immediately with joy receive the word, yet have\nno root. But this guilty man, disquieted by the reproaches of memory and\nthe demands of conscience, found it a relief to hear stern truth, and to\nsee from far the beauteous light of righteousness. He would not reform his\nlife, but he would fain keep his sensibilities alive. It was so that\nItalian brigands used to maintain a priest. And it is so that fraudulent\nBritish tradesmen too frequently pass for religious men. People cry shame\non their hypocrisy. Yet perhaps they less often wear a mask to deceive\nothers than a cloke to keep their own hearts warm, and should not be\nquoted to prove that religion is a deceit, but as witnesses that even the\nmost worldly soul craves as much of it as he can assimilate. So it was\nwith Herod Antipas.\n\n3. But no man can serve two masters. He who refuses the command of God to\nchoose whom he will serve, in calmness and meditation, when the means of\ngrace and the guidance of the Spirit are with him, shall hear some day the\nvoice of the Tempter, derisive and triumphant, amid evil companions, when\nflushed with guilty excitements and with sensual desires, and deeply\ncommitted by rash words and \u201chonour rooted in dishonour,\u201d bidding him\nchoose now, and choose finally. Salome will tolerate neither weak\nhesitation nor half measures; she must herself possess \u201cforthwith\u201d the\nhead of her mother\u2019s foe, which is worth more than half the kingdom, since\nhis influence might rob them of it all. And the king was exceeding sorry,\nbut chose to be a murderer rather than be taken for a perjurer by the bad\ncompanions who sat with him. What a picture of a craven soul, enslaved\neven in the purple. And of the meshes for his own feet which that man\nweaves, who gathers around him such friends that their influence will\nsurely mislead his lonely soul in its future struggles to be virtuous.\nWhat a lurid light does this passage throw upon another and a worse scene,\nwhen we meet Herod again, not without the tyrannous influence of his men\nof war.\n\n4. We learn the mysterious interconnection of sin with sin. Vicious luxury\nand self-indulgence, the plastic feebleness of character which half yields\nto John, yet cannot break with Herodias altogether, these do not seem\nlikely to end in murder. They have scarcely strength enough, we feel, for\na great crime. Alas, they have feebleness enough for it, for he who joins\nin the dance of the graces may give his hand to the furies unawares.\nNothing formidable is to be seen in Herod, up to the fatal moment when\nrevelry, and the influence of his associates, and the graceful dancing of\na woman whose beauty was pitiless, urged him irresistibly forward to bathe\nhis shrinking hands in blood. And from this time forward he is a lost man.\nWhen a greater than John is reported to be working miracles, he has a wild\nexplanation for the new portent, and his agitation is betrayed in his\nbroken words, \u201cJohn, whom I beheaded, he is risen.\u201d \u201cFor\u201d St. Mark adds\nwith quiet but grave significance, \u201cHerod himself had sent forth and laid\nhold upon John, and bound him.\u201d Others might speak of a mere teacher, but\nthe conscience of Herod will not suffer it to be so; it is his victim; he\nhas learnt the secret of eternity; \u201cand therefore do these powers work in\nhim.\u201d Yet Herod was a Sadducee.\n\n5. These words are dramatic enough to prove themselves; it would have\ntasked Shakespere to invent them. But they involve the ascription from the\nfirst of unearthly powers to Jesus, and they disprove, what sceptics would\nfain persuade us, that miracles were inevitably ascribed, by the credulity\nof the age, to all great teachers, since John wrought none, and the\nastonishing theory that he had graduated in another world, was invented by\nHerod to account for those of Jesus. How inevitable it was that such a man\nshould set at nought our Lord. Dread, and moral repulsion, and the\nsuspicion that he himself was the mark against which all the powers of the\navenger would be directed, these would not produce a mood in which to\ncomprehend One who did not strive nor cry. To them it was a supreme relief\nto be able to despise Christ.\n\nElsewhere we can trace the gradual cessation of the alarm of Herod. At\nfirst he dreads the presence of the new Teacher, and yet dares not assail\nHim openly. And so, when Jesus was advised to go thence or Herod would\nkill Him, He at once knew who had instigated the crafty monition, and sent\nback his defiance to that fox. But even fear quickly dies in a callous\nheart, and only curiosity survives. Herod is soon glad to see Jesus, and\nhopes that He may work a miracle. For religious curiosity and the love of\nspiritual excitement often survive grace, just as the love of stimulants\nsurvives the healthy appetite for bread. But our Lord, Who explained so\nmuch for Pilate, spoke not a word to him. And the wretch, whom once the\nforerunner had all but won, now set the Christ Himself at nought, and\nmocked Him, So yet does the God of this world blind the eyes of the\nunbelieving. So great are still the dangers of hesitation, since not to be\nfor Christ is to be against Him.\n\n6. But the blood of the martyr was not shed before his work was done. As\nthe falling blossom admits the sunshine to the fruit, so the herald died\nwhen his influence might have clashed with the growing influence of his\nLord, Whom the Twelve were at last trained to proclaim far and wide. At a\nstroke, his best followers were naturally transferred to Jesus, Whose way\nhe had prepared. Rightly, therefore, has St. Mark placed the narrative at\nthis juncture, and very significantly does St. Matthew relate that his\ndisciples, when they had buried him, \u201ccame and told Jesus.\u201d\n\nUpon the path of our Lord Himself this violent death fell as a heavy\nshadow. Nor was He unconscious of its menace, for after the\ntransfiguration He distinctly connected with a prediction of His own\ndeath, the fact that they had done to Elias also whatsoever they listed.\nSuch connections of thought help us to realise the truth, that not once\nonly, but throughout His ministry, He Who bids us bear our cross while we\nfollow Him, was consciously bearing His own. We must not limit to \u201cthree\ndays\u201d the sorrows which redeemed the world.\n\n\n\n\nBread In The Desert.\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 awhile. 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. And _the people_ saw\n    them going, and many knew _them_, and they ran there together on\n    foot from all the cities, and outwent them. And He came forth and\n    saw a great multitude, and He had compassion on them, because they\n    were as sheep not having a shepherd: and He began to teach them\n    many things. And when the day was now far spent, His disciples\n    came onto Him, and said, The place is desert, and the day is now\n    far spent: send them away, that they may go into the country and\n    villages round about, and buy themselves somewhat to eat. But He\n    answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say\n    unto Him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and\n    give them to eat? And He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye?\n    go _and_ see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes.\n    And He commanded them that all should sit down by companies upon\n    the green grass. And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by\n    fifties. And He took the five loaves and the two fishes, and\n    looking up to heaven, He blessed, and brake the loaves; and He\n    gave to the disciples to set before them; and the two fishes\n    divided He among them all. And they did all eat, and were filled.\n    And they took up broken pieces, twelve basketfuls, and also of the\n    fishes. And they that ate the loaves were five thousand men. And\n    straightway He constrained His disciples to enter into the boat,\n    and to go before _Him_ unto the other side to Bethsaida, while He\n    Himself sendeth the multitude away. And after He had taken leave\n    of them He departed into the mountain to pray.\u201d\u2014MARK vi. 30-46\n    (R.V.).\n\n\nThe Apostles, now first called by that name, because now first these\n\u201cMessengers\u201d had carried the message of their Lord, returned and told Him\nall, the miracles they had performed, and whatever they had taught. From\nthe latter clause it is plain that to preach \u201cthat men should repent,\u201d\ninvolved arguments, motives, promises, and perhaps threatenings which\nrendered it no meagre announcement. It is in truth a demand which involves\nfree will and responsibility as its basis, and has hell or heaven for the\nresult of disobedience or compliance. Into what controversies may it have\nled these first preachers of Jesus! All was now submitted to the judgment\nof their Master. And happy are they still who do not shrink from the\nhealing pain of bringing all their actions and words to Him, and\nhearkening what the Lord will speak.\n\nUpon the whole, they brought a record of success, and around Him also were\nso many coming and going that they had no leisure so much as to eat.\nWhereupon Jesus draws them aside to rest awhile. For the balance must\nnever be forgotten between the outer and the inner life. The Lord Himself\nspent the following night in prayer, until He saw the distress of His\ndisciples, and came to them upon the waves. And the time was at hand when\nthey, who now rejoiced that the devils were subject unto them, should\nlearn by sore humiliation and defeat that this kind goeth not forth except\nby prayer. We may be certain that it was not bodily repose alone that\nJesus desired for his flushed and excited ambassadors, in the hour of\ntheir success. And yet bodily repose also at such a time is healing, and\nin the very pause, the silence, the cessation of the rush, pressure, and\nexcitement of every conspicuous career, there is an opportunity and even a\nsuggestion of calm and humble recollection of the soul. Accordingly they\ncrossed in the boat to some quiet spot, open and unreclaimed, but very far\nfrom such dreariness as the mention of a desert suggests to us. But the\npeople saw Him, and watched His course, while outrunning him along the\ncoast, and their numbers were augmented from every town as they poured\nthrough it, until He came forth and saw a great multitude, and knew that\nHis quest of solitude was baffled. Few things are more trying than the\nworld\u2019s remorseless intrusion upon one\u2019s privacy, and subversions of plans\nwhich one has laid, not for himself alone. But Jesus was as thoughtful for\nthe multitude as He had just shown Himself to be for His disciples. Not to\npetulance but to compassion did their urgency excite Him; for as they\nstreamed across the wilderness, far from believing upon Him, but yet\nconscious of sore need, unsatisfied with the doctrine of their\nprofessional teachers, and just bereaved of the Baptist, they seemed in\nthe desert like sheep that had no shepherd. And He patiently taught them\nmany things.\n\nNor was He careful only for their souls. We have now reached that\nremarkable miracle which alone is related by all the four Evangelists. And\nthe narratives, while each has its individual and peculiar points,\ncorroborate each other very strikingly. All four mention the same kind of\nbasket, quite different from what appears in the feeding of the four\nthousand. St. John alone tells us that it was the season of the Passover,\nthe middle of the Galilean spring-time; but yet this agrees exactly with\nSt. Mark\u2019s allusion to the \u201cgreen grass\u201d which summer has not yet dried\nup. All four have recorded that Jesus \u201cblessed\u201d or \u201cgave thanks,\u201d and\nthree of them that He looked up to heaven while doing so. What was there\nso remarkable, so intense or pathetic in His expression, that it should\nhave won this three-fold celebration? If we remember the symbolical\nmeaning of what He did, and that as His hands were laid upon the bread\nwhich He would break, so His own body should soon be broken for the relief\nof the hunger of the world, how can we doubt that absolute self-devotion,\ninfinite love, and pathetic resignation were in that wonderful look, which\nnever could be forgotten?\n\nThere could have been but few women and children among the multitudes who\n\u201coutran Jesus,\u201d and these few would certainly have been trodden down if a\nrush of strong and hungry men for bread had taken place. Therefore St.\nJohn mentions that while Jesus bade \u201cthe people\u201d to be seated, it was the\nmen who were actually arranged (vi. 10 R.V.). Groups of fifty were easy to\nkeep in order, and a hundred of these were easily counted. And thus it\ncomes to pass that we know that there were five thousand men, while the\nwomen and children remained unreckoned, as St. Matthew asserts, and St.\nMark implies. This is a kind of harmony which we do not find in two\nversions of any legend. Nor could any legendary impulse have imagined the\nremarkable injunction, which impressed all four Evangelists, to be frugal\nwhen it would seem that the utmost lavishness was pardonable. They were\nnot indeed bidden to gather up fragments left behind upon the ground, for\nthrift is not meanness; but the \u201cbroken pieces\u201d which our Lord had\nprovided over and above should not be lost. \u201cThis union of economy with\ncreative power,\u201d said Olshausen, \u201ccould never have been invented, and yet\nNature, that mirror of the Divine perfections, exhibits the same\ncombination of boundless munificence with truest frugality.\u201d And Godet\nadds the excellent remark, that \u201ca gift so obtained was not to be\nsquandered.\u201d\n\nThere is one apparent discord to set against these remarkable harmonies,\nand it will at least serve to show that they are not calculated and\nartificial.\n\nSt. John represents Jesus as the first to ask Philip, Whence are we to buy\nbread? whereas the others represent the Twelve as urging upon Him the need\nto dismiss the multitude, at so late an hour, from a place so ill\nprovided. The inconsistency is only an apparent one. It was early in the\nday, and upon \u201cseeing a great company come unto Him,\u201d that Jesus\nquestioned Philip, who might have remembered an Old Testament precedent,\nwhen Elisha said \u201cGive unto the people that they may eat. And his servitor\nsaid, What? shall I set this before an hundred men? He said, again, they\nshall both eat and shall also leave thereof.\u201d But the faith of Philip did\nnot respond, and if any hope of a miracle were excited, it faded as time\npassed over. Hours later, when the day was far spent, the Twelve, now\nperhaps excited by Philip\u2019s misgiving, and repeating his calculation about\nthe two hundred pence, urge Jesus to dismiss the multitude. They took no\naction until \u201cthe time was already past,\u201d but Jesus saw the end from the\nbeginning. And surely the issue taught them not to distrust their Master\u2019s\npower. Now the same power is for ever with the Church; and our heavenly\nFather knoweth that we have need of food and raiment.\n\nEven in the working of a miracle, the scantiest means vouchsafed by\nProvidence are not despised. Jesus takes the barley-loaves and the fishes,\nand so teaches all men that true faith is remote indeed from the\nfanaticism which neglects any resources brought within the reach of our\nstudy and our toil. And to show how really these materials were employed,\nthe broken pieces which they gathered are expressly said to have been\ncomposed of the barley-loaves and of the fish.\n\nIndeed it must be remarked that in no miracle of the Gospel did Jesus\nactually create. He makes no new members of the body, but restores old\nuseless ones. \u201cAnd so, without a substratum to work upon He creates\nneither bread nor wine.\u201d To do this would not have been a whit more\ndifficult, but it would have expressed less aptly His mission, which was\nnot to create a new system of things, but to renew the old, to recover the\nlost sheep, and to heal the sick at heart.\n\nEvery circumstance of this miracle is precious. That vigilant care for the\nweak which made the people sit down in groups, and await their turn to be\nsupplied, is a fine example of the practical eye for details which was\nnever, before or since, so perfectly united with profound thought, insight\ninto the mind of God and the wants of the human race.\n\nThe words, Give ye them to eat, may serve as an eternal rebuke to the\nhelplessness of the Church, face to face with a starving world, and\nregarding her own scanty resources with dismay. In the presence of\nheathenism, of dissolute cities, and of semi-pagan peasantries, she is\never looking wistfully to some costly far-off supply. And her Master is\never bidding her believe that the few loaves and fishes in her hand, if\nblessed and distributed by Him, will satisfy the famine of mankind.\n\nFor in truth He is Himself this bread. All that the Gospel of St. John\nexplains, underlies the narratives of the four. And shame on us, with\nChrist given to us to feed and strengthen us, if we think our resources\nscanty, if we grudge to share them with mankind, if we let our thoughts\nwander away to the various palliatives for human misery and salves for\nhuman anguish, which from time to time gain the credence of an hour; if we\nsend the hungry to the country and villages round about, when Christ the\ndispenser of the Bread of souls, for ever present in His Church, is\nsaying, They need not depart, give ye them to eat.\n\nThe sceptical explanations of this narrative are exquisitely ludicrous.\nOne tells us how, finding themselves in a desert, \u201cthanks to their extreme\nfrugality they were able to exist, and this was naturally\u201d (what,\nnaturally?) \u201cregarded as a miracle.\u201d This is called the legendary\nexplanation, and every one can judge for himself how much it succeeds in\nexplaining to him.\n\nAnother tells us that Jesus being greater than Moses, it was felt that He\nmust have outstripped him in miraculous power. And so the belief grew up\nthat as Moses fed a nation during forty years, with angels\u2019 food, He, to\nexceed this, must have bestowed upon five thousand men one meal of barley\nbread.\n\nThis is called the mythical explanation, and the credulity which accepts\nit must not despise Christians, who only believe their Bibles.\n\nJesus had called away His followers to rest. The multitude which beheld\nthis miracle was full of passionate hate against the tyrant, upon whose\nhands the blood of the Baptist was still warm. All they wanted was a\nleader. And now they would fain have taken Jesus by force to thrust this\nperilous honour upon Him. Therefore He sent away His disciples first, that\nambition and hope might not agitate and secularise their minds; and when\nHe had dismissed the multitude He Himself ascended the neighbouring\nmountain, to cool His frame with the pure breezes, and to refresh His Holy\nSpirit by communion with His Father. Prayer was natural to Jesus; but\nthink how much more needful is it to us. And yet perhaps we have never\ntaken one hour from sleep for God.\n\n\n\n\nJesus Walking On The Water.\n\n\nMARK vi. 47-52 (R.V.).\n\n(See iv. 36, pp. 133-140.)\n\n\n\n\nUnwashen Hands.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd when they had crossed over, they came to the land unto\n    Gennesaret, and moored to the shore.... Making void the word of\n    God by your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like\n    things ye do.\u201d\u2014MARK vi. 53-vii. 13 (R.V.).\n\n\nThere is a condition of mind which readily accepts the temporal blessings\nof religion, and yet neglects, and perhaps despises, the spiritual truths\nwhich they ratify and seal. When Jesus landed on Gennesaret, He was\nstraightway known, and as He passed through the district, there was hasty\nbearing of all the sick to meet Him, laying them in public places, and\nbeseeching Him that they might touch, if no more, the border of His\ngarment. By the faith which believed in so easy a cure, a timid woman had\nrecently won signal commendation. But the very fact that her cure had\nbecome public, while it accounts for the action of these crowds, deprives\nit of any special merit. We only read that as many as touched Him were\nmade whole. And we know that just now He was forsaken by many even of His\ndisciples, and had to ask His very apostles, Will ye also go away?\n\nThus we find these two conflicting movements: among the sick and their\nfriends a profound persuasion that He can heal them; and among those whom\nHe would fain teach, resentment and revolt against His doctrine. The\ncombination is strange, but we dare not call it unfamiliar. We see the\nopposing tendencies even in the same man, for sorrow and pain drive to His\nknees many a one who will not take upon His neck the easy yoke. Yet how\nabsurd it is to believe in Christ\u2019s goodness and His power, and still to\ndare to sin against Him, still to reject the inevitable inference that His\nteaching must bring bliss. Men ought to ask themselves what is involved\nwhen they pray to Christ and yet refuse to serve Him.\n\nAs Jesus moved thus around the district, and responded so amply to their\nsupplication that His very raiment was charged with health as if with\nelectricity, which leaps out at a touch, what an effect He must have\nproduced, even upon the ceremonial purity of the district. Sickness meant\ndefilement, not for the sufferer alone, but for his friends, his nurse,\nand the bearers of his little pallet. By the recovery of one sick man, a\nfountain of Levitical pollution was dried up. And the harsh and rigid\nlegalist ought to have perceived that from his own point of view the\npilgrimage of Jesus was like the breath of spring upon a garden, to\nrestore its freshness and bloom.\n\nIt was therefore an act of portentous waywardness when, at this juncture,\na complaint was made of His indifference to ceremonial cleanness. For of\ncourse a charge against His disciples was really a complaint against the\ninfluence which guided them so ill.\n\nIt was not a disinterested complaint. Jerusalem was alarmed at the new\nmovement resulting from the mission of the Twelve, their miracles, and the\nmighty works which He Himself had lately wrought. And a deputation of\nPharisees and scribes came from this centre of ecclesiastical prejudice,\nto bring Him to account. They do not assail His doctrine, nor charge Him\nwith violating the law itself, for He had put to shame their querulous\ncomplaints about the sabbath day. But tradition was altogether upon their\nside: it was a weapon ready sharpened for their use against one so free,\nunconventional and fearless.\n\nThe law had imposed certain restrictions upon the chosen race,\nrestrictions which were admirably sanitary in their nature, while aiming\nalso at preserving the isolation of Israel from the corrupt and foul\nnations which lay around. All such restrictions were now about to pass\naway, because religion was to become aggressive, it was henceforth to\ninvade the nations from whose inroads it had heretofore sought a convert.\nBut the Pharisees had not been content even with the severe restrictions\nof the law. They had not regarded these as a fence for themselves against\nspiritual impurity, but as an elaborate and artificial substitute for love\nand trust. And therefore, as love and spiritual religion faded out of\ntheir hearts, they were the more jealous and sensitive about the letter of\nthe law. They \u201cfenced\u201d it with elaborate rules, and precautions against\naccidental transgressions, superstitiously dreading an involuntary\ninfraction of its minutest details. Certain substances were unclean food.\nBut who could tell whether some atom of such substance, blown about in the\ndust of summer, might adhere to the hand with which he ate, or to the cups\nand pots whence his food was drawn? Moreover, the Gentile nations were\nunclean, and it was not possible to avoid all contact with them in the\nmarket-places, returning whence, therefore, every devout Jew was careful\nto wash himself, which washing, though certainly not an immersion, is here\nplainly called a baptism. Thus an elaborate system of ceremonial washing,\nnot for cleansing, but as a religious precaution, had grown up among the\nJews.\n\nBut the disciples of Jesus had begun to learn their emancipation. Deeper\nand more spiritual conceptions of God and man and duty had grown up in\nthem. And the Pharisees saw that they ate their bread with unwashen hands.\nIt availed nothing that half a population owed purity and health to their\nDivine benevolence, if in the process the letter of a tradition were\ninfringed. It was necessary to expostulate with Jesus, because they walked\nnot according to the tradition of the elders, that dried skin of an old\northodoxy in which prescription and routine would ever fain shut up the\nseething enthusiasms and insights of the present time.\n\nWith such attempts to restrict and cramp the free life of the soul, Jesus\ncould have no sympathy. He knew well that an exaggerated trust in any\nform, any routine or ritual whatever, was due to the need of some stay and\nsupport for hearts which have ceased to trust in a Father of souls. But He\nchose to leave them without excuse by showing their transgression of\nactual precepts which real reverence for God would have respected. Like\nbooks of etiquette for people who have not the instincts of gentlemen; so\ndo ceremonial religions spring up where the instinct of respect for the\nwill of God is dull or dead. Accordingly Jesus quotes against these\nPharisees a distinct precept, a word not of their fathers, but of God,\nwhich their tradition had caused them to trample upon. If any genuine\nreverence for His commandment had survived, it would have been outraged by\nsuch a collision between the text and the gloss, the precept and the\nprecautionary supplement. But they had never felt the incongruity, never\nbeen jealous enough for the commandment of God to revolt against the\nencroaching tradition which insulted it. The case which Jesus gave, only\nas one of \u201cmany such like things,\u201d was an abuse of the system of vows, and\nof dedicated property. It would seem that from the custom of \u201cdevoting\u201d a\nman\u2019s property, and thus putting it beyond his further control, had grown\nup the abuse of consecrating it with such limitations, that it should\nstill be available for the owner, but out of his power to give to others.\nAnd thus, by a spell as abject as the taboo of the South Sea islanders, a\nman glorified God by refusing help to his father and mother, without being\nat all the poorer for the so-called consecration of his means. And even if\nhe awoke up to the shameful nature of his deed, it was too late, for \u201cye\nno longer suffer him to do ought for his father of his mother.\u201d And yet\nMoses had made it a capital offence to \u201cspeak evil of father or mother.\u201d\nDid they then allow such slanders? Not at all, and so they would have\nrefused to confess any aptness in the quotation. But Jesus was not\nthinking of the letter of a precept, but of the spirit and tendency of a\nreligion, to which they were blind. With what scorn He regarded their\nmiserable subterfuges, is seen by His vigorous word, \u201cfull well do ye make\nvoid the commandment of God that ye may keep your traditions.\u201d\n\nNow the root of all this evil was unreality. It was not merely because\ntheir heart was far from God that they invented hollow formalisms;\nindifference leads to neglect, not to a perverted and fastidious\nearnestness. But while their hearts were earthly, they had learned to\nhonour God with their lips. The judgments which had sent their fathers\ninto exile, the pride of their unique position among the nations, and the\nself-interest of privileged classes, all forbade them to neglect the\nworship in which they had no joy, and which, therefore, they were unable\nto follow as it reached out into infinity, panting after God, a living\nGod. There was no principle of life, growth, aspiration, in their dull\nobedience. And what could it turn into but a routine, a ritual, a verbal\nhomage, and the honour of the lips only? And how could such a worship fail\nto shelter itself in evasions from the heart-searching earnestness of a\nlaw which was spiritual, while the worshipper was carnal and sold under\nsin?\n\nIt was inevitable that collisions should arise. And the same results will\nalways follow the same causes. Wherever men bow the knee for the sake of\nrespectability, or because they dare not absent themselves from the\noutward haunts of piety, yet fail to love God and their neighbour, there\nwill the form outrage the spirit, and in vain will they worship, teaching\nas their doctrines the traditions of men.\n\nVery completely indeed was the relative position of Jesus and His critics\nreversed, since they had expressed pain at the fruitless effort of His\nmother to speak with Him, and He had seemed to set the meanest disciple\nupon a level with her. But He never really denied the voice of nature, and\nthey never really heard it. An affectation of respect would have satisfied\ntheir heartless formality: He thought it the highest reward of\ndiscipleship to share the warmth of His love. And therefore, in due time,\nit was seen that His critics were all unconscious of the wickedness of\nfilial neglect which set His heart on fire.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\n\n\n\nThings Which Defile.\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. And when He\n    was entered into the house from the multitude, His disciples asked\n    of Him the parable. And He saith unto them, Are ye so without\n    understanding also? Perceive ye not, that whatsoever from without\n    goeth into the man, _it_ cannot defile him; because it goeth not\n    into his heart, but into his belly, and goeth out into the\n    draught? _This He said_, making all meats clean. And He said, That\n    which proceeded out of the man, that defileth the man. For from\n    within, out of the heart of men, evil thoughts proceed,\n    fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, covetings,\n    wickednesses, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, railing, pride,\n    foolishness: all these evil things proceed from within, and defile\n    the man.\u201d\u2014MARK vii. 14-23 (R.V.).\n\n\nWhen Jesus had exposed the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, He took a bold and\nsignificant step. Calling the multitude to Him, He publicly announced that\nno diet can really pollute the soul; only its own actions and desires can\ndo that: not that which entereth into the man can defile him, but the\nthings which proceed out of the man.\n\nHe does not as yet proclaim the abolition of the law, but He surely\ndeclares that it is only temporary, because it is conventional, not rooted\nin the eternal distinctions between right and wrong, but artificial. And\nHe shows that its time is short indeed, by charging the multitude to\nunderstand how limited is its reach, how poor are its effects.\n\nSuch teaching, addressed with marked emphasis to the public, the masses,\nwhom the Pharisees despised as ignorant of the law, and cursed, was a\ndefiance indeed. And the natural consequence was an opposition so fierce\nthat He was driven to betake Himself, for the only time, and like Elijah\nin his extremity, to a Gentile land. And yet there was abundant evidence\nin the Old Testament itself that the precepts of the law were not the life\nof souls. David ate the shewbread. The priests profaned the sabbath.\nIsaiah spiritualized fasting. Zechariah foretold the consecration of the\nPhilistines. Whenever the spiritual energies of the ancient saints\nreceived a fresh access, they were seen to strive against and shake off\nsome of the trammels of a literal and servile legalism. The doctrine of\nJesus explained and justified what already was felt by the foremost\nspirits in Israel.\n\nWhen they were alone, \u201cthe disciples asked of Him the parable,\u201d that is,\nin other words, the saying which they felt to be deeper than they\nunderstood, and full of far-reaching issues. But Jesus rebuked them for\nnot understanding what uncleanness really meant. For Him, defilement was\nbadness, a condition of the soul. And therefore meats could not defile a\nman, because they did not reach the heart, but only the bodily organs. In\nso doing, as St. Mark plainly adds, He made all meats clean, and thus\npronounced the doom of Judaism, and the new dispensation of the Spirit. In\ntruth, St. Paul did little more than expand this memorable saying.\n\u201cNothing that goeth into a man can defile him,\u201d here is the germ of all\nthe decision about idol meats\u2014\u201cneither if \u2018one\u2019 eat is he the better,\nneither if he eat not is he the worse.\u201d \u201cThe things which proceed out of\nthe man are those which defile the man,\u201d here is the germ of all the\ndemonstration that love fulfils the law; and that our true need is to be\nrenewed inwardly, so that we may bring forth fruit unto God.\n\nBut the true pollution of the man comes from within; and the life is\nstained because the heart is impure. For from within, out of the heart of\nmen, evil thoughts proceed, like the uncharitable and bitter judgments of\nHis accusers\u2014and thence come also the sensual indulgences which men\nascribe to the flesh, but which depraved imaginations excite, and love of\nGod and their neighbour would restrain\u2014and thence are the sins of violence\nwhich men excuse by pleading sudden provocation, whereas the spark led to\na conflagration only because the heart was a dry fuel\u2014and thence, plainly\nenough, come deceit and railing, pride and folly.\n\nIt is a hard saying, but our conscience acknowledges the truth of it. We\nare not the toy of circumstances, but such as we have made ourselves; and\nour lives would have been pure if the stream had flowed from a pure\nfountain. However modern sentiment may rejoice in highly coloured pictures\nof the noble profligate and his pure minded and elegant victim; of the\nbrigand or the border ruffian full of kindness, with a heart as gentle as\nhis hands are red; and however true we may feel it to be that the worst\nheart may never have betrayed itself by the worst actions, but many that\nare first shall be last, it still continues to be the fact, and undeniable\nwhen we do not sophisticate our judgment, that \u201call these evil things\nproceed from within.\u201d\n\nIt is also true that they \u201cfurther defile the man.\u201d The corruption which\nalready existed in the heart is made worse by passing into action; shame\nand fear are weakened; the will is confirmed in evil; a gap is opened or\nwidened between the man who commits a new sin, and the virtue on which he\nhas turned his back. Few, alas! are ignorant of the defiling power of a\nbad action, or even of a sinful thought deliberately harboured, and the\nharbouring of which is really an action, a decision of the will.\n\nThis word which makes all meats clean, ought for ever to decide the\nquestion whether certain drinks are in the abstract unlawful for a\nChristian.\n\nWe must remember that it leaves untouched the question, what restrictions\nmay be necessary for men who have depraved and debased their own\nappetites, until innocent indulgence _does_ reach the heart and pervert\nit. Hand and foot are innocent, but men there are who cannot enter into\nlife otherwise than halt or maimed. Also it leaves untouched the question,\nas long as such men exist, how far may I be privileged to share and so to\nlighten the burden imposed on them by past transgressions? It is surely a\nnoble sign of religious life in our day, that many thousands can say, as\nthe Apostle said, of innocent joys, \u201cHave we not a right? ... Nevertheless\nwe did not use this right, but we bear all things, that we may cause no\nhindrance to the gospel of Christ.\u201d\n\nNevertheless the rule is absolute: \u201cWhatsoever from without goeth into the\nman, it cannot defile him.\u201d And the Church of Christ is bound to maintain,\nuncompromised and absolute, the liberty of Christian souls.\n\nLet us not fail to contrast such teaching as this of Jesus with that of\nour modern materialism.\n\n\u201cThe value of meat and drink is perfectly transcendental,\u201d says one. \u201cMan\nis what he eats,\u201d says another. But it is enough to make us tremble, to\nask what will issue from such teaching if it ever grasps firmly the mind\nof a single generation. What will become of honesty, when the value of\nwhat may be had by theft is transcendental? How shall armies be persuaded\nto suffer hardness, and populations to famish within beleaguered walls,\nwhen they learn that \u201cman is what he eats,\u201d so that his very essence is\nvisibly enfeebled, his personality starved out, as he grows pale and\nwasted underneath his country\u2019s flag? In vain shall such a generation\nstrive to keep alive the flame of generous self-devotion. Self-devotion\nseemed to their fathers to be the noblest attainment; to them it can be\nonly a worn-out form of speech to say that the soul can overcome the\nflesh. For to them the man is the flesh; he is the resultant of his\nnourishment; what enters into the mouth makes his character, for it makes\nhim all.\n\nThere is that within us all which knows better; which sets against the\naphorism, \u201cMan is what he eats;\u201d the text \u201cAs a man thinketh in his heart\nso is he;\u201d which will always spurn the doctrine of the brute, when it is\nboldly confronted with the doctrine of the Crucified.\n\n\n\n\nThe Children And The Dogs.\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. But straightway a woman, whose little\n    daughter had an unclean spirit, having heard of Him, came and fell\n    down at His feet. Now the woman was a Greek, a Syroph\u0153nician by\n    race. And she besought Him that He would cast forth the devil out\n    of her daughter. And He said unto her, Let the children first be\n    filled: for it is not meet to take the children\u2019s bread and cast\n    it to the dogs. But she answered and saith unto Him, Yea, Lord:\n    even the dogs under the table eat of the children\u2019s crumbs. And He\n    said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out\n    of thy daughter. And she went away unto her house, and found the\n    child laid upon the bed, and the devil gone out.\u201d\u2014MARK vii. 24-30\n    (R.V.).\n\n\nThe ingratitude and perverseness of His countrymen have now driven Jesus\ninto retirement \u201con the borders\u201d of heathenism. It it is not clear that He\nhas yet crossed the frontier, and some presumption to the contrary is\nfound in the statement that a woman, drawn by a fame which had long since\ngone throughout all Syria, \u201ccame out of those borders\u201d to reach Him. She\nwas not only \u201ca Greek\u201d (by language or by creed as conjecture may decide,\nthough very probably the word means little more than a Gentile), but even\nof the especially accursed race of Canaan, the reprobate of reprobates.\nAnd yet the prophet Zechariah had foreseen a time when the Philistine also\nshould be a remnant for our God, and as a chieftain in Judah, and when the\nmost stubborn race of all the Canaanites should be absorbed in Israel as\nthoroughly as that which gave Araunah to the kindliest intercourse with\nDavid, for Ekron should be as a Jebusite (ix. 7). But the hour for\nbreaking down the middle wall of partition was not yet fully come. Nor did\nany friend plead for this unhappy woman, that she loved the nation and had\nbuilt a synagogue; nothing as yet lifted her above the dead level of that\npaganism to which Christ, in the days of His flesh and upon earth, had no\ncommission. Even the great champion and apostle of the Gentiles confessed\nthat his Lord was a minister of the circumcision by the grace of God, and\nit was by His ministry to the Jews that the Gentiles were ultimately to be\nwon. We need not be surprised therefore at His silence when she pleaded,\nfor this might well be calculated to elicit some expression of faith,\nsomething to separate her from her fellows, and so enable Him to bless her\nwithout breaking down prematurely all distinctions. Also it must be\nconsidered that nothing could more offend His countrymen than to grant her\nprayer, while as yet it was impossible to hope for any compensating\nharvest among her fellows, such as had been reaped in Samaria. What is\nsurprising is the apparent harshness of expression which follows that\nsilence, when even His disciples are induced to intercede for her. But\ntheirs was only the softness which yields to clamour, as many people give\nalms, not to silent worth but to loud and pertinacious importunity. And\nthey even presumed to throw their own discomfort into the scale, and urge\nas a reason for this intercession, that she crieth after _us_. But Jesus\nwas occupied with His mission, and unwilling to go farther than He was\nsent.\n\nIn her agony she pressed nearer still to Him when He refused, and\nworshipped Him, no longer as the Son of David, since what was Hebrew in\nHis commission made against her; but simply appealed to His compassion,\ncalling Him Lord. The absence of these details from St. Mark\u2019s narrative\nis interesting, and shows the mistake of thinking that his Gospel is\nsimply the most graphic and the fullest. It is such when our Lord Himself\nis in action; its information is derived from one who pondered and told\nall things, not as they were pictorial in themselves, but as they\nillustrated the one great figure of the Son of man. And so the answer of\nJesus is fully given, although it does not appear as if grace were poured\ninto His lips. \u201cLet the children first be filled, for it is not meet to\ntake the children\u2019s bread, and to cast it to the dogs.\u201d It might seem that\nsterner words could scarcely have been spoken, and that His kindness was\nonly for the Jews, who even in their ingratitude were to the best of the\nGentiles as children compared with dogs. Yet she does not contradict Him.\nNeither does she argue back,\u2014for the words \u201cTruth, Lord, but ...\u201d have\nrightly disappeared from the Revised Version, and with them a certain\ncontentious aspect which they give to her reply. On the contrary she\nassents, she accepts all the seeming severity of His view, because her\npenetrating faith has detected its kindly undertone, and the triple\nopportunity which it offers to a quick and confiding intelligence. It is\nindeed touching to reflect how impregnable was Jesus in controversy with\nthe keenest intellects of Judaism, with how sharp a weapon He rent their\nsnares, and retorted their arguments to their confusion, and then to\nobserve Him inviting, tempting, preparing the way for an argument which\nwould lead Him, gladly won, captive to a heathen\u2019s and a woman\u2019s\nimportunate and trustful sagacity. It is the same Divine condescension\nwhich gave to Jacob his new name of Israel because he had striven with God\nand prevailed.\n\nAnd let us reverently ponder the fact that this pagan mother of a\ndemoniacal child, this woman whose name has perished, is the only person\nwho won a dialectical victory in striving with the Wisdom of God; such a\nvictory as a father allows to his eager child, when he raises gentle\nobstacles, and even assumes a transparent mask of harshness, but never\npasses the limit of the trust and love which he is probing.\n\nThe first and most obvious opportunity which He gives to her is\nnevertheless hard to show in English. He might have used an epithet\nsuitable for those fierce creatures which prowl through Eastern streets at\nnight without any master, living upon refuse, a peril even to men who are\nunarmed. But Jesus used a diminutive word, not found elsewhere in the New\nTestament, and quite unsuitable to those fierce beasts, a word \u201cin which\nthe idea of uncleanness gives place to that of dependence, of belonging to\nman and to the family.\u201d No one applies our colloquial epithet \u201cdoggie\u201d to\na fierce or rabid brute. Thus Jesus really domesticated the Gentile world.\nAnd nobly, eagerly, yet very modestly she used this tacit concession, when\nshe repeated His carefully selected word, and inferred from it that her\nplace was not among those vile \u201cdogs\u201d which are \u201cwithout,\u201d but with the\ndomestic dogs, the little dogs underneath the table.\n\nAgain, she observed the promise which lurked under seeming refusal, when\nHe said, \u201cLet the children first be filled,\u201d and so implied that her turn\nshould come, that it was only a question of time. And so she answers that\nsuch dogs as He would make of her and hers do not fast utterly until their\nmealtime after the children have been satisfied; they wait under the\ntable, and some ungrudged fragments reach them there, some \u201ccrumbs.\u201d\n\nMoreover, and perhaps chiefly, the bread she craves need not be torn from\nhungry children. Their Benefactor has had to wander off into concealment,\nthey have let fall, unheeding, not only crumbs, although her noble tact\nexpresses it thus lightly to their countryman, but far more than she\ndivined, even the very Bread of Life. Surely His own illustration has\nadmitted her right to profit by the heedlessness of \u201cthe children.\u201d And He\n_had_ admitted all this: He had meant to be thus overcome. One loves to\nthink of the first flush of hope in that trembling mother\u2019s heavy heart,\nas she discerned His intention and said within herself, \u201cOh, surely I am\nnot mistaken; He does not really refuse at all; He wills that I should\nanswer Him and prevail.\u201d One supposes that she looked up, half afraid to\nutter the great rejoinder, and took courage when she met His questioning\ninviting gaze.\n\nAnd then comes the glad response, no longer spoken coldly and without an\nepithet: \u201cO woman, great is thy faith.\u201d He praises not her adroitness nor\nher humility, but the faith which would not doubt, in that dark hour, that\nlight was behind the cloud; and so He sets no other limit to His reward\nthan the limit of her desires: \u201cBe it unto thee even as thou wilt.\u201d\n\nLet us learn that no case is too desperate for prayer, and perseverance\nwill surely find at last that our Lord delighteth to be gracious. Let us\nbe certain that the brightest and most confiding view of all His dealings\nis the truest, and man, if only he trusts aright, shall live by every word\nthat proceedeth out of the mouth of God.\n\nThus did Jesus declare, in action as in word, the fading out of all\ndistinction between the ceremonially clean and unclean. He crossed the\nlimits of the Holy Land: He found great faith in a daughter of the\naccursed race; and He ratified and acted upon her claim that the bread\nwhich fell neglected from the table of the Jew was not forbidden to the\nhunger of the Gentile. The history of the Acts of the Apostles is already\nhere in spirit.\n\n\n\n\nThe Deaf And Dumb Man.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd again He went out from the borders of Tyre, and came through\n    Sidon unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the borders of\n    Decapolis. And they bring unto Him one that was deaf, and had an\n    impediment in his speech; and they beseech Him to lay His hand\n    upon him. And He took him aside from the multitude privately, and\n    put His fingers into his ears, and He spat, and touched His\n    tongue; and looking up to heaven, He sighed, and saith unto him,\n    Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. And his ears were opened, and the\n    bond of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. And He charged\n    them that they should tell no man: but the more He charged them,\n    so much the more a great deal they published it. And they were\n    beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well:\n    He maketh even the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.\u201d\u2014MARK vii.\n    31-37 (R.V.).\n\n\nThere are curious and significant varieties in the methods by which our\nSaviour healed. We have seen Him, when watched on the sabbath by eager and\nexpectant foes, baffling all their malice by a miracle without a deed, by\nrefusing to cross the line of the most rigid and ceremonial orthodoxy, by\nonly commanding an innocent gesture, Stretch forth thine hand. In sharp\ncontrast with such a miracle is the one which we have now reached. There\nis brought to Him a man who is deaf, and whose speech therefore could not\nhave been more than a babble, since it is by hearing that we learn to\narticulate; but of whom we are plainly told that he suffered from organic\ninability to utter as well as to hear, for he had an impediment in his\nspeech, the string of his tongue needed to be loosed, and Jesus touched\nhis tongue as well as his ears, to heal him.\n\nIt should be observed that no unbelieving theory can explain the change in\nour Lord\u2019s method. Some pretend that all the stories of His miracles grew\nup afterward, from the sense of awe with which He was regarded. How does\nthat agree with effort, sighing, and even gradation in the stages of\nrecovery, following after the most easy, astonishing and instantaneous\ncures? Others believe that the enthusiasm of His teaching and the charm of\nHis presence conveyed healing efficacy to the impressible and the nervous.\nHow does this account for the fact that His earliest miracles were the\nprompt and effortless ones, and as time passes on, He secludes the patient\nand uses agencies, as if the resistance to His power were more\nappreciable? Enthusiasm would gather force with every new success.\n\nAll becomes clear when we accept the Christian doctrine. Jesus came in the\nfulness of the love of God, with both hands filled with gifts. On His part\nthere is no hesitation and no limit. But on the part of man there is\ndoubt, misconception, and at last open hostility. A real chasm is opened\nbetween man and the grace He gives, so that, although not straitened in\nHim, they are straitened in their own affections. Even while they believe\nin Him as a healer, they no longer accept Him as their Lord.\n\nAnd Jesus makes it plain to them that the gift is no longer so easy,\nspontaneous and of public right as formerly. In His own country He could\nnot do many mighty works. And now, returning by indirect routes, and\nprivately, from the heathen shores whither Jewish enmity had driven Him,\nHe will make the multitude feel a kind of exclusion, taking the patient\nfrom among them, as He does again presently in Bethsaida (chap. viii. 23).\nThere is also, in the deliberate act of seclusion and in the means\nemployed, a stimulus for the faith of the sufferer, which would scarcely\nhave been needed a little while before.\n\nThe people were unconscious of any reason why this cure should differ from\nformer ones. And so they besought Jesus to lay His hand on him, the usual\nand natural expression for a conveyance of invisible power. But even if no\nother objection had existed, this action would have meant little to the\ndeaf and dumb man, living in a silent world, and needing to have his faith\naroused by some yet plainer sign. Jesus therefore removes him from the\ncrowd whose curiosity would distract his attention\u2014even as by affliction\nand pain He still isolates each of us at times from the world, shutting us\nup with God.\n\nHe speaks the only language intelligible to such a man, the language of\nsigns, putting His fingers into his ears as if to break a seal, conveying\nthe moisture of His own lip to the silent tongue, as if to impart its\nfaculty, and then, at what should have been the exultant moment of\nconscious and triumphant power, He sighed deeply.\n\nWhat an unexpected revelation of the man rather than the wonder worker.\nHow unlike anything that theological myth or heroic legend would have\ninvented. Perhaps, as Keble sings, He thought of those moral defects for\nwhich, in a responsible universe, no miracle may be wrought, of \u201cthe deaf\nheart, the dumb by choice.\u201d Perhaps, according to Stier\u2019s ingenious guess,\nHe sighed because, in our sinful world, the gift of hearing is so doubtful\na blessing, and the faculty of speech so apt to be perverted. One can\nalmost imagine that no human endowment is ever given by Him Who knows all,\nwithout a touch of sadness. But it is more natural to suppose that He Who\nis touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and Who bare our sickness,\nthought upon the countless miseries of which this was but a specimen, and\nsighed for the perverseness by which the fulness of His compassion was\nbeing restrained. We are reminded by that sigh, however we explain it,\nthat the only triumphs which made Him rejoice in Spirit were very\ndifferent from displays of His physical ascendancy.\n\nIt is interesting to observe that St. Mark, informed by the most ardent\nand impressible of the apostles, by him who reverted, long afterwards, to\nthe voice which he heard in the holy mount, has recorded several of the\nAramaic words which Jesus uttered at memorable junctures. \u201cEphphatha, Be\nopened,\u201d He said, and the bond of his tongue was loosed, and his speech,\nhitherto incoherent, became plain. But the Gospel which tells us the first\nword he heard is silent about what he said. Only we read, and this is\nsuggestive enough, that the command was at once given to him, as well as\nto the bystanders, to keep silent. Not copious speech, but wise restraint,\nis what the tongue needs most to learn. To him, as to so many whom Christ\nhad healed, the injunction came, not to preach without a commission, not\nto suppose that great blessings require loud announcement, or unfit men\nfor lowly and quiet places. Legend would surely have endowed with special\neloquence the lips which Jesus unsealed. He charged them that they should\ntell no man.\n\nIt was a double miracle, and the latent unbelief became clear of the very\nmen who had hoped for some measure of blessing. For they were beyond\nmeasure astonished, saying He doeth all things well, celebrating the power\nwhich restored the hearing and the speech together. Do we blame their\nprevious incredulity? Perhaps we also expect some blessing from our Lord,\nyet fail to bring Him all we have and all we are for blessing. Perhaps we\nshould be astonished beyond measure if we received at the hands of Jesus a\nsanctification that extended to all our powers.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\n\n\n\nThe Four Thousand.\n\n\n    \u201cIn those days, when there was again a great multitude, and they\n    had nothing to eat, He called unto Him His disciples, and saith\n    unto them, I have compassion on the multitude, because they\n    continue with Me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and if I\n    send them away fasting to their home, they will faint in the way;\n    and some of them are come from far. And His disciples answered\n    Him, Whence shall one be able to fill these men with bread here in\n    a desert place? And He asked them, How many loaves have ye? And\n    they said, Seven. And He commandeth the multitude to sit down on\n    the ground: and He took the seven loaves, and having given thanks,\n    He brake, and gave to His disciples, to set before them; and they\n    set them before the multitude. And they had a few small fishes:\n    and having blessed them, He commanded to set these also before\n    them. And they did eat, and were filled: and they took up, of\n    broken pieces that remained over, seven baskets. And they were\n    about four thousand: and He sent them away. And straightway He\n    entered into the boat with His disciples, and came into the parts\n    of Dalmanutha.\u201d\u2014MARK viii. 1-10 (R.V.).\n\n\nWe now come upon a miracle strangely similar to that of the Feeding of the\nFive Thousand. And it is worth while to ask what would have been the\nresult, if the Gospels which contain this narrative had omitted the former\none. Scepticism would have scrutinized every difference between the two,\nregarding them as variations of the same story, to discover traces of the\ngrowth of the myth or legend, and entirely to discredit it. Now however it\nis plain that the events are quite distinct; and we cannot doubt but that\ninformation as full would clear away as completely many a perplexity which\nstill entangles us. Archbishop Trench has well shown that the later\nnarrative cannot have grown out of the earlier, because it has not grown\nat all, but fallen away. A new legend always \u201coutstrips the old, but here\n... the numbers fed are smaller, the supply of food is greater, and the\nfragments that remain are fewer.\u201d The latter point is however doubtful. It\nis likely that the baskets, though fewer, were larger, for in such a one\nSt. Paul was lowered down over the wall of Damascus (Acts ix. 25). In all\nthe Gospels the Greek word for baskets in the former miracle is different\nfrom the latter. And hence arises an interesting coincidence; for when the\ndisciples had gone into a desert place, and there gathered the fragments\ninto wallets, each of them naturally carried one of these, and accordingly\ntwelve were filled. But here they had recourse apparently to the large\nbaskets of persons who sold bread, and the number seven remains\nunaccounted for. Scepticism indeed persuades itself that the whole story\nis to be spiritualized, the twelve baskets answering to the twelve\napostles who distributed the Bread of Life, and the seven to the seven\ndeacons. How came it then that the sorts of baskets are so well\ndiscriminated, that the inferior ministers are represented by the larger\nones, and that the bread is not dealt out from these baskets but gathered\ninto them?\n\nThe second repetition of such a work is a fine proof of that genuine\nkindness of heart, to which a miracle is not merely an evidence, nor\nrendered useless as soon as the power to work it is confessed. Jesus did\nnot shrink from thus repeating Himself, even upon a lower level, because\nHis object was not spectacular but beneficent. He sought not to astonish\nbut to bless.\n\nIt is plain that Jesus strove to lead His disciples, aware of the former\nmiracle, up to the notion of its repetition. With this object He\nmarshalled all the reasons why the people should be relieved. \u201cI have\ncompassion on the multitude, because they continue with Me now three days,\nand have nothing to eat: and if I send them away fasting to their home,\nthey will faint in the way; and some of them are come from far.\u201d It is the\ngrand argument from human necessity to the Divine compassion. It is an\nargument which ought to weigh equally with the Church. For if it is\npromised that \u201cnothing shall be impossible\u201d to faith and prayer, then the\ndeadly wants of debauched cities, of ignorant and brutal peasantries, and\nof heathenisms festering in their corruptions\u2014all these, by their very\nurgency, are vehement appeals instead of the discouragements we take them\nfor. And whenever man is baffled and in need, there he is entitled to fall\nback upon the resources of the Omnipotent.\n\nIt may be that the disciples had some glimmering hope, but they did not\nventure to suggest anything; they only asked, Whence shall one be able to\nfill these men with bread here in a desert place? It is the cry of\nunbelief\u2014_our_ cry, when we look at our resources, and declare our\nhelplessness, and conclude that possibly God may interpose, but otherwise\nnothing can be done. We ought to be the priests of a famishing world (so\nignorant of any relief, so miserable), its interpreters and intercessors,\nfull of hope and energy. But we are content to look at our empty\ntreasuries, and ineffective organizations, and to ask, Whence shall a man\nbe able to fill these men with bread?\n\nThey have ascertained however what resources are forthcoming, and these He\nproceeds to use, first demanding the faith which He will afterwards\nhonour, by bidding the multitudes to sit down. And then His loving heart\nis gratified by relieving the hunger which it pitied, and He promptly\nsends the multitude away, refreshed and competent for their journey.\n\n\n\n\nThe Leaven Of The Pharisees.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with Him,\n    seeking of Him a sign from heaven, tempting Him. And He sighed\n    deeply in His spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek a\n    sign? verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto\n    this generation. And He left them, and again entering into _the\n    boat_ departed to the other side. And they forgot to take bread;\n    and they had not in the boat with them more than one loaf. And He\n    charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the\n    Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. And they reasoned one with\n    another, saying, We have no bread. And Jesus perceiving it saith\n    unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? do ye not yet\n    perceive, neither understand? have ye your heart hardened? Having\n    eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not\n    remember? When I brake the five loaves among the five thousand,\n    how many baskets full of broken pieces took ye up? They said unto\n    Him, Twelve. And when the seven among the four thousand, how many\n    basketfuls of broken pieces took ye up? And they said unto Him,\n    Seven. And He said unto them, Do ye not yet understand?\u201d\u2014MARK\n    viii. 11-21 (R.V.).\n\n\nWhenever a miracle produced a deep and special impression, the Pharisees\nstrove to spoil its effect by some counter-demonstration. By so doing, and\nat least appearing to hold the field, since Jesus always yielded this to\nthem, they encouraged their own faction, and shook the confidence of the\nfeeble and hesitating multitude. At almost every crisis they might have\nbeen crushed by an appeal to the stormy passions of those whom the Lord\nhad blessed. Once He might have been made a king. Again and again His\nenemies were conscious that an imprudent word would suffice to make the\npeople stone them. But that would have spoiled the real work of Jesus more\nthan to retreat before them, now across the lake, or, just before, into\nthe coasts of Tyre and Sidon. Doubtless it was this constant avoidance of\nphysical conflict, this habitual repression of the carnal zeal of His\nsupporters, this refusal to form a party instead of founding a Church,\nwhich renewed incessantly the courage of His often-baffled foes, and led\nHim, by the path of steady ceaseless self-depression, to the cross which\nHe foresaw, even while maintaining His unearthly calm, amid the\ncontradiction of sinners against Himself.\n\nUpon the feeding of the four thousand, they demand of Him a sign from\nheaven. He had wrought for the public no miracle of this peculiar kind.\nAnd yet Moses had gone up, in the sight of all Israel, to commune with God\nin the mount that burned; Samuel had been answered by thunder and rain in\nthe wheat harvest; and Elijah had called down fire both upon his sacrifice\nand also upon two captains and their bands of fifty. Such a miracle was\nnow declared to be the regular authentication of a messenger from God, and\nthe only sign which evil spirits could not counterfeit.\n\nMoreover the demand would specially embarrass Jesus, because He alone was\nnot accustomed to invoke heaven: His miracles were wrought by the exertion\nof His own will. And perhaps the challenge implied some understanding of\nwhat this peculiarity involved, such as Jesus charged them with, when\nputting into their mouth the words, This is the heir, come, let us kill\nHim. Certainly the demand ignored much. Conceding the fact of certain\nmiracles, and yet imposing new conditions of belief, they shut their eyes\nto the unique nature of the works already wrought, the glory as of the\nOnly-begotten of the Father which they displayed. They held that thunder\nand lightning revealed God more certainly than supernatural victories of\ncompassion, tenderness and love. What could be done for moral blindness\nsuch as this? How could any sign be devised which unwilling hearts would\nnot evade? No wonder that hearing this demand, Jesus sighed deeply in His\nspirit. It revealed their utter hardness; it was a snare by which others\nwould be entangled; and for Himself it foretold the cross.\n\nSt. Mark simply tells us that He refused to give them any sign. In St.\nMatthew He justifies this decision by rebuking the moral blindness which\ndemanded it. They had material enough for judgment. The face of the sky\nforetold storm and fair weather, and the process of nature could be\nanticipated without miracles to coerce belief. And thus they should have\ndiscerned the import of the prophecies, the course of history, the signs\nof the times in which they lived, so plainly radiant with Messianic\npromise, so menacing with storm-clouds of vengeance upon sin. The sign was\nrefused moreover to an evil and adulterous generation, as God, in the Old\nTestament, would not be inquired of at all by such a people as this. This\nindignant rejoinder St. Mark has compressed into the words, \u201cThere shall\nno sign be given unto this generation\u201d\u2014this which has proof enough, and\nwhich deserves none. Men there were to whom a sign from heaven was not\nrefused. At His baptism, on the Mount of Transfiguration, and when the\nVoice answered His appeal, \u201cFather, glorify Thy name,\u201d while the multitude\nsaid only that it thundered\u2014at these times His chosen ones received a sign\nfrom heaven. But from those who had not was taken away even that which\nthey seemed to have; and the sign of Jonah availed them not.\n\nOnce more Jesus \u201cleft them\u201d and crossed the lake. The disciples found\nthemselves with but one loaf, approaching a wilder district, where the\nceremonial purity of food could not easily be ascertained. But they had\nalready acted on the principle which Jesus had formally proclaimed, that\nall meats were clean. And therefore it was not too much to expect them to\npenetrate below the letter of the words, \u201cTake heed, beware of the leaven\nof the Pharisees, and the leaven of Herod.\u201d In giving them this enigma to\ndiscover, He acted according to His usage, wrapping the spiritual truth in\nearthly phrases, picturesque and impressive; and He treated them as life\ntreats every one of us, which keeps our responsibility still upon the\nstrain, by presenting new moral problems, fresh questions and trials of\ninsight, for every added attainment which lays our old tasks aside. But\nthey understood Him not. Some new ceremonial appeared to them to be\ndesigned, in which everything would be reversed, and the unclean should be\nthose hypocrites, the strictest observers of the old code. Such a mistake,\nhowever blameworthy, reveals the profound sense of an ever-widening chasm,\nand an expectation of a final and hopeless rupture with the chiefs of\ntheir religion. It prepares us for what is soon to come, the contrast\nbetween the popular belief and theirs, and the selection of a rock on\nwhich a new Church is to be built. In the meantime the dire practical\ninconvenience of this announcement led to hot discussion, because they had\nno bread. And Jesus, perceiving this, remonstrated in a series of\nindignant questions. Personal want should not have disturbed their\njudgment, remembering that twice over He had fed hungry multitudes, and\nloaded them with the surplus of His gift. Their eyes and ears should have\ntaught them that He was indifferent to such distinctions, and His doctrine\ncould never result in a new Judaism. How was it that they did not\nunderstand?\n\nThereupon they perceived that His warning was figurative. He had spoken to\nthem, after feeding the five thousand, of spiritual bread which He would\ngive, even His flesh to be their food. What then could He have meant by\nthe leaven of the Pharisees but the imparting of _their_ religious\ntendencies, their teaching, and their insincerity?\n\nWas there any real danger that these, His chosen ones, should be shaken by\nthe demand for a sign from heaven? Did not Philip presently, when Christ\nspoke of seeing the Father, eagerly cry out that this, if it were granted,\nwould suffice them? In these words he confessed the misgiving which\nhaunted their minds, and the longing for a heavenly sign. And yet the\nessence of the vision of God was in the life and the love which they had\nfailed to know. If they could not see Him in these, He must for ever\nremain invisible to them.\n\nWe too require the same caution. When we long for miracles, neglecting\nthose standing miracles of our faith, the gospel and the Church: when our\nreason is satisfied of a doctrine or a duty, and yet we remain irresolute,\nsighing for the impulse of some rare spiritual enlightenment or\nexcitement, for a revival, or a mission, or an oration to lift us above\nourselves, we are virtually asking to be shown what we already confess, to\nbehold a sign, while we possess the evidence.\n\nAnd the only wisdom of the languid, irresolute will, which postpones\naction in hope that feeling may be deepened, is to pray. It is by the\neffort of communion with the unfelt, but confessed Reality above us, that\nhealthy feeling is to be recovered.\n\n\n\n\nMen As Trees.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd they come unto Bethsaida. And they bring to Him a blind man,\n    and beseech Him to touch him. And He took hold of the blind man by\n    the hand, and brought him out of the village; and when He had spit\n    on his eyes, and laid His hands upon him, He asked him, Seest thou\n    aught? And he looked up, and said, I see men; for I behold _them_\n    as trees, walking. Then again He laid His hands upon his eyes; and\n    he looked stedfastly, and was restored, and saw all things\n    clearly. And He sent him away to his home, saying, Do not even\n    enter into the village.\u201d\u2014MARK viii. 22-26 (R.V.).\n\n\nWhen the disciples arrived at Bethsaida, they were met by the friends of a\nblind man, who besought Him to touch him. And this gave occasion to the\nmost remarkable by far of all the progressive and tentative miracles, in\nwhich means were employed, and the result was gradually reached. The\nreasons for advancing to this cure by progressive stages have been much\ndiscussed. St. Chrysostom and many others have conjectured that the blind\nman had but little faith, since he neither found his own way to Jesus, nor\npleaded his own cause, like Bartim\u00e6us. Others brought him, and interceded\nfor him. This may be so, but since he was clearly a consenting party, we\ncan infer little from details which constitutional timidity would explain,\nor helplessness (for the resources of the blind are very various), or the\nzeal of friends or of paid servants, or the mere eagerness of a crowd,\npushing him forward in desire to see a marvel.\n\nWe cannot expect always to penetrate the motives which varied our\nSaviour\u2019s mode of action; it is enough that we can pretty clearly discern\nsome principles which led to their variety. Many of them, including all\nthe greatest, were wrought without instrumentality and without delay,\nshowing His unrestricted and underived power. Others were gradual, and\nwrought by means. These connected His \u201csigns\u201d with nature and the God of\nnature; and they could be so watched as to silence many a cavil; and they\nexhibited, by the very disproportion of the means, the grandeur of the\nWorker. In this respect the successive stages of a miracle were like the\nsubdivisions by which a skilful architect increases the effect of a\n_fa\u00e7ade_ or an interior. In every case the means employed were such as to\nconnect the result most intimately with the person as well as the will of\nChrist.\n\nIt must be repeated also, that the need of secondary agents shows itself,\nonly as the increasing wilfulness of Israel separates between Christ and\nthe people. It is as if the first rush of generous and spontaneous power\nhad been frozen by the chill of their ingratitude.\n\nJesus again, as when healing the deaf and dumb, withdraws from idle\ncuriosity. And we read, what is very impressive when we remember that any\nof the disciples could have been bidden to lead the blind man, that Jesus\nHimself drew Him by the hand out of the village. What would have been\naffectation in other cases was a graceful courtesy to the blind. And it\nreveals to us the hearty human benignity and condescension of Him Whom to\nsee was to see the Father, that He should have clasped in His helpful hand\nthe hand of a blind suppliant for His grace. Moistening his eyes from His\nown lips, and laying His hands upon him, so as to convey the utmost\nassurance of power actually exerted, He asked, Seest thou aught?\n\nThe answer is very striking: it is such as the knowledge of that day could\nscarcely have imagined; and yet it is in the closest accord with later\nscientific discovery. What we call the act of vision is really a two-fold\nprocess; there is in it the report of the nerves to the brain, and also an\ninference, drawn by the mind, which previous experience has educated to\nunderstand what that report implies. For want of such experience, an\ninfant thinks the moon as near him as the lamp, and reaches out for it.\nAnd when Christian science does its Master\u2019s work by opening the eyes of\nmen who have been born blind, they do not know at first what appearances\nbelong to globes and what to flat and square objects. It is certain that\nevery image conveyed to the brain reaches it upside down, and is corrected\nthere. When Jesus then restored a blind man to the perfect enjoyment of\neffective intelligent vision, He wrought a double miracle; one which\ninstructed the intelligence of the blind man as well as opened his eyes.\nThis was utterly unknown to that age. But the scepticism of our century\nwould complain that to open the eyes was not enough, and that such a\nmiracle would have left the man perplexed; and it would refuse to accept\nnarratives which took no account of this difficulty, but that the cavil is\nanticipated. The miracle now before us refutes it in advance, for it\nrecognises, what no spectator and no early reader of the marvel could have\nunderstood, the middle stage, when sight is gained but is still\nuncomprehended and ineffective. The process is shown as well as the\ncompleted work. Only by their motion could he at first distinguish living\ncreatures from lifeless things of far greater bulk. \u201cHe looked up,\u201d (mark\nthis picturesque detail,) \u201cand said, I see men; for I behold them as\ntrees, walking.\u201d\n\nBut Jesus leaves no unfinished work: \u201cThen again laid He His hands upon\nhis eyes, and he looked stedfastly, and was restored, and saw all things\nclearly.\u201d\n\nIn this narrative there is a deep significance. That vision, forfeited\nuntil grace restores it, by which we look at the things which are not\nseen, is not always quite restored at once. We are conscious of great\nperplexity, obscurity and confusion. But a real work of Christ may have\nbegun amid much that is imperfect, much that is even erroneous. And the\npath of the just is often a haze and twilight at the first, yet is its\nlight real, and one that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.\n\n\n\n\nThe Confession And The Warning.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd Jesus went forth, and His disciples, into the villages of\n    C\u00e6sarea Philippi: and in the way He asked His disciples, saying\n    unto them, Who do men say that I am? And they told Him, saying,\n    John the Baptist: and others, Elijah; but others, One of the\n    prophets. And He asked them, But Who say ye that I am? Peter\n    answereth and saith unto Him, Thou art the Christ. And He charged\n    them that they should tell no man of Him. And He began to teach\n    them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected\n    by the elders, and the chief priests, and the scribes, and be\n    killed, and after three days rise again. And He spake the saying\n    openly.\u201d\u2014MARK viii. 27-32 (R.V.).\n\n\nWe have now reached an important stage in the Gospel narrative, the\ncomparative withdrawal from evangelistic effort, and the preparation of\nthe disciples for an approaching tragedy. We find them in the wild country\nto the north of the Lake of Galilee, and even as far withdrawn as to the\nneighbourhood of the sources of the Jordan. Not without a deliberate\nintention has Jesus led them thither. He wishes them to realise their\nseparation. He will fix upon their consciousness the failure of the world\nto comprehend Him, and give them the opportunity either to acknowledge\nHim, or sink back to the lower level of the crowd.\n\nThis is what interests St. Mark; and it is worthy of notice that he, the\nfriend of Peter, mentions not the special honour bestowed upon him by\nChrist, nor the first utterance of the memorable words \u201cMy Church.\u201d\n\n\u201cWho do men say that I am?\u201d Jesus asked. The answer would tell of\nacceptance or rejection, the success or failure of His ministry, regarded\nin itself, and apart from ultimate issues unknown to mortals. From this\npoint of view it had very plainly failed. At the beginning there was a\nclear hope that this was He that should come, the Son of David, the Holy\nOne of God. But now the pitch of men\u2019s expectation was lowered. Some said,\nJohn the Baptist, risen from the dead, as Herod feared; others spoke of\nElijah, who was to come before the great and notable day of the Lord; in\nthe sadness of His later days some had begun to see a resemblance to\nJeremiah, lamenting the ruin of his nation; and others fancied a\nresemblance to various of the prophets. Beyond this the apostles confessed\nthat men were not known to go. Their enthusiasm had cooled, almost as\nrapidly as in the triumphal procession, where they who blessed both Him,\nand \u201cthe kingdom that cometh,\u201d no sooner felt the chill of contact with\nthe priestly faction, than their confession dwindled into \u201cThis is Jesus,\nthe prophet of Nazareth.\u201d \u201cBut Who say ye that I am?\u201d He added; and it\ndepended on the answer whether or not there should prove to be any solid\nfoundation, any rock, on which to build His Church. Much difference, much\nerror may be tolerated there, but on one subject there must be no\nhesitation. To make Him only a prophet among others, to honour Him even as\nthe first among the teachers of mankind, is to empty His life of its\nmeaning, His death of its efficacy, and His Church of its authority. And\nyet the danger was real, as we may see by the fervent blessing (unrecorded\nin our Gospel) which the right answer won. For it was no longer the bright\nmorning of His career, when all bare Him witness and wondered; the noon\nwas over now, and the evening shadows were heavy and lowering. To confess\nHim then was to have learned what flesh and blood could not reveal.\n\nBut Peter did not hesitate. In answer to the question, \u201cWho say _ye_? Is\nyour judgment like the the world\u2019s?\u201d He does not reply, \u201cWe believe, we\nsay,\u201d but with all the vigour of a mind at rest, \u201cThou art the Christ;\u201d\nthat is not even a subject of discussion: the fact is so.\n\nHere one pauses to admire the spirit of the disciples, so unjustly treated\nin popular exposition because they were but human, because there were\ndangers which could appal them, and because the course of providence was\ndesigned to teach them how weak is the loftiest human virtue.\nNevertheless, they could part company with all they had been taught to\nreverence and with the unanimous opinion of their native land, they could\nwatch the slow fading out of public enthusiasm, and continue faithful,\nbecause they knew and revered the Divine life, and the glory which was\nhidden from the wise and prudent.\n\nThe confession of Peter is variously stated in the Gospels. St. Matthew\nwrote for Jews, familiar with the notion of a merely human Christ, and St.\nLuke for mixed Churches. Therefore the first Gospel gives the explicit\navowal not only of Messiahship, but of divinity; and the third Gospel\nimplies this. \u201cThou art the Christ, the Son of the living God\u201d\u2014\u201cthe Christ\nof God.\u201d But St. Mark wrote for Gentiles, whose first and only notion of\nthe Messiah was derived from Christian sources, and steeped in Christian\nattributes, so that, for their intelligence, all the great avowal was\nimplied in the title itself, Thou art the Christ. Yet it is instructive to\nsee men insisting on the difference, and even exaggerating it, who know\nthat this Gospel opens with an assertion of the Divine sonship of Jesus,\nand whose theory is that its author worked with the Gospel of St. Matthew\nbefore his eyes. How then, or why, do they suppose the confession to have\nbeen weakened?\n\nThis foundation of His Church being secured, His Divine Messiahship being\nconfessed in the face of an unbelieving world, Jesus lost no time in\nleading His apostles forward. They were forbidden to tell any man of Him:\nthe vain hope was to be absolutely suppressed of winning the people to\nconfess their king. The effort would only make it harder for themselves to\naccept that stern truth which they were now to learn, that His matchless\nroyalty was to be won by matchless suffering. Never hitherto had Jesus\nproclaimed this truth, as He now did, in so many words. It had been,\nindeed, the secret spring of many of His sayings; and we ought to mark\nwhat loving ingenuity was lavished upon the task of gradually preparing\nthem for the dread shock of this announcement. The Bridegroom was to be\ntaken away from them, and then they should fast. The temple of His body\nshould be destroyed, and in three days reared again. The blood of all the\nslaughtered prophets was to come upon this generation. It should suffice\nthem when persecuted unto death, that the disciple was as His Master. It\nwas still a plainer intimation when He said, that to follow Him was to\ntake up a cross. His flesh was promised to them for meat and His blood for\ndrink. (Chap. ii. 20; John ii. 19; Luke xi. 50; Matt. x. 21, 25; 38; John\nvi. 54.) Such intimations Jesus had already given them, and doubtless many\na cold shadow, many a dire misgiving had crept over their sunny hopes. But\nthese it had been possible to explain away, and the effort, the attitude\nof mental antagonism thus forced upon them, would make the grief more\nbitter, the gloom more deadly, when Jesus spoke openly the saying,\nthenceforth so frequently repeated, that He must suffer keenly, be\nrejected formally by the chiefs of His creed and nation, and be killed.\nWhen He recurs to the subject (ix. 31), He adds the horror of being\n\u201cdelivered into the hands of men.\u201d In the tenth chapter we find Him\nsetting His face toward the city outside which a prophet could not perish,\nwith such fixed purpose and awful consecration in His bearing that His\nfollowers were amazed and afraid. And then He reveals the complicity of\nthe Gentiles, who shall mock and spit upon and scourge and kill Him.\n\nBut in every case, without exception, He announced that on the third day\nHe should arise again. For neither was He Himself sustained by a sullen\nand stoical submission to the worst, nor did He seek so to instruct His\nfollowers. It was for the joy that was set before Him that He endured the\ncross. And all the faithful who suffer with Him shall also reign together\nwith Him, and are instructed to press toward the mark for the prize of\ntheir high calling. For we are saved by hope.\n\nBut now, contrast with the utmost courage of the martyrs, who braved the\nworst, when it emerged at the last suddenly from the veil which mercifully\nhides our future, and which hope can always gild with starry pictures,\nthis courage that looked steadily forward, disguising nothing, hoping for\nno escape, living through all the agony so long before it came, seeing His\nwounds in the breaking of bread, and His blood when wine was poured.\nConsider how marvellous was the love, which met with no real sympathy, nor\neven comprehension, as He spoke such dreadful words, and forced Himself to\nrepeat what must have shaken the barb He carried in His heart, that\nby-and-by His followers might be somewhat helped by remembering that He\nhad told them.\n\nAnd yet again, consider how immediately the doctrine of His suffering\nfollows upon the confession of His Christhood, and judge whether the\ncrucifixion was merely a painful incident, the sad close of a noble life\nand a pure ministry, or in itself a necessary and cardinal event, fraught\nwith transcendent issues.\n\n\n\n\nThe Rebuke Of Peter.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd He spake the saying openly. And Peter took Him, and began to\n    rebuke Him.\u201d ... \u201cAnd He said unto them, Verily I say unto you,\n    There be some here of them that stand by, which shall in no wise\n    taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God come with\n    power.\u201d\u2014MARK viii. 32-ix. 1 (R.V.).\n\n\nThe doctrine of a suffering Messiah was strange in the time of Jesus. And\nto the warm-hearted apostle the announcement that his beloved Master\nshould endure a shameful death was keenly painful. Moreover, what had just\npassed made it specially unwelcome then. Jesus had accepted and applauded\na confession which implied all honour. He had promised to build a new\nChurch upon a rock; and claimed, as His to give away, the keys of the\nkingdom of heaven. Hopes were thus excited which could not brook His stern\nrepression; and the career which the apostle promised himself was very\nunlike that defence of a lost cause, and a persecuted and martyred leader,\nwhich now threatened him. The rebuke of Jesus clearly warns Peter, that he\nhad miscalculated his own prospect as well as that of his Lord, and that\nhe must prepare for the burden of a cross. Above all, it is plain that\nPeter was intoxicated by the great position just assigned to him, and\nallowed himself an utterly strange freedom of interference with his\nMaster\u2019s plans. He \u201ctook Him and began to rebuke Him,\u201d evidently drawing\nHim aside for the purpose, since Jesus \u201cturned about\u201d in order to see the\ndisciples whom He had just addressed. Thus our narrative implies that\ncommission of the keys to him which it omits to mention, and we learn how\nabsurd is the infidel contention that each evangelist was ignorant of all\nthat he did not record. Did the appeal against those gloomy forebodings of\nJesus, the protest that such evil must not be, the refusal to recognise a\nprophecy in His fears, awaken any answer in the sinless heart? Sympathy\nwas not there, nor approval, nor any shade of readiness to yield. But\ninnocent human desire for escape, the love of life, horror of His fate,\nmore intense as it vibrated in the apostle\u2019s shaken voice, these He\nassuredly felt. For He tells us in so many words that Peter was a\nstumbling-block to Him, although He, walking in the clear day, stumbled\nnot. Jesus, let us repeat it again and again, endured not like a Stoic,\ndeadening the natural impulses of humanity. Whatever outraged His tender\nand perfect nature was not less dreadful to Him than to us; it was much\nmore so, because His sensibilities were unblunted and exquisitely strung.\nAt every thought of what lay before Him, his soul shuddered like a rudely\ntouched instrument of most delicate structure. And it was necessary that\nHe should throw back the temptation with indignation and even vehemence,\nwith the rebuke of heaven set against the presumptuous rebuke of flesh,\n\u201cGet thee behind Me ... for thou art mindful not of the things of God, but\nthe things of men.\u201d\n\nBut what shall we say to the hard word, \u201cSatan\u201d? Assuredly Peter, who\nremained faithful to Him, did not take it for an outbreak of bitterness,\nan exaggerated epithet of unbridled and undisciplined resentment. The very\ntime occupied in looking around, the \u201ccircumspection\u201d which was shown,\nwhile it gave emphasis, removed passion from the saying.\n\nPeter would therefore understand that Jesus heard, in his voice, the\nprompting of the great tempter, to whom He had once already spoken the\nsame words. He would be warned that soft and indulgent sentiment, while\nseeming kind, may become the very snare of the destroyer.\n\nAnd the strong word which sobered him will continue to be a warning to the\nend of time.\n\nWhen love of ease or worldly prospects would lead us to discourage the\nself-devotion, and repress the zeal of any convert; when toil or\nliberality beyond the recognised level seems a thing to discountenance,\nnot because it is perhaps misguided, but only because it is exceptional;\nwhen, for a brother or a son, we are tempted to prefer an easy and\nprosperous life rather than a fruitful but stern and even perilous course,\nthen we are in the same danger as Peter of becoming the mouthpiece of the\nEvil One.\n\nDanger and hardness are not to be chosen for their own sake; but to reject\na noble vocation, because these are in the way, is to mind not the things\nof God but the things of men. And yet the temptation is one from which men\nare never free, and which intrudes into what seems most holy. It dared to\nassail Jesus; and it is most perilous still, because it often speaks to\nus, as then to Him, through compassionate and loving lips.\n\nBut now the Lord calls to Himself all the multitude, and lays down the\nrule by which discipleship must to the end be regulated.\n\nThe inflexible law is, that every follower of Jesus must deny himself and\ntake up his cross. It is not said, Let him devise some harsh and ingenious\ninstrument of self-torture: wanton self-torture is cruelty, and is often\ndue to the soul\u2019s readiness rather to endure any other suffering than that\nwhich God assigns. Nor is it said, Let him take up My cross, for the\nburden Christ bore devolves upon no other: the fight He fought is over.\n\nBut it speaks of some cross allotted, known, but not yet accepted, some\nlowly form of suffering, passive or active, against which nature pleads,\nas Jesus heard His own nature pleading when Peter spoke. In taking up this\ncross we must deny self, for it will refuse the dreadful burden. What it\nis, no man can tell his neighbour, for often what seems a fatal besetment\nis but a symptom and not the true disease; and the angry man\u2019s\nirritability, and the drunkard\u2019s resort to stimulants, are due to remorse\nand self-reproach for a deeper-hidden evil gnawing the spiritual life\naway. But the man himself knows it. Our exhortations miss the mark when we\nbid him reform in this direction or in that, but conscience does not err;\nand he well discerns the effort or the renouncement, hateful to him as the\nvery cross itself, by which alone he can enter into life.\n\nTo him, that life seems death, the death of all for which he cares to\nlive, being indeed the death of selfishness. But from the beginning, when\nGod in Eden set a barrier against lawless appetite, it was announced that\nthe seeming life of self-indulgence and of disobedience was really death.\nIn the day when Adam ate of the forbidden fruit he surely died. And thus\nour Lord declared that whosoever is resolved to save his life\u2014the life of\nwayward, isolated selfishness\u2014he shall lose all its reality, the sap, the\nsweetness, and the glow of it. And whosoever is content to lose all this\nfor the sake of the Great Cause, the cause of Jesus and His gospel, he\nshall save it.\n\nIt was thus that the great apostle was crucified with Christ, yet lived,\nand yet no longer he, for Christ Himself inspired in his breast a nobler\nand deeper life than that which he had lost, for Jesus and the gospel. The\nworld knows, as the Church does, how much superior is self-devotion to\nself-indulgence, and that one crowded hour of glorious life is worth an\nage without a name. Its imagination is not inflamed by the picture of\nindolence and luxury, but by resolute and victorious effort. But it knows\nnot how to master the rebellious senses, nor how to insure victory in the\nstruggle, nor how to bestow upon the masses, plunged in their monotonous\ntoils, the rapture of triumphant strife. That can only be done by\nrevealing to them the spiritual responsibilities of life, and the beauty\nof His love Who calls the humblest to walk in His own sacred footsteps.\n\nVery striking is the moderation of Jesus, Who does not refuse discipleship\nto self-seeking wishes but only to the self-seeking will, in which wishes\nhave ripened into choice, nor does He demand that we should welcome the\nloss of the inferior life, but only that we should accept it. He can be\ntouched with the feeling of our infirmities.\n\nAnd striking also is this, that He condemns not the vicious life only: not\nalone the man whose desires are sensual and depraved; but all who live for\nself. No matter how refined and artistic the personal ambitions be, to\ndevote ourselves to them is to lose the reality of life, it is to become\nquerulous or jealous or vain or forgetful of the claims of other men, or\nscornful of the crowd. Not self-culture but self-sacrifice is the vocation\nof the child of God.\n\nMany people speak as if this text bade us sacrifice the present life in\nhope of gaining another life beyond the grave. That is apparently the\ncommon notion of saving our \u201csouls.\u201d But Jesus used one word for the\n\u201clife\u201d renounced and gained. He spoke indeed of saving it unto life\neternal, but His hearers were men who trusted that they had eternal life,\nnot that it was a far-off aspiration (John vi. 47, 54).\n\nAnd it is doubtless in the same sense, thinking of the freshness and joy\nwhich we sacrifice for worldliness, and how sadly and soon we are\ndisillusionised, that He went on to ask, What shall it profit a man to\ngain the whole world and forfeit His life? Or with what price shall he buy\nit back when he discovers his error? But that discovery is too often\npostponed beyond the horizon of mortality. As one desire proves futile,\nanother catches the eye, and somewhat excites again the often baffled\nhope. But the day shall come when the last self-deception shall be at an\nend. The cross of the Son of man, that type of all noble sacrifice, shall\nthen be replaced by the glory of His Father with the holy angels; and\nignoble compromise, aware of Jesus and His words, yet ashamed of them in a\nvicious and self-indulgent age, shall in turn endure His averted face.\nWhat price shall they offer then, to buy back what they have forfeited?\n\nMen who were standing there should see the beginning of the end, the\napproach of the kingdom of God with power, in the fall of Jerusalem, and\nthe removal of the Hebrew candlestick out of its place.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\n\n\n\nThe Transfiguration.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd after six days Jesus taketh with Him Peter, and James, and\n    John, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart by\n    themselves: and He was transfigured before them: and His garments\n    became glistering, exceeding white: so as no fuller on earth can\n    whiten them. And there appeared unto them Elijah with Moses: and\n    they were talking with Jesus. And Peter answered and saith to\n    Jesus, Rabbi, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three\n    tabernacles; one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.\n    For He wist not what to answer; for they became sore afraid. And\n    there came a cloud overshadowing them: and there came a voice out\n    of the cloud, This is My beloved Son: hear ye Him. And suddenly\n    looking round about, they saw no one any more, save Jesus only\n    with themselves.\u201d\u2014MARK ix. 2-8 (R.V.).\n\n\nThe Transfiguration is an event without a parallel in all the story of our\nLord. This breaking forth of unearthly splendour in a life of\nself-negation, this miracle wrought without suffering to be relieved or\nwant supplied, and in which He seems to be not the Giver of Help but the\nReceiver of Glory, arrests our attention less by the greatness of the\nmarvel than by its loneliness.\n\nBut if myth or legend had to do with the making of our Gospels, we should\nhave had wonders enough which bless no suppliant, but only crown the\nsacred head with laurels. They are as plentiful in the false Gospels as in\nthe later stories of Mahomed or Gautama. Can we find a sufficient\ndifference between these romantic tales and this memorable event\u2014causes\nenough to lead up to it, and ends enough for it to serve?\n\nAn answer is hinted by the stress laid in all three narratives upon the\ndate of the Transfiguration. It was \u201cafter six days\u201d according to the\nfirst two. St. Luke reckons the broken portions of the first day and the\nlast, and makes it \u201cabout eight days after these sayings.\u201d A week has\npassed since the solemn announcement that their Lord was journeying to a\ncruel death, that self pity was discordant with the things of God, that\nall His followers must in spirit endure the cross, that life was to be won\nby losing it. Of that week no action is recorded, and we may well believe\nthat it was spent in profound searchings of heart. The thief Iscariot\nwould more than ever be estranged. The rest would aspire and struggle and\nrecoil, and explain away His words in such strange ways, as when they\npresently failed to understand what the rising again from the dead should\nmean (ver. 10). But in the deep heart of Jesus there was peace, the same\nwhich He bequeathed to all His followers, the perfect calm of an\nabsolutely surrendered will. He had made the dread announcement and\nrejected the insidious appeal; the sacrifice was already accomplished in\nhis inner self, and the word spoken, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. We\nmust steadily resist the notion that the Transfiguration was required to\nconfirm His consecration; or, after six days had passed since He bade\nSatan get behind Him, to complete and perfect His decision. Yet doubtless\nit had its meaning for Him also. Such times of more than heroic\nself-devotion make large demands upon the vital energies. And He whom the\nangels more than once sustained, now sought refreshment in the pure air\nand solemn silence of the hills, and above all in communion with His\nFather, since we read in St. Luke that He went up to pray. Who shall say\nhow far-reaching, how all-embracing such a prayer would be? What age, what\nrace may not hope to have shared its intercessions, remembering how He\nonce expressly prayed not for His immediate followers alone. But we need\nnot doubt that now, as in the Garden, He prayed also for Himself, and for\nsupport in the approaching death-struggle. And the Twelve, so keenly\ntried, would be especially remembered in this season. And even among these\nthere would be distinctions; for we know His manner, we remember that when\nSatan claimed to have them all, Jesus prayed especially for Peter, because\nhis conversion would strengthen his brethren. Now this principle of\nbenefit to all through the selection of the fittest, explains why three\nwere chosen to be the eye-witnesses of His glory. If the others had been\nthere, perhaps they would have been led away into millennarian day-dreams.\nPerhaps the worldly aspirations of Judas, thus inflamed, would have spread\nfar. Perhaps they would have murmured against that return to common life,\nwhich St. Peter was so anxious to postpone. Perhaps even the chosen three\nwere only saved from intoxicating and delusive hopes by the sobering\nknowledge that what they had seen was to remain a secret until some\nintervening and mysterious event. The unripeness of the others for special\nrevelations was abundantly shown, on the morrow, by their failure to cast\nout a devil. It was enough that their leaders should have this grand\nconfirmation of their faith. There was among them, henceforth, a secret\nfountain of encouragement and trust, amid the darkest circumstances. The\npanic in which all forsook Him might have been final, but for this vision\nof His glory. For it is noteworthy that these three are the foremost\nafterwards in sincere though frail devotion: one offering to die with Him,\nand the others desiring to drink of His cup and to be baptized with His\nbaptism.\n\nWhile Jesus prays for them, He is Himself made the source of their\nrevival. He had lately promised that they who willed to lose their life\nshould find it unto life eternal. And now, in Him who had perfectly so\nwilled, they beheld the eternal glory beaming forth, until His very\ngarments were steeped in light. There is no need of proof that the spirit\nhas power over the body; the question is only of degree. Vile passions can\npermanently degrade human comeliness. And there is a beauty beyond that of\nline or colour, seen in vivid hours of emotion, on the features of a\nmother beside her sleeping babe, of an orator when his soul burns within\nhim, of a martyr when his face is as the face of an angel, and often\nmaking fairer than youthful bloom the old age that has suffered long and\nbeen kind. These help us, however faintly, to believe that there is a\nspiritual body, and that we may yet bear the image of the heavenly. And so\nonce, if only once, it is given to sinful men to see how a perfect spirit\ncan illuminate its fleshly tabernacle, as a flame illuminates a lamp, and\nwhat the life is like in which self-crucifixion issues. In this hour of\nrapt devotion His body was steeped in the splendour which was natural to\nholiness, and which would never have grown dim but that the great\nsacrifice had still to be carried out in action. We shall best think of\nthe glories of transfiguration not as poured over Jesus, but as a\nrevelation from within. Moreover, while they gaze, the conquering chiefs\nof the Old Testament approach the Man of Sorrows. Because the spirit of\nthe hour is that of self-devotion, they see not Abraham, the prosperous\nfriend of God, nor Isaiah whose burning words befit the lips that were\ntouched by fire from an unearthly altar, but the heroic law-giver and the\nlion-hearted prophet, the typical champions of the ancient dispensation.\nElijah had not seen death; a majestic obscurity veiled the ashes of Moses\nfrom excess of honour; yet these were not offended by the cross which\ntried so cruelly the faith of the apostles. They spoke of His decease, and\ntheir word seems to have lingered in the narrative as strangely\nappropriate to one of the speakers; it is Christ\u2019s \u201cexodus.\u201d(11)\n\nBut St. Mark does not linger over this detail, nor mention the drowsiness\nwith which they struggled; he leans all the weight of his vivid narrative\nupon one great fact, the evidence now given of our Lord\u2019s absolute\nsupremacy.\n\nFor, at this juncture Peter interposed. He \u201canswered,\u201d a phrase which\npoints to his consciousness that he was no unconcerned bystander, that the\nvision was in some degree addressed to him and his companions. But he\nanswers at random, and like a man distraught. \u201cLord, it is good for us to\nbe here,\u201d as if it were not always good to be where Jesus led, even though\nmen should bear a cross to follow Him. Intoxicated by the joy of seeing\nthe King in His beauty, and doubtless by the revulsion of new hope in the\nstead of his dolorous forebodings, he proposes to linger there. He will\nhave more than is granted, just as, when Jesus washed his feet, he said\n\u201cnot my feet only, but also my hands and my head.\u201d And if this might be,\nit was fitting that these superhuman personages should have tabernacles\nmade for them. No doubt the assertion that he wist not what to say, bears\nspecially upon this strange offer to shelter glorified bodies from the\nnight air, and to provide for each a place of separate repose. The words\nare incoherent, but they are quite natural from one who has so impulsively\nbegun to speak that now he must talk on, because he knows not how to stop.\nThey are the words of the very Peter whose actions we know so well. As he\nformerly walked upon the sea, before considering how boisterous were the\nwaves, and would soon afterwards smite with the sword, and risk himself in\nthe High Priest\u2019s palace, without seeing his way through either adventure,\nexactly so in this bewildering presence he ventures into a sentence\nwithout knowing how to close it.\n\nNow this perfect accuracy of character, so dramatic and yet so unaffected,\nis evidence of the truth of this great miracle. To a frank student who\nknows human nature, it is a very admirable evidence. To one who knows how\nclumsily such effects are produced by all but the greatest masters of\ncreative literature, it is almost decisive.\n\nIn speaking thus, he has lowered his Master to the level of the others,\nunconscious that Moses and Elijah were only attendants upon Jesus, who\nhave come from heaven because He is upon earth, and who speak not of their\nachievements but of His sufferings. If Peter knew it, the hour had struck\nwhen their work, the law of Moses and the utterances of the prophets whom\nElijah represented, should cease to be the chief impulse in religion, and\nwithout being destroyed, should be \u201cfulfilled,\u201d and absorbed in a new\nsystem. He was there to whom Moses in the law, and the prophets bore\nwitness, and in His presence they had no glory by reason of the glory that\nexcelleth. Yet Peter would fain build equal tabernacles for all alike.\n\nNow St. Luke tells us that he interposed just when they were departing,\nand apparently in the hope of staying them. But all the narratives convey\na strong impression that his words hastened their disappearance, and\ndecided the manner of it. For while he yet spake, as if all the vision\nwere eclipsed on being thus misunderstood, a cloud swept over the\nthree\u2014bright, yet overshadowing them\u2014and the voice of God proclaimed their\nLord to be His beloved Son (not faithful only, like Moses, as a steward\nover the house), and bade them, instead of desiring to arrest the flight\nof rival teachers, hear Him.\n\nToo often Christian souls err after the same fashion. We cling to\nauthoritative teachers, familiar ordinances, and traditional views, good\nit may be, and even divinely given, as if they were not intended wholly to\nlead us up to Christ. And in many a spiritual eclipse, from many a cloud\nwhich the heart fears to enter, the great lesson resounds through the\nconscience of the believer, Hear Him!\n\nDid the words remind Peter how he had lately begun to rebuke his Lord? Did\nthe visible glory, the ministration of blessed spirits and the voice of\nGod, teach him henceforth to hear and to submit? Alas, he could again\ncontradict Jesus, and say Thou shalt never wash my feet. I never will deny\nThee. And we, who wonder and blame him, as easily forget what we are\ntaught.\n\nLet it be observed that the miraculous and Divine Voice reveals nothing\nnew to them. For the words, This is My beloved Son, and also their drift\nin raising Him above all rivalry, were involved in the recent confession\nof this very Peter that He was neither Elijah nor one of the prophets, but\nthe Son of the Living God. So true is it that we may receive a truth into\nour creed, and even apprehend it with such vital faith as makes us\n\u201cblessed,\u201d long before it grasps and subdues our nature, and saturates the\nobscure regions where impulse and excitement are controlled. What we all\nneed most is not clearer and sounder views, but the bringing of our\nthoughts into subjection to the mind of Jesus.\n\n\n\n\nThe Descent From The Mount.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd as they were coming down from the mountain, He charged them\n    that they should tell no man what things they had seen, save when\n    the Son of man should have risen again from the dead. And they\n    kept the saying, questioning among themselves what the rising\n    again from the dead should mean. And they asked Him, saying, The\n    scribes say that Elijah must first come. And He said unto them,\n    Elijah indeed cometh first, and restoreth all things: and how is\n    it written of the Son of man, that He should suffer many things\n    and be set at nought? But I say unto you, that Elijah is come, and\n    they have also done unto him whatsoever they listed, even as it is\n    written of Him.\u201d\u2014MARK ix. 9-13 (R.V.).\n\n\nIn what state of mind did the apostles return from beholding the glory of\nthe Lord, and His ministers from another world? They seem to have been\nexcited, demonstrative, ready to blaze abroad the wonderful event which\nought to put an end to all men\u2019s doubts.\n\nThey would have been bitterly disappointed, if they had prematurely\nexposed their experience to ridicule, cross-examination, conjectural\ntheories, and all the controversy which reduces facts to logical form, but\nstrips them of their freshness and vitality. In the first age as in the\nnineteenth, it was possible to be witnesses for the Lord without exposing\nto coarse and irreverent handling all the delicate and secret experiences\nof the soul with Christ.\n\nTherefore Jesus charged them that they should tell no man. Silence would\nforce back the impression upon the depths of their own spirits, and spread\nits roots under the surface there.\n\nNor was it right to make such a startling demand upon the faith of others\nbefore public evidence had been given, enough to make scepticism\nblameworthy. His resurrection from the dead would suffice to unseal their\nlips. And the experience of all the Church has justified that decision.\nThe resurrection is, in fact, the centre of all the miraculous narratives,\nthe sun which keeps them in their orbit. Some of them, as isolated events,\nmight have failed to challenge credence. But authority and sanction are\ngiven to all the rest by this great and publicly attested marvel, which\nhas modified history, and the denial of which makes history at once\nuntrustworthy and incoherent. When Jesus rose from the dead, the whole\nsignificance of His life and its events was deepened.\n\nThis mention of the resurrection called them away from pleasant\nday-dreams, by reminding them that their Master was to die. For Him there\nwas no illusion. Coming back from the light and voices of heaven, the\ncross before Him was as visible as ever to His undazzled eyes, and He was\nstill the sober and vigilant friend to warn them against false hopes. They\nhowever found means of explaining the unwelcome truth away. Various\ntheories were discussed among them, what the rising from the dead should\nmean, what should be in fact the limit to their silence. This very\nperplexity, and the chill upon their hopes, aided them to keep the matter\nclose.\n\nOne hope was too strong not to be at least hinted to Jesus. They had just\nseen Elias. Surely they were right in expecting his interference, as the\nscribes had taught. Instead of a lonely road pursued by the Messiah to a\npainful death, should not that great prophet come as a forerunner and\nrestore all things? How then was murderous opposition possible?\n\nAnd Jesus answered that one day this should come to pass. The herald\nshould indeed reconcile all hearts, before the great and notable day of\nthe Lord come. But for the present time there was another question. That\npromise to which they clung, was it their only light upon futurity? Was\nnot the assertion quite as plain that the Son of Man should suffer many\nthings and be set at nought? So far was Jesus from that state of mind in\nwhich men buoy themselves up with false hope. No apparent prophecy, no\nsplendid vision, deceived His unerring insight. And yet no despair\narrested His energies for one hour.\n\nBut, He added, Elias had already been offered to this generation in vain;\nthey had done to him as they listed. They had re-enacted what history\nrecorded of his life on earth.\n\nThen a veil dropped from the disciples\u2019 eyes. They recognised the dweller\nin lonely places, the man of hairy garment and ascetic life, persecuted by\na feeble tyrant who cowered before his rebuke, and by the deadlier hatred\nof an adulterous queen. They saw how the very name of Elias raised a\nprobability that the second prophet should be treated \u201cas it is written\nof\u201d the first.\n\nIf then they had so strangely misjudged the preparation of His way, what\nmight they not apprehend of the issue? So should also the Son of man\nsuffer of them.\n\nDo we wonder that they had not hitherto recognised the prophet? Perhaps,\nwhen all is made clear at last, we shall wonder more at our own refusals\nof reverence, our blindness to the meaning of noble lives, our moderate\nand qualified respect for men of whom the world is not worthy.\n\nHow much solid greatness would some of us overlook, if it went with an\nunpolished and unattractive exterior? Now the Baptist was a rude and\nabrupt person, of little culture, unwelcome in kings\u2019 houses. Yet no\ngreater had been born of woman.\n\n\n\n\nThe Demoniac Boy.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd when they came to the disciples, they saw a great multitude\n    about them, and scribes questioning with them. And straightway all\n    the multitude, when they saw Him, were greatly amazed, and running\n    to Him saluted Him. And He asked them, What question ye with them?\n    And one of the multitude answered Him, Master, I brought unto Thee\n    my son, which hath a dumb spirit; and wheresoever it taketh him,\n    it dasheth him down: and he foameth, and grindeth his teeth, and\n    pineth away: and I spake to Thy disciples that they should cast it\n    out; and they were not able. And He answered them and saith, O\n    faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall\n    I bear with you? bring him unto Me. And they brought him unto Him:\n    and when He saw him, straightway the spirit tare him grievously;\n    and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. And He asked his\n    father, How long time is it since this hath come unto him? And he\n    said, From a child. And oft-times it hath cast him both into the\n    fire and into the waters, to destroy him: but if Thou canst do\n    anything, have compassion on us, and help us. And Jesus said unto\n    him, If thou canst! All things are possible to him that believeth.\n    Straightway the father of the child cried out, and said, I\n    believe; help Thou mine unbelief. And when Jesus saw that a\n    multitude came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit,\n    saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I command thee, come\n    out of him, and enter no more into him. And having cried out, and\n    torn him much, he came out: and _the child_ became as one dead;\n    insomuch that the more part said, He is dead. But Jesus took Him\n    by the hand, and raised him up; and he arose! And when He was come\n    into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, _saying_, We\n    could not cast it out. And He said unto them, This kind can come\n    out by nothing, save by prayer.\u201d\u2014MARK ix. 14-29 (R.V.).\n\n\nPeter soon had striking evidence that it would not have been \u201cgood\u201d for\nthem to linger too long upon the mountain. And our Lord was recalled with\npainful abruptness from the glories of transfiguration to the scepticism\nof scribes, the failure and shame of disciples, and the triumph of the\npowers of evil.\n\nTo the Twelve He had explicitly given authority over devils, and even the\nSeventy, venturing by faith to cast them out, had told Him of their\nsuccess with joy. But now, in the sorrow and fear of these latter days,\ndeprived of their Master and of their own foremost three, oppressed with\ngloomy forebodings, and infected with the worldliness which fails to pray,\nthe nine had striven in vain. It is the only distinct repulse recorded,\nand the scribes attacked them keenly. Where was their Master at this\ncrisis? Did not they profess equally to have the necessary power? Here was\na test, and some failed, and the others did not present themselves. We can\nimagine the miserable scene, contrasting piteously with what passed on the\nsummit of the hill. And in the centre was an agonized father and a\ntortured lad.\n\nAt this moment the crowds, profoundly moved, rushed to meet the Lord, and\non seeing Him, became aware that failure was at an end. Perhaps the\nexceeding brightness lingered still upon His face; perhaps it was but the\nunearthly and victorious calm of His consecration, visible in His mien;\nwhat is certain is that they were greatly amazed, and ran to Him and did\nhomage.\n\nJesus at once challenged a renewal of the attack which had been too much\nfor His apostles. \u201cWhat question ye with them?\u201d But awe has fallen upon\nthe scribes also, and misery is left to tell its own tale. Their attack by\npreference upon the disciples is very natural, and it by no means stands\nalone. They did not ask Him, but His followers, why He ate and drank with\nsinners, nor whether He paid the half-shekel (Mark ii. 16; Matt. xvii.\n24). When they did complain to the Master Himself, it was commonly of some\nfault in His disciples: Why do Thy disciples fast not? Why they do on the\nSabbath day that which is not lawful? Why do they eat with defiled hands?\n(Mark ii. 18, 24; vii. 5). Their censures of Himself were usually muttered\nor silent murmurings, which He discerned, as when He forgave the sins of\nthe palsied man; when the Pharisee marvelled that He had not washed His\nhands; when He accepted the homage of the sinful woman, and again when He\nspoke her pardon (Mark ii. 8; Luke xi. 38; vii. 39-49). When He healed the\nwoman whom a spirit of infirmity had bent down for eighteen years, the\nruler of the synagogue spoke to the people, without venturing to address\nJesus. (Luke xiii. 14).\n\nIt is important to observe such indications, unobtrusive, and related by\nvarious evangelists, of the majesty and impressiveness which surrounded\nour Lord, and awed even His bitter foes.\n\nThe silence is broken by an unhappy father, who had been the centre of the\ngroup, but whom the abrupt movement to meet Jesus has merged in the crowd\nagain. The case of his son is among those which prove that demoniacal\npossession did not imply the exceptional guilt of its victims, for though\nstill young, he has suffered long. The demon which afflicts him is dumb;\nit works in the guise of epilepsy, and as a disease it is affected by the\nchanges of the moon; a malicious design is visible in frequent falls into\nfire and water, to destroy him. The father had sought Jesus with him, and\nsince He was absent had appealed to His followers, but in vain. Some\nconsequent injury to his own faith, clearly implied in what follows, may\npossibly be detected already, in the absence of any further petition, and\nin the cold epithet, \u201cTeacher,\u201d which he employs.\n\nEven as an evidence the answer of Jesus is remarkable, being such as human\ningenuity would not have invented, nor the legendary spirit have\nconceived. It would have seemed natural that He should hasten to vindicate\nHis claims and expose the folly of the scribes, or else have reproached\nHis followers for the failure which had compromised Him.\n\nBut the scribes were entirely set aside from the moment when the Good\nPhysician was invoked by a bleeding heart. Yet the physical trouble is\ndealt with deliberately, not in haste, as by one whose mastery is assured.\nThe passing shadow which has fallen on His cause only concerns Him as a\npart of the heavy spiritual burden which oppresses Him, which this\nterrible scene so vividly exhibits.\n\nFor the true importance of His words is this, that they reveal sufferings\nwhich are too often forgotten, and which few are pure enough even to\ncomprehend. The prevalent evil weighed upon Him. And here the visible\npower of Satan, the hostility of the scribes, the failure of His own, the\nsuspense and agitation of the crowd, all breathed the spirit of that evil\nage, alien and harsh to Him as an infected atmosphere. He blames none more\nthan others; it is the \u201cgeneration,\u201d so faithless and perverse, which\nforces Him to exclaim: \u201cHow long shall I be with you? how long shall I\nbear with you?\u201d It is the cry of the pain of Jesus. It bids us to consider\nHim Who endured such contradiction of sinners, who were even sinners\nagainst Himself. So that the distress of Jesus was not that of a mere\neye-witness of evil or sufferer by it. His priesthood established a closer\nand more agonizing connection between our Lord and the sins which tortured\nHim.\n\nDo the words startle us, with the suggestion of a limit to the forbearance\nof Jesus, well-nigh reached? There _was_ such a limit. The work of His\nmessenger had been required, lest His coming should be to smite the world.\nHis mind was the mind of God, and it is written, Kiss the Son, lest He be\nangry.\n\nNow if Jesus looked forward to shame and anguish with natural shrinking,\nwe here perceive another aspect in which His coming Baptism of Blood was\nviewed, and we discover why He was straitened until it was accomplished.\nThere is an intimate connection between this verse and His saying in St.\nJohn, \u201cIf ye loved Me, ye would rejoice, because I go unto My Father.\u201d\n\nBut swiftly the mind of Jesus recurs to the misery which awaits help; and\nHe bids them bring the child to Him. Now the sweet influence of His\npresence would have soothed and mitigated any mere disease. It is to such\ninfluence that sceptical writers are wont to turn for an explanation, such\nas it is, of the works He wrought. But it was the reverse in cases of\npossession. There a wild sense of antagonism and revolt was wont to show\nitself. And we might learn that this was something more than epilepsy,\neven were it left doubtful otherwise, by the outburst of Satanic rage.\nWhen he saw Him, straightway the spirit convulsed him grievously, and he\nfell wallowing and foaming.\n\nYet Jesus is neither hurried nor agitated. In not one of His miracles does\nprecipitation, or mere impulse, mingle with His grave and self-contained\ncompassion. He will question the scribes while the man with a withered\nhand awaits His help. He will rebuke the disciples before quelling the\nstorm. At Nain He will touch the bier and arrest the bearers. When He\nfeeds the multitude, He will first command a search for loaves. He will\nstand still and call Bartim\u00e6us to Him. He will evoke, even by seeming\nharshness, the faith of the woman of Canaan. He will have the stone rolled\naway from the sepulchre of Lazarus. When He Himself rises, the\ngrave-clothes are found folded up, and the napkin which bound His head\nlaid in a place by itself, the last tribute of mortals to His mortality\nnot being flung contemptuously aside. All His miracles are authenticated\nby the stamp of the same character\u2014serene, not in haste nor tardy, since\nHe saw the end from the beginning. In this case delay is necessary, to\narouse the father, if only by interrogation, from his dull disappointment\nand hopelessness. He asks therefore \u201cHow long time is it since this came\nupon him?\u201d and the answer shows that he was now at least a stripling, for\nhe had suffered ever since he was a child. Then the unhappy man is swept\naway by his emotions: as he tells their sorrows, and thinks what a\nwretched life or miserable death lies before his son, he bursts into a\npassionate appeal. If Thou canst do anything, do this. Let pity for such\nmisery, for the misery of father as well as child, evoke all Thy power to\nsave. The form is more disrespectful than the substance of his cry; its\nvery vehemence is evidence that some hope is working in his breast; and\nthere is more real trust in its wild urgency than in many a reverential\nand carefully weighed prayer.\n\nYet how much rashness, self-assertion, and wilfulness (which is really\nunbelief) were mingled with his germinant faith and needed rebuke.\nTherefore Christ responded with his own word: \u201cIf _thou_ canst: thou\nsayest it to Me, but I retort the condition upon thyself: with thee are\nindeed the issues of thine own application, for all things are possible to\nhim that believeth.\u201d\n\nThis answer is in two respects important. There was a time when popular\nreligion dealt too much with internal experience and attainment. But\nperhaps there are schools among us now which verge upon the opposite\nextreme. Faith and love are generally strongest when they forget\nthemselves, and do not say \u201cI am faithful and loving,\u201d but \u201cChrist is\ntrustworthy, Christ is adorable.\u201d This is true, and these virtues are\nbecoming artificial, and so false, as soon as they grow self-complacent.\nYet we should give at least enough attention to our own attainments to\nwarn us of our deficiencies. And wherever we find a want of blessedness,\nwe may seek for the reason within ourselves. Many a one is led to doubt\nwhether Christ \u201ccan do anything\u201d practical for him, since private prayer\nand public ordinances help him little, and his temptations continue to\nprevail, whose true need is to be roused up sharply to the consciousness\nthat it is not Christ who has failed; it is he himself: his faith is dim,\nhis grasp on his Lord is half hearted, he is straitened in his own\naffections. Our personal experiences should never teach us confidence, but\nthey may often serve to humble and warn us.\n\nThis answer also impresses upon us the dignity of Him who speaks. Failure\nhad already come through the spiritual defects of His disciples, but for\nHim, though \u201cmeek and lowly of heart,\u201d no such danger is even\ncontemplated. No appeal to Him can be frustrated except through fault of\nthe suppliant, since all things are possible to him that believeth.\n\nNow faith is in itself nothing, and may even be pernicious; all its effect\ndepends upon the object. Trust reposed in a friend avails or misleads\naccording to his love and his resources; trust in a traitor is ruinous,\nand ruinous in proportion to its energy. And since trust in Jesus is\nomnipotent, Who and what is He?\n\nThe word pierces like a two-edged sword, and reveals to the agitated\nfather the conflict, the impurity of his heart. Unbelief is there, and of\nhimself he cannot conquer it. Yet is he not entirely unbelieving, else\nwhat drew him thither? What impulse led to that passionate recital of his\ngriefs, that over-daring cry of anguish? And what is now this burning\nsense within him of a great and inspiring Presence, which urges him to a\nbolder appeal for a miracle yet more spiritual and Divine, a cry well\ndirected to the Author and Finisher of our faith? Never was medicine\nbetter justified by its operation upon disease, than the treatment which\nconverted a too-importunate clamour for bodily relief into a contrite\nprayer for grace. \u201cI believe, help Thou mine unbelief.\u201d The same sense of\nmixed imperfect and yet real trust should exist in every one of us, or\nelse our belief being perfect should be irresistible in the moral sphere,\nand in the physical world so resigned, so confident in the Love which\ngoverns, as never to be conscious of any gnawing importunate desire. And\nfrom the same sense of need, the same cry for help should spring.\n\nMiraculous legends have gathered around the lives of many good and\ngracious men within Christendom and outside it. But they cannot claim to\nweigh against the history of Jesus, until at least one example can be\nproduced of such direct spiritual action, so profound, penetrating and\neffectual, inextricably interwoven in the tissue of any fable.\n\nAll this time the agitation of the people had increased. A multitude was\nrushing forward, whose excitement would do more to distract the father\u2019s\nmind than further delay to help him. And Jesus, even in the midst of His\ntreatment of souls, was not blind to such practical considerations, or to\nthe influence of circumstances. Unlike modern dealers in sensation, He can\nnever be shown to have aimed at religious excitement, while it was His\ncustom to discourage it. Therefore He now rebuked the unclean spirit in\nthe lad, addressing it directly speaking as a superior. \u201cThou deaf and\ndumb spirit, I command thee, come out of him,\u201d and adding, with\nexplicitness which was due perhaps to the obstinate ferocity of \u201cthis\nkind,\u201d or perhaps was intended to help the father\u2019s lingering unbelief,\n\u201center no more into him.\u201d The evil being obeys, yet proves his reluctance\nby screaming and convulsing his victim for the last time, so that he,\nthough healed, lies utterly prostrate, and \u201cthe more part said, He is\ndead.\u201d It was a fearful exhibition of the disappointed malice of the pit.\nBut it only calls forth another display of the power and love of Jesus,\nWho will not leave the sufferer to a gradual recovery, nor speak, as to\nthe fiend, in words of mere authority, but reaches forth His benign hand,\nand raises him, restored. Here we discover the same heart which provided\nthat the daughter of Jairus should have food, and delivered her son to the\nwidow of Nain, and was first to remind others that Lazarus was encumbered\nby his grave-clothes. The good works of Jesus were not melodramatic\nmarvels for stage effect: they were the natural acts of supernatural power\nand love.\n\n\n\n\nJesus And The Disciples.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd when He was come into the house, His disciples asked Him\n    privately, _saying_, We could not cast it out. And He said unto\n    them, This kind can come out by nothing, save by prayer. And they\n    went forth from thence, and passed through Galilee; and He would\n    not that any man should know it. For He taught His disciples, and\n    said unto them, The Son of man is delivered up into the hands of\n    men, and they shall kill Him; and when He is killed, after three\n    days He shall rise again. But they understood not the saying, and\n    were afraid to ask Him. And they came to Capernaum: and when He\n    was in the house He asked them, What were ye reasoning in the way?\n    But they held their peace: for they had disputed one with another\n    in the way, who was the greatest. And He sat down, and called the\n    twelve; and He saith unto them, If any man would be first, he\n    shall be last of all, and minister of all. And He took a little\n    child, and set him in the midst of them: and taking him in His\n    arms, He said unto them, Whosoever shall receive one of such\n    little children in My name, receiveth Me; and whosoever receiveth\n    Me, receiveth not Me but Him that sent Me.\u201d\u2014MARK ix. 28-37 (R.V.).\n\n\nWhen the apostles had failed to expel the demon from the child, they gave\na very natural expression to their disappointment. Waiting until Jesus was\nin private and in the house, they said, \u201cWe for our parts were unable to\ncast it out.\u201d They take no blame to themselves. The tone is rather of\nperplexity and complaint because the commission formerly received had not\nheld good. And it implies the question which is plainly expressed by St.\nMatthew, Why could we not cast it out? Their very unconsciousness of\npersonal blame is ominous, and Jesus replies that the fault is entirely\ntheir own. They ought to have stimulated, as He did afterwards, what was\nflagging but not absent in the father, what their failure must have\ndaunted further in him. Want of faith had overcome them, says the fuller\naccount: the brief statement in St. Mark is, \u201cThis kind (of demon) can\ncome out by nothing but by prayer\u201d; to which fasting was added as a second\ncondition by ancient copyists, but without authority. What is important is\nto observe the connection between faith and prayer; so that while the\ndevil would only have gone out if they had prayed, or even perhaps only if\nthey had been men of prayer, yet their failure was through unbelief. It\nplainly follows that prayer is the nurse of faith, and would have\nstrengthened it so that it should prevail. Only in habitual communion with\nGod can we learn to trust Him aright. There, as we feel His nearness, as\nwe are reminded that He bends to hear our cry, as the sense of eternal and\nperfect power blends with that of immeasurable love, and His sympathy\nbecomes a realized abiding fact, as our vainglory is rebuked by\nconfessions of sin, and of dependence, it is made possible for man to\nwield the forces of the spiritual world and yet not to be intoxicated with\npride. The nearness of God is inconsistent with boastfulness of man. For\nwant of this, it was better that the apostles should fail and be humbled,\nthan succeed and be puffed up.\n\nThere are promises still unenjoyed, dormant and unexercised powers at the\ndisposal of the Church to-day. If in many Christian families the children\nare not practically holy, if purity and consecration are not leavening our\nChristian land, where after so many centuries license is but little\nabashed and the faith of Jesus is still disputed, if the heathen are not\nyet given for our Lord\u2019s inheritance nor the uttermost parts of the earth\nfor His possession\u2014why are we unable to cast out the devils that afflict\nour race? It is because our efforts are so faithless. And this again is\nbecause they are not inspired and elevated by sufficient communion with\nour God in prayer.\n\nFurther evidences continued to be given of the dangerous state of the mind\nof His followers, weighed down by earthly hopes and fears, wanting in\nfaith and prayer, and therefore open to the sinister influences of the\nthief who was soon to become the traitor. They were now moving for the\nlast time through Galilee. It was a different procession from those glad\ncircuits, not long before, when enthusiasm everywhere rose high, and\nsometimes the people would have crowned Him. Now He would not that any man\nshould know it. The word which tells of His journey seems to imply that He\navoided the main thoroughfares, and went by less frequented by-ways.\nPartly no doubt His motives were prudential, resulting from the treachery\nwhich He discerned. Partly it was because His own spirit was heavily\nweighed upon, and retirement was what He needed most. And certainly most\nof all because crowds and tumult would have utterly unfitted the apostles\nto learn the hard lesson, how vain their daydreams were, and what a trial\nlay before their Master.\n\nWe read that \u201cHe taught them\u201d this, which implies more than a single\nutterance, as also perhaps does the remarkable phrase in St. Luke, \u201cLet\nthese sayings sink into your ears.\u201d When the warning is examined, we find\nit almost a repetition of what they had heard after Peter\u2019s great\nconfession. Then they had apparently supposed the cross of their Lord to\nbe such a figurative one as all His followers have to bear. Even after the\nTransfiguration, the chosen three had searched for a meaning for the\nresurrection from the dead. But now, when the words were repeated with a\nnaked, crude, resolute distinctness, marvellous from the lips of Him Who\nshould endure the reality, and evidently chosen in order to beat down\ntheir lingering evasive hopes, when He says \u201cThey shall kill Him, and when\nHe is killed, after three days He shall rise again,\u201d surely they ought to\nhave understood.\n\nIn fact they comprehended enough to shrink from hearing more. They did not\ndare to lift the veil which covered a mystery so dreadful; they feared to\nask Him. It is a natural impulse, not to know the worst. Insolvent\ntradesmen leave their books unbalanced. The course of history would have\nrun in another channel, if the great Napoleon had looked in the face the\nneed to fortify his own capital while plundering others. No wonder that\nthese Galileans recoiled from searching what was the calamity which\nweighed so heavily upon the mighty spirit of their Master. Do not men\nstifle the voice of conscience, and refuse to examine themselves whether\nthey are in the faith, in the same abject dread of knowing the facts, and\nlooking the inevitable in the face? How few there are, who bear to think,\ncalmly and well, of the certainties of death and judgment?\n\nBut at the appointed time, the inevitable arrived for the disciples. The\nonly effect of their moral cowardice was that it found them unready,\nsurprised and therefore fearful, and still worse, prepared to forsake\nJesus by having already in heart drawn away from Him, by having refused to\ncomprehend and share His sorrows. It is easy to blame them, to assume that\nin their place we should not have been partakers in their evil deeds, to\nmake little of the chosen foundation stones upon which Christ would build\nHis New Jerusalem. But in so doing we forfeit the sobering lessons of\ntheir weakness, who failed, not because they were less than we, but\nbecause they were not more than mortal. And we who censure them are\nperhaps indolently refusing day by day to reflect, to comprehend the\nmeaning of our own lives and of their tendencies, to realize a thousand\nwarnings, less terrible only because they continue to be conditional, but\nclaiming more attention for that very reason.\n\nContrast with their hesitation the noble fortitude with which Christ faced\nHis agony. It was His, and their concern in it was secondary. Yet for\ntheir sakes He bore to speak of what they could not bear to hear.\nTherefore to Him there came no surprise, no sudden shock; His arrest found\nHim calm and reassured after the conflict in the Garden, and after all the\npreparation which had already gone forward through all these latter days.\n\nOne only ingredient in His cup of bitterness is now added to those which\nhad been already mentioned: \u201cThe Son of man is delivered up into the hands\nof men.\u201d And this is the same which He mentioned in the Garden: \u201cThe Son\nof man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.\u201d\n\nIt was that from which David recoiled when he said, \u201cLet me fall into the\nhands of God, but let me not fall into the hands of men.\u201d Suffering has\nnot reached its height until conscious malice designs the pang, and says,\n\u201cSo would we have it.\u201d Especially true was this of the most tender of all\nhearts. Yet this also Jesus foreknew, while He steadfastly set His face to\ngo toward Jerusalem.\n\nFaithless inability to grapple with the powers of darkness, faithless\nunreadiness to share the cross of Jesus, what was to be expected next?\nEstrangement, jealousy and ambition, the passions of the world heaving in\nthe bosom of the Church. But while they fail to discern the spirit of\nJudas, the Lord discerned theirs, and asked them in the house, What were\nye reasoning in the way? It was a sweet and gentle prudence, which had not\ncorrected them publicly nor while their tempers were still ruffled, nor in\nthe language of severe rebuke, for by the way they had not only reasoned\nbut disputed one with another, who was the greatest.\n\nLanguage of especial honour had been addressed to Peter. Three had become\npossessed of a remarkable secret on the Holy Mount, concerning which hints\non one side, and surmises on the other, may easily have excited jealousy.\nThe failure of the nine to cast out the devil would also, as they were not\nhumbled, render them irritable and self-asserting.\n\nBut they held their peace. No one asserted his right to answer on behalf\nof all. Peter, who was so willingly their spokesman at other times, did\nnot vindicate his boasted pre-eminence now. The claim which seemed so\nreasonable while they forgot Jesus, was a thing to blush for in His\npresence. And they, who feared to ask Him of His own sufferings, knew\nenough to feel the contrast between their temper, their thoughts and His.\nWould that we too by prayer and self-examination, more often brought our\ndesires and ambitions into the searching light of the presence of the\nlowly King of kings.\n\nThe calmness of their Lord was in strange contrast with their confusion.\nHe pressed no further His inquiry, but left them to weigh His silence in\nthis respect against their own. But importing by His action something\ndeliberate and grave, He sat down and called the Twelve, and pronounced\nthe great law of Christian rank, which is lowliness and the lowliest\nservice. \u201cIf any man would be the first, he shall be the least of all, and\nthe servant of all.\u201d When Kaisers and Popes ostentatiously wash the feet\nof paupers, they do not really serve, and therefore they exhibit no\ngenuine lowliness. Christ does not speak of the luxurious nursing of a\nsentiment, but of that genuine humility which effaces itself that it may\nreally become a servant of the rest. Nor does He prescribe this as a\npenance, but as the appointed way to eminence. Something similar He had\nalready spoken, bidding men sit down in the lowest room, that the Master\nof the house might call them higher. But it is in the next chapter, when\ndespite this lesson the sons of Zebedee persisted in claiming the highest\nplaces, and the indignation of the rest betrayed the very passion it\nresented, that Jesus fully explains how lowly service, that wholesome\nmedicine for ambition, is the essence of the very greatness in pursuit of\nwhich men spurn it.\n\nTo the precept, which will then be more conveniently examined, Jesus now\nadded a practical lesson of amazing beauty. In the midst of twelve rugged\nand unsympathetic men, the same who, despite this action, presently\nrebuked parents for seeking the blessing of Christ upon their babes, Jesus\nsets a little child. What but the grace and love which shone upon the\nsacred face could have prevented this little one from being utterly\ndisconcerted? But children have a strange sensibility for love. Presently\nthis happy child was caught up in His arms, and pressed to His bosom, and\nthere He seems to have lain while John, possibly conscience-stricken,\nasked a question and received an unexpected answer. And the silent\npathetic trust of this His lamb found its way to the heart of Jesus, who\npresently spoke of \u201cthese little ones who believe in Me\u201d (v. 42).\n\nMeanwhile the child illustrated in a double sense the rule of greatness\nwhich He had laid down. So great is lowliness that Christ Himself may be\nfound in the person of a little child. And again, so great is service,\nthat in receiving one, even one, of the multitude of children who claim\nour sympathies, we receive the very Master; and in that lowly Man, who was\namong them as He that serveth, is manifested the very God: whoso receiveth\nMe receiveth not Me but Him that sent me.\n\n\n\n\nOffences.\n\n\n    \u201cJohn said unto Him, Master, we saw one casting out devils in Thy\n    Name: and we forbade him, because he followed not us. But Jesus\n    said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a mighty\n    work in My name, and be able quickly to speak evil of Me. For he\n    that is not against us is for us. For whosoever shall give you a\n    cup of water to drink, because ye are Christ\u2019s, verily I say unto\n    you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. And whosoever shall\n    cause one of these little ones that believe on Me to stumble, it\n    were better for him if a great millstone were hanged about his\n    neck, and he were cast into the sea. And if thy hand cause thee to\n    stumble, cut it off: it is good for thee to enter into life\n    maimed, rather than having thy two hands to go into hell, into the\n    unquenchable fire. And if thy foot cause thee to stumble, cut it\n    off: it is good for thee to enter into life halt, rather than\n    having thy two feet to be cast into hell. And if thine eye cause\n    thee to stumble, cast it out: it is good for thee to enter into\n    the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be\n    cast into hell; where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not\n    quenched. For every one shall be salted with fire. Salt is good:\n    but if the salt have lost its saltness, wherewith will ye season\n    it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace one with\n    another.\u201d\u2014MARK ix. 38-50 (R.V.).\n\n\nWhen Jesus spoke of the blessedness of receiving in His name even a little\nchild, the conscience of St. John became uneasy. They had seen one casting\nout devils in that name, and had forbidden him, \u201cbecause he followeth not\nus.\u201d The spirit of partizanship which these words betray is somewhat\nsofter in St. Luke, but it exists. He reports \u201cbecause he followeth not\n(Jesus) with us.\u201d\n\nThe behaviour of the disciples all through this period is unsatisfactory.\nFrom the time when Peter contradicted and rebuked Jesus, down to their\nfinal desertion, there is weakness at every turn. And this is a curious\nexample of it, that immediately after having failed themselves,(12) they\nshould rebuke another for doing what their Master had once declared could\nnot possibly be an evil work. If Satan cast out Satan his house was\ndivided against itself: if the finger of God was there no doubt the\nkingdom of God was come unto them.\n\nIt is interesting and natural that St. John should have introduced the\nquestion. Others were usually more forward, but that was because he was\nmore thoughtful. Peter went first into the sepulchre; but he first, seeing\nwhat was there, believed. And it was he who said \u201cIt is the Lord,\u201d\nalthough Peter thereupon plunged into the lake to reach Him. Discerning\nand grave: such is the character from which his Gospel would naturally\ncome, and it belongs to him who first discerned the rebuke to their\nconduct implied in the words of Jesus. He was right. The Lord answered,\n\u201cForbid him not, for there is no man which shall do a mighty work in My\nname, and be able quickly to speak evil of Me:\u201d his own action would seal\nhis lips; he would have committed himself. Now this points out a very\nserious view of human life, too often overlooked. The deed of to-day rules\nto-morrow; one is half enslaved by the consequences of his own free will.\nLet no man, hesitating between two lines of action, ask, What harm in\nthis? what use in that? without adding, And what future actions, good or\nevil, may they carry in their train?\n\nThe man whom they had rebuked was at least certain to be for a time\ndetached from the opponents of truth, silent if not remonstrant when it\nwas assailed, diluting and enfeebling the enmity of its opponents. And so\nChrist laid down the principle, \u201cHe that is not against us is for us.\u201d In\nSt. Luke the words are more plainly pointed against this party spirit, \u201cHe\nthat is not against you is for you.\u201d\n\nHow shall we reconcile this principle with Christ\u2019s declaration elsewhere,\n\u201cHe that is not with Me is against Me, and he that gathereth not with Me\nscattereth\u201d?\n\nIt is possible to argue that there is no contradiction whatever, for both\ndeny the existence of a neutral class, and from this it equally follows\nthat he who is not with is against, and he who is not against is with us.\nBut this answer only evades the difficulty, which is, that one passage\nreckons seeming neutrality as friendship, while the other denounces it as\nenmity.\n\nA closer examination reveals a more profound reconciliation. In St.\nMatthew, Christ announced His own personal claim; in St. Mark He declares\nthat His people must not share it. Towards Christ Himself, indifference is\npractical rejection. The manifestation of God was not made to be\ncriticised or set aside: He loves them who love Him; He demands the hearts\nHe died for; and to give Him less is to refuse Him the travail of His\nsoul. Therefore He that is not with Christ is against Him. The man who\nboasts that he does no harm but makes no pretence of religion, is\nproclaiming that one may innocently refuse Christ. And it is very\nnoteworthy that St. Matthew\u2019s aphorism was evoked, like this, by a\nquestion about the casting out of devils. There the Pharisees had said\nthat He cast out devils by Beelzebub. And Jesus had warned all who heard,\nthat in such a controversy, to be indifferent was to deny him. Here, the\nman had himself appealed to the power of Jesus. He had passed, long ago,\nthe stage of cool semi-contemptuous indifference. Whether he was a\ndisciple of the Baptist, not yet entirely won, or a later convert who\nshrank from the loss of all things, what is plain is that he had come far\non the way towards Jesus. It does not follow that he enjoyed a saving\nfaith, for Christ will at last profess to many who cast out devils in His\nname, that He never knew them. But intellectual persuasion and some active\nreliance were there. Let them beware of crushing the germs, because they\nwere not yet developed. Nor should the disciples suppose that loyalty to\ntheir organization, although Christ was with them, was the same as loyalty\nto Him. \u201cHe that is not against _you_ is for you,\u201d according to St. Luke.\nNay more, \u201cHe that is not against us is for us,\u201d according to St. Mark.\nBut already He had spoken the stronger word, \u201cHe that is not for _Me_ is\nagainst Me.\u201d\n\nNo verse has been more employed than this in sectarian controversy. And\nsometimes it has been pressed too far. The man whom St. John would have\nsilenced was not spreading a rival organization; and we know how the same\nApostle wrote, long afterwards, of those who did so: \u201cIf they had been of\nus, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might\nbe made manifest how all they are not of us\u201d (1 John ii. 19). This was\nsimply a doer of good without ecclesiastical sanction, and the warning of\nthe text is against all who would use the name of discipline or of order\nto bridle the zeal, to curb the energies, of any Christian soul. But it is\nat least as often the new movement as the old organization that would\nsilence all who follow not with it.\n\nBut the energies of Christ and His gospel can never be monopolized by any\norganization whatsoever. Every good gift and every perfect gift, wherever\nwe behold it, is from Him.\n\nAll help, then, is to be welcomed; not to hinder is to speed the cause.\nAnd therefore Jesus, repeating a former saying, adds that whosoever, moved\nby the name of Christ, shall give His followers one cup of water, shall be\nrewarded. He may be and continue outside the Church; his after life may be\nsadly inconsistent with this one action: that is not the question; the\nsole condition is the genuine motive\u2014one impulse of true respect, one\nflicker of loyalty, only decided enough to speed the weary ambassador with\nthe simplest possible refreshment, should \u201cin no wise lose its reward.\u201d\nDoes this imply that the giver should assuredly enter heaven? Alas, no.\nBut this it says, that every spark of fire in the smoking flax is tended,\nevery gracious movement is answered by a gift of further grace, to employ\nor to abuse. Not more surely is the thirsty disciple refreshed, than the\nfeverish worldliness of him who just attains to render this service is\nfanned and cooled by breezes from heaven, he becomes aware of a deeper and\nnobler life, he is melted and drawn towards better things. Very blessed,\nor very miserable is he who cannot remember the holy shame, the yearning,\nthe sigh because he is not always thus, which followed naturally upon some\ndeed, small in itself perhaps, but good enough to be inconsistent with his\nbaser self. The deepening of spiritual capacity is one exceeding great\nreward of every act of loyalty to Christ.\n\nThis was graciously said of a deed done to the apostles, despite their\nfailures, rivalries, and rebukes of those who would fain speed the common\ncause. Not, however, because they were apostles, but \u201cbecause ye are\nChrist\u2019s.\u201d And so was the least, so was the child who clung to Him. But if\nthe slightest sympathy with these is thus laden with blessing, then to\nhinder, to cause to stumble one such little one, how terrible was that.\nBetter to die a violent and shameful death, and never sleep in a peaceful\ngrave.\n\nThere is a worse peril than from others. We ourselves may cause ourselves\nto stumble. We may pervert beyond recall things innocent, natural, all but\nnecessary, things near and dear and useful to our daily life as are our\nvery limbs. The loss of them may be so lasting a deprivation that we shall\nenter heaven maimed. But if the moral evil is irrevocably identified with\nthe worldly good, we must renounce it.\n\nThe hand with its subtle and marvellous power may well stand for harmless\naccomplishments now fraught with evil suggestiveness; for innocent modes\nof livelihood which to relinquish means crippled helplessness, yet which\nhave become hopelessly entangled with unjust or at least questionable\nways; for the great possessions, honestly come by, which the ruler would\nnot sell; for all endowments which we can no longer hope to consecrate,\nand which make one resemble the old Chaldeans, whose might was their god,\nwho sacrificed to their net and burned incense to their drag.\n\nAnd the foot, with its swiftness in boyhood, its plodding walk along the\npavement in maturer age, may well represent the caprices of youth so hard\nto curb, and also the half-mechanical habits which succeed to these, and\nby which manhood is ruled, often to its destruction. If the hand be\ncapacity, resource, and possession, the foot is swift perilous impulse,\nand also fixed habitude, monotonous recurrence, the settled ways of the\nworld.\n\nCut off hand and foot, and what is left to the mutilated trunk, the\nravaged and desolated life? Desire is left; the desire of the eyes. The\neyes may not touch the external world; all may now be correct in our\nactions and intercourse with men. But yet greed, passion, inflamed\nimagination may desecrate the temple of the soul. The eyes misled Eve when\nshe saw that the fruit was good, and David on his palace roof. Before the\neyes of Jesus, Satan spread his third and worst temptation. And our Lord\nseems to imply that this last sacrifice of the worst because the deepest\nevil must be made with indignant vehemence; hand and foot must be cut off,\nbut the eye must be cast out, though life be half darkened in the process.\n\nThese latter days have invented a softer gospel, which proclaims that even\nthe fallen err if they utterly renounce any good creature of God, which\nought to be received with thanksgiving; that the duty of moderation and\nself-control can never be replaced by renunciation, and that distrust of\nany lawful enjoyment revives the Manichean heresy. Is the eye a good\ncreature of God? May the foot be received with thanksgiving? Is the hand a\nsource of lawful enjoyment? Yet Jesus made these the types of what must,\nif it has become an occasion of stumbling, be entirely cast away.\n\nHe added that in such cases the choice is between mutilation and the loss\nof all. It is no longer a question of the full improvement of every\nfaculty, the doubling of all the talents, but a choice between living a\nlife impoverished and half spoiled, and going complete to Gehenna, to the\ncharnel valley where the refuse of Jerusalem was burned in a continual\nfire, and the worm of corruption never died. The expression is too\nmetaphorical to decide such questions as that of the eternal duration of\npunishment, or of the nature of the suffering of the lost. The metaphors\nof Jesus, however, are not employed to exaggerate His meaning, but only to\nexpress it. And what He said is this: The man who cherishes one dear and\nexcusable occasion of offence, who spares himself the keenest spiritual\nsurgery, shall be cast forth with everything that defileth, shall be\nejected with the offal of the New Jerusalem, shall suffer corruption like\nthe transgressors of whom Isaiah first used the tremendous phrase, \u201ctheir\nworm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched,\u201d shall endure at\nonce internal and external misery, as of decomposition and of burning.\n\nSuch is the most terrible menace that ever crossed the lips into which\ngrace was poured. And it was not addressed to the outcast or the Pharisee,\nbut to His own. They were called to the highest life; on them the\ninfluences of the world was to be as constant and as disintegrating as\nthat of the weather upon a mountain top. Therefore they needed solemn\nwarning, and the counter-pressure of those awful issues known to be\ndependent on their stern self-discipline. They could not, He said in an\nobscure passage which has been greatly tampered with, they could not\nescape fiery suffering in some form. But the fire which tried would\npreserve and bless them if they endured it; every one shall be salted with\nfire. But if they who ought to be the salt of the world received the grace\nof God in vain, if the salt have lost its saltness, the case is desperate\nindeed.\n\nAnd since the need of this solemn warning sprang from their rivalry and\npartizanship, Jesus concludes with an emphatic charge to discipline and\ncorrect themselves and to beware of impeding others: to be searching in\nthe closet, and charitable in the church: to have salt in yourselves, and\nbe at peace with one another.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\n\n\n\nDivorce.\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. And there came unto Him\n    Pharisees, and asked Him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his\n    wife? tempting Him. And He answered and said unto them, What did\n    Moses command you? And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill\n    of divorcement, and to put her away. But Jesus said unto them, For\n    your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. But from the\n    beginning of the creation, Male and female made He them. For this\n    cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to\n    his wife; and the twain shall become one flesh: so that they are\n    no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined\n    together, let no man put asunder. And in the house the disciples\n    asked Him again of this matter. And He saith unto them, Whosoever\n    shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery\n    against her: and if she herself shall put away her husband, and\n    marry another, she committeth adultery.\u201d\u2014MARK x. 1-12 (R.V.).\n\n\nIt is easy to read without emotion that Jesus arose from the scene of His\nlast discourse, and came into the borders of Jud\u00e6a beyond Jordan. But not\nwithout emotion did Jesus bid farewell to Galilee, to the home of His\nchildhood and sequestered youth, the cradle of His Church, the centre of\nnearly all the love and faith He had awakened. When closer still to death,\nHis heart reverted to Galilee, and He promised that when He was risen He\nwould go thither before His disciples. Now He had to leave it. And we must\nnot forget that every step He took towards Jerusalem was a deliberate\napproach to His assured and anticipated cross. He was not like other brave\nmen, who endure death when it arrives, but are sustained until the crisis\nby a thousand flattering hopes and undefined possibilities. Jesus knew\nprecisely where and how He should suffer. And now, as He arose from\nGalilee, every step said, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God.\n\nAs soon as He entered Perea beyond Jordan, multitudes came to Him again.\nNor did His burdened heart repress His zeal: rather He found relief in\ntheir importunity and in His Father\u2019s business, and so, \u201cas He was wont,\nHe taught them again.\u201d These simple words express the rule He lived by,\nthe patient continuance in well-doing which neither hostilities nor\nanxieties could chill.\n\nNot long was He left undisturbed. The Pharisees come to Him with a\nquestion dangerous in itself, because there is no conceivable answer which\nwill not estrange many, and especially dangerous for Jesus, because\nalready, on the Mount, He has spoken upon this subject words at seeming\nvariance with His free views concerning sabbath observance, fasting, and\nceremonial purity. Most perilous of all was the decision they expected\nwhen given by a teacher already under suspicion, and now within reach of\nthat Herod who had, during the lifetime of his first wife, married the\nwife of a living man. \u201cIs it lawful for a man to put away his wife for\nevery cause?\u201d It was a decision upon this very subject which had proved\nfatal to the forerunner.\n\nBut Jesus spoke out plainly. In a question and answer which are variously\nreported, what is clear is that He carefully distinguished between a\ncommand and a permission of Moses. Divorce had been allowed; yes, but some\nreason had been exacted, whatever disputes might exist about its needful\ngravity, and deliberation had been enforced by demanding a legal document,\na writing of divorcement. Thus conscience was bidden to examine its\nmotives, and time was gained for natural relentings. But after all, Jesus\ndeclared that divorce was only a concession to their hardness of heart.\nThus we learn that Old Testament institutions were not all and of\nnecessity an expression of the Divine ideal. They were sometimes a\ntemporary concession, meant to lead to better things; an expedient rather\nthan a revelation.\n\nThese words contain the germ of St. Paul\u2019s doctrine that the law itself\nwas a schoolmaster, and its function temporary.\n\nTo whatever concessions Moses had been driven, the original and unshaken\ndesign of God was that man and woman should find the permanent completion\nof their lives each in the other. And this is shown by three separate\nconsiderations. The first is the plan of the creation, making them male\nand female, and such that body and soul alike are only perfect when to\neach its complement is added, when the masculine element and the feminine\n\u201ceach fulfils defect in each ... the two-celled heart beating with one\nfull stroke life.\u201d Thus by anticipation Jesus condemned the tame-spirited\nverdict of His disciples, that since a man cannot relieve himself from a\nunion when it proves galling, \u201cit is not good\u201d to marry at all. To this he\ndistinctly answered that such an inference could not prove even tolerable,\nexcept when nature itself, or else some social wrong, or else absorbing\ndevotion to the cause of God, virtually cancelled the original design. But\nalready he had here shown that such prudential calculation degrades man,\nleaves him incomplete, traverses the design of God Who from the beginning\nof the creation made them male and female. In our own days, the relation\nbetween the sexes is undergoing a social and legislative revolution. Now\nChrist says not a word against the equal rights of the sexes, and in more\nthan one passage St. Paul goes near to assert it. But equality is not\nidentity, either of vocation or capacity. This text asserts the separate\nand reciprocal vocation of each, and it is worthy of consideration, how\nfar the special vocation of womanhood is consistent with loud assertion of\nher \u201cseparate rights.\u201d\n\nChrist\u2019s second proof that marriage cannot be dissolved without sin is\nthat glow of heart, that noble abandonment, in which a man leaves even\nfather and mother for the joy of his youth and the love of his espousals.\nIn that sacred hour, how hideous and base a wanton divorce would be felt\nto be. Now man is not free to live by the mean, calculating, selfish\nafterthought, which breathes like a frost on the bloom of his noblest\nimpulses and aspirations. He should guide himself by the light of his\nhighest and most generous intuitions.\n\nAnd the third reason is that no man, by any possibility, can undo what\nmarriage does. They two are one flesh; each has become part of the very\nexistence of the other; and it is simply incredible that a union so\nprofound, so interwoven with the very tissue of their being, should lie at\nthe mercy of the caprice or the calculations of one or other, or of both.\nSuch a union arises from the profoundest depths of the nature God created,\nnot from mean cravings of that nature in its degradation; and like waters\nspringing up from the granite underneath the soil, it may suffer stain,\nbut it is in itself free from the contamination of the fall. Despite of\nmonkish and of Manichean slanders, impure dreams pretending to especial\npurity, God is He Who joins together man and woman in a bond which \u201cno\nman,\u201d king or prelate, may without guilt dissolve.\n\nOf what followed, St. Mark is content to tell us that in the house, the\ndisciples pressed the question further. How far did the relaxation which\nMoses granted over-rule the original design? To what extent was every\nindividual bound in actual life? And the answer, given by Jesus to guide\nHis own people through all time, is clear and unmistakeable. The tie\ncannot be torn asunder without sin. The first marriage holds, until actual\nadultery poisons the pure life in it, and man or woman who breaks through\nits barriers commits adultery. The Baptist\u2019s judgment of Herod was\nconfirmed.\n\nSo Jesus taught. Ponder well that honest unshrinking grasp of solid\ndetail, which did not overlook the physical union whereof is one flesh,\nthat sympathy with high and chivalrous devotion forsaking all else for its\nbeloved one, that still more spiritual penetration which discerned a\nDivine purpose and a destiny in the correlation of masculine and feminine\ngifts, of strength and grace, of energy and gentleness, of courage and\nlong-suffering\u2014observe with how easy and yet firm a grasp He combines all\nthese into one overmastering argument\u2014remember that when He spoke, the\nmarriage tie was being relaxed all over the ancient world, even as godless\nlegislation is to-day relaxing it\u2014reflect that with such relaxation came\ninevitably a blight upon the family, resulting in degeneracy and ruin for\nthe nation, while every race which learned the lesson of Jesus grew strong\nand pure and happy\u2014and then say whether this was only a Jud\u00e6an peasant, or\nthe Light of the World indeed.\n\n\n\n\nChrist And Little Children.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd they brought unto Him little children, that He should touch\n    them: and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, He\n    was moved with indignation, and said unto them, Suffer the little\n    children to come unto Me; forbid them not: for of such is the\n    kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive\n    the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall in no wise enter\n    therein. And He took them in His arms, and blessed them, laying\n    His hands upon them.\u201d\u2014MARK x. 13-16 (R.V.).\n\n\nThis beautiful story gains new loveliness from its context. The disciples\nhad weighed the advantages and disadvantages of marriage, and decided in\ntheir calculating selfishness, that the prohibition of divorce made it\n\u201cnot good for a man to marry.\u201d But Jesus had regarded the matter from\nquite a different position; and their saying could only be received by\nthose to whom special reasons forbade the marriage tie. It was then that\nthe fair blossom and opening flower of domestic life, the tenderness and\nwinning grace of childhood, appealed to them for a softer judgment. Little\nchildren (St. Luke says \u201cbabes\u201d) were brought to Him to bless, to touch\nthem. It was a remarkable sight. He was just departing from Perea on His\nlast journey to Jerusalem. The nation was about to abjure its King and\nperish, after having invoked His blood to be not on them only, but on\ntheir children. But here were some at least of the next generation led by\nparents who revered Jesus, to receive His blessing. And who shall dare to\nlimit the influence exerted by that benediction on their future lives? Is\nit forgotten that this very Perea was the haven of refuge for Jewish\nbelievers when the wrath fell upon their nation? Meanwhile the fresh smile\nof their unconscious, unstained, unforeboding infancy met the grave smile\nof the all-conscious, death-boding Man of Sorrows, as much purer as it was\nmore profound.\n\nBut the disciples were not melted. They were occupied with grave\nquestions. Babes could understand nothing, and therefore could receive no\nconscious intelligent enlightenment. What then could Jesus do for them?\nMany wise persons are still of quite the same opinion. No spiritual\ninfluences, they tell us, can reach the soul until the brain is capable of\ndrawing logical distinctions. A gentle mother may breathe softness and\nlove into a child\u2019s nature, or a harsh nurse may jar and disturb its\ntemper, until the effects are as visible on the plastic face as is the\nsunshine or storm upon the bosom of a lake; but for the grace of God there\nis no opening yet. As if soft and loving influences are not themselves a\ngrace of God. As if the world were given certain odds in the race, and the\npowers of heaven were handicapped. As if the young heart of every child\nwere a place where sin abounds (since he is a fallen creature, with an\noriginal tendency towards evil), but where grace doth not at all abound.\nSuch is the unlovely theory. And as long as it prevails in the Church we\nneed not wonder at the compensating error of rationalism, denying evil\nwhere so many of us deny grace. It is the more amiable error of the two.\nSince then the disciples could not believe that edification was for babes,\nthey naturally rebuked those that brought them. Alas, how often still does\nthe beauty and innocence of childhood appeal to men in vain. And this is\nso, because we see not the Divine grace, \u201cthe kingdom of heaven,\u201d in\nthese. Their weakness chafes our impatience, their simplicity irritates\nour worldliness, and their touching helplessness and trustfulness do not\nfind in us heart enough for any glad response.\n\nIn ancient times they had to pass through the fire to Moloch, and since\nthen through other fires: to fashion when mothers leave them to the hired\nkindness of a nurse, to selfishness when their want appeals to our\ncharities in vain, and to cold dogmatism, which would banish them from the\nbaptismal font, as the disciples repelled them from the embrace of Jesus.\nBut He was moved with indignation, and reiterated, as men do when they\nfeel deeply, \u201cSuffer the little children to come unto Me; forbid them\nnot.\u201d And He added this conclusive reason, \u201cfor of such,\u201d of children and\nchildlike men, \u201cis the kingdom of God.\u201d\n\nWhat is the meaning of this remarkable assertion? To answer aright, let us\nreturn in fancy to the morning of our days; let our flesh, and all our\nprimitive being, come back to us as those of a little child.\n\nWe were not faultless then. The theological dogma of original sin, however\nunwelcome to many, is in harmony with all experience. Impatience is there,\nand many a childish fault; and graver evils develop as surely as life\nunfolds, just as weeds show themselves in summer, the germs of which were\nalready mingled with the better seed in spring. It is plain to all\nobservers that the weeds of human nature are latent in the early soil,\nthat this is not pure at the beginning of each individual life. Does not\nour new-fangled science explain this fact by telling us that we have still\nin our blood the transmitted influences of our ancestors the brutes?\n\nBut Christ never meant to say that the kingdom of heaven was only for the\nimmaculate and stainless. If converted men receive it, in spite of many a\nhaunting appetite and recurring lust, then the frailties of our babes\nshall not forbid us to believe the blessed assurance that the kingdom is\nalso theirs.\n\nHow many hindrances to the Divine life fall away from us, as our fancy\nrecalls our childhood. What weary and shameful memories, base hopes,\ntawdry splendours, envenomed pleasures, entangling associations vanish,\nwhat sins need to be confessed no longer, how much evil knowledge fades\nout that we never now shall quite unlearn, which haunts the memory even\nthough the conscience be absolved from it. The days of our youth are not\nthose evil days, when anything within us saith, My soul hath no pleasure\nin the ways of God.\n\nWhen we ask to what especial qualities of childhood did Jesus attach so\ngreat value, two kindred attributes are distinctly indicated in Scripture.\n\nOne is humility. The previous chapter showed us a little child set in the\nmidst of the emulous disciples, whom Christ instructed that the way to be\ngreatest was to become like this little child, the least.\n\nA child is not humble through affectation, it never professes nor thinks\nabout humility. But it understands, however imperfectly, that it is beset\nby mysterious and perilous forces, which it neither comprehends nor can\ngrapple with. And so are we. Therefore all its instincts and experiences\nteach it to submit, to seek guidance, not to put its own judgment in\ncompetition with those of its appointed guides. To them, therefore, it\nclings and is obedient.\n\nWhy is it not so with us? Sadly we also know the peril of self-will, the\nmisleading power of appetite and passion, the humiliating failures which\ntrack the steps of self-assertion, the distortion of our judgments, the\nfeebleness of our wills, the mysteries of life and death amid which we\ngrope in vain. Milton anticipated Sir Isaac Newton in describing the\nwisest\n\n\n    \u201cAs children gathering pebbles on the shore.\u201d\n\n    _Par. Reg._, iv. 330.\n\n\nAnd if this be so true in the natural world that its sages become as\nlittle children, how much more in those spiritual realms for which our\nfaculties are still so infantile, and of which our experience is so\nrudimentary. We should all be nearer to the kingdom, or greater in it, if\nwe felt our dependence, and like the child were content to obey our Guide\nand cling to Him.\n\nThe second childlike quality to which Christ attached value was readiness\nto receive simply. Dependence naturally results from humility. Man is\nproud of his independence only because he relies on his own powers; when\nthese are paralysed, as in the sickroom or before the judge, he is willing\nagain to become a child in the hands of a nurse or of an advocate. In the\nrealm of the spirit these natural powers are paralysed. Learning cannot\nresist temptation, nor wealth expiate a sin. And therefore, in the\nspiritual world, we are meant to be dependent and receptive.\n\nChrist taught, in the Sermon on the Mount, that to those who asked Him,\nGod would give His Spirit as earthly parents give good things to their\nchildren. Here also we are taught to accept, to receive the kingdom as\nlittle children, not flattering ourselves that our own exertions can\ndispense with the free gift, not unwilling to become pensioners of heaven,\nnot distrustful of the heart which grants, not finding the bounties\nirksome which are prompted by a Fathers\u2019 love. What can be more charming\nin its gracefulness than the reception of a favour by an affectionate\nchild. His glad and confident enjoyment are a picture of what ours might\nbe.\n\nSince children receive the kingdom, and are a pattern for us in doing so,\nit is clear that they do not possess the kingdom as a natural right, but\nas a gift. But since they do receive it, they must surely be capable of\nreceiving also that sacrament which is the sign and seal of it. It is a\nstartling position indeed which denies admission into the visible Church\nto those of whom is the kingdom of God. It is a position taken up only\nbecause many, who would shrink from any such avowal, half-unconsciously\nbelieve that God becomes gracious to us only when His grace is attracted\nby skilful movements upon our part, by conscious and well-instructed\nefforts, by penitence, faith and orthodoxy. But whatever soul is capable\nof any taint of sin must be capable of compensating influences of the\nSpirit, by Whom Jeremiah was sanctified, and the Baptist was filled, even\nbefore their birth into this world (Jer. i. 5; Luke i. 15). Christ\nHimself, in Whom dwelt bodily all the fulness of the Godhead, was not\ntherefore incapable of the simplicity and dependence of infancy.\n\nHaving taught His disciples this great lesson, Jesus let His affections\nloose. He folded the children in His tender and pure embrace, and blessed\nthem much, laying His hands on them, instead of merely touching them. He\nblessed them not because they were baptized. But we baptize our children,\nbecause all such have received the blessing, and are clasped in the arms\nof the Founder of the Church.\n\n\n\n\nThe Rich Inquirer.\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\u2014MARK x. 17-22 (R.V.).\n\n\nThe excitement stirred by our Lord\u2019s teaching must often have shown itself\nin a scene of eagerness like this which St. Mark describes so well. The\nSaviour is just \u201cgoing forth\u201d when one rushes to overtake Him, and kneels\ndown to Him, full of the hope of a great discovery. He is so frank, so\ninnocent and earnest, as to win the love of Jesus. And yet he presently\ngoes away, not as he came, but with a gloomy forehead and a heavy heart,\nand doubtless with slow reluctance.\n\nThe authorities were now in such avowed opposition that to be Christ\u2019s\ndisciple was disgraceful if not dangerous to a man of mark. Yet no fear\nwithheld this young ruler who had so much to lose; he would not come by\nnight, like Nicodemus before the storm had gathered which was now so dark;\nhe openly avowed his belief in the goodness of the Master, and his own\nignorance of some great secret which Jesus could reveal.\n\nThere is indeed a charming frankness in his bearing, so that we admire\neven his childlike assertion of his own virtues, while the heights of a\nnobility yet unattained are clearly possible for one so dissatisfied, so\nanxious for a higher life, so urgent in his questioning, What shall I do?\nWhat lack I yet? That is what makes the difference between the Pharisee\nwho thanks God that he is not as other men, and this youth who has kept\nall the commandments, yet would fain be other than he is, and readily\nconfesses that all is not enough, that some unknown act still awaits\nachievement. The goodness which thinks itself upon the summit will never\ntoil much farther. The conscience that is really awake cannot be\nsatisfied, but is perplexed rather and baffled by the virtues of a dutiful\nand well-ordered life. For a chasm ever yawns between the actual and the\nideal, what we have done and what we fain would do. And a spiritual glory,\nundefined and perhaps undefinable, floats ever before the eyes of all men\nwhom the god of this world has not blinded. This inquirer honestly thinks\nhimself not far from the great attainment; he expects to reach it by some\ntranscendant act, some great deed done, and for this he has no doubt of\nhis own prowess, if only he were well directed. What shall I do that I may\nhave eternal life, not of grace, but as a debt\u2014that I may inherit it? Thus\nhe awaits direction upon the road where heathenism and semi-heathen\nChristianity are still toiling, and all who would purchase the gift of God\nwith money or toil or merit or bitterness of remorseful tears.\n\nOne easily foresees that the reply of Jesus will disappoint and humble\nhim, but it startles us to see him pointed back to works and to the law of\nMoses.\n\nAgain, we observe that what this inquirer seeks he very earnestly believes\nJesus to have attained. And it is no mean tribute to the spiritual\nelevation of our Lord, no doubtful indication that amid perils and\ncontradictions and on His road to the cross the peace of God sat visibly\nupon His brow, that one so pure and yet so keenly aware that his own\nvirtue sufficed not, and that the kingdom of God was yet unattained,\nshould kneel in the dust before the Nazarene, and beseech this good Master\nto reveal to him all his questioning. It was a strange request, and it was\ngranted in an unlooked for way. The demand of the Chaldean tyrant that his\nforgotten dream should be interpreted was not so extravagant as this, that\nthe defect in an unknown career should be discovered. It was upon a lofty\npedestal indeed that this ruler placed our Lord.\n\nAnd yet his question supplies the clue to that answer of Christ which has\nperplexed so many. The youth is seeking for himself a purely human merit,\nindigenous and underived. And the same, of course, is what he ascribes to\nJesus, to Him who is so far from claiming independent human attainment, or\nprofessing to be what this youth would fain become, that He said, \u201cThe Son\ncan do nothing of Himself ... I can of Mine own self do nothing.\u201d The\nsecret of His human perfection is the absolute dependence of His humanity\nupon God, with Whom He is one. No wonder then that He repudiates any such\ngoodness as the ruler had in view.\n\nThe Socinian finds quite another meaning in His reply, and urges that by\nthese words Jesus denied His Deity. There is none good but one, That is\nGod, was a reason why He should not be called so. Jesus however does not\nremonstrate absolutely against being called good, but against being thus\naddressed from this ruler\u2019s point of view, by one who regards Him as a\nmere teacher and expects to earn the same title for himself. And indeed\nthe Socinian who appeals to this text grasps a sword by the blade. For if\nit denied Christ\u2019s divinity it must exactly to the same extent deny also\nChrist\u2019s goodness, which he admits. Now it is beyond question that Jesus\ndiffered from all the saints in the serene confidence with which He\nregarded the moral law, from the time when He received the baptism of\nrepentance only that He might fulfil all righteousness, to the hour when\nHe cried, \u201cWhy hast Thou forsaken Me?\u201d and although deserted, claimed God\nas still His God. The saints of to-day were the penitents of yesterday.\nBut He has finished the work that was given Him to do. He knows that God\nhears Him always, and in Him the Prince of this world hath nothing. And\nyet there is none good but God. Who then is He? If this saying does not\nconfess what is intolerable to a reverential Socinian, what Strauss and\nRenan shrank from insinuating, what is alien to the whole spirit of the\nGospels, and assuredly far from the mind of the evangelists, then it\nclaims all that His Church rejoices to ascribe to Christ.\n\nMoreover Jesus does not deny even to ordinary men the possibility of being\n\u201cgood.\u201d\n\nA good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good\nthings. Some shall hear at last the words, Well done, good and faithful\nservant. The children of the kingdom are good seed among the tares.\nClearly His repugnance is not to the epithet, but to the spirit in which\nit is bestowed, to the notion that goodness can spring spontaneously from\nthe soil of our humanity. But there is nothing here to discourage the\nhighest aspirations of the trustful and dependent soul, who looks for more\ngrace.\n\nThe doctrinal importance of this remarkable utterance is what most affects\nus, who look back through the dust of a hundred controversies. But it was\nvery secondary at the time, and what the ruler doubtless felt most was a\nchill sense of repression and perhaps despair. It was indeed the\ndeath-knell of his false hopes. For if only God is good, how can any\nmortal inherit eternal life by a good deed? And Jesus goes on to deepen\nthis conviction by words which find a wonderful commentary in St. Paul\u2019s\ndoctrine of the function of the law. It was to prepare men for the gospel\nby a challenge, by revealing the standard of true righteousness, by saying\nto all who seek to earn heaven, \u201cThe man that doeth these things shall\nlive by them.\u201d The attempt was sure to end in failure, for, \u201cby the law is\nthe knowledge of sin.\u201d It was exactly upon this principle that Jesus said\n\u201cKeep the commandments,\u201d spiritualizing them, as St. Matthew tells us, by\nadding to the injunctions of the second table, \u201cThou shalt love thy\nneighbour as thyself,\u201d which saying, we know, briefly comprehends them\nall.\n\nBut the ruler knew not how much he loved himself: his easy life had met no\nsearching and stern demand until now, and his answer has a tone of relief,\nafter the ominous words he had first heard. \u201cMaster,\u201d and he now drops the\nquestionable adjective, \u201call these have I kept from my youth;\u201d these never\nwere so burdensome that he should despair; not these, he thinks, inspired\nthat unsatisfied longing for some good thing yet undone. We pity and\nperhaps blame the shallow answer, and the dull perception which it\nbetrayed. But Jesus looked on him and loved him. And well it is for us\nthat no eyes fully discern our weakness but those which were so often\nfilled with sympathetic tears. He sees error more keenly than the sharpest\ncritic, but he sees earnestness too. And the love which desired all souls\nwas attracted especially by one who had felt from his youth up the\nobligation of the moral law, and had not consciously transgressed it.\n\nThis is not the teaching of those vile proverbs which declare that wild\noats must be sown if one would reap good corn, and that the greater the\nsinner the greater will be the saint.\n\nNay, even religionists of the sensational school delight in the past\niniquities of those they honour, not only to glorify God for their\nrecovery, nor with the joy which is in the presence of the angels over one\nsinner that repenteth, but as if these possess through their former\nwickedness some passport to special service now. Yet neither in Scripture\nnor in the history of the Church will it appear that men of licentious\nrevolt against known laws have attained to usefulness of the highest\norder. The Baptist was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother\u2019s womb.\nThe Apostle of the Gentiles was blameless as touching the righteousness of\nthe law. And each Testament has a special promise for those who seek the\nLord early, who seek His kingdom and righteousness first. The undefiled\nare nearest to the throne.\n\nNow mark how endearing, how unlike the stern zeal of a propagandist, was\nChrist\u2019s tender and loving gaze; and hear the encouraging promise of\nheavenly treasure, and offer of His own companionship, which presently\nsoftened the severity of His demand; and again, when all failed, when His\nfollowers doubtless scorned the deserter, ponder the truthful and\ncompassionate words, How hard it is!\n\nYet will Christ teach him how far the spirit of the law pierces, since the\nletter has not wrought the knowledge of sin. If he loves his neighbour as\nhimself, let his needier neighbour receive what he most values. If he\nloves God supremely, let him be content with treasure in the hands of God,\nand with a discipleship which shall ever reveal to him, more and more\nprofoundly, the will of God, the true nobility of man, and the way to that\neternal life he seeks.\n\nThe socialist would justify by this verse a universal confiscation. But he\nforgets that the spirit which seizes all is widely different from that\nwhich gives all freely: that Zacch\u00e6us retained half his goods; that Joseph\nof Arimathea was rich; that the property of Ananias was his own, and when\nhe sold it the price was in his own power; that St. James warned the rich\nin this world only against trusting in riches instead of trusting God, who\ngave them all richly, for enjoyment, although not to be confided in. Soon\nafter this Jesus accepted a feast from his friends in Bethany, and rebuked\nJudas who complained that a costly luxury had not been sold for the\nbenefit of the poor. Why then is his demand now so absolute? It is simply\nan application of his bold universal rule, that every cause of stumbling\nmust be sacrificed, be it innocent as hand or foot or eye. And affluent\nindeed would be all the charities and missions of the Church in these\nlatter days, if the demand were obeyed in cases where it really applies,\nif every luxury which enervates and all pomp which intoxicates were\nsacrificed, if all who know that wealth is a snare to them corrected their\nweakness by rigorous discipline, their unfruitfulness by a sharp pruning\nof superfluous frondage.\n\nThe rich man neither remonstrated nor defended himself. His\nself-confidence gave way. He felt that what he could not persuade himself\nto do was a \u201cgood thing.\u201d And he who came running went away sorrowful, and\nwith a face \u201clowering\u201d like the sky which forebodes \u201cfoul weather.\u201d That\nis too often the issue of such vaunting offers. Yet feeling his weakness,\nand neither resisting nor upbraiding the faithfulness which exposes him,\ndoubtless he was long disquieted by new desires, a strange sense of\nfailure and unworthiness, a clearer vision of that higher life which had\nalready haunted his reveries. Henceforward he had no choice but to sink to\na baser contentment, or else rise to a higher self-devotion. Who shall\nsay, because he failed to decide then, that he persisted for ever in the\ngreat refusal? Yet was it a perilous and hardening experience, and it was\neasier henceforward to live below his ideal, when once he had turned away\nfrom Christ. Nor is there any reason to doubt that the inner circle of our\nLord\u2019s immediate followers was then for ever closed against him.\n\n\n\n\nWho Then Can Be Saved?\n\n\n    \u201cAnd Jesus looked round about, and saith unto His disciples, How\n    hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!\n    And the disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus answereth\n    again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that\n    trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for\n    a camel to go through a needle\u2019s eye, than for a rich man to enter\n    into the kingdom of God. And they were astonished exceedingly,\n    saying unto Him, Then who can be saved? Jesus looking upon them\n    saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for all things\n    are possible with God. Peter began to say unto Him, Lo, we have\n    left all, and have followed thee. Jesus said, Verily I say unto\n    you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or\n    sisters, or mother, or father, or children, or lands, for my sake,\n    and for the gospel\u2019s sake, but he shall receive a hundredfold now\n    in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and\n    children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come\n    eternal life. But many that are first shall be last; and the last\n    first.\u201d\u2014MARK x. 23-31 (R.V.).\n\n\nAs the rich man turned away with the arrow in his breast, Jesus looked\nround about on His disciples. The Gospels, and especially St. Mark, often\nmention the gaze of Jesus, and all who know the power of an intense and\npure nature silently searching others, the piercing intuition, the calm\njudgment which sometimes looks out of holy eyes, can well understand the\nreason. Disappointed love was in His look, and that compassionate protest\nagainst harsh judgments which presently went on to admit that the\nnecessary demand was hard. Some, perhaps, who had begun to scorn the ruler\nin his defeat, were reminded of frailties of their own, and had to ask,\nShall I next be judged? And one was among them, pilfering from the bag\nwhat was intended for the poor, to whom that look of Christ must have been\nvery terrible. Unless we remember Judas, we shall not comprehend all the\nfitness of the repeated and earnest warnings of Jesus against\ncovetousness. Never was secret sin dealt with so faithfully as his.\n\nAnd now Jesus, as He looks around, says, \u201cHow hardly shall they that have\nriches enter into the kingdom of God.\u201d But the disciples were amazed. To\nthe ancient Jew, from Abraham to Solomon, riches appeared to be a sign of\nthe Divine favour, and if the pathetic figure of Job reminded him how much\nsorrow might befall the just, yet the story showed even him at the end\nmore prosperous than at the beginning. In the time of Jesus, the chiefs of\ntheir religion were greedily using their position as a means of amassing\nenormous fortunes. To be told that wealth was a positive hindrance on the\nway to God was wonderful indeed.\n\nWhen Jesus modified His utterance, it was not to correct Himself, like one\nwho had heedlessly gone beyond His meaning. His third speech reiterated\nthe first, declaring that a manifest and proverbial physical impossibility\nwas not so hard as for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, here or\nhereafter. But He interposed a saying which both explained the first one\nand enlarged its scope. \u201cChildren\u201d He begins, like one who pitied their\ninexperience and dealt gently with their perplexities, \u201cChildren, how hard\nis it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God.\u201d And\ntherefore is it hard for all the rich, since they must wrestle against\nthis temptation to trust in their possessions. It is exactly in this\nspirit that St. James, who quoted Jesus more than any of the later writers\nof Scripture, charges the rich that they be not high-minded, nor trust in\nuncertain riches, but in the living God. Immediately before, Jesus had\ntold them how alone the kingdom might be entered, even by becoming as\nlittle children; lowly, dependent, willing to receive all at the hands of\na superior. Would riches help them to do this? Is it easier to pray for\ndaily bread when one has much goods laid up for many years? Is it easier\nto feel that God alone can make us drink of true pleasures as of a river,\nwhen a hundred luxuries and indulgences lull us in sloth or allure us into\nexcess? Hereupon the disciples perceived what was more alarming still,\nthat not alone do rich men trust in riches, but all who confound\npossessions with satisfaction, all who dream that to have much is to be\nblessed, as if property were character. They were right. We may follow the\nguidance of Mammon beckoning from afar, with a trust as idolatrous as if\nwe held his hand. But who could abide a principle so exacting? It was the\nrevelation of a new danger, and they were astonished exceedingly, saying,\nThen who can be saved? Again Jesus looked upon them, with solemn but\nreassuring gaze. They had learned the secret of the new life, the natural\nimpossibility throwing us back in helpless appeal to the powers of the\nworld to come. \u201cWith men it is impossible, but not with God, for all\nthings are possible with God.\u201d\n\nPeter, not easily nor long to be discouraged, now saw ground for hope. If\nthe same danger existed for rich and poor, then either might be encouraged\nby having surmounted it, and the apostles had done what the rich man\nfailed to do\u2014they had left all and followed Jesus. The claim has provoked\nundue censure, as if too much were made out of a very trifling sacrifice,\na couple of boats and a paltry trade. But the objectors have missed the\npoint; the apostles really broke away from the service of the world when\nthey left their nets and followed Jesus. Their world was perhaps a narrow\none, but He Who reckoned two mites a greater offering than the total of\nthe gifts of many rich casting in much, was unlikely to despise a\nfisherman or a publican who laid all his living upon the altar. The fault,\nif fault there were, lay rather in the satisfaction with which Peter\ncontemplates their decision as now irrevocable and secure, so that nothing\nremained except to claim the reward, which St. Matthew tells us he very\ndistinctly did. The young man should have had treasure in heaven: what\nthen should they have?\n\nBut in truth, their hardest battles with worldliness lay still before\nthem, and he who thought he stood might well take heed lest he fell. They\nwould presently unite in censuring a woman\u2019s costly gift to Him, for Whom\nthey professed to have surrendered all. Peter himself would shrink from\nhis Master\u2019s side. And what a satire upon this confident claim would it\nhave been, could the heart of Judas then and there have been revealed to\nthem.\n\nThe answer of our Lord is sufficiently remarkable. St. Matthew tells how\nfrankly and fully He acknowledged their collective services, and what a\nlarge reward He promised, when they should sit with Him on thrones,\njudging their nation. So far was that generous heart from weighing their\nlosses in a worldly scale, or criticizing the form of a demand which was\nnot all unreasonable.\n\nBut St. Mark lays exclusive stress upon other and sobering considerations,\nwhich also St. Matthew has recorded.\n\nThere is a certain tone of egoism in the words, \u201cLo, we ... what shall we\nhave?\u201d And Jesus corrects this in the gentlest way, by laying down such a\ngeneral rule as implies that many others will do the same, \u201cthere is no\nman\u201d whose self sacrifice shall go without its reward.\n\nSecondary and lower motives begin to mingle with the generous ardour of\nself-sacrifice as soon as it is careful to record its losses, and inquire\nabout its wages. Such motives are not absolutely forbidden, but they must\nnever push into the foremost place. The crown of glory animated and\nsustained St. Paul, but it was for Christ, and not for this that he\nsuffered the loss of all things.\n\nJesus accordingly demands purity of motive. The sacrifice must not be for\nambition, even with aspirations prolonged across the frontiers of\neternity: it must be altogether \u201cfor My sake and for the gospel\u2019s sake.\u201d\nAnd here we observe once more the portentous demand of Christ\u2019s person\nupon His followers. They are servants of no ethical or theological system,\nhowever lofty. Christ does not regard Himself and them, as alike devoted\nto some cause above and external to them all. To Him they are to be\nconsecrated, and to the gospel, which, as we have seen, is the story of\nHis Life, Death and Resurrection. For Him they are to break the dearest\nand strongest of earthly ties. He had just proclaimed how indissoluble was\nthe marriage bond. No man should sever those whom God had joined. But St.\nLuke informs us that to forsake even a wife for Christ\u2019s sake, was a deed\nworthy of being rewarded an hundredfold. Nor does He mention any higher\nbeing in whose name the sacrifice is demanded. Now this is at least\nimplicitly the view of His own personality, which some profess to find\nonly in St. John.\n\nAgain, there was perhaps an undertone of complaint in Peter\u2019s question, as\nif no compensation for all their sacrifices were hitherto bestowed. What\nshould their compensation be? But Christ declares that losses endured for\nHim are abundantly repaid on earth, in this present time, and even amid\nthe fires of persecution. Houses and lands are replaced by the\nconsciousness of inviolable shelter and inexhaustible provision. \u201cWhither\nwilt thou betake thyself to find covert?\u201d asks the menacing cardinal; but\nLuther answers, \u201cUnder the heaven of God.\u201d And if dearest friends be\nestranged, or of necessity abandoned, then, in such times of high\nattainment and strong spiritual insight, membership in the Divine family\nis felt to be no unreal tie, and earthly relationships are well recovered\nin the vast fraternity of souls. Brethren, and sisters, and mothers, are\nthus restored an hundredfold; but although a father is also lost, we do\nnot hear that a hundred fathers shall be given back, for in the spiritual\nfamily that place is reserved for One.\n\nLastly, Jesus reminded them that the race was not yet over; that many\nfirst shall be last and the last first. We know how Judas by transgression\nfell, and how the persecuting Saul became not a whit behind the very\nchiefest apostle. But this word remains for the warning and incitement of\nall Christians, even unto the end of the world. There are \u201cmany\u201d such.\n\nNext after this warning, comes yet another prediction of His own\nsuffering, with added circumstances of horror. Would they who were now\nfirst remain faithful? or should another take their bishopric?\n\nWith a darkening heart Judas heard, and made his choice.\n\n\n\n\n[MARK x. 32-34. See MARK viii. 31, p. 219.]\n\n\n\n\nChrist\u2019s Cup And Baptism.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd there came near unto him James and John, the sons of Zebedee,\n    saying unto him, Master, we would that Thou shouldst do for us\n    whatsoever we shall ask of Thee. And He said unto them, What would\n    ye I should do for you? And they said unto Him, Grant unto us that\n    we may sit, one on Thy right hand, and one on _Thy_ left hand, in\n    Thy glory. But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask. Are\n    ye able to drink the cup that I drink? or to be baptized with the\n    baptism that I am baptized with? And they said unto Him, We are\n    able. And Jesus said unto them, The cup that I drink ye shall\n    drink; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be\n    baptized: but to sit on My right hand or on My left hand is not\n    Mine to give: but _it is for them_ for whom it hath been\n    prepared.\u201d\u2014MARK x. 35-40 (R.V.).\n\n\nWe learn from St. Matthew that Salome was associated with her sons, and\nwas indeed the chief speaker in the earlier part of this incident.\n\nAnd her request has commonly been regarded as the mean and shortsighted\nintrigue of an ambitious woman, recklessly snatching at an advantage for\nher family, and unconscious of the stern and steep road to honour in the\nkingdom of Jesus.\n\nNor can we deny that her prayer was somewhat presumptuous, or that it was\nespecially unbecoming to aim at entangling her Lord in a blindfold\npromise, desiring Him to do something undefined, \u201cwhatsoever we shall ask\nof Thee.\u201d Jesus was too discreet to answer otherwise than, \u201cWhat would ye\nthat I should do for you?\u201d And when they asked for the chief seats in the\nglory that was yet to be their Master\u2019s, no wonder that the Ten hearing of\nit, had indignation. But Christ\u2019s answer, and the gentle manner in which\nHe explains His refusal, when a sharp rebuke is what we would expect to\nread, alike suggest that there may have been some softening,\nhalf-justifying circumstance. And this we find in the period at which the\ndaring request was made.\n\nIt was on the road, during the last journey, when a panic had seized the\ncompany; and our Lord, apparently out of the strong craving for sympathy\nwhich possesses the noblest souls, had once more told the Twelve what\ninsults and cruel sufferings lay before Him. It was a time for deep\nsearching of hearts, for the craven to go back and walk no more with Him,\nand for the traitor to think of making His own peace, at any price, with\nHis Master\u2019s foes.\n\nBut this dauntless woman could see the clear sky beyond the storm. Her\nsons shall be loyal, and win the prize, whatever be the hazard, and\nhowever long the struggle.\n\nIgnorant and rash she may have been, but it was no base ambition which\nchose such a moment to declare its unshaken ardour, and claim distinction\nin the kingdom for which so much must be endured.\n\nAnd when the stern price was plainly stated, she and her children were not\nstartled, they conceived themselves able for the baptism and the cup; and\nlittle as they dreamed of the coldness of the waters, and the bitterness\nof the draught, yet Jesus did not declare them to be deceived. He said, Ye\nshall indeed share these.\n\nNor can we doubt that their faith and loyalty refreshed His soul amid so\nmuch that was sad and selfish. He knew indeed on what a dreadful seat He\nwas soon to claim His kingdom, and who should sit upon His right hand and\nHis left. These could not follow Him now, but they should follow Him\nhereafter\u2014one by the brief pang of the earliest apostolic martyrdom, and\nthe other by the longest and sorest experience of that faithless and\nperverse generation.\n\n1. Very significant is the test of worth which Jesus propounds to them:\nnot successful service but endurance; not the active but the passive\ngraces. It is not our test, except in a few brilliant and conspicuous\nmartyrdoms. The Church, like the world, has crowns for learning,\neloquence, energy; it applauds the force by which great things are done.\nThe reformer who abolishes an abuse, the scholar who defends a doctrine,\nthe orator who sways a multitude, and the missionary who adds a new tribe\nto Christendom,\u2014all these are sure of honour. Our loudest plaudits are not\nfor simple men and women, but for high station, genius, and success. But\nthe Lord looketh upon the heart, not the brain or the hand; He values the\nworker, not the work; the love, not the achievement. And, therefore, one\nof the tests He constantly applied was this, the capability for noble\nendurance. We ourselves, in our saner moments, can judge whether it\ndemands more grace to refute a heretic, or to sustain the long inglorious\nagonies of some disease which slowly gnaws away the heart of life. And\ndoubtless among the heroes for whom Christ is twining immortal garlands,\nthere is many a pale and shattered creature, nerveless and unstrung,\ntossing on a mean bed, breathing in imperfect English loftier praises than\nmany an anthem which resounds through cathedral arches, and laying on the\naltar of burnt sacrifice all he has, even his poor frame itself, to be\nracked and tortured without a murmur. Culture has never heightened his\nforehead nor refined his face: we look at him, but little dream what the\nangels see, or how perhaps because of such an one the great places which\nSalome sought were not Christ\u2019s to give away except only to them for whom\nit was prepared. For these, at last, the reward shall be His to give, as\nHe said, \u201cTo him that overcometh will I give to sit down with Me upon My\nthrone.\u201d\n\n2. Significant also are the phrases by which Christ expressed the\nsufferings of His people. Some, which it is possible to escape, are\nvoluntarily accepted for Christ\u2019s sake, as when the Virgin mother bowed\nher head to slander and scorn, and said, \u201cBehold the servant of the Lord,\nbe it unto me according to Thy word.\u201d Such sufferings are a cup\ndeliberately raised by one\u2019s own hand to the reluctant lips. Into other\nsufferings we are plunged: they are inevitable. Malice, ill-health, or\nbereavement plies the scourge; they come on us like the rush of billows in\na storm; they are a deep and dreadful baptism. Or we may say that some\nwoes are external, visible, we are seen to be submerged in them; but\nothers are like the secret ingredients of a bitter draught, which the lips\nknow, but the eye of the bystander cannot analyze. But there is One Who\nknows and rewards; even the Man of Sorrows Who said, The cup which My\nheavenly Father giveth, shall I not drink it?\n\nNow it is this standard of excellence, announced by Jesus, which shall\ngive high place to many of the poor and ignorant and weak, when rank shall\nperish, when tongues shall cease, and when our knowledge, in the blaze of\nnew revelations, shall utterly vanish away, not quenched, but absorbed\nlike the starlight at noon.\n\n3. We observe again that men are not said to drink of another cup as\nbitter, or to be baptized in other waters as chill, as tried their Master;\nbut to share His very baptism and His cup. Not that we can add anything to\nHis all-sufficient sacrifice. Our goodness extendeth not to God. But\nChrist\u2019s work availed not only to reconcile us to the Father, but also to\nelevate and consecrate sufferings which would otherwise have been penal\nand degrading. Accepting our sorrows in the grace of Christ, and receiving\nHim into our hearts, then our sufferings fill up that which is lacking of\nthe afflictions of Christ (Col. i. 24), and at the last He will say, when\nthe glories of heaven are as a robe around Him, \u201cI was hungry, naked,\nsick, and in prison in the person of the least of these.\u201d\n\nHence it is that a special nearness to God has ever been felt in holy\nsorrow, and in the pain of hearts which, amid all clamours and tumults of\nthe world, are hushed and calmed by the example of Him Who was led as a\nlamb to the slaughter.\n\nAnd thus they are not wrong who speak of the Sacrament of Sorrow, for\nJesus, in this passage, applies to it the language of both sacraments.\n\nIt is a harmless superstition even at the worst which brings to the\nbaptism of many noble houses water from the stream where Jesus was\nbaptized by John. But here we read of another and a dread baptism,\nconsecrated by the fellowship of Christ, in depths which plummet never\nsounded, and into which the neophyte goes down sustained by no mortal\nhand.\n\nHere is also the communion of an awful cup. No human minister sets it in\nour trembling hand; no human voice asks, \u201cAre ye able to drink the cup\nthat I drink?\u201d Our lips grow pale, and our blood is chill; but faith\nresponds, \u201cWe are able.\u201d And the tender and pitying voice of our Master,\ntoo loving to spare one necessary pang, responds with the word of doom:\n\u201cThe cup that I drink ye shall drink; and with the baptism that I am\nbaptized withal shall ye be baptized.\u201d Even so: it is enough for the\nservant that he be as his Master.\n\n\n\n\nThe Law Of Greatness.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd when the ten heard it, they began to be moved with\n    indignation concerning James and John. And Jesus called them to\n    Him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to\n    rule over the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great ones\n    exercise authority over them. But it is not so among you; but\n    whosoever would become great among you, shall be your minister:\n    and whosoever would be first among you, shall be servant of all.\n    For verily the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to\n    minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.\u201d\u2014MARK x. 41-45\n    (R.V.).\n\n\nWhen the Ten heard that James and John had asked for the chief places in\nthe kingdom, they proved, by their indignation, that they also nourished\nthe same ambitious desires which they condemned. But Jesus called them to\nHim, for it was not there that angry passions had broken out. And happy\nare they who hear and obey His summons to approach, when, removed from His\npurifying gaze by carelessness or wilfulness, ambition and anger begin to\nexcite their hearts.\n\nNow Jesus addressed them as being aware of their hidden emulation. And His\ntreatment of it is remarkable. He neither condemns, nor praises it, but\nsimply teaches them what Christian greatness means, and the conditions on\nwhich it may be won.\n\nThe greatness of the world is measured by authority and lordliness. Even\nthere it is an uncertain test; for the most real power is often wielded by\nsome anonymous thinker, or by some crafty intriguer, content with the\nsubstance of authority while his puppet enjoys the trappings. Something of\nthis may perhaps be detected in the words, \u201cThey which are accounted to\nrule over the Gentiles lord it over them.\u201d And it is certain that \u201ctheir\ngreat ones exercise authority over them.\u201d But the Divine greatness is a\nmeek and gentle influence. To minister to the Church is better than to\ncommand it, and whoever desires to be the chief must become the servant of\nall. Thus shall whatever is vainglorious and egoistic in our ambition\ndefeat itself; the more one struggles to be great the more he is\ndisqualified: even benefits rendered to others with this object will not\nreally be service done for them but for self; nor will any calculated\nassumption of humility help one to become indeed the least, being but a\nsubtle assertion that he is great, and like the last place in an\necclesiastical procession, when occupied in a self-conscious spirit. And\nthus it comes to pass that the Church knows very indistinctly who are its\ngreatest sons. As the gift of two mites by the widow was greater than that\nof large sums by the rich, so a small service done in the spirit of\nperfect self-effacement,\u2014a service which thought neither of its merit nor\nof its reward, but only of a brother\u2019s need, shall be more in the day of\nreckoning than sacrifices which are celebrated by the historians and sung\nby the poets of the Church. For it may avail nothing to give all my goods\nto feed the poor, and my body to be burned; while a cup of cold water,\nrendered by a loyal hand, shall in no wise lose its reward.\n\nThus Jesus throws open to all men a competition which has no charms for\nflesh and blood. And as He spoke of the entry upon His service, bearing a\ncross, as being the following of Himself, so He teaches us, that the\ngreatness of lowliness, to which we are called, is His own greatness. \u201cFor\nverily the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister.\u201d Not\nhere, not in this tarnished and faded world, would He Who was from\neverlasting with the Father have sought His own ease or honour. But the\nphysician came to them that were sick, and the good Shepherd followed His\nlost sheep until He found it. Now this comparison proves that we also are\nto carry forward the same restoring work, or else we might infer that,\nbecause He came to minister to us, we may accept ministration with a good\nheart. It is not so. We are the light and the salt of the earth, and must\nsuffer with Him that we may also be glorified together.\n\nBut He added another memorable phrase. He came \u201cto give His life a ransom\nin exchange for many.\u201d It is not a question, therefore, of the inspiring\nexample of His life. Something has been forfeited which must be redeemed,\nand Christ has paid the price. Nor is this done only on behalf of many,\nbut in exchange for them.\n\nSo then the crucifixion is not a sad incident in a great career; it is the\nmark towards which Jesus moved, the power by which He redeemed the world.\n\nSurely, we recognise here the echo of the prophet\u2019s words, \u201cThou shalt\nmake His soul an offering for sin ... by His knowledge shall My righteous\nservant justify many, and He shall bear their iniquities\u201d (Isa. liii. 10,\n11).\n\nThe elaborated doctrine of the atonement may not perhaps be here, much\nless the subtleties of theologians who have, to their own satisfaction,\nknown the mind of the Almighty to perfection. But it is beyond reasonable\ncontroversy that in this verse Jesus declared that His sufferings were\nvicarious, and endured in the sinners\u2019 stead.\n\n\n\n\nBartim\u00e6us.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd they come to Jericho: and as He went out from Jericho, with\n    His disciples and a great multitude, the son of Tim\u00e6us, Bartim\u00e6us,\n    a blind beggar, was sitting by the way side. And when he heard\n    that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say,\n    Jesus, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. And many rebuked him,\n    that he should hold his peace: but he cried out the more a great\n    deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still,\n    and said, Call ye him. And they called the blind man, saying unto\n    him, Be of good cheer; rise, He calleth thee. And he, casting away\n    his garment, sprang up, and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered him,\n    and said, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? And the blind\n    man said unto Him, Rabboni, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus\n    said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And\n    straightway he received his sight, and followed Him in the\n    way.\u201d\u2014MARK x. 46-52 (R.V.).\n\n\nThere is no miracle in the Gospels of which the accounts are so hard to\nreconcile as those of the healing of the blind at Jericho.\n\nIt is a small thing that St. Matthew mentions two blind men, while St.\nMark and St. Luke are only aware of one. The same is true of the demoniacs\nat Gadara, and it is easily understood that only an eyewitness should\nremember the obscure comrade of a remarkable and energetic man, who would\nhave spread far and wide the particulars of his own cure. The fierce and\ndangerous demoniac of Gadara was just such a man, and there is ample\nevidence of energy and vehemence in the brief account of Bartim\u00e6us. What\nis really perplexing is that St. Luke places the miracle at the entrance\nto Jericho, but St. Matthew and St. Mark, as Jesus came out of it. It is\ntoo forced and violent a theory which speaks of an old and a new town, so\nclose together that one was entered and the other left at the same time.\n\nIt is possible that there were two events, and the success of one sufferer\nat the entrance to the town led others to use the same importunities at\nthe exit. And this would not be much more remarkable than the two miracles\nof the loaves, or the two miraculous draughts of fish. It is also\npossible, though unlikely, that the same supplicant who began his appeals\nwithout success when Jesus entered, resumed His entreaties, with a\ncomrade, at the gate by which He left.\n\nSuch difficulties exist in all the best authenticated histories:\ndiscrepancies of the kind arise continually between the evidence of the\nmost trustworthy witnesses in courts of justice. And the student who is\nhumble as well as devout will not shut his eyes against facts, merely\nbecause they are perplexing, but will remember that they do nothing to\nshake the solid narrative itself.\n\nAs we read St. Mark\u2019s account, we are struck by the vividness of the whole\npicture, and especially by the robust personality of the blind man. The\nscene is neither Jerusalem, the city of the Pharisees nor Galilee, where\nthey have persistently sapped the popularity of Jesus. Eastward of the\nJordan, He has spent the last peaceful and successful weeks of His brief\nand stormy career, and Jericho lies upon the borders of that friendly\ndistrict. Accordingly something is here of the old enthusiasm: a great\nmultitude moves along with His disciples to the gates, and the rushing\nconcourse excites the curiosity of the blind son of Tim\u00e6us. So does many a\nreligious movement lead to inquiry and explanation far and wide. But when\nhe, sitting by the way, and unable to follow, knows that the great Healer\nis at hand, but only in passing, and for a moment, his interest suddenly\nbecomes personal and ardent, and \u201che began to cry out\u201d (the expression\nimplies that his supplication, beginning as the crowd drew near, was not\none utterance but a prolonged appeal), \u201cand to say, Jesus, Thou Son of\nDavid, have mercy on me.\u201d To the crowd his outcry seemed to be only an\nintrusion upon One Who was too rapt, too heavenly, to be disturbed by the\nsorrows of a blind beggar. But that was not the view of Bartim\u00e6us, whose\npersonal affliction gave him the keenest interest in those verses of the\nOld Testament which spoke of opening the blind eyes. If he did not\nunderstand their exact force as prophecies, at least they satisfied him\nthat his petition could not be an insult to the great Prophet of Whom just\nsuch actions were told, for Whose visit he had often sighed, and Who was\nnow fast going by, perhaps for ever. The picture is one of great\neagerness, bearing up against great discouragement. We catch the spirit of\nthe man as he inquires what the multitude means, as the epithet of his\ninformants, Jesus of Nazareth, changes on his lips into Jesus, Thou Son of\nDavid, as he persists, without any vision of Christ to encourage him, and\namid the rebukes of many, in crying out the more a great deal, although\npain is deepening every moment in his accents, and he will presently need\ncheering. The ear of Jesus is quick for such a call, and He stops. He does\nnot raise His own voice to summon him, but teaches a lesson of humanity to\nthose who would fain have silenced the appeal of anguish, and says, Call\nye him. And they obey with a courtier-like change of tone, saying, Be of\ngood cheer, rise, He calleth thee. And Bartim\u00e6us cannot endure even the\nslight hindrance of his loose garment, but flings it aside, and rises and\ncomes to Jesus, a pattern of the importunity which prays and never faints,\nwhich perseveres amid all discouragement, which adverse public opinion\ncannot hinder. And the Lord asks of him almost exactly the same question\nas recently of James and John, What wilt thou that I should do for thee?\nBut in his reply there is no aspiring pride: misery knows how precious are\nthe common gifts, the every-day blessings which we hardly pause to think\nabout; and he replies, Rabboni, that I may receive my sight. It is a glad\nand eager answer. Many a petition he had urged in vain; and many a small\nfavour had been discourteously bestowed; but Jesus, Whose tenderness loves\nto commend while He blesses, shares with him, so to speak, the glory of\nhis healing, as He answers, Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. By\nthus fixing his attention upon his own part in the miracle, so utterly\nworthless as a contribution, but so indispensable as a condition, Jesus\ntaught him to exercise hereafter the same gift of faith.\n\n\u201cGo thy way,\u201d He said. And Bartim\u00e6us \u201cfollowed Him on the road.\u201d Happy is\nthat man whose eyes are open to discern, and his heart prompt to follow,\nthe print of those holy feet.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\n\n\n\nThe Triumphant Entry.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd when they draw nigh unto Jerusalem, unto Bethphage and\n    Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, He sendeth two of His disciples,\n    and saith unto them, Go your way into the village that is over\n    against you: and straightway as ye enter into it, ye shall find a\n    colt tied, whereon no man ever yet sat; loose him, and bring him.\n    And if any one say unto you, Why do ye this? say ye, The Lord hath\n    need of him; and straightway He will send him back hither. And\n    they went away, and found a colt tied at the door without in the\n    open street; and they loose him. And certain of them that stood\n    there said unto them, What do ye, loosing the colt? And they said\n    unto them even as Jesus had said: and they let them go. And they\n    bring the colt unto Jesus, and cast on him their garments; and He\n    sat upon him. And many spread their garments upon the way; and\n    others branches, which they had cut from the fields. And they that\n    went before, and they that followed, cried, Hosanna: Blessed _is_\n    He that cometh in the name of the Lord: Blessed is the kingdom\n    that cometh, _the kingdom_ of our father David: Hosanna in the\n    highest. And He entered into Jerusalem, into the temple; and when\n    He had looked round about upon all things, it being now eventide,\n    He went out unto Bethany with the twelve.\u201d\u2014MARK xi. 1-11 (R.V.).\n\n\nJesus had now come near to Jerusalem, into what was possibly the sacred\ndistrict of Bethphage, of which, in that case, Bethany was the border\nvillage. Not without pausing here (as we learn from the fourth Gospel),\nyet as the next step forward, He sent two of His disciples to untie and\nbring back an ass, which was fastened with her colt at a spot which He\nminutely described. Unless they were challenged they should simply bring\nthe animals away; but if any one remonstrated, they should answer, \u201cThe\nLord hath need of them,\u201d and thereupon the owner would not only acquiesce,\nbut send them. In fact they are to make a requisition, such as the State\noften institutes for horses and cattle during a campaign, when private\nrights must give way to a national exigency. And this masterful demand,\nthis abrupt and decisive rejoinder to a natural objection, not arguing nor\nrequesting, but demanding, this title which they are bidden to give to\nJesus, by which, standing thus alone, He is rarely described in Scripture\n(chiefly in the later Epistles, when the remembrance of His earthly style\ngave place to the influence of habitual adoration), all this preliminary\narrangement makes us conscious of a change of tone, of royalty issuing its\nmandates, and claiming its rights. But what a claim, what a requisition,\nwhen He takes the title of Jehovah, and yet announces His need of the colt\nof an ass. It is indeed the lowliest of all memorable processions which He\nplans, and yet, in its very humility, it appeals to ancient prophecy, and\nsays unto Zion that her King cometh unto her. The monarchs of the East and\nthe captains of the West might ride upon horses as for war, but the King\nof Sion should come unto her meek, and sitting upon an ass, upon a colt,\nthe foal of an ass. Yet there is fitness and dignity in the use of \u201ca colt\nwhereon never man sat,\u201d and it reminds us of other facts, such as that He\nwas the firstborn of a virgin mother, and rested in a tomb which\ncorruption had never soiled.\n\nThus He comes forth, the gentlest of the mighty, with no swords gleaming\naround to guard Him, or to smite the foreigner who tramples Israel, or the\nworse foes of her own household. Men who will follow such a King must lay\naside their vain and earthly ambitions, and awake to the truth that\nspiritual powers are grander than any which violence ever grasped. But men\nwho will not follow Him shall some day learn the same lesson, perhaps in\nthe crash of their reeling commonwealth, perhaps not until the armies of\nheaven follow Him, as He goes forth, riding now upon a white horse,\ncrowned with many diadems, smiting the nations with a sharp sword, and\nruling them with an iron rod.\n\nLowly though His procession was, yet it was palpably a royal one. When\nJehu was proclaimed king at Ramoth-Gilead, the captains hastened to make\nhim sit upon the garments of every one of them, expressing by this\nnational symbol their subjection. Somewhat the same feeling is in the\nfamous anecdote of Sir Walter Raleigh and Queen Elizabeth. And thus the\ndisciples who brought the ass cast on him their garments, and Jesus sat\nthereon, and many spread their garments in the way. Others strewed the\nroad with branches; and as they went they cried aloud certain verses of\nthat great song of triumph, which told how the nations, swarming like\nbees, were quenched like the light fire of thorns, how the right hand of\nthe Lord did valiantly, how the gates of righteousness should be thrown\nopen for the righteous, and, more significant still, how the stone which\nthe builders rejected should become the headstone of the corner. Often had\nJesus quoted this saying when reproached by the unbelief of the rulers,\nand now the people rejoiced and were glad in it, as they sang of His\nsalvation, saying, \u201cHosanna, blessed is He that cometh in the name of the\nLord, Blessed is the kingdom that cometh, the Kingdom of our father David,\nHosanna in the highest.\u201d\n\nSuch is the narrative as it impressed St. Mark. For his purpose it\nmattered nothing that Jerusalem took no part in the rejoicings, but was\nperplexed, and said, Who is this? or that, when confronted by this\nsomewhat scornful and affected ignorance of the capital, the voice of\nGalilee grew weak, and proclaimed no longer the advent of the kingdom of\nDavid, but only Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth; or that the Pharisees in\nthe temple avowed their disapproval, while contemptuously ignoring the\nGalilean multitude, by inviting Him to reprove some children. What\nconcerned St. Mark was that now, at last, Jesus openly and practically\nassumed rank as a monarch, allowed men to proclaim the advent of His\nkingdom, and proceeded to exercise its rights by calling for the surrender\nof property, and by cleansing the temple with a scourge. The same avowal\nof kingship is almost all that he has cared to record of the remarkable\nscene before His Roman judge.\n\nAfter this heroic fashion did Jesus present Himself to die. Without a\nmisleading hope, conscious of the hollowness of His seeming popularity,\nweeping for the impending ruin of the glorious city whose walls were\nringing with His praise, and predicting the murderous triumph of the\ncrafty faction which appears so helpless, He not only refuses to recede or\ncompromise, but does not hesitate to advance His claims in a manner\nentirely new, and to defy the utmost animosity of those who still rejected\nHim.\n\nAfter such a scene there could be no middle course between crushing Him,\nand bowing to Him. He was no longer a Teacher of doctrines, however\nrevolutionary, but an Aspirant to practical authority, Who must be dealt\nwith practically.\n\nThere was evidence also of His intention to proceed upon this new line,\nwhen He entered into the temple, investigated its glaring abuses, and only\nleft it for the moment because it was now eventide. To-morrow would show\nmore of His designs.\n\nJesus is still, and in this world, King. And it will hereafter avail us\nnothing to have received His doctrine, unless we have taken His yoke.\n\n\n\n\nThe Barren Fig-Tree.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd on the morrow, when they were come out from Bethany, He\n    hungered. And seeing a fig-tree afar off having leaves, He came,\n    if haply He might find anything thereon: and when He came to it,\n    He found nothing but leaves; for it was not the season of figs.\n    And He answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit from thee\n    henceforward for ever. And His disciples heard it.\u201d\n\n    \u201cAnd as they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig-tree\n    withered away from the roots. And Peter calling to remembrance\n    saith unto Him, Rabbi, behold, the fig-tree which Thou cursedst is\n    withered away. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in\n    God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall say unto this\n    mountain, Be thou taken up and cast into the sea; and shall not\n    doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he saith cometh to\n    pass; he shall have it. Therefore I say unto you, All things\n    whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye have received\n    them, and ye shall have them. And whensoever ye stand praying,\n    forgive, if ye have aught against any one; that your Father also\n    which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.\u201d\u2014MARK xi.\n    12-14, 20-25 (R.V.).\n\n\nNo sooner has Jesus claimed His kingdom, than He performs His first and\nonly miracle of judgment. And it is certain that no mortal, informed that\nsuch a miracle was impending, could have guessed where the blow would\nfall. In this miracle an element is predominant which exists in all, since\nit is wrought as an acted dramatized parable, not for any physical\nadvantage, but wholly for the instruction which it conveys. Jesus hungered\nat the very outset of a day of toil, as He came out from Bethany. And this\nwas not due to poverty, since the disciples there had recently made Him a\ngreat feast, but to His own absorbing ardour. The zeal of God\u2019s house,\nwhich He had seen polluted and was about to cleanse, had either left Him\nindifferent to food until the keen air of morning aroused the sense of\nneed, or else it had detained Him, all night long, in prayer and\nmeditation out of doors. As He walks, He sees afar off a lonely fig-tree\ncovered with leaves, and comes if haply He might find anything thereon. It\nis true that figs would not be in season for two months, but yet they\nought to present themselves before the leaves did; and since the tree was\nprecocious in the show and profusion of luxuriance, it ought to bear early\nfigs. If it failed, it would at least point a powerful moral; and,\ntherefore, when only leaves appeared upon it, Jesus cursed it with\nperpetual barrenness, and passed on. Not in the dusk of that evening as\nthey returned, but when they passed by again in the morning the blight was\nmanifest, the tree was withered from its very roots.\n\nIt is complained that by this act Jesus deprived some one of his property.\nBut the same retributive justice of which this was an expression was\npreparing to blight, presently, all the possessions of all the nation. Was\nthis unjust? And of the numberless trees that are blasted year by year,\nwhy should the loss of this one only be resented? Every physical injury\nmust be intended to further some spiritual end; but it is not often that\nthe purpose is so clear, and the lesson so distinctly learned.\n\nOthers blame our Lord\u2019s word of sentence, because a tree, not being a\nmoral agent, ought not to be punished. It is an obvious rejoinder that\nneither could it suffer pain; that the whole action is symbolic; and that\nwe ourselves justify the Saviour\u2019s method of expression as often as we\ncall one tree \u201cgood\u201d and another \u201cbad,\u201d and say that a third \u201cought\u201d to\nbear fruit, while not much could be \u201cexpected of\u201d a fourth. It should\nrather be observed that in this word of sentence Jesus revealed His\ntenderness. It would have been a false and cruel kindness never to work\nany miracle except of compassion, and thus to suggest the inference that\nHe could never strike, whereas indeed, before that generation passed away,\nHe would break His enemies in pieces like a potter\u2019s vessel.\n\nYet He came not to destroy men\u2019s lives but to save them. And, therefore,\nwhile showing Himself neither indifferent nor powerless against barren and\nfalse pretensions, He did this only once, and then only by a sign wrought\nupon an unsentient tree.\n\nRetribution fell upon it not for its lack of fruit, since at that season\nit shared this with all its tribe, but for ostentatious, much-professing\nfruitlessness. And thus it pointed with dread significance to the\ncondition of God\u2019s own people, differing from Greece and Rome and Syria,\nnot in the want of fruit, but in the show of luxuriant frondage, in the\nexpectation it excited and mocked. When the season of the world\u2019s\nfruitfulness was yet remote, only Israel put forth leaves, and made\nprofessions which were not fulfilled. And the permanent warning of the\nmiracle is not for heathen men and races, but for Christians who have a\nname to live, and who are called to bear fruit unto God.\n\nWhile the disciples marvelled at the sudden fulfilment of its sentence,\nthey could not have forgotten the parable of a fig-tree in the vineyard,\non which care and labour were lavished, but which must be destroyed after\none year of respite if it continued to be a cumberer of the ground.\n\nAnd Jesus drove the lesson home. He pointed to \u201cthis mountain\u201d full in\nfront, with the gold and marble of the temple sparkling like a diadem upon\nits brow, and declared that faith is not only able to smite barrenness\nwith death, but to remove into the midst of the sea, to plant among the\nwild and stormswept races of the immeasurable pagan world, the glory and\nprivilege of the realized presence of the Lord. To do this was the purpose\nof God, hinted by many a prophet, and clearly announced by Christ Himself.\nBut its accomplishment was left to His followers, who should succeed in\nexact proportion to the union of their will and that of God, so that the\ncondition of that moral miracle, transcending all others in marvel and in\nefficacy, was simple faith.\n\nAnd the same rule covers all the exigencies of life. One who truly relies\non God, whose mind and will are attuned to those of the Eternal, cannot be\nselfish, or vindictive, or presumptuous. As far as we rise to the grandeur\nof this condition we enter into the Omnipotence of God, and no limit need\nbe imposed upon the prevalence of really and utterly believing prayer. The\nwishes that ought to be refused will vanish as we attain that eminence,\nlike the hoar frost of morning as the sun grows strong.\n\nTo this promise Jesus added a precept, the admirable suitability of which\nis not at first apparent. Most sins are made evident to the conscience in\nthe act of prayer. Drawing nigh to God, we feel our unfitness to be there,\nwe are made conscious of what He frowns upon, and if we have such faith as\nJesus spoke of, we at once resign what would grieve the Spirit of\nadoption. No saint is ignorant of the convicting power of prayer. But it\nis not of necessity so with resentment for real grievances. We may think\nwe do well to be angry. We may confound our selfish fire with the pure\nflame of holy zeal, and begin, with confidence enough, yet not with the\nmind of Christ, to remove mountains, not because they impede a holy cause,\nbut because they throw a shadow upon our own field. And, therefore, Jesus\nreminds us that not only wonder-working faith, but even the forgiveness of\nour sins requires from us the forgiveness of our brother. This saying is\nthe clearest proof of how much is implied in a truly undoubting heart. And\nthis promise is the sternest rebuke of the Church, endorsed with such\nample powers, and yet after nineteen centuries confronted by an\nunconverted world.\n\n\n\n\nThe Second Cleansing Of The Temple.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd they come to Jerusalem: and He entered into the temple, and\n    began to cast out them that sold and them that bought in the\n    temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the\n    seats of them that sold the doves; and He would not suffer that\n    any man should carry a vessel through the temple. And He taught,\n    and said unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called a\n    house of prayer for all the nations? but ye have made it a den of\n    robbers. And the chief priests and the scribes heard it, and\n    sought how they might destroy Him: for they feared Him, for all\n    the multitude was astonished at His teaching. And every evening He\n    went forth out of the city.\u201d\u2014MARK xi. 15-19. (R.V.).\n\n\nWith the authority of yesterday\u2019s triumph still about Him, Jesus returned\nto the temple, which He had then inspected. There at least the priesthood\nwere not thwarted by popular indifference or ignorance: they had power to\ncarry out fully their own views; they were solely responsible for whatever\nabuses could be discovered. In fact, the iniquities which moved the\nindignation of Jesus were of their own contrivance, and they enriched\nthemselves by a vile trade which robbed the worshippers and profaned the\nholy house.\n\nPilgrims from a distance needed the sacred money, the half-shekel of the\nsanctuary, still coined for this one purpose, to offer for a ransom of\ntheir souls (Exod. xxx. 13). And the priests had sanctioned a trade in the\nexchange of money under the temple roof, so fraudulent that the dealers\u2019\nevidence was refused in the courts of justice.\n\nDoves were necessary for the purification of the poor, who could not\nafford more costly sacrifices, and sheep and oxen were also in great\ndemand. And since the unblemished quality of the sacrifices should be\nattested by the priests, they had been able to put a fictitious value upon\nthese animals, by which the family of Annas in particular had accumulated\nenormous wealth.\n\nTo facilitate this trade, they had dared to bring the defilement of the\ncattle market within the precincts of the House of God. Not indeed into\nthe place where the Pharisee stood in his pride and \u201cprayed with himself,\u201d\nfor that was holy; but the court of the Gentiles was profane; the din\nwhich distracted and the foulness which revolted Gentile worship was of no\naccount to the average Jew. But Jesus regarded the scene with different\neyes. How could the sanctity of that holy place not extend to the court of\nthe stranger and the proselyte, when it was written, Thy house shall be\ncalled a house of prayer for all the nations? Therefore Jesus had already,\nat the outset of His ministry, cleansed His Father\u2019s house. Now, in the\nfulness of His newly asserted royalty, He calls it My House: He denounces\nthe iniquity of their traffic by branding it as a den of robbers; He casts\nout the traders themselves, as well as the implements of their traffic;\nand in so doing He fanned to a mortal heat the hatred of the chief priests\nand the scribes, who saw at once their revenues threatened and their\nreputation tarnished, and yet dared not strike, because all the multitude\nwas astonished at His teaching.\n\nBut the wisdom of Jesus did not leave Him within their reach at night;\nevery evening He went forth out of the city.\n\nFrom this narrative we learn the blinding force of self-interest, for\ndoubtless they were no more sensible of their iniquity than many a modern\nslavedealer. And we must never rest content because our own conscience\nacquits us, unless we have by thought and prayer supplied it with light\nand guiding.\n\nWe learn reverence for sacred places, since the one exercise of His royal\nauthority which Jesus publicly displayed was to cleanse the temple, even\nthough upon the morrow He would relinquish it for ever, to be \u201cyour\nhouse\u201d\u2014and desolate.\n\nWe learn also how much apparent sanctity, what dignity of worship,\nsplendour of offerings, and pomp of architecture may go along with\ncorruption and unreality.\n\nAnd yet again, by their overawed and abject helplessness we learn the\nmight of holy indignation, and the awakening power of a bold appeal to\nconscience. \u201cThe people hung upon Him, listening,\u201d and if all seemed vain\nand wasted effort on the following Friday, what fruit of the teaching of\nJesus did not His followers gather in, as soon as He poured down on them\nthe gifts of Pentecost.\n\nDid they now recall their own reflections after the earlier cleansing of\nthe temple? and their Master\u2019s ominous words? They had then remembered how\nit was written, The zeal of thine house shall eat Me up. And He had said,\nDestroy this temple, and in three days I shall raise it up, speaking of\nthe temple of His Body, which was now about to be thrown down.\n\n\n\n\nThe Baptism Of John, Whence Was It?\n\n\n    \u201cAnd they come again to Jerusalem: and as He was walking in the\n    temple, there come to Him the chief priests, and the scribes, and\n    the elders; and they said unto Him, By what authority doest Thou\n    these things? or who gave Thee this authority to do these things?\n    And Jesus said unto them, I will ask of you one question, and\n    answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these\n    things. The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or from men?\n    answer Me. And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall\n    say, From heaven: He will say, Why then did ye not believe him?\n    But should we say, From men\u2014they feared the people: for all verily\n    held John to be a prophet. And they answered Jesus and say, We\n    know not. And Jesus saith unto them, Neither tell I you by what\n    authority I do these things.\u201d\u2014MARK xi. 27-33 (R.V.).\n\n\nThe question put to Jesus by the hierarchy of Jerusalem is recorded in all\nthe synoptic Gospels. But in some respects the story is most pointed in\nthe narrative of St. Mark. And it is natural that he, the historian\nespecially of the energies of Christ, should lay stress upon a challenge\naddressed to Him, by reason of His masterful words and deeds. At the\noutset, he had recorded the astonishment of the people because Jesus\ntaught with authority, because \u201cVerily I say\u201d replaced the childish and\nservile methods by which the scribe and the Pharisee sustained their most\nwilful innovations.\n\nWhen first he relates a miracle, he tells how their wonder increased,\nbecause with authority Jesus commanded the unclean spirits and they\nobeyed, respecting His self-reliant word \u201cI command thee to come out,\u201d\nmore than the most elaborate incantations and exorcisms. St. Mark\u2019s first\nrecord of collision with the priests was when Jesus carried His claim\nstill farther, and said \u201cThe Son of man hath authority\u201d (it is the same\nword) \u201con earth to forgive sins.\u201d Thus we find the Gospel quite conscious\nof what so forcibly strikes a careful modern reader, the assured and\nindependent tone of Jesus; His bearing, so unlike that of a disciple or a\ncommentator; His consciousness that the Scriptures themselves are they\nwhich testify of Him, and that only He can give the life which men think\nthey possess in these. In the very teaching of lowliness Jesus exempts\nHimself, and forbids others to be Master and Lord, because these titles\nbelong to Him.\n\nImpressive as such claims appear when we awake to them, it is even more\nsuggestive to reflect that we can easily read the Gospels and not be\nstruck by them. We do not start when He bids all the weary to come to Him,\nand offers them rest, and yet declares Himself to be meek and lowly. He is\nmeek and lowly while He makes such claims. His bearing is that of the\nhighest rank, joined with the most perfect graciousness; His great claims\nnever irritate us, because they are palpably His due, and we readily\nconcede the astonishing elevation whence He so graciously bends down so\nlow. And this is one evidence of the truth and power of the character\nwhich the Apostles drew.\n\nHow natural is this also, that immediately after Palm Sunday, when the\npeople have hailed their Messiah, royal and a Saviour, and when He has\naccepted their homage, we find new indications of authority in His bearing\nand His actions. He promptly took them at their word. It was now that He\nwrought His only miracle of judgment, and although it was but the\nwithering of a tree (since He came not to destroy men\u2019s lives but to save\nthem), yet was there a dread symbolical sentence involved upon all barren\nand unfruitful men and Churches. In the very act of triumphal entry, He\nsolemnly pronounced judgment upon the guilty city which would not accept\nher King.\n\nArrived at the temple, He surveyed its abuses and defilements, and\nreturned on the morrow (and so not spurred by sudden impulse, but of\ndeliberate purpose), to drive out them that sold and bought. Two years ago\nHe had needed to scourge the intruders forth, but now they are overawed by\nHis majesty, and obey His word. Then, too, they were rebuked for making\nHis Father\u2019s house a house of merchandise, but now it is His own\u2014\u201cMy\nHouse,\u201d but degraded yet farther into a den of thieves.\n\nBut while traffic and pollution shrank away, misery and privation were\nattracted to Him; the blind and the lame came and were healed in the very\ntemple; and the centre and rallying-place of the priests and scribes\nbeheld His power to save. This drove them to extremities. He was carrying\nthe war into the heart of their territories, establishing Himself in their\nstronghold, and making it very plain that since the people had hailed Him\nKing, and He had responded to their acclaims, He would not shrink from\nwhatever His view of that great office might involve.\n\nWhile they watched, full of bitterness and envy, they were again\nimpressed, as at the beginning, by the strange, autocratic, spontaneous\nmanner in which He worked, making Himself the source of His blessings, as\nno prophet had ever done since Moses expiated so dearly the offence of\nsaying, Must we fetch you water out of the rock? Jesus acted after the\nfashion of Him Who openeth His hands and satisfieth the desire of every\nliving thing. Why did He not give the glory to One above? Why did He not\nsupplicate, nor invoke, but simply bestow? Where were the accustomed words\nof supplication, \u201cHear me, O Lord God, hear me,\u201d or, \u201cWhere is the Lord\nGod of Israel?\u201d\n\nHere they discerned a flaw, a heresy; and they would force Him either to\nmake a fatal claim, or else to moderate His pretensions at their bidding,\nwhich would promptly restore their lost influence and leadership.\n\nNor need we shrink from confessing that our Lord was justly open to such\nreproach, unless He was indeed Divine, unless He was deliberately\npreparing His followers for that astonishing revelation, soon to come,\nwhich threw the Church upon her knees in adoration of her God manifest in\nflesh. It is hard to understand how the Socinian can defend his Master\nagainst the charge of encroaching on the rights and honours of Deity, and\n(to borrow a phrase from a different connection) sitting down at the right\nhand of the Majesty of God, whereas every priest standeth ministering. If\nHe were a creature, He culpably failed to tell us the conditions upon\nwhich He received a delegated authority, and the omission has made His\nChurch ever since idolatrous. It is one great and remarkable lesson\nsuggested by this verse: if Jesus were not Divine, what was He?\n\nThus it came to pass, in direct consequence upon the events which opened\nthe great week of the triumph and the cross of Jesus, that the whole rank\nand authority of the temple system confronted Him with a stern question.\nThey sat in Moses\u2019 seat. They were entitled to examine the pretensions of\na new and aspiring teacher. They had a perfect right to demand \u201cTell us by\nwhat authority thou doest these things.\u201d The works are not denied, but the\nsource whence they flow is questioned.\n\nAfter so many centuries, the question is fresh to-day. For still the\nspirit of Christ is working in His world, openly, palpably, spreading\nblessings far and wide. It is exalting multitudes of ignoble lives by\nhopes that are profound, far-reaching, and sublime. When savage realms are\nexplored, it is Christ Who hastens thither with His gospel, before the\ntrader in rum and gunpowder can exhibit the charms of a civilization\nwithout a creed. In the gloomiest haunts of disease and misery, madness,\nidiotcy, orphanage, and vice, there is Christ at work, the good Samaritan,\npouring oil and wine into the gaping wounds of human nature, acting quite\nupon His own authority, careless who looks askance, not asking political\neconomy whether genuine charity is pauperisation, nor questioning the\ndoctrine of development, whether the progress of the race demands the\npitiless rejection of the unfit, and selection only of the strongest\nspecimens for survival. That iron creed may be natural; but if so, ours is\nsupernatural, it is a law of spirit and life, setting us free from that\nbase and selfish law of sin and death. The existence and energy of\nChristian forces in our modern world is indisputable: never was Jesus a\nmore popular and formidable claimant of its crown; never did more Hosannas\nfollow Him into the temple. But now as formerly His credentials are\ndemanded: what is His authority and how has He come by it?\n\nNow we say of modern as of ancient inquiries, that they are right;\ninvestigation is inevitable and a duty.\n\nBut see how Jesus dealt with those men of old.\n\nLet us not misunderstand Him. He did not merely set one difficulty against\nanother, as if we should start some scientific problem, and absolve\nourselves from the duty of answering any inquiry until science had\ndisposed of this. Doubtless it is logical enough to point out that all\ncreeds, scientific and religious alike, have their unsolved problems. But\nthe reply of Jesus was not a dexterous evasion, it went to the root of\nthings, and, therefore, it stands good for time and for eternity. He\nrefused to surrender the advantage of a witness to whom He was entitled:\nHe demanded that all the facts and not some alone should be investigated.\nIn truth their position bound His interrogators to examine His\ncredentials; to do so was not only their privilege but their duty. But\nthen they must begin at the beginning. Had they performed this duty for\nthe Baptist? Who or what was that mysterious, lonely, stern preacher of\nrighteousness who had stirred the national heart so profoundly, and whom\nall men still revered? They themselves had sent to question him, and his\nanswer was notorious: he had said that he was sent before the Christ; he\nwas only a voice, but a voice which demanded the preparation of a way\nbefore the Lord Himself, Who was approaching, and a highway for our God.\nWhat was the verdict of these investigators upon that great movement? What\nwould they make of the decisive testimony of the Baptist?\n\nAs the perilous significance of this consummate rejoinder bursts on their\ncrafty intelligence, as they recoil confounded from the exposure they have\nbrought upon themselves, St. Mark tells how the question was pressed home,\n\u201cAnswer Me!\u201d But they dared not call John an impostor, and yet to confess\nhim was to authenticate the seal upon our Lord\u2019s credentials. And Jesus is\npalpably within His rights in refusing to be questioned of such\nauthorities as these. Yet immediately afterwards, with equal skill and\nboldness, He declared Himself, and yet defied their malice, in the story\nof the lord of a vineyard, who had vainly sent many servants to claim its\nfruit, and at the last sent his beloved son.\n\nNow apply the same process to the modern opponents of the faith, and it\nwill be found that multitudes of their assaults on Christianity imply the\nnegation of what they will not and dare not deny. Some will not believe in\nmiracles because the laws of nature work uniformly. But their uniformity\nis undisturbed by human operations; the will of man wields, without\ncancelling, these mighty forces which surround us. And why may not the\nwill of God do the same, if there be a God? Ask them whether they deny His\nexistence, and they will probably declare themselves Agnostics, which is\nexactly the ancient answer, \u201cWe cannot tell.\u201d Now as long as men avow\ntheir ignorance of the existence or non-existence of a Deity, they cannot\nassert the impossibility of miracles, for miracles are simply actions\nwhich reveal God, as men\u2019s actions reveal their presence.\n\nAgain, a demand is made for such evidence, to establish the faith, as\ncannot be had for any fact beyond the range of the exact sciences. We are\nasked, Why should we stake eternity upon anything short of demonstration?\nYet it will be found that the objector is absolutely persuaded, and acts\non his persuasion of many \u201ctruths which never can be proved\u201d\u2014of the\nfidelity of his wife and children, and above all, of the difference\nbetween right and wrong. That is a fundamental principle: deny it, and\nsociety becomes impossible. And yet sceptical theories are widely diffused\nwhich really, though unconsciously, sap the very foundations of morality,\nor assert that it is not from heaven but of men, a mere expediency, a\nprudential arrangement of society.\n\nSuch arguments may well \u201cfear the people,\u201d for the instincts of mankind\nknow well that all such explanations of conscience do really explain it\naway.\n\nAnd it is quite necessary in our days, when religion is impugned, to see\nwhether the assumptions of its assailants would not compromise time as\nwell as eternity, and to ask, What think ye of all those fundamental\nprinciples which sustain the family, society, and the state, while they\nbear testimony to the Church of Christ.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\n\n\n\nThe Husbandmen.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd He began to speak unto them in parables. A man planted a\n    vineyard, and set a hedge about it, and digged a pit for the\n    wine-press, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and\n    went into another country. And at the season he sent to the\n    husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of\n    the fruits of the vineyard. And they took him, and beat him, and\n    sent him away empty. And again he sent unto them another servant:\n    and him they wounded in the head, and handled shamefully. And he\n    sent another; and him they killed: and many others; beating some,\n    and killing some. He had yet one, a beloved son: he sent him last\n    unto them, saying, They will reverence my son. But those\n    husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us\n    kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours. And they took him,\n    and killed him, and cast him forth out of the vineyard. What,\n    therefore, will the Lord of the vineyard do? He will come and\n    destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others.\n    Have ye not read even this Scripture:\n\n    The stone which the builders rejected,\n    The same was made the head of the corner:\n    This was from the Lord,\n    And it is marvellous in our eyes?\n\n    And they sought to lay hold on Him; and they feared the multitude;\n    for they perceived that He spake the parable against them: and\n    they left Him, and went away.\u201d\u2014MARK xii. 1-12 (R.V.).\n\n\nThe rulers of His people have failed to make Jesus responsible to their\ninquisition. He has exposed the hollowness of their claim to investigate\nHis commission, and formally refused to tell them by what authority He did\nthese things. But what He would not say for an unjust cross-examination,\nHe proclaimed to all docile hearts; and the skill which disarmed His\nenemies is not more wonderful than that which in their hearing answered\ntheir question, yet left them no room for accusation. This was achieved by\nspeaking to them in parables. The indifferent might hear and not perceive:\nthe keenness of malice would surely understand but could not easily\nimpeach a simple story; but to His own followers it would be given to know\nthe mysteries of the kingdom of God.\n\nHis first words would be enough to arouse attention. The psalmist had told\nhow God brought a vine out of Egypt, and cast out the heathen and planted\nit. Isaiah had carried the image farther, and sung of a vineyard in a very\nfruitful hill. The Well-beloved, Whose it was, cleared the ground for it,\nand planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower, and hewed out a\nwine-press, and looked that it should bring forth grapes, but it had\nbrought forth wild grapes. Therefore He would lay it waste. This\nwell-known and recognized type the Lord now adopted, but modified it to\nsuit His purpose. As in a former parable the sower slept and rose, and\nleft the earth to bring forth fruit of itself, so in this, the Lord of the\nvineyard let it out to husbandmen and went into a far country. This is our\nLord\u2019s own explanation of that silent time in which no special\ninterpositions asserted that God was nigh, no prophecies were heard, no\nmiracles startled the careless. It was the time when grace already granted\nshould have been peacefully ripening. Now we live in such a period.\nUnbelievers desire a sign. Impatient believers argue that if our Master is\nas near us as ever, the same portents must attest His presence; and,\ntherefore, they recognise the gift of tongues in hysterical clamour, and\nstake the honour of religion upon faith-healing, and those various obscure\nphenomena which the annals of every fanaticism can rival. But the sober\nChristian understands that, even as the Lord of the vineyard went into\nanother country, so Christ His Son (Who in spiritual communion is ever\nwith His people) in another sense has gone into a far country to receive a\nkingdom and to return. In the interval, marvels would be simply an\nanachronism. The best present evidence of the faith lies in the superior\nfruitfulness of the vineyard He has planted, in the steady advance to rich\nmaturity of the vine He has imported from another clime.\n\nAt this point Jesus begins to add a new significance to the ancient\nmetaphor. The husbandmen are mentioned. Men there were in the ancient\nChurch, who were specially responsible for the culture of the vineyard. As\nHe spoke, the symbol explained itself. The imposing array of chief priests\nand scribes and elders stood by, who had just claimed as their prerogative\nthat He should make good His commission to their scrutiny; and none would\nbe less likely to mistake His meaning than these self-conscious lovers of\nchief seats in the synagogues. The structure of the parable, therefore,\nadmits their official rank, as frankly as when Jesus bade His disciples\nsubmit to their ordinances because they sit in Moses\u2019 seat. But He passes\non, easily and as if unconsciously, to record that special messengers from\nheaven had, at times, interrupted the self-indulgent quietude of the\nhusbandmen. Because the fruit of the vineyard had not been freely\nrendered, a bondservant was sent to demand it. The epithet implies that\nthe messenger was lower in rank, although his direct mission gave him\nauthority even over the keepers of the vineyard. It expresses exactly the\nposition of the prophets, few of them of priestly rank, some of them very\nhumble in extraction, and very rustic in expression, but all sent in evil\ndays to faithless husbandmen, to remind them that the vineyard was not\ntheir own, and to receive the fruits of righteousness. Again and again the\ndemand is heard, for He sent \u201cmany others;\u201d and always it is rejected with\nviolence, which sometimes rises to murder. As they listened, they must\nhave felt that all this was true, that while prophet after prophet had\ncome to a violent end, not one had seen the official hierarchy making\ncommon cause with him. And they must also have felt how ruinous was this\nrejoinder to their own demand that the people should forsake a teacher\nwhen they rejected him. Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees\nbelieved on Him? was their scornful question. But the answer was plain, As\nlong as they built the sepulchres of the prophets, and garnished the tombs\nof the righteous, and said, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we\nwould not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets, they\nconfessed that men could not blindly follow a hierarchy merely as such,\nsince they were not the official successors of the prophets but of those\nwho slew them. The worst charge brought against them was only that they\nacted according to analogy, and filled up the deeds of their fathers. It\nhad always been the same.\n\nThe last argument of Stephen, which filled his judges with madness, was\nbut the echo of this great impeachment. Which of the prophets did not your\nfathers persecute? and they killed them which showed before of the coming\nof the Righteous One, of Whom ye have now become the betrayers and\nmurderers.\n\nThat last defiance of heaven, which Stephen thus denounced, his Master\ndistinctly foretold. And He added the appalling circumstance, that however\nthey might deceive themselves and sophisticate their conscience, they\nreally knew Him Who He was. They felt, at the very least, that into His\nhands should pass all the authority and power they had so long\nmonopolized: \u201cThis is the Heir; come let us kill Him and the inheritance\nshall be ours.\u201d If there were no more, the utterance of these words put\nforth an extraordinary claim.\n\nAll that should have been rendered up to heaven and was withheld, all that\nprevious messengers had demanded on behalf of God without avail, all \u201cthe\ninheritance\u201d which these wicked husbandmen were intercepting, all this\nJesus announces to be His own, while reprehending the dishonesty of any\nother claim upon it. And as a matter of fact, if Jesus be not Divine, He\nhas intercepted more of the worship due to the Eternal, has attracted to\nHimself more of the homage of the loftiest and profoundest minds, than any\nfalse teacher within the pale of monotheism has ever done. It is the\nbounden duty of all who revere Jesus even as a teacher, of all who have\neyes to see that His coming was the greatest upward step in the progress\nof humanity, to consider well what was implied, when, in the act of\nblaming the usurpers of the heritage of God, Jesus declared that\ninheritance to be His own. But this is not all, though it is what He\ndeclares that the husbandmen were conscious of. The parable states, not\nonly that He is heir, but heir by virtue of His special relationship to\nthe Supreme. Others are bondservants or husbandmen, but He is the Son. He\ndoes not inherit as the worthiest and most obedient, but by right of\nbirth; and His Father, in the act of sending Him, expects even these\nbloodstained outlaws to reverence His Son. In such a phrase, applied to\nsuch criminals, we are made to feel the lofty rank alike of the Father and\nHis Son, which ought to have overawed even them. And when we read that \u201cHe\nhad yet one, a beloved Son,\u201d it seems as if the veil of eternity were\nuplifted, to reveal a secret and awful intimacy, of which, nevertheless,\nsome glimmering consciousness should have controlled the most desperate\nheart.\n\nBut they only reckoned that if they killed the Heir, the inheritance would\nbecome their own. It seems the wildest madness, that men should know and\nfeel Who He was, and yet expect to profit by desecrating His rights. And\nyet so it was from the beginning. If Herod were not fearful that the\npredicted King of the Jews was indeed born, the massacre of the Innocents\nwas idle. If the rulers were not fearful that this counsel and work was of\nGod, they would not, at Gamaliel\u2019s bidding, have refrained from the\nApostles. And it comes still closer to the point to observe that, if they\nhad attached no importance, even in their moment of triumph, to the\nprediction of His rising from the dead, they would not have required a\nguard, nor betrayed the secret recognition which Jesus here exposes. The\nsame blind miscalculation is in every attempt to obtain profit or pleasure\nby means which are known to transgress the laws of the all-beholding Judge\nof all. It is committed every day, under the pressure of strong\ntemptation, by men who know clearly that nothing but misery can result. So\ntrue is it that action is decided, not by a course of logic in the brain,\nbut by the temperament and bias of our nature as a whole. We need not\nsuppose that the rulers roundly spoke such words as these, even to\nthemselves. The infamous motive lurked in ambush, too far in the back\nground of the mind perhaps even for consciousness. But it was there, and\nit affected their decision, as lurking passions and self-interests always\nwill, as surely as iron deflects the compass. \u201cThey caught Him and killed\nHim,\u201d said the unfaltering lips of their victim. And He added a\ncircumstance of pain which we often overlook, but to which the great\nminister of the circumcision was keenly sensitive, and often reverted, the\ngiving Him up to the Gentiles, to a death accursed among the Jews; \u201cthey\ncast Him forth out of the vineyard.\u201d\n\nAll evil acts are based upon an overestimate of the tolerance of God. He\nhad seemed to remain passive while messenger after messenger was beaten,\nstoned, or slain. But now that they had filled up the iniquity of their\nfathers, the Lord of the vineyard would come in person to destroy them,\nand give the vineyard to others. This last phrase is strangely at variance\nwith the notion that the days of a commissioned ministry are over, as, on\nthe other hand, the whole parable is at variance with the notion that a\npriesthood can be trusted to sit in exclusive judgment upon doctrine for\nthe Church.\n\nAt this point St. Mark omits an incident so striking, although small, that\nits absence is significant. The by-standers said, \u201cGod forbid!\u201d and when\nthe horrified exclamation betrayed their consciousness of the position,\nJesus was content, without a word, to mark their self-conviction by His\nsearching gaze. \u201cHe looked upon them.\u201d The omission would be unaccountable\nif St. Mark were simply a powerful narrator of graphic incidents; but it\nis explained when we think that for him the manifestation of a mighty\nPersonage was all in all, and the most characteristic and damaging\nadmissions of the hierarchy were as nothing compared with a word of his\nLord. Thereupon he goes straight on to record that, besides refuting their\nclaim by the history of the past, and asserting His own supremacy in a\nphrase at once guarded in form and decisive in import, Jesus also appealed\nto Scripture. It was written that by special and marvellous interposition\nof the Lord a stone which the recognized builders had rejected should\ncrown the building. And the quotation was not only decisive as showing\nthat their rejection could not close the controversy; it also compensated,\nwith a promise of final victory, the ominous words in which their malice\nhad seemed to do its worst. Jesus often predicted His death, but He never\ndespaired of His kingdom.\n\nNo wonder that the rulers sought to arrest Him, and perceived that He\npenetrated and despised their schemes. And their next device is a natural\noutcome from the fact that they feared the people, but did not discontinue\ntheir intrigues; for this was a crafty and dangerous attempt to estrange\nfrom Him the admiring multitude.\n\n\n\n\nThe Tribute Money.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd they send unto Him certain of the Pharisees and of the\n    Herodians, that they might catch Him in talk. And when they were\n    come, they say unto Him, Master, we know that Thou art true, and\n    carest not for any one: for Thou regardest not the person of men,\n    but of a truth teachest the way of God: Is it lawful to give\n    tribute unto C\u00e6sar, or not? Shall we give, or shall we not give?\n    But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, Why tempt ye Me?\n    bring Me a penny, that I may see it. And they brought it. And He\n    saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they\n    said unto Him, C\u00e6sar\u2019s. And Jesus said unto them, Render unto\n    C\u00e6sar the things that are C\u00e6sar\u2019s, and unto God the things that\n    are God\u2019s. And they marvelled greatly at Him.\u201d\u2014MARK xii. 13-17\n    (R.V.).\n\n\nThe contrast is very striking between this incident and the last. Instead\nof a challenge, Jesus is respectfully consulted; and instead of a formal\nconcourse of the authorities of His religion, He is Himself the authority\nto Whom a few perplexed people profess to submit their difficulty.\nNevertheless, it is a new and subtle effort of the enmity of His defeated\nfoes. They have sent to Him certain Pharisees who will excite the popular\nindignation if He yields anything to the foreigner, and Herodians who\nwill, if He refuses, bring upon Him the colder and deadlier vengeance of\nRome. They flatter, in order to stimulate, that fearless utterance which\nmust often have seemed to them so rash: \u201cWe know that Thou art true, and\ncarest not for any one, for Thou regardest not the person of men, but of a\ntruth teachest the way of God.\u201d And they appeal to a higher motive by\nrepresenting the case to be one of practical and personal urgency, \u201cShall\nwe give, or shall we not give?\u201d\n\nNever was it more necessary to join the wisdom of the serpent to the\ninnocence of the dove, for it would seem that He must needs answer\ndirectly, and that no direct answer can fail to have the gravest\nconsequences. But in their eagerness to secure this menacing position,\nthey have left one weak point in the attack. They have made the question\naltogether a practical one. The abstract doctrine of the right to drive\nout a foreign power, of the limits of authority and freedom, they have not\nraised. It is simply a question of the hour, Shall we give or shall we not\ngive?\n\nAnd Jesus baffled them by treating it as such. There was no longer a\nnational coinage, except only of the half shekel for the temple tax. When\nHe asked them for a smaller coin, they produced a Roman penny stamped with\nthe effigy of C\u00e6sar. Thus they confessed the use of the Roman currency.\nNow since they accepted the advantages of subjugation, they ought also to\nendure its burdens: since they traded as Roman subjects, they ought to pay\nthe Roman tribute. Not He had preached submission, but they had avowed it;\nand any consequent unpopularity would fall not upon Him but them. They had\nanswered their own question. And Jesus laid down the broad and simple\nrule, \u201cRender (pay back) unto C\u00e6sar the things that are C\u00e6sar\u2019s, and unto\nGod the things that are God\u2019s. And they marvelled greatly at Him.\u201d No\nwonder they marvelled, for it would be hard to find in all the records of\nphilosophy so ready and practical a device to baffle such cunning\nintriguers, such keenness in One Whose life was so far removed from the\nschools of worldly wisdom, joined with so firm a grasp on principle, in an\nutterance so brief, yet going down so far to the roots of action.\n\nNow the words of Jesus are words for all time; even when He deals with a\nquestion of the hour, He treats it from the point of view of eternal\nfitness and duty; and this command to render unto C\u00e6sar the things which\nare C\u00e6sar\u2019s has become the charter of the state against all usurpations of\ntyrannous ecclesiastics. A sphere is recognized in which obedience to the\nlaw is a duty to God. But it is absurd to pretend that Christ taught blind\nand servile obedience to all tyrants in all circumstances, for this would\noften make it impossible to obey the second injunction, and to render unto\nGod the things which are God\u2019s,\u2014a clause which asserts in turn the right\nof conscience and the Church against all secular encroachments. The point\nto observe is, that the decision of Jesus is simply an inference, a\ndeduction. St. Matthew has inserted the word \u201ctherefore,\u201d and it is\ncertainly implied: render unto C\u00e6sar the things which you confess to be\nhis own, which bear his image upon their face.\n\nCan we suppose that no such inference gives point to the second clause? It\nwould then become, like too many of our pious sayings, a mere supplement,\ninappropriate, however excellent, a make weight, and a platitude. No\nexample of such irrelevance can be found in the story of our Lord. When,\nfinding the likeness of C\u00e6sar on the coin, He said, Render, therefore,\nunto C\u00e6sar the things that are C\u00e6sar\u2019s, and unto God the things that are\nGod\u2019s, He at least suggested that the reason for both precepts ran\nparallel, and the image of the higher and heavenlier Monarch could be\nfound on what He claims of us. And it is so. He claims all we have and all\nwe are. \u201cThe earth is the Lord\u2019s, and the fulness thereof:\u201d and \u201cI have\nmade thee, thou art Mine.\u201d And for us and ours alike the argument holds\ngood. All the visible universe bears deeply stamped into its substance His\nimage and superscription. The grandeur of mountains and stars, the\nfairness of violet and harebell, are alike revelations of the Creator. The\nheavens declare His glory: the firmament showeth His handiwork: the earth\nis full of His riches: all the discoveries which expand our mastery over\nnature and disease, over time and space, are proofs of His wisdom and\ngoodness, Who laid the amazing plan which we grow wise by tracing out.\nFind a corner on which contrivance and benevolence have not stamped the\nroyal image, and we may doubt whether that bleak spot owes Him tribute.\nBut no desert is so blighted, no solitude so forlorn.\n\nAnd we should render unto God the things which are God\u2019s, seeing His\nlikeness in His world. \u201cFor the invisible things of Him since the creation\nof the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things which\nare made, even His everlasting power and divinity.\u201d\n\nAnd if most of all He demands the love, the heart of man, here also He can\nask, \u201cWhose image and superscription is this?\u201d For in the image of God\nmade He man. It is sometimes urged that this image was quite effaced when\nAdam fell. But it was not to protect the unfallen that the edict was\nspoken \u201cWhoso sheddeth man\u2019s blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in\nthe image of God made He man.\u201d He was not an unfallen man of whom St. Paul\nsaid that he \u201cought not to have his head veiled, forasmuch as he is the\nimage and glory of God;\u201d neither were they unfallen, of whom St. James\nsaid, \u201cWe curse men which are made after the likeness of God\u201d (Gen. ix. 6;\n1 Cor. xi. 7; James iii. 9). Common men, for whom the assassin lurks, who\nneed instruction how to behave in church, and whom others scorn and curse,\nthese bear upon them an awful likeness; and even when they refuse tribute\nto their king, He can ask them, Whose is this image?\n\nWe see it in the intellect, ever demanding new worlds to conquer,\noverwhelming us with its victories over time and space. \u201cIn apprehension\nhow like a God.\u201d Alas for us! if we forget that the Spirit of knowledge\nand wisdom is no other than the Spirit of the Lord God.\n\nWe see this likeness far more in our moral nature. It is true that sin has\nspoiled and wasted this, yet there survives in man\u2019s heart, as nowhere\nelse in our world, a strange sympathy with the holiness and love of God.\nNo other of His attributes has the same power to thrill us. Tell me that\nHe lit the stars and can quench them with a word, and I reverence, perhaps\nI fear Him; yet such power is outside and beyond my sphere; it fails to\ntouch me, it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Even the rarer human gifts,\nthe power of a Czar, the wisdom of Bacon, are thus beyond me, I am\nunkindled, they do not find me out. But speak of holiness, even the\nstainless holiness of God, undefiled through all eternity, and you shake\nthe foundations of my being. And why does the reflection that God is pure\nhumble me more than the knowledge that God is omnipotent? Because it is my\nspiritual nature which is most conscious of the Divine image, blurred and\ndefaced indeed, but not obliterated yet. Because while I listen I am dimly\nconscious of my birthright, my destiny, that I was born to resemble this,\nand all is lost if I come short of it. Because every child and every\nsinner feels that it is more possible for him to be like his God than like\nNewton, or Shakespere, or Napoleon. Because the work of grace is to call\nin the worn and degraded coinage of humanity, and, as the mint restamps\nand reissues the pieces which have grown thin and worn, so to renew us\nafter the image of Him that created us.\n\n\n\n\nChrist And The Sadducees.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd there come unto Him Sadducees, which say that there is no\n    resurrection: and they asked Him, saying, Master, Moses wrote unto\n    us, If a man\u2019s brother die, and leave a wife behind him, and leave\n    no child, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed\n    unto his brother. There were seven brethren: and the first took a\n    wife, and dying left no seed; and the second took her, and died,\n    leaving no seed behind him; and the third likewise: and the seven\n    left no seed. Last of all the woman also died. In the resurrection\n    whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife.\n    Jesus said unto them, Is it not for this cause that ye err, that\n    ye know not the Scriptures, nor the power of God? For when they\n    shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in\n    marriage; but are as angels in heaven. But as touching the dead,\n    that they are raised; have ye not read in the book of Moses, in\n    _the place concerning_ the Bush, how God spake unto him, saying, I\n    _am_ the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of\n    Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living: ye do\n    greatly err.\u201d\u2014MARK xii. 18-27 (R.V.).\n\n\nChrist came that the thoughts of many hearts might be revealed. And so it\nwas, that when He had silenced the examination of the hierarchy, and\nbaffled their craft, the Sadducees were tempted to assail Him. Like the\nrationalists of every age, they stood coldly aloof from popular movements,\nand we seldom find them interfering with Christ or His followers, until\ntheir energies were roused by the preaching of His Resurrection, so\ndirectly opposed to their fundamental doctrines.\n\nTheir appearance now is extremely natural. The repulse of every other\nparty left them the only champions of orthodoxy against the new movement,\nwith everything to win by success, and little to lose by failure. There is\na tone of quiet and confident irony in their interrogation, well befitting\nan upper-class group, a secluded party of refined critics, rather than\npractical teachers with a mission to their fellow-men. They break utterly\nnew ground by raising an abstract and subtle question, a purely\nintellectual problem, but one which reduced the doctrine of a resurrection\nto an absurdity, if only their premises can be made good. And this\npeculiarity is often overlooked in criticism upon our Lord\u2019s answer. Its\nintellectual subtlety was only the adoption by Christ of the weapons of\nhis adversaries. But at the same time, He lays great and special stress\nupon the authority of Scripture, in this encounter with the party which\nleast acknowledged it.\n\nTheir objection, stated in its simplest form, is the complication which\nwould result if the successive ties for which death makes room must all\nrevive together when death is abolished. If a woman has married a second\ntime, whose wife shall she be? But their statement of the case is\ningenious, not only because they push the difficulty to an absurd and\nludicrous extent, but much more so because they base it upon a Divine\nordinance. If there be a Resurrection, Moses must answer for all the\nconfusion that will ensue, for Moses gave the commandment, by virtue of\nwhich a woman married seven times. No offspring of any union gave it a\nspecial claim upon her future life. \u201cIn the Resurrection, whose wife shall\nshe be of them?\u201d they ask, conceding with a quiet sarcasm that this absurd\nevent must needs occur.\n\nFor these controversialists the question was solely of the physical tie,\nwhich had made of twain one flesh. They had no conception that the body\ncan be raised otherwise than as it perished, and they rightly enough felt\ncertain that on such a resurrection woeful complications must ensue.\n\nNow Jesus does not rebuke their question with such stern words as He had\njust employed to others, \u201cWhy tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?\u201d They were\ndoubtless sincere in their conviction, and at least they had not come in\nthe disguise of perplexed inquirers and almost disciples. He blames them,\nbut more gently: \u201cIs it not for this cause that ye err, because ye know\nnot the Scriptures, nor the power of God?\u201d They could not know one and not\nthe other, but the boastful wisdom of this world, so ready to point a jibe\nby quoting Moses, had never truly grasped the meaning of the writer it\nappealed to.\n\nJesus, it is plain, does not quote Scripture only as having authority with\nHis opponents: He accepts it heartily: He declares that human error is due\nto ignorance of its depth and range of teaching; and He recognizes the\nfull roll of the sacred books \u201cthe Scriptures.\u201d\n\nIt has rightly been said, that none of the explicit statements, commonly\nrelied upon, do more to vindicate for Holy Writ the authority of our Lord,\nthan this simple incidental question.\n\nJesus proceeded to restate the doctrine of the Resurrection and then to\nprove it; and the more His brief words are pondered, the more they will\nexpand and deepen.\n\nSt. Paul has taught us that the dead in Christ shall rise first (1 Thess.\niv. 16). Of such attainment it is written, Blessed and holy is he that\nhath part in the first Resurrection (Rev. xx. 6).\n\nNow since among the lost there could be no question of family ties, and\nconsequent embarrassments, Jesus confines His statement to these happy\nones, of whom the Sadducee could think no better than that their new life\nshould be a reproduction of their existence here,\u2014a theory which they did\nwisely in rejecting. He uses the very language taken up afterwards by His\napostle, and says, \u201cWhen they shall rise from the dead.\u201d And He asserts\nthat marriage is at an end, and they are as the angels in heaven. Here is\nno question of the duration of pure and tender human affection, nor do\nthese words compromise in any degree the hopes of faithful hearts, which\ncling to one another. Surely we may believe that in a life which is the\noutcome and resultant of this life, as truly as the grain is of the seed,\nin a life also where nothing shall be forgotten, but on the contrary we\nshall know what we know not now, there, tracing back the flood of their\nimmortal energies to obscure fountains upon earth, and seeing all that\neach has owed half unconsciously to the fidelity and wisdom of the other,\nthe true partners and genuine helpmeets of this world shall for ever drink\nsome peculiar gladness, each from the other\u2019s joy. There is no reason why\nthe close of formal unions which include the highest and most perfect\nfriendships, should forbid such friendships to survive and flourish in the\nmore kindly atmosphere of heaven.\n\nWhat Christ asserts is simply the dissolution of the tie, as an inevitable\nconsequence of such a change in the very nature of the blessed ones as\nmakes the tie incongruous and impossible. In point of fact, marriage as\nthe Sadducee thought of it, is but the counterpoise of death, renewing the\nface which otherwise would disappear, and when death is swallowed up, it\nvanishes as an anachronism. In heaven \u201cthey are as the angels,\u201d the body\nitself being made \u201ca spiritual body,\u201d set free from the appetites of the\nflesh, and in harmony with the glowing aspirations of the Spirit, which\nnow it weighs upon and retards. If any would object that to be as the\nangels is to be without a body, rather than to possess a spiritual body,\nit is answer enough that the context implies the existence of a body,\nsince no person ever spoke of a resurrection of the soul. Moreover it is\nan utterly unwarrantable assumption that angels are wholly without\nsubstance. Many verses appear to imply the opposite, and the cubits of\nmeasurement of the New Jerusalem were \u201caccording to the measure of a man,\nthat is of an angel\u201d (Rev. xxi. 17), which seems to assert a very curious\nsimilarity indeed.\n\nThe objection of the Sadducees was entirely obviated, therefore by the\nbroader, bolder, and more spiritual view of a resurrection which Jesus\ntaught. And by far the greater part of the cavils against this same\ndoctrine which delight the infidel lecturer and popular essayist of to-day\nwould also die a natural death, if the free and spiritual teaching of\nJesus, and its expansion by St. Paul, were understood. But we breathe a\nwholly different air when we read the speculations even of so great a\nthinker as St. Augustine, who supposed that we should rise with bodies\nsomewhat greater than our present ones, because all the hair and nails we\never trimmed away must be diffused throughout the mass, lest they should\nproduce deformity by their excessive proportions (_De Civitate Dei_, xxii.\n19). To all such speculation, he who said, To every seed his own body,\nsays, Thou fool, thou sowest not that body that shall be. But though Jesus\nhad met these questions, it did not follow that His doctrine was true,\nmerely because a certain difficulty did not apply. And, therefore, He\nproceeded to prove it by the same Moses to whom they had appealed, and\nwhom Jesus distinctly asserts to be the author of the book of Exodus. God\nsaid, \u201cI am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of\nJacob. He is not the God of the dead, but of the living: ye do greatly\nerr.\u201d\n\nThe argument is not based upon the present tense of the verb _to be_ in\nthis assertion, for in the Greek the verb is not expressed. In fact the\nargument is not a verbal one at all; or else it would be satisfied by the\ndoctrine of the immortality of the spirit, and would not establish any\nresurrection of the body. It is based upon the immutability of God, and,\ntherefore, the imperishability of all that ever entered into vital and\nreal relationship with Him. To cancel such a relationship would introduce\na change into the Eternal. And Moses, to whom they appealed, had heard God\nexpressly proclaim Himself the God of those who had long since passed out\nof time. It was, therefore, clear that His relationship with them lived\non, and this guaranteed that no portion, even the humblest, of their true\npersonality should perish. Now the body is as real a part of humanity, as\nthe soul and spirit are, although a much lowlier part. And, therefore, it\nmust not really die.\n\nIt is solemn to observe how Jesus, in this second part of His argument,\npasses from the consideration of the future of the blessed to that of all\nmankind; \u201cas touching the dead that they are raised.\u201d With others than the\nblessed, therefore, God has a real though a dread relationship. And it\nwill prove hard to reconcile this argument of Christ with the existence of\nany time when any soul shall be extinguished.\n\n\u201cThe body is for the Lord,\u201d said St. Paul, arguing against the vices of\nthe flesh, \u201cand the Lord for the body.\u201d From these words of Christ he may\nwell have learned that profound and far-reaching doctrine, which will\nnever have done its work in the Church and in the world, until whatever\ndefiles, degrades, or weakens that which the Lord has consecrated is felt\nto blaspheme by implication the God of our manhood, unto Whom all our life\nought to be lived; until men are no longer dwarfed in mines, nor poisoned\nin foul air, nor massacred in battle, men whose intimate relationship with\nGod the Eternal is of such a kind as to guarantee the resurrection of the\npoor frames which we destroy.\n\nHow much more does this great proclamation frown upon the sins by which\nmen dishonour their own flesh. \u201cKnow ye not,\u201d asked the apostle, carrying\nthe same doctrine to its utmost limit, \u201cthat your bodies are the temples\nof the Holy Ghost?\u201d So truly is God our God.\n\n\n\n\nThe Discerning Scribe.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd one of the scribes came, and heard them questioning together,\n    and knowing that He had answered them well, asked Him, What\n    commandment is the first of all? Jesus answered, The first is,\n    Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God, the Lord is one: and thou shalt\n    love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,\n    and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. The second is\n    this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none\n    other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said unto\n    Him, Of a truth, Master, Thou hast well said that He is one; and\n    there is none other but He: and to love Him with all the heart,\n    and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to\n    love his neighbour as himself, is much more than all whole burnt\n    offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered\n    discreetly, He said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of\n    God. And no man after that durst ask Him any question.\u201d\u2014MARK xii.\n    28-34 (R.V.).\n\n\nThe praise which Jesus bestowed upon this lawyer is best understood when\nwe take into account the circumstances, the pressure of assailants with\nensnaring questions, the sullen disappointment or palpable exasperation of\nthe party to which the scribe belonged. He had probably sympathized in\ntheir hostility; and had come expecting and desiring the discomfiture of\nJesus. But if so, he was a candid enemy; and as each new attempt revealed\nmore clearly the spiritual insight, the self-possession and balanced\nwisdom of Him Who had been represented as a dangerous fanatic, his\nunfriendly opinion began to waver. For he too was at issue with popular\nviews: he had learned in the Scriptures that God desireth not sacrifice,\nthat incense might be an abomination to Him, and new moons and sabbaths\nthings to do away with. And so, perceiving that He had answered them well,\nthe scribe asked, upon his own account, a very different question, not\nrarely debated in their schools, and often answered with grotesque\nfrivolity, but which he felt to go down to the very root of things.\nInstead of challenging Christ\u2019s authority, he tries His wisdom. Instead of\nstriving to entangle Him in dangerous politics, or to assail with shallow\nridicule the problems of the life to come, he asks, What commandment is\nthe first of all? And if we may accept as complete this abrupt statement\nof his interrogation, it would seem to have been drawn from him by a\nsudden impulse, or wrenched by an over-mastering desire, despite of\nreluctance and false shame.\n\nThe Lord answered him with great solemnity and emphasis. He might have\nquoted the commandment only. But He at once supported the precept itself\nand also His own view of its importance by including the majestic\nprologue, \u201cHear, O Israel; the Lord our God, the Lord is one; and thou\nshalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and\nwith all thy mind, and with all thy strength.\u201d\n\nThe unity of God, what a massive and reassuring thought! Amid the\ndebasements of idolatry, with its deification of every impulse and every\nforce, amid the distractions of chance and change, seemingly so capricious\nand even discordant, amid the complexities of the universe and its\nphenomena, there is wonderful strength and wisdom in the reflection that\nGod is one. All changes obey His hand which holds the rein; by Him the\nworlds were made. The exiled patriarch was overwhelmed by the majesty of\nthe revelation that his fathers\u2019 God was God in Bethel even as in\nBeer-sheba: it charmed away the bitter sense of isolation, it unsealed in\nhim the fountains of worship and trust, and sent him forward with a new\nhope of protection and prosperity. The unity of God, really apprehended,\nis a basis for the human will to repose upon, and to become\nself-consistent and at peace. It was the parent of the fruitful doctrine\nof the unity of nature which underlies all the scientific victories of the\nmodern world. In religion, St. Paul felt that it implies the equal\ntreatment of all the human race, when he asked, \u201cIs He the God of Jews\nonly? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yea, of Gentiles also, if so be\nthat God is one\u201d (Rom iii. 29 R.V.). To be one, he seems to say, implies\nbeing universal also. And if it thus excludes the reprobation of races, it\ndisproves equally that of individual souls, and all thought of such\nunequal and partial treatment as should inspire one with hope of\nindulgence in guilt, or with fear that his way is hid from the Lord.\n\nBut if this be true, if there be one fountain of all life and loveliness\nand joy, of all human tenderness and all moral glory, how are we bound to\nlove Him. Every other affection should only deepen our adoring loyalty to\nHim Who gives it. No cold or formal service can meet His claim, Who gives\nus the power to serve. No, we must love Him. And as all our nature comes\nfrom Him, so must all be consecrated: that love must embrace all the\naffections of \u201cheart and soul\u201d panting after Him, as the hart after the\nwaterbrooks; and all the deep and steady convictions of the \u201cmind,\u201d musing\non the work of His hand, able to give a reason for its faith; and all the\npractical homage of the \u201cstrength,\u201d living and dying to the Lord. How\neasy, then, would be the fulfilment of His commandments in detail, and how\nsurely it would follow. All the precepts of the first table are clearly\nimplied in this.\n\nIn such another commandment were summed up also the precepts which\nconcerned our neighbour. When we love him as ourselves (neither\nexaggerating his claims beyond our own, nor allowing our own to trample\nupon his), then we shall work no ill to our neighbour, and so love shall\nfulfil the law. There is none other commandment greater than these.\n\nThe questioner saw all the nobility of this reply; and the disdain, the\nanger, and perhaps the persecution of his associates could not prevent him\nfrom an admiring and reverent repetition of the Saviour\u2019s words, and an\navowal that all the ceremonial observances of Judaism were as nothing\ncompared with this.\n\nWhile he was thus judging, he was being judged. As he knew that Jesus had\nanswered well, so Jesus saw that he answered discreetly; and in view of\nhis unprejudiced judgment, his spiritual insight, and his frank approval\nof One Who was then despised and rejected, He said, Thou art not far from\nthe kingdom of God. But he was not yet within it, and no man knows his\nfate.\n\nSad yet instructive it is to think that he may have won the approval of\nChrist, and heard His words, so full of discernment and of desire for his\nadherence, and yet never crossed the invisible and mysterious boundary\nwhich he then approached so nearly. But we also may know, and admire, and\nconfess the greatness and goodness of Jesus, without forsaking all to\nfollow Him.\n\nHis enemies had been defeated and put to shame, their murderous hate had\nbeen denounced, and the nets of their cunning had been rent like cobwebs;\nthey had seen the heart of one of their own order kindled into open\nadmiration, and they henceforth renounced as hopeless the attempt to\nconquer Jesus in debate. No man after that durst ask Him any questions.\n\nHe will now carry the war into their own country. It will be for them to\nanswer Jesus.\n\n\n\n\nDavid\u2019s Lord.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd Jesus answered and said, as He taught in the temple, How say\n    the scribes that the Christ is the Son of David? David himself\n    said in the Holy Spirit,\u2014\n\n    The Lord said unto my Lord,\n    Sit Thou on my right hand,\n    Till I make Thine enemies the footstool of Thy feet.\n\n    David himself calleth Him Lord; and whence is He His son? And the\n    common people heard Him gladly. And in His teaching He said,\n    Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and _to\n    have_ salutations in the marketplaces, and chief seats in the\n    synagogues, and chief places at feasts: they which devour widows\u2019\n    houses, and for a pretence make long prayers; these shall receive\n    greater condemnation.\u201d\u2014MARK xii. 35-40 (R.V.).\n\n\nJesus, having silenced in turn His official interrogators and the\nSadducees, and won the heart of His honest questioner, proceeded to submit\na searching problem to His assailants. Whose son was the Messiah? And when\nthey gave Him an obvious and shallow answer, He covered them with\nconfusion publicly. The event is full of that dramatic interest which St.\nMark is so well able to discern and reproduce. How is it then that he\npasses over all this aspect of it, leaves us ignorant of the defeat and\neven of the presence of the scribes, and free to suppose that Jesus stated\nthe whole problem in one long question, possibly without an opponent at\nhand to feel its force?\n\nThis is a remarkable proof that his concern was not really for the\npictorial element in the story, but for the manifestation of the power of\nhis Master, the \u201cauthority\u201d which resounds through his opening chapters,\nthe royalty which he exhibits at the close. To him the vital point is that\nJesus, upon openly claiming to be the Christ, and repelling the vehement\nattacks which were made upon Him as such, proceeded to unfold the\nastonishing greatness which this implied; and that after asserting the\nunity of God and His claim upon all hearts, He demonstrated that the\nChrist was sharer of His throne.\n\nThe Christ, they said, was the Son of David, and this was not false: Jesus\nhad wrought many miracles for suppliants who addressed Him by that title.\nBut was it all the truth? How then did David call Him Lord? A greater than\nDavid might spring from among his descendants, and hold rule by an\noriginal and not merely an ancestral claim: He might not reign as a son of\nDavid. Yet this would not explain the fact that David, who died ages\nbefore His coming, was inspired to call Him _My_ Lord. Still less would it\nsatisfy the assertion that God had bidden Him sit beside Him on His\nthrone. For the scribes there was a serious warning in the promise that\nHis enemies should be made His footstool, and for all the people a\nstartling revelation in the words which follow, and which the Epistle to\nthe Hebrews has unfolded, making this Son of David a priest for ever,\nafter another order than that of Aaron.\n\nNo wonder that the multitude heard with gladness teaching at once so\noriginal, so profound, and so clearly justified by Scripture.\n\nBut it must be observed how remarkably this question of Jesus follows up\nHis conversation with the scribe. Then He had based the supreme duty of\nlove to God upon the supreme doctrine of the Divine Unity. He now proceeds\nto show that the throne of Deity is not a lonely throne, and to demand,\nWhose Son is He Who shares it, and Whom David in Spirit accosts by the\nsame title as his God?\n\nSt. Mark is now content to give the merest indication of the final\ndenunciation with which the Lord turned His back upon the scribes of\nJerusalem, as He previously broke with those of Galilee. But it is enough\nto show how utterly beyond compromise was the rupture. The people were to\nbeware of them: their selfish objects were betrayed in their very dress,\nand their desire for respectful salutations and seats of honour. Their\nprayers were a pretence, and they devoured widows\u2019 houses, acquiring under\nthe cloke of religion what should have maintained the friendless. But\ntheir affected piety would only bring upon them a darker doom.\n\nIt is a tremendous impeachment. None is entitled to speak as Jesus did,\nwho is unable to read hearts as He did. And yet we may learn from it that\nmere softness is not the meekness He demands, and that, when sinister\nmotives are beyond doubt, the spirit of Jesus is the spirit of burning.\n\nThere is an indulgence for the wrongdoer which is mere feebleness and half\ncompliance, and which shares in the guilt of Eli. And there is a dreadful\nanger which sins not, the wrath of the Lamb.\n\n\n\n\nThe Widow\u2019s Mite.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd He sat down over against the treasury, and beheld how the\n    multitude cast money into the treasury: and how many that were\n    rich cast in much. And there came a poor widow, and she cast in\n    two mites, which make a farthing. And He called unto Him His\n    disciples, and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, This poor\n    widow cast in more than all they which are casting into the\n    treasury; for they all did cast in of their superfluity; but she\n    of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her\n    living.\u201d\u2014MARK xii. 41-44 (R.V.).\n\n\nWith words of stern denunciation Jesus for ever left the temple. Yet He\nlingered, as if reluctant, in the outer court; and while the storm of His\nwrath was still resounding in all hearts, observed and pointed out an\naction of the lowliest beauty, a modest flower of Hebrew piety in the vast\ndesert of formality. It was not too modest, however, to catch, even in\nthat agitating hour, the eye of Jesus; and while the scribes were\ndevouring widows\u2019 houses, a poor widow could still, with two mites which\nmake a farthing, win honourable mention from the Son of God. Thus He ever\nobserves realities among pretences, the pure flame of love amid the sour\nsmoke which wreathes around it. What He saw was the last pittance, cast to\na service which in reality was no longer God\u2019s, yet given with a noble\nearnestness, a sacrifice pure from the heart.\n\n1. His praise suggests to us the unknown observation, the unsuspected\ninfluences which surround us. She little guessed herself to be the one\nfigure, amid a glittering group and where many were rich, who really\ninterested the all-seeing Eye. She went away again, quite unconscious that\nthe Lord had converted her two mites into a perennial wealth of\ncontentment for lowly hearts, and instruction for the Church, quite\nignorant that she was approved of Messiah, and that her little gift was\nthe greatest event of all her story. So are we watched and judged in our\nleast conscious and our most secluded hours.\n\n2. We learn St. Paul\u2019s lesson, that, \u201cif the readiness is there, it is\nacceptable according as a man hath, and not according as he hath not.\u201d\n\nIn war, in commerce, in the senate, how often does an accident at the\noutset blight a career for ever. One is taken in the net of circumstances,\nand his dipped wings can never soar again. But there is no such disabling\naccident in religion. God seeth the heart. The world was redeemed by the\nblighted and thwarted career of One Who would fain have gathered His own\ncity under His wing, but was refused and frustrated. And whether we cast\nin much, or only possess two mites, an offering for the rich to mock, He\nmarks, understands, and estimates aright.\n\nAnd while the world only sees the quantity, He weighs the motive of our\nactions. This is the true reason why we can judge nothing before the time,\nwhy the great benefactor is not really pointed out by the splendid\nbenefaction, and why many that are last shall yet be first, and the first\nlast.\n\n3. The poor widow gave not a greater proportion of her goods, she gave\nall; and it has been often remarked that she had still, in her poverty,\nthe opportunity of keeping back one half. But her heart went with her two\nmites. And, therefore, she was blessed. We may picture her return to her\nsordid drudgery, unaware of the meaning of the new light and peace which\nfollowed her, and why her heart sang for joy. We may think of the Spirit\nof Christ which was in her, leading her afterwards into the Church of\nChrist, an obscure and perhaps illiterate convert, undistinguished by any\nspecial gift, and only loved as the first Christians all loved each other.\nAnd we may think of her now, where the secrets of all hearts are made\nknown, followed by myriads of the obscure and undistinguished whom her\nstory has sustained and cheered, and by some who knew her upon earth, and\nwere astonished to learn that this was she. Then let us ask ourselves, Is\nthere any such secret of unobtrusive lowly service, born of love, which\nthe future will associate with me?\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\n\n\n\nThings Perishing And Things Stable.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd as He went forth out of the temple, one of His disciples\n    saith unto Him, Master, behold, what manner of stones and what\n    manner of buildings! And Jesus said unto him, Seest thou these\n    great buildings? there shall not be left here one stone upon\n    another, which shall not be thrown down. And as He sat on the\n    Mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John\n    and Andrew asked Him privately, Tell us, when shall these things\n    be? and what _shall be_ the sign when these things are all about\n    to be accomplished? And Jesus began to say unto them, Take heed\n    that no man lead you astray. Many shall come in My name, saying, I\n    am _He;_ and shall lead many astray. And when ye shall hear of\n    wars and rumours of wars, be not troubled: _these things_ must\n    needs come to pass: but the end is not yet.\u201d\u2014MARK xiii. 1-7\n    (R.V.).\n\n\nNothing is more impressive than to stand before one of the great buildings\nof the world, and mark how the toil of man has rivalled the stability of\nnature, and his thought its grandeur. It stands up like a crag, and the\nwind whistles through its pinnacles as in a grove, and the rooks float and\nsoar about its towers as they do among the granite peaks. Face to face\nwith one of these mighty structures, man feels his own pettiness,\nshivering in the wind, or seeking a shadow from the sun, and thinking how\neven this breeze may blight or this heat fever him, and how at the longest\nhe shall have crumbled into dust for ages, and his name, and possibly his\nrace, have perished, while this same pile shall stretch the same long\nshadow across the plain.\n\nNo wonder that the great masters of nations have all delighted in\nbuilding, for thus they saw their power, and the immortality for which\nthey hoped, made solid, embodied and substantial, and it almost seemed as\nif they had blended their memory with the enduring fabric of the world.\n\nSuch a building, solid, and vast, and splendid, white with marble, and\nblazing with gold, was the temple which Jesus now forsook. A little\nafterwards, we read that its Roman conqueror, whose race were the great\nbuilders of the world, in spite of the rules of war, and the certainty\nthat the Jews would never remain quietly in subjection while it stood,\n\u201cwas reluctant to burn down so vast a work as this, since this would be a\nmischief to the Romans themselves, as it would be an ornament to their\ngovernment while it lasted.\u201d\n\nNo wonder, then, that one of the disciples, who had seen Jesus weep for\nits approaching ruin, and who now followed His steps as He left it\ndesolate, lingered, and spoke as if in longing and appeal, \u201cMaster, see\nwhat manner of stones, and what manner of buildings.\u201d\n\nBut to the eyes of Jesus all was evanescent as a bubble, doomed and about\nto perish: \u201cSeest thou these great buildings, there shall not be left here\none stone upon another that shall not be thrown down.\u201d\n\nThe words were appropriate to His solemn mood, for He had just denounced\nits guilt and flung its splendour from Him, calling it no longer \u201cMy\nhouse,\u201d nor \u201cMy Father\u2019s house,\u201d but saying, \u201cYour house is left unto you\ndesolate.\u201d Little could all the solid strength of the very foundations of\nthe world itself avail against the thunderbolt of God. Moreover, it was a\ntime when He felt most keenly the consecration, the approaching surrender\nof His own life. In such an hour no splendours distract the penetrating\nvision; all the world is brief and frail and hollow to the man who has\nconsciously given himself to God. It was the fitting moment at which to\nutter such a prophecy.\n\nBut, as He sat on the opposite slope, and gazed back upon the towers that\nwere to fall, His three favoured disciples and Andrew came to ask Him\nprivately when should these things be, and what would be the sign of their\napproach.\n\nIt is the common assertion of all unbelievers that the prophecy which\nfollowed has been composed since what passes for its fulfilment. When\nJesus was murdered, and a terrible fate befel the guilty city, what more\nnatural than to connect the two events? And how easily would a legend\nspring up that the sufferer foretold the penalty? But there is an obvious\nand complete reply. The prediction is too mysterious, its outlines are too\nobscure; and the ruin of Jerusalem is too inexplicably complicated with\nthe final visitation of the whole earth, to be the issue of any vindictive\nimagination working with the history in view.\n\nWe are sometimes tempted to complain of this obscurity. But in truth it is\nwholesome and designed. We need not ask whether the original discourse was\nthus ambiguous, or they are right who suppose that a veil has since been\ndrawn between us and a portion of the answer given by Jesus to His\ndisciples. We know as much as it is meant that we should know. And this at\nleast is plain, that any process of conscious or unconscious invention,\nworking backwards after Jerusalem fell, would have given us far more\nexplicit predictions than we possess. And, moreover, that what we lose in\ngratification of our curiosity, we gain in personal warning to walk warily\nand vigilantly.\n\nJesus did not answer the question, When shall these things be? But He\ndeclared, to men who wondered at the overthrow of their splendid temple,\nthat all earthly splendours must perish. And He revealed to them where\ntrue permanence may be discovered. These are two of the central thoughts\nof the discourse, and they are worthy of much more attention from its\nstudents than they commonly receive, being overlooked in the universal\neagerness \u201cto know the times and the seasons.\u201d They come to the surface in\nthe distinct words, \u201cHeaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall\nnot pass away.\u201d\n\nNow, if we are to think of this great prophecy as a lurid reflection\nthrown back by later superstition on the storm-clouds of the nation\u2019s\nfall, how shall we account for its solemn and pensive mood, utterly free\nfrom vindictiveness, entirely suited to Jesus as we think of Him, when\nleaving for ever the dishonoured shrine, and moving forward, as His\nmeditations would surely do, beyond the occasion which evoked them? Not\nsuch is the manner of resentful controversialists, eagerly tracing\nimaginary judgments. They are narrow, and sharp, and sour.\n\n1. The fall of Jerusalem blended itself, in the thought of Jesus, with the\ncatastrophe which awaits all that appears to be great and stable. Nation\nshall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, so that, although\narmies set their bodies in the gap for these, and heroes shed their blood\nlike water, yet they are divided among themselves and cannot stand. This\nprediction, we must remember, was made when the iron yoke of Rome imposed\nquiet upon as much of the world as a Galilean was likely to take into\naccount, and, therefore, was by no means so easy as it may now appear to\nus.\n\nNature itself should be convulsed. Earthquakes should rend the earth,\nblight and famine should disturb the regular course of seed-time and\nharvest. And these perturbations should be the working out of a stern law,\nand the sure token of sorer woes to come, the beginning of pangs which\nshould usher in another dispensation, the birth-agony of a new time. A\nlittle later, and the sun should be darkened, and the moon should withdraw\nher light, and the stars should \u201cbe falling\u201d from heaven, and the powers\nthat are in the heavens should be darkened. Lastly, the course of history\nshould close, and the affairs of earth should come to an end, when the\nelect should be gathered together to the glorified Son of Man.\n\n2. It was in sight of the ruin of all these things that He dared to add,\nMy word shall not pass away.\n\nHeresy should assail it, for many should come in the name of Christ,\nsaying, I am He, and should lead many astray. Fierce persecutions should\ntry His followers, and they should be led to judgment and delivered up.\nThe worse afflictions of the heart would wring them, for brother should\ndeliver up brother to death, and the father his child, and children should\nrise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. But all should\nbe too little to quench the immortality bestowed upon His elect. In their\nsore need, the Holy Ghost should speak in them: when they were caused to\nbe put to death, he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.\n\nNow these words were treasured up as the utterances of One Who had just\nforetold His own approaching murder, and Who died accordingly amid\ncircumstances full of horror and shame. Yet His followers rejoiced to\nthink that when the sun grew dark, and the stars were falling, He should\nbe seen in the clouds coming with great glory.\n\nIt is the reversal of human judgment: the announcement that all is stable\nwhich appears unsubstantial, and all which appears solid is about to melt\nlike snow.\n\nAnd yet the world itself has since grown old enough to know that\nconvictions are stronger than empires, and truths than armed hosts. And\nthis is the King of Truth. He was born and came into the world to bear\nwitness to the truth, and every one that is of the truth heareth His\nvoice. He is the Truth become vital, the Word which was with God in the\nbeginning.\n\n\n\n\nThe Impending Judgment.\n\n\n    \u201cFor nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against\n    kingdom; there shall be earthquakes in divers places; there shall\n    be famines: these things are the beginning of travail. But take ye\n    heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and\n    in synagogues shall ye be beaten; and before governors and kings\n    shall ye stand for My sake, for a testimony unto them. And the\n    gospel must first be preached unto all the nations. And when they\n    lead you _to judgment_, and deliver you up, be not anxious\n    beforehand what ye shall speak: but whatsoever shall be given you\n    in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the\n    Holy Ghost. And brother shall deliver up brother to death, and the\n    father his child; and children shall rise up against parents, and\n    cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men\n    for My name\u2019s sake; but he that endureth to the end, the same\n    shall be saved. But when ye see the abomination of desolation\n    standing where he ought not (let him that readeth understand),\n    then let them that are in Jud\u00e6a flee unto the mountains: and let\n    him that is on the housetop not go down, nor enter in, to take\n    anything out of his house: and let him that is in the field not\n    return back to take his cloke.\u201d\u2014MARK xiii. 8-16 (R.V.).\n\n\nWhen we perceive that one central thought in our Lord\u2019s discourse about\nthe last things is the contrast between material things which are\nfleeting, and spiritual realities which abide, a question naturally\narises, which ought not to be overlooked. Was the prediction itself\nanything more than a result of profound spiritual insight? Are we certain\nthat prophecy in general was more than keenness of vision? There are\nflourishing empires now which perhaps a keen politician, and certainly a\nfirm believer in retributive justice governing the world, must consider to\nbe doomed. And one who felt the transitory nature of earthly resources\nmight expect a time when the docks of London will resemble the lagoons of\nVenice, and the State which now predominates in Europe shall become\npartaker of the decrepitude Spain. But no such presage is a prophecy in\nthe Christian sense. Even when suggested by religion, it does not claim\nany greater certainty than that of sagacious inference.\n\nThe general question is best met by pointing to such specific and detailed\nprophecies, especially concerning the Messiah, as the twenty-second Psalm,\nthe fifty-third of Isaiah, and the ninth of Daniel.\n\nBut the prediction of the fall of Jerusalem, while we have seen that it\nhas none of the minuteness and sharpness of an after-thought, is also too\ndefinite for a presentiment. The abomination which defiled the Holy Place,\nand yet left one last brief opportunity for hasty flight, the persecutions\nby which that catastrophe would be heralded, and the precipitating of the\ncrisis for the elect\u2019s sake, were details not to be conjectured. So was\nthe coming of the great retribution, the beginning of His kingdom within\nthat generation, a limit which was foretold at least twice besides (Mark\nix. 1 and xiv. 62), with which the \u201chenceforth\u201d in Matthew xxvi. 64 must\nbe compared. And so was another circumstance which is not enough\nconsidered: the fact that between the fall of Jerusalem and the Second\nComing, however long or short the interval, no second event of a similar\ncharacter, so universal in its effect upon Christianity, so epoch-making,\nshould intervene. The coming of the Son of man should be \u201cin those days\nafter that tribulation.\u201d\n\nThe intervening centuries lay out like a plain country between two\nmountain tops, and did not break the vista, as the eye passed from the\njudgment of the ancient Church, straight on to the judgment of the world.\nShall we say then that Jesus foretold that His coming would follow\nspeedily? and that He erred? Men have been very willing to bring this\ncharge, even in the face of His explicit assertions. \u201cAfter a long time\nthe Lord of that servant cometh.... While the bridegroom tarried they all\nslumbered and slept.... If that wicked servant shall say in his heart, My\nLord delayeth His coming.\u201d\n\nIt is true that these expressions are not found in St Mark. But instead of\nthem stands a sentence so startling, so unique, that it has caused to\nill-instructed orthodoxy great searchings of heart. At least, however, the\nflippant pretence that Jesus fixed an early date for His return, ought to\nbe silenced when we read, \u201cOf that day or that hour knoweth no one, not\neven the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father.\u201d\n\nThese words are not more surprising than that He increased in wisdom; and\nmarvelled at the faith of some, and the unbelief of others (Luke ii. 52;\nMatt. viii. 10; Mark vi. 6). They are involved in the great assertion,\nthat He not only took the form of a servant, but emptied Himself (Phil.\nii. 7). But they decide the question of the genuineness of the discourse;\nfor when could they have been invented? And they are to be taken in\nconnection with others, which speak of Him not in His low estate, but as\nby nature and inherently, the Word and the Wisdom of God; aware of all\nthat the Father doeth; and Him in Whom dwelleth all the fulness of the\nGodhead bodily (John i. 1; Luke xi. 49; John v. 20; Col. ii. 9).\n\nBut these were \u201cthe days of His flesh;\u201d and that expression is not meant\nto convey that He has since laid aside His body, for He says, \u201cA spirit\nhath not flesh ... as ye see Me have\u201d (Heb. v. 7; Luke xxiv. 39). It must\ntherefore express the limitations, now removed, by which He once\ncondescended to be trammelled. What forbids us, then, to believe that His\nknowledge, like His power, was limited by a lowliness not enforced, but\nfor our sakes chosen; and that as He could have asked for twelve legions\nof angels, yet chose to be bound and buffeted, so He could have known that\nday and hour, yet submitted to ignorance, that He might be made like in\nall points to His brethren? Souls there are for whom this wonderful\nsaying, \u201cthe Son knoweth not,\u201d is even more affecting than the words, \u201cThe\nSon of man hath not where to lay His head.\u201d\n\nBut now the climax must be observed which made His ignorance more\nastonishing than that of the angels in heaven. The recent discourse must\nbe remembered, which had asked His enemies to explain the fact that David\ncalled Him Lord, and spoke of God as occupying no lonely throne. And we\nmust observe His emphatic expression, that His return shall be that of the\nLord of the House (ver. 35), so unlike the temper which He impressed on\nevery servant, and clearly teaching the Epistle to the Hebrews to speak of\nHis fidelity as that of a Son over His house, and to contrast it sharply\nwith that of the most honourable servant (iii. 6).\n\nIt is plain, however, that Jesus did not fix, and renounced the power to\nfix, a speedy date for His second coming. He checked the impatience of the\nearly Church by insisting that none knew the time.\n\nBut He drew the closest analogy between that event and the destruction of\nJerusalem, and required a like spirit in those who looked for each.\n\nPersecution should go before them. Signs would indicate their approach as\nsurely as the budding of the fig tree told of summer. And in each case the\ndisciples of Jesus must be ready. When the siege came, they should not\nturn back from the field into the city, nor escape from the housetop by\nthe inner staircase. When the Son of man comes, their loins should be\ngirt, and their lights already burning. But if the end has been so long\ndelayed, and if there were signs by which its approach might be known, how\ncould it be the practical duty of all men, in all the ages, to expect it?\nWhat is the meaning of bidding us to learn from the fig tree her parable,\nwhich is the approach of summer when her branch becomes tender, and yet\nasserting that we know not when the time is, that it shall come upon us as\na snare, that the Master will surely surprise us, but need not find us\nunprepared, because all the Church ought to be always ready?\n\nWhat does it mean, especially when we observe, beneath the surface, that\nour Lord was conscious of addressing more than that generation, since He\ndeclared to the first hearers, \u201cWhat I say unto you I say unto all,\nWatch?\u201d It is a strange paradox. But yet the history of the Church\nsupplies abundant proof that in no age has the expectation of the Second\nAdvent disappeared, and the faithful have always been mocked by the\nillusion, or else keen to discern the fact, that He is near, even at the\ndoors. It is not enough to reflect that, for each soul, dissolution has\nbeen the preliminary advent of Him who has promised to come again and\nreceive us unto Himself, and the Angel of Death is indeed the Angel of the\nCovenant. It must be asserted that for the universal Church, the feet of\nthe Lord have been always upon the threshold, and the time has been\nprolonged only because the Judge _standeth_ at the door. The \u201cbirth pangs\u201d\nof which Jesus spoke have never been entirely stilled. And the march of\ntime has not been towards a far-off eternity, but along the margin of that\nmysterious ocean, by which it must be engulfed at last, and into which,\nfragment by fragment, the beach it treads is crumbling.\n\nNow this necessity, almost avowed, for giving signs which should only make\nthe Church aware of her Lord\u2019s continual nearness, without ever enabling\nher to assign the date of His actual arrival, is the probable explanation\nof what has been already remarked, the manner in which the judgment of\nJerusalem is made to symbolize the final judgment. But this symbolism\nmakes the warning spoken to that age for ever fruitful. As they were not\nto linger in the guilty city, so we are to let no earthly interests arrest\nour flight,\u2014not to turn back, but promptly and resolutely to flee unto the\neverlasting hills. As they should pray that their flight through the\nmountains should not be in the winter, so should we beware of needing to\nseek salvation in the winter of the soul, when the storms of passion and\nappetite are wildest, when evil habits have made the road slippery under\nfoot, and sophistry and selfwill have hidden the gulfs in a treacherous\nwreath of snow.\n\nHeedfulness, a sense of surrounding peril and of the danger of the times,\nis meant to inspire us while we read. The discourse opens with a caution\nagainst heresy: \u201cTake heed that no man deceive you.\u201d It goes on to caution\nthem against the weakness of their own flesh: \u201cTake heed to yourselves,\nfor they shall deliver you up.\u201d It bids them watch, because they know not\nwhen the time is. And the way to watchfulness is prayerfulness; so that\npresently, in the Garden, when they could not watch with Him one hour,\nthey were bidden to watch and pray, that they enter not into temptation.\n\nSo is the expectant Church to watch and pray. Nor must her mood be one of\npassive idle expectation, dreamful desire of the promised change, neglect\nof duties in the interval. The progress of all art and science, and even\nthe culture of the ground, is said to have been arrested by the universal\npersuasion that the year One Thousand should see the return of Christ. The\nluxury of millennarian expectation seems even now to relieve some\nconsciences from the active duties of religion. But Jesus taught His\nfollowers that on leaving His house, to sojourn in a far country, He\nregarded them as His servants still, and gave them every one his work. And\nit is the companion of that disciple to whom Jesus gave the keys, and to\nwhom especially He said, \u201cWhat, couldest thou not watch with Me one hour?\u201d\nSt. Mark it is who specifies the command to the porter that he should\nwatch. To watch is not to gaze from the roof across the distant roads. It\nis to have girded loins and a kindled lamp; it is not measured by excited\nexpectation, but by readiness. Does it seem to us that the world is no\nlonger hostile, because persecution and torture are at an end? That the\nneed is over for a clear distinction between her and us? This very belief\nmay prove that we are falling asleep. Never was there an age to which\nJesus did not say Watch. Never one in which His return would be other than\na snare to all whose life is on the level of the world.\n\nNow looking back over the whole discourse, we come to ask ourselves, What\nis the spirit which it sought to breathe into His Church? Clearly it is\nthat of loyal expectation of the Absent One. There is in it no hint, that\nbecause we cannot fail to be deceived without Him, therefore His\ninfallibility and His Vicar shall for ever be left on earth. His place is\nempty until He returns. Whoever says, Lo, here is Christ, is a deceiver,\nand it proves nothing that he shall deceive many. When Christ is\nmanifested again, it shall be as the blaze of lightning across the sky.\nThere is perhaps no text in this discourse which directly assails the\nPapacy; but the atmosphere which pervades it is deadly alike to her\nclaims, and to the instincts and desires on which those claims rely.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\n\n\n\nThe Cruse Of Ointment.\n\n\n    \u201cNow after two days was _the feast of_ the passover and the\n    unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how\n    they might take Him with subtilty, and kill Him: for they said,\n    Not during the feast, lest haply there shall be a tumult of the\n    people. And while He was in Bethany in the house of Simon the\n    leper, as He sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster\n    cruse of ointment of spikenard very costly; _and_ she brake the\n    cruse, and poured it over His head. But there were some that had\n    indignation among themselves, _saying_, To what purpose hath this\n    waste of the ointment been made? For this ointment might have been\n    sold for above three hundred pence, and given to the poor. And\n    they murmured against her. But Jesus said, Let her alone; why\n    trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on Me. For ye have\n    the poor always with you, and whensoever ye will ye can do them\n    good: but Me ye have not always. She hath done what she could: she\n    hath anointed My body aforehand for the burying. And verily I say\n    unto you, Wheresoever the gospel shall be preached throughout the\n    whole world, that also which this woman hath done shall be spoken\n    of for a memorial of her.\u201d\u2014MARK xiv. 1-9 (R.V.).\n\n\nPerfection implies not only the absence of blemishes, but the presence, in\nequal proportions, of every virtue and every grace. And so the perfect\nlife is full of the most striking, and yet the easiest transitions. We\nhave just read predictions of trial more startling and intense than any in\nthe ancient Scripture. If we knew of Jesus only by the various reports of\nthat discourse, we should think of a recluse like Elijah or the Baptist,\nand imagine that His disciples, with girded loins, should be more ascetic\nthan St. Anthony. We are next shown Jesus at a supper gracefully accepting\nthe graceful homage of a woman.\n\nFrom St. John we learn that this feast was given six days before the\npassover. The other accounts postponed the mention of it, plainly because\nof an incident which occurred then, but is vitally connected with a\ndecision arrived at somewhat later by the priests. Two days before the\npassover, the council finally determined that Jesus must be destroyed.\nThey recognised all the dangers of that course. It must be done with\nsubtlety; the people must not be aroused; and therefore they said, Not on\nthe feast-day. It is remarkable, however, that at the very time when they\nso determined, Jesus clearly and calmly made to His disciples exactly the\nopposite announcement. \u201cAfter two days the passover cometh, and the Son of\nman is delivered up to be crucified\u201d (Matt. xxvi. 2). Thus we find at\nevery turn of the narrative that their plans are over-ruled, and they are\nunconscious agents of a mysterious design, which their Victim comprehends\nand accepts. On one side, perplexity snatches at all base expedients; the\ntraitor is welcomed, false witnesses are sought after, and the guards of\nthe sepulchre bribed. On the other side is clear foresight, the deliberate\nunmasking of Judas, and at the trial a circumspect composure, a lofty\nsilence, and speech more majestic still.\n\nMeanwhile there is a heart no longer light (for He foresees His burial),\nyet not so burdened that He should decline the entertainment offered Him\nat Bethany.\n\nThis was in the house of Simon the leper, but St. John tells us that\nMartha served, Lazarus sat at meat, and the woman who anointed Jesus was\nMary. We naturally infer some relationship between Simon and this favoured\nfamily; but the nature of the tie we know not, and no purpose can be\nserved by guessing. Better far to let the mind rest upon the sweet picture\nof Jesus, at home among those who loved Him; upon the eager service of\nMartha; upon the man who had known death, somewhat silent, one fancies, a\nremarkable sight for Jesus, as He sat at meat, and perhaps suggestive of\nthe thought which found utterance a few days afterwards, that a banquet\nwas yet to come, when He also, risen from the grave, should drink new wine\namong His friends in the kingdom of God. And there the adoring face of her\nwho had chosen the better part was turned to her Lord with a love which\ncomprehended His sorrow and His danger, while even the Twelve were\nblind\u2014an insight which knew the awful presence of One upon his way to the\nsepulchre, as well as one who had returned thence. Therefore she produced\na cruse of very precious ointment, which had been \u201ckept\u201d for Him, perhaps\nsince her brother was embalmed. And as such alabaster flasks were commonly\nsealed in making, and only to be opened by breaking off the neck, she\ncrushed the cruse between her hands and poured it on His head. On His feet\nalso, according to St. John, who is chiefly thinking of the embalming of\nthe body, as the others of the anointing of the head. The discovery of\ncontradiction here is worthy of the abject \u201ccriticism\u201d which detects in\nthis account a variation upon the story of her who was a sinner. As if two\nwomen who loved much might not both express their loyalty, which could not\nspeak, by so fair and feminine a device; or as if it were inconceivable\nthat the blameless Mary should consciously imitate the gentle penitent.\n\nBut even as this unworthy controversy breaks in upon the tender story, so\ndid indignation and murmuring spoil that peaceful scene. \u201cWhy was not this\nointment sold for much, and given to the poor?\u201d It was not common that\nothers should be more thoughtful of the poor than Jesus.\n\nHe fed the multitudes they would have sent away; He gave sight to\nBartim\u00e6us whom they rebuked. But it is still true, that whenever generous\nimpulses express themselves with lavish hands, some heartless calculator\nreckons up the value of what is spent, and especially its value to \u201cthe\npoor;\u201d the poor, who would be worse off if the instincts of love were\narrested and the human heart frozen. Almshouses are not usually built by\nthose who declaim against church architecture; nor is utilitarianism\nfamous for its charities. And so we are not surprised when St. John tells\nus how the quarrel was fomented. Iscariot, the dishonest pursebearer, was\nexasperated at the loss of a chance of theft, perhaps of absconding\nwithout being so great a loser at the end of his three unrequited years.\nTrue that the chance was gone, and speech would only betray his\nestrangement from Jesus, upon Whom so much good property was wasted. But\nevil tempers must express themselves at times, and Judas had craft enough\nto involve the rest in his misconduct. It is the only indication in the\nGospels of intrigue among the Twelve which even indirectly struck at their\nMaster\u2019s honour.\n\nThus, while the fragrance of the ointment filled the house, their\nparsimony grudged the homage which soothed His heart, and condemned the\nspontaneous impulse of Mary\u2019s love.\n\nIt was for her that Jesus interfered, and His words went home.\n\nThe poor were always with them: opportunities would never fail those who\nwere so zealous; and whensoever they would they could do them\ngood,\u2014whensoever Judas, for example, would. As for her, she had wrought a\ngood work (a high-minded and lofty work is implied rather than a useful\none) upon Him, Whom they should not always have. Soon His body would be in\nthe hands of sinners, desecrated, outraged. And she only had comprehended,\nhowever dimly, the silent sorrow of her Master; she only had laid to heart\nHis warnings; and, unable to save Him, or even to watch with Him one hour,\nshe (and through all that week none other) had done what she could. She\nhad anointed His body beforehand for the burial, and indeed with clear\nintention \u201cto prepare Him for burial\u201d (Matt. xxvi. 12).\n\nIt was for this that His followers had chidden her. Alas, how often do our\nshrewd calculations and harsh judgments miss the very essence of some\nproblem which only the heart can solve, the silent intention of some deed\nwhich is too fine, too sensitive, to explain itself except only to that\nsympathy which understands us all. Men thought of Jesus as lacking\nnothing, and would fain divert His honour to the poor; but this woman\ncomprehended the lonely heart, and saw the last inexorable need before\nHim. Love read the secret in the eyes of love, and this which Mary did\nshall be told while the world stands, as being among the few human actions\nwhich refreshed the lonely One, the purest, the most graceful, and perhaps\nthe last.\n\n\n\n\nThe Traitor.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd Judas Iscariot, he that was one of the twelve, went away unto\n    the chief priests, that he might deliver Him _unto them_. And\n    they, when they heard it, were glad, and promised to give him\n    money. And he sought how he might conveniently deliver Him unto\n    them. And on the first day of unleavened bread, when they\n    sacrificed the passover, His disciples say unto Him, Where wilt\n    Thou that we go and make ready that Thou mayest eat the passover?\n    And He sendeth two of His disciples, and saith unto them, Go into\n    the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of\n    water: follow him; and wheresoever he shall enter in, say to the\n    goodman of the house, the Master saith, Where is My guest-chamber,\n    where I shall eat the passover with My disciples? And he will\n    himself shew you a large upper room furnished and ready: and there\n    make ready for us. And the disciples went forth, and came into the\n    city, and found as He had said unto them: and they made ready the\n    passover.\u201d\u2014MARK xiv. 10-16 (R.V.).\n\n\nIt was when Jesus rebuked the Twelve for censuring Mary, that the patience\nof Judas, chafing in a service which had grown hateful, finally gave way.\nHe offered a treacherous and odious help to the chiefs of his religion,\nand these pious men, too scrupulous to cast blood-money into the treasury\nor to defile themselves by entering a pagan judgment hall, shuddered not\nat the contact of such infamy, warned him not that perfidy will pollute\nthe holiest cause, cared as little then for his ruin as when they asked\nwhat to them was his remorseful agony; but were glad, and promised to give\nhim money. By so doing, they became accomplices in the only crime by which\nit is quite certain that a soul was lost. The supreme \u201coffence\u201d was\nplanned and perpetrated by no desperate criminal. It was the work of an\napostle, and his accomplices were the heads of a divinely given religion.\nWhat an awful example of the deadening power, palsying the conscience,\npetrifying the heart, of religious observances devoid of real trust and\nlove.\n\nThe narrative, as we saw, somewhat displaced the story of Simon\u2019s feast,\nto connect this incident more closely with the betrayal. And it now\nproceeds at once to the passover, and the final crisis. In so doing, it\npauses at a curious example of circumspection, intimately linked also with\nthe treason of Judas. The disciples, unconscious of treachery, asked where\nthey should prepare the paschal supper. And Jesus gave them a sign by\nwhich to recognise one who had a large upper room prepared for that\npurpose, to which he would make them welcome. It is not quite impossible\nthat the pitcher of water was a signal preconcerted with some disciple in\nJerusalem, although secret understandings are not found elsewhere in the\nlife of Jesus. What concerns us to observe is that the owner of the house\nwhich the bearer entered was a believer. To him Jesus is \u201cthe Master,\u201d and\ncan say \u201cWhere is My guest-chamber?\u201d\n\nSo obscure a disciple was he, that Peter and John required a sign to guide\nthem to his house. Yet his upper room would now receive such a\nconsecration as the Temple never knew. With strange feelings would he\nhenceforth enter the scene of the last supper of his Lord. But now, what\nif he had only admitted Jesus with hesitation and after long delay? We\nshould wonder; yet there are lowlier doors at which the same Jesus stands\nand knocks, and would fain come in and sup. And cold is His welcome to\nmany a chamber which is neither furnished nor made ready.\n\nThe mysterious and reticent indication of the place is easily understood.\nJesus would not enable His enemies to lay hands upon Him before the time.\nHis nights had hitherto been spent at Bethany; now first it was possible\nto arrest Him in the darkness, and hurry on the trial before the Galileans\nat the feast, strangers and comparatively isolated, could learn the danger\nof their \u201cprophet of Galilee.\u201d It was only too certain that when the blow\nwas struck, the light and fickle adhesion of the populace would transfer\nitself to the successful party. Meanwhile, the prudence of Jesus gave Him\ntime for the Last Supper, and the wonderful discourse recorded by St.\nJohn, and the conflict and victory in the Garden. When the priests\nlearned, at a late hour, that Jesus might yet be arrested before morning,\nbut that Judas could never watch Him any more, the necessity for prompt\naction came with such surprise upon them, that the arrest was accomplished\nwhile they still had to seek false witnesses, and to consult how a\nsentence might best be extorted from the Governor. It is right to observe\nat every point, the mastery of Jesus, the perplexity and confusion of His\nfoes.\n\nAnd it is also right that we should learn to include, among the woes\nendured for us by the Man of Sorrows, this haunting consciousness that a\nbase vigilance was to be watched against, that He breathed the air of\ntreachery and vileness.\n\nHere then, in view of the precautions thus forced upon our Lord, we pause\nto reflect upon the awful fall of Judas, the degradation of an apostle\ninto a hireling, a traitor, and a spy. Men have failed to believe that one\nwhom Jesus called to His side should sink so low.\n\nThey have not observed how inevitably great goodness rejected brings out\nspecial turpitude, and dark shadows go with powerful lights; how, in this\nsupreme tragedy, all the motives, passions, moral and immoral impulses are\non the tragic scale; what gigantic forms of baseness, hypocrisy, cruelty,\nand injustice stalk across the awful platform, and how the forces of hell\nstrip themselves, and string their muscles for a last desperate wrestle\nagainst the powers of heaven, so that here is the very place to expect the\nextreme apostasy. And so they have conjectured that Iscariot was only half\na traitor. Some project misled him of forcing his Master to turn to bay.\nThen the powers which wasted themselves in scattering unthanked and\nunprofitable blessings would exert themselves to crush the foe. Then he\ncould claim for himself the credit deserved by much astuteness, the\nconsideration due to the only man of political resource among the Twelve.\nBut this well-intending Judas is equally unknown to the narratives and the\nprophecies, and this theory does not harmonise with any of the facts.\nProfound reprobation and even contempt are audible in all the narratives;\nthey are quite as audible in the reiterated phrase, \u201cwhich was one of the\nTwelve,\u201d and in almost every mention of his name, as in the round\nassertion of St. John, that he was a thief and stole from the common\npurse. Only the lowest motive is discernible in the fact that his project\nripened just when the waste of the ointment spoiled his last hope from\napostleship,\u2014the hope of unjust gain, and in his bargaining for the\nmiserable price which he still carried with him when the veil dropped from\nhis inner eyes, when he awoke to the sorrow of the world which worketh\ndeath, to the remorse which was not penitence.\n\nOne who desired that Jesus should be driven to counter-measures and yet\nfree to take them, would probably have favoured His escape when once the\nattempt to arrest Him inflicted the necessary spur and certainly he would\nhave anxiously avoided any appearance of insult. But it will be seen that\nJudas carefully closed every door against his Lord\u2019s escape, and seized\nHim with something very like a jibe on his recreant lips.\n\nNo, his infamy cannot be palliated, but it can be understood. For it is a\nsolemn and awful truth, that in every defeat of grace the reaction is\nequal to the action; they who have been exalted unto heaven are brought\ndown far below the level of the world; and the principle is universal that\nIsrael cannot, by willing it, be as the nations that are round about, to\nserve other gods. God Himself gives him statutes that are not good. He\nmakes fat the heart and blinds the eyes of the apostate. Therefore it\ncomes that religion without devotion is the mockery of honest worldlings;\nthat hypocrisy goes so constantly with the meanest and most sordid lust of\ngain, and selfish cruelty; that publicans and harlots enter heaven before\nscribes and pharisees; that salt which has lost its savour is fit neither\nfor the land nor for the dung-hill. Oh, then, to what place of shame shall\na recreant apostle be thrust down?\n\nMoreover it must be observed that the guilt of Judas, however awful, is\nbut a shade more dark than that of his sanctimonious employers, who sought\nfalse witnesses against Christ, extorted by menace and intrigue a sentence\nwhich Pilate openly pronounced to be unjust, mocked His despairing agony,\nand on the resurrection morning bribed a pagan soldiery to lie for the\nHebrew faith. It is plain enough that Jesus could not and did not choose\nthe apostles through foreknowledge of what they would hereafter prove, but\nby His perception of what they then were, and what they were capable of\nbecoming, if faithful to the light they should receive.\n\nNot one, when chosen first, was ready to welcome the purely spiritual\nkingdom, the despised Messiah, the life of poverty and scorn. They had to\nlearn, and it was open to them to refuse the discipline. Once at least\nthey were asked, Will ye also go away? How severe was the trial may be\nseen by the rebuke of Peter, and the petition of \u201cZebedee\u2019s children\u201d and\ntheir mother. They conquered the same reluctance of the flesh which\novercame the better part in Judas. But he clung desperately to secular\nhope, until the last vestige of such hope was over. Listening to the\nwarnings of Christ against the cares of this world, the lust of other\nthings, love of high places and contempt of lowly service, and watching\nbright offers rejected and influential classes estranged, it was\ninevitable that a sense of personal wrong, and a vindictive resentment,\nshould spring up in his gloomy heart. The thorns choked the good seed.\nThen came a deeper fall. As he rejected the pure light of self-sacrifice,\nand the false light of his romantic daydreams faded, no curb was left on\nthe baser instincts which are latent in the human heart. Self-respect\nbeing already lost, and conscience beaten down, he was allured by low\ncompensations, and the apostle became a thief. What better than gain,\nhowever sordid, was left to a life so plainly frustrated and spoiled? That\nis the temptation of disillusion, as fatal to middle life as the passions\nare to early manhood. And this fall reacted again upon his attitude\ntowards Jesus. Like all who will not walk in the light, he hated the\nlight; like all hirelings of two masters, he hated the one he left. Men\nask how Judas could have consented to accept for Jesus the bloodmoney of a\nslave. The truth is that his treason itself yielded him a dreadful\nsatisfaction, and the insulting kiss, and the sneering \u201cRabbi,\u201d expressed\nthe malice of his heart. Well for him if he had never been born. For when\nhis conscience awoke with a start and told him what thing he had become,\nonly self-loathing remained to him. Peter denying Jesus was nevertheless\nat heart His own; a look sufficed to melt him. For Judas, Christ was\nbecome infinitely remote and strange, an abstraction, \u201cthe innocent\nblood,\u201d no more than that. And so, when Jesus was passing into the holiest\nthrough the rent veil which was His flesh, this first Antichrist had\nalready torn with his own hands the tissue of the curtain which hides\neternity.\n\nNow let us observe that all this ruin was the result of forces continually\nat work upon human hearts. Aspiration, vocation, failure, degradation\u2014it\nis the summary of a thousand lives. Only it is here exhibited on a vast\nand dreadful scale (magnified by the light which was behind, as images\nthrown by a lantern upon a screen) for the instruction and warning of the\nworld.\n\n\n\n\nThe Sop.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd when it was evening He cometh with the twelve. And as they\n    sat and were eating, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you\n    shall betray Me, _even_ he that eateth with Me. They began to be\n    sorrowful, and to say unto Him one by one, Is it I? And He said\n    unto them, _It is_ one of the twelve, he that dippeth with Me in\n    the dish. For the Son of man goeth, even as it is written of Him:\n    but woe unto that man through whom the Son of man is betrayed!\n    good were it for that man if he had not been born.\u201d\u2014MARK xiv.\n    17-21 (R.V.).\n\n\nIn the deadly wine which our Lord was made to drink, every ingredient of\nmortal bitterness was mingled. And it shows how far is even His Church\nfrom comprehending Him, that we think so much more of the physical than\nthe mental and spiritual horrors which gather around the closing scene.\n\nBut the tone of all the narratives, and perhaps especially of St. Mark\u2019s,\nis that of the exquisite Collect which reminds us that our Lord Jesus\nChrist was contented to be betrayed, and given up into the hands of wicked\nmen, as well as to suffer death on the cross. Treason and outrage, the\ntraitor\u2019s kiss and the weakness of those who loved Him, the hypocrisy of\nthe priest and the ingratitude of the mob, perjury and a mock trial, the\ninjustice of His judges, the brutal outrages of the soldiers, the worse\nand more malignant mockery of scribe and Pharisee, and last and direst,\nthe averting of the face of God, these were more dreadful to Jesus than\nthe scourging and the nails.\n\nAnd so there is great stress laid upon His anticipation of the misconduct\nof His own.\n\nAs the dreadful evening closes in, having come to the guest chamber \u201cwith\nthe Twelve\u201d\u2014eleven whose hearts should fail them and one whose heart was\ndead, it was \u201cas they sat and were eating\u201d that the oppression of the\ntraitor\u2019s hypocrisy became intolerable, and the outraged One spoke out.\n\u201cVerily I say unto you, One of you shall betray Me, even he that eateth\nwith Me.\u201d The words are interpreted as well as predicted in the plaintive\nPsalm which says, \u201cMine own familiar friend in whom I trusted, which did\nalso eat of My bread, hath lifted up his heel against Me.\u201d And perhaps\nthey are less a disclosure than a cry.\n\nEvery attempt to mitigate the treason of Judas, every suggestion that he\nmay only have striven too wilfully to serve our Lord by forcing Him to\ntake decided measures, must fail to account for the sense of utter wrong\nwhich breathes in the simple and piercing complaint \u201cone of you ... even\nhe that eateth with Me.\u201d There is a tone in all the narratives which is at\nvariance with any palliation of the crime.\n\nNo theology is worth much if it fails to confess, at the centre of all the\nwords and deeds of Jesus, a great and tender human heart. He might have\nspoken of teaching and warnings lavished on the traitor, and miracles\nwhich he had beheld in vain. What weighs heaviest on His burdened spirit\nis none of these; it is that one should betray Him who had eaten His\nbread.\n\nWhen Brutus was dying he is made to say\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cMy heart doth joy, that yet, in all my life,\n    I found no man, but he was true to me.\u201d\n\n\nBut no form of innocent sorrow was to pass Jesus by.\n\nThe vagueness in the words \u201cone of you shall betray Me,\u201d was doubtless\nintended to suggest in all a great searching of heart. Coming just before\nthe institution of the Eucharistic feast, this incident anticipates the\ncommand which it perhaps suggested: \u201cLet a man examine himself, and so let\nhim eat.\u201d It is good to be distrustful of one\u2019s self. And if, as was\nnatural, the Eleven looked one upon another doubting of whom He spake,\nthey also began to say to Him, one by one (first the most timid, and then\nothers as the circle narrowed), Is it I? For the prince of this world had\nsomething in each of them,\u2014some frailty there was, some reluctance to bear\nthe yoke, some longing for the forbidden ways of worldliness, which\nalarmed each at this solemn warning, and made him ask, Is it, can it be\npossible, that it is I? Religious self-sufficiency was not then the\napostolic mood. Their questioning is also remarkable as a proof how little\nthey suspected Judas, how firmly he bore himself even as those\nall-revealing words were spoken, how strong and wary was the temperament\nwhich Christ would fain have sanctified. For between the Master and him\nthere could have been no more concealment.\n\nThe apostles were right to distrust themselves, and not to distrust\nanother. They were right, because they were so feeble, so unlike their\nLord. But for Him there is no misgiving: His composure is serene in the\nhour of the power of darkness. And His perfect spiritual sensibility\ndiscerned the treachery, unknown to others, as instinctively as the eye\nresents the presence of a mote imperceptible to the hand.\n\nThe traitor\u2019s iron nerve is somewhat strained as he feels himself\ndiscovered, and when Jesus is about to hand a sop to him, he stretches\nover, and their hands meet in the dish. That is the appointed sign: \u201cIt is\none of the Twelve, he that dippeth with Me in the dish,\u201d and as he rushes\nout into the darkness, to seek his accomplices and his revenge, Jesus\nfeels the awful contrast between the betrayer and the Betrayed. For\nHimself, He goeth as it is written of Him. This phrase admirably expresses\nthe co-operation of Divine purpose and free human will, and by the woe\nthat follows He refutes all who would make of God\u2019s fore-knowledge an\nexcuse for human sin. He then is not walking in the dark and stumbling,\nthough men shall think Him falling. But the life of the false one is worse\nthan utterly cast away: of him is spoken the dark and ominous word, never\nindisputably certain of any other soul, \u201cGood were it for him if that man\nhad not been born.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat man!\u201d The order and emphasis are very strange. The Lord, who felt\nand said that one of His chosen was a devil, seems here to lay stress upon\nthe warning thought, that he who fell so low was human, and his frightful\nruin was evolved from none but human capabilities for good and evil. In\n\u201cthe Son of man\u201d and \u201cthat man,\u201d the same humanity was to be found.\n\nFor Himself, He is the same to-day as yesterday. All that we eat is His.\nAnd in the most especial and far-reaching sense, it is His bread which is\nbroken for us at His table. Has He never seen traitor except one who\nviolated so close a bond? Alas, the night when the Supper of the Lord was\ngiven was the same night when He was betrayed.\n\n\n\n\nBread And Wine.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd as they were eating, He took bread, and when He had blessed\n    He brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take ye: this is My body.\n    And He took a cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave to them,\n    and they all drank of it. And He said unto them, This is My blood\n    of the covenant, which is shed for many. Verily I say unto you, I\n    will no more drink of the fruit of the vine, until that day when I\n    drink it new in the kingdom of God.\u201d\u2014MARK xiv. 22-25 (R.V.).\n\n\nHow much does the Gospel of St. Mark tell us about the Supper of the Lord?\nHe is writing to Gentiles. He is writing probably before the sixth chapter\nof St. John was penned, certainly before it reached his readers. Now we\nmust not undervalue the reflected light thrown by one Scripture upon\nanother. Still less may we suppose that each account conveys all the\ndoctrine of the Eucharist. But it is obvious that St. Mark intended his\nnarrative to be complete in itself, even if not exhaustive. No serious\nexpositor will ignore the fulness of any word or action in which later\nexperience can discern meanings, truly involved, although not apparent at\nthe first. That would be to deny the inspiring guidance of Him who sees\nthe end from the beginning. But it is reasonable to omit from the\ninterpretation of St. Mark whatever is not either explicitly there, or\nelse there in germ, waiting underneath the surface for other influences to\ndevelope it. For instance, the \u201cremembrance\u201d of Christ in St. Paul\u2019s\nnarrative may (or it may not) mean a sacrificial memorial to God of His\nBody and His Blood. If it be, this notion was to be conveyed to the\nreaders of this Gospel hereafter, as a quite new fact, resting upon other\nauthority. It has no place whatever here, and need only be mentioned to\npoint out that St. Mark did not feel bound to convey the slightest hint of\nit. A communion, therefore, could be profitably celebrated by persons who\nhad no glimmering of any such conception. Nor does he rely, for an\nunderstanding of his narrative, upon such familiarity with Jewish ritual\nas would enable his readers to draw subtle analogies as they went along.\nThey were so ignorant of these observances that he had just explained to\nthem on what day the passover was sacrificed (ver. 12).\n\nBut this narrative conveys enough to make the Lord\u2019s Supper, for every\nbelieving heart, the supreme help to faith, both intellectual and\nspiritual, and the mightiest of promises, and the richest gift of grace.\n\nIt is hard to imagine that any reader would conceive that the bread in\nChrist\u2019s hands had become His body, which still lived and breathed; or\nthat His blood, still flowing in His veins, was also in the cup He gave to\nHis disciples. No resort could be made to the glorification of the risen\nBody as an escape from the perplexities of such a notion, for in whatever\nsense the words are true, they were spoken of the body of His humiliation,\nbefore which still lay the agony and the tomb.\n\nInstinct would revolt yet more against such a gross explanation, because\nthe friends of Jesus are bidden to eat and drink. And all the analogy of\nChrist\u2019s language would prove that His vivid style refuses to be tied down\nto so lifeless and mechanical a treatment. Even in this Gospel they could\ndiscover that seed was teaching, and fowls were Satan, and that they were\nthemselves His mother and His brethren. Further knowledge of Scripture\nwould not impair this natural freedom of interpretation. For they would\ndiscover that if animated language were to be frozen to such literalism,\nthe partakers of the Supper were themselves, though many, one body and one\nloaf, that Onesimus was St. Paul\u2019s very heart, that leaven is hypocrisy,\nthat Hagar is Mount Sinai, and that the veil of the temple is the flesh of\nChrist (1 Cor. x. 17; Philem. ver. 12; Luke xii. 1; Gal. iv. 25; Heb. x.\n20). And they would also find, in the analogous institution of the paschal\nfeast, a similar use of language (Exod. xii. 11).\n\nBut when they had failed to discern the doctrine of a transubstantiation,\nhow much was left to them. The great words remained, in all their spirit\nand life, \u201cTake ye, this is My Body ... this is My Blood of the Covenant,\nwhich is shed for many.\u201d\n\n(1) So then, Christ did not look forward to His death as to ruin or\noverthrow. The Supper is an institution which could never have been\ndevised at any later period. It comes to us by an unbroken line from the\nFounder\u2019s hand, and attested by the earliest witnesses. None could have\ninterpolated a new ordinance into the simple worship of the early Church,\nand the last to suggest such a possibility should be those sceptics who\nare deeply interested in exaggerating the estrangements which existed from\nthe first, and which made the Jewish Church a keen critic of Gentile\ninnovation, and the Gentiles of a Jewish novelty.\n\nNor could any genius have devised its vivid and pictorial earnestness, its\ncopious meaning, and its pathetic power over the heart, except His, Who\nspoke of the Good Shepherd and of the Prodigal Son. And so it tells us\nplainly what Christ thought about His own death. Death is to most of us\nsimply the close of life. To Him it was itself an achievement, and a\nsupreme one. Now it is possible to remember with exultation a victory\nwhich cost the conqueror\u2019s life. But on the Friday which we call Good,\nnothing happened except the crucifixion. The effect on the Church, which\nis amazing and beyond dispute, is produced by the death of her Founder,\nand by nothing else. The Supper has no reference to Christ\u2019s resurrection.\nIt is as if the nation exulted in Trafalgar, not in spite of the death of\nour great Admiral, but solely because he died; as if the shot which slew\nNelson had itself been the overthrow of hostile navies. Now the history of\nreligions offers no parallel to this. The admirers of the Buddha love to\ncelebrate the long spiritual struggle, the final illumination, and the\ncareer of gentle helpfulness. They do not derive life and energy from the\nsomewhat vulgar manner of his death. But the followers of Jesus find an\ninspiration (very displeasing to some recent apostles of good taste) in\nsinging of their Redeemer\u2019s blood. Remove from the Creed (which does not\neven mention His three years of teaching) the proclamation of His death,\nand there may be left, dimly visible to man, the outline of a sage among\nthe sages, but there will be no longer a Messiah, nor a Church. It is\nbecause He was lifted up that He draws all men unto Him. The perpetual\nnourishment of the Church, her bread and wine, are beyond question the\nslain body of her Master and His blood poured out for man.\n\nWhat are we to make of this admitted fact, that from the first she thought\nless of His miracles, His teaching, and even of His revelation of the\nDivine character in a perfect life, than of the doctrine that He who thus\nlived, died for the men who slew Him? And what of this, that Jesus\nHimself, in the presence of imminent death, when men review their lives\nand set a value on their achievements, embodied in a solemn ordinance the\nconviction that all He had taught and done was less to man than what He\nwas about to suffer? The Atonement is here proclaimed as a cardinal fact\nin our religion, not worked out into doctrinal subtleties, but placed with\nmarvellous simplicity and force, in the forefront of the consciousness of\nthe simplest. What the Incarnation does for our bewildering thoughts of\nGod, the absolute and unconditioned, that does the Eucharist for our\nsubtle reasonings upon the Atonement.\n\n(2) The death of Christ is thus precious, because He Who is sacrificed for\nus can give Himself away. \u201cTake ye\u201d is a distinct offer. And so the\ncommunion feast is not a mere commemoration, such as nations hold for\ngreat deliverances. It is this, but it is much more, else the language of\nChrist would apply worse to that first supper whence all our Eucharistic\nlanguage is derived, than to any later celebration. When He was absent,\nthe bread would very aptly remind them of His wounded body, and the wine\nof His blood poured out. It might naturally be said, Henceforward, to your\nloving remembrance this shall be my Body, as indeed, the words, As oft as\nye drink it, are actually linked with the injunction to do this in\nremembrance. But scarcely could it have been said by Jesus, looking His\ndisciples in the face, that the elements were then His body and blood, if\nnothing more than commemoration were in His mind. And so long as popular\nProtestantism fails to look beyond this, so long will it be hard pressed\nand harassed by the evident weight of the words of institution. These are\ngiven in Scripture solely as having been spoken then, and no\ninterpretation is valid which attends chiefly to subsequent celebrations,\nand only in the second place to the Supper of Jesus and the Eleven.\n\nNow the most strenuous opponent of the doctrine that any change has passed\nover the material substance of the bread and wine, need not resist the\npalpable evidence that Christ appointed these to represent Himself. And\nhow? Not only as sacrificed for His people, but as verily bestowed upon\nthem. Unless Christ mocks us, \u201cTake ye\u201d is a word of absolute assurance.\nChrist\u2019s Body is not only slain, and His Blood shed on our behalf; He\ngives Himself _to_ us as well as _for_ us; He is ours. And therefore\nwhoever is convinced that he may take part in \u201cthe sacrament of so great a\nmystery\u201d should realize that he there receives, conveyed to him by the\nAuthor of that wondrous feast, all that is expressed by the bread and\nwine.\n\n(3) And yet this very word \u201cTake ye,\u201d demands our co-operation in the\nsacrament. It requires that we should receive Christ, as it declares that\nHe is ready to impart Himself, utterly, like food which is taken into the\nsystem, absorbed, assimilated, wrought into bone, into tissue and into\nblood. And if any doubt lingered in our minds of the significance of this\nword, it is removed when we remember how belief is identified with\nfeeding, in St. John\u2019s Gospel. \u201cI am the bread of life: he that cometh to\nMe shall not hunger, and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst.... He\nthat believeth hath eternal life. I am the bread of life.\u201d (John vi. 35,\n47, 48.) If it follows that to feed upon Christ is to believe, it also\nfollows quite as plainly that belief is not genuine unless it really feeds\nupon Christ.\n\nIt is indeed impossible to imagine a more direct and vigorous appeal to\nman to have faith in Christ than this, that He formally conveys, by the\nagency of His Church, to the hands and lips of His disciples, the\nappointed emblem of Himself, and of Himself in the act of blessing them.\nFor the emblem is food in its most nourishing and in its most stimulating\nform, in a form the best fitted to speak of utter self-sacrifice, by the\nbruised corn of broken bread, and by the solemn resemblance to His sacred\nblood. We are taught to see, in the absolute absorption of our food into\nour bodily system, a type of the completeness wherewith Christ gives\nHimself to us.\n\nThat gift is not to the Church in the gross, it is \u201cdivided among\u201d us; it\nindividualizes each believer; and yet the common food expresses the unity\nof the whole Church in Christ. Being many we are one bread.\n\nMoreover, the institution of a meal reminds us that faith and emotion do\nnot always exist together. Times there are when the hunger and thirst of\nthe soul are like the craving of a sharp appetite for food. But the wise\nman will not postpone his meal until such a keen desire returns, and the\nChristian will seek for the Bread of life, however his emotions may flag,\nand his soul cleave unto the dust. Silently and often unaware, as the\nsubstance of the body is renovated and restored by food, shall the inner\nman be strengthened and built up by that living Bread.\n\n(4) We have yet to ask the great question, what is the specific blessing\nexpressed by the elements, and therefore surely given to the faithful by\nthe sacrament. Too many are content to think vaguely of Divine help, given\nus for the merit of the death of Christ. But bread and wine do not express\nan indefinite Divine help, they express the body and blood of Christ, they\nhave to do with His Humanity. We must beware, indeed, of limiting the\nnotion overmuch. At the Supper He said not \u201cMy flesh,\u201d but \u201cMy body,\u201d\nwhich is plainly a more comprehensive term. And in the discourse when He\nsaid \u201cMy Flesh is meat indeed,\u201d He also said \u201cI am the bread of life....\nHe that eateth Me, the same shall live by Me.\u201d And we may not so carnalize\nthe Body as to exclude the Person, who bestows Himself. Yet is all the\nlanguage so constructed as to force the conviction upon us that His body\nand blood, His Humanity, is the special gift of the Lord\u2019s Supper. As man\nHe redeemed us, and as man He imparts Himself to man.\n\nThus we are led up to the sublime conception of a new human force working\nin humanity. As truly as the life of our parents is in our veins, and the\ncorruption which they inherited from Adam is passed on to us, so truly\nthere is abroad in the world another influence, stronger to elevate than\nthe infection of the fall is to degrade; and the heart of the Church is\npropelling to its utmost extremities the pure life of the Second Adam, the\nSecond Man, the new Father of the race. As in Adam all die, even so in\nChrist shall all be made alive; and we who bear now the image of our\nearthy progenitor shall hereafter bear the image of the heavenly.\nMeanwhile, even as the waste and dead tissues of our bodily frame are\nreplaced by new material from every meal, so does He, the living Bread,\nimpart not only aid from heaven, but nourishment, strength to our poor\nhuman nature, so weary and exhausted, and renovation to what is sinful and\ndecayed. How well does such a doctrine of the sacrament harmonize with the\ndeclarations of St. Paul: \u201cI live, and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth\nin me.\u201d \u201cThe Head, from whom all the body being supplied and knit together\nthrough the joints and bands, increaseth with the increase of God\u201d (Gal.\nii. 20; Col. ii. 19).\n\n(5) In the brief narrative of St. Mark, there are a few minor points of\ninterest.\n\nFasting communions may possibly be an expression of reverence only. The\nmoment they are pressed further, or urged as a duty, they are strangely\nconfronted by the words, \u201cWhile they were eating, Jesus took bread.\u201d\n\nThe assertion that \u201cthey all drank,\u201d follows from the express commandment\nrecorded elsewhere. And while we remember that the first communicants were\nnot laymen, yet the emphatic insistence upon this detail, and with\nreference only to the cup, is entirely at variance with the Roman notion\nof the completeness of a communion in one kind.\n\nIt is most instructive also to observe how the far-reaching expectation of\nour Lord looks beyond the Eleven, and beyond His infant Church, forward to\nthe great multitude which no man can number, and speaks of the shedding of\nHis blood \u201cfor many.\u201d He, who is to see of the travail of His soul and to\nbe satisfied, has already spoken of a great supper when the house of God\nshall be filled. And now He will no more drink of the fruit of the vine\nuntil that great day when the marriage of the Lamb having come, and His\nBride having made herself ready, He shall drink it new in the consummated\nkingdom of God.\n\nWith the announcement of that kingdom He began His gospel: how could the\nmention of it be omitted from the great gospel of the Eucharist? or how\ncould the Giver of the earthly feast be silent concerning the banquet yet\nto come?\n\n\n\n\nThe Warning.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the mount of\n    Olives. And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended: for\n    it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be\n    scattered abroad. Howbeit, after I am raised up, I will go before\n    you into Galilee. But Peter said unto Him, Although all shall be\n    offended, yet will not I. And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say\n    unto thee, that thou to-day, _even_ this night, before the cock\n    crow twice, shalt deny me thrice. But he spake exceeding\n    vehemently, If I must die with Thee, I will not deny Thee. And in\n    like manner also said they all.\u201d\u2014MARK xiv. 26-31 (R.V.).\n\n\nSome uncertainty attaches to the position of Christ\u2019s warning to the\nEleven in the narrative of the last evening. Was it given at the supper,\nor on Mount Olivet; or were there perhaps premonitory admonitions on His\npart, met by vows of faithfulness on theirs, which at last led Him to\nspeak out so plainly, and elicited such vainglorious protestations, when\nthey sat together in the night air?\n\nWhat concerns us more is the revelation of a calm and beautiful nature, at\nevery point in the narrative. Jesus knows and has declared that His life\nis now closing, and His blood already \u201cbeing shed for many.\u201d But that does\nnot prevent Him from joining with them in singing a hymn. It is the only\ntime when we are told that our Saviour sang, evidently because no other\noccasion needed mention; a warning to those who draw confident inferences\nfrom such facts as that \u201cnone ever said He smiled,\u201d or that there is no\nrecord of His having been sick. It would surprise such theorists to\nobserve the number of biographies much longer than any of the Gospels,\nwhich also mention nothing of the kind. The Psalms usually sung at the\nclose of the feast are cxv. and the three following. The first tells how\nthe dead praise not the Lord, but we will praise Him from this time forth\nfor ever. The second proclaims that the Lord hath delivered my soul from\ndeath, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. The third bids all\nthe nations praise the Lord, for His merciful kindness is great and His\ntruth endureth for ever. And the fourth rejoices because, although all\nnations compassed me about, yet I shall not die, but live and declare the\nworks of the Lord; and because the stone which the builders rejected is\nbecome the head stone of the corner. Memories of infinite sadness were\nawakened by the words which had so lately rung around His path: \u201cBlessed\nis He that cometh in the name of the Lord;\u201d but His voice was strong to\nsing, \u201cBind the sacrifice with cords, even to the horns of the altar;\u201d and\nit rose to the exultant close, \u201cThou art my God, and I will praise Thee:\nThou art my God, I will exalt Thee. O give thanks unto the Lord for He is\ngood, for His mercy endureth for ever.\u201d\n\nThis hymn, from the lips of the Perfect One, could be no \u201cdying\nswan-song.\u201d It uplifted that more than heroic heart to the wonderful\ntranquillity which presently said, \u201cWhen I am risen, I will go before you\ninto Galilee.\u201d It is full of victory. And now they go unto the Mount of\nOlives.\n\nIs it enough considered how much of the life of Jesus was passed in the\nopen air? He preached on the hill side; He desired that a boat should be\nat His command upon the lake; He prayed upon the mountain; He was\ntransfigured beside the snows of Hermon; He oft-times resorted to a garden\nwhich had not yet grown awful; He met His disciples on a Galilean\nmountain; and He finally ascended from the Mount of Olives. His\nunartificial normal life, a pattern to us, not as students but as men\u2014was\nspent by preference neither in the study nor the street.\n\nIn this crisis, most solemn and yet most calm, He leaves the crowded city\ninto which all the tribes had gathered, and chooses for His last\nintercourse with His disciples, the slopes of the opposite hill side,\nwhile overhead is glowing, in all the still splendour of an Eastern sky,\nthe full moon of Passover. Here then is the place for one more emphatic\nwarning. Think how He loved them. As His mind reverts to the impending\nblow, and apprehends it in its most awful form, the very buffet of God Who\nHimself will smite the Shepherd, He remembers to warn His disciples of\ntheir weakness. We feel it to be gracious that He should think of them at\nsuch a time. But if we drew a little nearer, we should almost hear the\nbeating of the most loving heart that ever broke. They were all He had. In\nthem He had confided utterly. Even as the Father had loved Him, He also\nhad loved them, the firstfruits of the travail of His soul. He had ceased\nto call them servants and had called them friends. To them He had spoken\nthose affecting words, \u201cYe are they which have continued with me in My\ntemptations.\u201d How intensely He clung to their sympathy, imperfect though\nit was, is best seen by His repeated appeals to it in the Agony. And He\nknew that they loved Him, that the spirit was willing, that they would\nweep and lament for Him, sorrowing with a sorrow which He hastened to add\nthat He would turn into joy.\n\nIt is the preciousness of their fellowship which reminds Him how this,\nlike all else, must fail Him. If there is blame in the words, \u201cYe shall be\noffended,\u201d this passes at once into exquisite sadness when He adds that\nHe, Who so lately said, \u201cThem that Thou gavest Me, I have guarded,\u201d should\nHimself be the cause of their offence, \u201cAll ye shall be caused to stumble\nbecause of Me.\u201d And there is an unfathomable tenderness, a marvellous\nallowance for their frailty in what follows. They were His sheep, and\ntherefore as helpless, as little to be relied upon, as sheep when the\nshepherd is stricken. How natural it was for sheep to be scattered.\n\nThe world has no parallel for such a warning to comrades who are about to\nleave their leader, so faithful and yet so tender, so far from\nestrangement or reproach.\n\nIf it stood alone it would prove the Founder of the Church to be not only\na great teacher, but a genuine Son of man.\n\nFor Himself, He does not share their weakness, nor apply to Himself the\nlesson of distrustfulness which He teaches them; He is of another nature\nfrom these trembling sheep, the Shepherd of Zechariah, \u201cWho is My fellow,\nsaith the Lord of Hosts.\u201d He does not shrink from applying to Himself this\ntext, which awakens against Him the sword of God (Zechariah xiii. 7).\n\nLooking now beyond the grave to the resurrection, and unestranged by their\ndesertion, He resumes at once the old relation; for as the shepherd goeth\nbefore his sheep, and they follow him, so He will go before them into\nGalilee, to the familiar places, far from the city where men hate Him.\n\nThis last touch of quiet human feeling completes an utterance too\nbeautiful, too characteristic to be spurious, yet a prophecy, and one\nwhich attests the ancient predictions, and which involves an amazing\nclaim.\n\nAt first sight it is surprising that the Eleven who were lately so\nconscious of weakness that each asked was he the traitor, should since\nhave become too self-confident to profit by a solemn admonition. But a\nlittle examination shows the two statements to be quite consistent. They\nhad wronged themselves by that suspicion, and never is self-reliance more\nboastful than when it is reassured after being shaken. The institution of\nthe Sacrament had invested them with new privileges, and drawn them nearer\nthan ever to their Master. Add to this the infinite tenderness of the last\ndiscourse in St. John, and the prayer which was for them and not for the\nworld. How did their hearts burn within them as He said, \u201cHoly Father,\nkeep them in Thy name whom Thou hast given Me.\u201d How incredible must it\nthen have seemed to them, thrilling with real sympathy and loyal\ngratitude, that they should forsake such a Master.\n\nNor must we read in their words merely a loud and indignant\nself-assertion, all unworthy of the time and scene. They were meant to be\na solemn vow. The love they professed was genuine and warm. Only they\nforgot their weakness; they did not observe the words which declared them\nto be helpless sheep entirely dependent on the Shepherd, whose support\nwould speedily seem to fail.\n\nInstead of harsh and unbecoming criticism, which repeats almost exactly\ntheir fault by implying that we should not yield to the same pressure, let\nus learn the lesson, that religious exaltation, a sense of special\nprivilege, and the glow of generous emotions, have their own danger.\nUnless we continue to be as little children, receiving the Bread of Life,\nwithout any pretence to have deserved it, and conscious still that our\nonly protection is the staff of our Shepherd, then the very notion that we\nare something, when we are nothing, will betray us to defeat and shame.\n\nPeter is the loudest in his protestations; and there is a painful egoism\nin his boast, that even if the others fail, he will never deny Him. So in\nthe storm, it is he who should be called across the waters. And so an\nearly reading makes him propose that he alone should build the tabernacles\nfor the wondrous Three.\n\nNaturally enough, this egoism stimulates the rest. For them, Peter is\namong those who may fail, while each is confident that he himself cannot.\nThus the pride of one excites the pride of many.\n\nBut Christ has a special humiliation to reveal for his special\nself-assertion. That day, and even before that brief night was over,\nbefore the second cock-crowing (\u201cthe cock-crow\u201d of the rest, being that\nwhich announced the dawn) he shall deny his Master twice. Peter does not\nobserve that his eager contradictions are already denying the Master\u2019s\nprofoundest claims. The others join in his renewed protestations, and\ntheir Lord answers them no more. Since they refuse to learn from Him, they\nmust be left to the stern schooling of experience. Even before the\nbetrayal, they had an opportunity to judge how little their good\nintentions might avail. For Jesus now enters Gethsemane.\n\n\n\n\nIn The Garden.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd they come unto a place which was named Gethsemane: and He\n    saith unto His disciples, Sit ye here, while I pray. And He taketh\n    with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly amazed,\n    and sore troubled. And He saith unto them, My soul is exceeding\n    sorrowful even unto death: abide ye here, and watch. And He went\n    forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it\n    were possible, the hour might pass away from Him. And He said,\n    Abba, Father, all things are possible unto Thee: remove this cup\n    from Me: howbeit not what I will, but what Thou wilt. And He\n    cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon,\n    sleepest thou? couldest thou not watch one hour? Watch and pray,\n    that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing,\n    but the flesh is weak. And again He went away, and prayed, saying\n    the same words. And again He came, and found them sleeping, for\n    their eyes were very heavy; and they wist not what to answer Him.\n    And He cometh the third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now,\n    and take your rest: it is enough; the hour is come; behold, the\n    Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Arise, let us be\n    going: behold, he that betrayeth Me is at hand.\u201d\u2014MARK xiv. 32-42\n    (R.V.).\n\n\nAll Scripture, given by inspiration of God, is profitable; yet must we\napproach with reverence and solemn shrinking, the story of our Saviour\u2019s\nanguish. It is a subject for caution and for reticence, putting away all\nover-curious surmise, all too-subtle theorizing, and choosing to say too\nlittle rather than too much.\n\nIt is possible so to argue about the metaphysics of the Agony as to forget\nthat a suffering human heart was there, and that each of us owes his soul\nto the victory which was decided if not completed in that fearful place.\nThe Evangelists simply tell us how He suffered.\n\nLet us begin with the accessories of the scene, and gradually approach the\ncentre.\n\nIn the warning of Jesus to His disciples there was an undertone of deep\nsorrow. God will smite Him, and they will all be scattered like sheep.\nHowever dauntless be the purport of such words, it is impossible to lose\nsight of their melancholy. And when the Eleven rejected His prophetic\nwarning, and persisted in trusting the hearts He knew to be so fearful,\ntheir professions of loyalty could only deepen His distress, and intensify\nHis isolation.\n\nIn silence He turns to the deep gloom of the olive grove, aware now of the\napproach of the darkest and deadliest assault.\n\nThere was a striking contrast between the scene of His first temptation\nand His last; and His experience was exactly the reverse of that of the\nfirst Adam, who began in a garden, and was driven thence into the desert,\nbecause he failed to refuse himself one pleasure more beside ten thousand.\nJesus began where the transgression of men had driven them, in the desert\namong the wild beasts, and resisted not a luxury, but the passion of\nhunger craving for bread. Now He is in a garden, but how different from\ntheirs. Close by is a city filled with foemen, whose messengers are\nalready on His track. Instead of the attraction of a fruit good for food,\nand pleasant, and to be desired to make one wise, there is the grim\nrepulsion of death, and its anguish, and its shame and mockery. He is now\nto be assailed by the utmost terrors of the flesh and of the spirit. And\nlike the temptation in the wilderness, the assault is three times renewed.\n\nAs the dark \u201chour\u201d approached, Jesus confessed the two conflicting\ninstincts of our human nature in its extremity\u2014the desire of sympathy, and\nthe desire of solitude. Leaving eight of the disciples at some distance,\nHe led still nearer to the appointed place His elect of His election, on\nwhom He had so often bestowed special privilege, and whose faith would be\nless shaken by the sight of His human weakness, because they had beheld\nHis Divine glory on the holy mount. To these He opened His heart. \u201cMy soul\nis exceeding sorrowful, even unto death; abide ye here and watch.\u201d And He\nwent from them a little. Their neighbourhood was a support in His dreadful\nconflict, and He could at times return to them for sympathy; but they\nmight not enter with Him into the cloud, darker and deadlier than that\nwhich they feared on Hermon. He would fain not be desolate, and yet He\nmust be alone.\n\nBut when He returned, they were asleep. As Jesus spoke of watching for one\nhour, some time had doubtless elapsed. And sorrow is exhausting. If the\nspirit do not seek for support from God, it will be dragged down by the\nflesh into heavy sleep, and the brief and dangerous respite of oblivion.\n\nIt was the failure of Peter which most keenly affected Jesus, not only\nbecause his professions had been so loud, but because much depended on his\nforce of character. Thus, when Satan had desired to have them, that he\nmight sift them all like wheat, the prayers of Jesus were especially for\nSimon, and it was he when he was converted who should strengthen the rest.\nSurely then he at least might have watched one hour. And what of John, His\nnearest human friend, whose head had reposed upon His bosom? However keen\nthe pang, the lips of the Perfect Friend were silent; only He warned them\nall alike to watch and pray, because they were themselves in danger of\ntemptation.\n\nThat is a lesson for all time. No affection and no zeal are a substitute\nfor the presence of God realised, and the protection of God invoked.\nLoyalty and love are not enough without watchfulness and prayer, for even\nwhen the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak, and needs to be upheld.\n\nThus, in His severest trial and heaviest oppression, there is neither\nquerulousness nor invective, but a most ample recognition of their good\nwill, a most generous allowance for their weakness, a most sedulous\ndesire, not that He should be comforted, but that they should escape\ntemptation.\n\nWith His yearning heart unsoothed, with another anxiety added to His heavy\nburden, Jesus returned to His vigil. Three times He felt the wound of\nunrequited affection, for their eyes were very heavy, and they wist not\nwhat to answer Him when He spoke.\n\nNor should we omit to contrast their bewildered stupefaction, with the\nkeen vigilance and self-possession of their more heavily burdened Lord.\n\nIf we reflect that Jesus must needs experience all the sorrows that human\nweakness and human wickedness could inflict, we may conceive of these\nvaried wrongs as circles with a common centre, on which the cross was\nplanted. And our Lord has now entered the first of these; He has looked\nfor pity but there was no man; His own, although it was grief which\npressed them down, slept in the hour of His anguish, and when He bade them\nwatch.\n\nIt is right to observe that our Saviour had not bidden them to pray with\nHim. They should watch and pray. They should even watch with Him. But to\npray for Him, or even to pray with Him, they were not bidden. And this is\nalways so. Never do we read that Jesus and any mortal joined together in\nany prayer to God. On the contrary, when two or three of them asked\nanything in His name, He took for Himself the position of the Giver of\ntheir petition. And we know certainly that He did not invite them to join\nHis prayers, for it was as He was praying in a certain place that when He\nceased, one of His disciples desired that they also might be taught to\npray (Luke xi. 1). Clearly then they were not wont to approach the mercy\nseat hand in hand with Jesus. And the reason is plain. He came directly to\nHis Father; no man else came unto the Father but by Him; there was an\nessential difference between His attitude towards God and ours.\n\nHas the Socinian ever asked himself why, in this hour of His utmost\nweakness, Jesus sought no help from the intercession of even the chiefs of\nthe apostles?\n\nIt is in strict harmony with this position, that St. Matthew tells us, He\nnow said not Our Father, but My Father. No disciple is taught, in any\ncircumstances to claim for himself a monopolized or special sonship. He\nmay be in his closet and the door shut, yet must he remember his brethren\nand say, Our Father. That is a phrase which Jesus never addressed to God.\nNone is partaker of His Sonship; none joined with Him in supplication to\nHis Father.\n\n\n\n\nThe Agony.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd He saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto\n    death: abide ye here, and watch. And He went forward a little, and\n    fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour\n    might pass away from Him. And He said, Abba, Father, all things\n    are possible unto Thee; remove this cup from Me: howbeit not what\n    I will, but what Thou wilt. And He cometh, and findeth them\n    sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest\n    thou not watch one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into\n    temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.\n    And again He went away, and prayed, saying the same words. And\n    again He came, and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very\n    heavy; and they wist not what to answer Him. And He cometh the\n    third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest:\n    it is enough; the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed\n    into the hands of sinners. Arise, let us be going: behold, he that\n    betrayeth Me is at hand.\u201d\u2014MARK xiv. 34-42 (R.V.).\n\n\nSceptics and believers have both remarked that St. John, the only\nEvangelist who was said to have been present, gives no account of the\nAgony.\n\nIt is urged by the former, that the serene composure of the discourse in\nhis Gospel leaves no room for subsequent mental conflict and recoil from\nsuffering, which are inconsistent besides with his conception of a Divine\nman, too exalted to be the subject of such emotions.\n\nBut do not the others know of composure which bore to speak of His Body as\nbroken bread, and seeing in the cup the likeness of His Blood shed, gave\nit to be the food of His Church for ever?\n\nWas the resignation less serene which spoke of the smiting of the\nShepherd, and yet of His leading back the flock to Galilee? If the\nnarrative was rejected as inconsistent with the calmness of Jesus in the\nfourth Gospel, it should equally have repelled the authors of the other\nthree.\n\nWe may grant that emotion, agitation, is inconsistent with unbelieving\nconceptions of the Christ of the fourth Gospel. But this only proves how\nfalse those conceptions are. For the emotion, the agitation, is already\nthere. At the grave of Lazarus the word which tells that when He groaned\nin spirit He was troubled, describes one\u2019s distress in the presence of\nsome palpable opposing force (John xi. 34). There was, however, a much\ncloser approach to His emotion in the garden, when the Greek world first\napproached Him. Then He contrasted its pursuit of self-culture with His\nown doctrine of self-sacrifice, declaring that even a grain of wheat must\neither die or abide by itself alone. To Jesus that doctrine was no smooth,\neasily announced theory, and so He adds, \u201cNow is My soul troubled, and\nwhat shall I say? Father save Me from this hour. But for this cause came I\nunto this hour\u201d (John xii. 27).\n\nSuch is the Jesus of the fourth Gospel, by no means that of its modern\nanalysts. Nor is enough said, when we remind them that the Speaker of\nthese words was capable of suffering; we must add that profound agitation\nat the last was inevitable, for One so resolute in coming to this hour,\nyet so keenly sensitive of its dread.\n\nThe truth is that the silence of St. John is quite in his manner. It is so\nthat he passes by the Sacraments, as being familiar to his readers,\nalready instructed in the gospel story. But he gives previous discourses\nin which the same doctrine is expressed which was embodied in each\nSacrament,\u2014the declaration that Nicodemus must be born of water, and that\nthe Jews must eat His flesh and drink His blood. It is thus that instead\nof the agony, he records that earlier agitation. And this threefold\nrecurrence of the same expedient is almost incredible except by design.\nSt. John was therefore not forgetful of Gethsemane.\n\nA coarser infidelity has much to say about the shrinking of our Lord from\ndeath. Such weakness is pronounced unworthy, and the bearing of multitudes\nof brave men and even of Christian martyrs, unmoved in the flames, is\ncontrasted with the strong crying and tears of Jesus.\n\nIt would suffice to answer that Jesus also failed not when the trial came,\nbut before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession, and won upon the\ncross the adoration of a fellow-sufferer and the confession of a Roman\nsoldier. It is more than enough to answer that His story, so far from\nrelaxing the nerve of human fortitude, has made those who love Him\nstronger to endure tortures than were emperors and inquisitors to invent\nthem. What men call His weakness has inspired ages with fortitude.\nMoreover, the censure which such critics, much at ease, pronounce on Jesus\nexpecting crucifixion, arises entirely from the magnificent and unique\nstandard by which they try Him; for who is so hard-hearted as to think\nless of the valour of the martyrs because it was bought by many a lonely\nand intense conflict with the flesh?\n\nFor us, we accept the standard; we deny that Jesus in the garden came\nshort of absolute perfection; but we call attention to the fact that much\nis conceded to us, when a criticism is ruthlessly applied to our Lord\nwhich would excite indignation and contempt if brought to bear on the\nsilent sufferings of any hero or martyr but Himself.\n\nPerfection is exactly what complicates the problem here.\n\nConscious of our own weakness, we not only justify but enjoin upon\nourselves every means of attaining as much nobility as we may. We \u201csteel\nourselves to bear,\u201d and therefore we are led to expect the same of Jesus.\nWe aim at some measure of what, in its lowest stage, is callous\ninsensibility. Now that word is negative; it asserts the absence or\nparalysis of a faculty, not its fulness and activity. Thus we attain\nvictory by a double process; in part by resolutely turning our mind away,\nand only in part by its ascendancy over appreciated distress. We\nadminister anodynes to the soul. But Jesus, when he had tasted thereof,\nwould not drink. The horrors which were closing around Him were perfectly\napprehended, that they might perfectly be overcome.\n\nThus suffering, He became an example for gentle womanhood, and tender\nchildhood, as well as man boastful of his stoicism. Moreover, He\nintroduced into the world a new type of virtue, much softer and more\nemotional than that of the sages. The stoic, to whom pain is no evil, and\nthe Indian laughing and singing at the stake, are partly actors and partly\nperversions of humanity. But the good Shepherd is also, for His\ngentleness, a lamb. And it is His influence which has opened our eyes to\nsee a charm unknown before, in the sensibility of our sister and wife and\nchild. Therefore, since the perfection of manhood means neither the\nignoring of pain nor the denying of it, but the union of absolute\nrecognition with absolute mastery of its fearfulness, Jesus, on the\napproach of agony and shame, and who shall say what besides, yields\nHimself beforehand to the full contemplation of His lot. He does so, while\nneither excited by the trial, nor driven to bay by the scoffs of His\nmurderers, but in solitude, in the dark, with stealthy footsteps\napproaching through the gloom.\n\nAnd ever since, all who went farthest down into the dread Valley, and on\nwhom the shadow of death lay heaviest, found there the footsteps of its\nconqueror. It must be added that we cannot measure the keenness of the\nsensibility thus exposed to torture. A physical organization and a\nspiritual nature fresh from the creative hand, undegraded by the\ntransmitted heritage of ages of artificial, diseased and sinful habit,\nunblunted by one deviation from natural ways, undrugged by one excess, was\nsurely capable of a range of feeling as vast in anguish as in delight.\n\nThe sceptic supposes that a torrent of emotion swept our Saviour off His\nfeet. The only narratives he can go upon give quite the opposite\nimpression. He is seen to fathom all that depth of misery, He allows the\nvoice of nature to utter all the bitter earnestness of its reluctance, yet\nHe never loses self-control, nor wavers in loyalty to His Father, nor\nrenounces His submission to the Father\u2019s will. Nothing in the scene is\nmore astonishing than its combination of emotion with self-government.\nTime after time He pauses, gently and lovingly admonishes others, and\ncalmly returns to His intense and anxious vigil.\n\nThus He has won the only perfect victory. With a nature so responsive to\nemotion, He has not refused to feel, nor abstracted His soul from\nsuffering, nor silenced the flesh by such an effort as when we shut our\nears against a discord. Jesus sees all, confesses that He would fain\nescape, but resigns Himself to God.\n\nIn the face of all asceticisms, as of all stoicisms, Gethsemane is the\neternal protest that every part of human nature is entitled to be heard,\nprovided that the spirit retains the arbitration over all.\n\nHitherto nothing has been assumed which a reasonable sceptic can deny. Nor\nshould such a reader fail to observe the astonishing revelation of\ncharacter in the narrative, its gentle pathos, its intensity beyond what\ncommonly belongs to gentleness, its affection, its mastery over the\ndisciples, its filial submission. Even the rich imaginative way of\nthinking, which invented the parables and sacraments, is in the word \u201cthis\ncup.\u201d\n\nBut if the story of Gethsemane can be vindicated from such a point of\nview, what shall be said when it is viewed as the Church regards it? Both\nTestaments declare that the sufferings of the Messiah were supernatural.\nIn the Old Testament it was pleasing to the Father to bruise Him. The\nterrible cry of Jesus to a God who had forsaken Him is conclusive evidence\nfrom the New Testament. And if we ask what such a cry may mean, we find\nthat He is a curse for us, and made to be sin for us, Who knew no sin.\n\nIf the older theology drew incredible conclusions from such words, that is\nno reason why we should ignore them. It is incredible that God was angry\nwith His Son, or that in any sense the Omniscient One confused the Saviour\nwith the sinful world. It is incredible that Jesus ever endured\nestrangement as of lost souls from the One Whom in Gethsemane He called\nAbba Father, and in the hour of utter darkness, My God, and into whose\nFatherly hands He committed His Spirit. Yet it is clear that He is being\ntreated otherwise than a sinless Being, as such, ought to expect. His\nnatural standing-place is exchanged for ours. And as our exceeding misery,\nand the bitter curse of all our sin fell on Him, Who bore it away by\nbearing it, our pollution surely affected His purity as keenly as our\nstripes tried His sensibility. He shuddered as well as agonized. The deep\nwaters in which He sank were defiled as well as cold. Only this can\nexplain the agony and bloody sweat. And as we, for whom He endured it,\nthink of this, we can only be silent and adore.\n\nOnce more, Jesus returns to His disciples, but no longer to look for\nsympathy, or to bid them watch and pray. The time for such warnings is now\npast: the crisis, \u201cthe hour\u201d is come, and His speech is sad and solemn.\n\u201cSleep on now and take your rest, it is enough.\u201d Had the sentence stopped\nthere, none would ever have proposed to treat it as a question, \u201cDo ye now\nsleep on and take your rest?\u201d It would plainly have meant, \u201cSince ye\nrefuse My counsel and will none of my reproof, I strive no further to\narouse the torpid will, the inert conscience, the inadequate affection.\nYour resistance prevails against My warning.\u201d\n\nBut critics fail to reconcile this with what follows, \u201cArise, let us be\ngoing.\u201d They fail through supposing that words of intense emotion must be\ninterpreted like a syllogism or a lawyer\u2019s parchment.\n\n\u201cFor My part, sleep on; but your sleep is now to be rudely broken: take\nyour rest so far as respect for your Master should have kept you watchful;\nbut the traitor is at hand to break such repose, let him not find you\nignobly slumbering. \u2018Arise, he is at hand that doth betray Me.\u2019 \u201d\n\nThis is not sarcasm, which taunts and wounds. But there is a lofty and\nprofound irony in the contrast between their attitude and their\ncircumstances, their sleep and the eagerness of the traitor.\n\nAnd so they lost the most noble opportunity ever given to mortals, not\nthrough blank indifference nor unbelief, but by allowing the flesh to\novercome the spirit. And thus do multitudes lose heaven, sleeping until\nthe golden hours are gone, and He who said, \u201cSleep on now,\u201d says, \u201cHe that\nis unrighteous, let him be unrighteous still.\u201d\n\nRemembering that defilement was far more urgent than pain in our Saviour\u2019s\nagony, how sad is the meaning of the words, \u201cthe Son of man is betrayed\ninto the hands of sinners,\u201d and even of \u201cthe sinners,\u201d the representatives\nof all the evil from which He had kept Himself unspotted.\n\nThe one perfect flower of humanity is thrown by treachery into the\npolluted and polluting grasp of wickedness in its many forms; the traitor\ndelivers Him to hirelings; the hirelings to hypocrites; the hypocrites to\nan unjust and sceptical pagan judge; the judge to his brutal soldiery; who\nexpose Him to all that malice can wreak upon the most sensitive\norganization, or ingratitude upon the most tender heart.\n\nAt every stage an outrage. Every outrage an appeal to the indignation of\nHim who held them in the hollow of His hand. Surely it may well be said,\nConsider Him who endured such contradiction; and endured it from sinners\nagainst Himself.\n\n\n\n\nThe Arrest.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd straightway, while He yet spake, cometh Judas, one of the\n    twelve, and with him a multitude with swords and staves, from the\n    chief priests and the scribes and the elders. Now he that betrayed\n    Him had given them a token, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that\n    is He; take Him, and lead Him away safely. And when he was come,\n    straightway he came to Him, and saith, Rabbi; and kissed Him. And\n    they laid hands on Him, and took Him. But a certain one of them\n    that stood by drew his sword, and smote the servant of the high\n    priest, and struck off his ear. And Jesus answered and said unto\n    them, Are ye come out, as against a robber, with swords and staves\n    to seize Me? I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and ye\n    took Me not; but _this is done_ that the scriptures might be\n    fulfilled. And they all left Him and fled. And a certain young man\n    followed with Him, having a linen cloth cast about him, over _his_\n    naked body: and they lay hold on him; but he left the linen cloth,\n    and fled naked.\u201d\u2014MARK xiv. 43-52 (R.V.).\n\n\nSt. Mark has told this tragical story in the most pointed and the fewest\nwords. The healing of the ear of Malchus concerns him not, that is but one\nmiracle among many; and Judas passes from sight unfollowed: the thought\ninsisted on is of foul treason, pitiable weakness, brute force\npredominant, majestic remonstrance and panic flight. From the central\nevents no accessories can distract him.\n\nThere cometh, he tells us, \u201cJudas, one of the Twelve.\u201d Who Judas was, we\nknew already, but we are to consider how Jesus felt it now. Before His\neyes is the catastrophe which His death is confronted to avert\u2014the death\nof a soul, a chosen and richly dowered soul for ever lost\u2014in spite of so\nmany warnings\u2014in spite of that incessant denunciation of covetousness\nwhich rings through so much of His teaching, which only the presence of\nJudas quite explains, and which His terrible and searching gaze must have\nmade like fire, to sear since it could not melt\u2014in spite of the outspoken\nutterances of these last days, and doubtless in spite of many prayers, he\nis lost: one of the Twelve.\n\nAnd the dark thought would fall cold upon Christ\u2019s heart, of the\nmultitudes more who should receive the grace of God, His own dying love,\nin vain. And with that, the recollection of many an hour of\nloving-kindness wasted on this familiar friend in whom He trusted, and who\nnow gave Him over, as he had been expressly warned, to so cruel a fate.\nEven toward Judas, no unworthy bitterness could pollute that sacred heart,\nthe fountain of unfathomable compassions, but what speechless grief must\nhave been there, what inconceivable horror. For the outrage was dark in\nform as in essence. Judas apparently conceived that the Eleven might, as\nthey had promised, rally around their Lord; and he could have no\nperception how impossible it was that Messiah should stoop to escape under\ncover of their devotion, how frankly the good Shepherd would give His life\nfor the sheep. In the night, he thought, evasion might yet be attempted,\nand the town be raised. But he knew how to make the matter sure. No other\nwould as surely as himself recognise Jesus in the uncertain light. If he\nwere to lay hold on Him rudely, the Eleven would close in, and in the\nstruggle, the prize might yet be lost. But approaching a little in\nadvance, and peaceably, he would ostentatiously kiss his Master, and so\nclearly point Him out that the arrest would be accomplished before the\ndisciples realized what was being done.\n\nBut at every step the intrigue is overmastered by the clear insight of\nJesus. As He foretold the time of His arrest, while yet the rulers said,\nNot on the feast day, so He announced the approach of the traitor, who was\nthen contriving the last momentary deception of his polluting kiss.\n\nWe have already seen how impossible it is to think of Judas otherwise than\nas the Church has always regarded him, an apostate and a traitor in the\ndarkest sense. The milder theory is at this stage shattered by one small\nyet significant detail. At the supper, when conscious of being suspected,\nand forced to speak, he said not, like the others, \u201cLord,\u201d but \u201cRabbi, is\nit I?\u201d Now they meet again, and the same word is on his lips, whether by\ndesign and in Satanic insolence, or in hysterical agitation and\nuncertainty, who can say?\n\nBut no loyalty, however misled, inspired that halting and inadequate\nepithet, no wild hope of a sudden blazing out of glories too long\nconcealed is breathed in the traitor\u2019s Rabbi!\n\nWith that word, and his envenomed kiss, the \u201cmuch kissing,\u201d which took\ncare that Jesus should not shake him off, he passes from this great\nGospel. Not a word is here of his remorse, or of the dreadful path down\nwhich he stumbled to his own place. Even the lofty remonstrance of the\nLord is not recorded: it suffices to have told how he betrayed the Son of\nman with a kiss, and so infused a peculiar and subtle poison into Christ\u2019s\ndraught of deadly wine. That, and not the punishment of that, is what St.\nMark recorded for the Church, the awful fall of an apostle, chosen of\nChrist; the solemn warning to all privileged persons, richly endowed and\nhighly placed; the door to hell, as Bunyan has it, from the very gate of\nHeaven.\n\nA great multitude with swords and staves had come from the rulers.\nPossibly some attempt at rescue was apprehended from the Galileans who had\nso lately triumphed around Jesus. More probably the demonstration was\nplanned to suggest to Pilate that a dangerous political agitation had to\nbe confronted.\n\nAt all events, the multitude did not terrify the disciples: cries arose\nfrom their little band, \u201cLord shall we smite with the sword?\u201d and if Jesus\nhad consented, it seems that with two swords the Eleven whom declaimers\nmake to be so craven, would have assailed the multitude in arms.\n\nNow this is what points the moral of their failure. Few of us would\nconfess personal cowardice by accepting a warning from the fears of the\nfearful. But the fears of the brave must needs alarm us. It is one thing\nto defy death, sword in hand, in some wild hour of chivalrous\neffort\u2014although the honours we shower upon the valiant prove that even\nsuch fortitude is less common than we would fain believe. But there is a\ndeep which opens beyond this. It is a harder thing to endure the silent\npassive anguish to which the Lamb, dumb before the shearers, calls His\nfollowers. The victories of the spirit are beyond animal strength of\nnerve. In their highest forms they are beyond the noble reach of\nintellectual resolution. How far beyond it we may learn by contrasting the\nexcitement and then the panic of the Eleven with the sublime composure of\ntheir Lord.\n\nOne of them, whom we know to have been the impulsive Simon, showed his\nloss of self-control by what would have been a breach of discipline, even\nhad resistance been intended. While others asked should they smite with\nthe sword, he took the decision upon himself, and struck a feeble and\nabortive blow, enough to exasperate but not to disable. In so doing he\nadded, to the sorrows of Jesus, disobedience, and the inflaming of angry\npassion among His captors.\n\nStrange it is, and instructive, that the first act of violence in the\nannals of Christianity came not from her assailants but from her son. And\nstrange to think with what emotions Jesus must have beheld that blow.\n\nSt. Mark records neither the healing of Malchus nor the rebuke of Peter.\nThroughout the events which now crowd fast upon us, we shall not find him\ncareful about fulness of detail. This is never his manner, though he loves\nany detail which is graphic, characteristic, or intensifying. But his\nconcern is with the spirit of the Lord and of His enemies: he is blind to\nno form of injustice or insult which heightened the sufferings of Jesus,\nto no manifestation of dignity and self-control overmastering the rage of\nhell. If He is unjustly tried by Caiaphas, it matters nothing that Annas\nalso wronged Him. If the soldiers of Pilate insulted Him, it matters\nnothing that the soldiers of Herod also set Him at nought. Yet the flight\nof a nameless youth is recorded, since it adds a touch to the picture of\nHis abandonment.\n\nAnd therefore he records the indignant remonstrance of Jesus upon the\nmanner of His arrest. He was no man of violence and blood, to be arrested\nwith a display of overwhelming force. He needed not to be sought in\nconcealment and at midnight.\n\nHe had spoken daily in the temple, but then their malice was defeated,\ntheir snares rent asunder, and the people witnessed their exposure. But\nall this was part of His predicted suffering, for Whom not only pain but\ninjustice was foretold, Who should be taken from prison and from judgment.\n\nIt was a lofty remonstrance. It showed how little could danger and\nbetrayal disturb His consciousness, and how clearly He discerned the\ncalculation of His foes.\n\nAt this moment of unmistakable surrender, His disciples forsook Him and\nfled. One young man did indeed follow Him, springing hastily from slumber\nin some adjacent cottage, and wrapped only in a linen cloth. But he too,\nwhen seized, fled away, leaving his only covering in the hands of the\nsoldiers.\n\nThis youth may perhaps have been the Evangelist himself, of whom we know\nthat, a few years later, he joined Paul and Barnabas at the outset, but\nforsook them when their journey became perilous.\n\nIt is at least as probable that the incident is recorded as a picturesque\nclimax to that utter panic which left Jesus to tread the winepress alone,\ndeserted by all, though He never forsook any.\n\n\n\n\nBefore Caiaphas.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd they led Jesus away to the high priest: and there come\n    together with him all the chief priests and the elders and the\n    scribes. And Peter had followed Him afar off, even within, into\n    the court of the high priest; and he was sitting with the\n    officers, and warming himself in the light _of the fire_. Now the\n    chief priests and the whole council sought witness against Jesus\n    to put Him to death; and found it not. For many bare false witness\n    against Him, and their witness agreed not together. And there\n    stood up certain, and bare false witness against Him, saying, We\n    heard Him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands,\n    and in three days I will build another made without hands. And not\n    even so did their witness agree together. And the high priest\n    stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest Thou\n    nothing? what is it which these witness against Thee? But He held\n    His peace and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked Him,\n    and saith unto Him, Art Thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?\n    And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting at\n    the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven. And\n    the high priest rent his clothes, and saith, What further need\n    have we of witnesses? Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye?\n    And they all condemned Him to be worthy of death. And some began\n    to spit on Him, and to cover His face, and to buffet Him, and to\n    say unto Him, Prophesy: and the officers received Him with blows\n    of their hands\u201d\u2014MARK xiv. 53-65 (R.V.).\n\n\nWe have now to see the Judge of quick and dead taken from prison and\njudgment, the Preacher of liberty to the captives bound, and the Prince of\nLife killed. It is the most solemn page in earthly story; and as we read\nSt. Mark\u2019s account, it will concern us less to reconcile his statements\nwith those of the other three, than to see what is taught us by his\nespecial manner of regarding it. Reconciliation, indeed, is quite\nunnecessary, if we bear in mind that to omit a fact is not to contradict\nit. For St. Mark is not writing a history but a Gospel, and his readers\nare Gentiles, for whom the details of Hebrew intrigue matter nothing, and\nthe trial before a Galilean Tetrarch would be only half intelligible.\n\nSt. John, who had been an eye-witness, knew that the private inquiry\nbefore Annas was vital, for there the decision was taken which subsequent\nand more formal assemblies did but ratify. He therefore, writing last,\nthrew this ray of explanatory light over all that the others had related.\nSt. Luke recorded in the Acts (iv. 27) that the apostles recognised, in\nthe consent of Romans and Jews, and of Herod and Pilate, what the Psalmist\nhad long foretold, the rage of the heathen and the vain imagination of the\npeoples, and the conjunction of kings and rulers. His Gospel therefore\nlays stress upon the part played by all of these. And St. Matthew\u2019s\nreaders could appreciate every fulfilment of prophecy, and every touch of\nlocal colour. St. Mark offers to us the essential points: rejection and\ncruelty by His countrymen, rejection and cruelty over again by Rome, and\nthe dignity, the elevation, the lofty silence and the dauntless testimony\nof his Lord. As we read, we are conscious of the weakness of His crafty\nfoes, who are helpless and baffled, and have no resort except to abandon\ntheir charges and appeal to His own truthfulness to destroy Him.\n\nHe shows us first the informal assembly before Caiaphas, whither Annas\nsent Him with that sufficient sign of his own judgment, the binding of His\nhands, and the first buffet, inflicted by an officer, upon His holy face.\nIt was not yet daylight, and a formal assembly of the Sanhedrim was\nimpossible. But what passed now was so complete a rehearsal of the\ntragedy, that the regular meeting could be disposed of in a single verse.\n\nThere was confusion and distress among the conspirators. It was not their\nintention to have arrested Jesus on the feast day, at the risk of an\nuproar among the people. But He had driven them to do so by the expulsion\nof their spy, who, if they delayed longer, would be unable to guide their\nofficers. And so they found themselves without evidence, and had to play\nthe part of prosecutors when they ought to be impartial judges. There is\nsomething frightful in the spectacle of these chiefs of the religion of\nJehovah suborning perjury as the way to murder; and it reminds us of the\nsolemn truth, that no wickedness is so perfect and heartless as that upon\nwhich sacred influences have long been vainly operating, no corruption so\nhateful as that of a dead religion. Presently they would cause the name of\nGod to be blasphemed among the heathen, by bribing the Roman guards to lie\nabout the corpse. And the heart of Jesus was tried by the disgraceful\nspectacle of many false witnesses, found in turn and paraded against Him,\nbut unable to agree upon any consistent charge, while yet the shameless\nproceedings were not discontinued. At the last stood up witnesses to\npervert what He had spoken at the first cleansing of the temple, which the\nsecond cleansing had so lately recalled to mind. They represented Him as\nsaying, \u201cI am able to destroy this temple made with hands,\u201d\u2014or perhaps, \u201cI\nwill destroy\u201d it, for their testimony varied on this grave point\u2014\u201cand in\nthree days I will build another made without hands.\u201d It was for\nblaspheming the Holy Place that Stephen died, and the charge was a grave\none; but His words were impudently manipulated to justify it. There had\nbeen no proposal to substitute a different temple, and no mention of the\ntemple made with hands. Nor had Jesus ever proposed to destroy anything.\nHe had spoken of their destroying the Temple of His Body, and in the use\nthey made of the prediction they fulfilled it.\n\nAs we read of these repeated failures before a tribunal so unjust, we are\nled to suppose that opposition must have sprung up to disconcert them; we\nremember the councillor of honourable estate, who had not consented to\ntheir counsel and deed, and we think, What if, even in that hour of evil,\none voice was uplifted for righteousness? What if Joseph confessed Him in\nthe conclave, like the penitent thief upon the cross?\n\nAnd now the high priest, enraged and alarmed by imminent failure, rises in\nthe midst, and in the face of all law cross-questions the prisoner,\nAnswerest Thou nothing? What is it which these witness against Thee? But\nJesus will not become their accomplice; He maintains the silence which\ncontrasts so nobly with their excitement, which at once sees through their\nschemes and leaves them to fall asunder. And the urgency of the occasion,\nsince hesitation now will give the city time to rise, drives them to a\ndesperate expedient. Without discussion of His claims, without considering\nthat some day there _must_ be some Messiah, (else what is their faith and\nwho are they?) they will treat it as blasphemous and a capital offence\nsimply to claim that title. Caiaphas adjures Him by their common God to\nanswer, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? So then they were not\nutterly ignorant of the higher nature of the Son of David: they remembered\nthe words, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee. But the only\nuse they ever made of their knowledge was to heighten to the uttermost the\nMessianic dignity which they would make it death to claim. And the\nprisoner knew well the consequences of replying. But He had come into the\nworld to bear witness to the truth, and this was the central truth of all.\n\u201cAnd Jesus said, I am.\u201d Now Renan tells us that He was the greatest\nreligious genius who ever lived, or probably ever shall live. Mill tells\nus that religion cannot be said to have made a bad choice in pitching on\nthis Man as the ideal representative and guide of humanity. And Strauss\nthinks that we know enough of Him to assert that His consciousness was\nunclouded by the memory of any sin. Well then, if anything in the life of\nJesus is beyond controversy, it is this, that the sinless Man, our ideal\nrepresentative and guide, the greatest religious genius of the race, died\nfor asserting upon oath that He was the Son of God. A good deal has been\nsaid lately, both wise and foolish, about Comparative Religion: is there\nanything to compare with this? Lunatics, with this example before their\neyes, have conceived wild and dreadful infatuations. But these are the\nwords of Him whose character has dominated nineteen centuries, and changed\nthe history of the world. And they stand alone in the records of mankind.\n\nAs Jesus spoke the fatal words, as malice and hatred lighted the faces of\nHis wicked judges with a base and ignoble joy, what was His own thought?\nWe know it by the warning that He added. They supposed themselves judges\nand irresponsible, but there should yet be another tribunal, with justice\nof a far different kind, and there they should occupy another place. For\nall that was passing before His eyes, so false, hypocritical and\nmurderous, there was no lasting victory, no impunity, no escape: \u201cYe shall\nsee the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power and coming with the\nclouds of heaven.\u201d Therefore His apostle Peter tells us that in this hour,\nwhen He was reviled and reviled not again, \u201cHe committed Himself to Him\nthat judgeth righteously\u201d (1 Peter ii. 23).\n\nHe had now quoted that great vision in which the prophet Daniel saw Him\nbrought near unto the Ancient of Days, and invested with an everlasting\ndominion (Dan. vii. 13, 14.). But St. Matthew adds one memorable word. He\ndid not warn them, and He was not Himself sustained, only by the mention\nof a far-off judgment: He said they should behold Him thus \u201chenceforth.\u201d\nAnd that very day they saw the veil of their temple rent, felt the world\nconvulsed, and remembered in their terror that He had foretold His own\ndeath and His resurrection, against which they had still to guard. And in\nthe open sepulchre, and the supernatural vision told them by its keepers,\nin great and notable miracles wrought by the name of Jesus, in the\ndesertion of a great multitude even of priests, and their own fear to be\nfound fighting against God, in all this the rise of that new power was\nthenceforth plainly visible, which was presently to bury them and their\nchildren under the ruins of their temple and their palaces. But for the\nmoment the high-priest was only relieved; and he proceeded, rending his\nclothes, to announce his judgment, before consulting the court, who had no\nfurther need of witnesses, and were quite content to become formally the\naccusers before themselves. The sentence of this irregular and informal\ncourt was now pronounced, to fit them for bearing part, at sunrise, in\nwhat should be an unbiassed trial; and while they awaited the dawn Jesus\nwas abandoned to the brutality of their servants, one of whom He had\nhealed that very night. They spat on the Lord of Glory. They covered His\nface, an act which was the symbol of a death sentence (Esther vii. 8), and\nthen they buffeted Him, and invited Him to prophesy who smote Him. And the\nofficers \u201creceived Him\u201d with blows.\n\nWhat was the meaning of this outburst of savage cruelty of men whom Jesus\nhad never wronged, and some of whose friends must have shared His\nsuperhuman gifts of love? Partly it was the instinct of low natures to\ntrample on the fallen, and partly the result of partizanship. For these\nservants of the priests must have seen many evidences of the hate and\ndread with which their masters regarded Jesus. But there was doubtless\nanother motive. Not without fear, we may be certain, had they gone forth\nto arrest at midnight the Personage of whom so many miraculous tales were\nuniversally believed. They must have remembered the captains of fifty whom\nElijah consumed with fire. And in fact there was a moment when they all\nfell prostrate before His majestic presence. But now their terror was at\nan end: He was helpless in their hands; and they revenged their fears upon\nthe Author of them.\n\nThus Jesus suffered shame to make us partakers of His glory; and the veil\nof death covered His head, that He might destroy the face of the covering\ncast over all peoples, and the veil that was spread over all nations. And\neven in this moment of bitterest outrage He remembered and rescued a soul\nin the extreme of jeopardy, for it was now that the Lord turned and looked\nupon Peter.\n\n\n\n\nThe Fall Of Peter.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd as Peter was beneath in the court, there cometh one of the\n    maids of the high priest; and seeing Peter warming himself, she\n    looked upon him, and saith, Thou also wast with the Nazarene,\n    _even_ Jesus. But he denied, saying, I neither know, nor\n    understand what thou sayest: and he went out into the porch; and\n    the cock crew. And the maid saw him, and began again to say to\n    them that stood by, This is _one_ of them. But he again denied it.\n    And after a little while again they that stood by said to Peter,\n    Of a truth thou art _one_ of them; for thou art a Galil\u00e6an. But he\n    began to curse, and to swear, I know not this man of whom ye\n    speak. And straightway the second time the cock crew. And Peter\n    called to mind the word, how that Jesus said unto him, Before the\n    cock crow twice, thou shalt deny Me thrice. And when he thought\n    thereon, he wept\u201d\u2014MARK xiv. 66-72 (R.V.).\n\n\nThe fall of Peter has called forth the easy scorn of multitudes who never\nran any risk for Christ. But if he had been a coward, and his denial a\ndastardly weakness, it would not be a warning for the whole Church, but\nonly for feeble natures. Whereas the lesson which it proclaims is this\ndeep and solemn one, that no natural endowments can bear the strain of the\nspiritual life. Peter had dared to smite when only two swords were\nforthcoming against the band of Roman soldiers and the multitude from the\nchief priests. After the panic in which all forsook Jesus, and so\nfulfilled the prediction \u201cye shall leave Me alone,\u201d none ventured so far\nas Peter. John indeed accompanied him; but John ran little risk, he had\ninfluence and was therefore left unassailed, whereas Peter was friendless\nand a mark for all men, and had made himself conspicuous in the garden. Of\nthose who declaim about his want of courage few indeed would have dared so\nmuch. And whoever misunderstands him, Jesus did not. He said to him,\n\u201cSatan hath desired to have you (all) that he may sift you like wheat, but\nI have prayed for thee (especially) that thy strength fail not.\u201d Around\nhim the fiercest of the struggle was to rage, as around some point of\nvantage on a battlefield; and it was he, when once he had turned again,\nwho should stablish his brethren (Luke xxii. 31, 32).\n\nGod forbid that we should speak one light or scornful word of this great\napostle! God grant us, if our footsteps slip, the heart to weep such tears\nas his.\n\nPeter was a loving, brave and loyal man. But the circumstances were not\nsuch as human bravery could deal with. Resistance, which would have\nkindled his spirit, had been forbidden to him, and was now impossible. The\npublic was shut out, and he was practically alone among his enemies. He\nhad come \u201cto see the end,\u201d and it was a miserable sight that he beheld.\nJesus was passive, silent, insulted: His foes fierce, unscrupulous and\nconfident. And Peter was more and more conscious of being alone, in peril,\nand utterly without resource. Moreover sleeplessness and misery lead to\nphysical languor and cold,(13) and as the officers had kindled a fire, he\nwas drawn thither, like a moth, by the double wish to avoid isolation and\nto warm himself. In thus seeking to pass for one of the crowd, he showed\nhimself ashamed of Jesus, and incurred the menaced penalty, \u201cof him shall\nthe Son of man be ashamed, when He cometh.\u201d And the method of\nself-concealment which he adopted only showed his face, strongly\nilluminated, as St. Mark tells us, by the flame.\n\nIf now we ask for the secret of his failing resolution, we can trace the\ndisease far back. It was self-confidence. He reckoned himself the one to\nwalk upon the waters. He could not be silent on the holy mount, when Jesus\nheld high communion with the inhabitants of heaven. He rebuked the Lord\nfor dark forebodings. When Jesus would wash his feet, although expressly\ntold that he should understand the act hereafter, he rejoined, Thou shalt\nnever wash my feet, and was only sobered by the peremptory announcement\nthat further rebellion would involve rejection. He was sure that if all\nthe rest were to deny Jesus, he never should deny Him. In the garden he\nslept, because he failed to pray and watch. And then he did not wait to be\ndirected, but strove to fight the battle of Jesus with the weapons of the\nflesh. Therefore he forsook Him and fled. And the consequences of that\nhasty blow were heavy upon him now. It marked him for the attention of the\nservants: it drove him to merge himself in the crowd. But his bearing was\ntoo suspicious to enable him to escape unquestioned. The first assault\ncame very naturally, from the maid who kept the door, and had therefore\nseen him with John. He denied indeed, but with hesitation, not so much\naffirming that the charge was false as that he could not understand it.\nAnd thereupon he changed his place, either to escape notice or through\nmental disquietude; but as he went into the porch the cock crew. The girl\nhowever was not to be shaken off: she pointed him out to others, and since\nhe had forsaken the only solid ground, he now denied the charge angrily\nand roundly. An hour passed, such an hour of shame, perplexity and guilt,\nas he had never known, and then there came a still more dangerous attack.\nThey had detected his Galilean accent, while he strove to pass for one of\nthem. And a kinsman of Malchus used words as threatening as were possible\nwithout enabling a miracle to be proved, since the wound had vanished:\n\u201cDid I myself not see thee in the garden with Him?\u201d Whereupon, to prove\nthat his speech had nothing to do with Jesus, he began to curse and swear,\nsaying, I know not the man. And the cock crew a second time, and Peter\nremembered the warning of his Lord, which then sounded so harsh, but now\nproved to be the means of his salvation. And the eyes of his Master, full\nof sorrow and resolution, fell on him. And he knew that he had added a\nbitter pang to the sufferings of the Blessed One. And the crowd and his\nown danger were forgotten, and he went out and wept.\n\nIt was for Judas to strive desperately to put himself right with man: the\nsorrow of Peter was for himself and God to know.\n\nWhat lessons are we taught by this most natural and humbling story? That\nhe who thinketh he standeth must take heed lest he fall. That we are in\nmost danger when self-confident, and only strong when we are weak. That\nthe beginning of sin is like the letting out of water. That Jesus does not\ngive us up when we cast ourselves away, but as long as a pulse of love\nsurvives, or a spark of loyalty, He will appeal to that by many a subtle\nsuggestion of memory and of providence, to recall His wanderer to Himself.\n\nAnd surely we learn by the fall of this great and good apostle to restore\nthe fallen in the spirit of meekness, considering ourselves lest we also\nbe tempted, remembering also that to Peter, Jesus sent the first tidings\nof His resurrection, and that the message found him in company with John,\nand therefore in the house with Mary. What might have been the issue of\nhis anguish if these holy ones had cast Him off?\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\n\n\n\nPilate.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd straightway in the morning the chief priests with the elders\n    and scribes, and the whole council, held a consultation, and bound\n    Jesus, and carried Him away, and delivered Him up to Pilate.\u201d\n\n    \u201c... And they lead Him out to crucify Him.\u201d\u2014MARK xv. 1-20 (R.V.).\n\n\nWith morning came the formal assembly, which St. Mark dismisses in a\nsingle verse. It was indeed a disgraceful mockery. Before the trial began\nits members had prejudged the case, passed sentence by anticipation, and\nabandoned Jesus, as one condemned, to the brutality of their servants. And\nnow the spectacle of a prisoner outraged and maltreated moves no\nindignation in their hearts.\n\nLet us, for whom His sufferings were endured, reflect upon the strain and\nanguish of all these repeated examinations, these foregone conclusions\ngravely adopted in the name of justice, these exhibitions of greed for\nblood. Among the \u201cunknown sufferings\u201d by which the Eastern Church invokes\nher Lord, surely not the least was His outraged moral sense.\n\nAs the issue of it all, they led Him away to Pilate, meaning, by the\nweight of such an accusing array, to overpower any possible scruples of\nthe governor, but in fact fulfilling His words, \u201cthey shall deliver Him\nunto the Gentiles.\u201d And the first question recorded by St. Mark expresses\nthe intense surprise of Pilate. \u201cThou,\u201d so meek, so unlike the numberless\nconspirators that I have tried,\u2014or perhaps, \u201cThou,\u201d Whom no sympathising\nmultitude sustains, and for Whose death the disloyal priesthood thirsts,\n\u201cArt _Thou_ the King of the Jews?\u201d We know how carefully Jesus\ndisentangled His claim from the political associations which the high\npriests intended that it should suggest, how the King of Truth would not\nexaggerate any more than understate the case, and explained that His\nkingdom was not of this world, that His servants did not fight, that His\nroyal function was to uphold the truth, not to expel conquerors. The eyes\nof a practised Roman governor saw through the accusation very clearly.\nBefore him, Jesus was accused of sedition, but that was a transparent\npretext; Jews did not hate Him for enmity to Rome: He was a rival teacher\nand a successful one, and for envy they had delivered Him. So far all was\nwell. Pilate investigated the charge, arrived at the correct judgment, and\nit only remained that he should release the innocent man. In reaching this\nconclusion Jesus had given him the most prudent and skilful help, but as\nsoon as the facts became clear, He resumed His impressive and mysterious\nsilence. Thus, before each of his judges in turn, Jesus avowed Himself the\nMessiah and then held His peace. It was an awful silence, which would not\ngive that which was holy to the dogs, nor profane the truth by unavailing\nprotests or controversies. It was, however, a silence only possible to an\nexalted nature full of self-control, since the words actually spoken\nredeem it from any suspicion or stain of sullenness. It is the conscience\nof Pilate which must henceforth speak. The Romans were the lawgivers of\nthe ancient world, and a few years earlier their greatest poet had boasted\nthat their mission was to spare the helpless and to crush the proud. In no\nman was an act of deliberate injustice, of complaisance to the powerful at\nthe cost of the good, more unpardonable than in a leader of that splendid\nrace, whose laws are still the favourite study of those who frame and\nadminister our own. And the conscience of Pilate struggled hard, aided by\nsuperstitious fear. The very silence of Jesus amid many charges, by none\nof which His accusers would stand or fall, excited the wonder of His\njudge. His wife\u2019s dream aided the effect. And he was still more afraid\nwhen he heard that this strange and elevated Personage, so unlike any\nother prisoner whom he had ever tried, laid claim to be Divine. Thus even\nin his desire to save Jesus, his motive was not pure, it was rather an\ninstinct of self-preservation than a sense of justice. But there was\ndanger on the other side as well; since he had already incurred the\nimperial censure, he could not without grave apprehensions contemplate a\nfresh complaint, and would certainly be ruined if he were accused of\nreleasing a conspirator against C\u00e6sar. And accordingly he stooped to mean\nand crooked ways, he lost hold of the only clue in the perplexing\nlabyrinth of expediencies, which is principle, and his name in the creed\nof Christendom is spoken with a shudder\u2014\u201ccrucified under Pontius Pilate!\u201d\n\nIt was the time for him to release a prisoner to them, according to an\nobscure custom, which some suppose to have sprung from the release of one\nof the two sacrificial goats, and others from the fact that they now\ncelebrated their own deliverance from Egypt. At this moment the people\nbegan to demand their usual indulgence, and an evil hope arose in the\nheart of Pilate. They would surely welcome One who was in danger as a\npatriot: he would himself make the offer, and he would put it in this\ntempting form, \u201cWill ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews?\u201d\nThus would the enmity of the priests be gratified, since Jesus would\nhenceforth be a condemned culprit, and owe His life to their intercession\nwith the foreigner. But the proposal was a surrender. The life of Jesus\nhad not been forfeited; and when it was placed at their discretion, it was\nalready lawlessly taken away. Moreover, when the offer was rejected, Jesus\nwas in the place of a culprit who should not be released. To the priests,\nnevertheless, it was a dangerous proposal, and they needed to stir up the\npeople, or perhaps Barabbas would not have been preferred.\n\nInstigated by their natural guides, their religious teachers, the Jews\nmade the tremendous choice, which has ever since been heavy on their heads\nand on their children\u2019s. Yet if ever an error could be excused by the plea\nof authority, and the duty of submission to constituted leaders, it was\nthis error. They followed men who sat in Moses\u2019 seat, and who were thus\nentitled, according to Jesus Himself, to be obeyed. Yet that authority has\nnot relieved the Hebrew nation from the wrath which came upon them to the\nuttermost. The salvation they desired was not moral elevation or spiritual\nlife, and so Jesus had nothing to bestow upon them; they refused the Holy\nOne and the Just. What they wanted was the world, the place which Rome\nheld, and which they fondly hoped was yet to be their own. Even to have\nfailed in the pursuit of this was better than to have the words of\neverlasting life, and so the name of Barabbas was enough to secure the\nrejection of Christ. It would almost seem that Pilate was ready to release\nboth, if that would satisfy them, for he asks, in hesitation and\nperplexity, \u201cWhat shall I do then with Him Whom ye call the King of the\nJews?\u201d Surely in their excitement for an insurgent, that title, given by\nthemselves, will awake their pity. But again and again, like the howl of\nwolves, resounds their ferocious cry, Crucify Him, crucify Him.\n\nThe irony of Providence is known to every student of history, but it never\nwas so manifest as here. Under the pressure of circumstances upon men whom\nprinciple has not made firm, we find a Roman governor striving to kindle\nevery disloyal passion of his subjects, on behalf of the King of the\nJews,\u2014appealing to men whom he hated and despised, and whose charges have\nproved empty as chaff, to say, What evil has He done? and even to tell\nhim, on his judgment throne, what he shall do with their King; we find the\nmen who accused Jesus of stirring up the people to sedition, now\nshamelessly agitating for the release of a red-handed insurgent; forced\nmoreover to accept the responsibility which they would fain have devolved\non Pilate, and themselves to pronounce the hateful sentence of\ncrucifixion, unknown to their law, but for which they had secretly\nintrigued; and we find the multitude fiercely clamouring for a defeated\nchampion of brute force, whose weapon has snapped in his hands, who has\nled his followers to the cross, and from whom there is no more to hope.\nWhat satire upon their hope of a temporal Messiah could be more bitter\nthan their own cry, \u201cWe have no king but C\u00e6sar\u201d? And what satire upon this\nprofession more destructive than their choice of Barabbas and refusal of\nChrist? And all the while, Jesus looks on in silence, carrying out His\nmournful but effectual plan, the true Master of the movements which design\nto crush Him, and which He has foretold. As He ever receives gifts for the\nrebellious, and is the Saviour of all men, though especially of them that\nbelieve, so now His passion, which retrieved the erring soul of Peter, and\nwon the penitent thief, rescues Barabbas from the cross. His suffering was\nmade visibly vicarious.\n\nOne is tempted to pity the feeble judge, the only person who is known to\nhave attempted to rescue Jesus, beset by his old faults, which will make\nan impeachment fatal, wishing better than he dares to act, hesitating,\nsinking inch by inch, and like a bird with broken wing. No accomplice in\nthis frightful crime is so suggestive of warning to hearts not entirely\nhardened.\n\nBut pity is lost in sterner emotion as we remember that this wicked\ngovernor, having borne witness to the perfect innocence of Jesus, was\ncontent, in order to save himself from danger, to watch the Blessed One\nenduring all the horrors of a Roman scourging, and then to yield Him up to\ndie.\n\nIt is now the unmitigated cruelty of ancient paganism which has closed its\nhand upon our Lord. When the soldiers led Him away within the court, He\nwas lost to His nation, which had renounced Him. It is upon this utter\nalienation, even more than the locality where the cross was fixed, that\nthe Epistle to the Hebrews turns our attention, when it reminds us that\n\u201cthe bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the holy place by\nthe high priest as an offering for sin, are burned without the camp.\nWherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own\nblood, suffered without the gate.\u201d The physical exclusion, the material\nparallel points to something deeper, for the inference is that of\nestrangement. Those who serve the tabernacle cannot eat of our altar. Let\nus go forth unto Him, bearing His reproach. (Heb. xii. 10-13).\n\nRenounced by Israel, and about to become a curse under the law, He has now\nto suffer the cruelty of wantonness, as He has already endured the cruelty\nof hatred and fear. Now, more than ever perhaps, He looks for pity and\nthere is no man. None responded to the deep appeal of the eyes which had\nnever seen misery without relieving it. The contempt of the strong for the\nweak and suffering, of coarse natures for sensitive ones, of Romans for\nJews, all these were blended with bitter scorn of the Jewish expectation\nthat some day Rome shall bow before a Hebrew conqueror, in the mockery\nwhich Jesus now underwent, when they clad Him in such cast-off purple as\nthe Palace yielded, thrust a reed into His pinioned hand, crowned Him with\nthorns, beat these into His holy head with the sceptre they had offered\nHim, and then proceeded to render the homage of their nation to the\nMessiah of Jewish hopes. It may have been this mockery which suggested to\nPilate the inscription for the cross. But where is the mockery now? In\ncrowning Him King of sufferings, and Royal among those who weep, they\nsecured to Him the adherence of all hearts. Christ was made perfect by the\nthings which He suffered; and it was not only in spite of insult and\nanguish but by means of them that He drew all men unto Him.\n\n\n\n\nChrist Crucified.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd they compel one passing by, Simon of Cyrene, coming from the\n    country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to _go with them_,\n    that he might bear His cross. And they bring Him unto the place\n    Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull. And\n    they offered Him wine mingled with myrrh: but He received it not.\n    And they crucify Him, and part His garments among them, casting\n    lots upon them, what each should take. And it was the third hour,\n    and they crucified Him. And the superscription of His accusation\n    was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS. And with Him they crucify\n    two robbers; one on His right hand, and one on His left. And they\n    that passed by railed on Him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ha!\n    Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days,\n    save Thyself, and come down from the cross. In like manner also\n    the chief priests mocking _Him_ among themselves with the scribes\n    said, He saved others; Himself He cannot save. Let the Christ, the\n    King of Israel, now come down from the cross, that we may see and\n    believe. And they that were crucified with Him reproached\n    Him.\u201d\u2014MARK xv. 21-32 (R.V.).\n\n\nAt last the preparations were complete and the interval of mental agony\nwas over. They led Him away to crucify Him. And upon the road an event of\nmournful interest took place. It was the custom to lay the two arms of the\ncross upon the doomed man, fastening them together at such an angle as to\npass behind His neck, while his hands were bound to the ends in front. And\nthus it was that Jesus went forth bearing His cross. Did He think of this\nwhen He bade us take His yoke upon us? Did He wait for events to explain\nthe words, by making it visibly one and the same to take His yoke and to\ntake up our cross and follow Him?\n\nOn the road, however, they forced a reluctant stranger to go with them\nthat he might bear the cross. The traditional reason is that our\nRedeemer\u2019s strength gave way, and it became physically impossible for Him\nto proceed; but this is challenged upon the ground that to fail would have\nbeen unworthy of our Lord, and would mar the perfection of His example.\nHow so, when the failure was a real one? Is there no fitness in the belief\nthat He who was tempted in all points like as we are, endured this\nhardness also, of struggling with the impossible demands of human cruelty,\nthe spirit indeed willing but the flesh weak? It is not easy to believe\nthat any other reason than manifest inability, would have induced his\npersecutors to spare Him one drop of bitterness, one throb of pain. The\nnoblest and most delicately balanced frame, like all other exquisite\nmachines, is not capable of the rudest strain; and we know that Jesus had\nonce sat wearied by the well, while the hardy fishers went into the town,\nand returned with bread. And this night our gentle Master had endured what\nno common victim knew. Long before the scourging, or even the buffeting\nbegan, His spiritual exhaustion had needed that an angel from heaven\nshould strengthen Him. And the utmost possibility of exertion was now\nreached: the spot where they met Simon of Cyrene marks this melancholy\nlimit; and suffering henceforth must be purely passive.\n\nWe cannot assert with confidence that Simon and his family were saved by\nthis event. The coercion put upon him, the fact that he was seized and\n\u201cimpressed\u201d into the service, already seems to indicate sympathy with\nJesus. And we are fain to believe that he who received the honour, so\nstrange and sad and sacred, the unique privilege of lifting some little of\nthe crushing burden of the Saviour, was not utterly ignorant of what he\ndid. We know at least that the names of his children, Alexander and Rufus,\nwere familiar in the Church for which St. Mark was writing, and that in\nRome a Rufus was chosen in the Lord, and his mother was like a mother to\nSt. Paul (Rom. xvi. 13). With what feelings may they have recalled the\nstory, \u201chim they compelled to bear His cross.\u201d\n\nThey led Him to a place where the rounded summit of a knoll had its grim\nname from some resemblance to a human skull, and prepared the crosses\nthere.\n\nIt was the custom of the daughters of Jerusalem, who lamented Him as He\nwent, to provide a stupefying draught for the sufferers of this atrocious\ncruelty. \u201cAnd they offered Him wine mixed with myrrh, but He received it\nnot,\u201d although that dreadful thirst, which was part of the suffering of\ncrucifixion, had already begun, for He only refused when He had tasted it.\n\nIn so doing He rebuked all who seek to drown sorrows or benumb the soul in\nwine, all who degrade and dull their sensibilities by physical excess or\nindulgence, all who would rather blind their intelligence than pay the\nsharp cost of its exercise. He did not condemn the use of anodynes, but\nthe abuse of them. It is one thing to suspend the senses during an\noperation, and quite another thing by one\u2019s own choice to pass into\neternity without consciousness enough to commit the soul into its Father\u2019s\nhands.\n\n\u201cAnd they crucify Him.\u201d Let the words remain as the Evangelist left them,\nto tell their own story of human sin, and of Divine love which many waters\ncould not quench, neither could the depths drown it.\n\nOnly let us think in silence of all that those words convey.\n\nIn the first sharpness of mortal anguish, Jesus saw His executioners sit\ndown at ease, all unconscious of the dread meaning of what was passing by\ntheir side, to part His garments among them, and cast lots for the raiment\nwhich they had stripped from His sacred form. The Gospels are content thus\nto abandon those relics about which so many legends have been woven. But\nindeed all through these four wonderful narratives the self-restraint is\nperfect. When the Epistles touch upon the subject of the crucifixion they\nkindle into flame. When St. Peter soon afterwards referred to it, his\nindignation is beyond question, and Stephen called the rulers betrayers\nand murderers (Acts ii. 23, 24; iii. 13, 14; vii. 51-53) but not one\nsingle syllable of complaint or comment mingles with the clear flow of\nnarrative in the four Gospels. The truth is that the subject was too\ngreat, too fresh and vivid in their minds, to be adorned or enlarged upon.\nWhat comment of St. Mark, what mortal comment, could add to the weight of\nthe words \u201cthey crucify Him\u201d? Men use no figures of speech when telling\nhow their own beloved one died. But it was differently that the next age\nwrote about the crucifixion; and perhaps the lofty self-restraint of the\nEvangelists has never been attained again.\n\nSt. Mark tells us that He was crucified at the third hour, whereas we read\nin St. John that it was \u201cabout the sixth hour\u201d when Pilate ascended the\nseat of judgment (xix. 14). It seems likely that St. John used the Roman\nreckoning, and his computation does not pretend to be exact; while we must\nremember that mental agitation conspired with the darkening of the sky, to\nrender such an estimate as he offers even more than usually vague.\n\nIt has been supposed that St. Mark\u2019s \u201cthird hour\u201d goes back to the\nscourging, which, as being a regular part of Roman crucifixion, he\nincludes, although inflicted in this case before the sentence. But it will\nprove quite as hard to reconcile this distribution of time with \u201cthe sixth\nhour\u201d in St. John, while it is at variance with the context in which St.\nMark asserts it.\n\nThe small and bitter heart of Pilate keenly resented his defeat and the\nvictory of the priests. Perhaps it was when his soldiers offered the\nscornful homage of Rome to Israel and her monarch, that he saw the way to\na petty revenge. And all Jerusalem was scandalized by reading the\ninscription over a crucified malefactor\u2019s head, The King of the Jews.\n\nIt needs some reflection to perceive how sharp the taunt was. A few years\nago they had a king, but the sceptre had departed from Judah; Rome had\nabolished him. It was their hope that soon a native king would for ever\nsweep away the foreigner from their fields. But here the Roman exhibited\nthe fate of such a claim, and professed to inflict its horrors not upon\none whom they disavowed, but upon their king indeed. We know how angrily\nand vainly they protested; and again we seem to recognise the solemn irony\nof Providence. For this was their true King, and they, who resented the\nsuperscription, had fixed their Anointed there.\n\nAll the more they would disconnect themselves from Him, and wreak their\npassion upon the helpless One whom they hated. The populace mocked Him\nopenly: the chief priests, too cultivated to insult avowedly a dying man,\nmocked Him \u201camong themselves,\u201d speaking bitter words for Him to hear. The\nmultitude repeated the false charge which had probably done much to\ninspire their sudden preference for Barabbas, \u201cThou that destroyest the\ntemple and buildest it again in three days, save Thyself and come down\nfrom the cross.\u201d\n\nThey little suspected that they were recalling words of consolation to His\nmemory, reminding Him that all this suffering was foreseen, and how it was\nall to end. The chief priests spoke also a truth full of consolation, \u201cHe\nsaved others, Himself He cannot save,\u201d although it was no physical bar\nwhich forbade Him to accept their challenge. And when they flung at Him\nHis favourite demand for faith, saying \u201cLet the Christ, the King of\nIsrael, now come down from the cross, that we may see and believe\u201d surely\nthey reminded Him of the great multitude who should not see, and yet\nshould believe, when He came back through the gates of death.\n\nThus the words they spoke could not afflict Him. But what horror to the\npure soul to behold these yawning abysses of malignity, these gulfs of\npitiless hate. The affronts hurled at suffering and defeat by prosperous\nand exultant malice are especially Satanic. Many diseases inflict more\nphysical pain than torturers ever invented, but they do not excite the\nsame horror, because gentle ministries are there to charm away the despair\nwhich human hate and execration conjure up.\n\nTo add to the insult of His disgraceful death, the Romans had crucified\ntwo robbers, doubtless from the band of Barabbas, one upon each side of\nJesus. We know how this outrage led to the salvation of one of them, and\nrefreshed the heavy laden soul of Jesus, oppressed by so much guilt and\nvileness, with the visible firstfruit of His passion, giving Him to see of\nthe travail of His soul, by which He shall yet be satisfied.\n\nBut in their first agony and despair, when all voices were unanimous\nagainst the Blessed One, and they too must needs find some outlet for\ntheir frenzy, they both reproached Him. Thus the circle of human wrong was\nrounded.\n\nThe traitor, the deserters, the forsworn apostle, the perjured witnesses,\nthe hypocritical pontiff professing horror at blasphemy while himself\nabjuring his national hope, the accomplices in a sham trial, the murderer\nof the Baptist and his men of war, the abject ruler who declared Him\ninnocent yet gave Him up to die, the servile throng who waited on the\npriests, the soldiers of Herod and of Pilate, the pitiless crowd which\nclamoured for His blood, and they who mocked Him in His agony,\u2014not one of\nthem whom Jesus did not compassionate, whose cruelty had not power to\nwring His heart. Disciple and foeman, Roman and Jew, priest and soldier\nand judge, all had lifted up their voice against Him. And when the\ncomrades of His passion joined the cry, the last ingredient of human\ncruelty was infused into the cup which James and John had once proposed to\ndrink with Him.\n\n\n\n\nThe Death Of Jesus.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the\n    whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried\n    with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being\n    interpreted, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? And some\n    of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, He\n    calleth Elijah. And one ran, and filling a sponge full of vinegar,\n    put it on a reed, and gave Him to drink, saying, Let be; let us\n    see whether Elijah cometh to take Him down. And Jesus uttered a\n    loud voice, and gave up the ghost. And the veil of the temple was\n    rent in twain from the top to the bottom. And when the centurion,\n    which stood by over against Him, saw that He so gave up the ghost,\n    he said, Truly this man was the Son of God. And there were also\n    women beholding from afar: among whom _were_ both Mary Magdalene,\n    and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome;\n    who, when He was in Galilee, followed Him, and ministered unto\n    Him; and many other women which came up with Him unto\n    Jerusalem.\u201d\u2014MARK xv. 33-41 (R.V.).\n\n\nThree hours of raging human passion, endured with Godlike patience, were\nsucceeded by three hours of darkness, hushing mortal hatred into silence,\nand perhaps contributing to the penitence of the reviler at His side. It\nwas a supernatural gloom, since an eclipse of the sun was impossible\nduring the full moon of Passover. Shall we say that, as it shall be in the\nlast days, nature sympathized with humanity, and the angel of the sun hid\nhis face from his suffering Lord?\n\nOr was it the shadow of a still more dreadful eclipse, for now the eternal\nFather veiled His countenance from the Son in whom He was well pleased?\n\nIn some true sense God forsook Him. And we have to seek for a meaning of\nthis awful statement\u2014inadequate no doubt, for all our thoughts must come\nshort of such a reality, but free from prevarication and evasion.\n\nIt is wholly unsatisfactory to regard the verse as merely the heading of a\npsalm, cheerful for the most part, which Jesus inaudibly recited. Why was\nonly this verse uttered aloud? How false an impression must have been\nproduced upon the multitude, upon St. John, upon the penitent thief, if\nJesus were suffering less than the extreme of spiritual anguish. Nay, we\nfeel that never before can the verse have attained its fullest meaning, a\nmeaning which no experience of David could more than dimly shadow forth,\nsince we ask in our sorrows, Why have we forsaken God? but Jesus said, Why\nhast Thou forsaken Me?\n\nAnd this unconsciousness of any reason for desertion disproves the old\nnotion that He felt Himself a sinner, and \u201csuffered infinite remorse, as\nbeing the chief sinner in the universe, all the sins of mankind being\nHis.\u201d One who felt thus could neither have addressed God as \u201cMy God,\u201d nor\nasked why He was forsaken.\n\nStill less does it allow us to believe that the Father perfectly\nidentified Jesus with sin, so as to be \u201cwroth\u201d with Him, and even \u201cto hate\nHim to the uttermost.\u201d Such notions, the offspring of theories carried to\na wild and irreverent extreme, when carefully examined impute to the Deity\nconfusion of thought, a mistaking of the Holy One for a sinner or rather\nfor the aggregate of sinners. But it is very different when we pass from\nthe Divine consciousness to the bearing of God toward Christ our\nrepresentative, to the outshining or eclipse of His favour. That this was\novercast is manifest from the fact that Jesus everywhere else addresses\nHim as My Father, here only as My God. Even in the garden it was Abba\nFather, and the change indicates not indeed estrangement of heart, but\ncertainly remoteness. Thus we have the sense of desertion, combined with\nthe assurance which once breathed in the words, O God, Thou art my God.\n\nThus also it came to pass that He who never forfeited the most intimate\ncommunion and sunny smile of heaven, should yet give us an example at the\nlast of that utmost struggle and sternest effort of the soul, which trusts\nwithout experience, without emotion, in the dark, because God is God, not\nbecause I am happy.\n\nBut they who would empty the death of Jesus of its sacrificial import, and\nleave only the attraction and inspiration of a sublime life and death,\nmust answer the hard questions, How came God to forsake the Perfect One?\nOr, how came He to charge God with such desertion? His follower, twice\nusing this very word, could boast that he was cast down yet not forsaken,\nand that at his first trial all men forsook him, yet the Lord stood by him\n(2 Cor. iv. 9; 2 Tim. iv. 16, 17). How came the disciple to be above his\nMaster?\n\nThe only explanation is in His own word, that His life is a ransom in\nexchange for many (Mark x. 45). The chastisement of our peace, not the\nremorse of our guiltiness, was upon Him. No wonder that St. Mark, who\nturns aside from his narrative for no comment, no exposition, was yet\ncareful to preserve this alone among the dying words of Christ.\n\nAnd the Father heard His Son. At that cry the mysterious darkness passed\naway; and the soul of Jesus was relieved from its burden, so that He\nbecame conscious of physical suffering; and the mockery of the multitude\nwas converted into awe. It seemed to them that His Eloi might indeed bring\nElias, and the great and notable day, and they were willing to relieve the\nthirst which no stoical hardness forbade that gentlest of all sufferers to\nconfess. Thereupon the anguish that redeemed the world was over; a loud\nvoice told that exhaustion was not complete; and yet Jesus \u201cgave up the\nghost.\u201d(14)\n\nThrough the veil, that is to say His flesh, we have boldness to enter into\nthe holy place; and now that He had opened the way, the veil of the temple\nwas rent asunder by no mortal hand, but downward from the top. The way\ninto the holiest was visibly thrown open, when sin was expiated, which had\nforfeited our right of access.\n\nAnd the centurion, seeing that His death itself was abnormal and\nmiraculous, and accompanied with miraculous signs, said, Truly this was a\nrighteous man. But such a confession could not rest there: if He was this,\nHe was all He claimed to be; and the mockery of His enemies had betrayed\nthe secret of their hate; He was the Son of God.\n\n\u201cWhen the centurion saw\u201d ... \u201cThere were also many women beholding.\u201d Who\ncan overlook the connection? Their gentle hearts were not to be utterly\noverwhelmed: as the centurion saw and drew his inference, so they beheld,\nand felt, however dimly, amid sorrows that benumb the mind, that still,\neven in such wreck and misery, God was not far from Jesus.\n\nWhen the Lord said, It is finished, there was not only an end of conscious\nanguish, but also of contempt and insult. His body was not to see\ncorruption, nor was a bone to be broken, nor should it remain in hostile\nhands.\n\nRespect for Jewish prejudice prevented the Romans from leaving it to\nmoulder on the cross, and the approaching Sabbath was not one to be\npolluted. And knowing this, Joseph of Arimath\u00e6a boldly went in to Pilate\nand asked for the body of Jesus. It was only secretly and in fear that he\nhad been a disciple, but the deadly crisis had developed what was hidden,\nhe had opposed the crime of his nation in their council, and in the hour\nof seeming overthrow he chose the good part. Boldly the timid one \u201cwent\nin,\u201d braving the scowls of the priesthood, defiling himself moreover, and\nforfeiting his share in the sacred feast, in hope to win the further\ndefilement of contact with the dead.\n\nPilate was careful to verify so rapid a death; but when he was certain of\nthe fact, \u201che granted the corpse to Joseph,\u201d as a worthless thing. His\nfrivolity is expressed alike in the unusual verb(15) and substantive: he\n\u201cfreely-bestowed,\u201d he \u201cgave away\u201d not \u201cthe body\u201d as when Joseph spoke of\nit, but \u201cthe corpse,\u201d the fallen thing, like a prostrated and uprooted\ntree that shall revive no more. Wonderful it is to reflect that God had\nentered into eternal union with what was thus given away to the only man\nof rank who cared to ask for it. Wonderful to think what opportunities of\neternal gain men are content to lose; what priceless treasures are given\naway, or thrown away as worthless. Wonderful to imagine the feelings of\nJoseph in heaven to-day, as he gazes with gratitude and love upon the\nglorious Body which once, for a little, was consigned to his reverent\ncare.\n\nSt. John tells us that Nicodemus brought a hundred pound weight of myrrh\nand aloes, and they together wrapped Him in these, in the linen which had\nbeen provided; and Joseph laid Him in his own new tomb, undesecrated by\nmortality.\n\nAnd there Jesus rested. His friends had no such hope as would prevent them\nfrom closing the door with a great stone. His enemies set a watch, and\nsealed the stone. The broad moon of Passover made the night as clear as\nthe day, and the multitude of strangers, who thronged the city and its\nsuburbs, rendered any attempt at robbery even more hopeless than at\nanother season.\n\nWhat indeed could the trembling disciples of an executed pretender do with\nsuch an object as a dead body? What could they hope from the possession of\nit? But if they did not steal it, if the moral glories of Christianity are\nnot sprung from deliberate mendacity, why was the body not produced, to\nabash the wild dreams of their fanaticism? It was fearfully easy to\nidentify. The scourging, the cross, and the spear, left no slight evidence\nbehind, and the broken bones of the malefactors completed the absolute\nisolation of the sacred body of the Lord.\n\nThe providence of God left no precaution unsupplied to satisfy honest and\ncandid inquiry. It remained to be seen, would He leave Christ\u2019s soul in\nHades, or suffer His Holy One (such is the epithet applied to the body of\nJesus) to see corruption?\n\nMeantime, through what is called three days and nights\u2014a space which\ntouched, but only touched, the confines of a first and third day, as well\nas the Saturday which intervened, Jesus shared the humiliation of common\nmen, the divorce of soul and body. He slept as sleep the dead, but His\nsoul was where He promised that the penitent should come, refreshed in\nParadise.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\n\n\n\n\nChrist Risen.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the\n    _mother_ of James, and Salome, bought spices, that they might come\n    and anoint Him. And very early on the first day of the week, they\n    come to the tomb when the sun was risen. And they were saying\n    among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door\n    of the tomb? and looking up, they see that the stone is rolled\n    back: for it was exceeding great. And entering into the tomb, they\n    saw a young man sitting on the right side, arrayed in a white\n    robe, and they were amazed. And he saith unto them, Be not amazed;\n    ye seek Jesus, the Nazarene, Which hath been crucified: He is\n    risen; He is not here: behold, the place where they laid Him! But\n    go, tell His disciples and Peter, He goeth before you into\n    Galilee: there shall ye see Him, as He said unto you. And they\n    went out, and fled from the tomb; for trembling and astonishment\n    had come upon them; and they said nothing to any one; for they\n    were afraid. Now when He was risen early on the first day of the\n    week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast\n    out seven devils. She went and told them that had been with Him,\n    as they mourned and wept. And they, when they heard that He was\n    alive, and had been seen of her, disbelieved. And after these\n    things He was manifested in another form unto two of them, as they\n    walked, on their way into the country. And they went away and told\n    it unto the rest: neither believed they them. And afterward He was\n    manifested unto the eleven themselves as they sat at meat; and He\n    upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because\n    they believed not them which had seen Him after He was risen. And\n    He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel\n    to the whole creation. He that believeth and is baptized shall be\n    saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned. And these\n    signs shall follow them that believe: in My name shall they cast\n    out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up\n    serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise\n    hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall\n    recover.\u201d\u2014MARK xvi. 1-18 (R.V.).\n\n\nThe Gospels were not written for the curious but for the devout. They are\nmost silent therefore where myth and legend would be most garrulous, and\nit is instructive to seek, in the story of Jesus, for anything similar to\nthe account of the Buddha\u2019s enlightenment under the Bo tree. We read\nnothing of the interval in Hades; nothing of the entry of His crowned and\nimmortal body into the presence chamber of God; nothing of the\nresurrection. Did He awake alone? Was He waited upon by the hierarchy of\nheaven, who robed Him in raiment unknown to men? We are only told what\nconcerns mankind, the sufficient manifestation of Jesus to His disciples.\n\nAnd to harmonise the accounts a certain effort is necessary, because they\ntell of interviews with men and women who had to pass through all the\nvicissitudes of despair, suspense, rapturous incredulity,(16) and faith.\nEach of them contributes a portion of the tale.\n\nFrom St. John we learn that Mary Magdalene came early to the sepulchre,\nfrom St. Matthew that others were with her, from St. Mark that these\nwomen, dissatisfied with the unskilful ministrations of men (and men whose\nrank knew nothing of such functions), had brought sweet spices to anoint\nHim Who was about to claim their adoration; St. John tells how Mary,\nseeing the empty sepulchre, ran to tell Peter and John of its desecration;\nthe others, that in her absence an angel told the glad tidings to the\nwomen; St. Mark, that Mary was the first to whom Jesus Himself appeared.\nAnd thenceforth the narrative more easily falls into its place.\n\nThis confusion, however perplexing to thoughtless readers, is inevitable\nin the independent histories of such events, derived from the various\nparties who delighted to remember, each what had befallen himself.\n\nBut even a genuine contradiction would avail nothing to refute the\nsubstantial fact. When the generals of Henry the Fourth strove to tell him\nwhat passed after he was wounded at Aumale, no two of them agreed in the\ncourse of events which gave them victory. Two armies beheld the battle of\nWaterloo, but who can tell when it began? At ten o\u2019clock, said the Duke of\nWellington. At half past eleven, said General Alava, who rode beside him.\nAt twelve according to Napoleon and Drouet; and at one according to Ney.\n\nPeople who doubt the reality of the resurrection, because the harmony of\nthe narratives is underneath the surface, do not deny these facts. They\nare part of history. Yet it is certain that the resurrection of Jesus\ncolours the history of the world more powerfully to-day, than the events\nwhich are so much more recent.\n\nIf Christ were not risen, how came these despairing men and women by their\nnew hope, their energy, their success among the very men who slew Him? If\nChrist be not risen, how has the morality of mankind been raised? Was it\never known that a falsehood exercised for ages a quickening and purifying\npower which no truth can rival?\n\nFrom the ninth verse to the end of St. Mark\u2019s account it is curiously\ndifficult to decide on the true reading. And it must be said that the note\nin the Revised Version, however accurate, does not succeed in giving any\nnotion of the strength of the case in favour of the remainder of the\nGospel. It tells us that the two oldest manuscripts omit them, but we do\nnot read that in one of these a space is left for the insertion of\nsomething, known by the scribe to be wanting there. Nor does it mention\nthe twelve manuscripts of almost equal antiquity in which they are\ncontained, nor the early date at which they were quoted.\n\nThe evidence appears to lean towards the belief that they were added in a\nlater edition, or else torn off in an early copy from which some\ntranscribers worked. But unbelief cannot gain anything by converting them\ninto a separate testimony, of the very earliest antiquity, to events\nrelated in each of the other Gospels.\n\nAnd the uncertainty itself will be wholesome if it reminds us that saving\nfaith is not to be reposed in niceties of criticism, but in a living\nChrist, the power and wisdom of God. Jesus blamed men for thinking that\nthey had eternal life in their inspired Scriptures, and so refusing to\ncome for life to Him, of Whom those Scriptures testified. Has sober\ncriticism ever shaken for one hour that sacred function of Holy Writ?\n\nWhat then is especially shown us in the closing words of St. Mark?\n\nReadiness to requite even a spark of grace, and to bless with the first\ntidings of a risen Redeemer the love which sought only to embalm His\ncorpse. Tender care for the fallen and disheartened, in the message sent\nespecially to Peter. Immeasurable condescension, such as rested formerly,\na Babe, in a peasant woman\u2019s arms, and announced its Advent to shepherds,\nnow appearing first of all to a woman \u201cout of whom He had cast seven\ndevils.\u201d\n\nA state of mind among the disciples, far indeed from that rapt and\nhysterical enthusiasm which men have fancied, ready to be whirled away in\na vortex of religious propagandism (and to whirl the whole world after\nit), upon the impulse of dreams, hallucinations, voices mistaken on a\nmisty shore, longings which begot convictions. Jesus Himself, and no\nsecond, no messenger from Jesus, inspired the zeal which kindled mankind.\nThe disciples, mourning and weeping, found the glad tidings incredible,\nwhile Mary who had seen Him, believed. When two, as they walked, beheld\nHim in another shape, the rest remained incredulous, announcing indeed\nthat He had actually risen and appeared unto Peter, yet so far from a true\nconviction that when He actually came to them, they supposed that they\nbeheld a spirit (Luke xxiv. 34, 37). Yet He looked in the face those pale\ndiscouraged Galileans, and bade them go into all the world, bearing to the\nwhole creation the issues of eternal life and death. And they went forth,\nand the power and intellect of the world are won. Whatever unbelievers\nthink about individual souls, it is plain that the words of the Nazarene\nhave proved true for communities and nations, He that believeth and is\nbaptised has been saved, He that believeth not has been condemned. The\nnation and kingdom that has not served Christ has perished.\n\nNor does any one pretend that the agents in this marvellous movement were\ninsincere. If all this was a dream, it was a strange one surely, and\ndemands to be explained. If it was otherwise, no doubt the finger of God\nhas come unto us.\n\n\n\n\nThe Ascension.\n\n\n    \u201cSo then the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken unto them, was\n    received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.\n    And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working\n    with them, and confirming the word by the signs that followed.\n    Amen.\u201d\u2014MARK xvi. 19-20 (R.V.)\n\n\nWe have reached the close of the great Gospel of the energies of Jesus,\nHis toils, His manner, His searching gaze, His noble indignation, His love\nof children, the consuming zeal by virtue of which He was not more truly\nthe Lamb of God than the Lion of the tribe of Judah. St. Mark has just\nrecorded how He bade His followers carry on His work, defying the serpents\nof the world, and renewing the plague-stricken race of Adam. In what\nstrength did they fulfil this commission? How did they fare without the\nMaster? And what is St. Mark\u2019s view of the Ascension?\n\nHere, as all through the Gospel, minor points are neglected. Details are\nonly valued when they carry some aid for the special design of the\nEvangelist, who presses to the core of his subject at once and boldly. As\nhe omitted the bribes with which Satan tempted Jesus, and cared not for\nthe testimony of the Baptist when the voice of God was about to peal from\nheaven over the Jordan, as on the holy mount he told not the subject of\nwhich Moses and Elijah spoke, but how Jesus Himself predicted His death to\nHis disciples, so now He is silent about the mountain slope, the final\nbenediction, the cloud which withdrew Him from their sight and the angels\nwho sent back the dazed apostles to their homes and their duties. It is\nnot caprice nor haste that omits so much interesting information. His mind\nis fixed on a few central thoughts; what concerns him is to link the\nmighty story of the life and death of Jesus with these great facts, that\nHe was received up into Heaven, that He there sat down upon the right hand\nof God, and that His disciples were never forsaken of Him at all, but\nproved, by the miraculous spread of the early Church, that His power was\namong them still. St. Mark does not record the promise, but he asserts the\nfact that Christ was with them all the days. There is indeed a connection\nbetween his two closing verses, subtle and hard to render into English,\nand yet real, which suggests the notion of balance, of relation between\nthe two movements, the ascent of Jesus, and the evangelisation of the\nworld, such as exists, for example, between detachments of an army\nco-operating for a common end, so that our Lord, for His part, ascended,\nwhile the disciples, for their part, went forth and found Him with them\nstill.\n\nBut the link is plainer which binds the Ascension to His previous story of\nsuffering and conflict. It was \u201cthen,\u201d and \u201cafter He had spoken unto\nthem,\u201d that \u201cthe Lord Jesus was received up.\u201d In truth His ascension was\nbut the carrying forward to completion of His resurrection, which was not\na return to the poor conditions of our mortal life, but an entrance into\nglory, only arrested in its progress until He should have quite convinced\nHis followers that \u201cit is I indeed,\u201d and made them understand that \u201cthus\nit is written that the Christ should suffer, and rise again from the dead\nthe third day,\u201d and filled them with holy shame for their unbelief, and\nwith courage for their future course, so strange, so weary, so sublime.\n\nThere is something remarkable in the words, \u201cHe was received up into\nheaven.\u201d We habitually speak of Him as ascending, but Scripture more\nfrequently declares that He was the subject of the action of another, and\nwas taken up. St. Luke tells us that, \u201cwhile they worshipped, He was\ncarried up into heaven,\u201d and again \u201cHe was received up.... He was taken\nup\u201d (Luke xxiv. 51; Acts i. 2, 9). Physical interference is not implied:\nno angels bore Him aloft; and the narratives make it clear that His\nglorious Body, obedient to its new mysterious nature, arose unaided. But\nthe decision to depart, and the choice of a time, came not from Him: He\ndid not go, but was taken. Never hitherto had He glorified Himself. He had\ntaught His disciples to be contented in the lowest room until the Master\nof the house should bid them come up higher. And so, when His own supreme\nvictory is won, and heaven held its breath expectant and astonished, the\nconquering Lord was content to walk with peasants by the Lake of Galilee\nand on the slopes of Olivet until the appointed time. What a rebuke to us\nwho chafe and fret if the recognition of our petty merits be postponed.\n\n\u201cHe was received up into heaven!\u201d What sublime mysteries are covered by\nthat simple phrase. It was He who taught us to make, even of the mammon of\nunrighteousness, friends who shall welcome us, when mammon fails and all\nthings mortal have deserted us, into everlasting habitations. With what\ndifferent greetings, then, do men enter the City of God. Some converts of\nthe death bed perhaps there are, who scarcely make their way to heaven,\nalone, unhailed by one whom they saved or comforted, and like a vessel\nwhich struggles into port, with rent cordage and tattered sails, only not\na wreck. Others, who aided some few, sparing a little of their means and\nenergies, are greeted and blessed by a scanty group. But even our\nchieftains and leaders, the martyrs, sages and philanthropists whose names\nbrighten the annals of the Church, what is their influence, and how few\nhave they reached, compared with that great multitude whom none can\nnumber, of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, who cry with a\nloud voice, Salvation unto our God who sitteth upon the throne, and unto\nthe Lamb. Through Him it pleased the Father to reconcile all things unto\nHimself, through Him, whether things upon the earth or things in the\nheavens. And surely the supreme hour in the history of the universe was\nwhen, in flesh, the sore stricken but now the all-conquering Christ\nre-entered His native heaven.\n\nAnd He sat down at the right hand of God. The expression is, beyond all\ncontroversy, borrowed from that great Psalm which begins by saying, \u201cThe\nLord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at My right hand,\u201d and which presently\nmakes the announcement never revealed until then, \u201cThou art a Priest for\never after the order of Melchizedec\u201d (Ps. cx. 1, 4). It is therefore an\nanticipation of the argument for the royal Priesthood of Jesus which is\ndeveloped in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Now priesthood is a human\nfunction: every high priest is chosen from among men. And the Ascension\nproclaims to us, not the Divinity of the Eternal Word but the\nglorification of \u201cthe Lord Jesus;\u201d not the omnipotence of God the Son, but\nthat all power is committed unto Him Who is not ashamed to call us\nbrethren, that His human hands wield the sceptre as once they held the\nreed, and the brows then insulted and torn with thorns are now crowned\nwith many crowns. In the overthrow of Satan He won all, and infinitely\nmore than all, of that vast bribe which Satan once offered for His homage,\nand the angels for ever worship Him who would not for a moment bend His\nknee to evil.\n\nNow since He conquered not for Himself but as Captain of our Salvation,\nthe Ascension also proclaims the issue of all the holy suffering, all the\nbaffled efforts, all the cross-bearing of all who follow Christ.\n\nHis High Priesthood is with authority. \u201cEvery high priest standeth,\u201d but\nHe has for ever sat down on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in\nthe heavens, a Priest sitting upon His throne (Heb. viii. 1; Zech. vi.\n13). And therefore it is His office, Who pleads for us and represents us,\nHimself to govern our destinies. No wonder that His early followers, with\nminds which He had opened to understand the Scriptures, were mighty to\ncast down strongholds. Against tribulation and anguish and persecution and\nfamine and nakedness and peril and sword they were more than conquerors\nthrough Him. For He worked with them and confirmed His word with signs.\nAnd we have seen that He works with His people still, and still confirms\nHis gospel, only withdrawing signs of one order as those of another kind\nare multiplied. Wherever they wage a faithful battle, He gives them\nvictory. Whenever they cry to Him in anguish, the form of the Son of God\nis with them in the furnace, and the smell of fire does not pass upon\nthem. Where they come, the desert blossoms as a rose; and where they are\nreceived, the serpents of life no longer sting, its fevers grow cool, and\nthe demons which rend it are cast out.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\n    1 Cf. the admirable note in Archdeacon Watkins\u2019 \u201cCommentary on John.\u201d\n\n    2 By the absence of the article in the Greek.\n\n    3 The opposite is asserted by the fact that one demon may ally himself\n      with seven others worse.\n\n    4 The connection would be almost certain if the word \u201cdevil\u201d were\n      alike in both. But in all these narratives it is \u201cdemon,\u201d there\n      being in Scripture but one devil.\n\n    5 The exceptions in the Revelation are only apparent. St. John does\n      not call Jesus the Son of man (i. 13), nor see Him, but only the\n      type of Him, standing (v. 6).\n\n    6 And this proves beyond question that He did not merely follow\n      Ezekiel in applying to himself the epithet as if it meant a son\n      among many sons of men, but took the description in Daniel for His\n      own. Ezekiel himself indeed never employs the phrase: he only\n      records it.\n\n    7 Lange. _Life of Christ_, li. p. 179.\n\n    8 It is also very natural that, in telling the story, he should\n      remember how, while hesitating to enter, he \u201cstooped down\u201d to gaze,\n      in the wild dawn of his new hope.\n\n    9 \u201cTheology would have been spared much trouble concerning this\n      passage, and anxious timid souls unspeakable anguish, if men had\n      adhered strictly to Christ\u2019s own expression. For it is not a _sin_\n      against the Holy Ghost which is here spoken of, but _blasphemy_\n      against the Holy Ghost.\u201d\u2014Lange \u201c_Life of Christ_,\u201d vol. ii. p. 269.\n\n   10 Unless indeed the meaning be rather, \u201c_ever_ hearing the word,\u201d\n      which is not its force in the New Testament (Matt. xviii. 17,\n      twice).\n\n   11 Once besides in the New Testament this phrase was applied to death.\n      That was by St. Peter speaking of his own, when the thought of the\n      transfiguration was floating in his mind, and its voices lingered\n      unconsciously in his memory (2 Pet. i. 15, cf. ver. 17). The phrase,\n      though not unclassical, is not common.\n\n   12 That the event was recent is implied in the present tense: \u201che\n      followeth not\u201d: \u201cforbid him not\u201d; the matter is still fresh.\n\n   13 \u201cBy the fire the children sit\n      Cold in that atmosphere of death.\u201d\u2014_In Memoriam_, xx.\n\n   14 The ingenious and plausible attempt to show that His death was\n      caused by a physical rupture of the heart has one fatal weakness.\n      Death came too late for this; the severest pressure was already\n      relieved.\n\n_   15 I.e._ in the New Testament, where it occurs but once besides.\n\n   16 Can anything surpass that masterstroke of insight and descriptive\n      power, \u201cthey still disbelieved for joy\u201d (Luke xxiv. 41).\n\n\n\n\n\n<pre id=\"pg-footer\">","title":"The Expositor's Bible: The Gospel According to St. Mark","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":136889}