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 "Mighty In the Scriptures."A memoir of A 
 
 3 1924 Oil 500 216 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
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 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
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(< 
 
 xg^tj) m llje Sniptims." 
 
 A MEMOIR 
 
 OF 
 
 ADOLPH SAPHIK, D.D 
 
 BY 
 
 The Kev. GAVIN CARLYLE, M.A. (Edin.) 
 
 A certain Jew . An eloquent man, and mighty in the 
 Scriptures."— Acts xviii. 24. 
 
 LONDON.- 
 JOHN F. SHAW AND CO., 
 
 48, PATEENOSTEE ROW, E.G. 
 1893. 
 
1 te- 
 
 J>^'^^ 
 
 
 
PEEFACE. 
 
 TT has been impossible to publish sooner the Memoir 
 -^ of the lamented Dr. Adolph Saphir. On account of 
 his sudden death, which followed so closely that of his 
 wife, there was a delay in the settlement of his affairs ; 
 and, consequently, no access could be had to documents of 
 any kind till about the middle of last year — a year after 
 his death. When I was then asked to write the Memoir, 
 much time and labour were required to collect letters 
 and documents from friends and correspondents of Dr. 
 Saphir. But though there has consequently been delay, 
 the Memoir will, I believe and hope, be not less valued 
 by devoted friends, of whom he had very many, nor less 
 interesting to the general public. 
 
 The life of Dr. Saphir was one of remarkable interest, 
 not so much in its variety of incidents, as in its early 
 associations, and in the striking personnel of the man. 
 This is seen in his thorough Jewish type of mind and 
 intellect, intensified by the genius of the Saphir family, in 
 the freshness and originality of his ideas and expressions, 
 and above all, in his spiritual power — his deep insight 
 into the meaning of Scripture and the relations of its 
 different parts. 
 
 The expression, " Mighty in the Scriptures," truly 
 describes him. In his commanding knowledge of the 
 spirit and purport of the various books of the Bible, few 
 preachers of his own or any age approach him. He fore- 
 shadows in this what great results may be anticipated 
 from the promised restoration of Israel. 
 
iv PREFACE. 
 
 We append to the Memoir three carefully chosen 
 Sermons delivered at the three different spheres of his 
 ministry — Greenwich, Blackheath, and Belgravia; also a 
 Selection of Pithy Sayings and Short Extracts. These 
 Sermons and almost all the Extracts are published for the 
 first time. 
 
 As to Dr. Saphir's social cliaracteristics, one who had 
 known him for a quarter of a century describes him 
 thus accurately : His visits were increasingly appreciated 
 in our family, revealing as they always did more of his 
 wonderful mind and grasp of thought, brightened, when 
 ill-health did not depress him, by that elasticity of spirit 
 and keen sense of humour which made him, to his more 
 intimate friends, such a charming companion. His rare 
 ■wit and humour were said to be family characteristics, 
 inherited from his father, and in Dr. Saphir were never 
 allowed to lead to the very slightest irreverence for sacred 
 things. His many-sided intellect could quickly enter into 
 everything in Religion, Literature, and Politics ; he would 
 seem only to glance into the morning papers and would 
 at once give you a rdsumi of everything in them. 
 
 We have had many letters not only expressing interest 
 in the publication of this volume, but praying for God's 
 guidance in the preparation of it. We quote only one of 
 them, from the late Dr. Andrew Bonar, who, when I 
 wrote to him and then saw him, last summer in Glasgow, 
 was greatly interested. " Dr. Saphir," he wrote, " was 
 indeed a Hebrew of Hebrews," in the best sense." " May 
 the Lord give you the pen of a ready writer, and bless 
 your labour of love ! " 
 
 Gavin Carlyle. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 I. The Call of God. 
 
 The Deputation of the Church of Scotland — Inquiry as to Fields for Jewish 
 Missions — Visit to Pesth — How brought about — The Archduchess Maria 
 Dorothea and her Husband, the Prince Palatine — Dr. Keith's Illness — 
 Friendship of the Archduchess, and her promise of Protection to the 
 -.Mission ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... j/. 1 
 
 II. The Pestii Missiox. 
 
 " Rabbi " Duncan the First Missionary — His great Popularity and Influ- 
 ence among Jews and Christians — Mi'S. R. Smith instructs the Daughters 
 of the Archduchess, viz. the present Queen of the Belgians and the 
 Mjther of tho present Queen of Sp.iin — The Spirit of Inquiry ;j. f) 
 
 III. The SArniii Family. 
 
 The Three Brothers — The Father of Adolph, Israel Saphir — His Learning 
 and great Influence in Hungary — The Simultaneous Conversion of 
 Father and Son — Adolpli's Avowal of his Faith — Reminiscences of 
 Adolph's Childhood by his Sister — Dr. Keith's Report — References to 
 Adolph's Father — The Saphir Family ... ... p. 15 
 
 IV. Baptism of the Saphir Household. 
 
 Mr. Saphir, his Wife and Daughters and Adolph baptized in June 181.3— 
 Crowded Assembly of Jews and others — Impressive Address of the 
 Father — Secret Fh'st Communion — "Sound of the noiseless steps" — 
 Earnestness of Young Adolph — Impression in Hungary and Germany 
 — Discussion in the Press— Striking Letter of Adolph's Father ]'■ 23 
 
 V. Influence of the Couiit. 
 
 The Archduke and Archduchess foster the Mission — They encourage tlie 
 sending of Evangelists all through Hungary— The Archduke's Peaceful 
 Death in 1847 — Subsequent Persecution of the Archduchess — Her Death 
 in 1855 }}. 41 
 
 VI. Adolph's Depaetuee feom Pesth. 
 
 Adolph leaves Pesth with Edersheim and Tomory — How they got away — 
 Edersheim's Conversion and Career — Rapid Progress of tlie Mission — 
 Tj'oublous Times — Tlie Hungarian War — The Fields ripe unto Harvest 
 — E.xpulsion of the Missionaries — Mission Work resumed ... p. i7 
 
 VII. Adolph's Education in Berlin. 
 
 Adolph in Edinburgh — Mrs. Duncan — Education in Berlin, 1844 to 1848 
 — Attends the Gymnasium — Religious Difficulties — Letter to Mr. Win- 
 gate — Becomes acquainted witli the Rev. Theodore Meyer — Happy 
 Influence of this Friendship — Effect of his Difficulties on his future 
 Doctrine and Teaching ... ... ... ... ... ... p. 58 
 
vi CONTENTS. 
 
 VIII. PniLipp Saphie and his Sister Elizabeth. 
 Memoir of Pliilipp written by AdolpTi when a Student in Edinburgh 
 — Philipp'.s early Carelessness and Worldliness — Conversion and Baptism 
 — Training at Carlsruhe — Delicacy — Intense Sufferings — Starting 
 Young Men's Sciety— Opening of School for Jewish Children — Its 
 Great Success — His Joyful Death — Elizabeth Saphir described by her 
 Sister p. 65 
 
 IX. College Career in' Scotland. 
 Adolph's Stay in Glasgow— Session 1848-9— Tutor with Mr. William 
 Brown in Aberdeen — Acquaintance with Wil'iam Fleming Stevenson 
 — Mutual Benefit — Great Influence of this Friendship on his Life — 
 Visits the Stevensons in Strabane — A Second Home — His Description 
 of Stevenson.-'', iJ. 90 
 
 X. Letters of Student Days. 
 Letter to Kingsley, and Reply of Kingsley — Letters to Donald Macleod, 
 now Editor of Good Jfords, and others— Unreal Orthodox Phraseology — 
 Right Method of studying Scripture — Union with Christ— The Re- 
 action against Shams threatening to become itself a mighty Sham — 
 German Literatnre — Striking Dream — Consciousness of Magnetic Influ- 
 ence — Joyousness of Easter and Pentecn.st — Ruskin — True Self-Culture 
 — God the Source of all Personality — Claudius and Manly Christianity — 
 Mission Work begun p. 100 
 
 XI. Ordination to the Jewish Work. 
 Licence as a Preacher, and Ordination in Belfast — Dr. Cooke presides — His 
 Marriage — Mrs. Saphir's Character and Influence — ^Hamburg — His Idea 
 of Jewish Missions — His Remarkable Tracts — Israel Pick's Influence — 
 Threatened with Military Service by Austria — His Views as to Methods 
 of Work not sustained by the Missiop Committee — He resigns ... p. 118 
 
 XII. Ministry to Germans in Glasoow. 
 Norman Macleod's Interest and Friendship — Letter of Principal Brown on 
 his Work in Glasgow — Letters to a Friend — His Work among the Ger- 
 mans — His Anxieties — Jowett's Book on Paul — Birth of his Daughter — 
 Call to South Shields ^.127 
 
 XIII. Beginning of Life-Work in England. 
 Settlement at South Shields — Mr. J. C. Stevenson, M.P., and l^Irs. Stev- 
 enson — His First Experiments as to the Method of Delivery — The 
 Method .adopted — His Idea of Preaching — His Appearance and Manner 
 — His Book on Conversion — Rev. James Hamilton, D.D. — Death of his 
 only Child p. ISI 
 
 XIV. Settlement at Greenwich. 
 The Rev. George Duncan— The Congregation — Speedy Popularity — The 
 Church needs to bo enlarged — Letters to Mr. Stevenson, M.P. , and 
 others as to his Work —Letters descriptive of Saphir and his Ministry — 
 Edward Irving— Campbell of Row — Sermon to Children— Letters" to 
 Lady Kinloch— Joy in his Work — Spiritual Fruits y. 138 
 
 XV. Literary Activity. 
 His Literary Tastes and Power — Wide Knowledge of Literature, German 
 and English — Contributes to Good JFords— 'Notes of various Contribu- 
 tions and Extracts — Tour in Germany with the Macleods and Stevenson 
 — His Tracts — The Golden A B of the Jexos, he. ... .. ^. ins 
 
CONTENTS. vii 
 
 XVI. Fame in London. 
 
 Narrative by Mr. James E. Mathioson— Address iu Stafford Rooms- 
 Impression on Brownlow North — Address repeated in Hanover Square 
 Rooms— Lord Shaftesbury — This Address the Basis of Clirist and the. 
 (S'crijJiwcs— Action as to Hymns— Value as a Teacher ... p.ll^i 
 
 SVII. 'Christ and the Sckiptures.' 
 
 Its Importance and Originality— Short Survey of its Arguments— The 
 Second Coming of Christ — Opposition to the '' Broad Church " Theology 
 —The Lord's Prayer— The Future Kingdom ^). 180 
 
 XVIII. Close of Ministry at GKEENwioir. 
 
 Sketch of Mr. and Mrs. Saphir by Canon McCormick — His Health failing 
 — Always Fragile — Leave of Absence for a Year — Typhoid Fever in the 
 Engadine — His Influence there — Return in 1871 — Resignation of his 
 Charge iu 1872 p. 201 
 
 XIX. Begennino of Ministry in "West London. 
 
 Purchase for him of a large Church at Netting Hill — Money obtained easily 
 — Church at once filled — Jfembers of all Churches join— His Thursday 
 Lectures attended by numerous Clergy and other Persons of Influence — 
 Liberal Supporters of the Work — Great Activity of the Congregation — 
 Call to Scotland — Moody and Sankey's Visit to London ... j). 211 
 
 XX. Leottjee.s on the Hebeew.s and the Divinity of Christ. 
 ilajestie Style of the Epistle — Its Central Idea — The Glory of the New 
 Covenant — Christ and Moses — The High-Priesthood of Christ — Alleged 
 Priesthood of the Clergy — Pauline Authorship — Lecture on the Divinity 
 of Christ — .Jewish DifEcnltics — Personal Testimony j). 219 
 
 XXI. Letters of his Later Life. 
 
 Comfort in Bereavement — The Church, what it is, and Baptism — Princess 
 Alice's Death — Church Order — Apostolic Succession — Faith without a 
 Knowledge of the Spirit's "Work — The Fall and Redemption necessarily 
 connected — The Future Punishment Controversy — The Present State of 
 the Churches — Broad Chnrehism — "The Catholic Apostolic Church" — 
 Crucified with Christ — A Vicarious Atonement — Schleiermaeher — Separ- 
 ation from the "World — The Lord's Day — Perfectionism — A Free Gospel 
 and Election — The Connection of the Present and Future Lives — "The 
 Higher Life" — Dr. Keith's Last D.ays — German Translations of the 
 Bible— Influence of Trial p. 2.37 
 
 XXII. Ministry in West London from 1875 to 1880. 
 
 His Assistants — Rev. 11. E. Brooke, Rev. J. Stephens, and Rev. J. H. Top- 
 ping — Lady Grant — Miss Cavendish — His Failure of Strength — Difiieul- 
 ties — Nervousness — Degree of Doctor of Divinity from Edinburgh — 
 Resignation in 1880 — The Misses Jaoomb— Brief Ministry at Kensington 
 
 p. 263 
 
 XXIII. Ministry in Bblgravia. 
 Congregation of Halkin St. — Rev. J. T. Middlemiss his Assistant — Extracts 
 from°his Diary, and Saphir's Letters to him— Record of his Intercourse 
 with Saphir — Resignation of Halkin St. Church — Lectures on the Divine 
 Unity of Scripture — Mr. Grant Wilson's Reminiscences— Letter to a 
 Servant — A New School Minister — To whom are the Epistles addressed ? 
 — Carlyle — A Family Affliction — Letters to a Widowed Niece — Letter 
 to a Norwegian Sea-Captain on Baptism f . 273, 
 
viii CONTENTS. 
 
 XXIV. Devotion to the Jews and Jewish Mission. 
 Love to Israel of Moses and of Paul — Pauline Doctrine of Israel's unchang- 
 ing Position — What was Israel's Glory ? — Israel's Present Condition — 
 Prophecies fulBlled, and Prophecies to be fulfilled— The Future of Israel 
 bright and glorious — Israel's Claim upon the Oentile Churches — The 
 Everlasting Nation — "What will be accomplished througli Israel — The 
 Rabinowicb and Lichtenstein Movements — Kev. C. A. Schonberger — 
 Delitzsch's Early Interest in the Jews — His Revival of Jewish Missions 
 in Germany — Mr. Schouberger's Visits to Lichtenstein and Rabiaowich 
 —The Establishment of the Rabinowich Council, with Saphir as Presi- 
 dent—His Great Interest in the Work— Jubilee of the Scottish Jewish 
 Mission — Address at Mildmay Jewish Conference p. 295 
 
 XXV. Closing Days. 
 Residence at Netting Hill — Services sought — Many Afflictions — Visit to 
 Bournemouth — Happy Ministry there— Letter on Liix Mundi — Return 
 Home — Last Sermon — Mrs. Saphir's Death — His Letters in regard to 
 her Death and Funeral — His own Sudden Death and Funeral — Rev. R. 
 Taylor's Funeral Address — Testimony of Rev. C. H. Spurgeon and 
 others — Inscription on the Tombstone ^.319 
 
 XXVI. Pithy Sayings and Short Extracts. 
 
 The Christian's Walk — What a Beautiful Saviour I have — The Devil's 
 Gos[iel — Going to Heaven — Little Steps —Answers to Prayer — The Bible 
 and Nature — The Penitent Thief — God gives the Superfluities — Out 
 and Out Christians— False and True Worship — Union with Christ — 
 The Trinity — Beauty of Scripture — Jesus identifying Himself with 
 Humanity — Preaching, what it is — Heaven's Inhabitants —The Apostolic 
 Church — The Cross — Affliction and its Blessed Influences — Keeping the 
 Garments always White — The Lord's Supper and the Passover — Assur- 
 ance — God in the Old Testament — Union of Christians — Joy precedes 
 Peace — The Wonderful, Tender Love of God — God and Satan — The Jews 
 — Faith and Prayer — Genius and Spirituality — The Body not the Chief 
 Centre of Sin— The Apostles and Idolatry— The Apn^tlos— " The World " 
 — Preaching Christ according to the Scriptures — " Except ye become as 
 Little Children " ^.341 
 
 The Christian's Hope. 
 A Sermon Preached in St. Mark's Presbyterian Church, Greenwich, 
 Dec. 31, 1871 p. 38-1 
 
 The Feast of Pentecost. 
 A Sermon Preached in Trinity Presbyterian Church, Notting Hill 
 Feb. 17, 1877 p. 403 
 
 The Wise Virgins. 
 A Sermon Preached in Belgrave Presbyterian Church, July 1, 1883 p. 418 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 Dr. Keith's Illness— The Auchduohess p. 430 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 Dr. Duncan's Wonderful Influence in Pesth p, 437 
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 
 Dr. Sapuik's Uncle, Moritz G. Saphir, Poet and Satirist p. 444 
 
THE LIFE OF ADOLPH SAPHIE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE CALL OF GOD. 
 
 The Deputation of the Church of Scotland — Inquiry as to 
 Fields for Jewish Missions — Visit to Pesth — How brought 
 about — The Archduchess Maria Dorothea and her Husband, 
 the Prince Palatine — Dr. Keith's Illness — Friendship of 
 the Archduchess, and her promise of Protection to the 
 Mission. 
 
 THE life of Adolpli Saphir is so intimately 
 associated with the mission of the Church 
 of Scotland, and, after the "Disruption" of 1843, 
 with the mission of the Free Church of Scotland, 
 to the Jews at Pesth or Buda-pest in Hungary, 
 that it is necessary to give a short account of 
 the most remarkable early history of that mission, 
 in order to explain his preparation for his future 
 work. The more we consider the lives of men, 
 especially of those raised up for important purposes, 
 the more clearly do we see the Divine guidance, 
 even in minute affairs, in preparing them for the 
 work, for which they have been specially designed. 
 In his case the guidance is very clearly traceable. 
 
THE FATHER OF THE JEWISH JflSSION. 
 
 In the year 1837, when there was the beginning 
 of a great religious revival in Scotland, the Lord 
 stirred up, in the hearts of many, earnest prayer for 
 Israel. " In that year," said Dr. Andrew Bonar,^ 
 " when the meeting of the General Assembly was 
 near at hand, a goodly band of the friends of Israel 
 consulted together, and a memorial was drawn up 
 by Mr. R. Wodrow and presented to the Assembly, 
 pressing on them the claims of that ancient nation. 
 The memorial was favourably received." 
 
 The father of the Jewish mission was this Mr. 
 Wodrow of Glasgow. Long before the deputation 
 was sent out in 1839, as appeared after his death 
 from his private journal, he was accustomed to 
 devote whole days to fasting and prayer on behalf 
 of Israel. The hearts of others were kindled. A 
 widespread interest was awakened. He addressed 
 a most powerful "appeal to the children of Israel 
 in all the lands of their dispersion," which was 
 circulated extensively. His wife, after his death, 
 visited many of the Continental towns, where Jews 
 were most numerous, circulating this letter. It has 
 been recently republished with a preface by Dr. 
 Andrew Bonar. Mr. Wodrow died on June 27. 
 1843. 
 
 The immediate cause of the sending of this 
 deputation or commission of int[uii*y was a sug- 
 gestion of the late Dr. Candlish. The well-known 
 
 1 Since this was written, Dr. Andrew Boiaar, beloved of 
 all who knew him, — so childlike in faith, and yet so able 
 .and accomplished, — one of the warmest advocates of .Tewisli 
 missions, has-been suddenly taken to his vest. 
 
FIELDS FOR JEWISH MISSIONS. 
 
 Robert M'Cheyne was threatened with consumption, 
 and he had been ordered to seek a milder climate. 
 
 The Eev. Dr. Moody Stewart said at the Jewish 
 Mission Jubilee in 1889 : — " It occurs to me as 
 vividly as if it had been yesterday, when I met 
 Dr. Candlish one afternoon in Ainslie Place, and 
 we spoke of Robert M'Cheyne having been advised 
 to go abroad for his health. The conversion of 
 Israel, in which Dr. Candlish was deeply inter- 
 ested, had already been taken up by the General 
 Assembly, but without the adoption of any practical 
 steps. "With the sanctified fertility of resource that 
 characterized him, he said to me, ' Don't you think 
 it might be well to send M'Cheyne to Palestine to 
 inquii'e into the state of the Jews?' — to which I 
 cordially assented, and he followed it up, Avith all 
 his promptness and ardour." 
 
 Out of this suggestion there arose the idea of 
 a deputation to visit Palestine, and other countries 
 with Jewish populations, for the purpose of making 
 inquiries and investigations, and selecting the best 
 fields of labour. The deputation appointed at the 
 General Assembly of 1838, was composed of four 
 remarkable men, — two of them of age and experi- 
 ence. They were Dr. Keith of St. Cyrus, famed 
 for his book on fulfilled prophecy ; Dr. Black, 
 Professor of Divinity in Aberdeen ; Mr. M'Cheyne ; 
 and Mr. Andrew Bonar. The deputation sailed 
 from Dover on the morning of April 5, 1839. 
 The stor}^ of its labours was published in 1842, 
 under the title of A Narrative of a Mission. 
 
JESUITICAL PERSECUTIONS. 
 
 of Enquiry to the Jeivs. It excited great 
 interest at the time ; and, even now, after the 
 lapse of so many years and the immense increase 
 of knowledge as regards Palestine, this book holds 
 its place, as one of the most interesting records 
 of travel in the sacred territory. No tx'avellers, 
 before or since, have entered so fully into the spirit 
 of the scenes, recalling easily and naturally, as they 
 visited them, the sacred impressions with which 
 they are associated. M'Cheyne's beautiful poem 
 on the lake of Galilee can never be forgotten. 
 
 The Church of Scotland had no idea of estab- 
 lishing a mission in any part of the Austrian 
 Empire, as its Government was at that time so 
 intolerant as to make any such attempt appear hope- 
 less. The deputation of inquiry did not therefore 
 even propose to visit Hungary, although it was well 
 known that there was a very large Jewish population 
 there. Hungary, with its dependencies, Tran- 
 sylvania and Croatia, contains altogether a popula- 
 tion of from fourteen to sixteen millions of people. 
 Almost the whole country embraced the prin- 
 ciples of the Eeformation at first, but terrible and 
 crushing persecutions arose, by which the Jesuits 
 nearly stamped out Protestantism. The number of 
 Protestants was reduced from an overwhelming 
 majority to a small minority of the population. 
 At present they are reckoned under three millions. 
 In 1841 the spirit of Eationalism had undermined 
 the Protestant Church. 
 
 But God had other purposes, which in His 
 
DM. BLACK'S ACCIDENT. 
 
 providence He accomplished in a wonderful way. 
 As the deputies were travelling on camels from 
 Egypt across to Palestine, Dr. Black, falling asleep 
 on the back of his camel, slipped down on the 
 sand. " It seemed," says Dr. Bonar, speaking at the 
 Jubilee meeting of 1889, " an ordinary accident, and 
 after returning home I met Dr. Guthrie, who said 
 to me, in his own humorous way : ' But tell me 
 about our old friend, the Professor from Aberdeen, 
 what kind of impression did he make on the 
 sand ? ' " He could not tell him much as to the 
 impression on the sand ; but it was that fall, 
 proving more serious in its effects than was thought 
 at the time, which led Dr. Black and Dr. Keith to 
 take the route homeward by the Danube. They 
 reached Pesth as mere passing travellers, but 
 resolved to make some inquiry as to the number 
 and state of the Jews in that city. 
 
 Strangely enough, the wife of the Archduke 
 Joseph, uncle to the Emperor, and Viceroy of 
 Hungary, by birth a Princess of the Protestant 
 House of Wlirtemburg, residing at that time in 
 her husband's (the Prince Palatine's) palace, was 
 expecting the arrival of some stranger, who would 
 bring with him a blessed influence to Hungary. 
 The Archduchess Maria Dorothea had been brought 
 to an earnest love of the truth, some years before, 
 through no human instrumentality. Having to pass 
 through the deep waters of affliction, in the death 
 of a much-loved son, she had betaken herself to the 
 Bible, and " in the Bible she met with Jesus." She 
 
6 THE ARGHDVGHESS'S ANXIOUS HOUR. 
 
 was attached to Hungary, and became intensely 
 interested in its spiritual welfare. She stood alone, 
 " like a sparrow on the housetop," as she used her- 
 self to say. Her eldest boy, who had become a 
 true Christian, was early removed from her. In 
 her solitude she prayed earnestly for a Christian 
 friend and counsellor. " The palace in which she 
 resided stands on an eminence, looking down on 
 the Danube flowing beneath, and on the city of 
 Pesth, on the opposite bank of the river. Her 
 private boudoir lay towards the front of the building. 
 There, in the deep embrasure of a window, she was 
 accustomed, day by day, to pour out her supplica- 
 tions to God — looking down on the scene below — 
 the city with its 100,000 inhabitants, and the vast 
 Hungarian plains stretching away behind it in the 
 distance. For about the space of seven years she 
 had been praying to God for the arrival of some 
 one who would carry the gospel to the people 
 around." "Sometimes her desire became so intense 
 that, stretching out her arms towards heaven, she 
 prayed almost in an agony of spirit that God 
 would send at least one messenger of the Cross to 
 Hungary." Dr. Keith learned afterwards from her 
 own lips that during the fortnight before she had 
 heard of his illness, she invariably awoke, night 
 after night, with the exception of once, in the 
 middle of the night, at the same hour, with a 
 strong and irrepressible conviction that something- 
 was to happen to her. After a Avatchful and most 
 anxious hour, it passed away, when she had her 
 
JJR. KEITH'S ILLNESS. 
 
 usual and undisturbed rest, and hearing of the 
 seemingly dying minister of Christ at the hotel, 
 she said within herself, " Tl)is is what was to 
 happen to me " : and from that night her sleep 
 was unbroken by any disturbing thought. In that 
 impression lay the key whereby a door was opened 
 in Pesth. When Dr. Keith recovered, and learned 
 from the Archduchess the story of her longings and 
 prayers, he had not much difficulty in seeing the 
 hand of God, plainly directing their journey, and 
 bringing them as Christ's messengers to Hungary. 
 
 Dr. Keith lay for weeks i)i a state of extreme 
 prostration. " At one stage of his illness," he 
 relates, " I fainted away, I became insensible, while 
 two men waited by my bedside to carry me away, 
 as soon as I should breathe my last. At this time the 
 only sign of life was in the dimness of a mirror 
 held close to my face."^ The Archduchess came to 
 his bedside, and ministered to him with her own 
 hands, and watched tenderly over him. As he 
 became better, he had ample opportunity of becom- 
 ing acquainted, from her, with the state of the Jews 
 in Hungary, and also with the religious wants of 
 Hungary itself. He received from her the assur- 
 ance that, should the Church of Scotland consent 
 to plant a mission in Pesth, she would protect it 
 to the utmost of her power. 
 
 The hand of God was surely manifest in all these 
 
 1 In Ai:)peiiclix A, we give a description of this iJlness and 
 the events accompanying it, as written by Dr. Keith himself 
 for the Sunday at Home of 1867. 
 
8 PESTH MISSION RESOLVED UPON. 
 
 events. The fall from the camel of Dr. Black ; the 
 detention by illness of Dr. Keith in Pesth, which 
 there had not been the smallest intention of even 
 visiting, as the idea of a mission in Austria or 
 Hungary was considered out of the question ; the 
 prayers of the Archduchess and her expectation of 
 the arrival of some British missionaiy ; her discovery 
 of Dr. Keith and many conversations with him ; her 
 earnest desire that the mission should be established, 
 and her promises of protection to it — furnish a 
 chain of events which cannot be explained, apart 
 from the direct guidance of God. The most 
 sceptical would show only their own folly and 
 narrowness, in attempting to deny such guidance 
 in the circumstances. The origin of the mission 
 was not of man, but of God. The call resembled 
 that in the vision of the man of Macedonia to the 
 Apostle Paul, " Come over and help us." 
 
 This was clearly recognized by Dr. Keith. After 
 his recovery and return he urged the importance 
 of Pesth as a mission centre, — at first without much 
 success. But he urged it again and again, so that 
 some spoke of it as Dr. Keith's pest. He suc- 
 ceeded at last. The mission to Pesth was resolved 
 upon, and was begun, after the lapse of a year, 
 with far-reaching and blessed results to Adolph 
 and the Saphir family, and the Jewisli work 
 throughout the world. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE PESTH MISSION. 
 
 " Eabbi" Duncan the First Missionary — His great Popularitj' 
 and Influence among Jews and Christians — Mrs. R. 
 Smith instructs the Daughters of the Archduchess, viz. the 
 present Qvieen of the Belgians and the Mother of the 
 present Queen of Spain — The Spirit of Inquiry. 
 
 THE first missionary to the .lews iu Pestli was 
 a man whose fame is in all the Churches — Dr. 
 Duncan, or Rabbi Duncan, as he was afterwards 
 affectionately called when Professor of Hebrew in 
 Edinburgh, regarding whose absence of mind many 
 strange and extraordinary tales are told, as of the 
 great Neander in Germany. He was not only a 
 great Hebrew scholar, but a man of profound philo- 
 sophic insight, who had been almost an infidel in 
 his earlier days, and who was the more powerful in 
 his defence of truth, on account of the difficulties 
 through which he had then passed. His thorough 
 knowledge of Hebrew was fitted to gain him 
 influence among the Jews, and he could converse 
 
10 CORDIAL RECEPTION OF THE MISSION. 
 
 fluently in Latin, which was then much used in 
 conversation by the learned in Hungary, both 
 Jews and Christians. It was even the language 
 of parliamentary debates. Dr. Duncan having 
 been set apart in Glasgow, in May, for this 
 mission work, reached his destination on August 
 21, 1841, accompanied by Mr. Smith and Mr. 
 Allen. Mr. Wingate arrived later. There was a 
 strange mysterious expectation of success from 
 the very beginning. " When," says Mr., now 
 Dr. Smith, " we took our departure for our future 
 home, we felt wafted along by the breath of 
 prayer." 
 
 They were received by the Archduchess with 
 great cordiality. She at once visited them, and 
 they were frequently guests at the Palace. Thus 
 their position was made secure. Without her pro- 
 tection, or rather that of her husband the Archduke 
 Joseph, the Palatine, they could not have remained 
 for a month. Even with that protection it would 
 have been difficult, as the position of a foreign 
 missionary or minister could not then be legally 
 recognized, had there not happened to be in Pestli 
 a number of English workmen, employed at the 
 time in building a bridge. Services were begun 
 for them, in a room prepared for the purpose. This 
 furnished an ostensible reason for the residence of 
 the missionaries. They dared not, at that period, 
 mention the name of the Archduchess in the 
 correspondence, as the authorities in Vienna would 
 have taken alarm. She, however, was constantly 
 
'RABBI' DUNCAN'S POPULARITY. 11 
 
 interviewed by them, and both she and the Palatine 
 knew well all they were doing. Mrs. Smith, wife 
 of one of the missionaries, was employed in teach- 
 ing two of her daughters English — one of them 
 now Queen of the Belgians, the other, the mother 
 of the present Queen of Spain. The Archduchess 
 was compelled by the Imperial law to bring them 
 up as Eoman Catholics, but she taught them in 
 the Scriptures, and sought earnestly, and with 
 much prayer, to impress on them the truths of 
 the gospel. 
 
 Services were held on the Lord's Day, in English, 
 and a number of Jews and others soon began to 
 attend them, partly for the purpose of perfecting 
 their knowledge of English. Dr. Duncan very soon 
 got into intercourse with distinguished Jews, in- 
 cluding the Chief Eabbi, and also with leading 
 pastors of the Protestant Hungarian Church, and 
 even with influential priests of the Romish Church. 
 He became engaged in keen controversy with 
 Jewish theologians. He acquired great respect 
 among the learned men of the Jews, on account 
 of his intimacy with their language and literature. 
 He took an interest in their schools, and attended, 
 by special invitation, the public examination, 
 taking part in it, and giving prizes. He gave 
 for prizes two Hebrew Bibles and two Torahs, 
 which being by far the best prizes given, were 
 much admired, especially as coming from the 
 English " Geistlicher." The Doctor also gave 
 the head-master an English Bible, including of 
 
12 PROGRESS OF DR. DUNCAN'S WORK. 
 
 course, the New Testament. The Chief Eabbi 
 (Schwab) was inclined to be most friendly. Dr. 
 Duncan and all his assistants were invited to 
 attend the initiation of a young Jew. Dr. Duncan 
 was also invited by the Chief Eabbi to the 
 marriage of his daughter with a young Eabbi, 
 and the bridegroom expressed his delight at 
 seeing a man of whose fame he had heard so 
 much.^ 
 
 Dr. Duncan wrote from Pesth in regard to his 
 work — " It has not been with Jews, but with Deists 
 we have had to do. The main effort has been 
 to maintain the true and proper inspiration of 
 Scripture, in opposition to the ignis fatuus of 
 rationalizing mysticism ; everything great and 
 good, they say, is a development of the human 
 mind progressing to its perfection, which as it 
 does under a Divine government, every such ad- 
 vance may be called a Divine revelation." 
 
 The close connection which Dr. Duncan showed 
 to exist between the Old and New Testaments, 
 attracted especial attention among the Jews. The 
 notion had been almost universal that the Jews 
 had one Bible, and the Christians another. It was 
 no uncommon thing to hear a Christian and a Jew 
 dispute, on the comparative merits of the two 
 Bibles. It was interesting to witness the surprise 
 of the Jews when they heard that St. Paul based 
 his system upon Moses, found language for his 
 
 ^ For further information as to the great impression made 
 by Dr. Duncan, see Appendix B, 
 
THE SPIRIT OF INQUIRY. 13 
 
 aspirations in the writings of David, and was 
 cheered by the bright visions of the future glory 
 of his nation, as portrayed by Isaiah. All this 
 roused the spirit of inquiry. His sermons were 
 listened to with great attention, and produced no 
 small effect. Besides this, his conversations, his 
 simple, earnest unfolding of the deepest truths, 
 were much appreciated. The influence which he 
 acquired in a short time was extraordinary. Mr. 
 Wingate wrote : — Few stations are more difficult 
 of access from the nature of the laws, and few 
 require more peculiar qualifications, when once in 
 the country ; eminent Christian prudence, native 
 courteousness of manner, with that self-denial which 
 enables a man to exhibit afi'ability at all times and 
 seasons, to men who may come on the most trifling 
 and unimportant matters, with such an amount of 
 learning and acquirements as place him, in secular 
 learning, on a footing with the most accomplished 
 worldlings. Such qualities meet in Dr. Duncan, 
 and they have been so appreciated and blessed by 
 the Lord, and ivalls of prejudices have been so 
 broken down in one short year, that his society is 
 courted, and his influence in the city has already 
 become great for piety and learning. 
 
 Dr. Duncan's stay did not last very long. In 
 a year he had to get leave of absence on account of 
 failure of health, when he went to Italy to recruit. 
 After his return, and a short second period at 
 Pesth, he was recalled to Scotland to become the 
 first Professor of Hebrew in the Free Church of 
 
U GOOD IMPRESSIONS MADE. 
 
 Scotland, which had just been constituted. The 
 impression he had made did not pass a.way. The 
 colleagues whom he left, the Eev. E. Smith and 
 the Eev. W. Wingate, were well fitted to sustain 
 it. A visit of the Eev. Charles Schwartz, well 
 known as a missionary to his Jewish kindred, who 
 preached in German, produced a great effect, and 
 the work, which had almost from the very first had 
 most remarkable results, continued to extend and 
 prosper. The impression Dr. Duncan had made 
 was not forgotten by Jews or Gentiles, Protestants 
 or Eoman Catholics. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE SAPHIR FAMILY. 
 
 The Three Brothers— The Father of Adolph, Israel Saphir— 
 His Learning and great Influence in Hungary — The Simul- 
 taneous Conversion of Father and Son — Adolph's Avowal 
 of his Faith — Reminiscences of Adolph's Childhood by his 
 Si.ster — Dr. Keith's Report — References to Adolph's i ather 
 — The Saphir Family. 
 
 ONE family began to be frequently referred to 
 in the letters of the missionaries. It was 
 a family well known in Hungary, and greatly re- 
 spected by the Jews. For two generations at least 
 it had been much distinguished. The grandfather 
 of Adolph Saphir was learned in the Jewish law, 
 and had much influence among his co-religionists. 
 He had three sons, one of whom became famous 
 through all Germany as a wit and poet, being by 
 many considered the fitting successor of the re- 
 nowned Jean Paul Eichter. His name was Moritz, 
 originally Moses, Gottlieb Saphir.^ He is recognized 
 as one of the great literary men of the period, and 
 long biographies appear of him in most German 
 biographical dictionaries. His wit was so sharp 
 
 1 For an interesting sketch, written at the time of his death, 
 in a journal which he founded, and owned to the last, see 
 Appendix C. 
 
16 ADOLPII DESCRIBES HIS FATHER. 
 
 and pungent that he had to leave several States, 
 in which he gave offence to the petty rulers. 
 Israel Saphir, the father of Adolph, was the eldest 
 of the three brothers. lie was a merchant, origin- 
 ally a wool-broker — a man of good education, of a 
 studious nature, well up in Hebrew and in Hebrew 
 law, and accomplished in many departments of 
 knowledge and science. He was most active as 
 an educationist. He projected and carried out an 
 educational institute in Pesth, with a staff of eight 
 professors, in which the children of the better 
 classes were educated. Adolph thus describes his 
 father — " My father, Israel Saphir, a brother of the 
 well-known writer, M. G. Saphir, was a merchant. 
 He was a good Hebrew scholar, and had intimate 
 knowledge of German, French, and English litera- 
 ture. He also pursued with zeal, philosophical and 
 theological studies, and rendered much service to 
 the cause of education in Hungary." The third 
 brother was also a mail of ability, father of one of 
 the greatest linguists of the day who is now at the 
 head of the Oriental University Institute at Woking. 
 Adolph's father was well known among all the 
 Jews of Hungary. When Dr. Keith lay ill in Pesth, 
 he made especial inquiry for some one of respect- 
 ability, intelligence, and candour, on whom he could 
 thoroughly depend for information respecting the 
 state of the Jews. He was at once emphatically 
 told that there was no man like Saphir, from whom 
 he could get the requisite information — that he 
 was looked up to by the Jews as the most learned 
 
THE FATHER OF ADOLPH. 17 
 
 person among them. Accordingly he saw him, 
 and had much com^ersation with him. His habits 
 were literary. He was a master of German litera- 
 tui-e. When the mission was commenced, he had 
 just begun to study English. Actuated chiefly by 
 a desire to advance his knowledge of English, he 
 appeared regularly at the services of Dr. Duncan, 
 leading his son Adolph, then eleven or twelve years 
 of age, by the hand. Gradually the truth reached 
 his heart, and he recognized in Jesus of Nazareth 
 the jMessiah foretold by the prophets. His little 
 son, with an intellect always keen, became con- 
 vinced at the same time ; — both, however, being 
 reticent on the subject. The silent influences were 
 brought to light in a very unexpected way, and by 
 the action of the son. One morning Adolph re- 
 quested his father to allow him to ask the blessing 
 at breakfast. On permission being given, he poured 
 out an earnest, short prayer, in the name of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. The consternation in the family, 
 and shortly thereafter in the Jewish quarter, where 
 they lived, was great. " By and by," says Mr. 
 Wingate, who gives this account, " we heard that 
 the Jews were saying that the Holy Ghost had 
 fallen on Saphir's son, and that he expounded the 
 Scripture as they had never heard it expounded 
 before." Adolph himself makes this reference — 
 " Through the instrumentality of Scotch mission- 
 aries my father saw the truth as it is in Christ 
 Jesus, and was received into the Christian Church 
 in 1843, at the age of sixty-three years. I, at that 
 
REMINISCENCES OF 
 
 time a lad in my twelfth year, was the first of our 
 family to accept the gospel." 
 
 Mrs. Schonberger, nee Johanna Saphir — the only 
 surviving sister of Dr. Saphir — has written for us 
 the following reminiscences of his childhood : — 
 
 Adolph Saphir was by nature of an unusually 
 delicate constitution, and very often his parents 
 were in great anxiety as to the way and means to 
 keep the child alive. After a few years of great 
 care and studied attention he seemed to get on 
 fairly well. Adolph was considered a very good- 
 looking child, with a fair, transparent complexion, 
 beautiful, large, blue eyes, full of intelligence and 
 expression. His father was devoted to him, and, 
 as he occupied a prominent position at one of the 
 first and best private schools at Buda-pest, he was 
 most anxious to send his little son Adolph to that 
 school at the age of four years, not so much for 
 learning, but simply for the purpose of amusement, 
 to divert his active little mind. 
 
 The teacher, however, soon became aware of 
 the fact that the child was not only amusing him- 
 self, but was taking in every tvord he heard. To 
 the great astonishment of the teacher, the child 
 was able to answer all his questions. 
 
 The brilliant result ought to have made his 
 father remove him at once from school ; but this 
 was not done, and his great mental activity there, 
 at such an age, may in some measure account for 
 his nervousness in later life. From that time 
 
ADOLPH SAFHIR'S CHILDHOOD. 19 
 
 little Adolpli was considered quite a genius — 
 an example to all the children. He was the first 
 and best scholar in the school, passing all examin- 
 ations with honour, and getting the first prizes, to 
 the great joy and satisfaction of his teachers, and 
 also to the astonish aient of the audiences present 
 at the examinations. 
 
 He passed the sixth form at the age of nine 
 years, and his father removed him from school, as 
 this was the highest and last class. But now a 
 great diflB.culty arose, as to how and in what method 
 to proceed with his education — he being still too 
 young to attend the University. 
 
 In the meantime little Adolph was as anxious 
 as his father. He was thirsting after more pro- 
 gress in all branches of higher knowledge, and 
 a teacher was found who was a master in Greek 
 and Latin, and all that was fitted to arouse his 
 mind and intellect. After private study with this 
 teacher for two years, he was ready to pass an 
 examination, at the Gymnasium of Buda-pest. 
 The result was a great triumph. The professors 
 were startled with his knowledge, at so early an 
 age, and could not say enough in regard to his 
 abilities, uncommon intelligence, and impressiveness 
 for everything good and noble. 
 
 At the age of eight he wrote German poems, 
 which, to the regret of the family, were lost. 
 
 The most striking features in his character 
 were his gentleness and humihty, and his strong 
 affection for his parents, especially for his mother. 
 
20 ADOLPH'S CURIOUS ACCIDENT. 
 
 He never gave cause for dissatisfaction, and thus 
 lie was never punished in any way. The writer of 
 this sketch only remembers one occasion, when his 
 mother seemed displeased with him. Noticing it, 
 he suddenly knelt down before her, imploring her 
 to forgive him, with the most solemn promise that 
 he would be very good in future. This was a 
 most affecting and touchins; incident, not to be 
 easily forgotten. 
 
 He was of such a refined and delicate mind that 
 anything which was in the least contrary to his 
 imjDression of right, young as he was, made him 
 feel quite miserable and sad. He suffered, during 
 his early studies, from an accident. A heavy 
 weight of one of the large clocks, that come 
 from the Black Forest, fell on his head, when he 
 was alone in the room. He was found lying on 
 the ground, quite stunned by the heavy blow. 
 Fortunately his tutor, who happened to be also a 
 doctor, came to the rescue, and after some time he 
 seemed himself again. This accident, the writer of 
 this sketch thinks, must have told on him all his 
 life long, as his head was especially delicate and the 
 cause of sufiering. 
 
 Little Adolph was favoured and loved by Jews 
 and Gentiles, and even now he is remembered and 
 honoured in his native town, after nearly half a 
 century. His sister concludes her sketch by noticing 
 his studies at Berlin, and his connection with the 
 Irish Jewish Mission at Hamburg — events to which 
 we shall refer afterwards — and then adds : — Little 
 
THK GEEAT MOVEMENT IN PESTH. 
 
 Adolph hardly associated when young with any 
 of his school-fellows. He was shy and very timid, 
 easily frightened when the boys were rough and 
 rude — and he thus rather kept aloof. After his 
 baptism some of his little Jewish school-fellows 
 mocked and ridiculed him for becoming a Christian. 
 He, however, replied with so much dignity and 
 decision that they were soon silenced, and became 
 in fact ashamed of their attacks. 
 
 And now we come to the great movement in 
 Pesth, and its effect on the Saphir family. We 
 have spoken of the deep impression made by the 
 services and conversations of Dr. Duncan and his 
 coadjutors, Messrs. Wingate and Smith. Dr. Smith 
 thus describes the early progress ^ : — About mid- 
 summer in 1842, the little company was greatly 
 quickened by a visit from various Christian friends, 
 natives of different countries, who without pre- 
 vious concert arrived in Pesth on the same day, 
 and indeed by the same steamer. This remarkable 
 coincidence was evidently of the Lord, and it was 
 resolved to turn it to account. For fourteen days 
 we continued together in prayer and thanksgiving. 
 It was a time of special refreshing from the presence 
 of the Lord. We remembered the parting words : 
 "Go ye into all the world ; and lo, I am with you 
 
 1 The Rev. Dr. Robert Smith, now of Corsack in Dumfries- 
 shire, then one of the missionaries, wrote a series of excellent 
 .articles on the mission, in the Sunday at Home of 1866. Our 
 quotations from him are chiefly from those articles, but some 
 from letters written at the time, 
 
DE. KEITH'S REPORT. 
 
 alway." And as we communed one with another in 
 the Word, and poured out our hearts at the mercy- 
 seat, we felt that the Lord Jesus was indeed in the 
 midst of us, walking among the candlesticks as of 
 old, and the hearts of all were greatly enlarged. 
 The well thus opened in the desert continued to 
 How, and to follow us in our way as a living 
 stream. From that time a manifest blessing began 
 to descend. German services were established, 
 which were attended by great numbers of Jews, 
 and a powerful impression was made. This im- 
 pression deepened week by week, and as winter 
 approached the work of conversion began. 
 
 It was about this time that the visit of the Rev. 
 Charles (afterwards Dr.) Schwartz took place, to 
 which we have referred. He remained for some 
 time preaching regularly in German. Many Jews 
 came to hear him, and the impressions already 
 made on the Saphir family were much deepened. 
 
 Dr. Keith said in his report to the General 
 Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland in 
 1844:— 
 
 While 1 was in Pesth an aged and respectable 
 Jew was specially recommended to me as one of 
 the most learned among them, and the most capable 
 of giving every requisite information concerning 
 his brethren. He conversed freely on the history 
 of the Jews in Hungary, and referred me to the 
 best authorities on that subject, which he at first 
 imagined was the object of my inquiry. But he was 
 at first more reluctant, than other Jews generally 
 
CONVERSION OF FATHER AND SON. 23 
 
 were, to speak of their religious opinions, and it was 
 only after a preliminary conversation that I could 
 get him at all to enter on the question of the 
 Messiahship of Jesus. More than in most other 
 instances, it was necessary, in dealing with him, to 
 become as a Jew to the Jews. But when the 
 testimony of the prophets was brought plainly 
 before him, he was deeply moved, and said, " It is 
 very hard to give up in old age opinions cherished 
 from youth, and never doubted." He soon became 
 an earnest inquirer. Having thrice missed me that 
 day, he called the fourth time, of his own accord, 
 at my lodgings, on the evening before I left 
 Pesth. 
 
 The father and his son Adolph were convinced 
 at the same time that Jesus was the Messiah, and 
 when he became convinced, the patriarch never hesi- 
 tated as to the course to be taken ; but he delayed 
 his baptism in his anxiety to bring his whole family 
 with him. His son Philipp, of whom we shall have 
 much to say afterwards, was baptized on April 4, 
 1843, by one of the chief Hungarian pastors, 
 the Rev. Paul Torok, who was very friendly with 
 the missionaries and baptized all the converts, it 
 not being lawful for foreigners to perform minis- 
 terial offices for Austrian subjects. Philipp had been 
 impressed by the preaching of Mr. Schwartz, and 
 he wrote to him expressing the joy that he felt 
 in being admitted into the Church of Christ. But 
 Philipp's conversion took place when he and 
 two others were affectionately ministering to Mr. 
 
24 REFERENCES TO ADOLPH'S FATHER. 
 
 Wingate, who had met with an accident, and re- 
 quired to be attended to, day and night. He and 
 Alfred Edersheim and another volunteered to take 
 turns in this loving service, and Philipp, deeply 
 troubled in mind, sought counsel from Mr. Win- 
 gate, and suddenly saw and rejoiced in the light. 
 Old Mr. Saphir had everything to lose, but he 
 counted all things but loss for the excellency to 
 be found in Christ. Dr. Smith says : — He was 
 perhaps the most learned Jew in Hungary, and 
 held in universal respect for probity and upright- 
 ness of character. He was in truth a sort of 
 Gamaliel in the nation. He was the bosom friend 
 of the Chief Rabbi, and the most leading and 
 trusted man in every benevolent and useful under- 
 taking. A hundred other conversions could not 
 have produced the same impression as his. 
 
 Mr. AVingate, in writing before the baptism, thus 
 referred to him : — 
 
 The Lord has remarkably visited Mr. Saphir's 
 family, and we look forward to their being the first 
 who will be called to profess publicly their faith in 
 Christ, and obedience to Him. This will be a 
 severe blow to the kingdom of Satan, which he has 
 so long held undisturbed in Judaism. Mr. Saphir 
 is known throughout the whole community, and 
 the rumours of his conversion to the truth have 
 been shaking the Jews here, like the heavings of 
 a coming earthquake. For many years his un- 
 blemished character, extensive learning, not only 
 as to Jewish but general literature, having at the 
 
JiJSFJiBJ^JXCES TO ADOLPH'ii FATHER. 
 
 age of fifty-four mastered the English language for 
 no other reason than that he might be able to read 
 Shakespere in the original; — all these circumstances, 
 combined with his patriotic endeavour to raise his 
 nation, by the erection and formation of the largest 
 Jewish school in Hungary, had endeared him to 
 the Jews. His opinion was, as it -were, law ; and 
 that he should be about to declare Judaism, which 
 he had studied for forty years, to lie a way of death 
 and not of life was sufficiently startling. He is 
 about sixty years of age, l)ut his mind is full of 
 youthful vigour, and he has great energy of 
 character. Dr. Duncan's many conversations have 
 greatly impressed him, and the conflict with the 
 natural enmity and unbelief of the heart has 
 been long and deep ; but the Lord was deepening 
 the Word, and now we commend him and his 
 interesting family — of wife, three sons, and three 
 daughters, and a Jewish servant — to the prayers of 
 God's children. 
 
 Some little time ago, when Mr. Saphir's state of 
 mind was talked of among the Jews, the principal 
 Eabbi here, his former intimate friend, preached 
 from Isaiah liii., explaining the passage after the 
 manner of the Jews, and denouncing in fearful 
 terms the man who would give up his children to 
 those who were outside of their community, viz. the 
 Christians. Mr. Saphir was in the synagogue at the 
 time, and knew that all this was levelled at him. 
 But this tirade, though it exposed him to the 
 enmity of the Jews, confirmed him in his deter- 
 
2(5 HIGH CHARACTER OB' ISRAEL SAPHIR. 
 
 mination to hold fast to tlie Lord Jesus. Soon 
 after, before the annual meeting for the election of 
 directors to the Jewish Seminary, the Eabbi sent 
 privately to inform him that it was the intention 
 of the Jews to expel him, and begging him, if his 
 mind was quite made iip to leave the synagogue, 
 to send in his resignation. He accordingly resigned 
 his office of principal Director to the school, which 
 he had so many years watched over and superin- 
 tended. He has suffered much at the hands of his 
 brethren A.s in the case of Job, they used to rise 
 up at his approach, but some dared now even to 
 revile him and mock him. His high character has 
 silenced many, and the Eabbi has declared, that 
 notwithstanding all, Mr. Saphir is an honourable 
 man. Relatives and friends weep, and try all means 
 to effect a change in his purpose, but in vain. 
 
 It may be mentioned here that Dr. Schwab, the 
 Rabbi of Buda-pest, had communications with him, 
 as long as he lived. He was accustomed frequentlj' 
 to meet him at a private room of one of the 
 booksellers, in that city. 
 
 Mr. Israel Saphir's wife, of Bohemian extraction, 
 nee Henrietta Bondij, was an attractive woman of 
 gentle disposition, to whom her son Adolph bore 
 much resemblance. She also, after some time, 
 became convinced of the Messiahship of Jesus, and 
 declared her readiness to follow her husband and to 
 profess Christianity ; but she was in much perplexity 
 about the worldly difficulties, in which open profes- 
 sion of faith by baptism might involve them. The 
 
THE HAPHIR FAMILY 
 
 whole family becaine simultaneously influenced, 
 except an elder son by a former marriage. For six 
 months the father had delayed his own baptism, 
 that he might bring his family with him. Dr. 
 Smith, writing in Feb. 1843, thus describes their 
 state, and refers touchingly to the young Adolj)h : — 
 The eldest daughter we believe to be now a 
 Christian. She is under regular instruction for 
 baptism. Her little brother, eleven and a half years 
 of age (but of small stature), receives instruction at 
 the same time. I feel confident that this child, if he 
 is not being prepared for speedy removal to another 
 world, is being prepared for much good in this. He 
 seems to have a peculiar delight in prayer. Hours 
 together, we have reason to believe, ha\'e been some- 
 times spent by him in this exercise. He and his 
 sister have little prayer-meetings together, on behalf 
 of the other members of the family. Nor have their 
 prayers been unheard. The mother is now anxiously 
 inquiring how her soul can be saved. The remain- 
 ing two sisters have of their own accord offered 
 themselves for instruction. The father stands fast, 
 and grows in strength from day to day. The 
 piower of Divine grace has been wonderfully mani- 
 fested in him. He has been universally looked up 
 to as the most learned Jew in Hungary, and has 
 possessed so great weight of probity and character, 
 that the Jews have been accustomed to regard him 
 with feelings of the deepest respect, and even 
 veneration. Yet, standing at the very Lead of his 
 countrymen, and almost idolized by them, he has 
 
28 ISRAEL BAPHTR'S GROWTH IN GRACE. 
 
 been enabled through grace to count all things 
 but loss for the excellency to be found in Christ 
 Jesus. 
 
 We had for some time watched with intense 
 interest the progress of his mind. At length we 
 felt ourselves justified, about a week ago, to request 
 an interview, and to call upon him, in the name of 
 the Lord Jesus, to come forth from among his 
 brethren, and make a public profession of Christ's 
 name. The way in which he responded to this 
 call, and the views which he was led to express, 
 filled us with unfeigned delight. We have reason 
 to anticipate that his baptism will produce a great 
 sensation among the Jews, not only here, but 
 throughout Hungary. His high reputation for 
 learning and uprightness shuts out at once the idea 
 of incapacity or interested motive. That he is con- 
 vinced and that he is capable of judging, are points 
 which, whatever they may say in the heat of their 
 anger, they will not be able to set aside to the 
 satisfaction of their own minds. The great attain- 
 ments of Mr. Saphir, the position which he has 
 occupied, and other circumstances, have impressed 
 us deeply with the importance of his being publicly 
 employed by the Church. Moreover, as he is quite 
 familiar with the Greek and Eomau classics, and is 
 a thorough master in all Jewish learning, we might, 
 with his assistance, be enabled, with much advan- 
 tage, to train up young men in immediate contact 
 with the work, w'ho might afterwards be stationed 
 in difli'erent parts of the country. 
 
:29 
 
 CHAPTER l\. 
 
 BAPTISM OF THE SAPHIR HOUSEHOLD. 
 
 Mr. Saphir, his Wife and Daughters and Adolph [baptized in 
 June 1843 — Crowded Assembly of Jews and others — Im- 
 pressive Address of the Father — Secret First Communion 
 — " Sound of tlie noiseless steps " — Earnestness of Young 
 Adolph — Impression in Hungary and Germany — 
 Discussion in the Press — Striking Letter of Adolph's 
 Father. 
 
 THE household, consisting of fatlier, sou, wife, 
 and three daughters (PhUipp having been 
 baptized before, as we have mentioned, on his 
 departure for Carlsruhe to be trained as a teacher), 
 were baptized by Pastor Torok, in the Hungarian 
 Pteformed church, on Wednesday, June 7, 1843. 
 Dr. Smith gives a graphic account of the whole 
 scene : — 
 
 All these, to the best of our discernment, had been 
 made partakers of the grace of the Lord Jesus ; His 
 glorious Name be praised ! — a whole family. How 
 seldom such a sight even in the most Christian 
 land ! It is the Lord's doing, and wondrous in our 
 eyes. Oti the morning of the baptism, the children 
 were up, between three and four, for prayer. The 
 sound of their sweet voices, at that early hour, 
 gladdened and strengthened the parents' hearts. 
 
30 THE FATHERS IMPRESSIVE ADDRESS. 
 
 At his baj)tism, the father delivered an address, 
 powerfully conceived and expressed, in which he 
 gave solemn testimony, not only to the truths of 
 the gospel, but also to the experience of it in his 
 own soul. Such a testimony had never been 
 borne in Pesth since the days of the Eeformation. 
 He bore witness also to the change which he had, 
 with his own eyes, seen effected in his wife and 
 children. Pointing to them, as they stood around 
 him, he declared the Spirit of God and the truth 
 of God to have been the means of the spiritual 
 transformation. Altoo'ether, the sio-ht was most 
 affecting. To hear of an inward struggle between 
 grace and sin, issuing through the power of the 
 Holy Ghost in a new birth of the soul, and that 
 this, and not a mere change of opinion and of 
 outward profession, was a true conversion from 
 Judaism to Christianity, was something for which 
 the crowded assembly of Jews and others were 
 quite unprepared. Many Jews and Gentiles were 
 moved to tears, and not a few were led to inquire 
 after the way of salvation from that hour. There 
 was a power, and simplicity, and truth in the 
 words of the patriarchal Jew, as he stood in the 
 midst of his family, and- testified for himself and 
 for them what God had done for their souls. It 
 might be seen, reflected in the riveted attention of 
 all present, that these doctrines were no trifles ! 
 but that they entered into the very life of the 
 soul. The attention and death-like stillness of the 
 audience showed the depth of the impression then 
 
BAPTISM OF THE SAPHIJI HOUSEHOLD. 31 
 
 being made. Especially was every breath hushed 
 when the moment of the great transition arrived, in 
 which, by the washing with water in the name of 
 the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, this 
 Jewish family, one by one, were publicly engrafted 
 into Christ. It is true, there was no transition 
 here from death to life. But the life which had 
 been already communicated by Word and Spirit, 
 now emerged into publicity before the eyes of God, 
 of angels, and of men. In that hour a covenant 
 was openly and irrevocably entered into, before 
 many witnesses, between God and these children 
 of Abraham, with pledges of mutual fidelity and 
 love. In a sense — and that a high and important 
 one — they came there as Jews, they returned home 
 rejoicing as Christians. 
 
 We spent the evening of the day with the 
 family. The joj^, the peace, the love among them 
 I shall not attempt to describe. It was the most 
 lovely sight I ever beheld. The zeal of the father 
 kindling anew and burning with more than usual 
 brightness ; perfect peace resting on the but lately 
 care-worn countenance of the mother ; the eldest 
 daughter finding an outlet to her thankfulness and 
 joy only in tears, and the little Benjamin of the 
 family — Adolph — the first among them who had 
 seen the Lord, hanging on his beloved teachers, 
 the very picture of a happy child ; — such a scene 
 was life to our souls. 
 
 The servant of the family looked on bewildered, 
 and wondering what all this meant. On that night 
 
SECRET FIRST COMMUNION. 
 
 impressions were made on lier heart, which issued 
 later in her conversion. After praying with them, 
 and exhorting them to continue steadfast in the 
 faith, walking together in the comfort and love of 
 the Spirit, and in the fellowship of all the holy 
 brethren, wc took our departure. 
 
 Such a well of living water could not be 
 opened up amidst the dreary wastes of the JeAvish 
 community, and I may add of the Christian also, 
 without attracting much observation. For a time, 
 even all opposition was stayed. Men felt that a 
 power was at work which they could not com- 
 prehend, and which they were afraid to resist. Into 
 not a few hearts the truth silently found its way ; 
 ill some cases resulting in a manifestly saving- 
 change ; in others producing impressions, the nature 
 of which the day of decision alone will declare. I 
 shall never forget the occasion of the first dispensa- 
 tion of the Lord's SujDper, soon after this baptism, 
 when the majority of those present were Jews. 
 The meeting was held in an upper room, secretly, 
 for fear of the Jews, and of the intolerant Austrian 
 Government. Almost as soon as the service beg;an 
 a strange mysterious presence filled the place. A 
 hushed silence fell on the little compan}-, only 
 occasionally broken by the suppressed sob of some 
 bursting heart. When the bread was broken and 
 the wine poured forth, we felt as if for the time the 
 conditions of the earth had passed away. We felt 
 that the Eisen Lord Avas indeed present in the 
 midst of us. And as wo gazed upon Him, we saw 
 
/■RUGEESS OF MISSION WORK. 
 
 the print of tlie nails, and tlie wound in His pierced 
 side. An Irish barrister, Mr. Eawlins, who, with 
 his wliole family, liad been converted a sliort time 
 before, and who afterwards became a clergyman of 
 the Cliurch of England, said to me on the follow- 
 ing day — " I thought I heard the sound of His 
 noiseless steps as He passed up and down in 
 the midst of us." 
 
 From that time the work went forward with great 
 power. The little company of believers walked 
 together in the fear of God, and in the unit)' of 
 mutual love. And they testified all around to what 
 they had seen and heard. The large Jewish com- 
 munity of Pesth was perplexed, not knowing what 
 these things might mean. Indeed, for a time, the 
 Avhole city was shaken. In public j^laces of resort, 
 the conversation of all classes turned on the stransje 
 things that had come to their ears. 
 
 Dr. Smith continues : — These were blessed times 
 worth living for. Within a few months about twenty 
 persons were added to the Lord, and others received 
 a new baptism of the Spirit. A general interest 
 was awakened through the city. Even in the 
 coffee-houses conversation was turned to the subject 
 of religion. Wherever the converts went they 
 carried the savour of Christ with them. Their 
 demeanour was modest and unassuming, but what 
 was nearest their hearts could not be hidden. 
 Their daily intercourse with each other Avas like 
 that of a large united family, and was characterized 
 in a remarkable degree by unanimity, love, and 
 
34 A BLESSED SEASON. 
 
 mutual confidence. When any cause of difference 
 arose among them, they were wont to meet to- 
 gether and lay the matter before the Lord, praying 
 and conversing alternately, till they again saw, eye 
 to eye. Thus their light shone out on all around, 
 and men were forced to take knowledge of them 
 that Jesus dwelt among them of a truth. 
 
 In those days we were visited by many Christian 
 brethren from various countries, who had heard 
 that the Lord had visited this people. It is 
 a curious fact that several of these, quite apart 
 from each other, gave expression to the same 
 idea, — that they felt as if sojourning for a season 
 in one of the early Apostolic Churches. I re- 
 member the remark made to me by one of them, 
 that he would not be taken aback nor think it 
 strange, should a letter from Paul or from Peter 
 be handed in, by next morning's post. These 
 were days of heaven upon earth. Sometimes 1 
 felt as if the ground were no longer solid under 
 my feet. 
 
 It is of special interest to notice the strouo- 
 character and Christian ardour of Adolph at this 
 early period of life. He was in a manner the 
 leader of the movement. This zeal and decision 
 burned with intensity all through his ministr}^ 
 in after years, and gave him such power as an 
 almost Apostolic ambassador of Christ. Dr. Smith 
 thus speaks of him : — Adolph visited, the other 
 day, a Jewess of his acquaintance, who is also a 
 iieighbour. He spoke to her about her soul — of 
 
EARNESTNESS OF YuUNG ADOLPH. 
 
 her state by nature, and need of salvation. (SIk' 
 said that all the neighbours marked a great change 
 in the Saphir family ; that they seemed now so 
 happy. " Yes," said Adolph, "we are happy because 
 we have got reconciliation with God through the 
 blood of His Son. We have peace in our con- 
 sciences ; and that makes us happy." The con- 
 versation ended in his engaging with her in prayer. 
 His father and he seem to have exchanged with 
 one another the characteristics belonging to their 
 respective ages, or rather retaining the jDroper 
 characteristics of youth and age — to have com- 
 municated, the one to the other — the child impart- 
 ing to the father the simplicity of childhood — the 
 father imparting to the child almost the maturity 
 of age. One beautiful and touching illustration 
 of this we remark in the conversations tliey have 
 with each other, like brother with brother, on 
 the Sabbath evenings, over the truths they have 
 been hearing in the Eno-Hsh service, — in attending- 
 upon which they find great delight. 
 
 Dr. Duncan, who had been away for a time from 
 Pestli on account of health, returned in the summer 
 of 1843. He wrote in regard to the Saphirs : — 
 Mrs. Saphir we met in Vienna, with two of her 
 daughters, whom she was conducting to a school 
 at Kornthal, in Wiirtemburg, for the education of 
 teachers. On her countenance there sparkled a 
 joy which I had never seen there before. In fact, 
 formerly she always looked miserable. Her talents, 
 which are of a homely but useful and motherh' 
 
36 DR. DUNCAN'S ACCOUNT OF THE SAPHIRS. 
 
 kind, have also received a wonderful expression 
 througii the force of truth. Philipp Saphir, an 
 elder son, is gone to Carlsruhe in Wlirtemburg, 
 to be educated for a teacher. The change pro- 
 duced in him by the power of Christianity appears 
 to have had a very strange influence on those 
 who knew him before, who said they formerly 
 despised him, as a foolish and disgraceful lad, but 
 now could not help admiring him. I have seen 
 some letters which he sent to his father. They 
 seemed rather the production of an aged and 
 experienced Christian, with a good deal of the 
 faith, naivete, and pleasant quaintness, which dis- 
 tinguished the style of the Puritans. Little A. 
 is still a charming boy. He knows English pretty 
 well, and has during our absence prepared for 
 me the books of Joshua and Judges in Hebrew. 
 His father tells me, that sometimes he continues 
 for a whole hour in prayer, the tears streaming 
 from his eyes. He finds opportunity of speaking 
 of Christ to Jewesses, who invite the child to 
 their houses. Though treated by us as a man, 
 and, no doubt, by them with foolish admiration, 
 we have not seen one trait in him inconsistent 
 with childlike simplicity and modesty. 
 
 A great door was opened among literary youno- 
 men — students of philosophy, medicine, and the- 
 ology. This success excited much persecution. 
 The Jews organized means to keep their brethren 
 from visiting the missionaries. They also tried 
 to get the authorities to interfere. Several articles 
 
TMPBESSION IN HUNGABY AND aERMANY. 
 
 appeared in the Juclen Zeitung, published at 
 Leipzig, attacking the mission. A pamphlet was 
 distributed in Pesth against it. A notice appeared 
 in the \Yell-known Augsburg Allgemeine Zeitung, 
 accusing the missionaries at Pesth of alluring, by 
 money and all kinds of promises, the very dregs 
 of the people, and also of interfering with the 
 Roman Catholics. This last charge was intended 
 to incite the Government to expel them, as all 
 Protestant work among Roman Catholics was then 
 stricth' forbidden. These determined efforts to 
 destroy the mission, testified to the great effect it 
 was producing. 
 
 The conversion of Mr. Saphir and his family 
 caused a great sensation among the Jews, who 
 knew that as a Jew he had been remarkable for 
 honesty and wisdom, and who could not believe 
 that in becoming a Christian he was a deceiver. 
 The Scriptures were therefore read in many Jewish 
 houses with avidity. Christianity became a subject 
 of study and conversation in Jewish families, and 
 the missionaries found themselves too few to over- 
 take the inquirers. It may be noted that IMr. 
 Saphir's prayers were usually in Hebrew, and 
 the words of the Psalter were constantly used, 
 adapted to the special circumstances, and full of 
 the original fire and force. Within about a year 
 and a half from the establishment of the mission, 
 thirty-five baptisms had taken place. These bap- 
 tisms were conducted, as mentioned before, by the 
 superintendent minister of the Reformed Churcli 
 
:^.s ISRAEL SAPIIIE'S LETTER. 
 
 of HuDgary, Pastor Paul Toiok. The influence 
 of the mission was felt remarkably in quickening- 
 many of the clergy and their people, who had been 
 sunk in rationalism. 
 
 We give here an extract from a letter of old 
 Mr. Saphir, which breathes the simple Christian 
 character of the man, and testifies to the influence 
 of his conversion on the Jews. It is dated Pesth, 
 April 11, 1844, and addressed to the Rev. C 
 Schwartz : — 
 
 We have tolerably much to do, and the Lord 
 is still pleased to countenance our labours. One 
 very important feature in the mission here is the 
 chano'e that the feelings of the Jews have under- 
 gone, since the missionaries settled at Pesth. 
 Jews, without being shocked or wounded in their 
 feeling's, can now be addressed about the most 
 important truths of the gospel, and they even 
 quietly and calmly begin to consider wdth tlieir 
 families, whether they should embrace Christianity 
 or not. I can assure you (I humbly trust you 
 won't believe that I am mentioning this out of 
 self-love and vain-glory) that since I publicly 
 professed Jesus as my Messia,h, a new era has 
 begun in the history of the Jews of Pesth, yea, 
 even of Hungary. They were accustomed to look 
 upon me, whether rightly or wrongly I do not 
 say, as one well acquainted with their own litera- 
 ture, and somewhat versed even in profane science. 
 The Rabbi himself confirmed the people in this 
 opinion, since he seemed to prefer my acquaint- 
 
EFFECT OF HIS CONVERSION. 30 
 
 ance to any other, and was always anxious to 
 show publicly how much he esteemed me. What 
 will the poor man do now 1 Can he at once 
 despise and calumniate that man whom he shortly 
 before publicly exalted and honoured, — and why ? 
 Simply because I have embraced Christianity. And 
 the uneducated people, again and again, put the 
 c[uestion. Must we believe that the same Saphir, 
 who we were told even yesterday was a learned 
 man, has at once become an ignorant one ; or 
 that the same man who was, all his lifetime, an 
 honest man, and whom we knew for thirty years 
 as a sincere man, has suddenly turned out a 
 deceiver and hypocrite ? 
 
 All these conditions which, in the first moment 
 of excitement and surprise, were overlooked, are 
 now more coolly and impartially weighed ; the 
 more — as they clearly see that we have not only 
 professed Christ with our lips, but cannot denv, 
 as I humbly trust, that we have been changed, — 
 a new and living principle having been put into 
 our hearts ; so that while, six months back, all 
 with one accord calumniated, contemned, despised 
 us ; now they are divided amongst themselves, and 
 many begin to think that Saphir has really been 
 converted, and to look at one another in surprise. 
 I know all this from good authority ; and now, let 
 me ask you : — ^lay we not hope that Christ will 
 still more be glorified, and His kingdom still more 
 advanced amongst us 1 God is my witness, this 
 is the only thing, viz. Christ's glory, that fills my 
 
40 THE MISSION GAUSE ADVAXCING. 
 
 heart with unspeakable joy. Do not believe that I 
 have mentioned this to you out of love to myself, 
 or because I believe that I have done anything in it. 
 I know that there is nothing good in me, and that 
 we all come short, before that God who tries the 
 reins and searches the hearts — yea, I pray daily 
 that the Lord may free me more and more from 
 selfishness, and" fill me with true humility; yet, 
 not unto us, but unto His blessed Name be all 
 glory and praise for ever. 
 
41 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 INFLUENCE OF THE CUUUT. 
 
 The Aioliduke and Archduchess foster the iJissioii — They 
 encourage the sending of Evangelists all through Hungary 
 — The Archduke's Peaceful Death in 1847 — Subsequent 
 persecution of the Archduchess — Her Death in 1855. 
 
 DURING these remarkcable events, the mission 
 was constantly under the fostering care of 
 the Archduchess and her husband, the Palatine. 
 Thus the repi'escibtative.-i of the Austrian Govern- 
 ment, which was so bigoted and oppressive, became 
 its chief protectors. This was a most wonderful 
 fact. The Archduchess frequently invited the mis- 
 sionaries to the Palace, and rejoiced in their work 
 and encouraged them in it. Her care was constant, 
 or they could not have gone on. " She was," says 
 Mr. Wingate, "weekly interviewed by some of us, 
 and both she and the Palatine knew all we were 
 doing. She was taught Hebrew by old Mr. Saphir. 
 We were nearly as well known in the Palace as in 
 the city of Buda-pest. Her Highness had a long 
 correspondence with some of the mission party." 
 
42 THE MISSION FOSTERED. 
 
 Dr. Smith gives a special instance of the in- 
 fluence of the Court in promoting the mission : — 
 The report of the work in Pesth had gone forth 
 everywhere, and awakened a very general spirit 
 of inquiry in Hungary. Of this the missionaries 
 wished to take advantage. Six of the most gifted 
 of the converts were trained with great care for 
 two yeai's, with a view to their being sent out as 
 evangelists. But there was no immediate pros^ject 
 of the door being opened. Such a thing as a 
 proselytizing expedition through the towns and 
 villages of Hungary was unheard of, and it seemed 
 almost to be impossible imder a Government so 
 intolerant. The men were ready, but how were 
 they to proceed ? AVe communicated our wishes 
 to the Archduchess, who undertook to seize the 
 first favourable opportunity to lay the whole matter 
 before the Archduke, and boldly to solicit his pro- 
 tection. Now mark the providence of God ! A few 
 days later there occurred a violent outbreak among 
 the peasants in Austrian Poland. A large number 
 of the proprietors, with their wives and children, 
 were massacred in cold blood, and many other 
 frightful excesses were committed. The news had 
 just reached Pesth. The Archduke, who was a 
 just man, and sincerely desired to promote the 
 welfare of the people according to the measure of 
 his light, was greatly troubled. For a time he 
 walked up and down in his chamber in deep thought, 
 and greatly agitated. The Archduchess, coming in 
 and finding him in this state, asked if anything 
 
INFLUENCE OF THE COURT. t3 
 
 had happened to vex him. He answered, " Nothing 
 personally, but I have been thinking of those fearful 
 atrocities in Poland, and I have come to the con- 
 clusion that, unless the Bible be circulated among 
 these people and they get good in this way, no 
 other means will raise them from their present 
 degradation." Sbe was immediately ready with 
 the reply, " If an attempt of this kind were made 
 in Hungary, would you give it your protection ? " 
 He said, "Yes, I certainly would." She then 
 unfolded to him our whole scheme, which he highly 
 approved of He had often expressed his con- 
 fidence in the prudence and circumspection of the 
 Scotch missionaries. He now entrusted her with 
 a message to us, to the effect that we should send 
 out men with as little noise and public observation 
 as possible, and that, if they met with any molest- 
 ation from the authorities, they were on no account 
 to oflfer resistance, but report the case at once to 
 us, and we to him, and that he would take his own 
 measures for its repression. Even he himself could 
 not go beyond a certain point. His power was 
 limited, and had it come to the knowledge of the 
 supreme power in Vienna, that he was countenancing 
 the circulation of the AVord of God, he might easily 
 have been involved in trouble. The door now 
 stood open. The messengers went forth, held many 
 evangelistic meetings, and the Scriptures were 
 circulated by thousands in the villages and towns 
 throughout Hungary. It may be mentioned that 
 commendatory letters were obtained from Superin- 
 
44 DEATH OF ARCHDUKE PALATINE. 
 
 tendent Torok of the Eeformed Cliurch, and 
 Superintendent Dr. Szekasz of the Lutheran 
 Church, to the pastors of all parishes in Hungary, 
 asking them to do all they could to further 
 the end in view — the distribution of the Bible 
 and the preaching of the gospel to the Jews. 
 And, in the course of four or five years, no town 
 or village in Hungary had been left unvisited. 
 The mission, conducted with great prudence from 
 Dr. Duncan's time and onwards, carried with it 
 the sympathy of both branches of the Protestant 
 Church, and ^Yas the means of a great revival of 
 religion. Dr. Duncan had friendly relations also 
 with the Eoman Catholic dignitaries, and he and 
 his colleagues commanded their esteem. 
 
 The Archduke Palatine died in 1847, a humble 
 and believing penitent at the foot of the Cross. 
 He had for many years been a regular reader of the 
 Bible, but it was only when the shadows of the 
 coming darkness gathered round him, that full 
 spiritual light arose in his soul. Several months 
 before his death he was seized with a violent illness, 
 which threatened to carry him off. From this he 
 partially recovered. A cloud passed over him for a 
 time, but it was dissolved, and he became unusually 
 cheerful. He acknowledged afterwards that in 
 the days of gloom he had been reviewing his 
 past life, and had everywhere discovered sin, and 
 that now he put his whole trust in the merits and 
 righteousness of Christ. Soon afterwards his last 
 illness began. A few hours before his death his 
 
PERSFA^ITTTON OF THh: ARGHDUailESS. 45 
 
 wife said to him, " As you are now no soou to stand 
 before tlie judgment-seat of God, I wish to hear 
 from you for the hist time what is tlie ground on 
 which you rest your hope ? " His immediate reply 
 was, " The blood of Christ alone," with a strong 
 empliasis on the alouc 
 
 Immediatcdy after the death of her husband, the 
 Arcliducliess was hurried off by Imperial mandate, 
 against her will, to Vienna, where she underwent 
 a species of l)anishment, or rather imprisonment. 
 Separated from the brethren, watched on every 
 side, surrounded with spies, her visitors rejjorted 
 at the Imperial Palace, her character and principles 
 calumniated li}^ the Jesuits — her days were indeed 
 days of suffering and sorrow. 
 
 The Eev. Dr. Keith thus describe-* her state at 
 this time : — 
 
 "Her palace in Vienna was to her like a prison. 
 There her Christian zeal could be restrained. 
 Christian fellowship, except rarely, and even cor- 
 respondence with like-minded friends, were denied 
 her. Letters from the Duchess of Gordon, though 
 various modes of conveyance were tried, never 
 reached her. ' That speaks volumes,' said one of 
 the hio'hest rank, when told it. Strang;e thino;s 
 were surmised about her in the Austrian Court, 
 as if to justify cruel and unwarrantable conduct. 
 Baron (the Chevalier) Bunsen asked me, ' Is she 
 not — ' pausing like a courtier, but putting his hand 
 to his head. ' Oh, yes,' smilingly, was my plain 
 reply; ' she is beside herself, like the Apostle Paul ; 
 
40 DEATH OF THE ARCHDUCHESS. 
 
 and for the same reason, too — for Jesus' sake.' 
 ' Is that the case ? ' he asked. ' Most certainly,' I 
 answered : ' otherwise she has as clear a head and 
 as sound a judgment as either you or 1 have ' (' or,' 
 I might have added, ' any one I know '). ' What 
 else but mad can a truly devoted Christian be 
 accounted in the popish House of Hapsbui'g ? ' " 
 At times she was visited by the Protestant 
 pastors of Pesth and by the Scottish missionaries, 
 and occasionally she was permitted to visit Hun- 
 gary. Though her circumstances were so dark, 
 she had light and joy within. And after the 
 troubles of 1848, when the Government of Austria, 
 under the influence of the reaction, attempted to 
 extingaish the rights and liberties of the Protestant 
 Church, she threw herself fearlessly into the breach. 
 A short time before her death she went on a visit 
 to Pesth. She was there taken ill with influenza, 
 which soon assumed a typhoidal character, and 
 ultimately reached the brain. Her son, the Arch- 
 duke Joseph, and her daughter Elizabeth, wife of 
 the Archduke Max Ferdinand, both of them 
 devotedly attached to her, were with her during 
 the illness, and the Protestant pastors of Pesth and 
 Buda were admitted freely to her sick-bed. She 
 died in peace, in full confidence of a glorious 
 resurrection, on the 30th March, 1855. She died 
 where she would have wished, among her Christian 
 friends in Hungary, who were about her in her last 
 hours, and witnessed her triumphant death. 
 
CHA.PTER VT. 
 
 ADOLPH'S DEPARTURE FROM PESTH. 
 
 Adolph leaves Pesth with Edersheim and Tomory — How they 
 got away — Edersheim's Conversion and Career — Kapid 
 progress of the Mission — Troublous times — The Hungarian 
 War — Great Success afterwards — The fields ripe unto 
 Harvest — Expulsion of the Missionaries — Jlission Work 
 resumed. 
 
 AFTER tlie baptism of the Saphirs, tlieir light 
 shone with increasing brightness on all around 
 them. Adolph became a zealous little Evangelist, 
 and when Dr. Duncan prepared to go to Scotland 
 to begin his professorial work in Edinburgh, old 
 Mr. Saphir wished, much as he loved him, to 
 give up his Benjamin, to be educated and prepared 
 for the Christian ministry. And so, after much 
 prayer and consideration and sorrow of heart, it 
 was resolved to part with the loved Adolph, the 
 bright spirit of the home, to be trained for this 
 most important work. All the members of the 
 family, father and mother and sisters, even 
 Adolph himself, acquiesced in the separation, as 
 necessary for this purpose, but not without many 
 tears. He left his father's house in the autumn 
 
48 ADOLPH LEAVES PESTH. 
 
 of 1843, and weut to Dr. Duncan to Edinburgti, 
 that he might perfect his knoAvledge of English. 
 He was then only twelve years of age, and 
 having been the beloved companion of his fatiier, 
 especially in their latter times of trial and of 
 victory, the parting was a terrible wi'euch to the 
 old man. Adolph was never able to return to 
 Pesth, and he only once afterwards met his father, 
 on the occasion of a visit of his parents to their 
 daughter, Mrs. Schwartz, at Berlin. He could not 
 return, even for a visit, on attaining manhood, as 
 he would have been called on to serve in the army. 
 The method of his leaving Pesth was in some 
 ways as remarkable as the other events of the 
 mission. It was resolved to send two others 
 also — Alfred Edersheim and Alexander Tomory, 
 both able converts of the mission — to complete 
 their theological studies in Edinburgh ; but there 
 was a difficulty in getting them away, as the 
 Government of Austria would not allow its sub- 
 jects to leave the country, l)efore they had per- 
 formed their military service. Eortunately, the 
 well-known Indian missionary, Dr. John Wilson 
 of Bombay, arrived in Pesth at the time on his 
 way to Scotland, accompanied by Dunjaboi, a 
 Parsee convert. He was regarded by the authori- 
 ties as a man of distinction, and was therefore 
 permitted to take with him persons in his service. 
 Edersheim was appointed his secretary, Saphir 
 and Tomory to other offices, and thus all three 
 got away without interference. 
 
ALFRED EDERSHEIM, D.D. 49 
 
 As Alfred Edersheim became afterwards well 
 known, especially thiongh his work, The Life 
 and Times of the Messiah, a short account of his 
 conversion and life, written by Mr. AVingate, 
 will interest our readers : — 
 
 Among the many distinguished trophies of 
 Dis'ine grace which it has pleased the great Head 
 of His Church to bestow on the Free Church of 
 ^Scotland's mission to the Jews in Hungary, Dr. 
 Saphir and Alfred Edersheim, D.D., Ph.D.,"M.A., 
 Ox on., late AVarburton Lecturer of Lincoln's Inn, 
 and Grinfield Lecturer of the University of Oxford, 
 were the most distinguished. 
 
 On reaching Buda-pest in 1847, young Eders- 
 heim, then about seventeen, became a student at 
 the University. He had been brought up luxuri- 
 ously in Vienna, and was one of the leaders of 
 fcishion. He was highly educated, spoke Latin 
 fluently, knew Greek, German, French, Hebrew, 
 Hungarian, and Italian. AVhen Cremieux, the head 
 of the French bar, paid a visit to Vienna, the 
 synagogue presented him with an address, and 
 deputed young Edersheim to deliver it. Cremieux 
 was so pleased with his eloquence, that he offered 
 his father to take his son to Paris and provide for 
 him for life, but his parents would not give him 
 up. This was the year previous to our meeting. 
 His tutor. Dr. Porgos, spoke English, and intro- 
 duced him to the Eev. Dr. Duncan, the Ptev. j\Ir. 
 Smith, and myself. We felt much interested in 
 him. Dr. Porgos had to leave for Padua to get his 
 
EDERSHEIAPS CONVERSION. 
 
 medical diploma, and though still a Jew in religion, 
 brought his pupil to me and said, " Mr. Wingate, 
 I give you charge of Alfred; take care of him." 
 I said, "Porgos, how can you, a Jew, give your 
 pupil to me ? You know I can only pray that he 
 may be a true Christian." " Never mind ; I know 
 no one who will so conscientiously care for him. 
 I am off for six months." 
 
 Before the winter was over, Edersheim was under 
 the teaching of the Holy Spirit, and had glorious 
 views of the Divinity of Christ. Trusting in His 
 one Sacrifice and filled with the peace of God, he 
 gave himself up to be His servant in any way 
 it might please God to direct him. The Jews 
 were astonished. He opened a class to teach the 
 students English, on the condition that the Bible 
 should be their only lesson book. Baptized, and 
 now full of life and vigour, it was resolved that 
 he should go to Edinburgh to the Rev. Pro- 
 fessor Duncan's, to complete there his theological 
 studies. 
 
 Edersheim after ordination was, first, missionary 
 to the Jews at Jassy, Roumania, and then minister 
 for many years at the Free College Church, Old 
 Aberdeen. Severe illness brought him south, and 
 Principal Chalmers and I advised Torquay, as one 
 lung was already affected. At Torquay he went 
 to a hotel — the best there ; but findino- that it 
 was beyond his resources, he sent for the landlord 
 and asked for his bill. The landlord, an earnest 
 Christian, told him to leave that to him. Mean- 
 
I'ABEER, ILLNESS, AND DEATH. r,] 
 
 while his presence was talked about in Torquay, 
 and a deputation waited on him to ask him to 
 preach in a room of the hotel. People Hocked to 
 him, and in about eighteen months I was called 
 to introduce him, in the beautiful Scotch Church 
 of Torc[uay, built for him, where he was blessed 
 to the salvation of many — specially of the upper 
 classes. Some years later he was seized again with 
 inflammation of the lungs, and had to resign his 
 charge. After a stay in the Riviera, he settled in 
 Bournemouth. Here he held private meetings 
 and gave himself to literary work. He then 
 joined the Church of England, and became a vicar 
 in Dorsetshire. Spiritual blessiugs followed him 
 evcr3^where, and every year added to his published 
 books. As a preacher, his eloquence and sincerity 
 gained for him great respect ; and he was the only 
 Hebrew Christian clergyman, so far as I know, who 
 was invited by the late Dean Stanley to preach 
 in Westminster Abbey, and by Dean Vaughan 
 in the Temple Church. He was appointed "Select 
 Preacher " in the University of Oxford. His large 
 and increasing literary labours induced him to 
 resign his country living, and he removed to 
 Oxford, where he wrote his great work. The Life 
 and Times of the Messiah. He died in 1889. 
 
 In Principal Brown's well-known Memoirs of 
 Dr. Duncan,^ Dr. Smith gives an account of the 
 
 1 See Life of the late John Duncan, LL.D., by David Brown, 
 D.D., pp. 35.3-4. 
 
FRO.GRESS OF THE PESTE MISSIOS. 
 
 progress made by the mission, after Dr. Duncan 
 had left Pesth :— 
 
 The parting with him was painful, but the 
 
 faithful Lord, who had stood by us in similar 
 
 circumstances the year before, kept us from 
 
 despondency ; nor was our confidence misplaced. 
 
 The Word of God grew, and multiplied greatly, 
 
 and the Lord added to the Church, if not daily, 
 
 yet from time to time, such as should be saved. 
 
 The blessins whicli rested on the mission was even 
 
 less conspicuous in the number of converts than 
 
 in the love, harmony, and mutual confidence which 
 
 reigned aniono- them. Strangers who visited us 
 
 from many charters felt, according to their own 
 
 statement, as if, overleaping the lapse of centuries, 
 
 they had suddenly stepped into the midst of the 
 
 Apostolic Church. Mr. Saphir was associated with 
 
 us in the work, and proved by his deep piety, 
 
 his rare humility, and his great learning, a most 
 
 efficient coadjutor., A school was established under 
 
 the auspices of his singularly devoted son Philipp, 
 
 of whose life a sketch is given in a later chajDter, 
 
 which, before the premature death of its founder, 
 
 numbered more than a hundred children, to all of 
 
 whom there was imparted a thoroughly Christian 
 
 education, not only with the consent, but in many 
 
 cases with the most cordial approval, of their 
 
 Jewish parents. A superior class of colporteurs 
 
 or evangelists were trained, and sent into all 
 
 parts of Hungary, meeting, wherever they went, 
 
 with eager inquiries, regarding the strange reports 
 
TRUUBLOUS TIMES. 
 
 of convci'sions iii Pestli, which had peuetratt'd 
 into every corner of the country. Tlie friendly 
 alliance between us and the Protestant pastors 
 of Pesth and Buda, which had been initiated in 
 the time of Dr. Duncan, became more and more 
 intimate. Weekl}'' ministerial conferences were set 
 on foot, which, besides being productive of direct 
 spiritual benefit to these brethren, and to all of 
 us, enabled the mission through them to exercise 
 a powerful, and in some respects even a deter- 
 minino- influence on the welfare of the Protestant 
 Church, during the perilous times that followed. 
 
 These troublous times beoan with the o-reat war 
 of 1849, when the Hungarians, heiided by Kossuth, 
 sought to establish their independence, and Eussia 
 united with Austria, to fight against the [Magyars. 
 Of this period Dr. Smith gives a vivid picture : — 
 
 The years 1848-49 brought great disaster and 
 woe on Hungary. The tide of battle rolled over 
 the land once and again, from the extreme limit 
 of Transylvania to the ver}- gates of Vienna. 
 Wave succeeded wave, sweeping many thousands 
 of victims into eternity. The soil was drenched 
 with blood, and the sword grew weary with 
 slaughter. The fortress of Buda Avas taken and 
 retaken several times by the contending forces. 
 Pesth was three times bombarded. One bomb- 
 shell jDassed right through my own house, and 
 fell into the court behind. Another exploded in 
 my study, and set fire to my furniture and 
 
51 THE FIELDS RIPE UNTO HARVEST. 
 
 books. A state of indescribable confusion pre- 
 vailed throughout the country, and, after the war 
 was concluded, a reign of terror, by arrests and 
 executions, began. 
 
 The missionaries had to retire for a time, but 
 when they returned they found the fields ripe unto 
 harvest : — 
 
 Having lost their earthly treasures, people had 
 begun to long for something less perishable and 
 uncertain. A thirst sprang up for the Word of 
 God such as had never existed in Hungary before. 
 Our work had been interrupted during the war, 
 but now, towards the end of 1849, it was resumed 
 with tenfold results. Our evangelists went forth 
 again on their mission, and the eagerness of the 
 people to possess copies of the Bible was such that 
 for a time our supply ran short, and we could not 
 meet the demand. 
 
 But while this blessed work was going on, the 
 clouds begun to lower over our heads. The Aus- 
 trian Government, after wavering for a time, now 
 finally determined the course of its future policy. 
 It was resolved to carry matters with a high hand, 
 to bid defiance to public opinion, to suppress the 
 last remains of public liberty, and, above all, to 
 throw the whole education of the country into the 
 hands of the Jesuits. . . . The principle of free 
 inquiry asserted by Protestants made them pecu- 
 liarly obnoxious to the Government. . . . The 
 measures adopted against the Lutheran and Ee- 
 formed Churches became every day harsher and 
 
EXPULSION OF THE MISSION ARIE!^. 55 
 
 more tyrannical. . . . We had meanwhile been 
 pursuing our usual course quietly and unosten- 
 tatiously. AVe could not expect this state of 
 things to last, and felt, but too truly, that the end 
 was at hand. At length the thunder-cloud burst 
 on our heads in the first week of January 1852. 
 We were ordered to leave the country Avitliin ten 
 days, and all efforts to prevent this being enforced 
 proved vain. 
 
 A thousand cords, which bound us to a land 
 where we had seen so many marvels of God's 
 grace, to its Church, to individuals, to brethren 
 dearly and tenderly loved, were at once and 
 violently snapped asunder. The desolation of 
 heart I felt in that hour I cannot describe. There 
 was an agony in it which I had never known 
 before, an agony which increased as we began to 
 dismantle our happy home ; and its bare cheerless 
 walls became a picture of our own hearts. That 
 Sabbath was devoted to visiting our little flock in 
 their own houses. The chapel was closed by order 
 of the Government, so that we could not take 
 leave of them in public. A spy was prowling 
 about the door, to see if any one entered it. What 
 a contrast to the days Avhen with gladsome step 
 we were wont to ascend into the house of God, to 
 behold His beauty in His sanctuary ! On a dreary 
 winter morning, between four and five, we started 
 on our journey. The last faces I saw were those of 
 two Hungarian pastors, with a look on them which 
 went to my very heart. Thus ended our ten 
 
56 OLD MB. SAPHIR'S PEACEFUL END. 
 
 years' sojourn in the capital of Hungary. We had 
 been brought thither by the hand of God ; we were 
 driven thence by the malice of Satan. 
 
 Mter the expulsion of the missionaries old Mr. 
 Saphir continued to act, from 1852 to 1861, as 
 agent of the mission of the Free Church to the Jews 
 in Pesth, under the recognized official guidance of 
 Superintendent Torok, who took the deepest interest 
 in the work. In the school, Mr. Saphir had about 
 six or eight teachers under hiiu, and about 300 
 to 400 children in attendance. He conducted a 
 service in his own room on the Sundays. He 
 died in 1864, at the age of eighty -four, peacefully 
 and joyfully resting in Jesus, the Messiah, the 
 Saviour, and the King of Israel. 
 
 In 1861 Ml'. Van Andel was appointed mission- 
 ary, and in 1863 Mr. Konig. The obstacles were 
 then removed. For the last twenty years the 
 Eev. Andrew Moody, the nephew of Dr. Moody 
 Stuart, has carried on the work with great interest. 
 Mr. Moody writes : — " The school founded by 
 Philip Saphir forty-six years ago, and of which I 
 have charge, has become, as you are aware, a 
 very large institution. We enrolled last year 511 
 pupils. The aged father, Israel Saphir, was still 
 alive when I arrived in this city in 1864. I saw 
 him before he died. When I asked him if he 
 remembered Dr. Duncan, he said, laying his hand 
 on his heart, ' I have him here ! ' A considerable 
 number of Jews and Jewesses, old and youno-, 
 
WIDESPREAD INFLUENCE UF MISSION. 57 
 
 have been baptized in connection with our mission 
 during the last three years." 
 
 Few missions, either Jewish or other, have had so 
 remarkable a history or so widespread an influence 
 as that of Pesth. It gave an impetus to Jewish 
 missions, the effect of which will never pass away, 
 and among its other manifold results, produced 
 Adolph Saphir. 
 
58 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ADOLPH'S EDUCATION IN BERLIN. 
 
 Adolph in Edinburgh — Mrs. Duncan — Education in Berlin, 
 1844 to 1848 — Attends the Gymnasium — Eeligious Diffi- 
 culties — Letter to Mr. Wingate — Becomes acquainted 
 ■with the Kev. Theodore Meyer — Happy Influence of this 
 Friendship — Effect of his Difficulties on his future Doctrine 
 and Teaching. 
 
 ADOLPH spent half a year in 1843-44, together 
 with Edersheim and Tomory, in the house of 
 Dr. Duncan in Edinburgh, where he improved in 
 health, and acquired a good knowledge of English. 
 Here he enjoyed the truly motherly care of Mrs. 
 Duncan, who had been an immense help to her 
 husband in his work in Hungary. Mr. Tomory 
 thus describes her : — Her sweet and powerful influ- 
 (ince was felt by all. She was devoted, kind, and 
 affable ; well fitted for the important position and 
 the great opportunities which the Head of the 
 Church vouchsafed to them. Along with devoted- 
 ness and piety she was possessed of singularly good 
 sense and practical wisdom ; fitted in every way 
 to be a mother in Israel. She did great service 
 to the Church in taking care of the Doctor during 
 
ADOLPH IN EDINBURGH. 59 
 
 his labours in Pesth ; and after he accepted the call 
 to the Professorship in Edinburgh, she took her full 
 share of the work and the responsibilities, and 
 we felt her kindness towards us. She had a 
 smile and a word of counsel for us all. She was 
 beloved by all, and very popular. I will ever 
 remember v/ith thankfulness that the Lord gave 
 me the precious opportunity of living under the 
 roof of Dr. and j\Irs. Duncan. What many a 
 minister owes to a godly mother, the Lord granted 
 me to enjoy as a stranger in a strange land, 
 through the kindness and wisdom of that singu- 
 larly devoted mother in Israel. Edersheim, Adolph 
 Saphir, and myself lived with them during the 
 first session after the Disruption. What a heavy 
 charge, to have three young inexperienced youths 
 to deal with ! — but her kind and judicious ways 
 made it all easy. She had an eye upon our 
 comfort and upon our studies, Scotticizing us, 
 and imbuing us with good principles. Her in- 
 fluence over us was paramount. 
 
 After his stay in Edinburgh Adolph went to 
 Berlin, to the house of the Rev. Charles Schwartz, 
 who had married his eldest sister. Mr. Schwartz 
 had just arrived there from Constantinople as a 
 Jewish missionary of the Free Church of Scotland, 
 and it was considered best that Adolph should be 
 with his relatives, as he was still only in his 
 thirteenth year. In Berlin he could go on with 
 his education uninterruptedly, because German was 
 to him his mother tongue, which he had spoken 
 
60 SENT TO BERLIN. 
 
 from infancy, and in which he had received his 
 early education. He was to the last more eloquent 
 and telling in German than even in English, and 
 in conversation, whenever he was deeply interested, 
 he loved best to speak in German. He speaks 
 thus himself as to his education in Berlin: — "After 
 six months at Edinburgh, where I stayed at the 
 house of the learned and pious Orientalist and 
 expositor, Dr. John Duncan, and acquired the 
 English language, I was sent to my brother-in-law, 
 the Kev. Charles (afterwards Dr.) Schwartz, who 
 at that time was working in Berlin, as Jewish 
 missionary of the Free Church of Scotland. In 
 Berlin I attended a public school for three years 
 and a half. Towards the end of this time I was 
 removed into the upper fifth form, having obtained 
 the highest number of marks. It was my wish 
 to finish the prescribed course at Berlin, but my 
 brother-in-law left for Amsterdam, and I was 
 compelled to go to Scotland, where I had friends 
 who took a kindly interest in me. I was then in 
 my seventeenth year." 
 
 In Berlin he attended the Gymnasium, from 
 1844 to 1848. This portion of his life, from the 
 age of thirteen to seventeen, was very important as 
 a preparation for his future career. He acquired 
 a thorough knowledge not only of German liter- 
 ature, but also of German philosophy, as Hegel- 
 ianism, which enabled him to understand easily, 
 in after years, the source and weakness of much 
 of the half-fledged Rationalism which has reached 
 
LETTER TO MR. WING ATE. 61 
 
 this country and affected so mufh various branches 
 of theology. Much of his power in combating 
 unbelief arose from the ordeal through which he 
 passed in these Berlin years. He never lost his 
 spiritual confidence and his Christian faith, but he 
 passed through many sharp conflicts and dark and 
 gloomy experiences. 
 
 Before referring to this, we may quote from 
 an affectionate letter, written to Mr. Wingate. It 
 is dated near the end of his Berlin sojourn — 
 
 " Having the opportunity of sending my hearty love to yon, 
 and my hearty thanks for your last kind letter, by my dear 
 parents, I cannot avoid embracing it. I have great joy to 
 see, by your kind note, that you have not yet forgotten me, 
 and that you, who have instructed me in the doctrines of the 
 blessed Gospel, and by whom it pleased God to bring salvation 
 nigh vmto me, remember me still before the Throne of Grace. 
 Often do I think, with a joyful and grateful mind, on those 
 sweet and precious hours in which you explained to me the 
 way of salvation, in which you read with me the Gospel of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, told me of His love and mercy to poor 
 sinners, and invited me to be reconciled with God, by faith in 
 the crucified and risen Messiah. 
 
 " I often think back on that blessed time, important for 
 my whole life, when the Lord in His grace and mercy called 
 us out of darkness into His wonderful light, brought us from 
 death in trespasses and sins to a life in Him in whom there is 
 all life and all light. And as you are my father in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and as by you God has converted me to His 
 glad and free-making Gospel, I feel the desire to write and 
 tell you all concerning me, as I cannot have the privilege of 
 personal intercourse." The letter thus concludes — ■" I am 
 getting on very well in my studies, and my wish and desire 
 is that I may be one day able to do something in Christ's 
 kingdom, and be of some use in bringing nigh salvation to 
 the lost sheep of the House of Israel. May the Lord prepare 
 
62 BECOMES ACQUAINTED WITH MEYER. 
 
 me for His work, may He honour me to labour in His vine- 
 yard, and to proclaim the glad tidings of Zion, 
 
 " Your most grateful and affectionate, 
 
 " Adolph Saphik. 
 
 "Berlin, August 20, 1847. 
 "Eev. "W. "Wingate, Pesth, Hungauy." 
 
 It was ill 1847 that lie became acquainted with 
 the Rev. Theodore Meyer/ who to the end of his 
 life was one of the most loved of his friends. 
 Mr. Meyer, who had been a Jewish Rabbi in 
 Mecklenburg at Schwerin Butzow, but whose eyes 
 had been opened to the truth, came to Berlin, 
 where he was warmly received by Neander, Heng- 
 stenberg, and other well-known theologians of the 
 period, and where he acquired distinction as a 
 scholar, in the ranks of men noted for their 
 scholarship. Dr. Hengstenberg introduced Meyer 
 to Schwartz, and at Schwartz's house, Meyer met 
 the young Adolph, then nearly sixteen years of age, 
 and a pupil in the upper class of the G5^miiasiuni. 
 They were at once attracted to each other. Meyer 
 was struck with the thoughtfulness, genius, and 
 sincerity of Saphir, and young Saphir found in 
 Meyer a friend to whom he could freely unbosom 
 himself. Soon Meyer became his Hebrew teacher, 
 and was constantly with him, introducing him to 
 circles which, being still so young and not a 
 University student, he could not himself have 
 entered. 
 
 This friendship was to Adolph of much ini- 
 
 1 Now Jewish missionary of the English Presbyterian 
 Church in London. 
 
.UEYER'S HAPPY INFLUENCE. 
 
 portance, for Meyer found him in a state of con- 
 siderable anxiety and depression. He had not lost 
 his faith, which had been so bright at the time 
 of his conversion ; but it was clouded over by the 
 influences around him. The whole atmosphere of 
 the Gymnasium was rationalistic. Hegelianism, 
 Pantheism, everything tending to unbelief in the 
 Divine and supernatural, seemed to be in the 
 very air breathed by the teachers and the abler 
 pupils. Religion was generally at a low ebb 
 in Berlin, and the Jewish families with whom 
 he associated were intensely worldly and almost 
 materialistic. For a youth of philosophic insight 
 and ability, who could appreciate the attractions 
 of the Hegelian philosophy, and of Pantheism ' 
 generally, and could look at things from their 
 standpoint, this was no ordinary trial. A less 
 profound mind would have been less aS'ected. 
 Divine grace within, and the experiences he had 
 had of the intense reality of his relations with 
 God in Christ, struggled against it, but the 
 struggle was severe, and it is quite possible that 
 it might have undermined his delicate constitution, 
 if he had not met with a friend with whom he had 
 thorough sympathy, to whom he could unbosom 
 himself, who could understand him and enter with 
 him into the philosophical speculations, and yet 
 help to remove away the clouds that troubled him. 
 He thus refers to this struggle in a letter, dealing 
 with Broad-Churchism, written to a friend in 1877 : 
 — "I passed for several years through many doubts 
 
64 EFFECT OF HIS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 and phases, and was exposed to very ' broad ' and 
 even pantheistic influences, and I remember that I 
 was often irritated by severe and impatient orthodox 
 treatment. Tlae reading of Scrip tm-e and of Pascal's 
 Pensees, and the friendship of a few really godly 
 Christians dispelled the mists. I have a great 
 horror of the sweetest, modified, and rationalized 
 Christianity a Id, Dean Stanley, &c., although I 
 know that excellent men have felt drawn into it. 
 But I think that they have still the quintessence 
 of the old views sustaining them." And again 
 he writes to the same correspondent, " I suffered 
 for years from the teaching of Schleiermacher's 
 disciples when I was about seventeen." 
 
 This experience of Saphir's in the depths — his 
 thorough understanding of the Pantheistic philo- 
 sophy — had, no doubt, in God's providence, a great 
 influence on Ms future, enabling him to take a 
 broad and philosophic view of things, and to resist 
 the subtle influences of a system, which indirectly 
 perplexes multitudes who do not understand the 
 sources or the philosophy. One traces in the 
 writings of Saphir that he sees far beneath the 
 surface, that he comprehends clearly the connecting- 
 links, and that he maintains the Divine authority 
 of Scripture throughout, not because he does not 
 appreciate the questions raised, but because he 
 understands them so thoroughly that he at once 
 traces influences destructive of Christianity, as a 
 Divine religion, where many theologians, less pro- 
 found, become bewildered in minutije. 
 
65 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 PHILIPP SAPHIR AND HIS SISTER ELIZABETH. 
 
 Memoir of Philipp written by Adolph when a Student in 
 Edinburgh — Philipp's early Carelessness and Worldliness 
 — Conversion and Baptism — Training at Carlsruhe — Deli- 
 cacy — Intense Sufferings — Starting Young Men's Society 
 — Opening of School for Jewish Children — Its Great 
 Success — His Joyful Death — Elizabeth Saphir described by 
 her Sister. 
 
 I^^ULLY to appreciate the blessed results of the 
 conversion of the Saphir household, we must 
 not overlook the devoted career of the elder brother 
 Philipp, who is mentioned in the earlier chapters. 
 His memoir, written by Adolph when a student 
 in Edinburgh, is of remarkable interest. A Life 
 so devoted and so nobly spent for the good of 
 those around him, in the midst of great physical 
 suffering and depression, we have seldom read. It 
 is a beautiful life. We give some of the leading 
 features as brought out in his brother Adolph's 
 narrative, which is of thrilling interest throughout, 
 and shows how, when there is a burning zeal for 
 Christ, all impossibilities vanish. 
 
 Although he received a good education at home, 
 the temptations of the world proved too strong 
 
66 THE STATE OF RELIGION PICTURED. 
 
 for Philipp, and he led a careless and wild life. 
 Yet he found no lasting happiness in worldly joys 
 and sins, and at times a strong reaction would take 
 place. Kesolutions of improvement were formed. 
 Sometimes he turned to the strict observance of 
 the Jewish laws and institutions, at other times 
 he felt attracted by the grandeur of the Romish 
 Church, and its outward show of devotion. 
 
 On the one hand, the unmeaning, often hypo- 
 critical, at best lifeless, formalism and orthodoxy 
 of the strict Jews could produce no other effect 
 than that of repelling him, and impressing him 
 with the feeling that in these antiquated forms 
 there was no spirit, and that these ceremonies were 
 not the indices of a holy and devoted life ; while, 
 on the other hand, the hollow infidelity, the un- 
 defined morality, the witty scorn of all positive 
 religion which characterized the young, talented, 
 and gifted, while they attracted him, inspired no 
 principle, strength, or object of life. Again, the 
 Christian population was without light, and dead. 
 Christianity had become a lifeless form. Christ 
 was never shown to him. Gay life, amusements 
 of every kind, less of an intellectual than a merely 
 carnal and sensual nature, seemed to form the 
 centre of the life of those so-called Christians. 
 But, with all the coldness and death which pre- 
 vailed in the synagogue, the Old Testament was 
 there read and taught, and its morality, however 
 deficiently apprehended, was inculcated ; and, hx 
 afflictions sent on the whole population and his 
 
MEMOIR OF PHILIPr SAPHIE. (i7 
 
 family iii particular, God prepared his heart for 
 the reception of the truth. 
 
 When Philipp was fifteen years old a terrible in- 
 undation took place at Pesth. The water in places 
 reached the height of ten feet, and stood on a level 
 with the windows of the second storey. JMany 
 buildings fell, and there was great loss of life. He 
 was especially active, and saved many lives and 
 much property. This event made a deep impres- 
 sion, and prepared the way for more solemn 
 convictions. 
 
 In 1842, about a year after the establishment 
 of the mission, the Rev. C. Schwartz visited Pesth 
 on his way to Constantinople, and was detained 
 there for some weeks. He addressed many Jews 
 in German, and produced a great impression, 
 among others, on Philipp Saphir, then nineteen 
 years of age. The light broke in upon him. He 
 Avrote to Mr. Schwartz, after his departure: — "I 
 thank God daily for having sent you to us, and 
 for having incliued my heart to receive the message 
 you brought, and to enter in at the straight gate 
 which leads to God. . . . I feel the strength and 
 joy of the Holy Spirit ; so do also my sister and 
 brother." He longed also for others. " One thought 
 gives me much pain and distress. What will 
 become of your parents, your relatives, your 
 people ? Mr. Smith and Mr. Wingate seek most 
 earnestly to lead me to salvation. I cnnnot pray 
 enough for them." 
 
 All associated with him remarked that he Avas 
 
68 PHILIPFS BAPTISM. 
 
 altogether a changed being. He sought the 
 direction of God in all he undertook, and the Word 
 of God was his delight. But nothing was more 
 manifest than the consciousness of sin and weak- 
 ness, and the remembrance of sins which, although 
 he believed them to be forgiven of God, could not 
 yet be forgotten by himself. This consciousness 
 gave him that modesty and humility which so 
 characterized him. 
 
 On Tuesday, April 4, 1843, he was baptized 
 in the Calvinistic church of Pesth, by the super- 
 intendent, the Rev. Paul Torok. He wrote two 
 days after to Mr. Schwartz : — Tuesday was the 
 most important day in my life. I was admitted 
 into the Church of Christ. I cannot describe my 
 feelings to you. Ah ! the infinite love of God ! 
 He has given me much peace. Nothing will de- 
 prive me of it. I am happy, joyful ; my soul is 
 with God. I praise Christ every hour. I regard 
 my life only as one single point, and have death 
 continually in view ; therefore I lay myself into 
 Christ's arms every evening, so that, if it should 
 be my last sleep, I may fall asleep in the Lord. 
 This is now my j oy ; but the week before my 
 baptism I thought upon almost nothing else but 
 my sins. I looked back upon my past life. I 
 was quite overpowered by the thought of Christ's 
 redeeming love, and I wept and repented, and God 
 has wiped away my tears, and I have heard His 
 voice, " Be of good cheer, My sou, thy sins are 
 forgiven thee." 
 
PHILIPP'S TRAINING. 69 
 
 On the Sunday following he received for the 
 first time the Lord's Supper. A few days after 
 he left Pesth for Carlsruhe, to be trained as a 
 teacher, having an ardent desire to be useful in 
 spreading the truth among his countrymen. He 
 })egan his studies in the Carlsruhe Seminary for 
 teachers, with great diligence and earnestness. He 
 worked from five in the morning till nine at night 
 with scarcely any interruption, and thus under- 
 mined his constitution. He met with many pious 
 friends, with whom he had refreshing intercourse, 
 and continued to grow in the grace and the know- 
 ledge of Jesus Christ. Xt this time he wrote to a 
 near relative who was then very sad and depressed, 
 '•'Let cares become prayers. Luther says, a man 
 who does not cast his care upon Christ is a dead 
 and rejected man. Therefore, as a good soldier 
 of Christ, bear those afflictions patiently, and 
 overcome them." In his papers of that summer 
 he often renewed the covenant he made with God 
 in baptism. Before the end of the year he became 
 ill through over-study. The submissiveness of his 
 spirit and Christian joy in his illness are remarkably 
 shown in these words, quoted from a letter written 
 to his parents in Dec. 1843: — "It is my duty to 
 inform you of what the Lord in His great love has 
 done to me. I will tell you, with a humble heart, 
 that confesses itself guilty and deserving of 
 chastisement, the afflictions which our wise and 
 gracious God has sent me, — and my lips will be 
 opened to praise Him. It would be my greatest 
 
70 PHILIPFS SUBMISSION UNDER SUFFERING. 
 
 comfort to know, that like children of God, to 
 whom all things work together for good, you will 
 regard this also as a proof of the love of Jesus, 
 and will be able, without murmuring and 
 questioning, to submit cheerfully to God, who 
 loves us so much." " Shall I be able," he says 
 at the close, " to complete my studies ? Ah ! my 
 joy in the prospect of being a teacher was perhaps 
 too great." 
 
 His journal in 1844 is full of deep humility 
 and earnest devotedness of heart to God ; self- 
 examination the more searching because the light 
 was burning so brightly within — the light of the 
 Spirit. In December of that year he again 
 became ill, and from this time he lived, with but 
 little interruption, a life of sickness and pain. 
 
 In his diary we find a prayer, of which the 
 following is a portion : — " I thank Thee from the 
 bottom of my heart for this punishment, and but 
 one thing now I request of Thee — that Thy holy 
 and good Spirit may effect in me Thy purpose ; 
 that Thy disciple may recover in body and mind ; 
 that this sickness may be unto life eternal. . . 
 Lord Jesus, I hear Thy Amen. If I die, I will see 
 and praise Thee. If I recover, the rest of my life 
 will flow a stream of gratitude, spent in Thy 
 service to the honour of Thy name." 
 
 He wrote at the same time to the Rev. C. 
 Schwartz : — " Now I learn how God loves me. I 
 can only thank God for this illness. I am very 
 ill, weak, and thin. I think I will go home to my 
 
A YOUNO MEN'S SUGIETY. 
 
 Lord and Saviour. I look forward to my end 
 with joy." 
 
 He had to return to Pesth in 1845. His illness 
 
 increased. But his confidence in God never 
 
 wavered. His energetic nature could not endure 
 
 idleness and inactivity. A union of believers, 
 
 especially of such as were in the strength and 
 
 vigour of youth, for their mutual advancement in 
 
 Christ, and for the sowing of the seed of Christ 
 
 in every possible way, suggested itself as the best 
 
 work he could do. He called round him a meetino- 
 
 of Christian young men, who entered heartily into 
 
 his idea, and a Young Men's Society was constituted, 
 
 on the folldwino- basis. 1. It was to be called The 
 
 Society of Young Men. 2. Its object was to 
 
 propagate the Kingdom of God, especially among 
 
 young men, also to assist brethren in distress, 
 
 and inquirers after truth. 3. The means to be 
 
 employed were to be reading of the Word of God, 
 
 prayers, and contributions. 4. The Society was 
 
 to meet three times a week for reading and 
 
 prayer. 5. Only true, earnest-hearted Christians 
 
 were to be invited to join as members ; but they 
 
 were to try to bring in young men to the meetings. 
 
 6. There was to be a weekly collection on Saturdays; 
 
 and 7. there were to be annual reports, with 
 
 accounts of the finances. 
 
 This Society, so well and wisely organized, proved 
 a great blessing, and gave Philipp much joy, cheer- 
 ing him in his suffering, and making him glad in 
 doing work for Christ. 
 
72 PHILIPPS VIEWS OF CHRISTIAN TRUTH. 
 
 His views of Christian truth were exceedingly 
 clear, like those of his brother Adolph. He 
 writes : — 
 
 " I do not merely say I try to be a Christian, but 
 I say I know it, and the Lord knows it. I am a 
 Christian. . . . God makes us His children by His 
 grace through the merit of Christ. Every Christian 
 has this adoption — I, as much as Moses, Paul, 
 Peter. It is Cod's gift. But the full appropriation 
 of God's gift, the sanctification of the soul, is 
 difterent in different individuals, and complete only 
 in heaven. . . . When the work of sanctification is 
 most prosperous, they will seek the oftener to see 
 God's grace in Christ the crucified. . . . Yes, a 
 child of God is and remains a child of God, in good 
 days and evil days, in bright days and dark days, 
 under lively and under dull feelings, in the storm 
 and stress of temptation, yea, even in his fall. 
 Winds, waves, mists, will not rob him of this faith. 
 I am a child of God." 
 
 When lying on his bed of weakness, Philipp 
 thought whether he could not promote in some 
 further way the glory and the Kingdom of Christ. 
 "How happy would I be," he says in his diary, 
 " if Christ intended to do anything through me, a 
 poor, weak man ! 0, my God, make me a blessing 
 on this bed of suffering and illness ! " 
 
 " When I considered," he writes, " that my 
 illness would probably be very long, I thought — 
 Could you not do something during the time of 
 trial for Him who did so much for you ? So 
 
PHILIPP BEGINS A ,^(JHV0L. 73 
 
 I thought of children, and teaching them, and 
 I began with one boy at my bedside. In a few 
 days I had five, seven, ten ; to-day, I have thirty 
 children, about ten girls and the rest boys — a school, 
 you see. I have taught them now for a month ; 
 and as Dr. Keith and ilr. Grant, from Scotland, 
 passed through, they examined the children, to the 
 great satisfaction of our friends." 
 
 He wrote thus to Dr. Duncan : — " In fourteen 
 or fifteen days I had twenty-three children sitting 
 before my bed — fourteen Jewish and nine Christian. 
 I can scarcely describe my feelings as I commenced 
 instruction. It was soon evident that the Bible 
 lessons made an impression on the children. The 
 boys and girls learned with such love and zeal, that 
 I was able to hold an examiuation. . . I must 
 inform you that I never asked any of the parents 
 to entrust their children to my care. Had I 
 possessed the wish to do so, my lameness and 
 crutches would have prevented me. The parents, 
 as soon as they heard from others that I meant to 
 give instruction to poor children gratis, sent their 
 children to me. As my school increased, I was 
 obliged to change my lodging for one more 
 commodious. I was anxious to provide myself 
 with the means necessary for carrying it on. 
 These, with the excej^tion of some books from 
 Germany, which I eagerly wait for, were speedilj- 
 procured, and I was enabled to open the school 
 with fifty-two children. There were eight Pro- 
 testants, twenty-one Jewish boys, and twenty- 
 
74 JEWISH OPPOSITION TO SCHOOL. 
 
 three Jewish girls. I made a point of speaking 
 personally with the parents, in order to ascertain 
 whether the children had their apj)roval, when they 
 came to me. I immediately drew their attention 
 to the fact that I was no longer a Jew, but a 
 Christian who believed in Jesus as the Messiah 
 that was already come, and that therefore my 
 school was a Christian school. 'I teach,' said I, 
 ' the Evangelical doctrine as I find it revealed in 
 the Word of God, and I teach the same whether 
 my pupils be Jews or Christians. My chief object 
 is to lead the children to reverence and love God ; 
 if you do not object to the doctrines of Christianity, 
 I joyfully receive your children.' I was obliged 
 to speak in this manner, as I easily foresaw that if 
 I did not take this precaution I would be accused, 
 in the event of my encountering opposition from 
 the hostility of the Jews." 
 
 Thus nobly and honestly, on his sick-bed, did 
 he carry on his work. Jewish opposition was 
 aroused, and the numbers fell in one day from 
 fifty-three to twenty-two ; but the children soon 
 began to come back. Of this time he says — " A 
 boy, when he heard he could not be sent to the 
 school again, began to weep bitterly." " I have 
 a little Jewish girl in the school, who will not be 
 called anything but a Christian. "When a Jew 
 told her the other day that Jesus was not God, 
 she began to cry, and accused the unbeliever to 
 her mother." His liberality of view is illustrated 
 in the following : — " A mother came with her 
 
PEOGBESS OF PHILIPFS SCHOOL. 
 
 daughter, and told me that the Rabbi had preached 
 against me, and forbidden the parents to send their 
 children. ' Is not this very bad 1 ' ' No,' said I, 
 ' he acts conscientiously as his conviction commands 
 him. He is a Jew, I am a Christian ; he does 
 not wish to see Jewish children attracted by 
 Christianity.' ' Never mind,' replied she ; ' be so 
 good as to receive my children into your school.' " 
 " The Jewish children give me more satisfaction 
 than the others. They put so many questions, 
 almost always sensible ones, and sometimes with 
 such deep meaning that I am quite astonished. 
 Many of the little ones rejoice in Christ. At 
 home the children read the Bible and pray." A 
 service was instituted for Jewish children on the 
 Lord's Day, and many attended and listened 
 attentively. 
 
 " It is impossible," says Adolph iu the Maiaoir, 
 ' ' to describe the delight and happiness which he 
 felt in teaching these poor children. Philipp was 
 naturally very lively and playful, not only fond 
 of children, but able and willing to descend to 
 their standpoint and become a child to them. 
 His hearty interest in them, his symjjathy with 
 them, and his youthful vivacity and cheerfulness 
 gained him the afiection and love of his pupils," 
 
 The following characteristics remind us of Adolph 
 himself : — " What he knew, and wished to com- 
 municate, he stated plainly, concisely, and directly. 
 He was gifted, moreover, with a lively imagination, 
 and apprehended facts not merely abstractly with 
 
76 EX(jELLENGY OF PHILIPPH TEACHING. 
 
 his reason, but with the mind's eye, picturing them 
 to himself distinctly and vividly." He adds : — 
 "The chief excellency of his teaching consisted in 
 his believing and acting upon the principle that to 
 educate children is to train their hearts to know 
 and love God, and that this object is not only to 
 be kept in view in the specific religious instruction, 
 but to be remembered in every lesson that is 
 taught." 
 
 In the meantime the Young Men's Society which 
 Philipp had instituted continued to prosper. 
 Twenty pounds were raised in the first year, in 
 connection with it, chiefly to assist those in need ; 
 and the meetings on Sundays and Thursdays to 
 study the Bible were most refreshing. 
 
 In June 1847 he had to leave Pesth for a time 
 to take the baths at Posteng in the north of 
 Hungary. He was away a month, and all the 
 time he was active in missionary work, especi- 
 ally among the Jews. At Pressburg, where he 
 had formerly resided, he spoke to many of the 
 Jews he had known before. " On one occasion," he 
 writes, " a crowd gathered, and one woman began 
 to speak to me. I saw in her face bitter hatred 
 and anger. I am thankful I was able to speak 
 with her in meekness and love. She called mc 
 hypocrite and apostate, and began to describe 
 my death-bed hours, which, she said, would be 
 terrible, on account of the remorse I would then 
 feel for having denied ni}- faith. I waited till she 
 had finished this violent oration, and then told her 
 
PHILIPFS CHRISTIAN WORK. 
 
 a few things about the love of Jesus, and asked hev 
 to think them over. I went away full of comfort, 
 remembering the words of Christ, ' Blessed are ye 
 when men shall revile you for My sake.' " 
 
 There is a quiet humour in the following : — " I 
 was speaking to another Jewess on the coming of 
 the Messiah, as promised hj God to our fathers. 
 She thought it a sufficient answer that, as a woman 
 she knew nothing, could not know anything, ought 
 not to know anything, was not intended by God 
 to know anything. But although she professed so 
 frankly her entire ignorance, she showed herself 
 exceedingly learned and skilful in reviling and 
 scoldino- me. Yet I made her listen to the truth." 
 Of the crass ignorance of the people an example is 
 given : — " Another woman, to whom I had given 
 a Bible, asked me whether I was the author of the 
 Book ; a Jewess ! — one of that nation to whom 
 pertain the glory and the covenants, and the giving 
 of the Law." 
 
 He thus yearns over his people : — " Oh, Israel, 
 how is thine eye covered with a veil ; and thy 
 heart also ! Eend thy heart, and not thy gar- 
 ments ; turn to Him who alone can say a powerful 
 Ephphatha to thy closed eye and heart." And then, 
 remembering his own past : — " Ah, I feel such an 
 ardent desire to testify of the truth in this city, 
 where I led such a godless life." He gives many 
 examples of the ignorance of the Jews, and of their 
 materialism. To them he seemed a strange phe- 
 nomenon ; because of the Christians so called, none 
 
PHILIPP'S SUFFERINGS. 
 
 si3oke as he did. They were still great in cere- 
 monies, but had nothing else. " To-day is Sabbath. 
 Wherein consists the sanctification of this day 
 among the Jews ? It consists in three points — 
 They wear a three-cornered hat, a blue frock-coat, 
 and velvet pantaloons. The Jews are the same 
 during the week as to-day ; only their dress is 
 symbolical of a difference between the days." 
 
 It was his delight to do good, and to speak 
 about Christ ; it was no trouble to him ; it came 
 spontaneously. Wherever he was, he sought 
 anxiously, to find an opportunity of telling those 
 around him what was to him the life and treasure 
 of his soul. 
 
 He returned to Pesth in July, none the better, 
 but rather the worse, for the baths. He was then 
 subjected to terrible tortures by a surgeon probing 
 the wounds in his legs. Agonizing pain continued 
 afterwards, but he bore it patiently. " I suffer," he 
 says, " intense pain, but I have resolved not to say 
 much about it. Let me suffer in silence and solitude 
 till it pleases God to send me deliverance." Again : — 
 " My wounds are burned every day with caustic 
 stone, and they heed not my cries. I wish I 
 could bear the pain more patiently in those terrible 
 moments. God has driven me into deep straits, 
 but, thanks to Him, He is educating me for heaven. 
 His ways are dark. So long as we are down here 
 in this valley, it is impossible to have a clear view 
 of God's plans or ways ; but from the summit of 
 the mountain we shall be able to see it all, and 
 
PHILIPP'S CARE FOR CHILDREN. 70 
 
 to see how, in every step and turn ■which (lod 
 caused us to make, there was Avisdom, blessing, 
 and love." 
 
 He recovered a little, and at last, in October, he 
 got back to his school, which was in a bad state, 
 but soon rallied under his care. He thus speaks of 
 his pupils- — "I spoke with them, one by one, read 
 with them God's Word, and prayed with them, 
 and every word of warning I gave them applied, 
 I felt, as much to myself as to them. So we con- 
 fessed our sins together, teacher and pupils, and 
 sought God's help. One of the children, a boy 
 of eight, died after a few days' illness, giving all 
 evidence of his faith in Christ. A little brother, 
 a year younger, speedily followed, with like faith. 
 This produced a great effect among the children 
 — Jewish children — who began to carry the light 
 to their homes." 
 
 The care and solicitude, sa)'s his brother, with 
 which we v,'atched the progress and development 
 of the children, who, in such a wonderful way, 
 were committed to his training ; the attention 
 and diligjence which he bestowed on their educa- 
 tion ; the joy which he felt on seeing a new Divine 
 life springing up in the hearts of many of them, 
 and the anxiety with which he endeavoured to 
 cherish and foster the tender plant, made him 
 forget in some measure the pain he then suffered, 
 and helped him to bear the heavy affliction with 
 which God had visited him. The only bright 
 gleam of light, in those dark days of suffering, was 
 
80 PHILIPFS INCREASED SUFFERINGS. 
 
 to see the love of Christ attracting and saving the 
 children, in whom he felt such a heart interest. 
 
 But his sufferings were soon to increase, and 
 the ensuing winter brought him days of severer 
 pain, of deeper agony, both in body and soul, than 
 he ever had before. In the end of January 1848, 
 these increased sufferings began, and the physician, 
 in probing the wound again, gave the fatal news 
 that the bone was affected, and that the complaint 
 was incurable. The return of the sj)ring had a 
 favourable influence, and although the local pain 
 had not decreased, yet with great exertion he 
 recommenced his school, and to his intense delight 
 had about 120 children. In the view that the 
 latter part of his life was to be spent in quiet 
 and blessed labour among the children, he felt 
 comfort, gladness, and cheerfulness. 
 
 But suddenly, in that year of turmoil and social 
 earthquakes, there broke out the calamitous 
 Hungarian war. In May of the next year, 1849, 
 Pesth was bombarded. Many had to flee. One 
 of the children in his bed was killed by a bomb. 
 Philipp became weaker and weaker, but his faith 
 filled him with joy. He wrote to his brother : — 
 " Dear good Brother, — Only a few words. God 
 has laid me on a bed of sickness, from which I 
 will not rise again. So rejoice to know that I will 
 be redeemed, freed from pain, saved — saved from 
 care ! I will be with Christ. What joy and delight ! 
 I am ready to de|)art ; I rejoice in God. Pray for 
 me. My wliolo body is ruined, In heaven there will 
 
s 
 
 PHILIP]'' S JOYFUL DEATH. Rl 
 
 he no pain. I praise the Lamb slain for ns. S.(i 
 farewell." And to his brother-in-law jMr. Schwartz 
 he wrote jubilantly : — " I am happy. God ha. 
 done great things for me. My body is decaying, 
 but my inner man lives and grows. I am weak 
 and miserable, scorched with the heat of affliction, 
 but within I am strong in my God, and rich in 
 Him who became poor for me. Heat tnkes away 
 the dross, and prepares a transcendent joy. I wait 
 patiently, and keep cjuiet under His hand. I do 
 not dread to die ; the death Conc[ueror has taken 
 away the sting of death. I long to be freed from 
 the body of sin ; I long after the house not made 
 with hands, eternal in the heavens.'' These letters 
 were written in Jul}^ His sufferings increased till 
 it pleased God to call him to Himself on September 
 27, 1849. 
 
 His father wrote Adolph after his death an 
 account of his last illness, when he was racked 
 with pain but was calm and quiet and patient. 
 During his illness he spoke with the Jews who 
 visited him, about the Kingdom of God. On the 
 night previous to his death he was quite sleepless, 
 and as he noticed his sister Elizabeth crying ho 
 called, embraced, and kissed her. " Why do you 
 weep ? " he said. " Look at me. I am a great deal 
 better now. The Lord Jesus, our Saviour, is 
 gracious, and of great mercy. Be of good cheer ; 
 trust in Him. Should we at any time have offended 
 each other, we shall be reconciled now and for ever." 
 He died, while his father knelt bv his side with 
 
82 PHILIPFS FUNERAL. 
 
 two friends and engaged in prayer. The old man 
 adds, " Our Philipp, my dearly beloved son and 
 your faithful brother, is in heaven. We shall see 
 him again." 
 
 A great number of people, many of them Jews, 
 attended the funeral. Fifty of the .school-children 
 were present, and their tears were an eloquent 
 expression of their love and sincere sorrow. 
 
 He died at the age of twenty-six, and after his 
 death his loved school continued to increase and to 
 prosper. 
 
 This life of Philipp Saphir reads like a tale of 
 the apostolic age. There was not only the patience 
 in suffering, but the most ardent zeal and loving 
 spirit which led him in his weakness and prostration 
 to labour, with such tenderness for children and 
 for young men, and to accomplish more in a few 
 years on his bed of suffering than most Christians 
 accomplish in a life-time. We know of no nobler 
 example of the influence of the Spirit of God, than 
 in the struggling years of pain of this true son 
 of Abraham, melted and quickened by the love of 
 Christ. 
 
 Before we leave the story of the Saphir family, 
 we must also notice a sister Elizabeth, who was 
 a most devoted Christian, of whom another sister 
 writes : — 
 
 Elizabeth, was not only remarkable for her 
 manifold gifts, but also for her refined mind and 
 her humble, loving disposition. She was naturally 
 
ELIZABETH SAPIIIIi DESGRIBED. 83 
 
 devout, and very religious in the observance of 
 Jewish rites and- ceremonies, and a visit to one of 
 her uncles, an orthodox Jew, during which she 
 scrupulously endeavoured to observe every tittle 
 of the ralibinical law, served to bring out still 
 more strongly this feature of her character. This 
 uncle was very devoted to her, and having no 
 daughter wished to adopt her, but to this her 
 father would not consent, although he allowed 
 her to prolong her visit. During her absence the 
 event occurred which brought about such great 
 changes in the Saphir family. 
 
 Elizabeth received an urgent summons from 
 her anxious father to come home, as he wished 
 to remove her without delay from her uncle's 
 influence. Though sorry to leave her uncle, she 
 was very glad to rejoin her family, and the 
 first few days of her return slipped away very 
 happily. Coming as she did from an emphatically 
 Jewish house, she could not fail to notice the 
 great changes that had taken place in her home, 
 and desired to know the cause, whereupon her 
 father told her that they had found Jesus of 
 Nazareth, and that He was none other than the 
 promised Messiah — the Christ of God — the Lamb 
 that takes away the sin of the world. She was 
 grieved, in fact stunned, on hearing this. The 
 thought of "apostasy" on the part of those she 
 loved was terrible to lier, and she emphatically 
 declared her intention to have nothing to do 
 with it. 
 
8-t CONVERSION OF ELIZABETH. 
 
 Her father, being a very judicious man, thought 
 it best not to press her, but only asked her to read 
 the New Testament carefully, trusting in God's 
 power to open her eyes and touch her heart. He 
 also requested the other members of the famil)' 
 not to interfere with her. Thus she was left for a 
 time c[uite to herself. How great was her father's 
 joy and delight when she intimated to him that 
 she had found the New Testament Scriptures to 
 be the very AVord of God, and looked to Christ as 
 lier Saviour ! Though she was not yet fourteen years 
 old, no one who knew her could have the slightest 
 doubt as to the sincerity of her desire to yield 
 herself up to the Saviour, and to walk in His light. 
 Her shy, retiring disposition led her to take great 
 delight in solitary meditation and Bible stud}". 
 Many long hours were thus spent alone with God. 
 Soon there arose in her a steadfast desire openh' 
 to confess Him whom her soul loved. She had 
 a full conception of the supreme importance of 
 such a step, and of the responsibility of those who 
 bear the Redeeiiier's name. 
 
 The writer of these lines remembers the saintly 
 expression of her countenance, and her concen- 
 trated a,ttention during the baptismal service. It 
 was a day never to be forgotten ! All present could 
 only say, " This is the Lord's doing, and it is 
 marvellous in our eyes." Soon after, she and her 
 younger sister were sent to a large boarding-school 
 at Kornthal, in the south of Germany. This place 
 was renowned for its high Christian training, as also 
 
KLIZABETH'li DIFFWCLTIEH >iURM< lUNTED. 8.") 
 
 for its good teaching in all modern branches of 
 knowledge. Elizabeth applied herself zealously 
 to her studies, and did her best to satisfy all her 
 teachers ; and in this she fully succeeded. Her 
 gentle, loving manner attracted all with whom she 
 came in contact, autl soon she became a OTeat 
 favourite with both teachers and scholars. She was 
 admired, not merely for her many good qualities, 
 but chiefly for her loving, sympathizing character, 
 which deepened and developed day by day. Her 
 ardent desire was to exercise a good influence over 
 those who were her fellow-students, and the first 
 thing she endeavoured to bring about was a weekly 
 prayer-meeting. She met with many difBculties 
 which threatened to frustrate her wishes. How- 
 ever, her perseverance gained the victory ; some 
 of her young friends came forward, wishing to 
 take part in the meeting. 
 
 For this purpose they could not find any place 
 but a very small garret at the top of the house. 
 There they met, and Elizabeth conducted these 
 meetings. She was the means of bringing young 
 souls to Christ. This small prayer-meeting did not 
 always pass off very smoothly. Those who joined 
 it were often scorned, laughed at, and called 
 " Pietisten," but the " mad " Elizabeth was only the 
 more zealous and persevering. The pastor of the 
 place, a most devoted Christian, had much inter- 
 course with her, and was her teacher in Hebrew, 
 
 A missionary, who was at the time staying there, 
 took a great liking to her, and asked her to make 
 
86 ELIZABETH'S WORK AS A TEACHER. 
 
 his house her home. He also taught her English. 
 After a stay of two years, the sisters had to leave 
 for Pesth, and a general regret was expressed at 
 Elizabeth's departure ; but a lively correspondence 
 which she kept up with her teachers and young 
 friends served to unite them still more. She 
 evinced great concern and anxiety not to lose their 
 love, and pointed them especially again and again 
 to the truth as it is in Jesus. Thus she was not 
 forgotten. The sisters were joined on their way 
 home by their brother Philipp, who was staying 
 at the same time at Carlsruhe in a seminary. 
 
 After a time of rest Elizabeth resumed all her 
 studies, and tried her best to make herself useful, 
 in aiid out of the house. She had much blessed 
 intercourse with her beloved teacher, Mrs. Smith, 
 to whom she was most devoted, and to whom she 
 looked up with no common regard. 
 
 When Philipp started the idea of opening a 
 school for Jewish children, she took it up at once, 
 and looked forward impatiently to its commence- 
 ment. When at last the great work was achieved, 
 and children came crowding in, her happiness knew 
 no bounds, and she threw herself at once with all 
 her strength and energy into the work assigned 
 to her. She and Philipp were the pillars of this 
 remarkable school, which became such a success 
 and blessing, and which excited no small stir in the 
 place. Elizabeth liad a large class of girls, which 
 she managed in a masterly way, to the astonishment 
 of all her friends. Both the pupils and their 
 
THE SCHOOL A GREAT SUCCESS. sT 
 
 parents were soon devoted to her, and greatly 
 admired both her teaching and her dealings with 
 the children. She visited the parents weekly, 
 among whom she had free scope to speak of her 
 personal experiences. Alany were deeply impressed 
 by her testimony, and could not fail to notice her 
 anxiety as to their souls' salvation. 
 
 At the annual examination her results witli 
 her pupils were simply amazing. Superintendent 
 Torok, who presided on these occasions, could not 
 express often enough his thorough satisfaction and 
 admiration at her handling of the subjects, which 
 she taught with so much clearness and understand- 
 ing. She was however little accessible to praise, 
 and was often unaware of the influence she exer- 
 cised on those around her. Her mind and thoughts 
 were concentrated on one point — to her the most 
 important in her life — namely, to love and serve 
 her Master, and to help to minister to her fellow- 
 creatures as much as she could. She was known 
 among Jews and Gentiles. All loved and honoured 
 her. Philipp's death was a great sorrow to her. 
 She missed him intensely ; at the same time, she 
 tried to do her very best to endear his memory to 
 the pupils he had left, to whom he was deeply 
 attached. 
 
 After his death, Elizabeth was more than ever 
 devoted to her work, and the school was in a 
 most flourishing condition. Subsequently she be- 
 came engaged to a man who professed to be a 
 Christian, and expressed a great interest in the 
 
86 DEATH OF ELIZABETH. 
 
 mission school. Unfortunately this marriage turned 
 out to be a vei^y unhapjoy one. Poor Elizabeth 
 suffered intensely from her husband's ill-treatment. 
 Her parents, though not aware of this, could not 
 fail to notice her sad look and deep depression. 
 On being asked for the reason of this change, she 
 was most reluctant to give a satisfactory answer, 
 only mentioning that her husband did not quite 
 understand her, but she hoped he might improve. 
 
 In the meantime things seemed to get worse, 
 and her father, who was deeply devoted to her, 
 took her home, in order to protect her from further 
 bad treatment. Her health had by this time 
 suffered severely, and soon she became very ill — 
 past recovery. All was done to make her last days 
 happy and bright. Day and night her father 
 nursed her ; — but, alas ! she passed away in her 
 twenty-seventh year, in 1854, chiefly from a broken 
 heart. 
 
 Elizabeth's Bible knowledge was remarkable. 
 Her prayers were singularly beautiful and expres- 
 sive. Her death caused great sensation among Jews 
 and Gentiles. It was most touching to notice her 
 pupils' sorrow and disconsolateness. All came to 
 take the last farewell of her. One of her friends, 
 Countess Brunswick, begged to be allowed to see 
 her. She was struck with Elizabeth's happy ex- 
 pression ; she put a New Testament in her hands, 
 and remained for a time in silent prayer with her. 
 
 AVhen the writer of these lines was the last time 
 at Buda-pest, in 1884, she met some of Elizabeth's old 
 
ADOLPH'S TESTIMONY TO HIS SISTER. 89 
 
 friends, who iaformed her that Elizabeth had never 
 been forgotten, but was still living in their memory, 
 — loved and honoured. A lady, rather indif- 
 ferent towards Christianity, but a great admirer of 
 Elizabeth, said she considered Elizabeth was a Saint, 
 and every year, on " All Saints' Day," she laid a 
 wreath on her grave. Her life was hidden in 
 Christ. Her end was peace ! 
 
 Adolph thus refers to the death of this sister : — 
 My good sister Elizabeth died about a fortnight 
 ago. We know she died in faith, love, and hope. 
 The grief and bereavement is on our side only. 
 She was very noble, and knew how to deny herself 
 for the sake of God's Kingdom. She felt as much 
 as a man that her life ought to be of use to the 
 Church. Next to Philipp I always admired her 
 most. We are all going home — sooner or later ; 
 but may God grant us a long life, if it please 
 Him! 
 
90 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 COLLEGE CAREER IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 Adolph's Stay ia Glasgow — Session 1848-49 — Tutor with 
 Mr. William Brown, in Aberdeen — Acquaintance with 
 William Fleming Stevenson — Mutual Benefit — Great In- 
 fluence of this Friendship on his Life — Yisits the Steven- 
 sons in Sti'abane — A Second Home — His Description of 
 Stevenson. 
 
 WE left Adolph Sapliir in Berlin, where he 
 remained during a good part of the time 
 recorded in his brother's history. He was there 
 resident with his brother-in-law and sister, the 
 Eev. C. Schwartz and his wife. At this time liis 
 spirit was a good deal agitated by the Hegelian and 
 other influences encountered among the teachers 
 and pupils of the Gymnasium. He had a mind 
 well fitted to appreciate the attractiveness of the 
 Hegelian and general Pantheistic philosophy. I'he 
 great German poet, Goethe, had with all the power 
 of his genius interwoven that philosophy into his 
 poetry, and presented it thus in the most attractive 
 garb. Many other German writers were also Panthe- 
 istic. This Pantheism has now degenerated largely 
 into Materialism, which was then beginning to tako 
 
ADOLPH UOME^ TO SCOTLAND. 91 
 
 its place and lias since been fully developed. tStiauss 
 had written his Lehcii Jesu, and the treatment of 
 the New Testament as an ordinary book, and of the 
 life of Jesus as that of a great but eccentric genius, 
 was very prevalent. Saphir had much litei-ary 
 power, as is manifest in all his writings. He could 
 appreciate the beautiful in literature of every kind ; 
 and with the great German classics, with Goethe at 
 their head, he was perfectly familiar. The atmo- 
 sphere of Berlin was intellectually high, but de- 
 cidedly un-Christian. Had he encountered it, with- 
 out that baptism of the Spirit, in his youthful days, 
 he would have been attracted and carried away, and 
 have probably made for himself, as his uncle had 
 done, a distinguished position in German literature, 
 but would have been lost to the Christian Church. 
 But he had been truly converted, and therefore, 
 though influenced and attracted, he fought by 
 God's grace against and overcame the influence, and 
 was thus prepared, understanding the intellectual 
 position and attractions of rationalism, to become 
 a powerful wituess for the truth in after days. 
 
 In 1848 he left Berlin, and was at once trans- 
 ferred to the evangelical atmosphere of Scotland. 
 Mr. Eobert Wodrow, of Glasgow, had, as we have 
 mentioned, advocated for many years a mission 
 to the Jews, and prayed to God that it might be 
 begun. 
 
 After her husband's death, Mrs. Wodrow con- 
 tinued to take the deepest interest in Jewish work. 
 Hungary was in the midst of war, so that there 
 
92 ADOLPH AT GLASGOW AND ABERDEEN. 
 
 was every reason for Adolph Saphir not returning 
 thither. Besides, he had been given to the Scottish 
 mission and designed for its work. The histories 
 of the father and of Adolph himself in his boyhood 
 were then familiar to numbers of Scottish readers, 
 through the pages of The Home and Foreign 
 Missionary Record of the Free CJiurch. The 
 Pesth mission had made a very deep impression 
 in Scotland, and Mrs. Wodrow welcomed him to 
 her home as an inmate, when Adolph began to 
 carry on his studies for the ministry in Glasgow 
 University. 
 
 On his arrival in Glaso-ow in the autumn of 
 1848, he was received with great kindness and 
 regarded with much interest by many, but the 
 sudden change to such different surroundings was 
 very trying to one, of such a retiring and highly 
 sensitive nature. 
 
 In the following year he went to Aberdeen, 
 where he became tutor in the family of Mr. 
 William Brown, brother of the Eca'. Dr. Charles 
 Brown of Edinburgh and of Principal Brown of 
 Aberdeen. His old friend, the Rev. Theodore 
 Meyer, and another well-known Jewish minister, 
 Professor Sachs, were at the time in Aberdeen, 
 and received him warmly, and in Mr. Brown's 
 family he was very happy. 
 
 He gives himself the following account of his 
 college career : — " After having passed an examin- 
 ation, I was received into the second class of under- 
 graduates at the University of Glasgow. At this 
 
COLLEGE CAREER IN SCOTLAND. 93 
 
 University, and also at Marischal College, Aberdeen, 
 which I attended afterwards, I took all the pre- 
 scribed subjects in preparation for the study of 
 theology, viz. Latin and Greek Literature, Logic, 
 Moral Philosophy, Mathematics, and in addition 
 Chemistry. After having obtained good certificates 
 and taken the first prize for Greek in Aberdeen, 
 I became a student of theology in the Free Church 
 College, Edinburgh. About the same time I took 
 the degree of B.A. at Glasgow, having completed 
 my triennium." 
 
 In Glasgow he first became acquainted with one 
 whose fame is in all the Churches, and who was 
 for long years his most devoted fiiend — the Eev. 
 William Fleming Stevenson, the author of Praying 
 and Working. This friendship was of the greatest 
 value to him. Mr. Stevenson was, even as a 
 student, a man of remarkable culture, of great 
 literary attainments, of an ardent Christian spirit, 
 and with large knowledge of missions. He had 
 followed the history of the Pesth mission, and knew 
 well both about the Saphirs and about Adolph 
 himself. He sought him out in Glasgow, and they 
 were at once attracted to each other, and became 
 devoted fiiends. Such a friendship as this, of 
 greatest importance to both, was invaluable to 
 Adolph, at this time a stranger in a strange land. 
 He felt it to be a special guidance of God that had 
 brought them together. They had literary and 
 philosophical as well as spiritual affinities, and 
 during their theological studies in Edinburgh they 
 
94 FLEMING STEVENSON' S HOME. 
 
 lodged together. Stevenson made Saphir familiar 
 with English literature, of which he had wide 
 knowledge, while Saphir brought him into contact 
 with the literature and philosophy of Germany. 
 Above all, they walked to the house of God in 
 company, and strengthened each other in faith and 
 devotion to Christ. 
 
 But Fleming Stevenson was not only a friend, 
 he treated Saphir as a brother, giving him a home 
 where he would otherwise have been alone in the 
 world. Saphir went over to Strabane on a long 
 visit to the Stevenson family in the spring of 
 1850, after the close of the College term, and spent 
 there the summer ; and again he was with them 
 during the summer of 1851. 
 
 This home of the Stevensons, which was a true 
 home to Saphir, who was regarded by them as a 
 brother, is thus described in the Life and Letters 
 of Dr. Stevenson} " The father was an excep- 
 tionally intelligent, careful, and well-educated man, 
 a lover of books, of music, and of scenery. He 
 made his children his companions, reading aloud 
 to them in the evenings, and taking them for 
 afternoon strolls through the glens and lanes of 
 the neighbourhood. He was a man of earnest, 
 large-hearted piety. The mother was a devout 
 Christian, of a quiet, sweet, unselfish spirit. She 
 prayed much for her children and with them. 
 There were five sons and daughters, William being 
 
 ^ Life and Letters of the Eev. WiJUain Fleming Stevenson, 
 D.D., by his wife. Nelson and Sons. 
 
AC'QUAINTA^^CE WITH STEVENSON. 9.". 
 
 the youngest." There could not have been a 
 happier or more cheerful household, cultured and 
 well-educated, with all that liveliness and wit 
 that give a special charm to Irish circles. Saphir, 
 who would otherwise have been very desolate, 
 found here a home. He thus describes his 
 acquaintanceship with Stevenson and its effect : — 
 My acquaintance with Stevenson commenced 
 in the winter of 1848-9 (his first winter as a 
 student in Glasgow), when we attended the same 
 classes in Glasgow University, and living in the 
 same neighbourhood, had almost every day long 
 conversations on our way to the College. . . . When 
 we parted in the month of May we had become 
 friends, though neither of us, I think, was aware 
 of the depth and strength of the bond that united 
 us. Stevenson wrote very characteristic letters, 
 describing Dublin and its attractions, his quiet life 
 in the country, and his varied readings. He was 
 very happy and sanguine, and tried to cheer me, 
 who felt very lonely in a strange country, and 
 depressed by ill-health and other trials. I remember 
 distinctly the time when we, as it were, looked into 
 each other's sovd and felt that we were one. This 
 was in reply to a letter in which I had told him of 
 the peace and sunshine which had come to me from 
 the eighth chapter of Romans, where I saw clearly 
 the consolation and firm foundation of election ; 
 that they who believe in Jesus know that God is 
 for them, and that all things work together for 
 their good. The experimental view of this doctrine 
 
96 STEVENSON'S CHARACTERISTICS. 
 
 struck him very much, and his reply was full of 
 sympathy. 
 
 From that time began our real friendship. 
 When in 1850 he repeated to me his invitation 
 to spend the summer holidays with him, I gladly 
 accepted it. I was received by his parents with 
 the greatest kindness, and soon felt at home in that 
 truly Christian and peaceful household. Stevenson 
 and I were inseparable, reading and talking. He 
 was preparing for entering the Divinity Hall, but 
 general literature had great attractions for him. I 
 was then full of German literature — Schiller, Goethe, 
 Tieck, &c. ; he was steeped in the English classics ; 
 and so we exchanged thoughts and information. I 
 noticed during that summer many characteristics 
 which distinguished him all his life. His favourite 
 poet was AVordsworth. His taste in poetry was 
 very catholic. He already possessed the calmness, 
 patience, and humility which recognized the merits 
 and beauties of authors who were not congenial to 
 him. But Wordsworth was the poet whom he 
 loved, who both expressed and developed his own 
 individuality. Stevenson had an intense and lively 
 love of nature, and a warm appreciation of true 
 human nobility in every form and shape, even the 
 simplest and most unpretending. 
 
 After describing further the character of his 
 friend, he proceeds — 
 
 I looked upon him, as I have done throughout 
 my life since, as a gift of God's love to me, who 
 
SAPHIR, SMIDT, AND STEVENSON. 97 
 
 had been separated from brother and sister and 
 relative of every kind since my seventeenth year. 
 It was settled that we, joined by Charles de Smidt,^ 
 should live together during our divinity course at 
 Edinburgh. Our circle was varied and somewhat 
 cosmopolitan, owing to de Smidt's Dutch and Cape 
 fellow-students, and to my Jewish and German 
 friends. . . . Our most intimate friend was the 
 Eev. Theodore Meyer, who was Assistant-Professor 
 of Hebrew in the New College. He came over in 
 the year 1848 to Scotland, after having witnessed 
 the exciting scenes of the Revolution in Berlin. 
 Mr. Meyer came to Christianity out of Judaism and 
 Rationalism. Having been brought into contact 
 with the various forms of theology at Berlin, he 
 had a very sympathetic and genial manner with 
 young men who were passing through similar phases 
 and conflicts ; so that, while we looked up to him 
 on account of his experience and learning, we felt 
 quite at home in his company, and he frequently 
 joined our Saturday expeditions. 
 
 The three, Saphir, Smidt, and Stevenson, who 
 lodged together, dubbed themselves, in allusion to 
 their birthplace or lineage, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 
 They attended chiefly the ministry of the Rev. 
 Dr. Ch'irles Brown, who was valued by many of 
 the most thoughtful in Edinburgh for his eminently 
 
 1 Charles de Smidt was of Dutch descent, and born at the 
 Cape. He was ordained, and died young, after a few years' 
 active ministerial labour in Cape Colony. 
 
98 STEVIJNSON'S CHARACTER DESCRIBED. 
 
 spiritual, Scriptural, and experimental preaching. 
 He was a man of a singularly refined, sensitive 
 mind, of deep spiritual feeling, and of great 
 knowledge of Scripture. Saphir much valued his 
 ministry, and derived great benefit from it. The 
 view which Saphir gives, in the following extract 
 of his friend Stevenson's position at this time, 
 partly reflected his own : — ■ 
 
 " While he was inwardly rooted in the truth, 
 and living a life of communion with God in prayer 
 and study of the Scriptures, his theological views 
 were as yet undeveloped, and he felt, as most 
 thousfhtful students do, the disturbinof effects of 
 modern speculation and of neology. His mind was 
 candid and active ; his temperament was calm. He 
 was determined to examine carefully and slowly, 
 and to collect material diligently. The writings of 
 Archdeacon Hare, of Trench, Maurice, and Kingsley, 
 exerted a great influence on him. He was keenly 
 alive to the culture, breadth, and manliness which 
 characterized them, and fascinated by the power 
 and vividness of their modes of thought and ex- 
 pression. On the other side, there was much of 
 the old-fashioned representations of so-called ortho- 
 doxy, which repelled him, or at least oflered 
 difficulties to be overcome. He was very sensitive 
 to any want of justice or candour in the treatment 
 of divergent views, and still more to any want of 
 reality or delicacy in the expression of spiritual 
 experiences. But the real conflict was occasioned 
 by the mind now coming into close contact with 
 
HIS INDEBTEDNESS TO SAPHIB. 09 
 
 the solemn and mysterious doctrines of revelation, 
 with the question of revelation itself, of the 
 authority and inspiration of Scripture, of sin, of 
 atonement. He read more largely than the average 
 student, and perhaps with more sympathy with 
 what I may call vaguely the modern theology ; and 
 those who did not know him intimately might have 
 fancied that he had become one of its disciples, 
 while in reality he had a deep conviction that the 
 simple Scripture truths which he had embraced in 
 his childhood would in the end shine forth to his 
 mind more clearly ; and that while many mis- 
 conceptions and unessential additions in the old 
 mode of thought would be removed, applications 
 of greater breadth would be educed and a more 
 healthy tone imparted." 
 
 " Mr. Stevenson," says Mrs. Stevenson in her 
 Memoir, " always delighted to acknowledge how 
 much of the impulse of his life he owed to his 
 friend Saphir." 
 
100 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 LETTERS OF STUDENT DAYS. 
 
 Letter to Kingsley, and Reply of Kingsley — Letters to 
 Donald Maclfod, now Editor of Good Words, and others — 
 Unreal Orthodox Phraseology — Eight Method of studying 
 Scripture — Union with Christ — The Reaction against 
 Shams threatening to become itself a mighty Sham — 
 German Literature — Striking Dream — Consciousnefs of 
 Magnetic Influence — Joyovisness of Easter and Pentecost 
 — Ruskin — True Self-Culture — God the Source of all 
 Personality — Claudius and Manly Christianity — Mission 
 Work begun. 
 
 IN this chapter we give a series of letters written 
 to various friends, showing his state of mind, 
 and his opinions on many important questions, 
 during the period of his life in Edinburgh, as a 
 student of theology. The first is a letter to Charles 
 Kingsley, referred to in Kingsley' s Memoirs : — 
 
 "47, OoMie Street, EdinburgJi, 
 
 " October 21, 1852. 
 
 "Rev. Sie, 
 
 "You will be surprised, that without having the 
 pleasure of your acquaintance, or any kind of introduction, I 
 take the liberty of requesting you to accept the accompanying 
 little hiojiraphy of my brother ; but the wish to send you my 
 heartfelt thanks for your writings, which in a time of struggle 
 and inward conflict have so often strengthened and rejoiced 
 my heart, is so strong, that I venture this somewhat uncon- 
 ventional step. 
 
LETTER TO CHARLES KINGSLEY. 101 
 
 " I am from a Germaa family, and was educated in Berlin. 
 The simple, joyous faith of childhood gave way gradually, as 
 I became older and was brought into contact with philosophy 
 and poesy ; and when, owing to various circumstances, I came 
 a few years ago to Scotland, a rigid Calvinit.tic mode of appre- 
 hending Christianity was little calculated to biing me back to 
 Christ, the true Life Transfigurer and Truth Eevealer. Yet 
 after struggling and seeking, it has pleased God to let me see 
 Christ, the perfect God Man, who alone draws us unto God's 
 communion, and makes us true, real men ; the dark riddles 
 that had perplexed me began to bo solved ; in God becoming 
 man I saw, I felt it ; the most glorious solution of my soul's 
 questions, the most glorious Poetry had appeared. I was so 
 happy ; but although I knew myself one with many Christians 
 here in love to Christ, yet the number of those who view the 
 gospel as the leaven which is to pervade all earthly things was 
 very limited (I speak of my friends then), and at that time 
 your sermons and other writings gave me such joy, comfort, 
 encouragement. 
 
 " Allow me to thank you, and to thank the dear Lord, who 
 sent yuu to open your lips to proclaim the glorious world- 
 conquering gospel in this our age, which, with all its outcry 
 against shams, is so forgetful of the highest reality. May 
 your work be richly blessed ! 
 
 "I will not attempt to apologize for troubling you with 
 these lines, but conclude by assuring you of my deep esteem 
 and gratitude. 
 
 "Adolph Saphir." 
 
 The answer to this letter is given in the first 
 volume of Charles Kingsley : his Letters and 
 Memoirs of his Life} It is as follows : — 
 
 " EversUy, Kovember 1, 1852. 
 " To Adolph Sapuie, Esq. 
 
 "It I am surprised at your writing to me, it is the 
 surprise of delight at finding that my writings have been of 
 
 1 P. 353 of the 3rd edition. 
 
1U2 CHARLES KINGSLEY'S REPLY. 
 
 use to any man, and above all to a Jew. For your nation I 
 have a very deep love, first, because so many intimate friends 
 of mine — and in one case a near connection — are Jews ; and 
 next, because I believe, as firmly as any modern interpreter of 
 prophecy, that you are still 'The Nation,' and that you have 
 a glorious, as I think a culminating, part to play in the history 
 of the race. Moreover, I owe all I have ever said or thought 
 about Christianity as the idea which is to redeem and leaven 
 all human life, ' secular ' as well as ' religious,' to the study 
 of the Old Testament, without which the New is to me unin- 
 telligible ; and I cannot love the Hebrew books without loving 
 the men who wrote them. My reason and heart revolt at that 
 magical theory of inspiration which we liave borrowed from 
 the Latin Rabbis (the very men whom we call fools on every 
 other subject), which sinks the personality of the inspired 
 writer, and makes him a mere puppet and mouthpiece ; and 
 therefore I love your David, and Jei-emiah, and Isaiah, as men 
 of like passions with myself — men who struggled, and doubted, 
 and suffered, that I might learn from them ; and loving them, 
 how can I but love their children, and yearn over them with 
 unspeakable pity 1 
 
 " You seem to be about to become a Christian minister. In 
 that capacity your double education, both as a German and as 
 a Hebrew, ought to enable you to do for us what we really 
 need to have done, almost as much as those Jews among whom 
 your brother so heroically laboured — I mean, to teach us the 
 x'eal meaning of the Old Testament, and its absolute unity 
 with the New. For this we want not mere ' Hebrew scholars,' 
 but Hebrew spirits — Hebrew men ; and this must be done, 
 and done soon, if we are to retain our Old Testament, and 
 therefore our New. For if we once lose our faith in the Old 
 Testament, our faith in the New will soon dwindle to the 
 impersonal ' spiritualism ' of Frank Newman, and the Germau- 
 philosopbasters. Now the founder of German unbelief in the 
 Old Testament was a Jew. Benedict Spinoza wrote a little 
 book which convulsed the spiritual world, and will go on 
 convulsing it for centuries, unless a Jew undoes what a Jew 
 has done. Spinoza beat down the whole method of rabbinical 
 interpretation — the whole theory of rabbinical inspirtition ; 
 
CHARLES KINGSLEY'S REPLY. 103 
 
 but he had nothing, as I beheve, to put in their place. The 
 true method of interpretation, the true theory of inspiration 
 is yet sadly to seek ; at least such ;i method and such a theory 
 as shall coincide with history and -with science. It is my belief 
 that the Christian Jew is the man who can give us the key to 
 both — who can interpret the Xew and the Old Testament both, 
 because he alone can place himself in the position of the men 
 who wrote them, as far as national sympathies, sori'ows, and 
 hopes are concerned, not to m.ention the amount of merely 
 antiquarian light which he can throw on dark passages for us, 
 if he chooses to read as a Jew, and not as a Eabbinist. 
 
 "I would therefore entreat you, and every other converted 
 Jew, not to sink your nationality because you have become a 
 member of the Universal Church, but to believe with the old 
 converts at Jerusalem that you are a true Jew because you 
 are a Christian ; that as a Jew you have your special olhce in 
 the perfectiDg of the faith and practice of the Church, which 
 no Englishman or other Gentile can perform for you — neither 
 to Germanize or Scotticize, but try to see all heaven and 
 earth with the eyes of Abraham, David, and St. Paul." 
 
 Tlie next letters we notice were written to Dr. 
 Donald Macleocl, present Editor of Good Words, 
 Avith whom in his student years he was very inti- 
 mate, and to ]\liss Stevenson, a sister of Fleming 
 Stevenson, now Mrs. j\Ieyer. These letters were 
 often full of humour. He had naturally much 
 sarcastic power, (which however he kept in subjec- 
 tion,) arising from instinctive insight into character 
 and motives. In private intercourse he was genial, 
 quaint, and amusing, and clear-sighted as to men 
 and things. There was great sagacity, but simpli- 
 city -and naturalness. No man had a greater 
 abhorrence of pretences or shams, especially in 
 connection with religion, and of that crafty dip- 
 lomacy by which it is often attempted to guide 
 
104 THE BIBLE AND PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 ecclesiastical and religious aflfairs. All mere showy, 
 fussy, superficial religiosity he detested, and like- 
 wise all religious expressions which had no lifelike 
 
 meaning. 
 
 He writes to Macleod from Aberdeen in 1849, in 
 
 a letter which shows that his opinions about the 
 
 Bible and philosophy had then become what they 
 
 remained ever after, to the close of his life. They 
 
 are expressed with remarkable clearness and force, 
 
 considering that he was not then eighteen years of 
 
 age :— 
 
 "Since I last wrote you, I have been a month or so in 
 Holland, and bave lost my eldest sister, Mrs. Schwartz, a 
 great trial to us all. I have been exceedingly happy in Mr. 
 Brown's family. He is a pious, enligh'ened, well-educated, 
 and somewhat continental-like luan, and I bave had great com- 
 fort and joy in his house. I was very happy to hear of your 
 brother's preferment, and I wish tbat he m.ay be blessed richly 
 among the people. 
 
 " Since I last wrote to you I have had a good deal of study, 
 and have gone through the philosopbical systems from Thales 
 to Kant. The consequence of this and otber things besides 
 was to modify essentially my old opinions. I view now the 
 Bible in a ditt'erent light from before. I have come to see in it 
 a sure and unerring standard of truth, a revelation of God, 
 which must be received and digested and become ours, but 
 submitted to as purely objective, not at all subjected to our 
 ideas, views, or feelings. 
 
 " In fact these philosophical systems are elaborate, subtle, and 
 contain also truths ; some are very beautiful and captivating ; 
 but their darkness is great, and the full solution of these 
 problems which occupy our immortal soul is found only in the 
 Bible. It is now the object and aim of the Christian to make 
 God's thoughts, ideas, views, his own, so that he stands not 
 only under the Bible as an all-prevailing authority, but lives 
 it as it were; comes to be of the same mind and taste. Of 
 
KNOWING JESUS CHRIST. 105 
 
 coiTrse this can only be through our communion with the God- 
 man Jesus Christ. There are two extremes, I think ; the sub- 
 jective Christianity, while not giving the Bible its proper place, 
 lays all stress upon the felt union of the heart with Chiist, and 
 makes the Christian life and faith flow spontaneously out of 
 the love of Christ in the heart, or Christian consciousness ; and 
 the other extreme, attaching due, if not more than due, import- 
 ance to the objective truth of the Bible, leaving out of con- 
 sideration the necessity of this objective truth becoming our 
 individual property, and appropriated by reason and heart. 
 Both, I think, are dangerous. I was for a good time deep in 
 the first extreme, and I am conscious, for my part, that not 
 only does such a state of mind give rise to an unsettledness 
 about doctrines, but it leaves the heart in constant doubt, 
 because it rests more upon what / feel or love, and what Christ 
 is in me, than upon the promises of God, and what Christ has 
 done for us. I don't know whether I have made myself intel- 
 ligible. I attach now more importance than I used to do to 
 the views a person holds. I see a great connection between the 
 will and the understanding, the head and the heart. To have 
 eternal life is to know Jesus Christ, of course not merely with 
 the reason, but with the whole mind. On the whole, this is a 
 promise given to you and to me, that Christ's Spirit will lead us 
 into all truth ; but we shall know Christ's doctrine if we are 
 willing to do God's Will. I begin to see the gospel truths as 
 thoroughly and essentially different from all systems of philo- 
 sophy. These are all human systems, and the truth must not 
 be mutilated to please some fellows, who know perhaps some 
 sixty old Greek books more than others, or have become crazy 
 in their admiration of art and their own soap-bubble specula- 
 tions. In saying this I have Germany in view ; but it is 
 quite delightful to think of the manly. Christian apostolic 
 exertions the German Evangelical Church has been making, 
 the last two years. I hope, if it is God's will, that I shall 
 work in connection with the German Church, and should it 
 turn out so, I would not grudge having spent some time in 
 Scotland, for I have learned, I trust, in your country many 
 things which a German needs more than any other. . '. . 
 " I have a most delightful friend here, a Mr. Sachs. I never 
 
 H 
 
106 THE BIBLE BEYOND ALL. 
 
 saw a more upright, transparent, healthy character than his, 
 and his information and wit render his society very delightful. 
 He was married a few months since. I have a College friend 
 with whom I am very intimate. He is from the Cape of Good 
 Hope, of Dutch family, and intends to go in a year to Holland 
 anl study for the Dutch Church. He is a very fine fellow in 
 every respect. "We go together to Edinburgh, which is settled 
 quite." 
 
 In another letter to the same he writes : — 
 
 "Aberdeen, May 1, 1850. 
 
 " Cold wind — Rain threatening — No sun — No music- 
 Barbarous country. 
 
 " What you say about Philosophy appears to me very true. 
 I think that old Socrates had attained the very height when 
 he said, he was the wisest because he knew that he knew 
 nothing "With regard to Moral Philosophy, I think it would 
 be good to base it on New Testament or Bible principles. 
 The Ethics of the New Testament would be worth while 
 studying. For the last three months I have been reading 
 classics on a grand scale, and getting on pretty well. I pur- 
 pose to finish the Odyssey and Iliad in a fortnight — to read 
 through Thucydides and the most of iEschylus and Sophocles. 
 
 ""With regard to my views, I am getting rather more 
 ' unsound,' in the Scotch acceptation of the term. I find so 
 few people here who prefer the Bible to everything else, be it 
 Confession-book or Prayer-book ; so few who can read a chapter 
 in the Bible without putting into it all the School theology 
 system and Calvinism of the Presbyterian Church ; and so 
 few who have toleration for anybody who has not the same 
 views as they. A lady, the other day, said to me that it was 
 a sign whether a man was a Christian or not, if he keeps 
 the Sabbath. I repl ed that I never read that in the New 
 Testament, but 1 remember the verse: 'Hereby you shall be 
 known as My disciphs, if ynu love one another.' I can tell 
 you, my good friend, that T am not at all so weak-minded as 
 not to see the bfauty and the advantages of a well-observed 
 Sabbath, but whenever it is made the essence and centre of 
 Christianity, it is as anti-Christian as Popery itself. "What 
 
TO WHOM SHALL WE GO? 107 
 
 an easy thinj; to sit four hours in cliurcii, and sppnd the rest of 
 the Sunday in a close room, and then during the six week-days 
 to live only to oneself ! . . . I have not read any Philosophy for 
 a long time, only David Hume, who puts me into a fever aud 
 makes me semi-deliiious whenever I take him up. Such con- 
 sistent sophistry never was. Yet who can help admiring that 
 bold man! The English .ore always too strongly decided on one 
 side. When tliey begin to philosophize they destroy everything, 
 both human mind and material world. Bei'keley and Hume 
 have attacked boih world and mind. Show me a German who 
 has been so extravagant. If scepticism begins in a British 
 mind, he is cooler, milder, more consistent in it than any 
 German, and I think we may look for the worst infidelity — 
 Materialism — on this ishmd. 
 
 " With best wishes for all Islanders, specially yourself, 
 " Your affectionate friend, 
 
 "A. Saphie." 
 
 Wi'itinof to the same friend from Edinbur2;]i, 
 where he had gone to study in the winter, he 
 
 says :— 
 
 " Stevenson, and a Cape of Good Hope friend, and I live 
 together, right merrily. 
 
 " I study Calvin on the New Testament, Luther, Jeremy 
 Taylor, and Church Fathers. Besides English modern litera- 
 ture, I read now Carlyle's Life of Sterling. 
 
 "Donald, I tell you Carlyle without Christ is as great a 
 sham as the whiners, and perhaps greater. I admire Carlyle, 
 but I nearly cried to-day to see that so honest a soul cannot 
 understand the truest — the holiest One — that ever lived — 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 " My demi-gods are tumbling down — Schiller, Goethe, Phi- 
 losophers, — tliis Carlyle too. To whom shall we go? Thou 
 alone hast the word of eternal life I 
 
 "Onward, then! — God is better than all the pretty and 
 gorgeous idols. 
 
 " I have a meeting of German boys and girls every Sunday, 
 and give them an address. I enjoy this little work. I have 
 
108 UNION WITH CHRIST. 
 
 enough teaching to keep me in bread-and-cheese ; but as I wish 
 to go soon to Germany (for I don't know why I should stay 
 here), I want to make as much money by teaching or trans- 
 lating from German as I can." 
 
 AYritino- in the winter of 1851 to Miss Steven- 
 son, wlien he was a student in Edinburgh, he 
 says : — 
 
 " I begin to see a deeper meaning in the current orthodox 
 phraseology ; but it ought to be translated into our language. 
 My views o£ the Bible become daily more Pascal- and Claudius- 
 like ; that is, I see it as a mystery, light and life intelligible 
 only to the heart-reason — chords which give music only by a 
 similar experience. I think the constant and thoughtful 
 reading of the Bible the greatest and best means of self- 
 culture. Only let us read with calm historic minds, and like 
 children, and not expect words to have diiSerent meanings in 
 the Bible from anywhere else. I find it both instructive and 
 comforting to read parts of the Bible corresponding to your 
 mental state at the present ; the Psalms especially can be 
 read in that way. I think we should strive to view man 
 as a unity ; thought, language, acts, they are internally 
 connected with the One, the being that says /. Therefore, 
 good words are a sign of a good man, if they are his words, 
 not put on, but Jiis as much as his hands are his ; and the 
 like of good works. So if the man is good, in everything he 
 will be good ; good and bad, for ' evil is always present with 
 me.' But Christ cleaves and cuts off what is bad in leaves 
 and flowers, — let us only be rooted in Him. This comparison 
 of an organic union with Christ (John xv.) is my greatest 
 comfort. Were we mechanically tied to Christ, the link might 
 be broken ; but an organic union of branch and root, vine and 
 branches, is inward, and becomes necessary, eternal. So we 
 are in Christ. And as a tree, that becomes always more 
 firmly rooted, will extend branches that widen and bring 
 more fruit, we must strike daily deeper and deeper root in 
 Christ (be connected daily), and thus increase in strength, 
 beauty, and holiness. I must write you some time or other 
 
THE EVERLASTING TEAS. 109 
 
 my thoughts on organic union with Christ, and organic 
 development, but I am sure you will think very much the 
 same thing, if you consider John xv. and the like passages 
 in that way." 
 
 Ill the same letter lie proceeds to speak of 
 questions of the clay : — 
 
 "I do think that the reaction against shams is threatening 
 to become a mighty sham itself. I am afraid of all Emerson- 
 admiring Christians ; either that they deceive themselves, or 
 are deceived. It is an advantage to know that twice two is 
 not five ; but, after all, except we know that it is four, we 
 cannot be good arithmeticians. But let us come from the 
 everlasting Noes into the Everlasting Yeas. Not as a mighty 
 Corpse, but as moved by God's Spirit, let us see the world ! 
 God only is the real self-subsisting Entity — the To Be. Only 
 what is in Him, and as far as it is in Him, is; only that 
 which is viewed in connection with Him, is viewed as it 
 really is. Apply this to science, theology, history, everyday 
 life, and we shall soon come to knoiv with certainty Realities 
 — Yeas. The Reality and Yea has come to us in tangible 
 visible shape ; I feel as if Thomas had put my very finger 
 into Christ's side. I have as great — and greater — evidence 
 of Heaven, Life, Redemption, Eternity, as of the existence 
 of this table I write upon. To this, and along with this, 
 comes the world of inward experience ; not only of mine, 
 but of yours, and Krummacher of Berlin, and of Claudius, 
 fifty years ago, and all the diiSerent hearts that for six 
 thousand years have been living in the quiet Yeas and not 
 in the Noes. Kingsley is a noble man, who sees everytldng 
 in Christ ; and I am afraid, till we come to this, we see 
 nothing in Christ." 
 
 He writes in another letter about German liter- 
 ature, and literature in general : — 
 
 " I am sure German literature will give you many a 
 pleasant hour. We have had a noble line from Klopstock 
 down to Uhland, and in that garden there are noble flowers ; 
 
110 A STRIKING DREAM. 
 
 yea, the poison flowers even and weeds have beauty, and are 
 attractive. 
 
 " Do you know I have a sad feeling that I love Poetry and 
 Art, when it is also without God and truth, witli too great 
 fervour ; too much with my heart ! I had once a dream that 
 I went to heaven, and when asked whom I wished to see, I 
 said first Goethe, then Shakespere ; and then Peter looked 
 at me with a glance of pity and reproach, and I burst out, 
 crying, 'Let me see Jesus Christ.' I dreamt that in 1848, 
 when I was a fanatic Poesy and Art worshipper, and I can't 
 tell you how often 1 remember this dream. Is it not strange? 
 Yes, it is not easy to love Go J above all, and nothing like 
 him. God Himself keep our hearts aright, and mould our 
 characters ! 
 
 " Yet Goethe and Shakespere are noble ; yea, even prophets, 
 perhaps, « la Balaam. 
 
 " I wish we had Christi&.n Carlyles, Thackerays, Dickenses, 
 &o., but certainly the new .">ge is coming and we may expect 
 great things. With regard to Germany, I hope very much 
 indeed. A noble Church, a Christianity where the whole 
 man, intellect, feeling, imagination is shaped and transformed. 
 
 " Foolish Solomon, you say. Yes, I am. Alas ! I know 
 it too well. I have a very strange nature. I feel, when 
 others would never think of feeling ; yet notwithstanding 
 these anomalies, that somewhat pernicious universality, I am 
 glad I can feel intensely for men, churches, nations, entirely 
 unconnected with me. I don't know what it is, but I believe 
 there is a kind of magnetic influence which chains me to a 
 good number of beings — an influence of which I have been 
 conscious, and exercise now and then by fox'ce of will. By 
 magnetic I mean power of spiiit upon spirit." 
 
 He writes ou the New Year : — 
 
 " So the New Year is in ! Have you noticed how beautiful 
 man is at Old Year's end and New Year's beginning ; how 
 the unilercurrent of love and affection, cheerfulne.ss and 
 earnestness breaks through accretions of time and worldliness 
 at that time ; and how features long dead or dead-like are 
 then transfigured and smile % It is such a xioble thing, and 
 
JOY OF EASTER AND PENTECOST. Ill 
 
 would we had more such times in the year ! — nay, the whole 
 old Christian almanack wou.d I fain biing back, it I coukl, 
 without frightening my anti-popish brethren, and without 
 encounging my anti-free lorn brethren. 
 
 " I do not know whether you have ever felt the deep and 
 holy meaning of Eiister — after the earnest winter, and before 
 the coming of spring, lying in the heart of the year, as the 
 very central point of our Christian life ; or the joyous solemn 
 meaning of Pentecost, when nature is in her glory, and the 
 blessing of God has covered the whole earth with beauty ; 
 the symbol of the Spirit summer, which came on that first 
 Pentecost day, and comes ever since. 
 
 " Verily, I am thankful that that whicli appears to me as 
 the very ideal of a spiritual heaven — transfigured life ; of 
 seeing Divine truth in all earthly phenomena ; of penetrating 
 through the symbol to the Prototype; of living continually, 
 in dem, was meiaes Vater's ist ; that this idea has been realized 
 — approximately at least — in the Church. 
 
 " I think it beautiful and useful for me at least, for minds 
 constituted like mine ; but it would not do, and in England 
 as well as in Gei-many it has found too ardent and one-sided 
 admirers. But as long as we make not a means an end we 
 are safe." 
 
 In one of his letters he speaks of Ruskin : — 
 
 "Delightful lectures by Ruskin, who has a vex-y earnest 
 view of history, and is keenly alive to the want of veneration 
 and truth of modern ages, and appreciates the Middle Ages, 
 as most men who have faith and imagination do." 
 
 The following letter is full of practical philo- 
 sophy : — 
 
 " Have you not learned something, been influenced in some 
 way, however trifling, seen something, which you will re- 
 member either by itself or uuitedly with other things, in 
 every human being you have had the smallest intercourse 
 with? I think, if you examine closely, you will find it so. 
 And as in every human being there lives some rays, some 
 
112 PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 features, some chords of the All-light, the All-beauty, the 
 All-music, God shows Himself to us, mirrored in men ; in 
 one man perfectly — Geloht sei Jesus Ghristus. Look at Paul, 
 Augustine, Luther, they are types of one class of Christians ; 
 or Peter, James, Bernard of Clairvaux, Calvin — another class ; 
 or John, and my heart wishes, next to him, Neander ; look 
 at every variety of Christian character, every kind and shade 
 of natural gift, temperament, and nature transfigured and 
 leavened by the gospel ; in every peculiarity and individual 
 feature you will find a feature of God ; and all Christians 
 together — every one with his individuality — will reflect the 
 full, perfect image of God. In heaven, in the Kingdom of 
 God, not one soul is superfluous, or a repetition of another, 
 but every one, the very smallest, is needed to make up the 
 fullness, as all chords in a harmony. 
 
 " Now have I made myself understood ? What meaning 
 does this give to our personality and individuality t You 
 see Fichte's ' / Am ' has made a deep impression upon me, 
 but my ideas of the I are based on my ideas of the Thou 
 which is above us, and in Whom we are. But I cannot deny, 
 that although I do not belong to any school of Germany, the 
 modern Philosophy has done me the very greatest service, 
 and I think people might as well teach the Ptolemaean 
 system again, or recall yesterday, as ignore the influence of 
 Philosophy on Theology. . . Some one says quaintly, yet 
 well : ' He has religious life and knowledge who can say I 
 and Thou with the understanding of his heart.' That is, 
 who is conscious of his individuality, the existence and destiny 
 of his personality, and can say I, and at the same time knows 
 that bis I is based upon and lives in a Thou : the Father 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ." Self-culturo in the true sense 
 consists in the development of the individuality as it stands 
 in relation to or connection with God. 
 
 "Now, men and philosophers, who recognize the I but not 
 the Thou, always refer man to himself, to be true to himself, 
 and let this self develop freely. This is only half the truth, 
 for the I without the Thou, and unless in the Thou, cannot 
 live and prosper. (Good-night, Mr. Emerson, here we part.) 
 The Bible says. Cultivate the gift that is within you; let 
 
CLAUDIUS AND MANLY GHRISTIANITY. W 
 
 Christ be formed within you ; abide — not in yourself — in 
 2Ie, and I in you. Hence (do you see the step?) Christian 
 self-culture consists in looking upon Christ, and conforming 
 to His image, in remaining in connection and intercourse with 
 God, in removing all outward and inward obstacles which 
 prevent Christ from being formed within us, in eradicating 
 all remnants of sin in disposition, will, feeling, which mars 
 the image of God in us. 
 
 " The Christian sense of self-culture is altogether diiferent 
 from the worldly and Christless sense. Nay, in this point 
 to my mind all questions concentrate ; all unbelief, infidelity, 
 Carlyleism, Emersonianism. The question is, Man without 
 God, or Man and God in God. 
 
 "I said, eradicating all remnants of sin whiidi belong to 
 self-culture ; for it is clear, since we are destined to be perfect 
 as our Father, since God has chosen us before the foundation 
 of the world, that we should be holy and without blame 
 before Him in love (Eph. i. 4), — it is clear from this, that 
 then we will have our full, pure individuality , when loe are 
 wit/tout sin ; that is, a Chiistian's sin belongs not to his 
 individuality, and that in becoming like Christ we truly 
 become ourselves. 
 
 "Is not heaven the perfect union with God, the perfect 
 life of the individual in God? Is not this a glorious hope 
 and prospect, and it will strengthen us to fight against that 
 deep mystery, Sin and the Devil 1 " 
 
 Speaking of Claudius, lie tlius refer.s to the per- 
 vasive manliness of real Christianity : — 
 
 " Claudius is a reality, and a noble specimen of the true 
 Christians, who have not ceased being nien when they became 
 pious (if it were possible), but embrace Christ with their 
 whole being, in all its faculties, powers, feelings, gifts ; who 
 do not read to God a tacit lecture as some whiners do, saying 
 the world is bad, and all is vanity, and poetry is godless, 
 wine is a delusion, and love heathenish idolatry ; but who 
 know what it means to live in this world, and not with it, 
 and yet as a heaven-citizen. Ah, this Christianity has such 
 
114 LETTER FROM HOME. 
 
 a chemical power of separating from it all the dirt and froth 
 and earthy clay that h»s been amalgamated, and baked, and 
 kneaded into it, thjit there is no fear but we shall yet see it 
 overcoming and penetrating all that is good in our nineteenth 
 century development, and appearing in a nobler, fuller, grander 
 shape than hitherto. 
 
 It was a deep sorrow to Saphir, in his student 
 days, that he could never visit his own home at 
 Pesth, as he would at once have been obliged to 
 enter the army. He refers to this in a letter to 
 Miss Stevenson : — 
 
 "I received such an affectionate letter from home ! Almost 
 depressing, such a shower of love, and brought back the 
 time when I was such a spoiled, petted child. My sister 
 Johanna sends me a list of her favourite pianoforte pieces. 
 I send them to you, as I have nobody here to play them to 
 me. My goo'l mother is so anxious to see me, and I cannot 
 get home on account of the abominable Austrian Government." 
 
 He writes from Edinburgh to Macleod in refer- 
 ence to the memoir of his brother Philipp : — 
 
 " I am very glad that you are going to notice my brother's 
 biography. Don't allude to anything connected with politics, 
 it would be very imprudent, because of the despotic Govern- 
 ment of Austria. I don't know what has struck you in his 
 life ; I am sure his child-like faith and energy have impressed 
 you ; also his objectivity, trusting to Christ, not his feelings. 
 One thought I would like all who read it to notice : that a 
 Jew is a human being, and becomes a Christian even through 
 conviction of sin and longing after God and attraction of 
 Christ, just as the others. But you will see yourself. 
 
 "As for myself, don't you see how I have kept myself 
 altogether in the background with my opinions or views? I 
 tried to show my brother, and not my meditations on and 
 about him. If I have succeeded in this, I shall be very 
 proud. 
 
THE QUEkiTION OF BAPTItiM. 115 
 
 " Stevenson will be here in a week. 
 
 " I have not yet got enough teaching ; it is a great bore, 
 and especially where one has to do with Philistines." 
 
 He discusses the question of Baptism in tlie 
 following letter : — 
 
 " The question about Baptism is rather difficult. But to 
 avoid extremes is not difficult. Let us hold fast these two 
 points : 1. That the one thing needful consists in the change 
 of heart effected by God's inclining it to surrender itself to 
 Christ, and that upon this and this alone depends salvation. 
 2. That no one of Christ's institutions is mere ceremony or 
 sign, but reality, spirit, channel of God's communication of 
 Divine influence, which two points avoid the extremes of 
 Baptismal Regeneration and Quakerism. 
 
 " There is some dift'erence bt-tween the Church of Scotland 
 and that of England in the definition of B.iptism. . . . The 
 Church of England definition leaves out of view the state of 
 the recipient ; in the Church of Scotland the benefits of the 
 New Covenant are represented as sealed and applied to 
 believers." 
 
 In letters from London dated October 1853, 
 he consults his friend Macleod as to taking a 
 degree in Glasgow of B.A. He refers also to a 
 stay of a few months in Hamburg. This was the 
 year before he went there as a missionary of the 
 Irish Presbyterian Church. In the second letter, 
 he says : — 
 
 "Mv DEAR Donald, 
 
 " I am very much obliged for your kind letter. The 
 only fact on which I am in doubt is, whether my not having 
 been in Glasgow as a first year student won't prevent my 
 taking the degree.^ 
 
 " I am doubtful whether my return to the continent will be 
 
 1 He afterwards got the degree of B.A. 
 
116 MISSION WORK BEGUN. 
 
 possible. My case is very simple; but my poor father, the 
 quietest man in the world, is, on account of his connection with 
 the mission, odious to the Government, and I have perhaps 
 from this reason greater diificulties than I might have other- 
 wise. 
 
 " I worked this summer for three months in Hamburg 
 among the Jews and the Christians (poor wretches both), and 
 I am very glad I did it, because it drove the cobwebs out of 
 my head, and made me think more of Christianity as a power 
 in life. Besides, it gave me opportunities to practise preaching, 
 and, on the whole, it has had a decided influence on my 
 character. 
 
 " I likewise saw Harms in Hanover, the holiest man I ever 
 saw. Perhaps you have read about him and his missionary 
 Institute, as your brother i knows about him. I stayed a 
 week with him. Here in London I have been looking and 
 trying my powers in Houndsditch and the immediate vicinity; 
 and so you see, that this summer, though full of change 
 and variety, was yet a very practical and working time with 
 me. It is very kind of you to wish me to come to Glasgow, 
 and I assure you, if things turn out so, I enjoy the prospect 
 very much. You are just the fellow to do me good, since I 
 want to be as practical and English in my tone of mind as I 
 can. I have taken a great hatred to hair-splitting and 
 mystification. Since it has pleased God to let us live only the 
 tenth part of the lives of the antediluvian people, we can't 
 aiford time for it." 
 
 From this letter we see that Saphir was now 
 actively preparing for work among the Jews, to 
 which he desired to devote himself. For this pur- 
 pose he had paid a visit to Hamburg, and after his 
 return, he had " tried his powers " in London, in 
 Houndsditch and the immediate vicinity. The 
 Jewish work was that on which his heart was set. 
 The hope of engaging in it had stimulated him in 
 '^ Dr. Norman Macleod. 
 
LOVE OF JEWISH MISSION WORK. Ill 
 
 all the difficulties of his student life, for he had 
 had to support himself during almost the whole 
 of his College career. Now that this was finished, 
 he longed to begin active labour among his kins- 
 men. And thouo-h he had soon to retire from 
 the direct Jewish mission work, his heart was in 
 it to the end, and he was in fact, if not in name, 
 all his life afterwards, a great Jewish missionary. 
 
ns 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 ORDINATION TO THE JEWISH WORK. 
 
 Licence as a Preacher, and Ordination in Belfast — Dr. Cooke 
 presides — His Marriage — Mrs. Saphir's Character and 
 Influence— Hamburg — His Idea of Jewish Missions — His 
 Eemarkable Traits— Israel Pick's Influence — Threatened 
 with Military Service by Austria — His Views as to 
 Methods of Work not sustained by the Mission Committee 
 — He resigns. 
 
 AFTER Adolph Paphir had completed hi.s studies 
 in 1854, he was strongly recommended by 
 Dr. Keith to the Irish Presbyterian Church as a 
 missionary to the Jews. To Jewish mission work 
 he desired to devote his life, and therefore gladly 
 accepted the opening. He was licensed by the 
 Presbytery of Belfast, the celebrated Dr. Cooke 
 acting as Moderator of Presbytery, and speaking 
 of him with much cordiality. He was ordained 
 by the same Presbytery as missionary to the Jews. 
 A few days later he was married to Miss Sara 
 Owen, who belonged to a family much respected 
 in the neighbourhood of Dublin. This marriage 
 was a most happy one. His wife was of a cheerful 
 disposition, with much humour, and considerable 
 
HIS MARRIAGE. 119 
 
 ability. She adored her husband, and watched 
 over him with the most tender care. Never were 
 people more devoted to eacli other. Mrs. Lawson, 
 the widow of Judge Lawson of Dublin, and a 
 very intimate friend of the Saphirs, having known 
 Mrs. Saphir long before her marriage, writes : 
 — " Dr. SapMr's health from early youth was so 
 fragile that he could never have lived so long 
 had it not been for the extreme care his wife took 
 of his health." This was the impression of many 
 who knew them best, and was, we believe, correct. 
 Her watchful anxiety put Mrs. Saphir often in 
 an awkward position ; as she seemed to many to 
 be unnecessarily jealous of her husband receiving 
 visitors, attending meetings, and undertaking en- 
 gagements. She was, whether right or wrong, only 
 actuated by devotion to him. They lived together 
 — scarcely ever separated — for thirty-seven j-ears. 
 She was everything to him, and they were bound 
 to each other with extraordinary affection. 
 
 Shortly after their marriage they left for their 
 new home. Hamburg, one of the great commercial 
 centres, famous for the grandeur of its buildings 
 and the beauty of its situation, has a large number 
 of Jewish residents of all classes, many of them men 
 of wealth and position. It is one of the most 
 godless of cities, the church attendance in propor- 
 tion to the population being infinitesimally small. 
 The Irish Jewish mission effefted good not only 
 among the Jews, but among the Christians. 
 
 Adolph Saphir, in his youthful vigour and 
 
120 TRACTS FOR THE JEWS. 
 
 intense love of his nation, and belief in its 
 future, — a belief which was a passion with him all 
 his life long, — had ideas of his own, which went 
 far beyond the gathering of a few converts, or 
 even of a small Christian congregation. He hoped 
 to influence Judaism in a larger way through the 
 press, by proving in tracts addressed to the Jews, 
 that Christianity was the natural and necessary 
 outcome of Judaism, as revealed in their own 
 Scriptures ; that Jesus was the true promised 
 Messiah. 
 
 He had naturally great literary talent, not only 
 as a didactic teacher, but as an imaginative writer, 
 and would have been famous both as a poet 
 and novelist, had he devoted himself to literature. 
 
 His tracts were written in an attractive style, 
 the arguments being carried on through imaginary 
 conversations. He thus refers to them at a later 
 period : — " During my short stay in Hamburg, I 
 wrote several pamphlets for the Jews. These did 
 not remain unnoticed in Jewish circles. They were 
 cordially recommended by men like Dr. Wichern 
 and Da Costa. They have since been republished at 
 different times and widely circulated. They have 
 been translated into English and Dutch." Had he 
 been able to carry out this method of working in 
 the manner he intended, there must soon have 
 been inquiry among the Jewish community ; but, 
 as is often the case, the new methods were not 
 approved. 
 
 David Livingstone was utterly condemned b}^ the 
 
WHO J,'^ THE APOSTATK?' 121 
 
 London Missionary Society's Committee, when he 
 set out on his great African explorations instead of 
 confining his energies to the small station allotted 
 to him. Saphir's new methods were not approved, 
 and he could not get the means to carry them 
 out. So he resigned his position and salary, which 
 was, from the worldly point of view, a very 
 hazardous step, seeing that he was then quite 
 unknown in this country as a preacher. 
 
 He and his wife cast themselves adrift from a 
 fixed appointment, waiting on God's guidance to 
 direct them to some other field of labour. It is 
 important that this should be borne in memory. 
 Whether he was right or wrong, as regards the 
 committee and his colleagues, he made a great 
 sacrifice to the conscientious conviction of duty. 
 
 As the tracts, above referred to, were almost his 
 first publications, and have been much used and 
 blessed in Jewish mission work for many years 
 past, it may be interesting to note them briefly: — 
 
 One of them is entitled, ' Wer ist der Apostat ? ' 
 (' Who is the Apostate ? ') It is divided into two 
 sections — First Evening and Second Evening. The 
 reading of the Haggada, Liturgy of the Passover, 
 is ended, and the people sit sorrowfully around the 
 table. A young married pair are holding the feast 
 for the first time in their own house, and have 
 invited some friends to spend the evening with 
 them. One of these friends is an old man with 
 deep-sunk, half-closed eyes, an old and trusted 
 family friend. Another is a young man of slight 
 
122 ' TFif IS THE APOSTATE?' 
 
 build, with light, well-arranged hair, who looks 
 through his spectacles with a sagacious and self- 
 possessed look ; he is a student, the brother of the 
 young wife ; the third is a friend of the husband 
 in his youth, who has been many years abroad, 
 and returned to Germany just a few years before. 
 He has taken the little sister of the philosopher on 
 his knee, and asks her if she knows why this feast 
 is observed on this day of the year. She answers 
 quickly that it is the Passover. As he is going 
 to explain further, the old family friend breaks in 
 with the remark that it brings back so vividly the 
 long past, and makes them feel united with their 
 fathers in all parts of the world, and sends back 
 the thought to the wonderful deliverance from the 
 house of bondage in Egypt. 
 
 The young philosopher interruj)ts, " That's all 
 very beautiful and poetic ; but it is opposed to 
 sound understanding, or rather pure reason, to 
 believe in these as real events ; we must separate 
 the kernel from the shell. The idea which lies 
 at the basis is true ; and the ceremony, though 
 rather wearisome and unintelligible to us young 
 people, may promote morality." 
 
 The old man is indignant, and asserts that the 
 observance of the day is like a monument of brass, 
 reminding of an actual event of history, as the 
 observance of October 1 8 reminds one of the battle 
 of Leipsic. 
 
 Then the third friend who had been loro' abroad 
 (expresses his cordial agreement with the old man ; 
 
WHO IS THE APOSTATE r 123 
 
 but chai'ges his kinsmen with the mere memory 
 of a historical fact, while forgetful of the God 
 of their fathers, and shows by quotations from the 
 prophets that they had changed altogether the idea 
 of God ; they worshipped an unknown, concealed, 
 general Deity, but not the God who led them 
 out of Egypt, and gave to them His thoughts 
 and commandments. The young man listened 
 contemptuously ; but the old man repeated the 
 sad words of Jeremiah — God mourning over the 
 departure of His people — their forgetfulness of Him. 
 
 The stranger says the thought of God is terrible 
 to one who does not know and love God as his 
 Father, but only as the Creator of the planets, the 
 Architect of the universe, the Ruler of the bound- 
 less expanse. Does a child know his father as the 
 physician, or the lawyer, or the man of learning ? 
 Does he not rather know him as the man whom 
 he loves, and in whom he trusts, who protects him, 
 nourishes him, loves him, teaches him, and does all 
 for him ? 
 
 The conversation is continued, the stranger 
 showing clearly that the Jews had lost the true 
 idea of God, and leading them through their own 
 Scriptures to Christ as the true representative of 
 God. The argument is maintained with power 
 and clearness and freshness, and is well fitted to 
 impress Christians as well as Jews. The real 
 apostate, he shows finally, is he who rejects God 
 as revealed and prophesied of, viz. Jesus the 
 Messiah. 
 
124 ' WHO IS A JEWr 
 
 This tract has had a large circulation, having 
 been employed in connection with many of the 
 missions to the Jews, and has been the means of 
 great blessing. 
 
 Another tract was entitled, ' Wer ist ein Jude ? ' 
 (' Who is a Jew ? ') " Conversation between a Jew 
 m name and a true Jew." The parties who con- 
 verse are called Neophilus and Theophilus. Neo- 
 philus begins by quoting the famous passage of 
 Lessing about the two rings. You know the wise 
 saying which the distinguished Lessing puts in the 
 mouth of Nathan the Wise. No one can tell which 
 is the true ring, for the skilled artist has made two 
 other rings so like the first, that even the maker of 
 the pattern ring could not decide. That describes 
 my position as regards religions ; one is as good as 
 another ; each considers his own the true one, and 
 is in this belief pious and blessed. Besides, my 
 religion is simple. The Lord our God is one Lord. 
 Theophilus, who is a Christian Jew, shows how 
 these loose views in regard to false religions are 
 opposed to the law and the prophets, and how the 
 Jews have lost the true idea of God, as a Being to 
 be loved and adored. The argument is chieflv 
 against the Neologian Jews, of whom there are now 
 a very large body in Germany; but it tells also 
 against the old-fashioned orthodox Jews, who have, 
 in a dry monotheism, lost the idea of the God of 
 loving-kindness and tender mercies revealed to 
 their fathers, and of the need of sacrifice as an 
 atonement for sin, 
 
ISRAEL PICK'S INFLUENCE. 125 
 
 The method adopted by Saphir, as a Jewish 
 missionary, must undoubtedly have told on the 
 Jews, as he adapted himself precisely to their 
 state of mind, and wrote vividly and attract- 
 ively. This was a kind of work for which he was 
 specially fitted. He possessed even more power as 
 a writer in German than in English — popular as 
 his writings have been in this country. Had he 
 remained in Jewish mission work, he might have 
 supplied a literature that would have been of 
 great influence in all the Jewish missions. In a 
 preface signed by Delitzsch and Faber in 1889 
 to a new edition of the Tract ' Wer ist der 
 Apostat?' they say, "When it was first written, 
 thirty years ago, the writer was a young un- 
 known theologian in Hamburg, who, with his friend 
 Israel Pick, laboured there for the conversion of 
 the people of Israel." This Pick was a man of 
 considerable power, a convert under Mr. Edwards, 
 Free Church Jewish missionary at Breslau, who 
 influenced Saphir very much in his views of the 
 great future of the Jews. They then proceed to 
 speak in the preface of the great assistance given 
 to them in their work for Israel by Saphir, during 
 the previous ten years. " Without Adolph Saphir's 
 active help, neither the preparation nor the com- 
 pletion of Lichtenstein's Hebrew Commentary on 
 the New Testament would have been possible." 
 
 Saphir's heart was to the end above all else in 
 Jewish mission work, not chiefly because the Jews 
 were his kinsmen, but because of the certain 
 
126 SAPHIR LEAVES HAMBURG. 
 
 promises of God to them, of the glorious future 
 which he saw before them, and of the blessing to 
 be expected through them to the world. 
 
 The circumstances referred to led him to leave 
 Hamburg, and give up the direct Jewish work. 
 There was an additional difficulty as to his residing 
 in Germany, owing to the Austrian Government 
 having a claim upon him for military service. 
 This Government was then under the strong in- 
 fluence of reaction, after the war of 1849, and 
 would, if they could have obtained his surrender 
 by the North German authorities, as they were 
 trying to do, have insisted on his entering the 
 army, however unfitted physically for such service. 
 After about a year's connection with the mission, 
 he left Hamburg and went to Glasgow in 1855. 
 He was thus beoinning life anew, castino- himself 
 adrift, and trusting absolutely to the guidance and 
 care of God. 
 
127 
 
 CHAPTER Xli. 
 
 MINISTRY TO GERMAKS IN liLASGOW. 
 
 Norman Macleod's Interest and Friendship — Letter of Principal 
 Brown on his Work in Glasgow — Letters to a Friend — 
 His Work among the Germans — His Anxieties — Jowett's 
 Book on Paul — Birth of his Daughter — Call to South 
 Shields. 
 
 WHEN Saphir returned to Scotland, he had no 
 definite plan as to future work. He sought 
 out old friends in Glasgow, especially Dr. Xorman 
 Macleod and Dr. David Brown, and consulted 
 with them. Dr., now Principal BroMii, thus 
 describes to us the interest they felt, and the sug- 
 gestion made by Dr. ^lacleod, which was carried 
 out : — 
 
 " Dr. Norman Macleod called on me, and said 
 the Germans had been so kind to him when in 
 Germany that he wished to repa}' it in a sub- 
 stantial way, and proposed that he and I should 
 engage one of the churches for Saphir to preach in 
 every Sunday evening (it was winter), to the Buy 
 a Broom German girls, who were stray waifs, and 
 in oreat danger of losing; their morals. I went in 
 
 o o o 
 
128 'BUY A BROOM' GERMAN (rlRLS. 
 
 with all my heart to this, and we first called a 
 meeting of the Germans residing in Glasgow, asking 
 them to join ns. They said, 'We don't want 
 German preaching. Some of us have English 
 wives, and go to the English-speaking churches.' 
 ' Yes ; but it is not for you, but these poor girls for 
 whom no one cares, and they are your country- 
 women.' This touched them, and they agreed to 
 come the first evening and encourage the girls to 
 come. And we two agreed to be there, and after 
 the service to go to the pulpit together, state what 
 object we had in view, and exhort both the girls 
 there and the audience to help this work. The 
 sermon was simple and beautiful, on ' Our Father 
 which art in heaven.' The first words of it were 
 these: — 'This could be said by our first parents. 
 But when they fell out with God, they fell out with 
 one another, and woman was trampled on by man. 
 It is Christ that brings both together, and woman 
 owes to Him all she now is, and we can now say, 
 " Our Father." ' We then, each of us, praised the 
 sermon and commended the work." 
 
 Of this period he says in a short abstract of his 
 life. " In Glasgow I preached in German during six 
 months. The church, which had been put at my 
 disposal for this purpose, was fairly well attended, 
 the congregation consisting of several German 
 families, governesses, young men of business, and 
 working-people. During my stay at Glasgow, I 
 translated Daniel and the Revelation into English." 
 
 During this residence in Glasgow he wrote at 
 
MimSTEY TO GERMANS IN GLASGOW. 129 
 
 times to a warm friend, the Rev. James Williamson, 
 a remarkable man, to whom he was much attached, 
 who had given himself to continental work, but 
 died early of consumption, of whom the Eev. 
 W. T. Johnston, of Worcester, his nephew, thus 
 writes : — 
 
 " My uncle was for some time minister of the Protestant 
 Church of Louvain, Belgium. He dieii in 1856. My uncle 
 and he (Adolph, as he always called him) were like brothers. 
 Saphir frequently visited my grandfather's house, at Greenock, 
 during the time of his studentship at Glasgow University, and 
 it was some time between '47 and '50 that I first came to 
 know him, and I have still a vivid recollection of his appear- 
 ance, then thin and pale, gentle-looking and retiring, with 
 a foreign accent, that sounded to me very pleasant — in most 
 other respects, much as he was to the end." 
 
 In one of these letters to Mr. Williamson, 
 referring to his services, he says : — 
 
 " I had the first German service last Sunday. The attend- 
 ance was encouraging. It may intei'est you to hear something 
 about the service. I began with the Segensgruss and a hymn. 
 Then prayed, and read the Gospel and Epistle. After this I 
 said the Creed and the Lord's Prayer. We sang again, and 
 then the sermon followed. Prayer, singing, and the bene- 
 diction concluded the service. I don't know whether you like 
 the Creed. My chief reason for saying it is to confess before 
 the people the leading facts of salvation. As I call myself 
 neither Lutheran nor Calvinistic, they ought to know at once 
 that I am not hekenntnisslos. I think I heard you once 
 remark, that you thought the Apostolic Cieed defective, as 
 it mentioned not regeneration, &c. The people were very 
 attentive ; but, I assure you, it is difficult to preach to people, 
 of whom you know well that they do not understand Christ's 
 language. I am very careful about style, delivery, &c., because 
 I know these things are to them of first importance, and 1 
 
130 LETTERS TO A FRIEND. 
 
 am anxious to do all in my power to induce them to listen. 
 There are many Jews among them. I am going to call on 
 some families next week, and hope to see soon whether there 
 is a field for me this winter. 
 
 " Since I saw you, I have received good news from Pesth. 
 The Government have given at last permission to the Evan- 
 gelical Party of the Protestant Church to erect a Theological 
 Faculty. The Professors have been appointed, and are lebendige 
 Manner. This will be better for Hungary than Kossuth's work. 
 
 " I am busy now, and very thankful that I am, for I find 
 it difiicult to be patient, and am often troubled with unbelief 
 and anxiety. And yet what a miserable thing it would be to 
 have only a layer of occupations separating me from doubt 
 and distrust ! " 
 
 111 another letter he says : — 
 
 "You will be glad to hear that I had a good attendance 
 last evening, better than on the former one. I preached on 
 Thomas' unbelief. I see many Jewish faces in the church, 
 and feel myself constrained to preach more in a missionary 
 Avay than I would to an ordinary congregation. Next Sunday 
 being Reformationsfest, I intend to speak on the Reformation 
 from Christ's words, ' Come \into Me, all ye that labour,' &c. 
 
 "I am reading just now Jowett's new book on Paul. I 
 like the style, but not the matter. He has no idea of the 
 Divinity of the Old Testament and its dispensation, and sees 
 therefore many Jewish views in Paul. Dr. Brown tells me the 
 book is making much noise in England, and I think he intends 
 reviewing it. 
 
 " I did not think the translation of Auberlen would give 
 me so much to do ; the proof sheets are horrible, and enough 
 to cure any one of \h.^ furor scribendi. 
 
 " I suppose Meyer ^vrote you of his ordination, and the 
 testimonial his German congregation gave him. I am reading 
 very little now, and think I won't undertake a translation 
 again ; translating Auberlen has been useful to me. I see 
 Stanley has written on Palestine. Harms in Herrmansburg 
 was accused before the Consistoiy of heresy, and his enemies 
 
BIRTH OF HIS DAUGHTER. 131 
 
 wished to degrade him from his pastoral dignity and imprison 
 him ; but they did not succeed." 
 
 In the next letter he tells of the birth of his 
 daughter : — 
 
 " To day I have to give you great news. My wife brought 
 uie yesterday ein kkines Tochterlein. She is remarkably 
 well, I am thankful to say. 
 
 " I don't agree with you in your estimate of Harms ; he is 
 very orthodox, that is from a Lutheran point of view. I think 
 Shields promises well. Pray for me ; I believe more firmly 
 in the power of prayer than I used to do. What a haze of 
 sophistication, Wissenschaftlichkeit and obscurations of simple 
 truths is that, out of which I am but gradually emerging ! I 
 mean with my heart and inward life ; theoretically it is easy 
 enough to get rid of it, but the evil influences remain very 
 long. 
 
 "I am in great distress about my friend Pick, the Jew, who 
 is falling into strange exaggerations about working miracles, 
 ifec. I love him very much, and think he is yet to do some- 
 thing for the poor Jews. It is very mysterious that he has 
 taken such a course." 
 
 The services were continued from Sabbath to 
 Sabbath with much interest and success. A sum 
 of £100 was raised to sustain them; but the 
 position was altogether uncertain for the future. 
 
 Saphir continued in Glasgow for more than half 
 a year, enjoying the friendship of many Christian 
 people, and bringing to Christ and strengthening 
 the souls of many of these poor Germans to whom 
 he ministered. 
 
132 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 BEGINNING OF LIFE-WORK IN ENGLAND. 
 
 Settlement at Soutli Shields — Mr. J. C. Stevenson, M.P., and 
 Mrs. Stevenson — His First Experiments as to the Method 
 of Delivery— The Method adopted — His Idea of Preaching 
 — His Appearance and Manner — His Book on Conversion 
 — Rev. James Hamilton, D.D, — Death of his only Child. , 
 
 AT this time, without any plan of his own, but 
 by the special guidance of the Providence of 
 God, he was about to enter on his great life-work 
 as an English preacher. On the suggestion of an 
 old College friend, he was invited to preach at 
 Laygate Presbyterian Church, South Shields. This 
 friend was Mr. Stevenson, architect, of Bayswater, 
 London, whose father was the proprietor of large 
 chemical works at South Shields, and had erected 
 this church for the benefit of his workmen and the 
 neighbourhood. Here Saphir constantly enjoyed 
 the society of Mr. James Cochrane Stevenson, who 
 has since been for many years Member of Parlia- 
 ment for South Shields, and who, as an elder, was 
 most active in the congregation ; also of his wife, 
 Mrs. Stevenson, daughter of the Rev. Dr. Ander- 
 son of Morpeth, a minister well known in the 
 
SETTLEMENT AT SOUTH SHIELDS. 13S 
 
 Church of Scotland, and then in the Free Church, 
 and afterwards in the English Presbyterian Church. 
 After his first visit to Shields, to his friend Mr. 
 Williamson, he writes : — 
 
 " I have since been in Shields and preached there two 
 Sundays. I like the place and the people. They are plastic, 
 and I think I can see suitabilities on both sides, if I may use 
 such an expression. I have since heard from Mr. Stevenson, 
 who takes the chief interest in the chui-ch, that the congrega- 
 tion is going to give me a call — and I feel much inclined to 
 look on this neutral ground as very desirable for me in my 
 present position. The place is increasing rapidly, and I would 
 have a good field among the working-men, who are great 
 readers." 
 
 The call was given very cordially, and as 
 cordially accepted. 
 
 Here he really commenced his career as an 
 English preacher. He had at first some difficult^' 
 as to the best methods to be employed, and began, 
 we believe, by writing out and by reading his 
 sermons. He found however that there was too 
 much restraint in this, and soon adopted the 
 method he always used afterwards, of thinking 
 out his subject with care, writing out portions, 
 and then speaking freely, without even notes, in 
 the pulpit. But that there was careful prepara- 
 tion, and not mere extempore speaking, was evident 
 from the closely connected and compact thought 
 of each sermon. He had a wonderful power of 
 compressing in short sp.ace, a large and compre- 
 hensive view of his subject, and doing so with 
 an intense fervency, and a thrilling tone of a deep, 
 
134 SAPHIR'S FIRST BOOK— ' CONVERSION' 
 
 spirit-stirring voice, which had a kind of magnetic 
 power, never' to be forgotten by those who came 
 under its influence. He considered that the great 
 object of preaching ought to be the interpreting of 
 Scripture, the unfolding of it, in its relations to 
 other parts, and its application to practical life. 
 Few preachers of our own, or almost any other 
 age, have had as great a knowledge of Scripture. 
 
 The quietness of Shields, where there Avas not 
 a large congregation — though he considerably in- 
 creased it — gave him time to develop and regulate 
 his powers as an English preacher, and also leisure 
 to pursue his studies in general literature as well 
 as theology, both in German and English. 
 
 At Shields he had his admirers, but was com- 
 paratively unknown beyond. He wrote however 
 a book, when minister there— his first book — 
 entitled Conversion, which attracted the attention, 
 among others, of the late Dr. James Hamilton 
 of London, who thus noticed it in the pages of 
 Evangelical Christendom : — " With its deep in- 
 sight, its glowing tone of love and gladness, and 
 its abundance of thought, original, wise, and 
 beautiful, this is a rnre book. Mr. Saphir is 'a 
 householder who bringeth forth out of his treasure 
 things new and old ' ; and while he secures our 
 confidence by his loyalty to the unchanging veri- 
 ties, he deserves our gratitude for many new and 
 happy illustrations. Nor do we know many books 
 where so much scholarship is brought to bear with 
 so little ostentation, nor many books adapted to 
 
REVIEWED AND DESCRIBED. ISn 
 
 SO wide a range of readers." This book contains 
 sketches of conversions, of both Old and New 
 Testament periods. It shows great insight into 
 character, and gives true portraits of the men as 
 well as vivid descriptions of the circumstances. 
 By many it is felt to be one of the most interest- 
 ing of his books, — written with youthful fervour. 
 It abounds in sentences in which o-reat truths are 
 given in few words, and in a manner not to 
 be forgotten — as for instance : — 
 
 Stop here a moment, and ponder on these great 
 truths. Jesus is both Lamb and Lion, Saviour 
 and Judge, the Forgiver of sins and the Judge 
 of sinners. Now Satan tempts us to think that 
 Jesus is severe and awful to approach noiv, whereas 
 he makes us believe that in that great day Christ 
 will be merciful and indulgent. . . . Whereas the 
 truth is exactly the reverse. Now, Jesus is the 
 Lamb. Be not afraid of going to Him, however 
 guilty and sinful. He has not a harsh word for a 
 sinner coming to Him now. His whole message is 
 pardon and peace. What can be more gentle than 
 a lamb ? Even the youngest child will approach 
 fearlessly and confidently, and put its tiny arm 
 round the neck of the gentle lamb. Thus, 
 sinner, come boldly to Him who now is Jesus, 
 Saviour, But a day is coming when there shall 
 be revealed the wrath of the Lamb ; when the 
 Saviour will no longer say to His persecutors and 
 enemies, " I am Jesus " ; but shall manifest Himself 
 as the righteous Judge and King, and say to all 
 
136 PASSAGES FROM ' CONVERSION.' 
 
 who rejected and despised Him, "Depart from Me." 
 "Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish 
 from the way when His wrath is kindled but a 
 little." Blessed are all they that trust in Him ! 
 
 The following passage on the Psalms expresses 
 much in a few words : — 
 
 Knowest thou the chief musician whom God 
 has given to His people ? that man after His 
 own heart, who knew life, with its bitterness 
 and joys, its trials and sorrows, its sunshine and 
 gloom, its mountain heights and dark valleys ? 
 Lovest thou the Psalms ? " The Bible in minia- 
 ture," Luther calls them ; where thou seest the very 
 heart-life of God's saints. In the night of afflic- 
 tion, in the storms of temptation, in the unquiet 
 of repentance, in the twilight of doubt, have yo\x 
 found in them supplications, and sighs, and out- 
 pourings of heart that you could make your own ? 
 In the joy of fulfilled wishes, in the ecstasy of 
 gratitude and praise, in the overwhelming moments 
 when you were crowned with loving-kindness and 
 mercies of which you were not worthy, have you 
 found in them hallelujahs, songs of triumph and 
 adoration '? My fellow - Christians, I know you 
 have, for God has given this Book of Psalms to 
 be the companion of His people — and His Church 
 will use it and sing it, till we learn that new song 
 in heaven. And out of that song-book did the 
 prisoners (Paul and Silas) doubtless sing. 
 
 These passages, and numberless others, clearly 
 indicate the power he possessed as a preacher, before 
 
DEATH OF HIS ONLY CHILD. 137 
 
 e 
 
 he was brought into prominent public notice. Th 
 whole thought of the book is scriptural and pro- 
 found, yet clear, conveying the lesson intended 
 in the various narratives referred to tersely and 
 lucidly — with poetic power describing the scenes, 
 and yet never sacrificing the evangelical teaching 
 to pictorial effect. 
 
 His ministry in Shields continued for five years, 
 and was undoubtedly of importance in God'a 
 providence in preparing him for his future work. 
 Here also in Shields, he and his wife had a pre- 
 paration of another kind, under the chastening 
 hand of the Lord, in the very sad loss of the only 
 child they ever had, a little girl of about a year 
 and a half old, whom they had named Asra. This 
 was a terrible blow, which he could not think of in 
 after years without deepest pain, and which he often 
 recalled and dwelt upon, in times of depression. 
 
136 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 SETTLEMENT AT GREENWICH. 
 
 The Kev. George Duncan — The Congregation — Speedy Popu- 
 larity — The Church needs to be Enlarged — Letters to Mr. 
 Stevenson, M.P. and others as to his Work— Letters de- 
 scriptive of Saphir and his Ministry— Edward Irving — 
 Campbell of Row — Sermon to Children — Letters to Lady 
 Kinloch— Joy in his "Work — Spiritual Fruits. 
 
 AT last lie was to enter on his great mission. 
 His fame had reached London, not only 
 through Dr. James Hamilton's admiration of his 
 book, but also through Mr. Duncan, his predecessor 
 at Greenwich. The Hev. George Duncan, a man 
 beloved by all who knew him, son of the celebrated 
 Dr. Duncan of Ruthwell, when about to retire from 
 his ministerial charge of St. Mark's Presbyterian 
 Church, Greenwich, was anxious to find a successor 
 who, he hoped, might acquire great influence for 
 good. He had himself been in North Shields 
 before going to Greenwich, and having many 
 friends there, had naturally heard much about 
 Saphir and his spiritual teaching. He had also 
 heard him himself. He strongly recommended 
 him to his people, who were a comparatively 
 small body, and Saphir was unanimously called 
 to be their minister. 
 
SPEEDY POPULARITY AT aREENWIGB. 139 
 
 He went to Greenwich in 1861. Ttie ejQfeet of 
 Ms ministry was instantaneous. The church, which 
 had been sparsely attended, soon became densely 
 filled, not only on the Sundays, but at the week- 
 night services. The people flocked, even from the 
 popular evangelical ministry of Canon Miller, to 
 hear him, and there gathered round him people of 
 all churches, especially earnest-minded Christians. 
 There was so much spiritual life in his preaching, 
 and so much instruction based on thorough know- 
 ledge of Scripture, that Christian people felt both 
 quickened and edified, and many careless persons, 
 attracted at first by the crowds, were impressed 
 under his ministry. 
 
 The following letter from one who was early 
 attracted to his Greenwich ministry gives a vivid 
 idea of his power : — 
 
 " It is very difficult to write recollections of 
 beloved Dr. Saphir which will be oi public interest. 
 Through his wonderful ministry he has become, so 
 to speak, incorporated into one's being, and will 
 exercise a life-long power over those who really 
 knew and loved him. His words, his manner and 
 tone of voice, with the merry quick twinkle in his 
 eye, all return to the mental vision almost as though 
 we had just been enjoying them. 
 
 " The first time I saw Dr. Saphir was in St. 
 Mark's Church, Greenwich. How well I remember 
 it, that ethereal-looking little man (minus gown 
 and bands), speaking without any note, and with 
 that peculiar sideway glance at his left hand which 
 
UO SECRET OF SAPHIR'S POWER. 
 
 made people think he had hieroglyphics written on 
 his finger-nails ! I remember feeling it was a 
 wonderful address, but somehow it seemed a long 
 way off, heaven-high above me. 
 
 " But we continued going, and soon his ministry 
 began to exercise that wonderful interest and 
 fascination which made lis think nothing of the 
 long exposed walk twice a Sunday in any wind 
 or weather, so only we might be present at the 
 feast to follow. 
 
 " What was the secret of it ? a fine intellect ? a 
 splendid command of language ? a wide and com- 
 prehensive knowledge of Scripture '{ All these he 
 had, and they were blessed gifts of God ; but 
 the secret was, that Jesus was to him first and 
 foremost. He saw Jesus from Genesis to Reve- 
 lation, and this Jesus became transfigured (at least 
 to one of his hearers), no longer the abstract 
 mighty Being far away somewbere in heaven ; but 
 the living, loving, exalted, coming Son of man, yet 
 to be glorified and owned in this world, where He 
 is still despised, when all things, natural as well as 
 spiritual, shall own His sway, and praise His Name. 
 Ah ! it was wonderful what a new light dawned 
 through those burning words of his, and how God 
 owned him to be His servant, by the way in which 
 so frequently he answered the unspoken questions 
 of the heart, clearly and concisely, as though they 
 had been laid out in order before him, whereas he 
 knew nothing, but his Master knew, and gave His 
 servant the needed portion to distribute ; or some- 
 
HIS GREENWICH MINISTRY. 141 
 
 times it was some trouble ahead, and even before 
 it reached us, the needed words of comfort and 
 strength had already been spoken, in readiness 
 by God's faithful messenger. 
 
 " The short opening prayers, specially on Sunday 
 mornings, have left a marked impression on my 
 mind. They only lasted two or three minutes, 
 and yet often I have felt, ' That is enough ; I can 
 go home now if need be ' — it was so truly entering 
 into the presence-chamber of the King. He loved 
 to repeat that we had come to meet with Jesus, 
 and claim the promise made to those gathered in 
 His Name ; we had come not because it was eleven 
 o'clock on Sunday morning or because it was the 
 Presbyterian Church, but to see Jesus. 
 
 " The devil was a great reality to him. He used 
 to say, the preacher saw the place full of angels and 
 devils ; the praying Christians, the seeking souls 
 helped him ; all the rest dragged him. 
 
 " And then the Communion seasons— oh ! what 
 times of blessing they were ! — when our hearts 
 burned within us, and the disciples as of old could 
 say, they were glad, for they had seen the Lord. He 
 would have liked the Communion every Sunday, the 
 resurrection-day of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ ; our birthday, as he loved to call it ; but he 
 only succeeded in bringing the people to a monthly 
 instead of a quarterly Communion. 
 
 " Tn private intercourse his simplicity and child- 
 likeness were in marked contrast to the mighty 
 power displayed in the pulpit. If reference was 
 
1-^2 SAPHIRS EXTBEME SENSITIVENESS. 
 
 made to his sermons, he would speak of them as 
 though some other person had preached them. 
 ' Yes, I like that ; that is a beautiful thought ; is 
 it not wonderful ? ' and so on. 
 
 " When there was a collection for the Jewish 
 Society, that was a gala time with him ; he would 
 announce the collection before beginning to speak, 
 and then launch into his subject. We had good 
 measure on these occasions ; he would generally 
 speak for an hour or nearly so, ranging through the 
 Scriptures, unfolding to us God's plans and purposes 
 for His beloved chosen nation, proving that His 
 promises are true and faithful, and must be fulfilled. 
 
 " He was so painfully sensitive that he became 
 greatly depressed, and after his thrilling a large 
 congregation, on going into the vestry you would 
 find him down in the depths ; some little trifle 
 would make him feel that his work was of little 
 use. He would shrink up like a snail into his shell 
 in a shy sort of way. Did he see a little group 
 of people in the aisle after the sermon, ' Oh, there 
 are a good many people, I will go round the other 
 way ; ' while the said people were lingering in the 
 hope of a passing word and a shake of the hand. 
 I often thought he deprived himself of some of the 
 cheer he might have had. 
 
 " He was not only sensitive, but sympathetic. 
 Often there comes to my mind an expression used 
 by him in prayer, ' It may be we are too weak to 
 pray, then we put our hand into the hand of Jesus, 
 and say, " Pray with me." ' " 
 
lII,-< POWERFUL PREAOHINi}. MP. 
 
 Another member of the Greenwich congregation 
 writes of him : — 
 
 " J\lost truly his life was most valuable, and 
 much more widely and richly blessed of God 
 than any outward manifestation ever showed. . . . 
 Sitting under his ministry just made one instinct- 
 ively feel that secret communion with God was 
 the atmosphere he breathed. His preaching was 
 no mere delivery of a sermon outside as it were 
 of himself, but a pouring forth of the God-given 
 wisdom, with the whole man so engrossed thereby, 
 that while in the pulpit seeming, as one said to 
 me one day, ' strong as a lion ' — afterwards there 
 was complete exhaustion. 
 
 "Of a highly-strung, keenly-sensitive nature — as 
 a medical man who knew him only through attend- 
 incf him durino- a severe illness abroad, said to me 
 afterwards, ' His mind is too big for that little 
 body,' — while the simplicity of a child mingled 
 with his profound spiritual experience. The chief 
 beauty of his ministry was, that while too deep 
 to be fully appreciated by the shallow-minded 
 Christian, it was so clear and simple that I have 
 seen the poor in this world, illiterate as regards 
 earthly wisdom, but taught of God, drink in the 
 message, and echo out a glad Amen ; while by 
 MSS. and printed books many gained rich blessings 
 who had never seen his face. . . . 
 
 " I owe much to him. May your ' work' be ' an 
 inscription of praise unto the King of Israel, who, 
 from among His chosen people, raised up one, and 
 
U4 LETTEBS TO ME. STEVENSON, M.l' 
 
 ,so filled and gifted him by the Holy Ghost, to 
 gather in and bnild up His people in their most 
 holy faith ! ' . . . As of Apollos, one might truly 
 sny of him, 'mighty in the Scriptures,' for as a 
 Jew he had a most marvellous grasp of the whole 
 Word of God." 
 
 In the following letters to Mr. J. Cochrane 
 Stevenson, M.P., with whom he had been so 
 intimately and pleasantly associated at South 
 Shields, he gives a cheerful view of his Avork. 
 
 In a letter dated Feb. 4, 1863, he says : — 
 
 " I send I13- this post a circular about the enlargement of 
 our church. I had many difficulties within and without, 
 but all has ended well, and the present plan has been adopted 
 quite cordially .ind unanimously. We have been much 
 encouraged in our work, and my most sanguine expectations 
 Iiave been surpassed. I am anxious to have the spire com- 
 pleted, and above all, to open the church free of debt. Next 
 Sabbath we are to add seven office-bearers : three elders, viz. 
 General Shortrede, Mr. L. Mafckay, and Mr. Basden. Among 
 the deacons are Mr. Eraser (Dr. Hamilton's brother-in-law), 
 n,nd Mr. Strahan the publisher. Our congregation is certainly 
 a very mixed one : Episcopalians, Baptists, Independents, 
 and a very few Plymouthists ; but they are beginning to 
 coalesce, and we have every reason to be hopeful. I am 
 ju^t expecting Mr. J. E. Mathieson and Carstairs Douglas.^ 
 Douglas is to hold a meeting to-night in our church. We 
 are expecting McLeod and Stevenson on Monday. There is 
 to be a breakfast at Strahan's in the morning, and a dinner 
 at the ' Trafalgar ' in the evening for Good Wm-ds folk : 
 Hughes ('Tom Brown'), Ludlow, Trollope, &c. I was to 
 be among the small fry, but I have to be at a Jubilee 
 meeting in Blackheath. McLeod and Stevenson are going 
 
 1 The well-known missionary to China of the Presbyterian 
 (Ihurch of England, 
 
ox CIIVnCH PB.OGJ?ESS AT (IREENWH'H. Uf) 
 
 to Germany to import deaconesses to Glasgow ! Did you 
 notice in November Good Words an article, ' Words of Life 
 from a Roman Catliolic Pulpit ' ? If not, I think you will 
 be interested in it. I intend writing a second article on the 
 same priest. As I am advertising myself, I may also add 
 that I wrote ' The Land of Chain,' and that I translated 
 the poem on the Noah's Ark in the article on ' Toys.' " 
 
 In another letter to ]\lr. Stevenson he says : — 
 
 " I should have acknowledged yom' letter, and thanked 
 you for your kind contribution before this, but I had no 
 end of meetings and engagements the last week. ... I 
 Cjuite sympathize mth you in your feeling about the traditions 
 of men. But, I suppose, that while we retain our liberty 
 in our own conscience and mind, we have to bear the infirmity 
 of the weak brethren. I am convinced however that our 
 Church, as a whole, is paralyzed by the prevailing legal 
 spirit. Those who enjoy the gospel of Jesus Christ, and 
 have a clear need of the truth, will as a rule be large- 
 minded ; and my impression is, that if our ministers and 
 elders were more evangelical, and more delivered from the 
 spirit of bondage, our churches would in a very short time 
 present a totally new appearance. 
 
 " "VVe are going on well, thank God, in our church. The 
 building, to speak of the external first, turned out better 
 than we expected : good air, easy speaking, plenty of light, 
 and the sesthetics gratified. The expenses turned out heavier 
 than expected, £3800; we ore still £2000 in debt. The 
 congregation is large, and I have much reason to praise the 
 Lord. We have 300 communicants, and a considerable 
 number of very earnest spiritual people. We are going to 
 introduce the Synod's Hymn-book the first Sunday in March. 
 I would, have greatly preferred the collection of Mr. W. F. 
 Stevenson, but yielded to the caution of two old elders, who 
 of course opposed hymns in general. They are quite old- 
 sohool on every point, and sore about all the innovations, 
 and the complete change and enlargement that has taken 
 place. They did not want any enlargement, being satisfied 
 
140 URGES FREdUENT G02IMUNI0N. 
 
 with what I called a very limited ' Caledonian Club. No 
 English admitted.' But the Scotch people did not come 
 till the English set them the example. This also is a contest 
 between gospel and law-gospel : Sara and Hagar. But I 
 do think they have got more light and liberty. . . . The 
 English Christians, as a rule, have clearer views ; and the 
 chief reason, I am firmly convinced, why we Presbyterians 
 do not make more progress in England, is simply our want 
 of the true gospel spirit. It soiinds harsh, but I could prove 
 it to demonstration. 
 
 " We have the communion once in every two months. 
 After the struggle I laid down from the pulpit the principle 
 that like the Apostles we ought to have it every Sunday. 
 For those who like authority for truth, and to whom truth 
 is not authority, I quote Calvin and John Owen. In 
 Spurgeon's church they have the communion every Sunday. 
 But once a month is quite common both in the Church of 
 England and among Dissenters. What right have we to 
 keep people, who enjoy the Lord's Supper as they do prayer, 
 &c., waiting for two months, and in case of sickness, &c., 
 four to six ? Special prayer-meetings and other self-invented 
 extra services are multiplied, but Christ's own institution 
 never enters their minds as a means of revival. My people 
 are almost all in favour of the weekly Communion ; in fact, 
 nothing but the gospel binds these heterogeneous elements 
 of Baptists, Independents, Episcopalians, &c., together, and 
 I should be very sorry to make Old School Presbyterians 
 of them. But enough of Church affairs. I must only add, 
 that we have a beautiful spire, and that the neighbourhood 
 feels much gratified by the edifice. 
 
 " My father has beeia very ill, and is dying. He suffers 
 much. He very rarely speaks, but often quotes Inrgely 
 from the Scriptures in Hebrew and English. Mr. Kbnig, 
 the missionary, gives me a very satisfactory account of his 
 state of mind. His hope rests on the truth set forth in 
 Isaiah liii. It is a very great trial to me to be so far away." 
 
 The following extracts are from letters written 
 during liis Green wjcb ministry to one of his 
 
LETTERS TO LADY KJNLOCH. 147 
 
 most devoted friends — Lady Kinloch — a very dear 
 friend to the close of his life. He writes on 
 October 2, 1862 :— 
 
 "The Exhibition brought us such a ci'owd of visitors, 
 which is very pleasant, but breaks sadly on one's time. 
 ^Nothing is doing about the church, and I have given up 
 thinking about it, but mean to wait quietly till something 
 more definite occurs." (This refers to the enlarging of the 
 church, which had now become absolutely necessary.) "How 
 easy it is to approve of humility, and how difficult to be 
 thankful for trials and crossings of will ! 
 
 " To trust in Jesus only, and seek His approbation only, 
 is a very hard thing, although it ought to be the very 
 easiest and sweetest thing of all. This strikes me most in 
 the life of Christ, that the Father was all in all to Him, 
 how that man's help or praise could not affect Him, and 
 yet what true meekness and considerateness towards men ! 
 
 "This leads me to your remarks on dear Irving. He was 
 a great theologian, and felt that the Humanity of Christ 
 was a topic sadly neglected. He had greater ideas, and in 
 more abundant number, than he was able to master and 
 arrange, and he fell naturally into many crudities and con- 
 tradictions. But what a true, loving, Christ-like man and 
 minister he must have been, when even the dry scholastics 
 could not help loving him, and acknowledging in him the 
 power of Christ ! Many of his expressions on the humanity 
 of Christ I think most unwarranted and unnecessary even 
 for his own purpose. There was no sinful tendency even 
 in the flesh of Christ ; He could be tried, and Satan wanted, 
 but in vain, to make this trial a temptation. Yet Jesus 
 suffered in all this ; it was a real and fearful conflict. 
 
 " To my mind we hear not enough about God in Christ. 
 There is something Unitarian in even our orthodox teaching. 
 The sum and substance of truth and consolation to my mind 
 is, that Jesus Christ is the true God, and Eternal Life (1 John 
 
148 THE GOD-MAN. 
 
 V. 20). How dim are all our ideas of God, until we realize 
 a Man, with the print of the nails in His hands, on the 
 heavenly throne ; and how distant is God from our daily- 
 life till we see Him living on earth as Jesus ! I met a very 
 striking" expression, the other day, in a German Prayer-book : 
 ' Jesu, lass mir deinen ganzen Wandel auf Erden vor Augen 
 stehen, dass ich mich immer darin erneuere,' which may be 
 paraphrased : The toute ensemble, or, as the Germans say, 
 Oesammteindruck of the Life of Jesus to be constantly in 
 US, and before us. We would certainly have less discussions 
 of words or forms of doctrine, were our thoughts more centred 
 on Christ personally, on pleasing and enjoying Him. While 
 I write this, I feel most painfully the very lack of what I 
 .approve. What a wonderful gift is prayer ! — but I must 
 confess that I have not received it as I see it in Scripture 
 and the lives of many Christians. It is a very great con- 
 solation to me to think of friends who pray for me. A 
 minister uow-a-days is viewed too little as an individual, and 
 too much as invested with an office. When you remember 
 me in your prayer, will you pray that God may give me 
 sincerity, and faith, and a hatred of sin, and love to Himself, 
 and to the souls of men ? 
 
 "I have been thinking much lately of children, and par- 
 ticularly the children of Christians. Jesus taking up little 
 children and blessing them, is a great and significant fact. 
 It requires great wisdom to be both zealous and patient, to 
 sow the good seed, and yet not to force growth. But I 
 suppose love is a good guide. May you have the joy of 
 seeing all your children in Christ's fold, and all that are 
 dear to you ! . . . 
 
 " Campbell of Eow is, I believe, a very earnest Christian. 
 His theory, I think, is not scriptural. He maintains that 
 all are pardoned, and their future destiny depends on their 
 accepting or rejecting the pardon. Did you notice a paper 
 in Blackwood — a sermon ? The writer groans for a liturgy. 
 I am reading Macleod's Old Lieutenant. It is beautiful, and 
 I think will be very useful to sailors. It is by no means 
 Calvinistic, but this is more implied ; on the whole it is very 
 good, and truly Christian." 
 
THE LOVE OF GOD. U9 
 
 In another letter to the sanae kcly, he says : — 
 
 '' Loving-kindness and tender mercies form the crown which 
 in this present life the Father gives us. Psalm ciii. seems 
 to me the most perfect expression of a Christian's heart, 
 praising and trusting God, the Redeemer ; remembering sins 
 and weaknesses, and yet rejoicing in a merciful and com- 
 passionate Father." 
 
 In a letter written at the beginning of a new year, 
 1865, he says : — 
 
 " I hope that this year will bring you much blessing and 
 sunshine. May you see daily more of the love of God, and 
 of Christ the gift of His love ! Whenever I want to get 
 into a region of light and peace, and out of the mists of 
 gloom that so often arise, I think of the love the Father 
 has to Christ, as our Redeemer and High Priest, and try to 
 i-ealize that it is the same love He has to us. We could 
 scarcely believe it were we not assured of it so expressly 
 in the Word of God ; but once having seen and believed it, 
 we cannot rest in anything short of this, ' accepted in the 
 beloved ! ' You will enjoy, I think, John's description of 
 Christian experience. How uniform it is in its main features, 
 and how completely John the Baptist expresses it when he 
 says, ' Christ must increase, but he himself decrease ! ' And 
 yet this is growing and enjoying life abundantly. 
 
 " I trust you are feeling independent of everything in the 
 spiritual life, except the Lord and His Word. The Father 
 and the Son have promised to come to us, and make their 
 abode with us. We need not go any distance to any well, 
 but have the water of life in our .souls. I think of most of 
 the personal witnesses, as Paul, John, David, Luther, and try 
 to see the grace of God in them, and the glory of God in 
 their infirmities as well as then* strength. I try to think 
 of Paul as a man, fighting with sin, unbelief, gloom, and 
 the whole old man, and seeing no other righteovisness and 
 life but Christ. 
 
 "The common way of hero worship, and gazing at mere 
 
160 /SKETCH OF SAPHIR'S WORK. 
 
 meu as stars, is utterly false and unpractical ; it does not 
 glorify God in them, and it does not help us. But when 
 we see God's grace in them, they are so full of encouragement 
 and comfort, for they point us plainly to Christ. May we 
 have such peace and joy in believing, in learning Christ, and 
 may our constant desire be to know Bim ! 
 
 " I send you the Congregational Report for this year, from 
 which you will see that God has been with us. I am looking 
 forward hopefully to the future. I have been very anxious 
 to have things placed on a true and Scriptural basis, and 
 God has helped me wonderfully. The Christians in the 
 congregation are, T think, growing in knowledge and love, 
 and the others are beginning to feel that there is a reality 
 in the truth and life of Christ. I have been explaining on 
 the Sunday mornings the Tabernacle, and in the evenings 
 the Gospel of John. I love both subjects dearly, and I am 
 thankful that the preaching of the gospel is new to me every 
 Lord's Day. Many friends must be praying for me. Some 
 of our people have fixed Saturday evening from eight to 
 nine for special prayer. It is a gi'eat help to me, and endears 
 them very much to my heart. We have ii colporteur among 
 the Jews in Pesth, who lias much intercourse with Jews 
 specially from the country." 
 
 In a letter written in the following year, 1866, 
 
 he gives a bright sketch of his Avork : — 
 
 " I have had so many meetings lately, that I feel my 
 brain quite exhausted, if ever there was anything in it. 
 But it is so difficult to keep quiet in this place. I am much 
 encouraged however in my work. I have a class for children 
 every Wednesday afternoon. I hold it in the church, as 
 about 350 little folk attend, and some grown-up people 
 besides. The children seem to enjoy it very much, and look 
 very bright. I tell them the contents of a chapter (I am 
 going through Genesis), explaining and illustrating it, and 
 asking them questions. They are very lively, and answer 
 well. It is my pet just now; I find the children have less 
 difficulty in understanding the truth than the grown-up 
 people. 
 
//AS BIBLE READINGS. 151 
 
 " We have now a missionary in our district. He was 
 recommended by Horatius Bonar, and he is a very enlightened 
 and wise man. Our boys' evening classes are attended by 
 sixty roughs, and the Sunday evening service in the school- 
 room by about eighty to a hundred people. Our Young 
 Men's Association too is promising well. This week they 
 have a Conversational Meeting on the Second Advent, which 
 I conduct. This evening our London Association have their 
 annual meeting. They are doing much for the poor in our 
 district, and we have made good progress, as far as work is 
 concerned. Ob, for more of God's Light and Love ! — the 
 time seems so short and the work so great. There is little 
 spiritual interest among the people of this neighbourhood. 
 Among the believers there is much life ; last year has been 
 a very blessed one, also in bringing in souls through the 
 preaching of the gospel. 
 
 " I have been led lately to dwell much on the gospel as 
 good news to man, coming to him wherever he is, and bringing 
 salvation with it— just as the good Samaritan came alone 
 to the sick man and lifted him up. I fear I have not suffi- 
 ciently brought out in my preaching that it is ' good news,' 
 ii joyous sound. The open arms of the Father ought to be 
 continually pointed out, and the Door open, explained. For 
 many people imagine that they have not got the religious 
 temperament, &c., and that they are different from believers 
 whom they admire and approve. We cannot speak to them 
 too affectionately, and also in too great a variety of ways. 
 
 " I am giving a course of lectures on the study of the 
 Bible. I am anxious to show how necessary and practicable 
 it is to read the whole Bible. I believe my people would like 
 to do so, but feel despondent, as to managing it. The state 
 of the church is very much to be attributed to not reading 
 Scripture, more copiously and connectedly. I intend next 
 year, if it please God, to have on Wednesday evenings, 
 instead of a lecture, simply Bible readings, taking eight or 
 ten chapters, and adding a few remarks as to their scope, 
 connection, and only explaining what is absolutely necessary. 
 I hope thus to get through a very large portion of Scripture 
 in the year." 
 
loi' JOY IN EIIS WORK. 
 
 These letters give glimpses into his inner and 
 outer life — showing his joy in his ministry — his 
 genuine humility and sensitiveness, and his fertility 
 of resources in the carrying on of his work. 
 
 Of this time, the Eev. J. Basden, Congregational 
 minister of Dedham, Essex, writes : — 
 
 "My father, Mr. E. W. A. Basden, was an elder 
 of St. Mark's, Greenwich, when Dr. Saphir was 
 the minister there, and I, as a boy, regarded no 
 school grief unendurable, considering I should hear 
 Saphir on Sunday. ... To Dr. Saphir I owe 
 the deepest and greatest spiritual influence of my 
 life, and have no ambition other than to preach 
 Christ and the Scriptures, as he expounded them to 
 me. As to my father, the Bible and ' Saphir ' are 
 his two books." 
 
 These early years at Greenwich were, we believe, 
 among the happiest years of his life. Afterwards, 
 his health, which had never been robust, began to 
 fail, and he scarcely ever again enjoyed the same 
 physical strength and vigour. 
 
153 
 
 CHAPTEE XV. 
 
 LITERARY ACTIVITY. 
 
 His Literary Tastes and Power — Wide Knowledge of Liter- 
 ature, German and English — Contributes to Good Words — 
 Notes of Various Contributions and Extracts— Tour in 
 Germany with the Macleods aud Stevenson — Hi s Tracts 
 — Tlie Golden A B G of the Jews, &c. 
 
 IN 1860, the magazine Good Words, under the 
 editorship of the well-known Dr. Norman 
 Macleod, had suddenly obtained a marvellous 
 popularity. Dr. Macleod, who had long known 
 Saphir, and, as we have noted, befriended him in 
 Glasgow, asked him to write for his journal. The 
 publishers of Good Words were also members of 
 his congregation. 
 
 He became a frequent contributor. His first 
 article was written early in 1861, just about the 
 time of his going to Greenwich. It was entitled 
 ' The Light of the World.' Life, Love, and Light 
 are inseparably connected. Speaking of the testi- 
 mony of John the Apostle to Jesus, as the Light 
 of the World, he says : — 
 
 " Who knew Him best when He was on earth 1 
 
154 THE 'LIGHT OF THE WORLD.' 
 
 Who was His most beloved friend, His most 
 favoured disciple, the nearest and dearest to His 
 heart ? The Apostle John. Is it not a significant 
 fact, that the man who was most intimately 
 acquainted with Christ's humanitj^, gives the clearest 
 and most emphatic testimony concerning His 
 divinity, — that John, who leaned on His bosom, 
 who had the deepest insight into the life, thoughts, 
 and feelings, who enjoyed the largest share of the 
 confidence and affection of the Man Christ Jesus, 
 never loses sight for a moment, in all his writings, 
 of the Godhead of the Saviour. The more we 
 examine His history, the more are we convinced 
 that He has the words of eternal life, that He 
 is that Anointed One, the Son of the living God." 
 Speaking of Jesus Christ as the Light of the 
 World, he proceeds : — "Former revelations of God 
 were like flashes of lightning, like passing visitant 
 rays, like the reflected light of the moon ; here is 
 the sun in mid-day splendour, and yet its bright- 
 ness is full of healing, so that men can endure it. 
 We see God, and yet we do not die, but live. . . . 
 Christ reveals God in His words and in His works. 
 In Him as the Light, everything is simple, un- 
 divided, and perfectly harmonious. His words 
 and works are but a manifestation of His person. 
 When He taught, and performed His works. He 
 never for a moment interrupted His fellowship 
 with the Father: as the sun giving light to the 
 lowliest flower in the valley, leaves not his ap- 
 pointed path on high, and as a sunbeam passes 
 
A CONTRIBUTION TO ' GOOD WORDS.' 155 
 
 undefiled througli the vilest pollution, Jesus, while 
 teachiHg, healing, working, even when surrounded 
 by the guiltiest and most God-estranged, was 
 always in heaven." 
 
 He shows that Jesus is the Light of the World 
 as to His teaching. His teaching is intelligible 
 to all — to Nicodemus as well as the woman of 
 Samaria and the fishermen of Galilee ; to use the 
 words of Celsus, " to woollen manufacturers, shoe- 
 makers and curriers, the most uneducated and 
 boorish of men, as well as to the great and learned." 
 
 After showing that He also is the Light of the 
 World in the perfection of His character, he con- 
 siders the various qualities of light, as self-commu- 
 nicative, free, seen by itself, calm yet strong, joyful, 
 and he applies these characteristics of Light with 
 telling power to Christ. 
 
 Some of Saphir's smaller contributions to Good 
 Words were especially for children. Li the letters 
 we have given he speaks of his largely attended 
 children's services, and the following ' Parables,' 
 which appeared in 1861, enable us to understand 
 the secret of his success in this interesting sphere 
 of his ministry. 
 
 " I. — THE KEY AND THE PRISONERS. 
 
 " There was once a king whose sons, owing to 
 their folly, lost their liberty, and lingered in prison 
 in a foreign land. Their father's heart could not 
 know them to be in such need without determining 
 
156 ' THE KEY AND THE PRISONERS.' 
 
 to deliver them. He rose up and went into the 
 far land, and after he had bound the jailer hand 
 and foot, he threw the key through the grating 
 and said : ' Dear children, open the door and return 
 home with me. I will pardon all, and forgive your 
 folly and disobedience.' But it was a cold winter's 
 morning, and the snow was falling. The sons sat 
 down, looked at the key, and talked of its size, 
 its form, and of the skill of the locksmith's craft. 
 Some praised a state of freedom as the noblest, 
 and certainly the most indispensable gift. They 
 talked of the joy and pleasantness of the father's 
 house. Then the father cried : ' The key is to 
 open the door, you have no time to lose.' But 
 they remained there looking at the key, and talking 
 about it ; and some of them, putting on a very 
 wise face, supposed it could not possibly fit ; 
 it must be too small, and something must be filed 
 off the wards on one side, and something must be 
 added on the other. It was done ; but behold the 
 key would no longer fit ! But they cried : ' Now 
 indeed we have made a real genuine fine key ! 
 How we have perfected it ! Truly we are even more 
 skilful than the original locksmith ! What would 
 his work have been without our improvement ! ' 
 But the key would not fit, and the gate remained 
 shut. Then the father spoke, and tears filled his 
 eyes : ' You don't wish to return ! You love me not, 
 and would rather remain in prison than obey me ! ' 
 They answered : ' Nothing is nobler, nothing more 
 beautiful, nothing worthier of men, nothing is 
 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO ' GOOD WORDS.' 157 
 
 higher and holier than childlike love and reverence.' 
 Then replied the father, earnestly and mournfully : 
 ' If you had truly loved me, you would long since 
 have opened the door.' 
 
 " But some of them mocked and laughed, and 
 said: 'The key is indeed no key at all; and why 
 should we need one ? It is very pleasant here, and 
 we are quite happy. Besides, true freedom is not 
 to be found at home with our father. Are we not 
 already free ? ' " 
 
 " II. — THE ARTIST OR THE FATHER. 
 
 " I came into a hall, and saw in it beautiful 
 paintings and noble sculptures, arranged in a 
 tasteful and suggestive manner. And I said to 
 myself : ' The hand of our artist has been at work 
 here. How beautiful are the works of his brush and 
 chisel ! — and how beautifully and thoughtfully has 
 he grouped them together ! ' And I thought on the 
 subjects he had chosen, and considered the details 
 of execution, and I began to make a picture in 
 my mind of the artist's character, disposition, and 
 cast of thought. 
 
 " And I came into a small room, and saw a man 
 with his wife and children sitting round a table. 
 And I heard a little boy stammering, ' Father,' and 
 clinging to the man's breast, and the wife called 
 him by his name, and he was the joy and the sun 
 of their heart. 
 
 "And I thought : ' What will it help me to know 
 God only as an artist, as Him who made mountains, 
 
158 'THE CATHEDRAL AND THE MOUSE.' 
 
 and the sea, fields, and meadows, if I do not know 
 Him as my Father, as my Husband, as Him who 
 protects, liberates, guides, comforts me, as the sun 
 of my heart and my portion for ever ? ' 
 
 " And I thought that for this reason Christ came, 
 that we should no longer yearn after an unknown 
 God, but pray to and live with our Father." 
 
 " III. — THE CATHEDBAL AND THE MOUSE. 
 
 " In the quiet twilight I stept into a great and 
 glorious cathedral ; and I looked at the wonderful 
 pillars, striving upwards to heaven, and my soul 
 was lifted up to God. And I heard a rustling and 
 nibbling noise, and saw a mouse running anxiously 
 and greedily after some crumbs, that it might eat 
 them. It sees not the beauty of the house in which 
 it lives, it knows not to whose honour it is built, 
 it has no eye for the bold structure of its roof. 
 
 " And thou, man, be not such a grey, hungry, 
 greedy mouse in the grand cathedral of this world 
 in which thou livest, and which proclaims the 
 glory of God." 
 
 One of his addresses to children was based on 
 the words entitled, The Four Little Preachers. 
 " ' There be four things which are little upon the 
 earth, but they are exceeding wise. The ants are 
 a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in 
 the summer ; the conies are but a feeble folk, yet 
 make they their houses in the rocks ; the locusts 
 have no king, yet go they forth all of them by 
 
'THE FOUR LITTLE PREACHERS: 159 
 
 bands ; the spider taketh hold with her hands, 
 and is in kings' palaces ' " — and the following out- 
 line shows the lessons he drew from them : — •" The 
 ants taught to do in summer what cannot be 
 done in winter, to be diligent in youth, and to 
 prepare for the coming winter. How are we to 
 labour for the meat which endureth for ever 1 
 Jesus tells us. Just as the people sitting on the 
 grass had nothing to do but to take the bread and 
 eat it, so if our hearts hunger and thirst after God's 
 forgiveness and love, we have nothing to do but to 
 trust in Jesus. Jesus is the bread of life. But if 
 Jesus is the bread of life. He will show us how to 
 prepare our meat in summer, that is, while our 
 earthly life lasts ; and then we shall enjoy in the life 
 to come what we have laid up, not in winter, for 
 that life will be much sunnier and brighter than 
 any earthly summer. 
 
 " What does the coney teach us ? We also 
 require a house, in which we can dwell safely 
 here and hereafter. This house must be built 
 on a rock, where the conies make their houses. 
 They are safe, not because they are strong, but 
 because the rock is strong." This he applied to 
 buildino- on Christ. Then as to the locusts. What 
 did they accomplish by numbers and unity ? And 
 as to the spider, what did his perseverance do ? 
 He never rested till he got his web firmly placed, 
 and nothing could daunt him, and from no place, 
 even the palace of the king, could he be excluded. 
 Here he impressed the duty of perseverance, in 
 
160 THE STORY OF ' NANNERL' 
 
 prayer, in forgiveness, in love, and then the great 
 reward that awaits all who rest not till they enter 
 the Kingdom. 
 
 He also wrote the following short tale, which 
 appeared in the same journal in 1862 : — 
 
 HER MAJESTY, NANNERL, THE WASHERWOMAN. 
 
 In a little village on the banks of the Neckar, 
 in South Germany, lived Hans Ritter, master 
 tailor, with his wife Else. He was not wealthy, 
 but free from oppressive care ; he worked from 
 early morning till late at night, lived frugally, 
 sent his children to school, and had always a 
 dollar at Christmas to buy some toys, and to erect 
 a Christmas tree for the little ones. On Sundays 
 he put on his confirmation coat, the identical coat 
 in which he had been confirmed, and his beaver 
 hat. Else wore the cap with the yellow trimming, 
 the handkerchief with the blue border, and carried 
 her gilt hymn-book. But who in all the village 
 looked so devout and happy as Nannerl, their 
 eldest daughter ? She was about fourteen years 
 old, and very tall for her age. She wore always a 
 white gown on Sundays ; and her blue neckerchief, 
 a gift from old grandmamma, looked quite new, 
 although it was nearly as old as herself. But what 
 could look old or grow shabby that was worn by 
 her, and folded up by her, and locked up by her ? 
 Look at her walking slowly and cheerfully to 
 
CONTRIBUTED TO ' GOOD WORDS: 161 
 
 churcTi with the younger children, who cling to 
 her fondly, and if you do not bless her in your 
 heart, I am afraid you forgot your prayers this 
 morning. 
 
 Nannerl was a good girl, fond of nice dress 
 and of a village dance, it is true, and I do not wish 
 to deny it. The youths in the village liked her 
 much ; Conrad Hogel, old Heinrich the carpenter's 
 son, more than any one. Conrad was a very 
 handsome and kind-hearted youth ; he sang very 
 well, and as to steadiness and diligence, none could 
 excel him. 
 
 Conrad fell in love with Nannerl, and Nannerl 
 fell in love with Conrad, I don't know when and 
 how ; for I know it only from Nannerl herself, 
 and this is her account : " Conrad often came to 
 my father's in the evening after work was over, 
 and we all walked out together into the wood, and 
 on Sunday afternoons to the garden. He had such 
 an honest face, and was so cheerful and merry, and 
 had such fine songs, that nobody could help liking 
 him. I was very happy when Conrad was with 
 us, and from my childhood never imagined that I 
 could live without him ; and after my confirmation, 
 one evening I went into our little front garden to 
 get some gooseberries for grandmamma, who was 
 very old, and lived with us. I went out ; it was on 
 a Thursday evening, and there Conrad was behind 
 me. I said, 'Good-evening, Conrad.' He said 
 nothing. So I did not mind him, but went to the 
 gooseberries. But he came after me, and told me 
 
162 THE STORY OF ' NANNERL' 
 
 that he was to be made master carpenter next 
 week, and go into a new house next term. I said, 
 ' I am very glad.' He asked me, ' Are you really ? ' 
 I answered, ' Yes indeed.' Upon this, he fell on my 
 neck, and kissed me, and said, ' Nanuerl, you must 
 come and be my little wife in the new house.' So 
 Conrad went to speak to my father, and he said : 
 ' When I married Else I was a poor man, and had 
 nothing but my trade. You are an honest 
 Christian and workman, and if Nannerl loves you, 
 I give you my blessing.' This was on Thursday 
 night, a fortnight before grandmamma died." 
 
 And so Nannerl married Conrad, and tbey 
 lived together happily for some years. They had 
 sufficient to support themselves, although some 
 trouble and care occasionally to get money for 
 wood and winter clothes ; but they got through, 
 and had health, good summer weather, fine walks 
 in the fields, beautiful flowers, mountains and 
 glens, ice-skating in winter, gratis; and this is 
 frequently one of the differences between poor and 
 rich people ; the poor are not too proud, and enjoy 
 these gratis things — health, water, walks, &c. 
 
 Quiet little village ! — quiet peaceful family ! — 
 no change, no event ! Conrad's mother dies, and 
 Nannerl goes next spring to look at the flowers on 
 her grave. Nannerl has a son, and all the Ritters 
 and Hogels are at the christening ; and Nannerl, 
 in the white dress, is as beautiful as ever. There 
 is great happiness in the little room, in the centre 
 of which is a very large fine cake, so suggestive 
 
CONTRIBUTED TO 'GOOD WORDS.' 163 
 
 that every one has some remark to make, and 
 something to praise. Quietly they live on, no 
 event, no change ! — till one day the cry is heard, 
 " War ! war ! Napoleon ! " Poor Conrad becomes 
 a soldier. Nannerl's tears flow fast. Little Carl, 
 dear tiny baby, plays with papa's czako, and is 
 delighted with it. " Was blasen die Trompeten ? 
 Hussaren heraus ! " 
 
 There is old Hans, with a serious face, giving 
 advice to his son-in-law ; there is Els^ trying to 
 comfort her daughter, but weeping herself ; there is 
 Conrad's sister in a corner, packing his little knap- 
 sack silently ; there is Nannerl beseeching him to 
 stay. But the drum, the drum, it calleth so loud ! 
 
 Thou art right, Conrad, and a true-hearted 
 German. Not pour la gloire goest thou out to 
 fight. No, much-to-be-respected master carpenter, 
 it never entered thy head ; but as thou thyself 
 sayest : " This land is German land, and the king's ; 
 this is God's right, and so we will show to all who 
 want to take it from us." 
 
 Conrad returned in two years, but not as he 
 went. He had lost a leg, had received several 
 ■wounds, and was so enfeebled that he could not 
 resume his work. He found his Nannerl looking 
 pale, and not in the white gown, but in black. 
 Hans and Else are both dead. 
 
 "Conrad," says Nannerl, "I have suffered so 
 much since you have been away. I dreamt almost 
 every night you were dead. Then my father 
 became ill and died, and, a month after, mother 
 
164 THE STORY OF ' NANNERL' 
 
 Else followed him. Conrad, they spoke of you, 
 and prayed for you. Mother died so calmly ! I was 
 putting her pillows right. She looked so pale, and 
 her eyes so dim ! She put up her hands to her 
 forehead — she had such pain there !— and said, 
 ' Not so tight ; they are putting on a golden 
 crown, as Pastor said they would ; but not so 
 tight ! ' She said also the ' Our Father ' twice, 
 and asked for you." 
 
 Nannerl had been always dear and kind, yet 
 Conrad thought her never so kind and dear as now. 
 So calm, and cheerful, and busy, she did everything 
 for everybody ; no one could help loving and 
 honouring her. But Nannerl with the children 
 was the loveliest sight — how she taught them 
 hymns, and told them stories, when the girls were 
 knitting and the boys working ! Nannerl, what 
 change has come over you 1 Never in low spirits 
 as before, no murmuring and fretting ; but so 
 loving, calm, and active. Nannerl had begun to 
 think of the crown, of which mother Elsd had 
 spoken. She had begun to think of love — her love 
 to Conrad, and where she would meet him in case 
 he died. On the God's acre grow lovely flowers ; 
 from the thought of death spring life-giving long- 
 ings. Then the old hymns and gospel verses of 
 her childhood awoke in Nannerl's heart. The Lord 
 Jesus, who had stood so close to her all her life, 
 stood now before her. She saw Him, and fell 
 down, and cried, " Master ! " 
 
 Conrad had got a small pension from Govern- 
 
CONTRIBUTED TO ' GOOD WORDS.' 165 
 
 ment, and, as he could not continue his trade in 
 the village, he went to the nearest town, where his 
 boys were received into a Government school, till 
 they were of age to learn some business. Nannerl 
 became a laundress, and earned as much as, with 
 Conrad's pension, sufficed for their support. Early 
 in the morning Nannerl began her work. At first 
 Conrad looked pained to see her undergoing such 
 exertions. 
 
 " When I saw you in the garden, Nannerl — " 
 
 " On the Thursday evening, wasn't it ? " 
 
 "You little thought— I little thought—" But 
 his voice failed him. 
 
 Nannerl smiled and said: "The less we think 
 the better ; the blessed God thinks it all for us." 
 And so she comforted and cheered him. They 
 were happy in their gratis joys, good conscience, 
 and children's prattle. Conrad was not able to 
 walk much, but now and then they walked to- 
 gether. Nannerl was his support and stay. 
 
 " Nannerl," said he, one evening, " you are an 
 angel. How can you be so happy with such hard 
 work ? " 
 
 " Don't speak in this way. Look how healthy 
 our children are, and what a fine bold hand Carl 
 writes ! — he is already at the letter M ; and little 
 Nannette is going to knit something for your 
 birthday, but I should not tell you ; and you are 
 with me, and God is so kind to us." 
 
 " Nannerl, God be kind to you and my children. 
 Teach them your faith." 
 
16G THE STORY OF ' NANNERL' 
 
 " ' Our faith,' say, Conrad. Are not you also a 
 Christian ? You should think oftener of Him who 
 came to save us, and of the Heaven he brought us." 
 
 But the drum, the drum, it sounds so loud. 
 Neither Nannerl's cries nor the children's voices 
 can be heard, for the drum, the drum, it sounds so 
 loud! 
 
 Not unto the battle-field, but the grave. 
 
 Conrad is dying. He never loved Nannerl so 
 much as on his death-bed. He had never thought 
 so often of Him who brought new life and peace to 
 his wife's heart. " Nannerl," he said, " I have been 
 thinking of the crown of thorns. That crown 
 brought Els^ a golden crown, and I also will be 
 crowned. God bless you and our children. Teach 
 them our faith." 
 
 Conrad is dead. Nannerl weeps, but she can 
 rejoice. " God bless you and our children ! " She 
 heard these words continually ; when she awoke at 
 night, when she arose in the morning, when the 
 Sunday bells rang, when she watched at their 
 bedsides. And God did bless her and her children. 
 She was so punctual, diligent, and skilful in her 
 work, that she never lacked employment. Her 
 sweet disposition and kindliness gained her many 
 friends, and not a few were drawn to her by a 
 deeper sympathy, and recognized in her a fellow- 
 pilgrim on the thorny path to the crovvn of glory. 
 Her boys grew up in the fear and love of God; 
 filling the evening of her life with peace and 
 serenity. 
 
CONTRIBUTED TO 'GOOD WORDS: 167 
 
 When I think of her, the grace and dignity of 
 her manner, her sweetness and gentleness to her 
 children, the words of wisdom and love that came 
 from her lips, her industry and unclouded cheerful- 
 ness, — "Nannerl, I think you wear the crown 
 already. Naunerl, I think you are one of the 
 greatest, noblest, human beings I ever saw. 
 Nannerl, God dwells in your heart, G-od delights in 
 you." 
 
 I say, Her Majesty Nannerl the washerwoman ! 
 Of such queens consists heaven. 
 
 In an article on 'The Childhood of Jesus,' in 
 the same journal, the scenes were realized, as they 
 could scarcely be by one not of the Jewish race. 
 The home and development of the child Jesus is 
 very real, and the scene at the Temple in Jerusalem 
 is vividly described. His picture of Mary is most 
 life-like : — 
 
 Mary was a true daughter of Abraham. For 
 if Abraham is an eminent type of the character, 
 power, and victory of faith, in that he believed and 
 hoped against hope, clinging with childlike trust 
 and humility to the Word of the Most High, it is 
 in vain we seek for a more glorious manifestation 
 of Abraham's faith than is present to us in the 
 reply which Mary gave to the angelic messenger : 
 " Behold the handmaid of the Lord : be it unto me 
 according to thy word." She is a true daughter of 
 David. She possessed the royal spirit of adoration 
 
168 'THE CHILDHOOD OF JESUS.' 
 
 and joyous praise ; and when we hear her hymn, 
 "My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit 
 hath rejoiced in God my Saviour," is it not as if 
 all the grand and beautiful chords of David's harp 
 were blended together in still sublimer harmony? 
 — as if all the Psalms were concentrated in one 
 majestic and glorious Psalm of psalms ? Mary, a 
 true daughter of Abraham and David, is the type 
 of the poor in spirit, the meek and lowly, who are 
 rich and strong in God. In Joseph, Scripture 
 teaches us to see the just man delighting himself 
 in the law of God, a man perfect and upright, one 
 that feared God and eschewed evil, an Israelite 
 indeed, in whom there is no guile. May we not 
 say that Joseph represented the Old Testament in 
 its legal, Mary in its prophetic, aspect ? 
 
 Of the influence of the natural surroundings of 
 the home in Nazareth, he says : — 
 
 Jesus, with the eye of love and heavenly purity, 
 read in the book of Nature, and looked on men and 
 things around Him. He considered the lilies of 
 the field, and the fowls of the air ; He watched the 
 clouds of heaven, and the red sky of the evening ; 
 He saw the sower going forth to sow, and the 
 shepherd leading his flock ; He beheld the bride- 
 groom in his joy, and the widow in her sorrow ; He 
 knew the playful mirth of children, and the deal- 
 ings of men with their fellows ; He saw nature and 
 life, and .in all things emblems of spiritual realities 
 and heavenly truths ; it became to Him a treasure 
 of golden wisdom ; it was to Him nourishment 
 
' THE GOLDEN A B 6'.' 169 
 
 and help on His way to the great work which was 
 before Him. 
 
 Some of his smaller publications are of special 
 interest, bringing out, in short space, a concen- 
 trated fullness of instruction, truth, and comfort 
 not often to be found in large volumes. We 
 may note one or two of these. There was The 
 Golden A B C of the Jeios, Thoughts on Psalm 
 CXIX, which opens with the following interesting 
 paragraph : — 
 
 In calling the CXIXth Psalm The Golden 
 A B C of the Jews, Martin Luther reminds us of 
 the alphabetical structure, and of the excellence 
 and preciousness of this portion of Scripture. This 
 psalm is divided into as many equal parts, each 
 consisting of eight verses, as there are letters in 
 the Hebrew alphabet ; and the first of all the 
 verses in every one of these parts commences with 
 the same letter. It is probable that the plan was 
 devised to assist the memory, especially in com- 
 positions consisting of detached maxims or sen- 
 tences. It may also be conjectured that in the 
 instruction of children, which is so frequently and 
 earnestly urged in the law of Moses, the alphabet- 
 ical arrangement was chosen to arrest the attention 
 and to aid the memory of the young ; for this 
 psalm is a manual and companion for life from 
 youth to old age. He considered it under different 
 headings in The Psalm Alphabetical and Golden. 
 
 He notes its comprehensiveness. 
 
170 'THOUGHTS ON PSALM CXIX: 
 
 prehensiveness of this psalm is very striking. It 
 presents to us human life in all its aspects. Every 
 age can find here a mirror and a sympathizing 
 teacher and interpreter of its deepest thoughts." 
 Under one of the headings he says : " It is most 
 instructive to notice the position assigned in this 
 psalm to the Word of God. In the possession of 
 Scripture the Psalmist feels independent of human 
 teachers and traditions. The Word brings him 
 into communion with the mind of God. It con- 
 tains Divine wisdom to enlighten and guide, Divine 
 promises and consolations to uphold and gladden, 
 and Divine precepts and statutes, in keeping of 
 which is great peace. It needs no human interpret- 
 ation and elaborate comment ; for ' the entrance of 
 thy Word giveth light ; it maketh wise the simple.' 
 He who reads it diligently is wiser than the teachers 
 who teach him in wisdom, and the ancients who 
 dilute and corrupt the W^ord of God with their 
 traditions. It is God's Word (as the emphatic and 
 constant ' Thy ' shows), and the soul knows this, 
 and rests on the rock of Divine authority, strength, 
 and love. In order to know, love, and serve God ; 
 to rejoice in Him ; to be sure of our blessedness ; 
 to walk in the narrow way, and to keep ourselves 
 unspotted from the world — we need nothing but 
 God's Word." 
 
 " Here is the true preventative against the leaven 
 of traditionalism and of naturalism. 
 
 " Unless we truly believe in the supremacy of 
 God's Word, unless we cleave to it with all our 
 
THE TRACTATE, ' WEEP NOT.' 171 
 
 heart and mind, honouring it above all books by- 
 constant reading and meditation, we are in danger 
 of becoming the servants of men, and of being led 
 astray either by the tradition of antiquity or by 
 the ever-changing speculations of human reason. 
 The Bible, and no devotional books, however ex- 
 cellent, ought to be the main reading of Christians ; 
 the Bible, and not the evidence of Revelation, must 
 be regarded as the great preservative against un- 
 belief, and as the Divine weapon strong to pull down 
 the fortress of unbelief." 
 
 A little tractate, Weejj not, after speaking of the 
 compassion of Jesus as shown in the raising of the 
 son of the widow of Nain, proceeds : — " Look upon 
 Jesus in the light of the Old Testament revelation 
 of Jehovah, and then adore the compassionate Jesus 
 as Lord. Dismiss the erroneous impression of the 
 severity and gloom of the Old Testament Scripture, 
 as if the inexorable justice, the unapproachable 
 majesty, the awful sovereignty of God was its ex- 
 clusive or even predominant topic. Do not confuse 
 the aspect of law, or the dispensation of condem- 
 nation and death, with the whole Old Testament 
 economy, which is the revelation of Jehovah, pre- 
 paring as well as promising the advent of Him, in 
 whom we behold and possess the Father. The God 
 of Israel is full of mercy and compassion. He who 
 appeared unto Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, mani- 
 fested Himself, in most familiar, tender-hearted, 
 loving condescension ; in His love He became God 
 
172 EXTRACTS FROM ' WEEP NOT.' 
 
 unto them, and called them His friends; in His 
 mercy and compassion He considered their weakness, 
 their trials, and their sorrows. How human is the 
 God of the patriarchs and the children of the 
 covenant ! — as human as the mail Christ Jesus, the 
 centre of the New Testament is divine." 
 
 "How deeply Israel was impressed with this 
 conviction of the royal supremacy of mercy in God, 
 we can learn from the confession of the prophet 
 Jonah. God sent him to Nineveh, that great city, 
 to cry against it, ' for their wickedness is come up 
 before Me.' But Jonah was unwilling to go, and 
 he himself explains the chief reason of his unwilling- 
 ness. ' I pray Thee, Lord, was not this my 
 saying, when I was yet in my country ? Therefore 
 I fled before Thee into Tarshish : for I knew that 
 Thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to 
 anger, and of great kindness, and repentest Thee of 
 the evil.' 
 
 "Jehovah, merciful and compassionate. He who 
 condescended to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and in 
 great loving-kindness chose them to be His friends ; 
 He who had pity on Israel in their bondage, and 
 redeemed them out of Egypt; He who led them 
 through the wilderness, and was afflicted in all their 
 afiiiction ; He came at last in the person of the 
 Divine Son, in Jesus, and now beholds the glory of 
 God in the face of Jesus Christ. Here is a full and 
 perfect revelation of the God of Israel, of that 
 tender, motherly, intense, and inexhaustible compas- 
 sion which breathes throughout the Old Testament. 
 
PROFITABLE BIBLE READING. 173 
 
 Here is another explanation of the Old Testament 
 anthropomorphism : God became man ; and man, 
 originally created in the image of God, is redeemed 
 by the man Christ Jesus, who is God above all, 
 blessed for ever." 
 
 In one of his Tracts, the following passage on 
 'The profitable reading of the Bible' occurs: — 
 We do not read the Bible sufficiently in a con- 
 nected way. Every verse and expression, no doubt, 
 is of importance, and may furnish food for thought 
 and prayer. But we ought to read a discourse 
 of Christ, or an Epistle of Paul, with the endeavour 
 to seize the meaning, aim, and sense of the whole. 
 In this sense we ought to treat the Bible like any 
 other book, reading it with intelligent interest. 
 Without the Spirit of God we cannot discern 
 spiritual things. But reverential reading of the 
 Bible must include the lower attitude of attention, 
 exertion of mind, and earnestness. Take for 
 instance the Epistle of Paul to the Philippians. 
 When and where was it written 1 What do we 
 know of tlie Church of Philippi ? What state of 
 mind does it reveal in the Apostles ? Eead the 
 whole as a whole. What is its aim ? Then you 
 will learn, and feel, and, breathing a pure atmo- 
 sphere, be refreshed and strengthened. This correct 
 reading of Scripture ought to go hand-in-hand, 
 daily, with a more minute examination of a few 
 verses. A single Scripture expression may bring 
 light, peace, and guidance. 
 
174 TOUR UP THE RHINE. 
 
 The reading of Scripture cannot be urged too 
 much, but it may be urged vaguely. The Spirit 
 is promised, but one result of the Spirit's influence 
 is an honest application of the mind to the Bible. 
 If we read in a kind of mental paralysis, with 
 a very stern feeling of performing a duty which 
 somehow or other will benefit us, we misunderstand 
 the nature of the Bible. It is given by the Spirit 
 to convince, instruct, comfort, guide, and this 
 through the understanding, conscience, emotions ; 
 therefore we have in the Bible, history, conquest, 
 poetry, maxims, suggestions, appeals ; all that is 
 within us is exercised by this Word ; and the 
 more the Spirit aids us, the more will all our 
 mental and moral faculties be brought into activity 
 in reading of Scripture. Again I say: Frequent, 
 copious, honest reading of the Bible, in dependence 
 on the grace of God, who alone giveth the 
 increase." 
 
 Early in the winter of 1863, Dr. Norman 
 Macleod ; his brother Donald, Saphir's student 
 friend- and correspondent ; Saphir, and Fleming 
 Stevenson had a delightful tour up the Rhine, 
 visiting Kaiserswerth, Elberfeld, and other centres 
 of Christian work. An account of it appeared 
 in the May number of Good Words of 1863, 
 entitled ' Up the Rhine in Winter, by Four 
 Travellers,' and signed with the initials N. McL., 
 A. S., W. F. S., and D. McL. Saphir greatly 
 enjoyed the tour, and wrote a part of the narrative. 
 
175 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 FAME IN LONDON. 
 
 Narrative by Mr, James E. Mathieson — Address in Stafford 
 Rooms — Impression on Brownlow North — Address repeated 
 in Hanover Square Eooms — Lord Shaftesbury — This 
 address the Basis of Christ and tlie Scriptures — Action 
 as to Hymns — Yalue as a Teacher. 
 
 WE devote this chapter to a sketch kindly 
 forwarded to us by Mr. James E. 
 Mathieson, so long at the head of the work at 
 Mildmay, who was one of Saphir's most devoted 
 and beloved friends. It shows how he was brought 
 prominently before the great public of London. 
 
 The revival of 1859-60 was nowhere welcomed 
 with greater joy than in the Paddington Branch 
 of the Young Men's Christian Association, Stafford 
 Rooms, Tichborne Street, where the saintly Henry 
 Hull was then superintendent. A blessed work 
 of grace was there witnessed and fostered both 
 by H. Hull and his successor, C. Russell Hurditch. 
 It was in the year 1864 or 1865 that the latter, 
 always on the look-out for some one who would 
 help in stimulating the Christian growth of young 
 believers, invited Mr. Saphir, at that time a 
 
176 LORD SHAFTESBURY. 
 
 minister in Greenwich, to come and give an 
 address at an evening meeting ; and a memorable 
 address it proved to be. 
 
 Amongst others who listened to it with rapt 
 attention was the late Brownlow North, at that 
 time in the height of his power as a lay preacher. 
 He felt it was too good to be limited to the roomful 
 of people who first heard it ; and Saphir agreed 
 to re-deliver it, some weeks later, at a meeting 
 in Hanover Square Eooms, where good Lord 
 Shaftesbury took the chair. He, in like manner, 
 was greatly struck by the ability and the con- 
 vincing power of the speaker, who drew his 
 arguments and illustrations entirely from the 
 Bible, with which he displayed a masterly 
 familiarity. 
 
 This address formed the basis of what is perhaps 
 Saphir's ablest and most useful contribution to 
 Evangelical literature, Christ and the Scriptures ; 
 a little book which has been circulated in tens of 
 thousands, and is to-day more needed for correction 
 of unsound views than at any time since it was 
 first published. It was the forerunner of many 
 other weighty volumes ; but it is the book by 
 which he will longest survive as an author. 
 
 The Presbyterian Church in England, like her 
 sister Churches in the North, for long years was 
 restricted in her public service of praise to the use 
 of the Psalms in metrical version. After an internal 
 controversy of some years' duration, the use of 
 hymns was permitted, and a hymn-book bad to be 
 
ACTION AS TO HYMNS. 177 
 
 compiled under the roof and the genial presidency 
 of the late Dr. James Hamilton, of Eegent Square 
 Church. The suggestion and the selection of the 
 hymns was altogether in the line of Saphir's acute, 
 discriminating, and truth-loving mind ; he seemed 
 instinctively to reject error or any mis-statement 
 of revealed truth. One of the hymns which he 
 suggested was that by Dr. H. Bonar : — 
 
 " The Church has waited long 
 Her absent Lord to see ; " 
 
 in the first verse of which occurs the words : — ■ 
 
 " And still in weeds of widowhood 
 She weeps a mourner yet." 
 
 The introduction of this hymn was opposed by a 
 minister from Lancashire, more noted for the 
 vehemence than the validity of his opinions. 
 " You will wreck your hymn-book," said he, 
 "if you insert hymns like that. The Church is 
 not in her widowhood." Saphir quietly replied, 
 " I thought it was the apostate Church which said, 
 ' I sit as a queen, and am no widow, and shall 
 see no sorrow.' " The hymn was rejected, and I 
 believe Saphir assisted no more in the endeavour 
 to make or to mar the new hymn-book. But in 
 this incident was noticeable his love of the thought 
 of our Lord's personal appearing. This blessed 
 hope of Christ's pre-milleuial return gleamed like 
 a golden thread through, and coloured with a 
 heavenly brilliance, all his teachings. The revival 
 already referred to — like all modern revivals — had 
 
178 SAPHIR'S VALUE AS A TEACHER. 
 
 brought this belief of the Apostolic Church into 
 new prominence, and had given it a place in 
 Christian thought such as it never before has 
 occupied since the first Christian age. 
 
 Saphir's proximity to London during his ex- 
 tended ministry in the suburb of Greenwich, and 
 his occasional preaching in the pulpits of some of 
 his co-presbyters in the metropolis, revealed his 
 value as a teacher to a gradually increasing number 
 of men and women, who loved and appreciated 
 the truth as presented in his own masterly fashion. 
 He seemed to combine the gentleness and simplicity 
 of a child with the firm grasp of a strong man, 
 when he dealt with Holy Scripture. No halting or 
 hesitating utterance could be detected in his voice 
 or manner, as he dwelt upon the deep things of 
 God, and lucidly spread out before a hushed 
 audience the magnificent truths concerning Jesus 
 Christ and God's way of salvation. There was 
 none of the obscurity which sometimes passes for 
 profundity in his preaching ; very young listeners 
 understood his meaning ; experienced believers were 
 enriched by his discourse ; anxious souls were com- 
 forted ; doubting ones found deliverance. After 
 enjoying the privilege of sitting at the feet of this 
 master in Israel for a season, other ministrations 
 seemed meagre, colourless, weak. He knew and 
 handled Old Testament Scripture as perhaps only a 
 son of Abraham could. Moses and the Psalmists 
 and the Prophets were his familiar friends and 
 intimates ; and he clearly perceived that ignorance 
 
HIS FAITHFULNESS. 179 
 
 and neglect of tlie prophetic Word can well account 
 both for the hoUowness and declension in doctrine 
 which characterize these last days. 
 
 Like his great countryman St. Paul, whom he 
 resembled in the weakness of his body as well as 
 in spiritual insight and might, he shunned not to 
 declare to his hearers " the whole counsel of God," 
 and his faithfulness found a reward even here in 
 a large circle of attached and appreciative Christian 
 friends from every Evangelical branch of the 
 Church. He is one of the examples in this age, 
 of what will happen in the next, when fully 
 persuaded Jews will carry the gospel into all the 
 world with a persuasiveness which no unbelief 
 will be able to withstand. 
 
180 
 
 CHAPTEK XVII. 
 
 'CHRIST AND THE SCRIPTURES.' 
 
 Its Importance and Originality — Short Survey of its Argu- 
 ments — The Second Coming of Christ — Opposition to the 
 "Broad Church" Theology — The Lord's Prayer — The 
 Future Kingdom. 
 
 THE remarkable address referred to in tlie 
 previous chapter was shortly issued in an 
 expanded form under the title of CJirist mid the 
 Scriptures. The volume produced at once a deep 
 impression, and added much to his fame. It is a 
 wonderful book in short compass ; it silently 
 refutes more perhaps than any other book of recent 
 times — using the word recent in a large sense — 
 the scepticism and unbelief of the day. We there- 
 fore note, at some length, its positions, as it 
 brings most clearly out the leading points of his 
 theology. It begins with a forcible sentence : — 
 
 " In the volume of the Book it is written of 
 Me." Martin Luther asks, " What Book and what 
 Person ? " " There is only one Book," is his reply, 
 " Scripture ; and only one Person — Jesus Christ." 
 
 Its great principle is that " there subsists an 
 
CHRIST AND THE SCRIPTURES: 181 
 
 essential and vital connection " between the eternal 
 Word of God and that written AVord " which 
 testifies of Him, of His person and work, of His 
 sufferings and glory." " It is impossible for us to 
 understand the nature of Scripture unless we view 
 it in relation to the Son of God, the Messiah of 
 Israel, the Eedeemer of God's people ; for He is the 
 centre and kernel of the inspired record." 
 
 He notes as a striking peculiarity of our age 
 that the attention of thoughtful minds is so pre- 
 eminently fixed on Christ. In no age have there 
 been so many attempts made to reconstruct, so to 
 speak, the history of Jesus. We need not be 
 astonished at the strange misconceptions and 
 grievous errors into which men fall, who are trying 
 to understand Jesus, as they understand other his- 
 torical men. He is not even in His humanity 
 intelligible, except on the territory of revelation. 
 When the beauty of Christ's character, and the 
 simjDlicity and depth of His teaching, attract men's 
 minds, they flatter themselves that Jesus is the 
 eSiorescence of humanity, that history has produced 
 Him, that nature is glorified in Him. But Jesus 
 is above all, because He is from above. He came 
 in the fullness of time, and belonged to Israel ; the 
 God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the God and 
 Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is an 
 organic, vital, and necessary connection between 
 the Christ and the nation. There is a nation 
 different from all nations— the Jews — chosen by 
 God that He may reveal Himself to and through 
 
182 'CHRIST AND THE SCRIPTURES: 
 
 them ; there is a Man different from all men — the 
 Lord from heaven, Jesus the Son of David, the Son 
 of God, Messiah of Israel and Head of the Church ; 
 and there is a Booh different from all other books — 
 the record of God's dealings with Israel, culminating 
 in the manifestation of that Eedeemer, whose 
 goings forth are from of old, even from everlasting. 
 The same Spirit of God convinces us of the 
 supremacy of Christ and of the supremacy of 
 Scripture. 
 
 As the hearts of men are attracted by Jesus 
 Christ as the only Prophet, Priest, and King, 
 their minds are filled with reverence and love for 
 the Scriptures. The Reformation is based upon 
 the two principles : Christ only, Christ above all ; 
 and the Scriptures only, the Bible above all human 
 authority. Higher than the Bible is not reason, 
 not the Church, not the Christian consciousness, 
 but the Holy Ghost, who reveals Christ in the 
 written Word, so that it becomes to us what it 
 truly is, the Word of God, the voice of the 
 Beloved. 
 
 This is the basis or theology of the book. 
 
 He considers the method in which Christ re- 
 garded and treated the Scriptures. He shows 
 that Jesus in His general teaching constantly 
 made use of the Scriptures, and not only so, 
 but that there were concealed allusions to the 
 Scriptures through the teaching, as in the Sermon 
 on the Mount. " All Christ's thoughts and expres- 
 
ITS ARGUMENT SURVEYED. l85 
 
 sions have been moulded in that wonderful school 
 of teaching which God had given to His chosen 
 people. From the Inner Circle of His disciples He 
 is constantly referring to the Scriptures as fulfilled 
 in Him, as in the passage, ' Then He took unto 
 Him the twelve, and said unto tbem, Behold, we 
 go up to Jerusalem, and all tilings that are written 
 hy the prophets concerrd7ig the Son of Man shall 
 he accomplished.' In the facts preceding His 
 crucifixion, frequent reference is made by Him to 
 the fulfilling of Scripture, and after the Resur- 
 rection He said, but ' all things must be fulfilled 
 which were written in the law of Moses, and in 
 the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning Me.' 
 He opened their understanding, that they might 
 understand the Scriptures. And again, in His 
 conflicts and prayers. In the Temptation He does 
 not appeal to His own feelings ; He docs not bring 
 forward thoughts and feelings, but the written 
 Word. Three times He refers to the Scriptures. 
 Even in glory He constantly refers to the Scrip- 
 tures. In the Epistles to the seven churches, He 
 speaks of the tree of life in the paradise of God ; 
 He refers to the history of Israel in the wilderness ; 
 He speaks of the manna, of the key of David, 
 of the true temple, and of the New Jerusalem. 
 ' Behold, I stand at the door and knock ' is the 
 voice of Jesus from heaven, even as, in the Song 
 of Solomon, the bridegroom speaks in the same 
 language. One of the last sayings of Christ is the 
 most comprehensive as Avell as concise summary of 
 
184 NEW TESTAMENT HINGES ON OLD. 
 
 the whole writings of Moses and the Prophets. 
 ' / am the root and ojf spring of David.' " 
 
 He shows that the New Testament cannot be 
 intelligently understood, without using the Old 
 Testament as a kind of dictionary : — " The thought 
 of many is, I can read all about Jesus, much 
 better described, more clearly and more fully, 
 in the New Testament. I believe this to be 
 erroneous, and in part bordering on superstition. 
 Take the Gospels : how can we understand them 
 without Moses and the Prophets ? The very 
 first verse of Matthew is unintelligible : ' The book 
 of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of 
 David, the Son of Abraham.' Who is David ? — 
 who Abraham ? What meaning is there in this 
 genealogy ? " " If we want to tinderstand the 
 Gospels, the life and teaching of Jesus, we require 
 the same preparation as Israel enjoyed." He 
 shows how, not only through all the Apostolic 
 appeals to the people, but through all the Epistles, 
 there is the unfolding of the meaning of the Old 
 Testament. " You cannot read the ' New Testa- 
 ment ' without using the ' Old ' as a dictionary ; 
 and it is a very superficial view that because we 
 see the word ' Jesus,' and the word ' Lamb,' and 
 the words ' blood ' and ' mercy seat,' we have 
 therefore clear and full views, and solid and sub- 
 stantial ground of confidence, comfort, and hope. 
 Unless we know the meaning which God has 
 attached to these words, a meaning which is ex- 
 
THE FALL AND RKDEMPTIOX. 18r. 
 
 plained in the history, the types, the institution, 
 and the prophecy given to Israel, we do not rest 
 on a solid basis, we are not feeding on nourishing 
 food, we are not growing by the sincere milk of 
 the Word." 
 
 He describes in detail the leading characteristics 
 of the Bible first, as to the fall and redemption : — 
 " The Sublime Doctrine as to God, the law of God, 
 Redemption. Take a beautiful vase, a masterpiece 
 of art, and dash it to the ground, so that it is 
 shattered into a hundred pieces. Who can restore 
 it ? Who can unite the fragments, so that the 
 harmony of the original will again show forth the 
 master's skill and thought ? Yet what is this 
 compared to the Fall ? What a redemption ! 
 Full pardon of sin, so that our souls are whiter 
 than the snow ; condemnation is removed, and 
 the kingdom of heaven is opened ; the heart is 
 changed, the will set free, the mind enlightened. 
 Man never could have conceived this. We can 
 only exclaim, ' Oh, the depth of the riches, both of 
 the wisdom and knowledge of God ! how unsearch- 
 able are His judgments, and His ways past finding 
 out ! ' " 
 
 There is next the characteristic of prophecy, 
 which he regards as interwoven with the whole 
 texture of the Bible : — " The element of prediction 
 in Scripture has been lately undervalued, and 
 under the specious plea that the moral and 
 
186 GHARAGTERISTIGS OF PROPHECY. 
 
 spiritual, the ethical element in the prophets 
 is the chief thing. This is a confusion of ideas. 
 All prediction which is scriptural is ethical, or 
 rather spiritual, because it refers to the kingdom 
 of God, and to the centre — Christ. But the 
 spiritual element is intimately connected with 
 the fact, the continued manifestations and gifts 
 of God to His people. That Scripture pre- 
 diction is throughout ethical, that it differs from 
 all soothsaying, from the foretelling of isolated 
 events and incidents to satisfy curiosity ; that it 
 is organically connected with the Divine education 
 of Israel, full of principles, warning, guidance, and 
 encouragement for the people to whom it is given, 
 ought to be perfectly plain to every reader of the 
 Bible. But equally clear it is, that Scripture 
 predicts events which none could have foreseen." 
 Numerous instances are given of this : as the 
 promise to Abram that in his seed all families of 
 the earth should be blessed ; the predictions of 
 Christ ; His birth as man and yet His Divine 
 nature — Immanuel, Wonderful, Counsellor, the 
 mighty God, &c. ; His descent from David, so clear 
 that no doubt was ever entertained on the subject ; 
 the place of His birth ; the time, so that the whole 
 nation was waiting for Him when He appeared ; 
 the messenger to precede Him ; His character, His 
 work, His preaching good tidings unto the meek ; 
 His rejection ; His death as the Paschal Lamb ; 
 the minute circumstances connected with His 
 death ; His resurrection, His ascension, &c. ; the 
 
THE BIBLE AND THE APOCRYPHA. 187 
 
 outpouring of the Spirit ; the going forth of the 
 gospel to the Gentiles. Then what clear predictions 
 as to the Jews, their realizing their misery, their 
 preservation ! No wonder that the greatest philo- 
 sopher of our age (Hegel) felt the Jewish history 
 a dark and perplexing enigma. Then the pro- 
 phecies as to Babylon and the various heathen 
 nations — all so literally fulfilled. 
 
 He then shows how this Book diifers absolutely 
 from all other books, as brought out forcibly in 
 attempted imitations : — What a contrast with the 
 Apocrypha ! What a startling ditference between 
 the four Evangelists and the apocryphal Gospels, or 
 between the apostolic Epistles and the apostolic 
 Fathers. As Neander says : — " There is no gentle 
 gradation here, but all at once an abrupt transi- 
 tion from one style of language to the other, a 
 phenomenon which should lead us to acknowledge 
 the fact of a special agency of the Divine Spirit 
 in the souls of the Apostles, and of a new 
 creative element in the first period. As to the 
 apocryphal Gospels, with their childish fallacies, it 
 is significant that in the Gospel of John (ii.) the 
 miracle at Cana is described as the beginning 
 of miracles which Jesus did, thus excluding all 
 the miracles ascribed by tradition to Christ's 
 childhood." 
 
 He notices the wonderful — truly miraculous — 
 nianner, in which both sections of the Scriptures 
 
1.S8 THE JEWS' CARE OF SACRED WRITINGS. 
 
 have been preserved: — "The Jews have carefully 
 watched over the letter of their sacred writings. 
 The most accurate and diligent research has 
 availed to discover only trifling variations in 
 the manuscripts. This is still more wonderful 
 when we consider by whom these writings were 
 preserved. The Jews, who reject the Messiah of 
 whom Moses and the Prophets testify, preserve the 
 very books which prove their unbelief, and convince 
 the world of the Divine authority and mission of 
 Jesus. And where is there a nation preserving 
 carefully a record, which so repeatedly and emphati- 
 cally declares that they are obstinate, ungrateful, 
 and perverse, and which attributes all their excel- 
 lences, not to their natural disposition and qualities, 
 nor to their energy and merit, but exclusively to 
 the mercy and power of God ? " Niebuhr says, " The 
 Old Testament stands perfectly alone as an excep- 
 tion from the untruth of patriotism. Its truthful- 
 ness is the highest in all historical writings. ... I 
 must also ascribe to it the most minute accuracy." 
 And as to the Church of Rome preserving the 
 writings of Evangelists and Apostles, what could 
 be more marvellous ? These writings declare that 
 Christ hath perfected by one sacrifice them that are 
 sanctified ; that salvation is by grace through faith, 
 and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God ; that 
 all believers are kings and priests unto God ; that 
 there is no mediator between God and man but the 
 man Christ Jesus ; that Peter himself savoured of 
 the things that are of men, and not of the things 
 
CHRIST AND THE SCRIPTURES. 189 
 
 that are of God, and had, even after Pentecost, to 
 be severely rebuked and energetically resisted by 
 Paul ; that Mary is told by the Saviour Himself 
 not to interfere in the concerns of His Kingdom ; 
 that freely we have received, and freely we must 
 give ; that men forbidding to marry and command- 
 ing to abstain from meat, are the expected false 
 teachers ; that in the congregation we are not to 
 pray in an unknown tongue ; and that Christians 
 are commended for subjecting even the teaching of 
 the Apostles to the authority and confirmation of 
 the Scripture. " The Jews bear unwilling witness 
 to Jesus, and Rome has carefully preserved and 
 transcribed her own condemnation." 
 
 The Bible stands alone in its adaptability to 
 all nations and all classes of people, and to all 
 circumstances. 
 
 The resemblance between the person of Christ 
 and the Scriptures, in the Divine and perfectly 
 human aspects of both, is traced out in the following- 
 passages ; also the contrast in method between the 
 Scriptures and the creeds are both revelations 
 of God; human and Div.ixe, Jcivish and Catholic. 
 Jesus, the true, real, humble humanity, was not 
 concealed ; on the contrary, in all simplicity, undis- 
 guised, unadorned, without an attempt to invest 
 Himself in appearance, manner, speech, with any- 
 thing imposing or mysterious, Jesus lived, spake, 
 and walked as man. So with the Bible. The style 
 of the book is human, more especially Oriental. 
 
190 JESUS A TRUE ISRAELITE. 
 
 Men say, Is not this a human book ? Is it not 
 Eastern in language, diction, thought, and imagery ? 
 Do we not meet its brothers and sisters, books of 
 cosnate tribes ? The human element, or rather 
 aspect, is very prominent. 
 
 The Bible contains poetry, parables, riddles, 
 maxims, letters, every variety of human composi- 
 tion. But this human character in no way militates 
 against its Divine origin. It was God's gracious 
 purpose that the Word should become flesh. Jesus 
 was true man and very God. The Bible is in the 
 form of a servant, human, yet Divine in its origin, 
 truth, and power. 
 
 Jesus was a true Israelite. For this very reason 
 is Jesus the man for all men of all nations. The 
 Jews were chosen to be a nation separate, but in 
 order to bless all mankind. The purpose of their 
 election is universal. The secret aim of their 
 isolation is expansion ; the very joy and glory of 
 their destiny is a world-wide influence. Jesus as 
 the King of the Jews, Jesus as the true Israel, is 
 appointed to draw all men, and to rule all men. 
 So is the Scripture Jewish and universal — universal 
 not in spite of, but in virtue of, its Jewish character. 
 Its Jewish chaxacter is not a garment in which it 
 is accidentally clothed ; it is the body which the 
 Spirit, according to God's plan, has prepared. 
 Eliminate the Jewish character, and you lose the 
 essence. The Pagan and Gentile element has to 
 a great extent been the source of error. 
 
THE BIBLE A LIVING ORGANISM. 191 
 
 Our theology is far too abstract, unhistorical ; 
 looking at doctrines logically instead of in connection 
 with the Kingdom and the Church. It is Japhetic, 
 not Shemitic ; it is Roman, logical, well-arranged, 
 methodized, and scheduled ; not Eastern, according 
 to the spirit and method of the Scriptures, which 
 breathes in the atmosphere of a living God, who 
 visits His people, and is coming again to manifest 
 His glory. The Bible is as a living organism. " It 
 is a body animated by one Spirit. Who Avould 
 assert that a chapter of names in the book of 
 Chronicles is as important and precious as the third 
 chapter of St. John's Gospel ? — or that the account 
 of Paul's shipwreck is as essential as the account of 
 Christ's sufferings ? But what we say is, that all 
 Scripture is one organism, and that the same 
 wisdom and love have formed the whole ; and that 
 even to every branch, and bough, and leaf, it lives 
 and breathes, and is beautiful and very good. And 
 the reason why many historical and statistical and 
 prophetical portions of Scripture seem to us unim- 
 portant and even unnecessary, is because we do not 
 sufficiently live in the whole circle of Divine ideas 
 and purposes." 
 
 All Divine revelations have Christ not merely 
 for their Mediator, but for their centre. We have 
 not merely a succession of prophetic announcements 
 of His coming, His work, and glory, but in all 
 God's dealings with Israel He revealed Himself to 
 them in Christ. Abraham beheld the day of Christ ; 
 
192 THE QUESTION OF INSPIRATION. 
 
 the Rock that followed Israel through the wilderness 
 was Christ. In his love and sympathy, in his 
 sufferings and faith, David was a type of the great 
 Shepherd-King, even as Solomon prefigured His 
 glory and widespread dominion. Through all the 
 festivals and sacrifices shone the light of God in 
 Christ. That God would descend from heaven to 
 earth was impressed on Israel by the constant 
 appearance of God as angel or messenger : as Angel 
 of the Covenant, Angel in whom is God's Name, as 
 God manifest, whom man can see face to face . . . 
 And as Christ's person was the substance of all 
 Jewish history and Scripture, His sufferings were 
 continually witnessed to in word, type, and 
 experience. 
 
 The question of inspiration he treats very fully, 
 and the close connection between the inspiration 
 of the Book and the indwelling of the Spirit in the 
 hearts of God's people : — 
 
 Some have objected in recent times to the doctrine 
 of inspiration on the plea that Scripture itself does 
 not assert such a fact. But this is erroneous ; not 
 merely does Scripture fully and distinctly assert 
 the doctrine, but the whole teaching of Scripture 
 indirectly confirms this view. In most cases, where 
 inspiration is doubted, it is based on ignorance of 
 what is meant by " The Holy Ghost." It is because 
 people do not believe that only the Spirit of God 
 can reveal the things of God and Christ to our 
 spirit, that they have no firm belief and enlightened 
 
CHRIST AND THE SCRIPTURES. 193 
 
 view as to the Spirit's special work — the Scripture. 
 Had a scriptural view of the person and work of 
 the Holy Ghost been more powerfully prevalent in 
 the Church, not merely in her formularies, but in 
 reality and life, there never would have been so 
 much occasion given to represent the teaching of 
 the Church on the inspiration of Scripture as 
 mechanical, " converting men into automata," and 
 the whole question would not have assumed such a 
 scholastic and metaphysical form. For then the 
 living testimony and the written testimony would 
 appear both as supernatural and Spirit-breathed. 
 The more the supremacy of the Holy Ghost, Divine, 
 loving, and present, is acknowledged, the more the 
 Bible is fixed in the heart and conscience. But if 
 the " Book " is received as the relic and substitute 
 of a now absent and inactive Spirit, Bibliolatry 
 and Bible-rejection are the necessary results. "The 
 Spirit of Jehovah, the prophets assert, came upon 
 them. It is an influence from without, and from 
 above." " Isaiah's mouth is touched with a live 
 coal from ofl^ the altar." To Jeremiah Jehovah 
 saith, " Behold, I have put My word in thy mouth." 
 " Ezekiel received and ate the roll God gave him." 
 The Lord and the Apostles sometimes mention the 
 name of the individual writer, in quoting from the 
 Old Testament, but more frequently the words are 
 used, "The Scripture saith," or, "The Holy Ghost 
 saith " :— 
 
 The manner in which the Scripture is quoted 
 
194 'THE TRUE AUTHOR 01< THE RECORD.' 
 
 by our Saviour, the Evangelists, and the Apostles, 
 clearly shows that they regarded the men by whom 
 the Word was written as the instruments, but the 
 Lord, and more especially the Spirit, as the true 
 Author of the whole organism of the Jewish record. 
 We must distinguish between the inspiration of the 
 Prophets and Apostles as men, and their inspiration 
 as writers. As ivriters they were perfectly and 
 adequately guided by the Holy Ghost ; "as men 
 they were eminent, but still on the same level with 
 other disciples of Christ." " Peter and Paul believed 
 the testimony they received from God, and so do 
 we, in believing through their writings, accept a 
 Divine testimony." " The quotations of Paul show 
 that he regarded the inspiration as extending to 
 the very form of expression." Paul derives an 
 argument not merely from a word, but from the 
 silence of Scripture. The circumstance that Scripture 
 does not mention Melchizedek's parentage is in 
 Paul's estimation significant ; and thus even as in 
 music, not only the notes, but also the pauses are 
 according to the mind and plan of the composer, 
 and instinct with the life and spirit which breathe 
 through the whole, the very omissions of Scripture, 
 be they of great mysteries, such as the fall of the 
 angels, or of minute details, such as the descent of 
 the King of Salem, are not tlie result of chance, 
 but " according to the wisdom of that Eternal 
 Spirit who is the true author of the record." 
 
 He shows that there is no inconsistency between 
 
INSPIRATION OF SUBIPTURE. 195 
 
 the idea of the inspiration of Scripture and of the 
 individuality and activity of mind of the writers ; 
 that there is nothing mechanical, nor were the 
 writers amanuenses. 
 
 The most common objection urged against this 
 view is, that it is inconsistent with the individuality 
 of the writers. But " both facts are sure and 
 apparent." In the writings of the Apostles and 
 Prophets we see " the influence of their history, 
 character, disposition, and mode of thought. It is 
 evident that the Spirit did not destroy men's 
 individuality, and that their peculiar history, ex- 
 perience, and conformation of mind, formed not an 
 obstacle, but a medium." The confusion arises from 
 a mistaken view of individuality. Error and sin are 
 not essential elements of individuality. A man 
 free from error and sin does not thereby lose his 
 individuality ; on the contrary, he gains it in the 
 fullest sense. God's children alone have individu- 
 ality in the highest sense of the word. The saints 
 in heaven will have the most marked individuality. 
 The Scripture authors, inspired, yet individual and 
 free, give us some idea of our future state. The 
 inspiration of Scripture is a fact, not a theory. The 
 fact is that the Scriptures, though written by men, 
 are of God, and that the ideas they unfold are 
 clothed in such words as He in His wisdom and 
 love intended, so that they may be safely and fully 
 received as expressions of His mind, and the 
 thoughts which He purposed to convey to us for 
 our instruction and guidance. When such a view 
 
196 THE STYLE OF SCRIPTURE. 
 
 is described and condemned as mechanical, there 
 is, after all, nothing said and proved. All recognize 
 to the fullest extent the individuality and circum- 
 stance and intense feelings of the writers that they 
 were not amanuenses. In speaking of the style of 
 Scripture he says : — " As the ocean is to the river, 
 so is the Bible style to that of even the most 
 spiritual and profound men. For in the Bible 
 everything is viewed from the highest point, and 
 according to its true essence and position in the 
 history of the Divine economy. In the Bible we 
 breathe the atmosphere of eternity." " Scripture 
 speaks to man and ' all that is in him ' (Psalm 
 ciii. 1), and the inmost and hidden centre, from 
 which proceed all thoughts, words, and works." 
 " It is homely and confidential. Its tone is fatherly, 
 friendly, winning our trust and breathing out love," 
 " wonderfully comprehensive, and yet very minute 
 and personal, uncompromising and stern, and yet 
 most considerate and tender." 
 
 Finally he points out the dangers of a lifeless 
 orthodoxy : — The mere worship of the letter apart 
 from the spirit, as by the Jews who rejected Jesus, 
 is Bibliolatry. There has been to a great extent 
 " text " preaching, instead of " Word of God " 
 preaching. The Bible must be read carefully and 
 prayerfully, and the Holy Spirit's power must be 
 sought to interpret it to us ; but by the Word, 
 and the Word alone, cometh light. 
 
BOOK ON 'THE LORUS I'RAYKE.' 197 
 
 CJirist and the Scriptures is the most powerful 
 of all the books written by Dr. Saphir, except his 
 lectures on The Divine Unity of Scripture, pub- 
 lished since his death, which express the same 
 views more fully, and treat of a wider range of 
 subjects. It was translated into German by Frau- 
 lein von Lanzizolle, a lady connected with the 
 Prussian Court, and has been much read in Ger- 
 many, where it was considered by Delitzsch and 
 others that it had been a chief means of producing 
 in the German churches, among ministers especially, 
 a great revival of religious faith and life. 
 
 The book on the Lord's Prayer, written also 
 during his Greenwich ministry, contains much that 
 is original, and gives distinctly his view of the 
 future Kingdom of Christ. Of the invocation he 
 says : — 
 
 " The invocation contains mysteries. When we 
 say ' Father,' we think of the mystery of the Father 
 and His Son Jesus Christ ; we remember the great 
 mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh ; 
 and we rejoice with thanksgiving in the mystery of 
 our new birth by the word of truth. 
 
 " When we say ' our,' we think of the mystery 
 of the Church, the body of Christ. 
 
 " When we say ' which art in heaven,' we think 
 of the citizenship of the children, whom the world 
 knoweth not, and of the inheritance reserved for 
 them ; we think of the number which have entered 
 within the veil ; and of the sanctuary, where the 
 Eternal High Priest is enthroned, , , . 
 
198 'THY KINGDOM COME.' 
 
 " The word ' Father ' appeals more, directly to 
 our faith ; ' our,' to our love ; ' in heaven,' to our 
 hope; — more directly, but not exclusively. And 
 bearing this general division in mind, not observing 
 it rigorously, let us consider the filial, the brotherly, 
 the heavenly spirit of the believer. . .' 
 
 "Beholding in Jesus the image of the invisible 
 God — believing that God is indeed our loving Father, 
 let us cultivate a simpler trust, a more loving 
 confidence, a more bright and sunny calmness in 
 prayer and meditation. Let the word ' Father ' 
 be to us, not so much the exponent of a scriptural 
 and theological dogma, as the utterance of a peace- 
 ful and radiant truth." 
 
 The petition — " Thy kingdom come," refers 
 primarily and directly to the Messianic Kingdom 
 on earth, of which all Scripture testifies. . . . 
 The King of this kingdom is the Lord Jesus, 
 the Son of David ; the subjects, of it are Lsrael 
 and the nations — the chosen people fulfilliDg the 
 mission which, according to the election of God, 
 is assigned unto them, of being the medium of 
 blessing unto all the nations of the earth ; the 
 centre of the kingdom is Jerusalem, and the means 
 of its establishment is the coming and the visible 
 appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ. When we 
 pray "Thy Kingdom come," our true meaning is 
 Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly ! . . . No doc- 
 trine, not even the fundamental doctrine of justifi- 
 cation by faith, has assigned to. it in the. inspired 
 
THE SECOND ADVENT. 190 
 
 Word so large a place as the doctrine of the second 
 coming of Christ and His Kingdom. It is not 
 confined to a few isolated passages, it is not the 
 subject of one or two books of Scripture, but it 
 pervades the whole Bible. When we are asked, 
 Where is it spoken of ? we are tempted to reply, 
 Ask rather, where is it not spoken .of ? . . . 
 
 " It is true that much obscurity attaches to 
 prophecy as regards detail, and the chronological 
 sequence of events. It is also conceded that it 
 is very difficult, and sometimes almost impossible, 
 to conceive the manner in which predicted events 
 will be brought about, and that we can only rest 
 by faith in the wisdom and power of God, who will 
 surely fulfil His Word, and to whom all things are 
 possible. But that the general outline of prophecy 
 is vague and indistinct must be emphatically 
 denied. The Scripture gives forth no uncertain 
 sound as to the great question. Is Jesus to come 
 before or after the kingdom of righteousness and 
 peace ? No truth is more fully and more clearly 
 taught in Scripture than this — that the promises 
 given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, renewed to 
 David, and confirmed by the Prophets, and finally 
 by the Loi'd Jesus Himself, will yet be fulfilled on 
 earth ; that Israel is not merely a type of the 
 Church, but has a future before it, in which it will 
 have a central position on earth ; and that before 
 the final judgment there will be a glorious kingdom 
 ushered in by the coming, the parousia, of Christ." 
 
200 '■BROAD CHURGir THEOLOGY. 
 
 Saphir never took his theology from creeds 
 or formulas, but fresh from the fountain of the 
 Scriptures. In all creeds, at least of any length, 
 he held that there was much mere human philo- 
 sophy, of the period in which they were prepared. 
 At the same time, so far from any, the slightest, 
 tendency to the vague teaching of many in the 
 present day, Saphir's immense knowledge of Scrip- 
 ture led him to cleave more closely, and with more 
 real power, to the great principles of Christianity — 
 the authority of Scripture as from God — the atone- 
 ment — the Spirit's power — the Kingdom. The 
 Broad Church theology of the day, which is so 
 greatly undermining the position of all the Churches, 
 is not so much a battle against creeds, though it 
 assails their positive statements of doctrine, as 
 directly against the authority of Scripture, and 
 against the supernatural ; in fact against the 
 foundation principles of Christianity. 
 
201 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 CLOSE OF MINISTRY AT CEEENWICH. 
 
 Sketch of Mr. and Sirs. Saphir by Canon McCormick — His 
 Health failing — Always Fragile — Leave of Absence for a 
 Year — Typhoid Fever in the Engadine — His Influence 
 there — Return in 1871 — Resignation of his Charge in 
 1872. 
 
 A DEVOTED friend, the Rev. Canon McCormick, 
 now of Hull, who was vicar of a church at 
 Greenwich at this time, sends us a vigorous, life- 
 like sketch of Saphir and his work — 
 
 Adolph Saphir was most loved by those who 
 understood him best. He wanted knowing to be 
 thoroughly appreciated ; not that there was any 
 difficulty in deciphering his character. He was 
 thoroughly open and transparent, but he was many- 
 sided. Though an honest Presbyterian, he was 
 broad in his sympathies, and catholic in the truest 
 and best sense of the term. This may be accounted 
 for by the breadth of his reading. He was remark- 
 ably familiar with the theology of tlie Church of 
 England, and could quote Pusey as well as Maurice 
 or Moule. I sometimes told him that he ought to 
 
 
 
202 SKETCH BY CANON McCORMIGK. 
 
 be in the Church of England because of its his- 
 torical continuity, and because his influence for 
 good would be greater and wider ; but he held 
 strong views, adverse to the connection of Church 
 and State. I need not enlarge upon those views, 
 for this would necessitate some attempt at their 
 refutation, from my stand-point. 
 
 It was thought that at one time he was half 
 a Plymouth Brother ; nothing could have been 
 farther from the truth. He recognized what he 
 thought to be good amongst the Brethren, but he 
 was opposed to many of their distinctive tenets. 
 It might just as well be said that he was half a 
 Ritualist, because he considered that Dr. Pusey 
 and his school had got hold of the right end of 
 the stick, in speaking of the Church as a spiritual 
 kingdom. The fact was that his catholic mind 
 led him to cull the sweetest and best flowers out 
 of every religious garden. 
 
 His real sympathies were with the old Evan- 
 gelical school of thought. He was a decided, 
 though a moderate, Calvinist, and held that every 
 one who understood the election in relation to 
 Israel must, as a consequence, be so. But apart 
 from what may be termed orthodox lines, he was 
 wise, tolerant, just, and often very original. You 
 never quite knew where to find him, in some of his 
 religious flights. Here he was with Pascal ; then 
 with Newman. He was up in the skies with 
 Edward Irving, or plodding in metaphysics with 
 John Duncan. He had the greatest respect for 
 
SAPSIR ALWAYS FRAGILE. 203 
 
 Spurgeou, and he once said to me, " Spurgeon is a 
 genuine article. He is simple, straight, godly ; and 
 has not been led astray by any of the modern fads." 
 
 Like many a great man, he drew you out in 
 conversation, and polished up your ideas with a 
 brilliancy that made you wonder. While he picked 
 your brains he taught you himself. There was a 
 raciness about his conversations, and sometimes 
 his sermons, that was charming and inimitable. 
 He had as much fun in him as an Irishman, and at 
 times with as little restraint. On a wet night, 
 when his congregation was small, he suddenly 
 exclaimed, " My brethren, the early Christians -were 
 fire-proof" ; and then, after a slight pause, with a 
 little significant shrug of the shoulders, he added, 
 " The Christians of to-day are not even water- 
 proof." 
 
 Some of his great admirers thought that he 
 might have worked harder than he did, and blamed 
 his wife for restraining him. My own opinion is 
 that she helped to keep him alive. He was a very 
 fragile plant, that a rough wind might easily blow- 
 away. Moreover, his sensibilities were of the finest 
 and most delicate order, and he felt the ordinary 
 worries and oppositions of life, in an injurious 
 manner. He could not shake them ofi', as more 
 robust natures do. After writing some of his 
 sermons he was perfectly prostrate, and remained 
 so for hours together. " My difficulty," he told me, 
 '■ does not lie in preparing a sermon, but in getting 
 into a right spirit to preach it." 
 
204 HIS SWEET AND LOVING DISPOSITION. 
 
 His real nature was very gentle, and his syni- 
 patliy with sufferers very tender. How emotion 
 swayed him, if there was the slightest allusion made 
 to his only child, taken from him when so young ! 
 What he thought of his lost one underlies the many 
 references in his sermons to children. The love for 
 his wife, so sweet and playful, up to the last, was 
 delightful to witness. His friendships were alike 
 genuine and lasting. He was a John in his love 
 for his Master and the whole company of believers, 
 because like John he was always laying his head 
 upon the Saviour's breast, and listening to the 
 beating of His great heart of love for him, and for 
 those whom the Father had given to Him. 
 
 Dr. Saphir told me that as a Jewish boy he 
 was often troubled with a sense of sin. More than 
 once he asked the Eabbi what he was to do, and 
 invariably received answer that he was to repent 
 and amend. " I did repent, and I tried to amend," 
 said Saphir, " but I was no better. How could I 
 know when I was forgiven 1 How could I tell 
 when my repentance reached the stage of satis- 
 faction ? H we have to turn in upon ourselves to 
 find peace of conscience, we never can be happy, 
 for we never can find it." 
 
 There had been every encouragement in the 
 Greenwich ministry. The church had been twice 
 enlarged, and the attendance was overflowing. 
 Numbers of devoted friends had gathered around 
 
77/.S' GREAT SUCCESS AS A PREACHER. 205 
 
 him. He had not the mere success of a popular 
 preacher, but he aroused deep love of Scripture 
 truth, and sent many to read their Bibles with 
 care ; for he threw such an interest around the 
 writers and writings of both the Old and New 
 Testament, that they seemed to have a different 
 aspect. His sermons and addresses were listened 
 to with rapt interest, and greatly blessed, and 
 thousands have retained and will retain the im- 
 pression of them to their dying hour. The Jews 
 have in recent times produced many able preachers, 
 as the Herschells, Edersheim, Schwartz, but none 
 who possessed such a masterly power of treating 
 the Scriptures connectedl_y, and showing the 
 person of Jesus 1-evealed not only in the 
 Gospels, but in the sublime prophecies of old. 
 There was a sanctified genius, an intellectual 
 clearness, a terseness of expression, a glow of 
 spirit which commanded attention and kindled 
 enthusiasm. People sat as under a spell, while 
 with calmness, yet glowing expression, in his deep 
 penetrating voice, with attitude almost unmoved, 
 reading as it were on his finger-nails, he expressed 
 with such brevity and force the sublime thoughts of 
 the Word of God. Men and women were not only 
 interested, but they were edified and built up in the 
 faith. Almost any other preaching, though eloquent, 
 seemed dull and pointless to those accustomed 
 to hang on the words of Saphir. People of all 
 churches gathered in to hear him. He was for years 
 at Greenwich, stronger, physically, than ever after- 
 
20G ins STRENGTH OVERTAXED. 
 
 wards, and he was greatly encouraged, not only by 
 the numbers attending his ministry, but by the 
 conversion of many, and the acknowledged building 
 up in the faith of vast numbers. 
 
 His fame had spread, and whenever he appeared 
 in London or elsewhere, he attracted large audi- 
 ences. But he had not been engaged in this work 
 above a few years when his strength began to 
 fail. He had been delicate from a child, always 
 of feeble frame, his thinking power too great 
 for his slender body. And now he was taxed 
 Sabbath after Sabbath, and week after week, with a 
 variety of services — all of which required thorough 
 preparation, for though he did not even use notes 
 in the pulpit, he could not speak extempore nor 
 vaguely. His speech was always the utterance of 
 intense thought. There are popular preachers and 
 speakers who can go on without strain, almost ad 
 infinitum, whose power consists in pleasing the 
 ear and gratifying the fancy, while there is little 
 thought. Such speakers can stand almost any 
 amount of work, for there is no great effort after all. 
 They might speak or preach a dozen times a week, 
 and be none the worse. But it is very different with 
 the man who cannot speak without close thinking. 
 People often fail to recognize the diflference, and 
 press such men on to illness and death. The 
 spirit in Saphir was willing. He was stirred up 
 to energy by the blessing resting on his w^ork, 
 and thanked God greatly for it. But he could 
 not stand the strain, and he never fully regained 
 
LEAVE OF ABSKNGE FOR A YEAR. -207 
 
 the physical power which he had in those earlier 
 daj's. 
 
 During his latter years at Greenwich, after his 
 father's death, his mother and his sister Johanna 
 resided near him. He had not seen his mother 
 for seventeen years previously, and it was a great 
 happiness to have them beside him. His sister 
 afterwards married the Rev. C. A. Schonberger, 
 Jewish missionary in Prague, and ]\Irs. Saphir lived 
 with her daughter till her death, in 1879. We 
 refer to these events in a later chapter. 
 
 About the years 186S-9 Saphir 's health began 
 seriously to suffer from the strain of continuous 
 work. His constitution was at all times delicate, 
 and he always required to take the utmost care. 
 But now there was evident necessity for rest and 
 change, and at length near the close of 1870 
 he was compelled to go away for a time. His 
 congregation at Greenwich acted with great kind- 
 ness, and waited for him for nearly a year, whilst 
 he remained in Switzerland, chiefly in the Enga- 
 dine. There he had an attack of gastric fever. 
 Writing to a friend whose brother was recovering 
 fi'om a severe illness, at a later period, he refers 
 to this : — 
 
 " We deeply sympathize with 3-ou, my wife especially, 
 remembering her anxiety when I had gastric fever in the 
 Engadine, of which my remembrance was not so much of 
 anxiety, as of an indescribable feeling of an unearthly 
 existence, like a disembodied yet captive spirit." 
 
 After his recovery from this illness he had much 
 
208 DELIGHTFUL TIME IN THE ENGADINE. 
 
 enjoyment of his stay in Switzerland, making many 
 friends, and frequently j)i'eaching. A lady friend 
 who met with them at this time writes : — 
 
 " We arrived at Pontresina to find the hotel full. As we 
 were hesitating what to do, a carriage drove up, in which 
 we were delighted to find Dr. and Mrs. Saphir, who had 
 come from Camphu for a da3''s picnic. They suggested 
 that we should join them at Camphu, and we drove there 
 .at once, and were accommodated with two small rooms in 
 the same hotel. We spent three weeks delightfully together. 
 The nightly gatherings of friends and acquaintances in Dr. 
 Saphir's room are a pleasant memory of bright companion- 
 ship, animated conversation, and merry laughter. The Rev. 
 E. W. Moore, then of Brunswick Chapel, Berkeley Street, 
 and the Bev. G. B. Thornton of St. Birnabas, Kensington, 
 were among the visitors. Dr. Saphir had great influence 
 in the hotel, and much was made of him. He preached 
 before I came, and the church was crowded." 
 
 He went to Switzerland in November 1870, and 
 returned in October 1871. On resuming his 
 ministry, he said, before beginning his sermon : — 
 "Dear friends, it is with the greatest gratitude 
 I trust that this morning I speak with you 
 again in the name of the Lord. Since last I 
 was with you I have experienced both the 
 severity and the goodness of the Lord ; above 
 all His goodness and loving-kindness. God only 
 knows what joy I have in speaking to you ao-ain 
 of Him who is the King, the Truth, and the 
 Life ; of the only salvation which in this life 
 brings peace to the conscience, and in the world 
 to come the immediate beholding of the glory 
 of God. During these mouths that I have been 
 
RESIGNS HIS CHARGE AT GREENWICH. 209 
 
 awa)^ I have seen much of the goodness and 
 continual care of God, entering into the minutest 
 details of life, and making every detail an out- 
 come of His everlastino- love with which He has 
 loved ns. I have been delivered from serious 
 illness, and l^eyond my own expectation restored, 
 so that I am able to take part at least of the 
 work that is assigned to mo here." 
 
 His stay at Greenwich, after his return, was not 
 very long. Though he was still as popular as ever, 
 and as much attached to his people, there were 
 various influences drawing him away. He himself 
 perhaps felt the need of change, which is often new 
 life to a minister, but the chief cause was that, since 
 his fame had spread abroad, there had been a 
 strong desire, on the part of numbers of readers of 
 his works, that he should occupy a more central 
 position in London. Great influence was brought 
 to bear upon him in this direction, and to the very 
 deep regret of his congregation, and with great 
 feeling of sadness, he determined to leave in the 
 summer of 1872. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Stone, who was one of the most 
 active members of the Greenwich congregation, 
 writes in regard to him : — 
 
 "t>" 
 
 " Dr. Saphir was a simple, childlike man, of great intellect, 
 and a most lovable nature. One thing very noticeable in him 
 was his deep humility. He was full of Scripture ; and our 
 conversation when out on holiday rambling in the woods, 
 would usually turn upon the meaning of texts. Dr. Saphir 
 would say, I wonder what Paul meant when he wrote so and 
 so, — himself always taking the place of the inquirer, seeking 
 
210 BinUH-EYE VIEW OF GREENWICH PERIOD. 
 
 to be taught, and never teaching. This was due to his 
 humility. He was a delightful companion." 
 
 He himself gives a bird's-eve view of this 
 Greenwich period : — 
 
 " I was called to St. Mark's English Presbyterian Church, 
 Greenwich, in 1861. I held this charge for over eleven years, 
 and my labours were accompanied by visible success. The 
 church had to be enlai-ged twice during my ministry, and the 
 number of worshippers increased from about a hundred to a 
 thousand. During two years this congregation collected £4000 
 for enlarging the building. A Sunday-school and classes for 
 young men and women were also opened. The congregation 
 was very active, and, during the time I ministered there, I 
 had the satisfaction of collecting £20,000 for Christ and 
 missionary enterprises. But the work was too much for my 
 feeble frame. I preached, on the average, four times a week, 
 and the rest of my time was fully occupied by numerous 
 pastoral visits, the instruction of intending communicants, 
 and by addressing public meetings." 
 
 Greenwich ever after occupied a chief place in 
 his affections, and often, in times of depression during 
 his latter days, did it gladden him to visit again 
 the scene of his former ministry. 
 
211 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 BEGIXNING OF MINISTRY IN WEST LONDON. 
 
 Purchase for him of a large Church at ISTotting Hill — Money 
 obtained easily — Church at once filled — Members of all 
 Churches join — His Thursday Lectures attended by 
 numerous Clergy and other Persons of Influence — Liberal 
 Suppoi'ters of the Work — Great activity of the Congrega- 
 tion — Call to Scotland — Moody and Sankey's Visit to 
 London. 
 
 IT had been felt for yecars by a number of Sapliir's 
 admirers that he ousfht to be in West London. 
 His books, especially Christ and the Scri'ptures, 
 had brought him into contact with many who 
 recognized him as one of the ablest expositors 
 and most powerful preachers of the day. A move- 
 ment was therefore made to get him to the west of 
 London. A large church, which had recently been 
 built on speculation in Kensington Park Road, 
 Notting Hill, had come into the market. Many 
 persons in the neighbourhood were prepared, it was 
 known from a previous movement, to join any 
 congregation of which Saphir might become 
 minister. Mr. James E. Mathieson took up the 
 matter with his usual energy and zeal. He had to 
 
212 BEGINS WEST LONDOX MINISTRY. 
 
 raise nearly £10,000. He personally visited many, 
 and was astonished at the heartiness with which 
 the appeal was responded to. Many others took 
 an active part in collecting, and soon the money 
 was raised. 
 
 Saphir's ministry was welcomed from the be- 
 ginning by people of all churches, especially by 
 earnest Christians. He began his work in the 
 autumn of 1872, with services in the Ladbroke 
 Hall, as the building which had been purchased 
 had to undergo extensive alterations. When tbe 
 church was opened in March 1873, it was soon 
 filled to overflowing — though it held above 1000. 
 Members of the Church of England, Congregation- 
 alists, Baptists, Plymouth Brethren, and others, as 
 well as Presbyterians, crowded together to hear this 
 son of Israel expound the Word of Grod. 
 
 It is rumoured that about this time Saphir was 
 sounded indirectly as to becoming one of the Court 
 Chaplains of the venerable Emperor of Germany. 
 
 One who was long associated with Dr. Saphir, 
 both at Greenwich and Notting Hill, writes thus 
 in regard to the early Notting Hill period : — 
 
 "When first Dr. Saphir came to jSTotting Hill, his church 
 was soon thronged with people drawn thither by his ministry 
 from all sorts of churches and chapels. Sunday after Sunday 
 every seat was filled, and the interest of his hearers never 
 abated, however long the discourse. 
 
 " When he began his Thursday morning lectures, the con- 
 gregations were also large and appreciative, and they were 
 steadily maintained, as long as his health permitted him to 
 continue them. The lectures on the Gospel of John (not yet 
 
LETTER ON THE NOTTING HILL PERIOD. i'13 
 
 published) were especially beautiful, and the remembrance of 
 those many happy mornings will long remain. One of Dr. 
 Saphir's chief characteristics was his intense simplicity. His 
 language, always good and fluent, was generally pure Saxon, 
 and this made his addresses to children so attractive and 
 interesting. He was peculiarly fond of children, and shone 
 most perhaps in his children's services — when some beautiful 
 Bible story was filled with life and interest, and eternal 
 realities were impressed on their young minds. 
 
 " He was also very full of fun and humom*, and greatly 
 enjoyed an amusing story or a good joke, — and many droll 
 things he would say with an archness that was quite his own. 
 In almost all his letters to me when absent from home, theie 
 are most droll allusions to things and people, which those who 
 knew him less would have scarcely guessed him capable of 
 writing ! But for sacred and Divine things he had the most 
 intense reverence, and anything that savoured of flippancy or 
 undue familiarity was to him most repugnant. 
 
 "Almost the last time I saw him we were talking of the 
 readiness of Christians to be attracted and distracted by 
 sensational methods of work, and meetings, which he was 
 greatly deploring, when he suddenly looked up and said, 
 'Well, what are we all coming to, we Christians?' I said, 
 ' I cannot tell ! ' ' Oh ! ' he replied with his drollest expression, 
 ' blue ribbon and a tambourine ! that is English Christianity.' 
 
 " But one's memory lingers most over his wonderful ser- 
 mons, that were such unfoldings of the things of God ; the 
 inexhaustible mine of wealth he found in a single text. I 
 remember six consecutive sermons on the verse, ' Unto Him 
 that loved us,' &c., and each one seemed fuller than the pre- 
 ceding one, of the person and works of Christ, and the glory 
 of the Redeemer. Dr. Saphir had, as a Christian Israelite, a 
 grasp of Scripture, and of the purposes and mind of God 
 revealed therein, quite different to an ordinary Gentile mind. 
 To him the Lord's Incarnation and Crucifixion were such a 
 revelation of God, as we can hardly understand, who have been 
 told the wonderful facts Jrom our_ infancy. He often wondered 
 at people's questions about faith, and whether or not they had 
 the right kind, or the right amount ; whereas, the Om in 
 
2U LETTER TO LADY KINLOCH ON 
 
 wliom to believe, was to him the only necessity for the soul — 
 all else was easy and simple. Nothing, I think, distressed or 
 depressed him so much as his hearers failing to be instructed, 
 or even interested in his sermons, or their seizing on some 
 minute point, carping at it, and criticizing something utterly 
 unimportant. Every sermon was to him a living organism, 
 with its proper parts and proportions ; and to pull it to pieces 
 was to destroy its symmetry and beauty, and to strip it of all 
 its meaning. 
 
 " With what joy he always welcomed the Lord's Day, and 
 rejoiced especially in the remembrance of His death in the 
 Lord's Supper ! Some of Dr. Saphir's most heart-stirring and 
 touching addresses were those delivered on Communion Sun- 
 days ; and the Hope of the Lord's return was one of his most 
 soul-refreshing themes. But I must not enlarge on the many 
 topics such memories recall. 
 
 " I cannot convey the impression his wonderful expositions 
 of Scripture have left on my own heart and mind ; I, amongst 
 others, will ever have to thank God for his ministry, while we 
 deeply deplore his loss." 
 
 In letters to Lady Kinloch, he thus describes the 
 progress at Netting Hill, after he had been a year 
 or two settled there : — 
 
 " We have been busy, and there has been the usual variety 
 of bright and gloomy, which must be in every life, and 
 perhaps more so in a minister's. But I think we have more 
 room for thankfulness and hope than in any previous years. 
 ' " We have both been much better this winter, and I have 
 been without an assistant, and preaching three times a week. 
 The church is progressing well, and I am beginning to feel 
 settled. The Scotch call "^ was very unintelligible to English 
 people, who think every little congregation a complete little 
 kingdom. I should have liked Edinburgh for many reasons. 
 But it was not to be. 
 
 1 From St. Luke's Free Church, Edinburgh, to be colleague 
 
 to Dr. Moody Stewart. 
 
HIS PROGRESS AT NUTTING HILL. 215 
 
 " Have you seen my Hebrews 1 I am now going to take a 
 long rest from publishing : though I am often asked to 
 publish my lectures on the Gospel of John. But it is too 
 laborious, and I have too many books out. There is so 
 little time for reading. How wonderfully the Pearsall Smith 
 movement collapsed ! We need a time of repose in the 
 churches, for quiet meditation and study of the dear, simple, 
 and wholesome Scriptures. How safe and peaceful it is 
 to listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd in His Word ! 
 I have been very much living the last few weeks on that 
 passage, John xiv. 22, 23 : ' We are not of the world, 
 even as Christ is not of the world.' It is not a self-made 
 separation, but of God, and by the cross of Christ and the 
 Spirit of God in us. Our fears and our knowledge and our 
 whole life have a heavenly origin and character, and the 
 end will be to be glorified together with Christ. If we get 
 thoroughly and deeply into these most blessed truths, we 
 shall have wisdom and strength for all the various circum- 
 stances of life. I sometimes feel that I have a very easy 
 path in many respects, that is with regard to the world. 
 I am very glad of human beings, but not of society, and I 
 would have made a very good monk (that is with Sara). 
 Also my work, as I view it, does not oblige me to go outside 
 it. But I can understand to some extent the difficulties of 
 others. Yet I think the path will be made clear to all, 
 who are anxious to hold fast the most important, heavenly, 
 end of the cord. I fear these remarks are not definite. 
 Enough that it would be too long a subject to write upon. 
 
 " We are going to have our annual meeting in a fortnight, 
 and start clear of all debts. About £12,000 have been raised 
 in three years. We have some very dear people. Our 
 Thursdays are very largely attended, and there are always 
 some encouraging cases. The only thing I don't like is the 
 amount of business. The heterogeneous character of the 
 congregation is perhaps an advantage. I am less ' chm'chy ' 
 evei'y day ; but could not be cramped by the Darby standard. 
 But it must be very pleasant when circumstances justify 
 your joining a small circle of devoted and simple Christians. 
 
 "... We had a charming visit from dear Mr. Stevenson 
 
21G LETTERS OF SYMPATHY 
 
 of Dublin. He is like his book — praying and working, and the 
 best specimen going. I am blessed with many good friends." 
 
 He writes again to the same lady : — 
 
 "I trust that long before this you have been freed from 
 all anxiety about your brother's recovery, and that Sir R. 
 is regaining strength. We sympathized deeply with you. 
 What a winter of trouble this has been ! We have seen 
 so much that is sad, in our immediate circle here. Dear 
 Mr. Wingate lost his eldest daughter under very painful 
 circumstances, though the best of all consolations is his, for 
 she died in the faith. . I hope your health and strength 
 
 continue good, and I often pray that you may have much 
 inward peace, and that the Loi-d may remove all that causes 
 you anxiety. And yet, as the Germans say, das Hebe Kreuz, 
 the dear cross. No doubt our afflictions and trials are signs 
 that God has not forgotten us, but is educating us in 
 Fatherly love (Heb. xii.). I have felt of late years constantly 
 drawn to those passages of Scripture which teach the mystery 
 of our fellowship with Christ in suffering, or rather fellowship 
 of His sufferings, and sometimes hope that I am beginning 
 really to rejoice in Christ, though I am often ashamed at 
 being so depressed and feeling so disappointed. The return 
 of the Lord Jesus, and our being glorified together with Him 
 (if so be that we suffer with Him), this true and lively hope 
 seems to me like a star, which is not seen in the garish light 
 of prosperity and a smooth course, but only in the stillness 
 of sorrow, or at least of a chastened, crucified condition. I 
 think this is one reason why the Church lost this hope, after 
 the first ages of martyrdom, and why now-a-days it so often 
 degenerates into a mere sentimental speculation, — a pious 
 Zeitvertreib. 
 
 " We hear of scarcely anything else just now but Moody 
 and Sankey. There seems indeed a wonderful amount of 
 interest and earnestness in their meetings. I have not yet 
 been able to go. My dear friends, Mr. Stone and Mr. 
 Mathieson, are the chief promoters of the movement. 
 
 "I have preached lately only once on Sunday, and also 
 on Thursday. The church has suffered from my not being 
 
TO LADY KINLuaU. 217 
 
 there on Sunday evenings ; but still it lias made good progress. 
 I cannot reconcile myself with the idea of an assistant, but 
 i fear it is necessary. It makes uiu feel ^ury old and 
 useless.' 
 
 In a letter to the same, written after lier serious 
 illness, lie says : — ■ 
 
 " We felt very sad and anxious when your kind note told 
 us how ill you had been, and especially how much sorrow 
 you had come through. We trust you will soon be better ; 
 but do dismiss all sad thoughts, and wait quietly, and after 
 these clouds God will send again sunshine. These trials are 
 very hard to bear for anxious and affectionate hearts. But 
 we possess the sympathy of One who passed through every 
 phase of sorrow, and who felt deeply wounded in His spirit 
 by every kind of sad experience among men. From Him 
 we can not only learn, but obtain grace, to commit all things 
 into the hands of our faithful Father, and to keep the heart 
 meek and in the attitude of forbearing and forgiving love. 
 God will guide and God will justify those who trust in Him 
 and walk uprightly. Sooner or later He brings it to light, 
 and makes all acknowledge it. I trust and pray that He 
 may quiet and comfort your heart and bear you up, renewing 
 your strength according to that dear promise (Isaiah xl. 31). 
 
 '' I have been dwelUng much upon the humanity and 
 sympathy of Christ (in connection with Matt. iv. and the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews). How comforting it is for us to 
 remember that the Saviour had true and real difficulties, 
 sorrows, and struggles ; that He also lived by faith ; that 
 His tears and prayers were the expression of real grief, 
 weakness, and dependence ! Thus is He now as the High 
 Priest who is touched with the feeling of our infirmity." 
 
 In a letter to another friend, he speaks of a visit 
 to Dublin : — 
 
 "1 spoke last Sunday evening to Mr. Stevenson's people. 
 He is such a dear man, and more dear to me each time I 
 
•218 A PROSPEROUS TIME. 
 
 yee him. We are delighted with the young people here ; 
 and it is a great pleasure to renew friendships." 
 
 He writes to the same friend on the last day of 
 the year : — 
 
 " We are making good progress, though nothing brilliant. 
 Last Sunday we had another children's service. The church 
 was crowded in every part, nearly all children. It was a 
 very fine sight. The children behaved beautifully. We had 
 another Jewish baptism. I am sorry to say the first Jew 
 who was influenced by Moody has relapsed into unbelief. 
 We are very much grieved, and must continue praying for 
 his restoration and conversion. I fear there is much super- 
 ficial work at meetings, and too great huriy to get people 
 to say they have peace; also comforting people who have 
 no sorrow or burden." 
 
 The congregation, as it does to this day, con- 
 tained a large proportion of active workers, and 
 its influence was soon felt among the poor and 
 neglected in the neighbourhood. Dr. Saphir was 
 greatly encouraged, but still it was evident from 
 the beginning that he had not the physical strength 
 of his earlier Greenwich period, and that he Ava.s 
 not equal to the unremitting labour which many 
 of his friends, in their admiration and zeal, expected 
 from him. 
 
il9 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 LECTURES ON THE HEBREWS AND THE DIVINITY 
 OF CHRIST. 
 
 Majestic Style of the Epistle — Its Ceuti-al Idea — The Glory 
 of the New Covenant — Christ and Moses — The High- 
 Priesthood of Christ — Alleged Priesthood of the Clergy — 
 Pauline Authorship — Lecture on the Divinity of Christ — 
 Jewish Difficulties — Personal Testimony. 
 
 WE have referred to the Thursday moruing 
 Lectures on Hebrews, delivered in the 
 winters of 1873-74 and 1874-75, which were 
 attended by numbers of clergymen, professiooal 
 men, and other persons of influence. This was the 
 greatest triumph of his career. In these lectures 
 he traced out with great power, and often origin- 
 ality, the close connection of the Old and the New 
 Testament dispensations. We think it right, there- 
 fore, as illustrating his method of thinking and 
 teaching, to give a rapid glance at the main 
 positions. 
 
 " We arc," he says in the introduction, "attracted 
 and riveted by the majestic and Sabbatic style 
 of this Epistle. Nowhere in the New Testament 
 
220 LECTURES ON THE HEBREWS. 
 
 writings do we meet language of such euphony 
 and rhythm. A pecuUar solemnity and anticipation 
 of eternity breathes in these pages. The glow 
 and flow of languasje, the stateliness and fullness 
 of diction, are but an external manifestation of 
 the marvellous depth and glory of spiritual truth 
 into which the apostolic author is eager to lead 
 his brethren. The Epistle reminds us, in this 
 respect, of the latter portion of the prophet Isaiah 
 — a suggestion, says Dr. Saphir in a note, made by 
 Delitzsch, — in which, out of the abundance of an 
 enraptured heart, flows such a mighty and beau- 
 tiful stream of consoling revelations. In both 
 Scriptures we behold the glory which dwelleth in 
 Iinmanuel's land ; we breathe the Sabbatic air of 
 Messiah's perfect peace. Both possess the same 
 massiveness ; both describe things which are real 
 and substantial, the beauty and strength of which 
 is eternal ; in both is the same intensity of love, 
 and the same comprehensiveness of vision." 
 
 " The central idea of the Epistle is the glory of 
 the New Covenant, contrasted with and excelling 
 the glory of the old dispensation ; and while this 
 idea is developed in a systematic manner, the aim 
 of the writer throughout is eminently and directly 
 practical. Everywhere his object is exhortation. 
 He never loses sight of the dangers and wants of 
 his brethren. The application to conscience and 
 life is never forgotten. It is i-ather a sermon than 
 an exposition. Thus the writer himself describes 
 
THE FIRST FOUR VERSES. 221 
 
 the aim of his letter, and thus the Apostle Peter, 
 writing to the same Hebrew Christians, refers to 
 our book when he says, ' And account that the 
 long-suffering of our Lord is salvation ; even as our 
 beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom 
 given iinto him, hath written unto you.' " 
 
 At the close of the series he has a chapter 
 strongly, and we think almost conclusively, deciding 
 for the Pauline authorship of the Epistle. 
 
 In his first Lecture he considers that the first 
 four verses contain as it were an epitome of the 
 whole Epistle. " Beautiful is the night, in which 
 the moon and the stars of prophecy and types are 
 shining ; but when the sun rises, then we forget 
 the hours of watchful expectancy, and in the calm 
 and joyous light of day there is revealed to us the 
 reality and substance of the eternal and heavenly 
 sanctuary." " The Father is the Author of revela- 
 tion in both (Old Testament and New). The 
 Messiah is the substance and centre of the revela- 
 tion in both. The glory of God's Name in a people 
 brought nigh unto Him to love Him and to worship 
 Him, is the end in the revelation in both. Luther 
 compares them to the men carrying the branch 
 with the cluster of grapes. They were both bearing 
 the same precious fruit ; but one of them saw it not. 
 The other saw both the fruit and the man who was 
 helping him. Both Old and New Testaments are 
 of God ; the New Testament, as the Church-father 
 Augustine said, is enfolded in the Old, and the Old 
 
nilRIST rilE LURJJ OF ALL. 
 
 Testament is enfolded in the New. ' In vetere 
 Testamento Novum latet, in Novo vetus patet.' " 
 Thus contrasting the messenger of the Old Testa- 
 ment with the Messenger of the New, he shows 
 what is implied in the description of the latter. 
 " It is of the Incarnate Son of God that the Apostle 
 speaks ; and showing unto us His glory, he leads 
 us, in the first place, to the end of all history ; He 
 is appointed the Heir of all things : (2) to the 
 heginning of all history ; in Him God made the 
 ages : (3) before all history ; He is the brightness 
 of His glory, and the express image of His person : 
 (4) throughout all history ; He upholdeth all things 
 by the word of His power." " Christ is Lord of all. 
 The whole universe centres in Him. A star appears 
 at the time of Messiah's advent. The sun loses his 
 splendour when Jesus Christ dies upon the cross. 
 There shall be aoain wonders and simis in the 
 heavens when the Son of man shall come in power. 
 In the material world we know that there have 
 been many and great cj^eles of development. And 
 both science and revelation lead us to look forward 
 to a new earth. It is the Lord Jesus who shall 
 make all things new, and all developments are 
 borne up and moved by the word of His power. 
 Oh ! I know that the general conception that the 
 world has of Jesus is, that He is Lord of a spiritual 
 realm, of thought and sentiment. Bishop and Head 
 of ministers and pastors for edifying souls ! But 
 the world does not know that He is moving all 
 things by the word of His power ; that all politics, 
 
ABOVE THE ANGELS. 
 
 all statesmanship, all history, all physics, all arts, 
 all sciences, everything that is — all that has sub- 
 stance, truth, beauty, all things apart from the 
 cancer of sin which has attached itself to it, consist 
 by Jesus the Son of God." " Sin has brought Him 
 down from heaven. Our defilement has drawn 
 Him from the height of His glory. Oh, what an 
 expression ! — what a climax ! ' Who, being the 
 brightness of His glory, and the express image of 
 His person, and upholding all things by the word 
 of His power, when He had by WiVLvaeM purged oirr 
 
 Sin ft. 
 
 He considers the might of the angels, and yet 
 Jesus' infinite exaltation above them. " Angels are 
 connected not merely with salvation and with the 
 spiritual kingdom of God, but with all the kingdom 
 of God, with all physical phenomena. There was 
 an earthquake at His resurrection. Why ? Because 
 angels had rolled away the stone. The Pool of 
 Siloam had miraculous power, ' for an angel came 
 down at certain seasons and troubled the water,' 
 and endowed it with healing power. The angels 
 carry on every development in nature. God does 
 not move and rule the world merely by laws and 
 principles, by unconscious and inanimate powers, 
 but by living beings full of light and love. His 
 angels are like flames of fire ; they have charge 
 over the winds, and the earth, and the trees, and 
 the sea. Through the angels He carries on the 
 government of the world. And these angels whom 
 
224 CHRIST AND MOSJ'JS. 
 
 God has made so glorious, who excel in strength, 
 hearken to the voice of His commandment, and 
 obey Him, while they in worship continually behold 
 the countenance of the Father. . . . Now, glorious 
 as the angels are, they are in subjection to Jesus as 
 man ; for in His human nature God has enthroned 
 Him above all things. Their relation to Jesus 
 fixes also their relation to us. In a great house 
 there may be many servants who are honoured, 
 trusted, and beloved ; but the position of the little 
 child who is the heir is different, though as yet be 
 is inferior in knowledge, strength, and attainments." 
 
 In the second section of the Epistle, extending 
 from the beginning of the third chapter to the 
 fourteenth verse of the fourth chapter, Christ the 
 Lord is contrasted with Moses the servant. In 
 many respects Moses was a type of Jesus. Both 
 ^vere threatened as infants by cruel rulers, and both 
 were marvellously sheltered by the living God. 
 Moses was the mediator, and spoke with God face 
 to face. He revealed the covenant of God with 
 Israel. But Jesus was the builder of the house ; 
 the preparer even of Moses for his mission and 
 work. 
 
 The third section of the Epistle, extending from 
 the fifth chapter to the thirty-ninth verse of the 
 tenth chapter, sets forth the Lord Jesus Christ, the 
 High Priest of the everlasting covenant, greater 
 than the Aaronic priesthood. We note one or two 
 
WHO ABE THOSE WHO "FALL AWAY?" 1^25 
 
 passages of special interest. Speaking of the 
 verses which have often caused much difficulty and 
 anxiety, — " It is impossible for those who were once 
 enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, 
 and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and 
 have tasted the good Word of God, and the powers 
 of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to 
 renew them again to repentance," — he says in a 
 note: — "This warning does not refer to isolated 
 sins, but to a protracted and habitual condition of 
 mind, and to neglect and disbelief of truths once 
 recognized and confessed ; and it places before us the 
 result of a series of unfaithful and wilful rejections 
 of spiritual influences and privileges. Many humble 
 and timid Christians have misunderstood the whole 
 scope and purport of this passage. He who judges 
 himself is not judged. The man who fears always 
 is safe, because he trusts in the livins; God and 
 Saviour. But, as we know from Scripture, and, 
 alas 1 also from experience, there are some who 
 appear to the Church to be zealous and true 
 Christians, and who yet have not received the 
 Word in a good heart, and by and by fall away. 
 Such men are in a most deplorable condition. 
 Their antipathy to truths once known and professed 
 is very great, and diff'erent from the apathy of the 
 worldly ; theirs is a bitter and subtle hostility. 
 Yet even their case should not be received by us 
 as hopeless ; but we should pray for them, that 
 God may give unto them true repentance and 
 living faith. The wilful and conscious rejection of 
 
22& ALLEGED PRIESTHOOD OF THE CLERGY. 
 
 the testimony of the Holy Ghost is another subject, 
 and not spoken of in this j)assage." " The Apostle 
 defilt only with appearances and impulses, and not 
 the spiritual life, and does not teach the possibility 
 of falling away from the faith." 
 
 In commenting on tlio tenth chapter, he refers to 
 the alleged priesthood of the clergy and priestly cere- 
 monies. "While the temple stood, Jesus and the 
 Apostles honoured the temple. The Lord said unto 
 the leper, ' Show thyself unto the priest.' He and 
 His Apostles went daily into the temple. After 
 His resurrection, and while the gospel was being 
 preached to Israel, the temple services and ordin- 
 ances may have been blessed to souls, as images 
 and prophecies of the heavenly realities. But any 
 imitation of the Levitical dispensation in the present 
 day must needs be contrary to God's mind, and 
 obscure the clear revelation in Christ Jesus. The 
 expression ' priest,' in the sense of IspsCg, applied to 
 a Christian minister, can in no wise be defended. 
 The expression ' consecration,' as applied to build- 
 ings, ought also to be given up, and with the 
 expression every remnant of the old leaven, which 
 attaches some kind of sanctity to any place. Sacred 
 places there are none now. We never read of the 
 Apostolic Christians going to Bethlehem, where 
 Jesus was born ; or to Golgotha, where He died ; 
 or to the garden, where He rose ; or the Mount 
 of Olives, where He ascended ; or to the temple 
 chf^niber ip which the Pentecostal gift wap received, 
 
PAULINE AVTIlORSmi' OF KPIBTLK. 
 
 ' Wliere two or three are gathered together ' — there, 
 J>eerin.'<e and when they are gathered together in 
 the Name of Jesus ; wherever we worship in spirit 
 and truth, there and then we may say. How dread- 
 ful is this place ! This view does not in the least 
 affect the necessity and desirability of having 
 spacious, suitable, and attractive buildings set apart 
 for the meeting of God's people, and the preaching 
 of the gospel. Here is a proper field for Christian 
 liberality, and also for architectural skill. How 
 much inclined are men to welcome everything 
 which does not reveal to them their true condition, 
 and bring them into the very presence of God I 
 Priesthood, vestments, consecrated buildings, sym- 
 bols, and observances, all place Christ at a great 
 distance, and cover the true sinful and guiltv state 
 of the heart, which has not been brought nigh by 
 the Blood of Christ." 
 
 We have noticed the discussion of the Pauline 
 authorship of the Hebrews. We may again refer 
 to it. In summing up the arguments, he notes that 
 the only ancient tradition points to the Apostle 
 Paul as the writer. The presumption is strongly 
 in favour of the Apostle when we remember his 
 great love to Israel, his profound knowledge of the 
 Scriptures, his power of adaptation to be a Jew to 
 Jews. Then another likely author has been sug- 
 gested — ApoUos ; and Luke has been also suggested. 
 But there is a fervour and force, a sustained energy 
 both of thought and feeling in the Epistle, which 
 
228 PAULINE AUTHORSHIP OF EPISTLE. 
 
 we do not find anywhere but in the writings of 
 Paul. Then there are the earnest and affectionate 
 exhortations, with which he interrupts his argument, 
 as if he could not restrain his yearning and anxious 
 love. There are many expressions peculiar to Paul, 
 and the view of Christ — the very opening verses 
 on the glory of the Son, for instance — bears a 
 most striking resemblance to many passages in the 
 Pauline Epistles. If we look at the concluding- 
 chapter, the personal messages and requests can only 
 be attributed to Paul. Stier asked justly: Who 
 but Paul could write thus to Jewish Christians, 
 without giving his name, and yet pre-supposing 
 both their acquaintance and brotherly relation, so 
 as to ask their intercession, and also some suspicion 
 and hesitation, against which he thinks it necessary 
 to appeal to his conscience ? Only Paul could write 
 thus about " brother Timothy " as his companion 
 and assistant. Though the question is still much 
 disputed, the internal arguments seem to be over- 
 whelming in favour of the authorship of Paul, 
 which is in accordance with the chief historic 
 testimony. 
 
 There is one lecture, delivered at this period, in 
 1874, which we think must be noticed, as it contains 
 much that is original and powerful, on the all- 
 important subject of our Lord's Divinity. It was 
 the first of a series of four, given by different 
 lecturers, to the students of the English Presbyterian 
 College. As a Jew, Dr. Saphir throws himself into 
 
THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 229 
 
 the very period and circumstances of liis fathers at 
 the advent of Christ, and shows how difficult it 
 would have been to declare such a doctrine, how 
 impossible to suggest it, except revealed from 
 heaven — and yet it was the centre of all apostolic 
 teaching. 
 
 At no time, he says, could it have been more 
 difficult to declare the doctrine of the Divinity of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, than at the time when it was 
 proclaimed with greatest earnestness and intensity 
 in the days of the Apostles. Think of the Jews to 
 whom they preached that Jesus is God. Kemember 
 that of all the commandments which God Himself 
 gave unto His people upon Mount Sinai, and which 
 He afterwards confirmed by the mouth of His 
 prophets, there was none that was so distinct and 
 clear and emphatic as that second commandment. 
 " But to whom will ye liken Me "? My glory will I 
 not give to another," were the frequent exclamations 
 of God by the mouth of the prophets. How 
 strange then must it have appeared, first unto the 
 Jews, to hear Peter and Paul, and all the Apostles 
 who were their brethren according to the flesh, 
 saying that Jesus of Nazareth was Jehovah, Lord ; 
 that unto Him was given all power in heaven and on 
 earth ; that every knee must bow before Him, and 
 that every tongue must confess that He is above 
 all, Lord ; that He is God blessed for ever. 
 
 The Apostles always spoke of Jesus as Ku^uoj, 
 which was quite equivalent to Jehovah in the Old 
 
230 JEWISH DIFFICULTIES AS TO DOCTRINE. 
 
 Testament. Only think of such applications of Old 
 Testament words to Jesus as we find in Hebrews 
 i. 1 : "Thy throne, God, is for ever and ever; 
 a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy 
 kingdom." And : " Thou, Lord, in the beginning, 
 hast laid the foundations of the earth, and the 
 heavens are the work of Thy hands." Then with 
 regard to the idolaters who worshipped many gods, 
 and spoke of many " sons of God," how easily 
 might the apostolic declaration of the Father, 
 Son, and Holy Ghost, have been misunderstood 
 by them as Tritheism. Notice how with this 
 twofold difficulty besetting them, the Apostles 
 speak of the Divinity of the Lord Jesus so 
 constantly, so freely, so spontaneously ; notice 
 the perfect ease, consistency, and joyousness 
 with which this fundamental fact is constantly 
 alluded to, pre-supposed, announced. And as they 
 believed that Jesus was God, and that not although, 
 but because they were Jews, so they declared the 
 Divinity of Jesus as the only real remedy by which 
 idolatry could be eradicated. For Jesus is the 
 image of the invisible God. He is the true life, 
 and eternal life. When we adore Him, we keep 
 ourselves from idols. Hence all are idolaters who 
 do not worship God in the face of Jesus Christ ; no 
 man cometh unto the Father but by Him. 
 
 The Evangelists and Apostles teach clearly the 
 real, true, and perfect humanity of the Lord Jesus. 
 . . . But when Scripture reminds of His humanity. 
 
THE DIVINITY AND HUMANITY. 231 
 
 it brings always before us His Divinity also. " He 
 iooh upon Him tlie form of a servant. But in taking 
 upon Him the form of a servant He humbled Him- 
 self." He learned obedience by the things that He 
 suffered; but it is added, "though He were a 
 Son." The Apostle dwells upon His poverty ; but, 
 " though He was rich, yet, for your sakes He 
 became poor." He was the Son of man; but in 
 this very expression is implied that He was much 
 more than man ; and this is also manifest from the 
 question, " Whom do men say that I, the Son of 
 man, am ? " 
 
 In the weakness and lowliness of His humanity, 
 we behold always His Divine majesty and glory. 
 True, He was born of the Virgin Mary, and like 
 any other babe depended on the love of His 
 mother, and upon the guardianship of Joseph, her 
 husband ; but a multitude of angels came down 
 from heaven, and declare, not that a babe, but that 
 Christ the Lord (Jehovah) is born ; and as all 
 nature is obedient unto the Word, the star directs 
 the wise men from the East to Bethlehem, and they 
 fall down and worship the child, and are not guilty 
 of idolatry, for the child is none other than " the 
 mighty God, the Prince of Peace." " The Word 
 was made flesh." 
 
 True, He grew in stature and in wisdom, like 
 any other child ; and when He was twelve years 
 old, His parents took Him unto the feast in 
 Jerusalem. But the boy is God ; not that He 
 gradually develops into God ; but He who was 
 
:i32 THE DIVINE IN HIS HUMAN ACTIONS. 
 
 God, and always must be God, became man, par- 
 taker of flesh and blood, in all things like unto us. 
 He says, " How is it that ye have sought Me 1 Must 
 I not be in the things of My Father 1 " making 
 a wonderful distinction between Himself and the 
 most devoted of God-fearing Israelites. . . . 
 
 As men we see Him in the ship, laying His head 
 upon the pillow, for He was tired and overcome 
 with sleep ; but He is God ; He arises and rebukes 
 the storm ; He is that Divine One of whom the 
 prophet had written in the Book of Proverbs, that 
 all the wind and waves are in His omnipotent 
 hand. 
 
 It is true He is man, and lives by faith, and 
 prayer unto God, and performs His very miracles 
 simply because He depends upon the Father ; but 
 He is God, for no creative being ever prayed unto 
 the Father as He prayed, " Father, I will ; " and 
 no created angel ever was able to say, " My Father 
 worketh, and I also work ; " and no prophet or 
 angel was ever sent to show forth their oivn glory, 
 that men might believe in Him. . . . On the Cross 
 He opens the kingdom of heaven to the penitent thief 
 in the words of Divine power and love : " Verily, 
 verily, I say unto thee, to-day shalt thou be with 
 Me in Paradise." Behold His Divinity in His 
 lowliness and humiliation ; from the manger of 
 Bethlehem to Golgotha, He is God. 
 
 The Lord Jesus, he notes, speaks throughout of 
 Himself as Jehovah, God manifest. Look at the 
 
THE LORD OF MOSFS AND THE PROrUETH. 233 
 
 position He takes respecting tlic Scriptures. " Think 
 not," He says, "that I am come to destroy the law 
 and the prophets ; I am not come to destroy, but 
 to fulfil." Only fancy any human being uttering 
 such expressions, and that in the midst of the 
 Jewish people ! What man or angel could either 
 destroy or fulfil the law or the prophets ? " / am 
 come." That expression alone Avould convey to 
 the Jews that He was the Great Redeemer and 
 Deliverer. " Blessed is Ho that coraeth in tho 
 name of the Lord." 
 
 But He puts Himself as the Lord and Master 
 of Moses and the Prophets. The whole Scripture 
 was to be fulfilled in Him. Moses wrote of Him. 
 Is not the Scripture the Revelation of God ? Did 
 not Moses write of Jehovah ? Were not the prophets 
 sent to declare Jehovah ? What man or angel can 
 say, the Scriptures testify of him, centre in him, 
 and are fulfilled in him ? Who is this Lord of 
 Scripture unless it be Jehovah ? 
 
 He speaks of Himself as the Son of Abraham ; 
 but He says also, " Before Abraham was, I am." He 
 speaks not as if it were His glory to be descended 
 from Abraham, but His words show that it was 
 Abraham's glory that Jesus was descended from 
 him, even as it was his joy to behold Christ's day. 
 He calls Himself the Son of David, but He asks, 
 '' How is it then that David in the Spirit calls Him 
 Lord ? " 
 
 He shows how Jesus takes to Himself the pre- 
 
234 JESUS ASSUMES DIVINE PREROGATIVES. 
 
 rogatives of Jehovah, of forgiving sins ; of supply- 
 ing the living water ; of pouring out the Spirit or 
 baptizing with the Holy Ghost ; of being the Bride- 
 groom of the Church. There is also His command, 
 that He Himself is to be loved above all others, 
 father or mother, wife or child, as Jehovah claimed 
 in the Old Testament. If we give what He asks, 
 we give all tliat is demanded of God, and God will 
 not give His glory to another. He prepared to 
 offer Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of men, 
 most clearly foretelling it, and suffering as an 
 atoning Sacrifice. He is the Lamb of God, God 
 of God, the Son of the Father, clinging with perfect 
 faith unto God, and acknowledging the righteous- 
 ness and justice of His holy written law ; clinging 
 with perfect love to us, for whose salvation He had 
 come to die on the accursed tree. 
 
 Dr. Saphir concluded his lecture with this very 
 touching personal testimony: — Perhaps none of 
 you know from experience what it is to live without 
 the knowledge of the Incarnation ; what it is to 
 endeavour to realize the incomprehensible, infinite 
 God, without the light and comfort of the Mediator, 
 and how joyous and self-evidencing is the peaceful 
 brightness when Jesus is revealed as the Son of 
 God, declaring the Father. I was brought up in 
 my childhood in the synagogue, and was taught 
 that there was one God, infinite, incomprehensible, 
 holy Spirit ; high above us and omnipresent. Much 
 stress was laid on the unity and unicity of God. 
 
A TOUCHING FER80NAL TESTIMONY. ^35 
 
 But this bare, vague, and abstract Monotheism 
 leaves the mind in darkness, while the heart is 
 chilly and desolate. There was another and a 
 better current which then influenced me. It was 
 the national history, as recorded in the books of 
 Moses, the Psalms, and the Prophets, and com- 
 memorated in the festivals. There I was met 
 by no abstract idea of unicity, but by a loving 
 God, who appeared unto Abraham and spoke to 
 him ; who led Israel througli the wilderness and 
 dwelt among them ; and after, when I thought of 
 the friendly, kind, concrete, and human way in 
 which the Lord God then appeared unto His 
 people and dwelt with them, I wondered why He 
 was not now with us, known, loved, and followed. 
 
 One day I was looking at some books, and the 
 title of one arrested my eye. It was Die Mensch- 
 iverdung Gottes — God becoming man. The thought 
 went through my mind like a flash of lightniug ; 
 it thrilled my soul with a most joyous solemnity. 
 "Oh," I said, "this would be the most beautiful 
 thing, if God were to become man and visit us ! " 
 Not many years after I heard about Jesus, and 
 read the Gospels. I felt here the same presence, 
 the same loving, condescending, redeeming, and 
 sanctifying God, that appeared unto the Fathers. 
 I felt that here was Jehovah ; that all darkness 
 had disappeared, and that the grand but incon- 
 ceivable glory here shone upon us in the perfect, 
 peaceful, and holy countenance of the man Christ 
 Jesus. Peniel ! I have seen God face to face, and 
 
23(; PERSONAL TESTIMONY. 
 
 my life is preserved. . . . To believe in Jesus, the 
 Sou of God, is not an abstract dogma, or a theo- 
 sophic speculation, but a soul-experience, a new 
 heart-life. It is the mystery of godliness. May 
 the result of all we learn and experience on earth 
 he summed up in this : By God's spirit I believe 
 that Jesus is the Son of God, who loved me, and 
 gave Himself for me. 
 
237 
 
 CHAPTER XX r. 
 
 LETTERS OF HIS LATER LIFE. 
 
 Comfort in Bereavement — The Church, what it is, and Baptism 
 — Princess Alice's Death — Church Order — Apostolic Suc- 
 cession — Faith without a Knowledge of the Spirit's Work 
 —The Fall and Redemption necessarily connected — The 
 Future Punishment Controversy — The Present State of 
 the Churches — Broad Churchism — " The Catholic Apostolic 
 Church " — Crucified with Christ — A Vicarious Atonement 
 — Schleiermacher — Separation from the World — The Lord's 
 Day — Perfectionism — A Free Gospel and Election — The 
 Connection of the Present and Future Lives — " The Higher 
 Life " — Dr. Keith's Last Days — German Translations of 
 the Bible — Influence of Trial. 
 
 WE now give a number of letters, many of them 
 on leading questions of religious interest. 
 They were chiefly written to a lady who, by her 
 position in society, came into contact with great 
 varieties of opinion, and who often wrote to Dr. 
 Saphir, to consult him, in perplexity. She does not 
 wish to give her name, but to note that they were 
 written to one "to whom his teaching was greatly 
 blessed." In placing them at our disposal, she 
 writes : — 
 
 " How gently and patiently he taught me for years, these 
 letters clearly show forth ! T went through so many mists, 
 and he seemed sent to pilot me thi-ough. I can never thank 
 God enough for this." 
 
238 COMFORT IN BEREAVFMENT. 
 
 It has been impossible, in many cases, to ascertain 
 the precise dates, but almost all given in this 
 chapter were written during the later Notting Hill 
 period, a few of them perhaps afterwards. The 
 dates, however, when they deal with general ques- 
 tions are not so important. Dr. Saphir had a habit 
 of only putting the day of the month on his letters, 
 and not the year, and when the envelopes have not 
 been preserved, it is frequently impossible to 
 ascertain the year. 
 
 The first few letters given relate to the very 
 sudden death of a beloved mother. One is dated 
 May 26, 1878 :— 
 
 " It was only after the Morning Service that I heard of your 
 sad bereavement. Mr. Topping had heard of it, but was afraid 
 to tell me, as he feared it would upset m.e, as he knew I was 
 hardly able to preach this morning. 
 
 "I do not like to intrude on you in your great sorrow, but 
 I cannot refrain from expressing my deep sympathy with you 
 in your sudden grief, and my earnest hope that you and all 
 yours will be mercifully sustained and consoled in this deep 
 affliction. May the love of our Heavenly Father and the 
 sympathy of our great High Priest and Saviour be very near 
 and precious to you ! . . . You will have all needful grace 
 and strength, and the Lord will keep you and bless yovi." 
 
 Another letter, dated June 7, 1878, refers to the 
 same loss : — 
 
 " You have been in ovir thoughts all this week, and we 
 trust that you have been upheld and comforted all these 
 solemn and son-owful days. They also are included in the all 
 days in which Jesus has promised to be with us (Matt, xxviii.). 
 I was so glad Dean Stanley chose John xiv., our Saviour's 
 words, these are so simple ; and when we need strong con- 
 
THE SWBET OLD STORY. 239 
 
 solation we long for the greatest simplicity. 'My Father's 
 House ' — ' I go to prepare a place for you ' — ' I will come 
 again.' If we can hear this, and in the loving Voice of our 
 Lord, our hearts will cease being troubled. 
 
 " You must not wonder, if after the excitement and activity 
 of the last days you will feel now, more than you have yet 
 done, the loss, and realize the blank. The Christian does not 
 attempt to force himself into strength, but leans with his 
 weakness and in his sorrow on the compassionate Lord, who 
 can perfectly sympathize with us. To His grace I commend 
 you. His Spirit will sanctify and bless this sad experience 
 to you, and through it lead yovi to greater strength and 
 insight. 
 
 " Your kind and encouraging words were very precious to 
 us. I often feel discouraged at not seeing more results of my 
 work ; but I believe I am not sufficiently aware how little I 
 deserve to be of any use, and instead of being discontented, 
 I ought to be thankful. I was so glad my friend Herschell 
 took up the subject of the Second Advent. He is a very godly 
 man, and takes his theology straight from the Bible and 
 experience. This is no doubt the best way. Do you not feel 
 in some men's teaching an absence of the Cistern's taste and 
 of the directness of a Fountain 1 I often wish I could forget 
 more all the present day controversies. The very way the 
 questions are put is already a departure from the simplicity of 
 the gospel. But we must adhere to the sweet old story. 
 
 "... We came out to Richmond for a few days. I feel 
 a little better, but the sense of utter inability to work has not 
 quite left me. It is very refreshing to see the trees, and to 
 feel there is something outside, and may I say above, London ! 
 
 " I have not been able to read the Assembly's discussions. 
 They seem to have been on the whole very calm and kindly. 
 I am afraid my friend Dr. MacLeod takes too mundane a 
 view of the 'parish.' How difficult it would be to explain 
 to the Apostle Paul what is meant by the ' parish,' in the sense 
 in which the modern Scotch ministers use it. But I must not 
 broach my radical views. . . I am very sorry that you will 
 be away so long. I never like a member of my church 
 very much, but they either go away or become Darbyite." 
 
240 THE GHUBGH—AND BAPTISM. 
 
 In another letter lie says : — 
 
 "I must write a line to tell you how deeply and keenly 
 I felt yesterday in sympathy with all bereaved ones. Just 
 before the service, I got a letter announcing the sudden death 
 of my wife's life-long friend, Judge Lawson's sister-in-law. 
 I did not tell her, as she wished to go to church, and I knew 
 it would upset her. 
 
 "This has beau a very sad year. But we must remember, 
 that the same Love, which suns the bright year, suns also the 
 year of evil." 
 
 In another letter he says : — 
 
 " I suppose you have seen a little volume of gems from the 
 late Dr. Ker's note-book. It seemed to me very good and 
 beautiful." 
 
 THE CHUEUH, WHAT IT IS, AND BAPTISM. 
 
 In a letter written on December 23, 1878, he 
 refers to the teaching of Scripture as to the Church 
 and Baptism, regarding which his correspondent 
 had written to him : — 
 
 " First, Scripture. I wish you would put aside the question 
 of the ' Church '■ and of ' Baptism.' If you read (without com- 
 ment) the Acts, the Pastoral Epistles, and the First Epistle to 
 the Corinthians, you will see how God quietly guided the 
 Apostles to make appointments as necessity arose, and accord- 
 ing to the synagogue form, and how the ministry ((i,dkoi/ta), 
 for the benefit of the Church in teaching, ruling, feeding, must 
 always virtually be the same. The outward order is good ; 
 the call is from God, and the power by the Spirit. The laying 
 on of hands and prayer, doubtless a real blessing, but not by 
 virtue of any official succession, or in order to give the ' order ' 
 ' authority.' Not even the Apostles sought to enforce authority, 
 but commended themselves and the truth to the conscience. 
 The Lord says to Peter, ' Feed My sheep.' But He does not 
 say to the sheep, ' Obey Peter.' When we come in the Name 
 
PRINCEtiS ALICE'S DEATH. 241 
 
 of Christ as His ambassadors, the Lord inclines the hearts 
 to receive us. 
 
 "Second, as to 'Church.' The Church is an abstraction. 
 All saints that ever lived, and still live, are tJte Church. Tlie 
 Church is yet in the future, at Christ's coming. Now there 
 are only churches. As for the assumption that Romanists, 
 Anglicans, and Greeks are the only three Churches, it has no 
 Scriptural foundation whatever. Where there is an organized 
 brotherhood of Believers we recognize a Church. This includes 
 Individualists, like the Independents, and corpoi-ate churches, 
 like the Methodists, Presbyterians, Anglicans. Of course 
 some are more scriptural and fully developed than others. 
 State churches contain churches, but are not chiu'ches. But 
 this last sentence would require explanation. It was held by 
 Luther, and I think him a host in himself. 
 
 " Third, Baptism. Do not trouble yourself what Baptism is 
 to those who do not believe. Rather look to what it is to the 
 Believer. Only you must not apply what is said in the New 
 Testament of Baptism directly to infants. For in the Ne'w 
 Testament the believers were baptized, and in Baptism were 
 fully brought into the Church, and possession of the Chiu'ch- 
 Spirit. But all covenant blessings are sealed in Baptism to 
 beHevers, whether they were baptized as infants or otherwise. 
 
 "But now I m\ist write no more theology. Let us dwell in 
 the great and clear truths, and may we be daily experiencing 
 the grace of Christ, which is sufficient for us ! " 
 
 PKixcEss Alice's death, &c. 
 
 '' We were all full of sorrow when the tidings of Princess 
 Alice's death came. It was very sad, and the coincidence of 
 the death in one sense deepened the sorrow. But it is delightful 
 to know that 'to die was gain.' 
 
 " I am very sad about dear Germany. So few believers ; and 
 the young poisoned systematically. No doubt the apostasy of 
 Christendom is advancing rapidly. They deny both the Father 
 and the Son. We have much in this country to mourn ovei', 
 though, thank God, there is a stronger band of believers. 
 
 ■' We had a splendid case of a young Rabbi from Strasburg. 
 
242 CHURCH ORDER. 
 
 He went to refute the missionary, but he admitted he had 
 never read the New Testament. He went home, read, and 
 was cmivinced at once. He has made considerable sacrifices. 
 I am greatly pleased with him. He is now studying theology 
 in Edinburgh. 
 
 "I have just received the Magyar translation of one of my 
 books. The Free Church missionaries are doing much for the 
 circulation of Scripture and books in Hungary, and among the 
 Slavonians." 
 
 CHURCH OEDER. 
 
 Writing on Monday, July 14, 1879, he says, 
 speaking of Churcli Order : — 
 
 " I cannot go a step higher than I did yesterday morning. 
 It is my maximum ! — and pitched to the highest to counter- 
 balance the Plymouthists. The apostolic succession theory, as 
 held by Romanists and Anglicans, I discard, except that I 
 believe (in Providence) there has been an uninterrupted series 
 of ordained Presbyters. Of course the ordained ones can 
 ordain, and even Episcopal ordination is by the Bishop and 
 Presbyters. The Church of Rome theory is quite mechanical, 
 and contrary to the New Testament, and the Anglican theory 
 is vei-y little better. No ! Presbyters ordain : if they chose to 
 have bishops as superintendents I have no objection. But as 
 you say, it is a long subject. Both Irvingism and Anglicanism 
 I do hope you will utterly and radically give up. The former, 
 I fear, is a delusion of the subtle adversary, and the latter 
 does not keep strictly to Scripture. 
 
 " Eead in the Confession of Faith Directory about ministers. 
 It is very good. The Elders of the present day are somewhat 
 ill-defined creatures. If new exigencies demand new oificers, 
 I hold we have the highest right to ordain men for them, by 
 laying on of hands." 
 
 FAITH WITHOUT A KNOWLEDGE OF THE SPIRIT's 
 WORK. 
 
 Writing on the passage in Acts xix. where those 
 
THE FALL AND REDEMPTION. 243 
 
 who had been baptized by John are stated to have 
 been baptized into Christ, after they had expressed 
 faith in Him, he says : — 
 
 " The passage in Acts xix. does not present the difficulty 
 you find in it. The disciples mentioned there had not been fully 
 instructed, and had only received the preparatory baptism of 
 John. But we may have true faith, given by God's Spirit, 
 without a knowledge of the Spirit's work. This we see in 
 children ; and by most Christians the doctrine of the Spirit is 
 understood at a much later stage. They first simply trust in 
 Christ, without being conscious that this is the work of the 
 Holy Ghost in them. It is very fortunate that, as Goethe 
 says, we can enjoy a good house without being architects or 
 understanding the principles of architecture. It seems that 
 in the apostolic age certain spiritual gifts, manifestations, and 
 powers followed baptism, which, in the case of adult believers, I 
 can quite understand. But, as I think I once told you, the 
 application to infant baptism of what is stated in the Epistles 
 of believers' baptism is most unwarranted." 
 
 THE FALL AND REDEMPTION NECESSARILY 
 CONNECTED. 
 
 In another letter, speaking of the Fall, he says : — 
 
 " I must answer your questions about Adam. It is strange 
 that the Bible is not taken up as a whole, one great organized 
 structure, God-given, and each part connected with the rest. 
 For this reason people think they can cut off a doctrine, a 
 narrative, a miracle, as you cut off a piece of cloth, without 
 hurting the rest. Now the whole Bible and Christianity fall 
 to pieces without Genesis i. to iii. If there is no Adam, root 
 and representative of the whole race, there is no Christ : 
 Romans v. and 1 Corinthians xv. fall at once. The unity of 
 the human race in the One Blood (Acts xvii. 26) is not merely 
 a fact, but a necessary fact, as the redemption through Christ 
 is its great counterpart. But our Lord Himself believed 
 Genesis i. to iii. literally, as His frequent references show. 
 
244 THE FUTURE PUNISHMENT GONTROVERHY. 
 
 " Besides, what is it an allegory of ? If there was no first 
 man, created by God in His Image, what is symbolized by this 
 story? If there was, it is a narrative of a fact, and of the 
 most important and sublime nature. How rational is this 
 narrative in all its detail — the counsel of the three, ' Let 
 us,' &c., showing the special glory of man ; the breath from 
 above, and the earth, showing man both spiritual and connected 
 with Nature, and all the other-parts of this truly magnificent 
 record. The creation of Eve out of Adam is as true as it is 
 beautiful. (Eph. v.) 
 
 " I have just been interrupted by a sailor, wishing to become 
 a communicant. His account of his spiritual history was most 
 original. One expression specially struck me. He said — ' Since 
 I gave my heart to God, He has become quite my idol.' 
 
 " There is not much going on here at present ; there is how- 
 ever some slight encouragement in the effects of the preaching, 
 which now and then appear. It is a work of faith, and how 
 thankful we ought to be that it is entrusted to us ! I have 
 been cheered by the way my Hungarian book, published by 
 the Ti-aot Society, has been received in Hungary. The Hun- 
 garian Protestant Church, I am grieved to say, is to a large 
 extent Rationalistic." 
 
 THE FUTURE PUNISHMENT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 In another letter he speaks of the future punish- 
 ment controversy, and then of the present state of 
 the Churches : — 
 
 " I quite agi-ee with you abou.t Dr. Campbell's ^ views on men 
 being reconciled. The clearest proof is 2 Cor. v. 19, 20. Mr. 
 White's book is the best on that side, and he is a thoroughly 
 good and Scripture-loving theologian. Still he does not con- 
 vince me, and his hypothesis has many diflSculties. I do not 
 think the Bible statements, taken as a whole, can be made to 
 mean anything else but what the whole Church has taught 
 — an awful alternative of life or death, — and death not in the 
 sense of non-existence. I suppose you know Mr. White was 
 ;i brother of the late L. N. E. 
 
 Campbell, formerly of Eow, 
 
BROAD nHUBCHlSM. 245 
 
 PRESENT STATE OF THE CHURCHES. 
 
 " What you say about ' the Church ' I feel constantly and 
 very painfully. The Church in a sense is also a failure, as 
 Israel was. The apostolic condition altered even during the 
 Apostles' lifetime, and the attempt of catholicity and infalli- 
 bility ended in the Eoman apostasy. The various Protestant 
 Churches are one-sided, and do not possess the fullness of 
 teaching, worship, and life, which would satisfy us ; many of 
 them being besides mixed up with the world, not holding the 
 truth in purity. There is, I think, nothing else for us but to 
 be patient, to help our own community, and to ' testify.' If it 
 shall please the Lord to set up the Church in a truly apostolic 
 spirit and life, previous to His return, I think there will be 
 such evident tokens and such a heartfelt attraction, that the 
 children of God will feel no doubt and hesitation." 
 
 BROAD CHURCHISM — -PERSONAL EXPERIENCES. 
 
 In the following letter he refers to Broad 
 Ohurchism and to his own experience of it ; — 
 
 " I must write a word about heterodoxy. I am not much 
 afraid of its effect on you, because of the promise, ' They shall 
 be all taught of God. ' I know that you have an experimental 
 knowledge and conviction that Scripture is God's Word, and 
 that the Lord Jesus is the Righteousness, Peace, and Life of 
 all who trust in Him. Whatever difficulties, and doubts, and 
 temporary aberrations you may have to pass through, I feel 
 sure that the Holy Ghost will enlighten and confirm you, if 
 you look steadfastly to God through the revelation of Scrip- 
 ture, as it centres in Christ (1 John ii. 27). I passed for 
 several years through many doubts and phases, and was 
 exposed to very ' Broad ' and even Pantheistic influences, and 
 I remember that I was often irritated by severe and impatient 
 orthodox treatment. The reading of Scripture, and of Pascal's 
 Pensees, and the friendship of a few really good Christians 
 dispelled the mists. I have a great horror of the sweetish, 
 modified, and rationalized Christianity a la Dean Stanley, <fec., 
 although I know that excellent men have felt drawn into it. 
 
24G ENCOURAGEMENT. 
 
 But I think they had still the quintessence of the old views 
 sustaining them. What we need is more spiritual power and 
 godlinessy 
 
 ENCOURAGEMENT. 
 
 Of a visit to Greenwich,, he says : — 
 
 " I was greatly cheered within the last few weeks by finding 
 three of my old Greenwich Bible-class decided Christians, and 
 working in the Church. They are all under twenty. One wrote 
 me from Paris. She is under Miss Leigh, who is doing such 
 excellent work among the English residents. The other 
 called on me yesterday. She is only seventeen, and takes charge 
 of a creche, a Sunday-school of eighty, and evening classes, 
 in East Greenwich." 
 
 " THE CATHOLIC APOSTOLIC CHURCH." 
 
 In the next letter he speaks first of a depression, 
 to which he was often a victim : — 
 
 " I have been without an assistant, and overwhelmed, not 
 so much with work, though I have had more than the usual 
 amount, but with a very obdurate fit of depression, of which I 
 am quite ashamed, but which is very painful." 
 
 He then goes on to speak of the " Catholic 
 Apostolic Church " : — 
 
 " I don't believe in their claims at all ! In the beginning 
 of the movement there was much that was good, though even 
 then mixed with error, impatience, and fanaticism. [Perhaps, as 
 Mr. Baxter thinks, there was also some demoniac influence.] 
 As for the revival of the Apostolate, I think it was never 
 intended, and is in itself, to my mind, an impossibility. The 
 Apostles were eye-witnesses who had seen Christ, and had 
 received their commission from Him personally. Only one of 
 the twelve needed a successor, and that was Judas ! The 
 other eleven were supplemented by Matthias and Paul, and in 
 the nature of the case need not and cannot have successors. 
 There is only one neck in the body connecting the Head with 
 
'THE CATHOLTC APOSTOLIO CHUBCH.' •2\'J 
 
 the rest of the organism. Hence we find that while full 
 particulars are given as to the appointment and qualifications 
 of bishops and deacons, nothing is said as to future apostles. 
 
 " But, if we grant, for argument's sake, that there could be 
 Apostles, that is, men to whom the risen Christ appears, and 
 whom He sends forth, what have the so-called apostles to show 
 as evidence of their mission ? What doctrine, work, revival 
 of the Church, conversion of Jews or heathen ? I can see 
 nothing but a confused, semi-Romish, sacrameutarian doctrine, 
 self-instituted Symbolism, and avast amount of machinery, quite 
 out of proportion to its work. 
 
 " You say they have prayed for restoration of gifts, and why 
 not believe that they were answered? But although believing 
 this sincerely, I may doubt both the character of their petitions 
 and of their gifts. Most men who start new theories and 
 churches, like Swedenborg, (fee, could say the same thing. 
 Our revelations, &c., are in answer to our prayers. Now as 
 to miracles and gifts. There is no one who denies that they may 
 appear at any time. There may have been miracles of heal- 
 ing and of other kinds, in various periods of the Church. 
 But I think that miracles are not in accordance with our 
 present dispensation. For this reason. In the Theocracy 
 miracles come generally at some great crisis, for instance, 
 before and at the Exodus ; in the days of Elijah. There were 
 periods of several centuries during which there was no miracle 
 at all. From Elijah and Elisha to Christ I think there was 
 none,^ and that is a very long period. When Christ comes 
 again, there will be signs. The present Church period is one 
 of testimony, suffering, and faith. And a long intermission of 
 miracles is therefore not strange. 
 
 " Then again as to the prophets and tongues. What have 
 they ever uttered among the Irvingites but the most common- 
 place exhortations, like ' Beautiful ! Christ is coming' ? The 
 fundamental truths have been so overlaid that they are seen 
 only with a very dim and flickering light. They hold the 
 truth of the Second Advent, and this is very valuable ; but 
 
 1 This was evidently written in haste, as there are the 
 miracles in the times of Isaiah, Daniel, <fec, 
 
248 VISIT TO KDINBURGIT. 
 
 they have in the first place connected it with a theory whicli 
 may be true or not, the secret rapture, and with the prepos- 
 terous assumption that it is necessary to belong to them, in 
 order to be among the wise virgins who are received at the 
 Lord's Return. I have met some very good and devout men 
 belonging to them, and had some of their writings, which 
 I like to a great extent ; but I have not the slighest misgiving 
 as to the rejection of their claims. 
 
 " But I must not write any more on this point, or enter on 
 the other point you mention. You will find many difficulties 
 disappear as you get more fully satisfied on the great central 
 points. If we have Christ by faith we have eternal life, and 
 what more can we want ? To be spiritually-minded is life and 
 peace. Whatever Church says least about itself and most 
 about Christ is, I think, the best. In this respect we have 
 all to learn much." 
 
 A LONDON ECLECTIC CONGREGATION. 
 
 "Have you been reading Beck? He is pei-haps a little 
 deficient in the consoling and encouraging element, but there 
 is something very wholesome about his teaching. 
 
 "We spent a few days in Blaokheath, and I preached to 
 many of my old people. It was very pleasing to see so much 
 affection as they showed. I sometimes feel very much 
 burdened about my ministry here (Netting Hill). There is 
 something unreal about a London Eclectic congregation. 
 But I suppose I ought to fall in with the circumstances." 
 
 VISIT TO EDINBURGH. 
 
 In the following letter he describes a visit to 
 Edinburgh endeared by old associations : — 
 
 " We came to dear Edinburgh on Saturday, after spendino- 
 a few delightful days with old friends in new earth. It is 
 very refreshing to be with old friends, and to see the children 
 grown up who loved you long ago. Yesterday I went to hear 
 Dr. MacGregor according to your suggestion. I liked his 
 simple and warm-hearted exposition of the Lord's Supper ver}- 
 
CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST. 249 
 
 much. He excused and mildly defended the Scotch infrequency 
 of Communion. But I am sure nobody can defend it, and he 
 himself would like to see it altered. I went to his after- 
 service. He is a very attractive man, and was very kind. . . . 
 I am more at home in Edinburgh than anywhere ; I suppose 
 it is owing to the College days' associations. But it seems 
 that I am to remain in Babylon ! I dare say it is best so." 
 
 CRTJCIPIED WITH CHRIST — WHAT IT MEANS. 
 
 " I hope you enjoyed the services of Good Friday, &c. If 
 these special days are helpful to you, you are quite right to use 
 them. There certainly ought to be most perfect liberty on such 
 points. I was so thankful for what you said about your 
 feelings on the doctrine of the Atonement. It is the central 
 doctilne, and there can be no true view of our blessed Lord 
 Himself without it. His whole character, and especially His 
 love, appears in the proper light only when we see the great 
 purpose for which He came. It seems strange that any one 
 could ever mistake the Gospels and Epistles on this point. 
 All the varied and forcible expressions are so abundant and 
 so clear. I do not think tiaere is any good and adequate theory 
 of the expiation : it is tlie mystery, and therefore the stumbling- 
 block. But the heart and conscience find perfect and abiding 
 peace only here. You say, that only when we are cruciCed 
 with Christ, we can enter into the Hesurrection light and joy. 
 This is very true, but allow me to point out to you what I 
 conceive is the Scripture teaching on this subject. Many good 
 people are kept in doubt and anxiety because they look upon 
 this ' crucified with Christ ' as a gradual progressive thing. 
 They never know when they have attained to it, and when 
 they have a right to the grace and light of resurrection. Now, 
 we have been crucified together with Christ, once and for ever, 
 eighteen hundred years ago, just as truly as we fell in Adam. 
 In our actual experience we notice it only when we come to 
 know and believe it. Now the conscience being set free, and 
 that which formerly hindered being taken out of the way, we 
 are also raised again with Christ, and seated with Onrist in 
 heivenly places. If you view this as shfact and a gift, and not 
 
 B, 
 
250 ;i VIGAH'IOUS ATONEMENT. 
 
 as an ethical requirenient, you will see that it is perfect, ac- 
 complished, and eternal. Now comes the exhortation, ' Being 
 risen with Christ, set your affection on things above.' The 
 usual mode of preaching is ethical. Like Christ, be crucified, 
 rise from the dead, &c. But you see this is mistaking the 
 superstructure for the foundation, and never can give peace. 
 According to this. Col. iii. would be : 'If you have your 
 affections set on things above, have your affections,' &c., which 
 is tautology. But we believers have been crucified together 
 with Christ, and are risen with Him ; therefore we belong to 
 the above, &c. Now you must bear with me for being so prosy, 
 for I have you ' on my heart.' It is the greatest blessing 
 from God, when we have any thirst for this light and love ; 
 and there is the absolute certainty that the seci-et of the Lord 
 is with theui that fear Him. How happy we ought to be 
 when we know ourselves the objects of such love, and the 
 heirs of such promises ! May you have a long and happy life, 
 and in the only true sunshine ! " 
 
 A VICARIOUS ATONEMENT — SCHLEIERMACHEE. 
 
 The following letter is on the Atonement, and 
 refers again to his own earlier struggles with 
 unbelief : — 
 
 ■ " If you strictly and sincerely analyze it, unless Christ died 
 as a substitute, in the old-fashioned Catholic sense, we are all 
 our oimi Saviours ; each one in his manner trying to copy the 
 example and enter into the Spirit of Christ. 
 
 " Only read Hebrews ix. and x., and it will take away the 
 finely woven veil of darkness. 
 
 " The union of Father and Son is redemption ; the voluntary 
 character of Christ's Death, the wonderful Mediator position 
 which Christ holds in Creation — all these points throw light 
 on the character of the Atonement ; and we can only wonder 
 that men can charge the doctrine of the Atonement with 
 representing God as cruel, bloodthirsty, arbitrary, &c. In 
 John iii. you have the two facts connected. The Son of man 
 must be lifted up — and 'for God so loved the world,' &o. 
 
SEPARATION FROM THE WORLD. 251 
 
 The one an absolute necessity (if men are to be saved), the 
 source, the spontaneous love of God. I suffered for years from 
 the teaching of Schleiermacher's disciples (when I was about 
 seventeen). These men were just like the Broad Church 
 people. They are strong in neijatlves — no vicarious atonement, 
 no real Inspiration of Scripture, no Conversion by the Holy 
 Ghost, no assurance of salvation ; everything is simply modi- 
 fying, analyzing, diluting, and undermining the doctrine and 
 experience of the Christian Church ; and the real drift and 
 practical outcome of their teaching is, that we must try to be 
 good, to die unto sin, and to live unto righteousness, and to 
 take Christ as our model. They always talk about ' ethical,' 
 not ' spiritual ' — that is born again of the Spirit. If by God's 
 grace the Image of Christ crucified, as it is given in Isaiah 
 liii., had not been after all the deepest conviction of my heart, 
 I would have become a downright Pantheist through their 
 means. It is this experience which makes me so intolerant 
 of them. Yet I know, that some of these very men in their 
 inmost heart believe in the Lord ; and dear Sohleiermacher 
 himself had the Moravian element in bim, and his last words 
 on his death-bed, when he had taken the Lord's Supper with 
 his family, show that his real trust was, Christ /or us. 
 
 " We find it all so difficult to take in the idea, that this 
 present dispensation is that of Christianity despised and in a 
 ■minority ; not many wise, etc. (1 Cor.); it is a little flock; 
 our Lord is as yet incognito, and the attempts to present 
 Christianity as proved by history, as established, as acknow- 
 ledged by philosophy and the world wisdom, are, although 
 often well meant, only a virtual altering the quality of 
 Christianity to gain a large quantity of adherents.'' 
 
 SEPAEATION FKOM THE WOELD. 
 
 The following extract from a letter bears on the 
 subject of Separation from the World : — 
 
 "Your question is very difficult of application. Mr. Webb 
 Peploe I think right in urging a decision before Confirmation. 
 We must expect from every professing communicant that he 
 
252 THE LORD'S DAY. 
 
 will give up 'the world.' What is meant by the World is a 
 question on which light must be sought, and is more likely to 
 be found among God's people than the others. But it must 
 come from within, the stronger affection driving out the other. 
 Our German Christians are much stricter and more separate 
 from the world than the English. It is a very sad subject, 
 and one can only commit those about whom we are anxious to 
 the Holy Spirit's guidance and influence, and occasionally say 
 a povrited word to them. Now-a-days people don't believe in 
 the flesh, the world, and the devil being our real enemies ; and 
 the world especially is considered to have existed only in the 
 days of Pagan Rome.'' 
 
 THE LOKD's day. 
 
 The uext letter is on the Observance of the 
 Lord's Day : — 
 
 " Your questions are not easily answered in short space. I 
 think you kuow my views on Sabbath and Lord's Day. There 
 is unity and parallel as well as contrast. The Sabbath was, 
 though a command, a privilege, a kind of gospel ; it was also 
 understood not merely as a day of rest, but of Spiritual 
 communion (Isaiah Iviii. 13). It is embedded in the whole law 
 of Moses, especially the festivals, but this Jewish character 
 does not affect its universal authority. It is God's will that 
 fallen men, whose labour is partly punishment and toil, should 
 rest on the seventh day. In the New Testament, Believers 
 belonging to the Second Creation, Eesurrection-Life, have 
 the first day of the week symbolized by the sheaf of Easter. 
 They start with rest, and then work in its strength, while in 
 this they have also all the provision they need, as men still 
 in their Adam nature, on which the Law dwells primarily. 
 While they keep the (new) Lord's Day, the righteousness of 
 the Law in this fourth commandment also is fulfilled in them. 
 Unbelievers and nominal Christians, in not observing the 
 Lord's Day, both despise the gospel offer and privilege, 
 embodied in the day, and break the unchanging law of God, 
 concerning man's weekly rest. So while you must enter fully 
 into the New Testament character of the Lord's Day (like the 
 
RVTHERFORUB LETTEBS—FERFECTIONISM. 253 
 
 Brethren), hold fast the Scotch idea of the connection between 
 Law and New Testament, and then everybody will hate you ! — 
 the free people for being strict, and the strict people for being 
 free. The mere Dominican view of the Lord's Day as a 
 Church institution is, I am convinced, most inadequate. The 
 Scotch view is too one-sidedly legal, yet nearer the wliole truth. 
 I would give anything to see a stricter view of the Lord's Day. 
 It would do us more good than all self-invented methods of 
 revival." 
 
 eutheeford's LETTEES. 
 
 In another letter, he says : — 
 
 " I have been reading last week Rutherford's Leiters. They 
 are indeed fragrant, and very good parallel reading with 
 Philippians, having personal experience for their substance. 
 Also a good comment on the Song of Songs. I think it is 
 the most HerzUche Buch which has come out of Caledonia, 
 stern and wild." 
 
 PEEFECTIONISM. 
 
 In the following letter he thus speaks of the 
 Perfection Theory : — 
 
 " The verse in the Epistle of John, which you quote, is 
 qviite intelligible as referring to the new man in the Spirit — 
 born of the Spirit ; but if referred to the whole actual in- 
 dividual, proves too much, viz. that no Christian ever can sin, 
 and that any one who sins, is not a Christian. And this is 
 quite in opposition to chapter i. and chapter ii. 1, 2. The 
 believer is certainly no longer under the dominion, and within 
 the sphere, of sin ; and his whole spirit and heart go against 
 sin ; and yet he is always sinning, and always has need of 
 confessing his sins. The English mind, as you know, is very 
 slow in understanding and combining antinomies, and apt to 
 take up one aspect exclusively. As in this case, either to 
 dwell on the believer's deliverance from the dominion of sin, 
 or to dwell on the fact, that as long as we live in the body 
 we always sin ; there is, on the one side, a danger of self- 
 
254 THE EXTENT OF THE ATONEMENT. 
 
 delusion, a low standard of sin, and imaginary, self-complacent 
 holiness ; on the other of unholiness, self-indulgence, and luke- 
 
 warmness." 
 
 THE EXTENT OP THE ATONEMENT. 
 
 " As to the ' extent ' of the Atonement, I can understand 
 yoiu* indignation. It is the same sort of feeling I get when I 
 read ' Broad Church ' books, and not at all good on a holiday. 
 Dr. Candlish preached and urged the gospel as freely and 
 earnestly as any one. I don't think the question is one which 
 stands between the soul and Christ, but moi'e theoretical. 
 Any one who feels the need of Christ, and has a glimpse of 
 who and what Christ is, will sooner or later be at peace. 
 Theories are of no avail ; either narrow or broad ones ; the 
 question or rather answer in the Shorter Catechism on effectual 
 calling is most life-like. To say all aee reconciled, if they 
 only knew it, is not Scripture ; the gospel message is, ' Be ye 
 reconciled.' The witness of the heart is also against this 
 theory. Yet it may be meant in a true sense. For in reality 
 all true Christians mean the same thing. You will find in the 
 New Testament many more passages than one is inclined to 
 suppose, in which the special and peculiar relations of the 
 death of Christ to believers is dwelt upon ; such as, ' Thou hast 
 redeemed us out of every kindred,' &c. (Rev. v. 9) ; or our 
 Lord's words (John x. 11) : 'I give My life for the sheep,' in 
 connection with vers. 26, 27, sheep always used for true 
 believers, the elect (Eph. v. 25). The intercession of Christ is 
 a parallel subject (John xvii. throughout). If we view the 
 Atonement from the believer's point of view, that is after our 
 having experienced its power, we must see the special and 
 definite connection between it and the true chosen and 
 ultimately sound believers." 
 
 CONTROVERSY — HOW TO BE CONDUCTED. 
 
 " You seem always anxious that everything should appear 
 fair, rational, and thoroughly umlerstandable to the outsider. 
 And up to a certain point this is quite right, and it is altogether 
 advisable ; but we may make the door wide in such a way that 
 
A FREE GOSPEL AND ELECTION. 255 
 
 it leads to notliing. Also we may be mistaken as to where 
 the real difficulty and opposition lie, for us. We cannot believe 
 implicitly people's statements on this point. On the other 
 side, the Scripture representations of God's love and of His 
 salvation are world-wide and comprehensive. There must 
 always remain, I feel increasingly, a point where we must be 
 content to confess our utter inability to reconcile two lines of 
 statements, and must adopt the Apostle's ' the depth,' &c. 
 (Rom. xi. 33 — 36). Certainly the Arminian 'chance' and 
 ' co-operative ' system has no occasion for any exclamation of 
 the kind. 
 
 " I enjoyed preaching in Bvixton very much. It was a very 
 interesting audience, and many ministers. Donald Fraser 
 preached the Sunday before. I was glad to hear him, also 
 to have long talks with him. We liked both him and Mrs. 
 Fraser very much." 
 
 After referring to other subjects he concludes : — 
 
 "How 'unco satisfying' it is to get away from the theo- 
 logical extracts and (hindrances), to the living waters of the 
 Word, in which every element is blended perfectly ! " 
 
 A FREE GOSPEL AND ELECTION. 
 
 " I can understand your feelings about the universal aspect 
 of the gospel. 'No doubt there is this aspect of God's love and 
 Christ's mission in the proclamation of the gospel. But it 
 must be combined with the special inside and experimental 
 view. The door is wide open, but I don't like living in the 
 open street. It must lead to an inner, safe, and homely retreat. 
 In Scripture, election and God's general goodness are stated 
 constantly, — and constantly together. Look at Psalm Ixv. : ' O 
 Thou that hearest prayer, all flesh shall come to Thee. 
 Blessed is the man whom Thou choosest, and causeat to 
 approach unto Thee.' In John xvii., the Lord says: 'As 
 Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He may give 
 eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Ilim.' 
 
 " My objection to the Arminian or semi- Arminian is not 
 that they make the entrance very wide ; but they don't seem 
 
256 THE PURPOSE OF AFFLICTION. 
 
 to give you anything definite, safe, and real when you have 
 entered. There can be no real difference among those who are 
 trusting in Christ, and living by faith in Him." 
 
 THE PURPOSE OF AFFLICTION. 
 
 He writes at the close of a year on the effect of 
 affliction and chastisement : — 
 
 "The year that will soon be gone has been a very sad year 
 to me, and the saddest thing of all is, that I feel little sub- 
 mission and still less thankfulness for the bitter medicine 
 from a loving Hand. How much greater have been the 
 blessings ! You are quite right in thinking that some of our 
 trials and sufferings are judgments, — not punishments exactly, 
 but chastisements for sins, negligences, self-chosen paths, etc. 
 (Psalm xcix. 8 ; 1 Cor. xi. 32). They are always seasons of 
 humiliation and confession ; but it is love which sends them 
 to enlighten and to heal us, and to raise us through sorrow 
 and self-iudgment to a higher level, that is to greater humility, 
 self -distrust, and rejoicing in Christ. The usual ' sweet ' 
 consolation given to Christians in affliction is defective, and I 
 believe the heart feels it to be so ; it does not sufSciently bring 
 out the corrective, humbling element ; every branch in Christ 
 is pruned by the Father, and in this there is an expression of 
 judgment on what is evil, and a hindrance to growth and 
 fruit. But remember it is the Father who prunes, and that 
 we are in Christ, who is our real life. All our experience in 
 the two Adams, the one painful, and the other joyous." 
 
 CONNECTION OF THE PRESENT WITH THE FUTURE 
 LIFE. 
 
 In the next letter he refers to the connection of 
 the present and the future life. He is expluinino- 
 references in a lecture which had been recently 
 given : — 
 
 " What I said about life and death was of course only with 
 reference to a special point. The life of Moses, David, or 
 
CHURCHES AiXJ) POLITICS. 257 
 
 other great public men, as far as their work and history are 
 concerned, is ended by death. Christ by death and resurrec- 
 tion enters into a new stage of His life in reference to 
 humanity. 
 
 " As for our future work, I have no doubt that there will 
 be activity, but our life-work, for which we are to be judged 
 and rewarded, is certainly finished and stereotyped at death. 
 ' The work done in the body.' There is no more serving, 
 trading with our talents, &c. after death." 
 
 PASTOR AND CONGREGATION. 
 
 In a letter, dated Oct. 15, 1886, he refers to 
 the conorregational relations : — 
 
 " I wish I knew a good correlate to ' Pastor ' which is of all 
 addresses the dearest to my heart. I have not much delight 
 in the congregation as a corporate body ; but the individuals 
 to whom I have been of any help and comfort, are very near 
 and real to me." 
 
 CHURCHES AND POLITICS. 
 
 He speaks in regard to Churches and Politics 
 and Voluntaryism : — 
 
 " The horizon seems troubled again ; and perhaps the old 
 minister was right, who never read the papers, because he 
 knew from Scripture what would be the end of all things. I 
 do not like the combination of Land League and religion. It 
 is partly a confusion of the Church dispensation with the 
 millenium, when Psalm Ixxii. will be fulfilled. As citizens, 
 we are justified in seeking by right means to obtain just and 
 equitable things ; as Christians and Churches we ought to 
 suffer quietly ! And this is also my answer to your remark 
 about Voluntaryism. I also do not admire it, as it exists. 
 If Voluntaries and Dissenters are content to be nothing in 
 this world but spiritual witnesses and loving epistles of 
 Christ, then they are indeed fragrant ; but if they want 
 power and Sclat and the other things, they likely only add a 
 
258 GALVINISM. 
 
 bitter and envious spirit, and the spirit of bondage to the 
 multitudes, to the faults and failings of the others." 
 
 CALVINISM — REAL AND SUPPOSED DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 Eeferring to the case of a young man who had 
 difficulties about Calvinism, he says : — 
 
 " I was much interested in your remarks about the diffi- 
 culties of the young man who had been brought up in 
 Calvinistic teaching. I should be sorry to underrate any 
 mental or spiritual difficulty, or to resort to the simple and 
 easy method of laying all difficulties to the chHrge of moral 
 opposition or perverseness. But it does sometimes appear 
 strange to me that difficulties are brought forward which do 
 not touch anything vital or important. In every science you 
 cannot understand everything at once, and many perplexing 
 things appear intelligible or at least less obscure afterwards. 
 If the character and Divinity of Christ, the Atonement, the 
 influence of God's Spirit in our hearts, the experience of prayer, 
 and such points are first honestly examined, the other ques- 
 tions would ' range ' themselves. As for ' Pharaoh,' it is not 
 merely an Old Testament difficulty ; but still more fully and 
 explicitly in Romans ix. we have the same fact stated, 
 whatever its explanation. 
 
 " Again, as to Calvinistic teaching, I quite admit there is a 
 hard and logical method of teaching the doctrines of grace, 
 which is not like Scripture, experimental and spiritual. The 
 difficulty still remains, however, that as the Church Service is 
 in the first instance for God's worship and the instruction and 
 advancement of believers, many things must be explained and 
 dwelt on, which unbelievers or outsiders cannot fully under- 
 stand, and which they likely will misunderstand, and at which 
 they will be oifended. In the Gospel of John you can see this 
 even in the public teaching of our liord. How much more in 
 His disciple-teaching, such as John xiv. 17, and the Epistles ! 
 But the Church is the congregation of believers, and to them 
 God's truth must be fully unfolded (see all the Epistles). 
 Other efforts to bring in others should not be neglected. "We 
 
THE HIGHER LIFE.' 259 
 
 have too much adapted our whole service and Church-life to 
 undecided worldly people." 
 
 THE EOMISH SERVICE. 
 
 " We were a few Sundays ago in Cologne Cathedral. 
 Nothing can be more wonderful ; it is both majestic and 
 sweet. But the service is something appalling, and how any 
 one can find it solemn or attractive is a mystery to me." 
 
 "the higher life." 
 He writes in regard to the " Higher Life " : — 
 
 "Your question about the Higher Life will require a long 
 answer. I see however no difficulty in the point you special- 
 ize. It is only by the Spirit that we are roused, enlightened, 
 and enabled to take hold of Christ. After we have done this, 
 the Spirit is an indwelling Spirit. It is the same Spirit who 
 first acts on us till we believe in Christ, and then is within 
 us (Eph. i. 13). After I believe, I possess the Spirit of Son- 
 ship ; I pray in the Holy Ghost, &c. The Spirit is in me, and 
 not merely with me and acting on me, but in me. But this 
 change or foundation is once for all, and in the nature of 
 things cannot and need not be repeated ; though there are 
 many phases, renewals, revivals, itc. The phenomena we 
 notice are all easily explicable in the following way. Not all 
 the Spirit's operations are converting. Many people are 
 merely roused, enlightened, called, and fancy themselves con- 
 verted. They are truly under God's special influence, but they 
 have not gone on to that actual change, the apprehending of 
 Christ. Now these people, not possessing faith (but only 
 wishing for it and making towards it), cannot bring forth the 
 fruit of faith. With these people what is called the second 
 conversion is really the^rsi. Because in the first movement 
 (which I do not deny to have been of God), it was only the 
 intellect, conscience, and sentiment, short of the heart and viill, 
 which was led Christward. They did not really receive Christ, 
 for Christ is not divided, a Forgiver of sin to-day, and then 
 years after a Eenewer of heart and Implanter of life. I 
 
260 'THE HIGHER LIFE: 
 
 telieve a great many of our people are in this state. (Just like 
 my pessimism.) Ministers, parents are too glad to see any 
 spiritual concern, and far too readily pronounce people con- 
 verted, who are only beginning to wake up. 
 
 "The second point is, that believers very soon after their 
 conversion become stationary, drowsy, — Christ even calls them 
 dead (Sardis), — and for years after make no progress either in 
 hnowkdge of the truth, or love, zeal, (fee. If they were as 
 anxious, earnest, and diligent after as they were before that 
 crisis, it would be diJSerent. We know from observation that 
 people often go on for twenty or thirty years in this wretched 
 condition, in middle-age life especially. Now the ' higher 
 life ' movement points oiit very wholesome truths to such. 
 Still I don't think it is on the right foundation, and its 
 methods are morbid. . . . 
 
 "I am not much cheered by the aspect of things — the 
 whole modern edition of Christianity is not very savoury. 
 But I think it better that all this hidden Socinianism and 
 half-baked unbelief should show itself, and the genuine people 
 who are at present in great danger under these Rabbis, will 
 then seek for some shelter. We are in perilous times ; and 
 how thankful we ought to be if we have Christ and the 
 unction from above. Our isolation, and the contempt of the 
 world and of the rationalistic church, will become yet greater ; 
 but the one grand thing is to be faithful. 
 
 "P.S. — I find I have omitted to mention a third class to 
 whom the ' Higher Life ' movement is useful. Those who 
 were true and earnest Christians, but have not been led 
 sufficiently to see the thorough Gospel character of sanctifica- 
 tion, and were acting on the co-operative and legal system. 
 To them the exposition of Christ as sanctification, and passages 
 like John xv. and Rom. vi., are as it were a new start. But 
 after all my great concessions, I do not think it scriptural." 
 
 DR. Keith's last days. 
 
 In a letter from Buxton, he speaks of a Jewish 
 Christian lady whom he had met at the boarding- 
 house, and of the death of Dr. Keith : — 
 
DR. KEITH'S LAST DAYS. 261 
 
 " One interesting acquaintance I made here was with a 
 Jewish lady who, twenty years ago, became a Christian, and 
 was deserted by all her family. Her loneliness is touching. 
 She has a strong, simple faith. She had never met a Jewish 
 Christian before, and I think has been much cheered by my 
 conversation. Also Dr. Keith, who spent the last years of 
 his life in Buxton, had often spoken to her about me. The 
 landlady in whose house he died, and who was most devoted 
 to him, has told me much about his last days. He was a 
 truly good and great man, and as happy as a child to the 
 very last." 
 
 GERMAN TRANSLATIONS OP THE BIBLE. 
 
 He thus speaks iii a letter of translations of the 
 German Bible : — 
 
 " The Germans have two excellent translations besides 
 Luther's ; one by de Wette, which is both accurate and elegant ; 
 and another by J. F. von Meyer, which is the best, perhaps, 
 as the translator was both an excellent scholar and a deeply 
 experienced Christian.'' 
 
 THE JEWS AND GOSPEL HISTORY. 
 
 Referring to sermons he was preaching on the 
 Gospel of Luke, he says : — 
 
 " I never realized so much before the tragical character 
 of the Gospel history — especially from the Jewish point of 
 view, which is the only way to realize it as history which 
 actually happened. The Christian Jew has some advantages ; 
 he is brought into closer contact with the great facts and 
 with the history of Christ. Our Church is too one-sidedly 
 doctrinal, and the historical and prophetical elements are 
 neglected. But we must make the best of what is left us, and 
 strengthen the things which remain. A revival of the apos- 
 tolic ministry may perhaps be granted ; or the end may come 
 without it.'' 
 
INFLUENCE OF TRIAL. 
 
 FAITH STRENGTHENED BY TRIALS. 
 
 " I return with my thanks that most affecting letter you so 
 kindly allowed us to read. The conversations of which Dr. 
 
 M told you must be a great comfort to you, and I feel 
 
 very thankful to you for telling me about them, and thus 
 enabling me to enter into fuller sympathy with you, in your 
 l^resent sorrow. You have passed through many trials ; but 
 I know that your faith will be strengthened by them, and be 
 found at last as the Apostle Peter describes (1 Pet. i. 7) ; — a 
 very glorious and awe-inspiring truth which, when revealed to 
 the heart by the Spirit of God, sustains us in the sad experi- 
 ences and sorrows of life, which are so often dark and perplex- 
 ing. ' We walk by faith as strangers here.' It is indeed a 
 valley of tears ; — though often unseen, how much sorrow there 
 is in human hearts ! " 
 
263 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 MINISTRY IN WEST LONDON PEOM 1875 TO 1880. 
 
 His Assistants^Rev. H. E. Brooke, Eev. J. Stephens, and 
 Eev. J. H. Topping — Lady Grant — Miss Cavendish — His 
 Pailure of Strength — Difficulties — Nervousness — Degree of 
 Doctor of Divinity from Edinburgh — Resignation in 1880 
 — The Misses Jaconib — Brief Ministry at Kensington. 
 
 IN the year 1875, Dr. Saphir's health, which was 
 always uncertain, became seriously affected. 
 He could not continue two services on the Lord's 
 Day. He could preach once on Sunday, and give 
 a lecture on Thursday, but when he attempted 
 to preach twice on the same day he became utterly 
 exhausted. He had, therefore, to get an assistant 
 to supply his place when he was away, or when 
 at home he did not feel equal to preaching. 
 
 His first assistant was the Rev. Henry E. Brooke, 
 son of the late Master Brooke of Dublin, Judge 
 in Chancery. ]\Ir. Brooke had been a clergyman 
 of the Church of England, but had left it, from 
 conscientious scruples. Dr. Saphir in writing to 
 me, in regard to him — when I consulted him 
 about another church — said : — " He is a most ex- 
 cellent, spiritual, thorough man, a good scholar. 
 
264 BSV. H. E. BROOKE. 
 
 and a most instructive and edifying preacher. 
 When Mr. Brooke was with me at Netting 
 Hill it was only in an interval of engagements. 
 I should have been only too glad if he had 
 continued, but of course he was far too good for 
 the post. I cannot say too much in praise of 
 him." Mr. Brooke continued to assist him for 
 about seven months, and enjoyed his association 
 with hitn. One of his chief difficulties was the 
 frequent absence of Dr. Saphir, and the painful 
 sense of the disappointment of those who had 
 come long distances to hear him. He says : — 
 
 " His health was always weak, and made him shrink from 
 going much among his people. He was very uncertain as to 
 his power of preaching at any particular time " (that is at 
 this period), "and one of the most trying things connected 
 with my period of service was that sometimes on Sunday 
 morning when a large congregation (gathered, many of them, 
 from a distance), were assembled to hear him, a message would 
 come to me in the vestry, shortly before the time for opening 
 the service, to say, ' I am not well to-day, please take the 
 whole service.' The congregation bore my taking the early 
 part, reading and prayer, as I often did that when he 
 preached, but when it came to my going up into the pulpit, 
 their looks, and sometimes an audible ' Oh ! ' betrayed their 
 disappointment. ' ' 
 
 Mr. Brooke writes further : — 
 
 " His dealings with me in the matter of Baptism illustrate 
 his large-heartedness on such points. When asking me to 
 assist him, which I did for a winter and spring, I referred to 
 my inability to baptize infants. He said he knew of it, but 
 as I was not appointed by the Presbytery, or officially recog- 
 nized, it would not matter. I added, ' I fear I ought to say 
 that I do not think it would be consistent in me to be present, 
 
RIIV. JAS. STEPHENS. 265 
 
 if there were such baptisms going on.' He said he thoroughly 
 understood my feelings, and that he would always exc'use my 
 absence on such occasions. He added, that if he had the 
 m magement of church matters, he would le ive Baptism (as to 
 its subjects, mode, &c.) an open question, and not allow it to 
 divide those who were members of the Church. I remember, 
 too, once in the vestry saying to him, ' You do not wear the 
 gown like other Presbyterian ministers.' 'No,' he answered, 
 ' I used to ; but one day I was putting on my gown before the 
 glass, and the thought struck me : Why do I put it on ? I 
 cannot say why I do so — I won't do so.' So he threw it off, 
 and never again wore it. This would illustrate his originality 
 and independence, though I am not sure that his reason was 
 a very good one." 
 
 After Mr. Brooke left, the Rev. James Stephens, 
 the well-known Baptist minister of High gate, 
 then beginning' his ministry, was the assistant for 
 two years. It was now definitely arranged that 
 the assistant should take the Sunday evening 
 services, and do the great part of the pastoral work. 
 Mr. Stephens writes that he enjoyed much his 
 association with Dr. Saphir. " It was to me a 
 privilege to be permitted to have intercourse with 
 him, and one could not but love him." Mr. 
 Stephens was much esteemed as a preacher, though 
 of course the position was difficult, as the con- 
 gregation was a special one, composed of people of 
 all churches, attracted by Saphir personally. His 
 departure, when called to his present charge, was 
 much regretted by Dr. Saphir and the congregation. 
 
 When Mr. Stephens left in 1877, the Rev. J. 
 H. Topping succeeded him, and continued to be 
 assistant, till Dr. Saphir resigned his charge in 
 
266 SAPHIR'S ATTRACTIVENESS. 
 
 1880. Mr. Topping was a devoted friend of the 
 Saphirs, with whom they kept up frequent inter- 
 course to the last. He was very active in visiting 
 and doing congregational work, and he preached 
 on the Sunday evenings, and often at other times. 
 Saphir had that singular power, possessed by 
 only a few, generally men of genius as dis- 
 tinguished from mere talent or cleverness, with 
 which genius is so often confused, — and always 
 men of heart, — of attracting round him devoted 
 followers, both men and women, who would have 
 done anything in the world for him. There are 
 those, and not a few, who speak with enthusiasm 
 of Saphir and his conversation, and his sermons 
 above all ; and who cannot write of him except 
 in the spirit of eulogium and strong affection. 
 To those who understood him, — and he could 
 discern at a glance real from assumed admir- 
 ation, and instinctively see into character with 
 a swiftness and power possessed by the very few, 
 — to those with whom he felt in sympathy, and 
 who he knew understood him, — he was the most 
 open-hearted, genial, and constant of friends, 
 without one shadow of constraint or formality. 
 
 The friendship of Lady Grant, the widow of the 
 well-known Sir Hope Grant, was remarkable. It 
 was like the tender ati'ection of a near relative. Sir 
 Hope and Lady Grant had been known in India 
 as devoted Christians, who never avoided showino- 
 their sympathy with even the most humble labourers 
 in Christ's vineyard. The following anecdote of 
 
Srn HOPE GRANT. 2C7 
 
 their life at Meerut illustrates this : — Walking out 
 late one evening, they saw lights, and heard sing- 
 ing in a small building. They went in and found 
 it was a soldiers' chapel, of which they had never 
 even heard. Among the soldiers present there were 
 only two of the Lancers (Grant's regiment), the 
 one named Williams, and the other named Tabor. 
 Hearing that the former was in the habit of giving 
 addresses in the chapel. Major Grant sent for him, 
 and learnt that he had been preparing for the 
 Wesleyan ministry, when from some unknown 
 cause he gave it up and enlisted. Major Grant 
 went to hear him, and was delighted with his 
 earnestness and natural eloquence. He and Mrs. 
 Grant not only attended themselves, but did all 
 they could to induce the men to do so. Wben, 
 many years after. Sir Hope was Commander-in- 
 Chief of the Madras Army — his last service in 
 India — working parties for the women were estab- 
 lished in almost every regiment, and every Christian 
 or benevolent work met with ready sympathy and 
 effectual help. This Christian aspect of his character 
 was noted in lines in which the following words 
 occur : 
 
 " One whose pious life had no need to divide 
 The Christian and the Captain — well content 
 To pray with his own soldiers side by side." 
 
 His end was peace. He more than once expressed 
 his assurance, " I know that my sins are forgiven. 
 I know they are washed away in my Saviour's 
 blood." He several times spoke of dying as " going 
 
268 LADY GRANT. 
 
 into another room" — "passing through a dark 
 archway " ; and when asked if he were happy he 
 replied, " Perfectly happy." 
 
 Sir Hope and Lady Grant had just found out 
 Saphir, and begun to attend his ministry, before 
 Sir Hope's death. Lady Grant was a singularl}^ 
 beautiful character, meek, and humble, and Christ- 
 like, full of kindness and self-abnegation. 
 
 A soldier thus describes her sympathy with the 
 men and their families in India : — " Our noble 
 chief and Lady Grant, when lately at our station, 
 were wont to countenance our games, and to be 
 present at our meetings of prayer, and her ladyship 
 visited every house in our Parcherry, not to inspect 
 and criticize, but to sj)eak a kindly word, and, 
 when required, to extend a helping hand ; and to 
 this day, the tokens of her kindness are exhibited 
 in the cherished Bible, or in some other beneficial 
 gift." 
 
 Lady Grant derived great benefit from the 
 ministry of Dr. Saphir, and she became most 
 warmly attached to him and to his wife. She was 
 a frequent visitant at their house, and a sharer 
 in all their joys and sorrows. She watched over 
 him as if he had been her son. Lady Grant 
 always followed him in his ministry. She went 
 first to the church at Netting Hill ; then to 
 Kensington when he preached there, and then to 
 Belgravia, during the six years of his ministry 
 there. She died a few months after his death. 
 
 Another friend greatly devoted to him was 
 
MIi<S CAVENDISH. 2G9 
 
 Miss Cavendish, of the well-known Cavendish 
 family. Miss Cavendish saw him frequently, and 
 always spoke enthusiastically to hei' friends about 
 him. She also worked a great deal for him, and 
 took charge of all the details of plans which he 
 wished carried out. She raised large sums to help 
 him in his various enterprises, and gave most 
 liberally to them herself. It was by her that the 
 arrangements were made for the last course of 
 lectures delivered in Kensington, which have been 
 published since his death. She was always ready 
 to help him in every enterprise. Her unexpected 
 death in 1890, after a few days' illness, at the age 
 of about thirty-five, was greatly felt by the Saphirs. 
 Dr. Saphir was with her to the last. 
 
 During these years there was a constant struggle, 
 as regards health. He had been anxious, at the 
 beginning of his Notting Hill ministry, that the 
 Eev. Eobert Taylor of Upper Norwood should 
 become co-pastor. Such an arrangement would 
 have removed many difficulties, and Mr. Taylor 
 thought of it seriously, from his love to Saphir, 
 and his desire to save him from anxiety, for the 
 good of the whole Church — but it did not seem 
 practicable. At first, however, he seemed to have 
 recovered his strength, and to be able for the work, 
 but from 1875 onwards it was otherwise. His true 
 position in this later period would have been that 
 of a select preacher, with no pastoral connection. 
 Difficulties arose in connection with his failure of 
 strength, which made him anxious and low-spirited. 
 
270 RESIGNATION OF GHAROE. 
 
 He was of a very nervous temperament, and he 
 became worried and ill, when he could not accom- 
 plish all that he wished, or that was expected of 
 him. Complaints arose when he had to be fre- 
 quently absent. He therefore felt constrained, to 
 the great grief of many of his congregation, to 
 resign his charge. The church had been purchased 
 for him, and large sums of money had been spent 
 on it in connection solely with his ministry, and 
 it did seem hard to his devoted friends that he 
 should leave. Many were the regrets expressed, 
 and great were the struggles in his own mind. He 
 resigned, — feeling however uncomfortable, anxious 
 and low-spirited. Preaching was his delight, and 
 he was never happy, when not regularly engaged 
 in it. After a time, he accepted another pastorate, 
 where he had many followers, but still he had 
 never the same joy and satisfaction as in his 
 ministries at Greenwich, and during the earlier 
 years at Notting Hill. He was succeeded in the 
 Netting Hill church by the Rev. Dr. Sinclair 
 Paterson. Dr. Paterson was a devoted friend and 
 admirer of Saphir, and was greatly esteemed by 
 him. 
 
 In the year 1878, Dr. Saphir received the degree 
 of Doctor of Divinity from the University of 
 Edinburgh. His claims to such an honour were 
 fully stated by the Rev. Professor Charteris, D.D., 
 then Dean of the Faculty of Divinity. He was 
 very glad to receive the degree from Edinburgh, 
 to which, as a centre of Academic learning, he was 
 
7'//^ MlSSJtJS JAGOMB. 271 
 
 warmly attached, liaviug spent there his best and 
 happiest student days. Dr. Charteris writes, re- 
 ferring to Sa[ihir's head and heart knowledge of 
 Holy Scriptures, as showu in his writings, " I am 
 glad he was our D.D." 
 
 Dr. Saphir spent about six months in Scotland, 
 chiefly at St. Andrews and Edinburgh, after his 
 resignation of his charge at Notting Hill. He 
 then returned to Loudon, and stayed for the 
 winter with his devoted friends the Misses Jacomb, 
 whose house was often a home to him for months, 
 and with whom Mr. and Mrs. Saphir frequently 
 went for change to favourite English resorts. Both 
 he and Mrs. Saphir had no friends in London to 
 whom they were more attached, or who showed 
 them again and again, in times of trial, more hearty 
 affection and genuine kindness. They mourn their 
 loss as if they had been near relations. They 
 had an intense enjoyment in his society, as had 
 all who really knew him. There was wit, humour, 
 and transparency, with wide knowledge, extensive 
 reading, and sound judgment as to affairs. He 
 was always simple and natural, with no assumed 
 airs or pretended importance. Having stored his 
 furniture and given up his house, he remained 
 with the Misses Jacomb from October to the 
 beginning of summer. During this period of seven 
 or eight months he preached in the mornings at the 
 Presbyterian Church, Kensington, now St. John's, 
 of which the Eev. Dugald McColl, well known by 
 his successful labours in the wynds of Glasgow, 
 
272 SHORT MINISTRY AT KENSINGTON. 
 
 was the minister — then, however, laid aside by 
 that illness which caused his early much-lamented 
 death. A strong wish was expressed by many 
 that Saphir would become permanently associated 
 with this church, but there was not unanimity, 
 and he did not desire to remain, — though he had 
 preached there to large congregations. 
 
273 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 MINISTRY IN BELGEAVIA. 
 
 Congregation of Halkin St. — Rev. J. T. Middlemiss his 
 Assistant — Extracts from his Diai'j, and Saphir's Letters 
 to him — Record of his Intercourse with Saphir — Resigna- 
 tion of Halkin St. Church — Lectures on the Divine Unity 
 of Scripture — Mr. Grant Wilson's Reminiscences — Letter 
 to a Servant — A New School Minister — To whnm are 
 the Epistles addressed? — Carlyle — A Family Affliction — 
 Letters to a Widowed Niece — Letter to a Norwegian Sea- 
 Captain on Baptism. 
 
 IN Feb. 1882 the congregation of Belgrave 
 Presbyterian Church, which had been vacant 
 from the time of the transfer of Dr. Sinclair 
 Paterson to Trinity Church, resolved to call Dr. 
 Saphir. He was at first very undecided, but was 
 induced at last to accept. Dr. Paterson, who felt 
 that it would be much better both for Saphir and 
 for the cause of Christ that he should have a 
 settled pastorate, used all his influence in bringing 
 about the arrangement, and mainly effected it ; 
 and one gentleman, since dead, Mr. Cockburn, a 
 leading director of the Union Bank of London, 
 offered £200 per annum towards his salary. 
 
 Mr. Grant Wilson, who for his sake accepted 
 office as one of the elders, and who was a devoted 
 friend, writes in regard to this period : — 
 
274 CONGREGATION OF HALKIN ST. 
 
 " There were cheering things in the congregation. Mr. 
 Cockburn's liberality. Miss Cavendish was ever ready to do 
 everything that could be suggested for Dr. Saphir's comfort. 
 She purchased, at great cost, an admirable system of ventilation. 
 The foul air was mechanically exhausted, and replaced by puri- 
 fied air, — when needful warmed. She also furnished a new 
 vestry, and provided a dispensary at a cost of £90 per annum 
 for Sloane Place. Lady Hope Grant, Sir William McEannon, 
 Lord Elantyre, and many distinguished persons, including the 
 Serjeant-at-Arms of the House of Commons (Gossett) were 
 constant attendants.'' 
 
 This congregation had been ministered to for 
 many years by the Rev. Thomas Alexander, an able 
 man, much loved by his people, and then, as we 
 have indicated, by the Rev. Dr. Sinclair Paterson for 
 eight years. It was arranged that Dr. Saphir was 
 to take the Morning Service, and was to have an 
 assistant to preach at the Evening Service and to 
 care for the pastoral work. He had in succession 
 several excellent assistants, notably the Rev. J. T. 
 Middlemiss, now of Sunderland, to whom he was 
 much attached ; but the system did not always 
 work smoothly, and he was often cast down and 
 anxious. 
 
 The following extracts from his diary, kindly 
 forwarded by Mr. Middlemiss, give a vivid picture 
 of Saphir's varying states of mind, and of the 
 anxieties and worries, often unnecessary, caused 
 by his feeble bodily health, which lay at the root 
 of all his changes and uncertainties, and the trouble 
 of which was always increasing in his later years. 
 
 "May 17, 1884. Dr. Saphir contemplates resigning, and 
 thinks he is not u. success. The congregations are good, the 
 
MR. iMIBDLEiUISS' DIARY. 275 
 
 church being nearly full. The new Scotch Church in Park 
 Street (St. Columba) is affecting u?, specially when men like 
 TuUoch, Oaiid, and Macgregor are there. The real cause of his 
 depression is Mrs. Saphir's illness. Dr. Kidd has told Dr. S. 
 that she may not walk again. Much cheered by a visit from 
 Dr. Fleming Stevenson, who advises him to stay, and points 
 out that Belgravia has peculiar difficulties, so that he need not 
 be discouraged. 
 
 "June 12, 1884. Dr. S. has been for three weeks at 
 Tunbridge Wells. He returned to-day in wonderful spirits, 
 quite a new man. A specialist has informed him that Mrs. 
 Saphir's illness is quite temporary. 
 
 "June 29, 1884. It is customary for each Jew to have 
 given him a verse, when a child, which he calls his verse. 
 Dr. Saphir's verse was, ' I am the Lord thy God, which brought 
 thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.' 
 The verse has all his life long been very dear to him. 
 
 "Oct. 22, 1884. Dr. S. said— ' Pascal's r/iOMc?Ate have in- 
 fluenced me more than any book I know.' He admires Claus 
 Harms very much, and lent me bis Life to read. His sermons 
 are much enjoyed by Dr. Saphir. He also spoke very highly 
 of a cultured Roman Catholic divine whose writings he knows 
 — Veille of Vienna. 
 
 "Dr. Saphir possesses all that Dr. Beck (Tiibingen) and 
 Claus Harms published. He delights to preach. It is no 
 trouble to preach to an expectant people. He greatly 
 advocates extempore commenting, as the Scripture is read. 
 Last Sabbath he never reached his sermon, but commented in 
 a remarkably powerful manner on Psalm xxv. I may add 
 that this was the finest thing I ever heard Dr. Saphir give. 
 It was purely spontaneous, as be had another sermon prepared. 
 He spoke over half-an-hour. 
 
 "Dec. 9, 1884. Conversation turned on Dr. Norman 
 McLeod, whom Saphir highly esteemed. When on the Con- 
 tinent with him. Dr. S. said, ' I was never with him more than 
 half-an-hour without his mentioning the name of Christ, and 
 speaking of his soul or of heaven. Though he was broad 
 on the Sabbath question, no man kept the Sabbath more 
 simply, strictly, or piously, even when on the Continent. 
 
276 MR. MIDDLEMISS' DIARY. 
 
 "Jan. 18 to 25, 1885. Dr. S. told me that when a boy he 
 was much in Vienna with his uncle, Moritz Saphir, who was 
 the editor of a paper there. All eminent players and singers 
 came to see his uncle. . . . He complains much about pains in 
 the head. He ' cannot work, and at times feels stupid.' When 
 quite at ease he speaks much in Scotch lingo. I may add that 
 when in the vestry before service, and thinking much, and 
 nervous, he invariably spoke to me in German. 
 
 "March 9, 1885. Exceedingly nervous in view of Session 
 meeting ; no sleep last night. Had been again thinking of 
 resignation. This meeting led him to think of remaining 
 another year at Belgravia. He returned home quite cheery ; 
 both Dr. and Mi's. S. in best spirits. 
 
 " Dr. S. thinks he is himself too metaphysical and theo- 
 logical to be a good popular preacher, but he is too fond of 
 preaching and of taking part in the congregational service to 
 leave that, and devote himself to theology proper. 
 
 "Oct. 25. Said to-day in his sermon, of John x. 14: 'I 
 think without doubt this is the most precious verse of 
 Scripture.' 
 
 " Pr'eached at Greenwich last week to large congregation. A 
 big working-man came to him after the service and wanted 
 to say something, but could not get it out for sobs. At last 
 he said, ' Don't forget to remember us.' This impressed Dr. 
 S. much. 
 
 " Dec. 3. Unable to make up his mind — whether to resign 
 or wait until June. Does not know whether to have another 
 assistant, or colleague and successor. Asked me if I would 
 remain as colleague. His favourite hymn is that of Zinzen- 
 dorff, translated by John Wesley — 'Jesus, Thy blood and 
 righteousness.' Portraits in his study — Gossner, Nitzch, Claus 
 Harms, Louis Harms, Melancthon, McCheyne, and Spener. 
 
 The following are extracts from letters of Dr. 
 
 Saphir to Mr. Middlemiss : — 
 
 " You know my views of the sanguine expectations of Pres- 
 byterians, looking merely to population, ifcc. The minister is 
 the martyr, and is judged by outward success, when it is often 
 quite impossible." 
 
LETTERS TO MR. MIDDLEMISS. 277 
 
 " I am sorry to think that in London and in our peculiar 
 circumstances advertising on a large scale and persistently is 
 our main chance. It is peculiarly distasteful to me. So like 
 Pears' Soap, &c." 
 
 " The conviction on the Second Adt'ent will come to you in 
 good time ; it is rather the result of the impression of the 
 whole tenor of Scripture than the e^iegesis of a few passages. 
 But you need not be anxious nor impatient about it. Here 
 also the letter killeth ; it is the spiritual attitude towards 
 Christ and against the world which is everything. I some- 
 times feel as if we talked about the Lord's return too much, 
 and not with the kind of timid reticence which a real affec- 
 tion would produce. But I may be morbid in this also : my 
 present tendency is silence." 
 
 In a further communication Mr. Middlemiss 
 says : — 
 
 " On my first going to Belgrave as Dr-. Saphir's assistant, 
 his reception of me was very cordial. I had not been long 
 there however before I found that he was somewhat restless. 
 He was not sure whether he would long remain the minister 
 of that church or not. He contemplated resigning now and 
 then, during the whole time I was with him. At times he 
 was fully persuaded to give up, at other times he was just as 
 desirous to remain. The causes for these states of mind were 
 several. The most important amongst them was his oion 
 weakness. 
 
 " He was seldom well. I cannot say that he ever had more 
 than seven consecutive days of good health. Very often he 
 was well one day and unwell the next. I never knew any 
 individual so variable. To-day he might be on the mountain- 
 top, enjoying exquisite visions, to-morrow he would be down 
 in the valley, wrapt in gloom. Dr. Saphir lived a retired, 
 simple life, but when his liver was tioubling him he found it 
 difficult to view things in their right perspective. He took 
 distorted views of matters, magnified little troubles, and 
 became despondent. Hence he so often thought he was not 
 succeeding in Belgrave ; and his extreme sensitiveness, leading 
 
278 RECORD OF 
 
 him to imagine that the office-bearers there might think so 
 too, led him to speak of resigning. 
 
 "The next cause was Mrs. Saphir's illness. 
 
 " It is not necessary for me to try and tell how much they 
 were to each other. They lived for, and were tenderly solicitous 
 of each other. As circumstances afterwards showed, they 
 could not live apart. His decease was no surprise to me, 
 when she had gone. Her illness made him ill. And when her 
 medical man told him that she was likely to be permanently 
 invalided, he almost lost heart. He desired to submit to God's 
 will. He thought he ought to give up his ministerial duties 
 and attend on her, and yet he felt called to preach the gospel. 
 She knew he would not be happy unless proclaiming God's 
 truth, and yet she grieved to see him troubling himself about 
 matters in connection with Belgrave church. After a brief 
 rest at a watering-place, where a doctor had said she would 
 soon recover, he came back bright, buoyant, and hopeful. A 
 great load had been lifted from his mind. 
 
 "Preaching only in the morning, and coming seldom into 
 contact even with the leaders of the church, he never knew 
 the people, he never knew how they regarded him, or how 
 he helped them. Any results of his ministry came only 
 through people who visited him. 
 
 "During the whole of my intercourse (two and a half years) 
 with him he was exceedingly kind. He welcomed me to his 
 home, and admitted me to the closest intimacy. No one could 
 have been more generous or considerate. Whenever he was 
 not going to preach at the morning service, he offered to 
 give a fee for supply, if I thought the two services would be 
 too much. I was struck too with the phrase which he in- 
 variably used, when introducing me to strangers. He alwavs 
 said, ' Mr. ]\r., ivko is associated with me in the ministry at 
 Belgrave.' It reminded me of Leitch Ritchie's invitation 
 to James Payn. Ritchie was editor of Chambers' Journal, 
 and he wrote, ' I have long felt the need of help ; will vou 
 come and be my co-editor V Most men would have said 
 SM5-editor. He possessed a large vein of humour, and in 
 his younger days he had written mnny light pieces which 
 never saw the light. When quite well he would say crisp, 
 
INTERCOURSE WITH MIDDLEMI8S. 279 
 
 bright, sometimes pointed and keen things, and not un- 
 frequently looked a little startled at his audacity, in having 
 given utterance to them. This happened in his liveliest moods. 
 He enjoyed a good story very much. 
 
 "There was a kindliness and tenderness about him which 
 made him very attractive, with great simplicity and childlike- 
 ness of disposition. These features of his character enabled 
 him easily to throw himself into the spirit of Faber's words : — 
 
 ' If OUT love were but more simple, 
 "We should take Him at His word ; 
 And our lives would be all sunshine 
 In the sweetness of our Lord.' 
 
 " Mrs. Saphir was frank, outspoken, and very tender-hearted. 
 If she took to any one, she overflowed with kindness. Like 
 Dr. S., she was extremely sensitive." 
 
 Dr. Saphir writes of a visit to his old church at 
 Greenwich : — 
 
 "I cannot describe how thankful I feel for this visit. T 
 had no idea my ministry was such a reality to the people, up to 
 this day. The church was crowded, and more than one hundred 
 people spoke to me afterwards. The dear people who are now 
 scattered in different congregations took their old seats in the 
 church. Many young men and women who had been very 
 dear to me were there. Altogether I am quite delighted and 
 strengthened in the faith ; only sorry I had ever left them ! 
 But no doubt it was to be so. Sara was with me, and greatly 
 enjoyed it." 
 
 Dr. Saphir remained at Halkin Street till April 
 1888, when he resigned his charge. The congrega- 
 tion suflfered a good deal from the proximity of 
 Dr. McLeod's church ; and he became disheartened 
 when the congregation in any way diminished. 
 
 After his resignation he continued to live in 
 Lansdowne Eoad, Netting Hill; but now with- 
 
280 LECTURES IN KENSINGTON. 
 
 out any charge, frequently preaching in different 
 churches. In the winter of 1888-89 he delivered 
 a course of Lectures in Kensington, which have 
 been published since his death — the most im- 
 portant perhaps of all his works,^ and a valuable 
 contribution to the present controversy on the Old 
 Testament, — in which he was entirely opposed to 
 the revolutionary attempts of the so-called higher 
 critics of recent times, whose representations he 
 regarded as mere fancies emanating really from a 
 pantheistic spirit, and irreconcilable with the idea 
 of the Divine authority of the Scriptures, and also 
 with the internal evidence of the books themselves. 
 
 Mr. Grant Wilson writes : — 
 
 ' ' These matters were constantly in his heart, and f oi-merl a 
 great part of his conversation. A part of the Parade at St. 
 Leonard's seems almost sacred to me — that between the Colon- 
 nade and Dormer's Library. My children called it the 
 Pilgrims' Path, as Saphir and I paced it hour by hour — two 
 greybeards — in earnest talk ; he poiu'ing forth all he felt 
 about the fallings away from the truth, the many false teach- 
 ings, the ignorance of much of them, and their frequent 
 unfairness ; how, routed on one point, they had often not 
 the honesty to confess defeat, but simply attacked in a new 
 quarter ; — I deeply sympathizing, and chiefly a listener. 
 
 "His early life was most interesting, as he spoke of it. 
 The devout father ' waiting for the consolation of Israel,' 
 and teaching his children so carefully in all he knew, thus 
 making him so thoioughly furnished, according to the Jews' 
 religion, and preparing him for his after work as a Christian 
 teacher. His pictures of his father, and of his devout home- 
 
 1 The Divine Unity of Scripture. Hodder and Stoughton. 
 1892, 
 
MR. GRAXr WILSON'S REMINISCENCES. 281 
 
 life, and training of liis children, liad a great chaim about 
 them, and I recall them with peculiar pleasure. 
 
 " A special charm in Dr. Saphir and his preaching was its 
 singular freshness. ' We have found the Messiah.' ' We 
 have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, 
 did write — Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph '* — found con- 
 tinuous expression in him. The find seemed so real, so new 
 and so glorious, and so ever-present, that it became a new 
 revelation to all who came into contact with him. 
 
 " Another feature of his preaching was his power, after 
 a few words in passing, to summarize or characterize the 
 various books of Scripture. His marvellous knowledge and 
 constant study enabled him thus to give us very briefly the 
 history, scope, and main characteristics of the prophets, &c. 
 
 " I first heard Dr. Saphir in Ridley Herschell's church — 
 Ridley Herschell was the father of the present Lord Chan- 
 celloi'. Dr. Saphir was introducing his brother-in-law. Dr. 
 Schwartz, as Herschell's successor. Many think of Saphir as 
 deeply learned, and a wonderful feeder of the flock ; above 
 all, as one who provided treasures, new and old, for devout 
 Christians. But he was also wonderful in his simplicity and 
 clearness." 
 
 We have received the following interesting 
 letter, enclosing one from Dr. Saphir : — 
 
 "Having seen," says the writer, "your letter in Word and 
 Work, in the beginning of September, I have sent this letter 
 from dear Dr. Saphir in reply to one I had written to him, 
 telling him how God had blessed his ministry to me. 
 
 " I am a servant. I was away from London, and had not 
 the letter with me. I had the privilege of hearing Dr. Saphir 
 nearly every Sunday morning while he was minister of Bel- 
 grave chmch, and his ministry was blessed to me far above 
 what I could have asked or thought ; and if you think, sir, 
 there is anything in this letter that might be helpful to any 
 other soul who may be going through the depths of spiritual 
 darkness and trouble, I shall be glad to have had the oppor- 
 tunity of sending it. I value it amongst my best treasures." 
 
 T 
 
282 LETTER TO A SERVANT. 
 
 Tlie letter is as follows : — 
 
 " I thank you very much for your kind note. It is a 
 very great encouragement to me to hear that my words are 
 blessed to my hearers, and that God is pleased to comfort and 
 restore any of His children through my ministry. Though 
 a minister ought never to doubt that God will bless the 
 message, yet faith is often painfully tested ; and a note 
 like yours is very refreshing. I am not able to see much of 
 my hearers ; and though I feel my heart very much drawn 
 out every Sunday, to lead each one to the Fountain of living 
 waters, I often wonder how far my words find entrance into 
 the mind and heart. The believer often feels very lonely, 
 and thinks no one has come thiough such painful experiences 
 and depths as he has ; and Satan often uses this feeling of 
 desolateness and sadness to inject doubts and hard thoughts. 
 But if we read the Psalms, the prayer of Samuel, and many 
 other passages of Scripture, we find that we are not alone, 
 and that all the children of God pass through manifold and 
 heavy soul-trials. Psalm xiii. is precious. Peter's gi-eat object 
 is to 'strengthen the brethren,' because he knew from ex- 
 perience the weakness of the believers, apart from Christ. 
 And all these experiences have only one object : to keep us 
 humble, and to make us debtors to grace ; — the longer we live, 
 the more. In heaven we shall be so clothed with humility, 
 that there will be no need of these painful experiences, to 
 make us feel the exceeding preciousness of the Blood of Christ. 
 I trust you will continue resting in the Lord and praising 
 His grace. It is a good thing that the heart be established 
 with grace. 
 
 "Again thanking you for your note, and hoping that you 
 will remember in your prayers one who is in much weakness 
 both of body and soul, 
 
 " I am, 
 
 " Yom's faithfully, 
 
 "A. Saphir. 
 
 "P.S. — Accept a few of my writings with my best wishes.'' 
 
A 'NEW SCHOOL' MINISTER. 2S3 
 
 We give here some extracts from further letters 
 of these later years, to Lady Kinloch : — 
 
 A " NEW SCHOOL " MINISTER. 
 
 " The enclosed note of the minister is quite plain. He is 
 evidently in a perplexed state, and fancies he is one of the 
 apostles and martyrs of the ' New School.' I am very sorry. 
 It can only do harm to ventilate these negative opinions in 
 the pulpit. A Bible without inspiration (and lax views of 
 inspiration virtually, to the general public, amount to no 
 inspiration), an atonement without substitution, a Christianity 
 without conversion and the work of the Holy Ghost — these 
 generally go together, and of course such teaching will con- 
 ciliate outsiders — to remain as they are ! and only starve or 
 ruin the sheep. I have the greatest horror of the whole 
 school, and that from experience. I have sympathy and also 
 hope when I see in Germany or elsewhere a Unitarian or 
 sceptic making his way to the light, holding lax views ; he will 
 likely come on to full knowledge ; but to hear our Presbyterian 
 ministers talk in this broad way is to me perfectly distressing. 
 But if I may suggest anything to you, I would to a certain 
 extent ignore and avoid the subject with Mr. ]M. For he will 
 only feel bound to emphasize his crotchets all the more. Dwell 
 on what of truth positive about Christ and spiritual experiences 
 he does teach, and then he will see what you think truly 
 important. But you know best. Are we helping people to 
 take hold of Christ by repentance and faith ? It is not strict 
 theories of inspiration, &c., which keep men from coming to 
 the Saviour and beginning a new life, or seeking the power of 
 the Holy Ghost. These ' broad men ' are great Philistines and 
 pedants and book men. Where are they when there is a real 
 revival ? " 
 
 TO WHOM ARE THE EPISTLES ADDRESSED ? 
 
 Writing in regard to the present state of affairs 
 in the Churches he says : — 
 
 '■ I think the whole Bible is given by God to Israel and the 
 
2S4 THE EPISTLES— TO WHOM ADDRESSED. 
 
 Cluu-cli, before the whole world and for the whole world ; but 
 it is evident that much of the Bible is only addressed to, and 
 understood by, the true Believers. Every author writes for a 
 certain public, who can understand and appreciate him ; and 
 the Holy Ghost, the true author of Scripture, inspired the 
 Bible, that the man of God may be perfected, &o. Of course 
 we urge all people to read the Bible, and to regard it as a 
 message to them from above, and we know not when this 
 reading may become a real revelation. The Epistles are 
 plainly addressed only to saints, believers, spiritual men, who 
 have an unction from above. This I think most important, 
 and the neglect of this truth has greatly contributed to the 
 utterly worldly condition of the Churches. I shall try to 
 refute briefly what is said against this view : (1) The 
 Epistles are addressed to professing Christians (whether con- 
 verted or not). In Apostolic days the Jews and former 
 pagans who professed Christianity, professed also that they 
 believed personally, and had experienced the grace of God. 
 Although there were hypocrites, &c., they were men and 
 women, 3 who, in repentance and faith, separated themselves 
 from the world, and gave themselves to Christ and the new 
 life. Then there were tares among the wheat ; now, I fear, we 
 have only wheat among the tares? (2) The Epistles, it is said, 
 are addressed to the baptized. Yes ; but the baptized then, 
 as Acts ii. tells us, were believers, who from the heart had 
 received the Word of God, and were thus sealed — not like our 
 mass of traditionally baptized, most of whom have no experi- 
 ence of Christ, many of whom are worldly and dead, not a few 
 of whom are Agnostics. This produces the strange phenomenon 
 of Churches which ought to be a witness against the world, 
 actually cherishing and encouraging the world as part of them- 
 selves. Christendom is fast ripening into the apostasy. Ach 
 weh ! I think the Plymouthists err not so much in their 
 principles, as the application of them." He adds : " We are in 
 the times of the Gentiles, when Israel (1 !) is in unbelief, when 
 the Church is a witness and suffering, when Christendom is 
 ripening to the great Apostasy. Then comes the Parousia, 
 or Advent, and the New Dispensation. We know enough to 
 keep us hopeful and watchful, to warn us against Christendom 
 
DKLITZHCUVfi ' LXSTITUTUM JltjjAIGUM: -JSn 
 
 and its whole Wesen, and also to make iis content to be a 
 minority — 'The stupid party.' You see I am enough of a 
 Plymouthist to make me feel very lonely among the 
 Presbyterians, and yet I could not be a Plymouthist, as 1 
 think they evade difficulties and trials which are put upon us, 
 and as I think they are unscriptural in their method — without 
 Presbyters. I console myself with individual believers in 
 all the Churches. The Churches are getting most fearfully 
 Gentiley and unscriptural." 
 
 DELITZSCh's ' INSTITUTUM JUDAICUir.' 
 
 " I am now very much interested in Professor Delitzsch's 
 Jewish work. The Institutum Judaicum, which is now planted 
 in seven German universities, seems to have arisen in a meeting 
 of a few theological students for prayer for Israel, at which 
 they read my tract, Wer ist der Apostat ? I had a very 
 beautiful letter telling me this from the secretary.'' 
 
 Of the aspects of the tmie he says : — 
 
 " We are approaching very severe sifting times in our 
 Churches. There is little faith in the authority of God's 
 Word, and we shall soon see the true character of philosophical 
 Christianity. I think the fewer books we read the better ; it 
 is like times of cholera, &c., when we should only drink filtered 
 water, &c. Psalm xci. 5, 6, is a promise for these days. There 
 is no bridge between God's truth and man's wisdom, and I 
 suspect most attempts to conciliate reason, of treason." 
 
 In a letter from Brighton he says — 
 
 " There is no bridge between reason and the undiscoverable 
 truths of revelation, and we cannot save any one the leap of 
 faith." 
 
 Speaking of Carlyle, he says : — 
 
 " What a curious man Carlyle was, according to Fronde's 
 statements. One cannot help liking him in spite of all his 
 oddities and faults, and his sad want of Christian faith. His 
 
28G .1 BITTER FAMILY AFFLTCTION. 
 
 estimate of art is refreshing in this age of altogether morbid 
 artisticness. I was very pleased to notice he liked Tieck's 
 novels. I see to-day that Eanke, in his ninetieth year, has 
 published another volume of his Weltgeschichte. The first two 
 volumes I have read are wonderful, and such pleasant reading, 
 as his style is very lucid." 
 
 A BITTER FAMILY AFFLICTION. 
 
 There was a favourite niece, the daughter of a 
 deceased sister of Mrs. Saphir, who was much 
 with the Saphirs, both before and after her great 
 sorrow, and greatly beloved by them. She had 
 been married to a highly respected physician in 
 Dublin, a Dr. Maturin, who, about half a year 
 after the marriage, was suddenly removed by 
 death, resulting from his having performed a 
 dangerous operation for another doctor. It was 
 a heart-rending grief, which brought on severe 
 illness, and Dr. and Mrs. Saphir felt the deepest 
 sympathy and sorrow. The two following letters 
 written at the time, with their profound view of 
 the love of God even in the midst of most bitter 
 afHictions, may be a comfort to many who have 
 lost beloved friends. The first is dated Nov. 27: — 
 
 " Dearest Leila, 
 
 " I need not assure you how deeply we sympathize 
 with you, and how constantly we have been thinking of you 
 and your sorrow these last days. . . . We are greatly re- 
 lieved to hear that you have your dear husband's mother with 
 you, for no one could sympathize with you so fully at this sad 
 time. . . . Although in real heart-grief God only can give 
 consolation and strength, it is a great help to have the com- 
 panionship of those dear to us. You know that we also, and 
 your other uncles and aunts, feel with you in this sore tiial. 
 
COMFOBTTNa LETTER.'^ TO A NIECE. 2.'*7 
 
 You can only be still and silent before God, and wait on Him. 
 It appears very dark and overwhelming; but we must exercise 
 faith in Him who is infinitely wise and loving. Only ffe 
 can enable you to submit to His will without bitterness. It 
 is beyond human power, but God can and does by His Spirit 
 heal broken hearts, and He can comfort where all earthly 
 consolations are vain. We think of you night and day, 
 dearest Leila, and we know that you will bear up, and that 
 God will uphold and strengthen you in this hoiw of grief and 
 trinl 
 
 " Your aunt and I long to see you. It would be our 
 greatest pleasure to have you, and we ave if possible more 
 quiet than ever. . . . Whenever you want quiet or change, 
 only drop us a card at any time ; and it will be always con- 
 venient and a joy to have yovi, both to your aunt, who loves 
 you like a daughter, and to me." 
 
 The other letter is as follows — 
 
 " Dearest Leila, 
 
 " We wonder at not hearing from you, and your aunt 
 is afraid that you did not look on my letter as from her also. 
 The fact is, she feels too deeply with and for you to write 
 herself. I can assure you that you are rarely out of her 
 mind, and that nearly every night she lies awake thinking of 
 you. And I am sure she never forgets you in her prayers. 
 Indeed I have almost daily to comfort her. You know her 
 sensitive nature, and that she specially shrinks from writing. 
 But she is full of love to you, and has been watching the post 
 constantly, to hear from you. 
 
 " I also have thought much about you, and I wish I could 
 have a quiet talk with you. Although I have not come 
 through a trial so severe as yours must be, I and your dear 
 aunt know something of the anguish of losing one in whom 
 our affections were centred, and whose place nothing can fill 
 up." (He refers here to the loss of their only child.) " And 
 as we go on in life we must sooner or later learn what at first 
 seems a bitter lesson, but is meant to yield peaceable fruits, 
 and fill the heart with a peace which will never fail. But 
 there are sore difficulties besetting us in the loneliness of 
 
COMFORTING LETTER TO 
 
 bereavement. I hear you are regretting the neglect of certain 
 things, which might have issued in recovery. Let me assure 
 you, from a long experience as a minister, that there is scarcely 
 a death in which survivors have not such regrets. I know 
 them from my own expei-ience. They are very terrible and 
 gnawing, but, I am sure, they are generally quite false. This, 
 however, cannot be proved mathematically, (at least some- 
 times). We must therefore rise to the only true view of 
 God's supremacy and providence, which embraces every cir- 
 cumstance and detail, ' If Thou hadst been here,' said the 
 mourning sister, ' my brother would not have died.' It was 
 true, in one sense ; but Christ purposely did not go there 
 after He had received the message, ' He whom Thou lovest is 
 sick.' He wished and purposed that Lazarus should die, that 
 God's glory in him should be manifested. No mistake of ours 
 can c ime in reality between God's counsel and love and the 
 individual ; and all secondary causes and circumstances must 
 be viewed as ordered by His wisdom, permitted by His will, 
 and overruled by His law. 
 
 " Such thoughts must be resisted, dear Leila ; they throw 
 no light, but utter darkness, on our minds, and fill us with 
 doubt and distrust Godwards. 
 
 " I have often felt perfectly unable to say a word to the 
 bereaved, knowing the desolateness and sorrow of mourning 
 hearts. But if I had more love and more faith, how much is 
 to be said to comfort and to raise the bowed down ! One 
 thing is clear, that the wretched unbelief and Agnosticism has 
 NOTHING to say ; no loving Father, no sympathizing Saviour, 
 no Spirit above, able and yearning to lift up our spirit, no 
 endless conscious life with Christ and all the Saints, and no 
 resurrection in the likeness of Christ's body. 
 
 " But I believe — and this too from, my own experience — 
 that there is no lasting consolation and no true remedy for 
 such heart-ache as is yours, but our setting our affections 
 supremely on Christ, and loving God with all our heart, and 
 finding in Him our bliss and heaven. There is an idolatry 
 which follows the dear departed ; and yet God's loving purpose 
 in ALL His dealings with us, is to make us love Him supremely, 
 and be happy in ffislove. 
 
.1 WIDOWIJD NIECE. 289 
 
 " Occupation, work even of benevolence, only postpones and 
 hides the great and only step that has to be taken, although 
 it has its own use, and afterwards is strengthening and com- 
 forting. Believe it, that the Love of God in Christ, and a 
 spiritual life in Him, now on earth and hereafter, are great 
 realities, though we speak of and realize them so little, that 
 when they are brought before us we shrink from them as if 
 they were shadows, and our ordinary life substance. 
 
 "And in this renewed and deepened act of faith, God, 
 knowing all our weakness and sorrows, is full of tenderness, 
 and knows how to deal with the bruised I'eed. 
 
 " Job, in his sudden bereavement, remembered that the same 
 Lord who hud taken away his chililren had given them. All 
 the sunshine and joy of the past was God^s gift, and does He 
 change 1 He is the same loving One in taking as in giving. 
 Blessed be the Name of the Lord ! His Name, for to us 
 Christians He is not anonymous, but our Father in Christ. 
 
 " If we have — and I know how diflScult it is — left all in 
 God, and believe and submit, then in addition to Himself, God 
 will give us also the consolation of .finding our loved ones 
 again, wlien we can never lose them. I have always held that 
 we cannot love wife, or child, or friend too much, if we love 
 them under God, and with God, and in God. 
 
 " But I fear I may have wearied you. All I can add is, 
 that I hnow what I have said, and that I have said it with 
 the truest love and sympathy." 
 
 LETTER TO A NORWEGIAN SEA-CAPTAIN ON 
 BAPTISMAL REGENERATION. 
 
 The following letter has been sent to us by a 
 Norwegian sea-captain, who never saw Dr. Saphir, 
 but had been greatly impressed by his writings. 
 He thus describes his own relation to him. The 
 letter of Dr. Saphir is on the subject of Baptismal 
 Eegeneration. Captain Hoyer writes to us from 
 Arendal in South Norway, December 13, 1892. 
 
•290 j\ojni'j<:aLh\ sea-captain's letter. 
 
 " What gave occasion f oi' me to get a letter from Dr. Saphir 
 I will tell you. I am a Norwegian sea-captain, and as such 
 I have had opportunity to get acquainted with his books, and 
 also been in his church, dotting Hill, in London ; but he was 
 absent for his health then, and I did not see him. But I 
 learned to appreciate his writings, and how I love the man, 
 though I never saw him ! What spiritual food his expositions 
 are ! — no sentimentalism, but deep, solid, spiritual nourishment 
 for the soul. I have got most out of his writings, and they 
 are my choicest readings. ISTow I was brought up and con- 
 nected with the Lutheran Church ; but when I came to examine 
 the sacramental doctrine on Baptismal Regeneration in the 
 light of God's Word, I had to give it up, and I found the 
 reformed doctrine more scriptural. My country is all Lutheran 
 in doctrine except some of the Dissenters, and they stick to it 
 very strictly, the chief reason for which I may confidently 
 say is want of enlightenment. So I determined to write a 
 treatise on the subject, and in order to know what doctrine 
 such a man as Dr. Saphir held about it, I wrote a letter to 
 him, and asked him kindly to tell me. This he did. That 
 letter is to me a real 'love-letter.' . . . One thought seems to 
 make even heaven more attractive, if I may reverently so speak : 
 that is, to be able to see and converse up there with men 
 like Dr. Saphir, so Christ-like, so devoted and saintly, and so 
 humble and kind and good." 
 
 Ill a second letter, enclosing Dr. Saphir's, lie says : 
 
 " I often take, to me, his dear letter to look upon ; I love to 
 see the words penned by the dear man again and again, and 
 often when out in foreign countries, exposed to all kinds of 
 tempations, have I received strength and encouragement, by 
 recalling to mind such men, and trying to have a kind of 
 spiritual companionship with them.'' 
 
 The following is Dr. Saphir's letter to Captain 
 Hoyer : — 
 
 " Ilklcy, Yorkshire, July 17, 1890. 
 
 " Dear Captain Hoyee, 
 
 " Many thanks for your kind and most interesting 
 
SAPHin'S LETTKn TO C ATTAIN TWYEU. 291 
 
 letter. I shoTild have replied sooner, but my health has 
 been very bad, the last month. I was obliged to give up all 
 preaching, reading, &c., about a month ago, and the doctor 
 ordered me complete rest for three months. It is a very 
 severe trial, but the Lord has sent it for some loving and 
 wise purpose. 
 
 " It was like a gleam of .sunshine to me to hear of the 
 Lord's having made use of any of my writings, and it was 
 kind of you to write me this encouraging fact. 
 
 " You will forgive my not entering fully on your question, 
 as my head is not at all strong. I know little about the 
 Z^orwegian Church. Besides some sermons, translated by 
 Gleiss, and what my friend Mr. Horjohann of Christiana 
 has told me, I know nothing. I have read some of Heuch's, 
 and many of Kierkegtiard's books. I was greatly interested 
 to hear of the Free Church. The question of Baptism is very 
 difScult, and I am very sorry to hear of your troubles. The 
 u.nity of the Body is most important and precious ; and every- 
 thing must be done to preserve its outward manifestation, but, 
 of course, faithfulness to truth entrusted to us in God's 
 Word is the first duty. 
 
 " I do not hold the doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration ; on 
 the contrary, I regard it as unscriptural and injurious in its 
 tendency. But I cannot forget that many of the ministers 
 and other Christians who hold it, are truly converted, and 
 fully hold the precious doctrines of justification and the work 
 of the Spirit. Some of our Reformed theologians have used 
 the expression ' regeneration ' in connection with baptism, 
 among them Calvin, and their statement as to the import and 
 benefit of Baptism is very strong, in emphasizing that it is 
 more than an emblem or sign. Sometimes regeneration means 
 with them only the being placed by God in a new position, 
 and brought into the outward House, in which the blessings 
 of the New Covenant are received. But I know the Lutheran 
 idea of Baptismal Regeneration goes beyond this. 
 
 " I have often thought that the question of Baptism should 
 he first considered, as in the ease of conscious believers, and not 
 of infants. The New Testament passages referring to Baptism 
 seem simple enough, when we apply them to Jews and 
 
292 SAPHIR'S LETTER TO CAPTAIN IIOYER 
 
 heathen, who by the power of God received Jesus, and were 
 admitted into the Church; with them Baptism was the consum- 
 mating and culmioating point of transition from the old 
 condition to the new, and to such it could be said, ' As many 
 as are baptized, liave put on Christ' But to apply the New 
 Testament passages to Infant Baptism in their full meaning 
 seems to me an error, and it converts Baptism into a kind 
 of physical or magical art, necessarily connected with the gift 
 and work of the Spirit. On the other hand, to explain 
 Baptism, starting with Infant Baptism, has the tendency of 
 lowering Baptism into a mere ceremony or emblem, or to laj' 
 an exclusive stress on the subjective aspect of the parents' 
 act of dedication, and to leave out (as I think the Baptists 
 do) the much more primary and important objective aspect 
 of Baptism, something that God gives and does, the seal of 
 the righteousness by faith, the seal of the Covenant of Grace, 
 which ever after is a confirmation and consolation to the 
 believer. In our Church we baptize only the children of 
 believers, and rest on the promise given to parents for their 
 children (Acts xvi.), ' — Thou shalt be saved, and thy house ' ; 
 principle all the same, whether infants or intelligent 
 children. We also assert that the benefit of Baptism is not 
 confined to the actual time of administration. I have had no 
 scruple about Infant Baptism ; but difiiculty to steer clear 
 of a merely ceremonial symbol, and of a ' dedication ' (but 
 there is no dedication of a sinful being apart from the Atone- 
 ment and the Covenant of Grace) and baptismal regeneration 
 on the other hand. 
 
 " I have not written anything on the subject, which I think 
 very diificult and complicated. I like «, little book by the 
 Rev. W. Grant of Ayr ; and 1 believe Candlish on the Sacra- 
 ments is good, but I don't know it. Also a tract by 
 W. P. Mackay (Nisbet & Co.), — 'Baptism admission to the 
 House, not the Body of Christ.' I think in John iii. water 
 I'efers to John's baptism ; because at the time Nicodemus 
 could scarcely avoid understanding it thus. Lutherans do not 
 consider sufficiently the equally (if not more) important and 
 emphatic words, and the Spirit. ' Bath of regeneration ' 
 (Titus) is intelligible in the case of believers, who as such, by 
 
ox BAPTH^MAL RKUEXERATIOX. 29:5 
 
 baptism, were placed iu the cungiegatiou of new-born children 
 of God. The passage in Peter lays also stress on the faith 
 and inward experience of the recipient. 
 
 " I suppose yoti know Beck of Tlibingen on the Sacra- 
 ments. He is very candid in bis remarks on Infant Baptism, 
 and altogether worth consulting. 
 
 " The latest Calvinistic dogmatic book by Biihl (a follower 
 of Kohlbrugge),^ almost justifies the word I'egeneration as 
 applied to baptism. Kohlbriigge, whom I regard very highly, 
 has written on the subject, and his view and also that ex- 
 pressed by his disciple, Wichelhaus of Halle, in a pamphlet 
 Die Tavfe, of which Hengstenberg fully approved, ought to 
 satisfy the Evangelical Lutherans, as it secures the ohjectice 
 character and preciousness of the Sacrament. But I fear it 
 won't. 
 
 " I once spent a fortnight in the house of the late Pastor 
 Harms of Hermansbui-g. I can never forget the dear man, 
 so full of the Spirit. But he was very strong on baptismal 
 regeneration. I trust the Lord will watch over your church, 
 and prevent any division. He alone caii help you in this 
 ditEculty by an abundant sujjjaly of grace, that liriht and love 
 may go together and that the work of the gospel be not 
 hindered. 
 
 " Excuse this unstudied letter on so momentous a subject, 
 but my health makes anything else impossible, and you will 
 kindly look upon this as a merely extempore expression of my 
 thoughts. 
 
 " May the Loi-d bless and guide you ! We have many 
 difficulties at present in our chm-ches, and the Lord's servants 
 and witnesses need much grace and strength. 
 
 " With Christian regards and earnestly requesting an 
 interest in your intercessions, 
 "lam, 
 
 '' Yours, very faithfully, 
 
 " A. Saphik." 
 
 1 liechtfertiyunrj an den glauben : Amsterdam and Leipzig. 
 
294 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 DEVOTION TO THE JEWS AND JEWISH MISSION. 
 
 Love to Israel of Moses and of Paul — Pauline Doctrine of 
 Israel's unchanging Position — What was Isi'ael's Glory 1 
 — Israel's Present Condition — Prophecies fulfilled, and 
 Prophecies to be fulfilled — The Future of Israel bright and 
 glorious — Israel's Claim upon the G-entile Churches — The 
 Everlasting Nation — What will be accomplished through 
 Israel — The Eabinowich and Lichtenstein Movements — 
 Rev. C. A. Sohonberger — Delitzsch's early Interest in the 
 I Jews — His Revival of Jewish Missions in Germany — Mr. 
 Schonberger's Visits to Lichtenstein and Rabinowich — The 
 Establishment of the Rabinowich Council, with Saphir as 
 President — His Great Interest in the Work — Jubilee of 
 the Scottish Jewish Mission — -Address at Mildmay Jewish 
 Conference. 
 
 THOSE acquainted with Saphir's works know the 
 phice which his own nation, Israel, had in his 
 heart, and the most important destiny which, from 
 the study of the Scriptures, he considered to be 
 still before it. He was intensely interested in the 
 Jewish mission, and he lost no opportunity in 
 seeking to advance its claims. On the days of the 
 Jewish annual collection^ he always pleaded the 
 cause with earnestness and power, — and every 
 
 1 An annual collection is taken for Jewish missions in the 
 English Presbyterian Church, on the third Sunday in January. 
 
LOVE TO ISRAEL OF MOSES AND OF PAUL. 2Do 
 
 spiritual work among the Jews he watched with 
 interest. He was especially interested in the 
 movements of Rabinowich and of Lichtenstein, 
 which point to a national Jewish Church, accept- 
 ing Christ as the Messiah of the nation. He 
 took a most active part in getting help for Rabin- 
 owich, being the moving spirit of the Committee 
 formed for the purpose ; and had much correspond- 
 ence with his esteemed and always devoted friend, 
 Professor Delitzsch, on the subject. Delitzsch 
 moved in Germany, and Saphir in England. De- 
 litzsch and Faber, in a preface to a new edition of 
 his tract, ' Wcr i-s-t do- Ajjostatf speak of the great 
 assistance given to them in their work for Israel by 
 Saphir, for many years. 
 
 We beo-in our notice of this devotion to Israel, 
 by quoting from a sermon preached in 1873 : — 
 
 " Pre-eminent among the saints of God, of whom 
 wo read in the Holy Scriptures, are Moses, the 
 servant of Jehovah, who was faithful in all God's 
 house ; and Paul, the Apostle and the Gentile, who 
 was able to say, ' Be ye followers of me, even as I 
 am of Christ.' When we think of these two chosen 
 vessels of God, of their wisdom, their meekness, 
 their self-sacrifice, their zeal for God's glory, their 
 unwearied and ardent love, their sufferings, their 
 patience ; when we recall their tears, their words, 
 their labours, their prayers, we feel so amazed at 
 the o-randeur of their characters and lives, that we 
 are lifted above the lower sentiments of admiration, 
 and above the common expressions of eulogy, and 
 
29G THE LOVE TO ISEAEJL 
 
 we can only glorify God in them. As when we 
 stand before a majestic Alpine height, or gaze on a 
 bright and beautiful star, we say, 'How great is 
 God's power, how beautiful are His works, how 
 wonderful is His glory ! ' 
 
 " i\Ioses and Paul show that love of God and 
 love to man are one ; that he who stands highest 
 on the Mount of God, and sees most of the glory 
 of God, has the deepest compassion, the most burn- 
 ing love, the tenderest sympathy towards his 
 brethren. Moses in his anguish said, ',Blot me out 
 of Thy book.' He could not bear the thought of 
 Israel's rejection. Paul, in the intensity of his 
 affection and sorrow, could offer the same petition. 
 We are not able to measure such depth of love 
 manward, because we cannot understand the height 
 of this love Godward. We listen in silence. 
 
 " Love to Israel, such as Moses and Paul felt, is 
 a ray from that ineffable stream of light which is in 
 God. The Apostle, when he speaks of his great 
 grief on account of Israel's unbelief, is conscious 
 that this feeling is not merely one of natural 
 patriotism and affection, but of the Spirit, by 
 virtue of his union with Christ. ' I say the 
 truth in Christ, my conscience also bearing me 
 witness in the Holy Ghost.' He who referred all 
 feelings of true and tender love to the indwelling 
 of God's Spirit, who longed after the Philippians in 
 the bowels of Jesus Christ, is cleaiiy conscious that 
 His love to Israel is Christ-sprung, God-given, 
 Spirit-breathed ; it is the Saviour's mind and affec- 
 
OF MOSES AXn OF PAUL. 297 
 
 tion living in his heart. Behold with the eyes of 
 Paul, Jesus Christ still weeping over Jerusalem. 
 
 " Much," he continued, " as Paul loved the Gen- 
 tiles, he never forgot his people ; he continually 
 mourned over the unbelief and bondage of the 
 chosen people of God ; and he continued steadfast 
 in the sure hope that all Israel should be saved, 
 and that the promises given to the fathers would 
 be fulfilled, for the gifts and calling of God are 
 without repentance. . . . Slowly is the Church 
 returning to the Pauline doctrine of Israel's un- 
 changing position in the kingdom of God, and 
 of Israel's future conversion and restoration. 
 Their sins, though red as scarlet, culminating in 
 the crucifixion of the Holy One, shall yet be for- 
 given, and the love of God shall visit them with 
 everlasting redemption. . . . Out of the fallen race of 
 Adam He chose Israel to be His son, His first-born. 
 ' Ye are the children of the Lord your God,' said 
 Moses. ' Out of Egypt has He called my son,' 
 said Hosea. He adopted them by grace to be His 
 family, beloved and cared for and watched over by 
 Jehovah, as their Father. Theirs also was the glory, 
 not in the sense that they had anything wherein 
 to glory. The nations of this world speak much 
 and proudly of their glory ; Free England, Beautiful 
 France, the Great Fatherland, — all nations have a 
 glory, of which they boast. Not so Israel, for God 
 often reminded them that they were chosen accord- 
 ing to grace, not by reason of any excellence and 
 merit they possessed. What was Israel's glory? 
 
298 ISBAEL'S ACTUAL CONDITION. 
 
 It was God's glory which belonged to them. The 
 manifestation of God was given to them. While 
 the nations were in darkness, the bright light of 
 God's favour visited Israel. Theirs are the cove- 
 nants. To them pertains the giving of the law. 
 To them pertains the service. To them pertain the 
 promises. Theirs are the fathers. Of them, as 
 concerning the flesh, came Christ, the Lord. 
 
 " How great and how painful is the contrast 
 when we look from the high position and blessings 
 God gave to Israel, to their actual condition of un- 
 belief and darkness ! For as Jesus is the centre of 
 Israel, their life, light, and glory, death has been 
 the consequence of their rejection of Jehovah, mani- 
 fest. Therefore are they compared to dead bones, 
 very many and very dry. They are dead, because 
 Jehovah, God manifest, is the Life, the Spirit of 
 the nation, and in rejecting Jesus they have for- 
 saken the fountain of their life, the strength and 
 substance of their existence. Behold their house is 
 left unto them desolate ! What is their house ? 
 Jerusalem and the pleasant land. It is trodden 
 underfoot of the Gentiles. What is their house, 
 their dwelling-place ? The Scriptures ? Behold 
 they read Moses and the Prophets, wearily, blindly ; 
 they wander to and fro in the sacred record, but 
 the veil is on their hearts, and as they do not dis- 
 cern Messiah of whom the Scriptures testify, they 
 find no light and peace there. Their house is left 
 unto them desolate. What is their house ? Their 
 beautiful Sabbaths, and festivals, the lovely Passover, 
 
THK FUTURE OF ISRAEL. 290 
 
 Pentecost, Feast of Tabernacles, their solemn Day 
 of Atonement ! Alas ! where is the Lamb which 
 God has chosen, the blood of sprinkling for the 
 remission of sins, the high priest to enter into the 
 Holy of Holies ? They dwell in a desolate house, 
 and cannot find rest for their souls, and cannot see 
 the beauty of the Lord. Their house is left deso- 
 late ; Jerusalem is trodden down of the Gentiles ; 
 the Scripture and the services are to them empty 
 and void, without power and without peace. 
 Ichahod, the glory has departed ; Israel's glory, the 
 Shechinah ; for the glory of God is beheld only in 
 the face of His Son Jesus Christ. . . . 
 
 " Israel, scattered among the nations, is a witness 
 for God. They are the fulfilment of prophecy, the 
 monuments of God's faithfulness and truth. No 
 greater evidence for the truth of Scripture can 
 be given than the existence and history of the 
 Jews. Frederick the Great said one day, before a 
 large company of sceptics and unbelievers, to his 
 general, Ziethen, whose courage and loyalty were 
 as well known as his simple faith and piety : ' Give 
 us a good argument to prove Christianity, but 
 something short and convincing.' ' The Jews, your 
 Majesty,' replied the veteran, and the compan}^ was 
 silent. 
 
 " The future of Israel is bright and glorious, and 
 bound up with the manifestation of Christ the 
 Lord. Hence it has a special place in the Chris- 
 tian heart. We cannot regard the Jewish mission 
 as one among many missions. The nation has a 
 
son ISRAEL'S CLAIM UPON GENTILES. 
 
 position, central and unique, according to the 
 Divine purpose. We cannot measure the import- 
 ance of the Jewish mission by the numerical great- 
 ness either of the nation or of converts ; we measure 
 it by the value assigned to them in the Scriptures ; 
 by the decisive love with which God regards them ; 
 and b}^ the special influences which they are to 
 exert upon the whole world. . . . God's promise 
 teaches us, that through the restoration of Israel 
 the golden era of the world will be ushered in. . . . 
 " When you think of the grace that has brought 
 salvation to you, remember Israel, the nation of 
 grace. When you think of the sweet sound of the 
 name Jesus, remember it is a Hebrew name — 
 Jehoshua, Saviour. When you think of departed 
 saints and the heavenly city, remember that it is 
 Jerusalem, in w^hich as an emblem God hath shown 
 you the eternal home. When after your petitions 
 you utter the word so full of consolation and hope, 
 — Amen, remember it is Israel who hath taught you 
 the God Amen, who is the Hearer of prayer. And 
 when, overwhelmed with joy and praise, you abound 
 with thanksgiving to the God who hath done great 
 marvels, and say Hallelujah, remember that Israel 
 was the first, and shall again, be the foremost, in 
 the great chorus of nations. . . . Israel's con- 
 version will be a marvel of omnipotent love. 
 When Ezekiel beheld the valley full of dry bones, 
 and was asked, ' Son of man, can these bones 
 live ? ' he felt that with man it was impossible, 
 and in humility of faith he replied, ' Thou^ Lord, 
 
'THE EVERLASTING NATION.' 301 
 
 knowest.' Yes, in their graves they shall hear the 
 voice of God. He who can raise the dead and call 
 them out of their graves, shall send forth His 
 Spirit and breathe upon the dry bones, and they 
 shall live, and stand up an exceeding great army. 
 " Let us give then our aid to the Jewish mission, 
 in faith, in love, in hope, and let us seek to enter 
 into the mind of God, and to look forward to that 
 great promise which all the fathers embraced, and 
 held fast even unto the end. May there be given 
 unto us also, out of that wonderful and infinite 
 ocean of Divine love to Israel, a little love to God's 
 ancient people. Amen." 
 
 In a sermon preached at Belgravia on January 
 18, 1885, and published under the title, 'The 
 Everlasting Nation,' he says : — 
 
 " Jesus came to the whole nation ; Israel as a 
 nation rejected him. Jesus, as we read in the 
 Gospel of Matthew, was taking leave of the whole 
 nation. He spoke to the Pharisees; He spoke to the 
 Herodians ; He spoke to the Sadducees ; and after 
 having given, as it were, the last word unto each 
 representative part of the Jewish nation. He sums 
 up all in that heart-rending farewell : — ' Jerusalem, 
 Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest 
 them that are sent unto thee, how often would I 
 have gathered thy children ' — the whole nation as 
 a nation — ' under My wings, and ye would not ! 
 Behold, your house shall be left unto you desolate.' 
 But the farewell is not for ever. It is a farewell 
 
303 ISRAEL TO BE SAVED FINALLY. 
 
 only for a given and definite period. ' Ye shall 
 not see Me, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that 
 Cometh in the name of the Lord ! ' The Saviour, 
 ere He was crucified upon Golgotha, had in His 
 own loving and sorrowing heart the living and 
 assured hope that the same nation, which as a 
 nation had rejected Him, would again as a nation 
 welcome Him as the Messiah that cometh in the 
 Name of the Lord. And after He had died upon 
 the cross, and appeared again to His disciples, 
 before He ascended up into heaven. He ratified to 
 the apostles the promise that was given of old, 
 that He would come and restore the kingdom to 
 Israel ; only not at the present time, because the 
 dispensation of the Church had to intervene. 
 Thus it is in harmony with the testimony of Jesus, 
 which is the spirit of prophecy, that the Apostle 
 Paul declares that all Israel shall be saved. 
 
 " But as all Israel shall be saved finally, in the 
 meantime God has not totally rejected His people. 
 This the Apostle proves in the simplest and most 
 obvious manner. If God had totally rejected His 
 people, the prayer of Jesus on the cross, ' Father, 
 forgive them; for they know not what they do,' 
 would not have been answered. The prayer of 
 Stephen before his death, ' Lord, lay not this sin 
 to their charge,' would have remained without a 
 divine response. Paul himself is the most striking 
 illustration that God had not totally rejected His 
 people ; for God had mercy on him, and revealed 
 unto him His Son. We read of 3000 at Jerusalem, 
 
ISRAEL'S FUTURE RESTORATION. 303 
 
 and afterwards 5000, and afterwards many myriads 
 or ten thousands of Jews who had come to the 
 knowledge of Christ. And during the first centuries 
 the number and importance of Jewish Christian 
 congregations, who to a certain extent still ob- 
 served the law of Moses, and in whom there 
 lived the vivid consciousness of their connection 
 with the Old Testament history, were considerable. 
 Finally, all Israel shall be saved, and during the 
 intermediate period of the Church God has not 
 totally rejected His people." 
 
 " Two points are thus given to us in the Apostolic 
 teaching — Israel's rejection of the Messiah, and 
 Israel's future restoration. In the destruction of 
 Jerusalem and the temple, and in the dispersion of 
 Israel among the nations, was manifested in actual 
 history what to the eye of faith appeared already 
 at the crucifixion of our Lord, when the veil of the 
 temple was rent in twain. The arch of Titus, still 
 to be seen at Eome, declares to the whole world 
 what believers knew from the written Word — that 
 divine judgment has fallen upon the nation on 
 account of their unbelief. If we ask what con- 
 nection subsists between unbelieving Israel of the 
 past and restored Israel of the future, between 
 Jerusalem given into the hands of the Gentiles and 
 Jerusalem restored, there are three facts which ac- 
 cording to the divine Word bridge over the interval. 
 In the first place, according to the Word of God, 
 it is obviously necessary that the Jewish nation 
 should remain in existence as a nation until these 
 
304 ISRAEL'S PROSPECTS. 
 
 latter days. Their enemies must not succeed iu 
 destroying them ; their friends must not succeed in 
 so favouring them that they amalgamate through 
 indifference and worldliness with the other nation- 
 alities. And also it is necessary that they should 
 not be absorbed by the Christian Churches, so as 
 to cease to exist as a separate community. How 
 marvellously has all this been fulfilled every one 
 can see, in the countries of Europe and of the whole 
 world, where God has scattered His people. . . ." 
 
 "As at the first advent, through the rejection 
 of Jesus the gospel came to the Gentiles, so at the 
 second advent of Jesus He will be received by 
 Israel when He brings judgment upon apostate 
 Christendom. . . . Through the Church indi- 
 viduals are gathered out from among all the 
 nations to believe in Jesus ; but it is through the 
 nation. of Israel that national Christianity will be 
 established upon the whole face of the earth." 
 
 THE EABINOWICH AND LICHTENSTEIN MOVEMENTS. 
 
 We would here, as bearing on the Rabiuowich 
 movement in which Saphir was so much inter- 
 ested, give a sketch of the manner in which that 
 interest was excited simultaneously, in Saphir and 
 Delitzsch : — 
 
 In 1871 Johanna Saphir, the youngest sister of 
 Adolph, was married to the Rev. C. A. Schonberger, 
 a Jewish missionary, first of the Free Church of 
 Scotland, and afterwards of the British Society for 
 the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews. 
 
Mk. SCHONBERGEB. M^ 
 
 Mr. Schonberger had, when a young man, been 
 converted under the influence of old Mr. Saphir in 
 Pesth, with whom he remained up to the time of 
 his death. He then went to the Mission House at 
 Bale for a year, and afterwards to London, where 
 he attended classes in the English Presbyterian 
 College, for a 'session. He next went to Germany, 
 and completed there his theological studies, under 
 the direction of the well-known Professor Delitzsch, 
 who took an intense interest in the Jews and in 
 Jewish missions. 
 
 Delitzsch, when a privat-doceitt in Leipzig, had 
 been brought into contact wdth Jewish missionaries 
 of the London Society, and from that time had 
 been convinced of the importance of work among 
 the Jews. He himself also had received special 
 kindness from a Jew^, who helped him in his edu- 
 cation. We may note that in later years this Jew 
 became a convert to Christianity, under Delitzsch's 
 influence. There had been a Jewish mission in 
 Germany in the latter part of last century, but it 
 had been extinguished by the progress of rational- 
 ism in the German Churches. Delitzsch used 
 strong efibrt, and with much success, to revive the 
 interest in the Jewish work. He trained many 
 students for it, and exerted himself in every way 
 to promote it. Chief among his efi'orts was the 
 translation into Hebrew of the New Testament, in 
 which he took a leading part. He prepared also 
 commentaries for the Jews, and wrote many tracts 
 and also pamphlets in connection with the anti- 
 
306 DELITZSCH AND SCHONBERGER. 
 
 Semitic movement, in which he exposed the false 
 statements circulated against the Jews ; and he 
 founded anew the Itistitutum Judaicum, which 
 has branches in many of the German universities. 
 Delitzsch had a great admiration for Saphir, and 
 was latterly in frequent communication with him, 
 in regard to the Eabiuowich and Lichtenstein 
 movements, in which both were deeply interested. 
 
 Delitzsch had taken a special interest in Schon- 
 berger when a student, frequently visiting him in 
 his lodgings. He afterwards, to the end of his 
 life, corresponded with him on the Jewish work. 
 Schonberger finished his studies in 1868, and went 
 for a year or two to Pesth to assist Mr. Koenig 
 and Mr. Moody. When married he was settled in 
 Prague, where he remained till 1884 in connection 
 with the British Society for the Propagation of the 
 Gospel among the Jews. Old Mrs. Saphir lived 
 there with her daughter till her death in 1879. 
 
 Mr. Schonberger has been one of the most 
 eminent and successful of Jewish missionaries. 
 He was in Prague for thirteen years till 1884. 
 He had much influence over Jews — especially of 
 the intelligent classes. Among his converts there 
 was one who became a very eifective minister, tlie 
 Eev. A. Venetianer, Pastor of the Reformed Church 
 in Rohrbach, South Russia, also two medical 
 men, two merchants, and two teachers. In .1884 
 he went to Vienna as a missionary of the same 
 Society, where he laboured till 1890, during which 
 period seventy converts were baptized by him, 
 
RABINOWICH'S INFLUENCE. 307 
 
 In Vienna he preached often to the German 
 Protestant congregations with great acceptance. 
 
 He made extensive mission tours through Galicia 
 and other provinces. He visited Rabbi Lichten- 
 stein in Tapio-Szele, Hungary, who, from the 
 perusal of tracts of Delitzsch, had become convinced 
 that Jesus was the Messiah, and who was declaring 
 his faith in Him, while still Chief Rabbi, both in 
 sermons and writings. Many of the Jews were 
 convinced by his statements, while others became 
 hostile. It was a new thing in the history of 
 Judaism for a Jewish Rabbi to preach in the 
 synagogue that Jesus was the Christ. Mr. Schon- 
 berger visited also Rabinowich at KischinefF in 
 Bessarabia, and did much to stimulate him in his 
 work there. His first visit took place in 1885, 
 when he felt greatly delighted and encouraged by 
 his intercourse with him. His report was the 
 means of making the movement better known. 
 Two years later he visited him again by request of 
 the Rabinowich Council, which had then been 
 formed in London, under the presidency of Dr. 
 Saphir. In this visit he was accompanied by Mr. 
 Venetianer. They found that the attendance at 
 his services was as large as ever, and that Rabin- 
 owich's influence had become far-reaching — " Jews 
 from all parts of the vast Empire of Russia reading 
 liis pamphlets, discussing his position and testi- 
 mony, and corresponding with him, or visiting 
 him personally, to hear more fully the divine 
 message he proclaims." The Jews in Kischineff 
 
30$ SAPHIR'S DEEP INTEREST IN 
 
 had now accepted the fact that there was in the 
 midst of them a Jewish synagogue, in which one 
 of their brethren, of unblemished character and 
 eminent gifts, proclaimed every Sabbath that Jesus 
 was the Messiah promised to their fathers, and the 
 Saviour of the world. 
 
 Mr. Venetianer's visit to Kischineff resulted in 
 the solution of one difficulty, the solving of which 
 was urgent. Being the pastor of an evangelical 
 church, recognized in Eussia, he was able to baptize 
 those who desired baptism. He wrote: — "On 
 October 2, 1887, was held a missionary festival. 
 Thousands assembled, and I baptized the first 
 Kischineff convert." A fortnight later he baptized 
 three daughters of Rabinowich. 
 
 Mr. Leitner, another convert of Mr. Schonberger, 
 now in Constantinople, visited Kischineff" soon 
 after, and gave the same encouraging view of the 
 work. 
 
 This work deeply interested Dr. Saphir and 
 Professor Delitzsch, because it seemed to give 
 promise of a wide national movement in the future. 
 " It must be viewed," said Dr. Saphir, " in con- 
 nection with the present condition of the Jewish 
 nation, and the light of the prophetic Word. A 
 crisis is evidently approaching. Talmudism and 
 the attempt to modernize Judaism, and to reduce 
 it to rationalistic Deism, have both failed, and have 
 proved themselves to be without vitality ; and yet 
 the national consciousness has been roused by the 
 recent anti-Semitic movement. The Jewish mission 
 
THE RABINOWIGH COUNCIL. 309 
 
 has been abundantly blessed, to a greater extent 
 than is generally believed, not merely in con- 
 versions, but in spreading the knowledge of 
 Scriptural and vital Christianity among the Jews, 
 and circulating the New Testament. ' Is Jesus 
 the Messiah and Lord ? ' is not so much a question 
 between the Christian Church and the Jews, as in 
 the first instance a Jewish question ; but appears 
 therefore as an indication — a foreshadowing of a 
 national movement, when we hear of Jews (how- 
 ever few in number) who have come to the con- 
 clusion that their dispersion and condition during 
 the last eighteen centuries is the consequence of 
 their rejection of Jesus — that Jesus is the promised 
 Messiah, Son of David, and King of Israel ; that 
 the writings of evangelists and apostles are the 
 continuation of the Divine record entrusted to the 
 Fathers." 
 
 Delitzsch, speaking of the movement, says, 
 Rabinowich seems to be a church historical phe- 
 nomenon, which revives our hope of Israel's ulti- 
 mate conversion to their Messiah. Though not 
 unacquainted with the dogmatic confession of 
 Christian Churches, his type of teaching is Jewish- 
 Christian, and his whole mode of viewing and 
 expressing truth is original, being drawn directly 
 from the Apostolic Word, with individual freshness. 
 
 The Council formed in London to aid this 
 work, which was constituted after Mr. Schonberger 
 had given his report of his first visit, and at his 
 suggestion we believe, was, under Dr. Saphir's 
 
010 THE RABINOWICH MOVEMENT. 
 
 guidance, enabled to help the work very materially. 
 It is now presided over by Mr. J. E. Mathieson. 
 At the begin]aing, in a few days, Saphir raised for 
 it £800. There was no work dearer to his heart. 
 Let us hope with him that it is the beginning of a 
 great movement which will affect Judaism in all 
 parts of the world. Other movements of a similar 
 kind have since begun, in other countries. The 
 general attitude of the Jews to Christ is different 
 from what it has been at any time since Christ 
 appeared. They no longer despise or hate Him, 
 but rather glory in Him as a Jew. There may 
 thus be a sudden acceptance on the part of 
 multitudes of Jews, ere long, of His true Messiah- 
 ship. 
 
 Of the Eabinowich movement Dr. Saphir says in 
 a letter : — 
 
 "The movement among the Jews in the South of Russia 
 has entered into a new phase. I had a most interesting letter 
 from dear Professor Delitzsch. He says he is quite ' electrified'' 
 by the tidings. The Russian Government and the Holy Synod 
 have sanctioned the movement, and allowed the Jews to form 
 a Community called ' Israelites of the New Testament.' They 
 are to have their own synagogue, with the Hebrew Bible (Old 
 and New Testament bound together). Last Wednesday I 
 addressed more than one hundred people in Mrs. "Wingate's 
 drawing-room on the subject." 
 
 Dr. Saphir gives in a letter the following narrative 
 of Eabinowich — 
 
 " A Jewish advocate in the South of Russia wrote some 
 years ago in Russian Hebrew periodicals about the moral and 
 social condition of the Jews, the state of the Rabbis, &c., very 
 high-toned. Then he went to Palestine, at the time of the 
 
SAPHIR'S NARRATIVE OF RABINOWIGH. ^ll 
 
 Russian persecution, and returned with this result : ' There 
 is no hope for Israel but by restoring our Brother Jesus' 
 His creed is very remarkable. He sees that the dealings of 
 God with Israel culminate in Jesus, whom he regards as the 
 Messiah, King David, Angel of the Covenant, &c. ; that the 
 New Testament is of Divine authority ; that righteousness is by 
 faith; that Christ's Death and Resurrection are the foundation 
 of our life ; that Israel is punished for its rejection of Christ, 
 and the Gentiles brought in ; and that there will be a national 
 recognition of Christianity, apart from the creeds and organiz- 
 ations of the Gentiles ; and the Sabbath and other parts of the 
 law he thinks Jewish Christians ought to observe, not for 
 justification, but as national ordinances. Of course he never 
 dreams of Gentiles doing it, and if Jewish Christians do not 
 observe them, he does not judge them. He has gathered a 
 small congregation, and they are building a synagogue, and 
 circulating Hebrew New Testaments. Pastor Faltin, in Kisch- 
 inei? (an old saint), was in former years wonderfully blessed 
 among the Jews. The Rabbi of the town was converted 
 through him, and is now a Christian minister in North Russia. 
 F. never thought of the Jews till a Christian woman in his 
 church, who had been praying for the Jews for eighteen years 
 before, said to him one day, ' Do not forget the thousands of 
 Jews in this place.' It is a most striking illustration of the 
 fact that all movements of the Church originate in prayer, 
 and often in the prayer of simple Christians, who by faith 
 have a deeper insight into God's ways than the more learned. 
 Delitzsch is greatly excited, dear old man ! What an example 
 he is of humility and love. All the Jewish work he does is in 
 addition to his University and Church duties ; he is Kirchen- 
 rath. But it is impossible to see the position of the Jews in 
 the Bible without feeling bound to the missions ; and how any 
 one can believe the Bible as a true history — and not in the 
 Jewish position, I can't conceive. But I believe this is part 
 of the offence of the cross. . . . Contrary to all my expecta- 
 tions, my Ganz Israel has been so well received in Germany 
 that a very large edition is exhausted, and it will be re-issued 
 and also translated into Danish," 
 
312 SCOTTISH MISSION JUBILEE. 
 
 On May 24, 1889, the Jubilee Year of the 
 Scottish Jewish Mission, there was a special meet- 
 ing during the General Assembly of the Free 
 Church of Scotland, to which Dr. Saphir was 
 earnestly invited. It was a great gathering, at 
 which the Eev. Dr. Wilson of the Barclay Church, 
 Convener, the Rev. Dr. Eobert Smith of Corsock, 
 missionary at Pesth in former days, the Rev. Dr. 
 Andrew A. Bonar, and one or two Jewish mis- 
 sionaries, gave addresses. Dr. Saphir thus referred 
 to his own conversion and baptism : — 
 
 "It is forty-six years this month of May since, in common 
 with my dear father, then more than sixty years old, and my 
 mother, my brother, and three sisters, I was baptized into 
 the holy name of our covenant God. That day shines forth 
 in my memory above all other days of my life — a day of 
 intense solemnity, sweetest peace, and most childlike assurance 
 of the love of God in Christ Jesus, which bound all the 
 members of my family in a new and clear unity. Though I 
 am only eight years older than your Mission, I have the most 
 vivid remembrance of its earliest beginnings. I remember 
 seeing that venerable and loving man Dr. Keith when, on his 
 return from Palestine, he visited my father, and the strong 
 impression which he made on his mind. I still possess the 
 English Bible which he gave to him. I, remember the first 
 meeting of my father with Dr. Duncan. It was in a book- 
 seller's shop, and, by a strange coincidence, which my father 
 pointed out to me, just after he had bought a work containing 
 the fierce attack of a pantheist on Christianity. I remember 
 the first Sunday services held in the hotel for the English 
 residents at Pesth, when Dr. Duncan and Mr. Smith and Mr. 
 Wingate expounded the Scriptures. The subsequent meetings, 
 both in English and in German, are distinctly in my recollec- 
 tion, so simple and outwardly unattractive, but so full of light 
 and power, bringing the message of the love of God to eager 
 listeners, I was present at the baptism of Alfred Edersheipj, 
 
SAPmR'S SPIlEGH AT THE JUBILEE. 313 
 
 who only a few weeks ago fell asleep in Jesus after having 
 rendered valuable service to theological literature, which will 
 also be of use in Jewish work. I remember the baptism of 
 Tomory, a missionary who has for more than forty years 
 laboured faithfully among Israel. I cannot dwell on these 
 memories, or attempt to describe the solemnity, the intense 
 conviction of sin, the abundant joy in redemption, the great 
 love and brotherly unity, which characterized that year of 
 revival which so soon followed your first effort to send the 
 gospel to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It was the 
 love of Christ that constrained you ; but you would have had 
 no faith and courage to found the Jewish Mission had it not 
 been for your firm belief in God's word of promise, and for 
 the unwavering and simple faith, without mental reservation, 
 in the Divine authority of the Old and New Testaments which 
 characterized your Church. Indeed, no mission to the Jews 
 can have any vitality and permanence unless it is based on full 
 and simple faith in the whole Word of God, from the first 
 chapter of Genesis to the last of Revelation : in the Old 
 Testament, which is Jewish and yet as cosmopolitan as the 
 New ; and the New, which, with all its universality, lays as 
 much stress as the Old on the peculiar and never-changing 
 position of Israel." 
 
 Letters were read from Dr. Moody Stuart and 
 otters, among them one from Delitzsch, very happy 
 in its closing allusion : — 
 
 " Smith, Duncan, and Wingate went out from Scotland to 
 witness to the Jews that the Crucified was truly their King, 
 the King Messiah, the Servant of the Lord, ' by whose stripes 
 we are healed.' They went forth, and the Lord Jesus went 
 with them, and the pleasure of the Lord prospered in their 
 hands. Buda-Pest showed in a striking way that there is 
 a remnant in Israel, according to the election of grace — a 
 remnant, according to the promise of Sion's Restorer — ' I will 
 lay the foundation with sapphires.^ " 
 
 Dr. Saphir enjoyed his visit to Edinburgh much, 
 
 X 
 
314 SAFHIE'S ADDRESS AT MILD MAY PARI^: 
 
 though he was much struck with the changes that 
 had taken place in Scottish religious opinions. 
 
 At the Jewish Convention, held in Mildmay Park 
 in 1889, he delivered an address on the Jewish 
 Mission, which set forth very forcibly its history 
 and claims and present prospects. He said : — 
 
 The Jewish mission is of comparatively recent 
 date. The Early Church soon lost the true under- 
 standing of the Old Testament. In the Mediaeval 
 Church the interest in the Jew was extremely 
 limited. There was a paganizing of Christianity 
 — an image worship, &c., which was especially 
 obnoxious to the Jews. Bernard of Clairvaux, 
 who of all Church Fathers came nearest to the 
 Eeformers, set before the Church that Israel was 
 still beloved, and that the time was coming for 
 her restoration. But the Jews were generally 
 persecuted. Luther turned his attention to the 
 Jews ; and many attempts did he make both to 
 show to the Christian Church the position of 
 Israel, as his famous tract shows, which is entitled 
 Jesus ivas horn a Jeiv, and also to argue with 
 the Jews, and to convince them, that that which 
 they were most earnestly seeking had come already, 
 and was treasured up in the Person of Jesus, but 
 he was not able fully to meet that which was true 
 in the objection of the Jews, the tenacity with 
 which they held the promise given to the fathers, 
 and their national position in looking forward 
 to the realization of that great kingdom which 
 
ON JEWISH MISSIONS. 315 
 
 has its centre in the throne of David. Then in 
 
 impatience he gave up all efforts, and thought 
 
 that it was of no use, and that they were 
 
 altogether a rejected people. Since the middle of 
 
 last century Christians have taken an interest in 
 
 the people of Israel ; but always those who not 
 
 merely thoroughly and cordially, and without any 
 
 reservation believed in the Divine authority of the 
 
 Scriptures from Genesis down to the book of 
 
 the Apocalypse, but who accepted the scriptural 
 
 teaching that Israel was God's nation, and that, 
 
 though set aside for a time, there were still promises 
 
 which must surely be fulfilled to them ; and that 
 
 that nation had a future before it, when God 
 
 Himself should interfere, and in a way which 
 
 perhaps we are not able to understand, show forth 
 
 His power and His goodness, and bring them again 
 
 unto Himself in their own land. The interest in 
 
 Jewish missions will soon decay unless grounded on 
 
 the Word of God. 
 
 Even the most shallow reader of Scripture must 
 make a difference between the Jews and the other 
 nations. Their past history, the wonderful reve- 
 lation which God gave to their fathers, the wonder- 
 ful acts which He did for them, show this. The 
 Avhole Scripture was written by Jewish hands. 
 Jesus was of the seed of David, of the seed of 
 Abraham. The Jewish mission of the present day 
 is especially in harmony with the characteristic 
 feature of the present stage of the Church and 
 the world. The Mediaeval Church did not possess 
 
316 SAPHIRS ADDRESS ON JEWISH MISSIONS. 
 
 sufficient gospel light ; the Eeformation Church did 
 not possess sufficient projihetic light to go to the 
 Jews. The great battle-field at present is the Old 
 Testament. Never mind the apparent results, the 
 difficulties, and the destructive criticism. 
 
 The end of this conflict is sure. The Old Testa- 
 ment and the New are one. The whole Old Testa- 
 ment, the friend of the mission to the heathen, 
 says : "The idols shall be utterly destroyed." The 
 New Testament says : "All Israel shall be saved." 
 The Jewish mission has reached another stage, on 
 account of the peculiar change which has come 
 over Israel. When Israel rejected the key which 
 alone is able to open the wonderfully complicated 
 lock, the Old Testament, their own history, and the 
 promises which God had given to them, it could 
 not be otherwise but that they should invent other 
 keys, and these keys had as it were to force the 
 wards of the lock. Rabbinism for a number of 
 centuries kept the Jews in its iron grip, but Rab- 
 binism and Talmudism have become effete. What 
 has been substituted for them ? Monotheism, but 
 not Jehovahism ; the idea of the unicity of God, 
 but not the knowledge of the livino; and the lovins; 
 God. Monotheism is not able to satisfy the 
 conscience, or give peace and joy to the heart, and, 
 therefore, there are in Israel multitudes who are 
 poor in spirit, who are hungering and thirsting, who 
 have the consciousness that they are blind and 
 miserable and wretched, and who are longing after 
 the living water that will satisfy the craving of 
 
HE LONGS FOR HIS NATIVE LAND. 317 
 
 tlieir soul. Their attitude to the person of Jesus 
 has been changed ; and to the New Testament. 
 Formerly they would not touch it, but many 
 thousands now read it. Rabinowich is a wonder- 
 ful sign of the times, and the message which, as 
 a Jew, he brings to the Jews, that Jesus is our 
 Brother whom we sold into Egypt, has awakened 
 a marvellous echo. The Jews have entered into 
 a new phase. The field is prepared. 
 
 Saphir's intense interest in the Jewish mission, 
 and devotion to it, continued to increase to the end. 
 One of the last wishes he expressed, during the few 
 days that intervened between the death of his wife 
 and his own death, was to return, at all events for 
 a time, to his native Hungaiy, to visit the missions 
 there, and to strengthen the hands of his Jewish 
 brethren in the faith. 
 
318 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 CLOSING DAYS. 
 
 Residence at Netting Hill — Services sought — Many Afflictions 
 — Visit to Bournemouth. — Happy Ministry there — Letter on 
 Lux Mundi — Return Home — Last Sermon — Mrs. Saphir's 
 Death — His Letters in regard to her Death and Funeral 
 — His own Sudden Death and Funeral — Rev. R. Taylor's 
 Funeral Address — Testimony of Rev. 0. H. Spurgeon and 
 others — Inscription on the Tombstone. 
 
 DR. SAPHIR resigned his charge at Halkin Street 
 in April 1888, and from that time to his 
 death, three years later, he had no charge ; but he 
 continued to reside at Notting Hill. In the winter 
 of 1888-89 he gave the Lectures, of which we have 
 spoken, at St. John's Presbyterian Church, Allen 
 Street, Kensington. His services were frequently 
 sought after. He preached in different churches. 
 In this period there was often much depression. 
 There were many afflictions. He felt deeply the 
 death of the Rev. John Kelly of the Religious Tract 
 Society, a friend of many years standing. Two of 
 Mrs. Saphir's sisters died, and Miss Cavendish passed 
 away. These events made a deep impression on 
 the Saphirs, and seemed to give them a kind of 
 foreboding that death was uot very far off. Mrs, 
 
HAPPY MINISTRY AT BOURNEMOUTH. 319 
 
 Sapliir became much more fragile, and her state 
 caused him at times great anxiety. 
 
 There was however a gleam of bright sunshine 
 before the end. He gloried in the preaching 
 of the gospel, and he was most joyful, at every 
 period of his ministry, when his labours were 
 appreciated and effective. The Rev. J. W. Eodger 
 of Bournemouth had to leave his work for a time 
 on account of his health ; and he arranged with Dr. 
 Saphir to take his place for the winter of 1890-91. 
 Many old friends rallied round him there, and 
 many, who had not known him before, were 
 attracted. The church, which is a most prosperous 
 one, was filled, and much blessing resulted from 
 his ministry. It recalled to Dr. Saphir the old 
 days of Greenwich, and his first years at Notting 
 Hill, and his heart was filled with joy. He often 
 took one or two other services in the week, besides 
 that of the Sabbath morning, for which alone he 
 was responsible. 
 
 He thus wrote to Mr. Grant Wilson on December 
 23, 1890 :— 
 
 We are grieved to hear of your daughter's long and severe 
 illness. We hope she, and you, and Mrs. Wilson will soon be 
 sensible of the good effects of St. Leonard's. The weather is 
 still unfavourable to invalids. My dear wife has scarcely been 
 out of the house for the last month, and she has felt languid 
 and depressed. I am thankful to say, though I do not feel 
 stronger, I have greatly enjoyed the services here, and felt 
 much encouraged by the audiences. I had a service this 
 morning, and a collection for the Jews. The people are very 
 kind. I have had a good many " eclectics," specially Church 
 
320 LETTER TO GRANT WILSON. 
 
 of England. I don't know whether you noticed in The 
 Christian two short paragraphs about my services, and extracts 
 from sermons. Mr. Rodger and Session and people urge me 
 very much to stay till the end of March ; but I have yielded only 
 to rem.ain all January. My dear wife's health does not seem 
 to be improving. All the people I have spoken to like Mr. 
 Rodger's preaching very much. McNeill preached here on 
 Wednesday afternoon. He has great power, no doubt. I like 
 him in private ; he is very simple and frank. Lady Grant 
 came here for three Sundays. We were greatly cheered by 
 her visit. Mr. Grubb, the great Church of England missioner 
 in Australia and India, told me he had made great use of my 
 book on Conversion in his missionary work. The Presbyterian 
 Church here has a good position, but it depends exclusively 
 on the Tninister's energy. . . But I must conclude. The year 
 has had many sorrows and many mercies. May we be per- 
 mitted to enter on the new year with every needful grace, and 
 with calm hope ! 
 
 His latest ministry at Bournemouth (says Mr. Grant 
 Wilson) seemed a sort of renewal of the Greenwich days ; 
 devout people from all communions rallying to him, and 
 delighting in his ministry. The place he did not care for ; it 
 did not, he thought, suit him or his wife; but his heart rejoiced 
 in his work. It seemed to me like a glorious sunset, vouch- 
 safed by His Master to His faithful servant. Then how soon 
 after came the close ! We had been much in his prayers, 
 as our only daughter lay in grievous sickness ; her life trem- 
 bling in the balance for many months. Out of this valley of 
 the shadow of death I wrote to him, the moment I heard of his 
 wife's death, pressing him to come to us at St. Leonard's, 
 promising him sunny rooms, perfect quiet, and no intrusion, 
 and a godly nurse on our staff to wait upon him. But it was 
 not to be. He was not, for God took him. 
 
 In the following letter, Mr. Wingate gives an 
 interesting reference to this period : — 
 
 " We are just returned from Freshwater Bay, Isle of Wight, 
 close to the Poet Laureate's residence. The blessing of the 
 
MR. WING ATE' S LETTER. 321 
 
 mission to the Jews had an interesting illustration. The day 
 of our arrival, the other half of our lodging was occupied by 
 a Hyde gentleman, a former mayor of that town, who reminded 
 me of my residence there thirty years ago. He is a decided 
 Christian, and told me he had met Dr. Saphir at Bournemouth 
 during his last winter there, and lodged in the same house. 
 He had been ordered there after an attack of pneumonia. 
 He is about seventy. He was devoted to Saphir. Every 
 Sunday, Saphir, being unable to walk, took him in the carriage 
 to church. Every one of the services in the Scotch Church he 
 attended. He was with him the day he left Bournemouth. 
 When in Ryde, thirty years ago, our next neighbour was 
 Major York Martin, a cavalry officer and landed proprietor. 
 His wife was Scotch, and serious ; the major the reverse till 
 late in his life, when he came under the power of the gospel, 
 attracted by his daughter's faith after we left, and was attended 
 on his death-bed by the Evangelical clergyman of the Church 
 of England. They had one son and one daughter, the latter 
 a most interesting, elegant young lady, and most intelligent, 
 but born deaf and dumb. Hearing we were in the island, she 
 drove over to see us, and told me that it was through our inter- 
 course thirty years ago that she was brought to Christ. She 
 had the original account by Dr. Keith of the origin of the 
 Pesth mission, and had always kept up a lively interest in 
 God's ancient people. She seemed very happy, and nursed her 
 mother, now an invalid. She wrote to my daughter as follows : — 
 ' Please tell your mother and father that I believe Dr. Saphir's 
 book, called Found hy the Good Shepherd, was the means of 
 much blessing to my late sister-in-law' (wife of Captain 
 Martin, her only brother). She was telling me about it a fort- 
 night before she was gone, showing me a passage in this book 
 (p. 159) beginning with, ' Lord, remember me ! ' and said that 
 she would like it read to her when she was dying. A few 
 days after she passed away, and her wish was granted." 
 
 In a letter to a relative dated Bournemouth, 
 February 3, he says : — 
 
 " I am still here, though the place does not agree with either 
 
322 SAFIIIR'S REFERENCE TO 'LUX MUNDL' 
 
 of us. But the minister is still abroad, and one of the chief 
 members of the church who is very much attached to us is 
 dying. I don't know how long I may stay on. I told them 
 Sunday 8th is my last, but I may stay another Sunday or two." 
 
 After speaking of family affairs, he refers to Lux 
 Mundi. His relative was a clergyman : — 
 
 "As for Lux Mundi, I have only read an analysis of it in 
 a German theological paper. It seems to me a thoroughly 
 unsound book ; not holding the utter and radical difference 
 between Truth, the Oracles of God committed and entrusted 
 to Israel, Revelation embodied in Scripture, on the one hand, 
 and the thoughts, inspirations, and intuitions of men. The 
 Rev. H. S. Holland does not seem to know what faith is, and 
 views it (according to this analysis) chiefly as the subjective 
 longing upwards, not as the iiducia, calling Jesus my Christ and 
 Saviour, and given by the Spirit. All this talk about heathen 
 sages and moralists being substantially Christians, bolstered 
 up with quotations from the Fathers (who were poor muddled 
 babies in doctrine, most of them), is very weak, and subversive 
 of fundamental truth. ' I am the Way.' As for the kenosis 
 being an argument to invalidate the force of Christ's declaration 
 concerning Sci'ipture, it is painful to have such a mystery and 
 speculation brought to bear on a simple and important practical 
 point. But granting all the views of the kenosis, Christ viewed 
 simply as a Frophet , and the Prophet could not mislead on such 
 a vital question. The distinction between self-made, subjective 
 prophets, and those whom God sent (vide Jeremiah), and the 
 very Mission of Christ, so often insisted on in the Gospels 
 (specially John), to be the light, and to make known to us the 
 Father, and all the Father wishes us to know, invests Christ's 
 teaching with absolute authority and certitude. 
 
 " This combination of High Churchism and Broad Churchism 
 is like the rheumatic gout. On the subject of the Church it 
 is high time that Christians should be taught clearly. It is 
 astonishing what a failure the so-called Church has been at all 
 times, a few bright glimpses of the Reformation period (about 
 twenty or thirty years) and such-like once a century, excepted, 
 
MODERN BIBLE CRITICISM REJECTED. 32n 
 
 This is a large subject, and I fancy you would think me too 
 radical if I wrote more. I told a Eitualist clergyman once, 
 The Church is quite as much a failure as an outward Institution, 
 as Israel was ! It is very sad to see the Church of England 
 so fearfully undermined and poisoned. Read CarlyU} Moses 
 and the Prophets ; also Cave's Conflict of the Standpoints." 
 
 Saphir, it may be seen in this and other of his 
 letters, rejected, as unfounded, the modern revo- 
 lutionary criticism of the Old Testament of Graf, 
 Kuenen, Wellhausen, and others, modified, but 
 still adopted in its main outlines, by Driver and 
 emphatically by Cheyue. He considered that its 
 true basis was to be found, as avowed by Kuenen, 
 the ablest of the critics, in the denial or ignoring 
 of the supernatural — the attempt to account for 
 the history apart from God. He believed that it 
 would speedily pass away, as the similar attempt 
 of Friedrich Baur with the books of the New 
 Testament, but that in the meantime it was doins: 
 immense mischief in the Churches, in the un- 
 settling of faith, and that it was logically sub- 
 versive of Christianity. He was much grieved in 
 spirit and troubled in regard to this question, in 
 his later years. In his entire rejection of it in its 
 main features, he was supported by all converted 
 Jews of learning, we believe, and by almost all 
 the learned Rahbis, to whom Hebrew is familiar 
 from childhood as a native tongue. 
 
 The Saphirs returned from Bournemouth on 
 
 1 Referring to a little book of mine, which he strongly 
 recommended to a, number of people. — G. C, 
 
324 DR. SAPHIR'S LAST SERMON. 
 
 Friday, March 13, both in excellent spirits, and, as 
 many of their friends thought, looking better than 
 when they left. Others, however, thought differ- 
 ently. On Saturday evening his friend, Mr. Frank 
 White, of Talbot Tabernacle, was iU, and sent to 
 him, to ask him to preach there on Sunday morn- 
 ing. This he did. It was his last sermon. His 
 subject, singularly enough, was " Enoch walked 
 with God." After his wife's death he remarked 
 how singular it was that he should have chosen 
 such a text, little thinking, even then, that it 
 woUld apply also to himself. 
 
 Mr. Frank White writes as to this : — 
 
 " You are, I believe, writing a biography of dear Mr. Saphir. 
 May I say lie preached his last sermon in our Talbot Tabernacle 
 about three weeks before his death, upon the text ' Enoch 
 walked with God.' It was noticed he stopped here, leaving 
 his own departure to illustrate the remainder — ' And he was 
 not, for God took him.' I was in very broken health at the 
 time ; and with his oft-proved kindness he consented to preach 
 for me, with only a few hours' notice. Many were struck with 
 the singular freshness and power which characterized this, 
 his last discourse on earth. May the special grace of God 
 strengthen you in your good effort, that, thereby, he being 
 dead, may yet speak ! " 
 
 Dr. Saphir thus wrote to Mrs. Eodger after his 
 return to London, on March 18, and about a 
 fortnight before his death ; — 
 
 " We got home on Friday, and I was feeling most tired on 
 Saturday, when at nine o'clock at night a neighbouring minis- 
 ter's wife called and told me her husband was rather ill, and 
 so I had to take bis Morning Service. 
 
 " I hope the weather in Bournemouth is better than here, 
 
HIS LETTER TO MRS. RODGER. 325 
 
 so that you will not feel the change too much after the sunny 
 skies of the south. The people will be greatly delighted to 
 see you again, and I am sure you will have a very warm 
 welcome. Although we both felt languid all the time — perhaps 
 partly owing to the unfavourable weather, and the somewhat 
 limited lodgings — we enjoyed our stay at Bournemouth very 
 much, and shall always cherish a very pleasant and grateful 
 remembrance of it. So many congenial and kind people turned 
 up, also old friends — former hearers — that we felt greatly 
 cheered. We became very much attached to dear Mr. 
 Murray, and I am thankful I was able to see so much of him. 
 He often spoke of you, and very warmly. His simple faith 
 never wavered, and his delight in the Word of God and in 
 prayer was great. I said a few words about him the Sunday 
 after his death, and the congregation seemed much affected. . . 
 '•■ My whole time at St. Andrew's Chu.rch was bright, and 
 without the slightest even momentary cloud, and I do trust 
 that it has pleased God to give spiritual blessing. I felt 
 quite at home in the church. We got quite fond of Mr. 
 Douglas. Miss Digby often came to the church, and we 
 are greatly impressed with her thoroughness and devotion. 
 Mrs. Dent and my wife became quite romantically attached to 
 each other. Miss Jackson also we liked very much. . . . We 
 hope you will have much blessing and happiness in your home 
 and church, and all needful grace and strength. Mrs. East 
 was extremely kind, and we enjoyed her frauk and sensible 
 conversation much. There is a dear bright old lady, Mrs. 
 Millie, who was introduced to us by a friend at Montreux. 
 She is eighty-three, but very bright. Mrs. Hogue was also 
 very kind in calling, &c." 
 
 After this he was attacked with influenza, from 
 which he had suffered before. There seemed no- 
 thing serious ; but ]\J[rs. Saphir, as usual, constantly 
 tended him, and she also became ill. With her the 
 attack speedily passed to the lungs. At first little 
 was thought of it ; but she became rapidly worse, 
 
326 MRS. SAPHIR'S DEATH. 
 
 and on the day before her death the case was 
 pronounced hopeless. She fell asleep calmly on the 
 morning of Tuesday, March 31, two or three weeks 
 after the return to London. Her last message to 
 a faithful servant was to take care of her master. 
 We have two letters written after Mrs. Saphir's 
 death. The first, on the day of her death, addressed 
 to their niece, Mrs. Maturin, is as follows : — 
 
 "My DEAR Leila, 
 
 "My brain and lieart are both petrified — as I write 
 to you of the awful loss I have sustained. Your dear aunt 
 Sara passed away this morning at one o'clock. No pain or 
 even struggle. We had both influenza (I am full of ear- 
 aches and deafiiess, &c.), and dear A. S. went to a separate 
 room on Wednesday. Severe bronchitis, pneumonia, con- 
 gestion of the lungs, and weakness of heart made it almost 
 hopeless from the beginning. Stanley Smith was not anxious 
 till Sunday. Second opinion, Harvey, on Monday. She 
 scarcely knew she was very ill — had no pain. I saw her to the 
 very last, but she could not say a word. Before that she had 
 said little kind things about Ethel's baby, etc. 
 
 " Dear Lady Grant, the Jaoombs, and the Schijnbergers are 
 extremely kind. I hope to have the funeral on Friday — only 
 a few friends ; and I am not able for anything, being still 
 neuralgic, and have only Mary and Chickmoor. Both are 
 very good ; so really the kindest thing is to have the funeral 
 very, very quiet. 
 
 " Your dear Aunt Sara is the most wonderful thing I have 
 seen. The most perfect simplicity and childlike purity, and 
 an expression of deep thought. It is most striking. 
 
 " I cannot say more. I dare not think of the Future. I 
 ought to be thankful for the Past and for Eternity. 
 
 " Give my love to all the family. I am sure I have their 
 sympathy. I could speak to her to the last of the Blessed 
 Saviour, the love of Go.l, and the perfect safety of Christ's 
 blood -bought Hock. 
 
LETTERS IX REGARD TO HER DEATH. 327 
 
 " God bless you, my dear Leila ! She enjoyed your last 
 letter. Always yours, 
 
 "A. Saphie.'' 
 
 The second letter — the last probably he ever 
 wrote — was addressed on the following day, Wednes- 
 day, April 1, to Mrs. Rodger of Bournemouth : — 
 
 "My deae Mes. Rodgee, 
 
 " I can only write a line, my head and heart are so 
 sore. My darling Sara passed away yesterday morning, 
 after a few days' illness. I began with influenza, and she 
 followed, and had to go to another room. After two days, 
 bronchitis led to pneumonia and congestion of the lungs. 
 Heart very weak. I knew of her intense danger only eight 
 hours or so. She had no pain, and no idea of danger. She 
 passed away most quietly. She looked at me, and listened to 
 the few words about the Father and Saviour I addressed 
 to her. 
 
 " Dear Mrs. Eodger, I cannot write. She often spoke of 
 you, and of Mr. Rodger's new start. She felt great ailection 
 for the Bournemouth people. A very sweet remembrance ! 
 
 " If Mr. Rodger would ask the Christian friends at St. 
 Andrew's to remember me in prayer, in my overwhelming 
 sorrow and desolateness of heart, I would esteem it a great 
 kindness. The Lord bless you both, and guide you day by 
 day ! I knew my dear wife since '52 ; we were married in 
 '54 ; and oh, what a treasure she was ! I have to give thanks. 
 Her face was exquisite after death, the simplicity and wisdom 
 of a child. My dear friend — au revoir, as you said. 
 
 '• Yours sincerely, 
 
 "A. Saphir. 
 
 " P.S. — I am full of neuralgia and influenza. 
 " I could not finish this till Thursday." 
 
 On Friday was the funeral of Mrs. Saphir. His 
 attached friend, Lady Grant, was present in the 
 
328 DR. SAPHIR'S LAST DAYS ON EARTH. 
 
 house. A mutual friend states the following 
 affecting incident, described to her with deep 
 emotion by Lady Grant herself, just after it had 
 happened : — " Lady Grant had brought a wreath 
 of white flowers to put upon the coffin of her dearlj'' 
 loved friend. Dr. Saphir took it in his hand, 
 and placed it himself and said, ' I will put this 
 wreath on the left side near her heart.' And then 
 he added, after a slight pause, ' and I wish now, 
 before my dear wife is carried to her last resting- 
 place, and in the presence of these few faithful 
 friends, to say what I feel about dear Lady Grant's 
 tender and unchanging friendship for us. The 
 deep comfort of her warm sympathy and affection 
 in hours of sorrow and anxiety cannot be expressed 
 by me, for she has been more than a mother to us.' " 
 He was deeply moved as he thus spoke. 
 
 Dr. Saphir was forbidden to attend the funeral ; 
 and his old and dear friend, Mr. Wingate, re- 
 mained with him in the house. He read many 
 of the letters of sympathy, seemed collected, and 
 he gave utterance to the words more than once 
 — " God is light, and in Him is no darkness " — 
 showing his perfect submission to the Divine will, 
 and his sense of the Divine love in the midst 
 of it all. He had no anticipation of his im- 
 mediate death. He had talked of leaving London, 
 and said in connection with this, when told 
 that a grave had been purchased for two, that 
 It was unnecessary, as he would not remain in 
 London. He had thoughts of returning to visit the 
 
HIS SUFFERINGS AND DEATH. 329 
 
 home of his fathers — Pesth — which he had never 
 seen since his boyhood. Knowing that he was now 
 intestate, since he had left all in his will to his 
 wife, he arranged that his lawyer should visit him 
 on the next morning, at nine, to make a new will. 
 He took supper with his brother-in-law, Mr. E. H. 
 Perrin of Liverpool, who had come to the funeral 
 of Mrs. Saphir, and was staying with him, aad he 
 went to bed apparently well. About four o'clock 
 the servant was awakened by his knocking on the 
 wall. She found him in great pain. He requested 
 her at oace to send for Dr. Stanley Smith, who 
 was for many years a devoted friend as well as 
 medical adviser. His sufferings continued to in- 
 crease. He endured great agony for a time. Dr. 
 Stanley Smith used every effort to save him, but 
 the case was soon seen to be hopeless. He had 
 been attacked by angina pectoris, caused by the 
 sad excitement through which he had passed, for 
 he never had had any threatening of it before. 
 On his brother-in-law, Mr. Schonberger, speaking 
 to him of confidence in the glorious promises, he 
 gave signs of his acquiescence. He repeated to 
 him several psalms. Mrs. Schonberger was also 
 present at the time of his death. He passed 
 away before nine o'clock in the morning ; his 
 countenance most noble in death. His friends, 
 who came anxiously to inquire for him, were 
 startled by the intelligence that he had also gone. 
 Thus, within four days wife and husband, so 
 devoted to each other, had passed away from the 
 
330 DR. SAPHIR'8 FUNERAL. 
 
 scenes of earth. Many of his friends had wondered 
 how he would ever get on without her, but the 
 question was now solved. 
 
 The funeral took place on Wednesday, April 8. 
 The coffin was borne to Trinity Church, Notting 
 Hill, so associated with him, and where so many 
 had listened to his words of power. Dr. Sinclair 
 Paterson, the minister, presided. The church was 
 filled with many mourning friends. Dr. Paterson, 
 Dr. Dykes, and others took part in the services, 
 and an impromptu address, which was thrilling and 
 powerful, was given by the Rev. Robert Taylor, 
 ever a much-loved friend. The following account 
 appeared of the funeral, and address, in T%e 
 Christian of April 17, 1891 : — 
 
 The deep and widespread feeling of sorrow at 
 the unexpected decease of the eminent preacher and 
 writer was manifest in the large and very repre- 
 sentative gathering of friends at the funeral service 
 last week in the Presbyterian Church, Notting Hill. 
 Many members of the London Presbyteries were 
 present, as well as the pastors belonging to other 
 denominations, and a large body of former hearers 
 and friends from difierent parts of London. The 
 pulpit in which Dr. Saphir had stood so often 
 and delivered his wonderful discourses was draped 
 in black, and a solemn, sorrowful hush seemed 
 to brood over the congregation throughout the 
 impressive service. 
 
 As the coffin, laden with beautiful wreaths of 
 white flowers, was being carried up the aisle and 
 
BF.V. R. TAYLORS FUNERAL ADDRESS. 331 
 
 deposited in front of the pulpit, Dr. Sinclair 
 Paterson (the pastor of the church) and Principal 
 Oswald Dykes took their places in the pulpit, with 
 brethren of Presb3'tery and other well-known 
 brethren, grouped around immediately below. The 
 service began with a brief but pathetic prayer by 
 Dr. Paterson. Then was sung the hymn — 
 
 " The sands of time are sinking, 
 The dawn of heaven breaks," 
 
 chosen because it was a favourite with the departed. 
 Dr. Dykes read portions of the funeral service — 
 prayers breathing resignation, and beseeching for 
 the sorrowing survivors the consolations of the 
 Divine Spirit ; and passages of Scripture full of 
 comfort and hope. During the reading, and 
 throughout the solemn engagements of the hour, 
 many in the congregation were bowed with grief. 
 After another hymn — 
 
 "Peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin," 
 
 the Rev. Robert Taylor of Upper Norwood delivered 
 with much feeling a short address. He said : — 
 
 Dear Friends and Fellow-mourners, — It is only 
 a few minutes since I was asked to take part in 
 this sad and solemn, and yet in some ways joyous 
 and beautiful, service. Even though I had had 
 long notice, I could not have felt myself qualified 
 to express half my own sense, or yours, of the 
 preciousness of the gift that God gave to us 
 in our departed brother, or the greatness of the 
 loss that we have sustained by His recalling that 
 
332 REV. R. TAYLOR'S ADDRESS 
 
 precious gift. Still less could I trust myself to 
 give utterance to the feelings of affection and 
 admiration which sprang up spontaneously, and 
 continued during the whole term of my acquaint- 
 ance with, and relation to, our departed friend and 
 God's servant. And yet possibly it may not be 
 inappropriate to say a few words, that, if they do 
 not express, will at least suggest, to you who knew 
 and loved Dr. Saphir as I did, what we owe to 
 him and to the God who gave him to us. The 
 thought of what we owe both to the memory of 
 our friend and the grace of his and our Master, 
 may well make us strive to imbibe those profound 
 views of Biblical truth which he saw so clearly and 
 preached so powerfully, and to walk in the foot- 
 steps of his clear and glowing hope until we, too, 
 see the King in His beauty, and see our brother 
 transformed and glorified (yet not beyond our 
 recognition), by the sight and in the light of the 
 Master, he loved so well and served so faithfully. 
 I suppose that when we heard — some of us 
 only yesterday — of the singular, I might venture 
 to say tragical, circumstances connected with the 
 departure of those two — husband and wife — so long 
 and so closely and tenderly linked to one another, 
 we were at first stunned and almost appalled by 
 what seemed to us the mysterious though, no 
 doubt, righteous and loving ways of their and our 
 Father. And yet I assume that a very few minutes' 
 reflection disclosed to us not only the singular 
 grace, but, I would venture to say, the singular 
 
AT DR. SAPHIR'S FUNERAL. 333 
 
 beauty of that Divine dispensation that severed 
 these two, so long and dearly Jinked, and for a 
 few brief days parted. It must have proved pain- 
 ful to our beloved brother when, not the hand of 
 death, but of Death's Destroyer and his dear Lord, 
 unclosed from his fond hand that hand which his 
 had so long clasped. But was it not gracious and 
 beautiful when the same Lord came back again, 
 and giving the solitary mourner His Own Divine 
 Hand, led him too across the valley, and reunited 
 those two, so suddenly and for so short a season 
 severed ; then in that blessed union, not a marriage 
 union, but better, and holier, and happier than a 
 marriage union — to the Blessed Bridegroom of all 
 redeemed souls, and to one another in Him, and 
 with Him, and like Him, for ever and ever ? 
 
 PROPHET, APOSTLE, SEER. 
 
 I cannot detain you by doing more than 
 pointing in simple phrase to what you and I 
 recognize and rejoice at, in the singular and pre- 
 eminent gifts and graces of our departed friend 
 and brother. It is true, indeed, as we are told in 
 the Lord's own Word, that the sons of God are 
 born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor 
 of the will of man, but of God. And yet I do not 
 do dishonour to the Divine grace, which is not 
 only paramount, but in some respects alone in the 
 wondrous transaction that makes a child of the 
 flesh into a spiritual child of the living God, when 
 I say that we can hardly fail to recognize and 
 
334 REV. R. TAYLOR'S ADDRESS 
 
 learn the influence of blood and of race in the 
 spirit and teaching of our departed brother. He 
 united in a rather remarkable way — in a way that 
 was only possible to one in whom the blood of 
 patriarchs, and prophets, and apostles flowed — the 
 spiritual insight, the sense of God, and of things 
 Godly and Divine, peculiarly appropriate at once 
 to the prophet of the Old Testament and the 
 apostle of the New. In these days, when truth 
 is thrown into the crucible, only, as we are fully 
 assured, to come forth like refined gold, how 
 precious to the Church of God were the teaching 
 and testimony of such a man of God, filled with 
 the Holy Ghost, and whose attitude towards Divine 
 truth was ever, not philosophical, not scientific, 
 but Biblical and spiritual ; who spoke as a man, 
 who saw and who felt, and therefore who fully 
 knew, the deep things of God ! And do we not 
 rejoice to-day, that though his voice is silent now, 
 his teaching lives in those precious volumes which 
 he has bequeathed as his legacy to the Church 1 
 Have we not often felt, as we listened to him, that 
 the fire and fervour of holy Samuel Eutherford, 
 and the depth and comprehensiveness of the great 
 John Owen, were combined in this remarkable man 1 
 This dispensation of the providence of our loving 
 Father, in many respects is sad and sore from our 
 point of view. But in these days, when so much 
 attention, especially on the part of our younger 
 ministers, is being given to comparatively sub- 
 ordinate and external questions afi'ecting the Book 
 
AT DR. SAFHIR'S FUNERAL. 335 
 
 of God, if this dispensation should lead our young- 
 men to baptize themselves — I might say to bury 
 themselves — in the thoughts and inspirations of the 
 great spiritual teacher, apostle, seer, whom God 
 hath now taken to Himself, it will not only not be 
 a heavy loss, but a great gain, first to the teachers 
 themselves, and then to the members of the Church 
 of God. 
 
 I feel that I have trespassed too far, but I 
 have just spoken what has come to my mind and 
 welled out of my heart at the moment. I loved 
 our departed friend with a very peculiar love. I 
 admired him, and in other years, more than recently, 
 I frequently enjoyed his delightful fellowship. I 
 was charmed to kuow, as only those who came in 
 contact with him in the confidence and ati'ection 
 of private friendship know, how the more solemn 
 and thoughtful elements of his character were 
 softened and illuminated by a singular gracious- 
 ness and a flashing humour of spirit. We recall 
 his gifts and graces, we bewail his loss, we cherish 
 his memory, we consecrate ourselves anew to the 
 service of the dear Master, whom he now sees face 
 to face. And we resolve and trust that the kingdom 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ shall be the great subject 
 of our thought, the great object of our anxiety, 
 of our effort, of our prayer, till we too see Him 
 in His beauty, where His servant now is — see Him, 
 mayhap, as His servant, in glowing language, often 
 pictured Him, when He shall come again in the 
 glory of His Father, attended by His angels, to 
 
336 SPUROHON'S TESTIMONY. 
 
 gather His saints into the light of His love, and 
 to say to them : " Come, ye blessed of My Father, 
 inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the 
 foundation of the world." 
 
 At the close of Mr. Taylor's address, prayer 
 was offered by the Rev. George Elder of Greenwich, 
 who succeeded Dr. Saphir in the ministry there. 
 The hymn was sung — 
 
 " For ever with the Lord," 
 
 and the Benediction was pronounced (in tones 
 never to be forgotten) by the Rev. W. Wingate, 
 the oldest living friend of the deceased, and one 
 of those who received Dr. Saphir into the fellowship 
 of the Christian Church at Pesth. 
 
 Mr. Spurgeon, who was so soon himself to 
 follow, thus noticed his death at the close of his 
 sermon, on April 12, 1891, one of the few last 
 sermons of his wonderful ministry : — 
 
 "Our dearly beloved friend Adolph Saphir 
 passed away last Saturday, and his wife died three 
 days before him. When my dear brother. Dr. 
 Sinclair Paterson, went to see him, the beloved 
 Saphir said to him, 'God is light, nnd in Him is 
 no darkness at all.' Nobody could have quoted 
 that passage but Saphir, the Biblical student, the 
 lover of the Word, the lover of the God of Israel— 
 'God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.' 
 His dear wife is gone, and he himself is ill ; but 
 ' God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.' 
 
MB. WINOATE'B TESTIMONY. 337 
 
 This is a deep well of overflowing comfort, if you 
 understand it well. God's providence is light as 
 well as His promise, and the Holy Spirit makes 
 us know this. God's word, and will, and way are 
 all light to His people, and in Him is no darkness 
 at all for them. God Himself is purely and only 
 light. What if there be darkness in me, there is 
 no darkness in Him ; and His Spirit causes me to 
 fly to Him ! What if there be darkness in my 
 family, there is no darkness in my covenant God, 
 and His Spirit makes me rest in Him ! What if 
 there be darkness in my body, by reason of my 
 failing strength, there is no failing in Him, and 
 there is no darkness in Him ; His Spirit assures 
 me of this. David says, ' God, my exceeding joy ' ; 
 and such He is to us. ' Yea, mine own God is 
 He.' Can you say, 'My God, my God'? Do 
 you want any more ? ... He is all that is good. 
 ' Light only ; in Him is no darkness at all.' I have 
 all light, yea, all things when I have my God." 
 
 Mr. Wingate wrote to the Jewish Herald:- — 
 In the death of Dr. Saphir, the Church has 
 lost the prince of Bible preachers. Like Luther, 
 he was a Doctor of Holy Scripture, and though 
 dead, his thoughtful and spirited books, no less 
 than his eminently helpful ministrations, will 
 speak to many hearts the Gospel of Christ for 
 years to come. 
 
 From the hour of his spiritual birth to his 
 sudden translation to glory last Saturday, grace 
 
338 NOTICES OF DR. SAPHIR'S DEATH. 
 
 reigned triumphantly in Dr. Saphir. He was one 
 of the most beautiful, heavenly-minded men of this 
 age ; humble, loving, filled with Scripture from 
 Genesis to Eevelation — a mind unique ; highly 
 educated in German, English, and all literature. 
 The gospel, in all his sermons, was so interwoven 
 with the Old and New Testaments, that without 
 any " Apologetics," you felt every heresy answered. 
 The "Word" was with him, the "Word of God," 
 living, powerful, awakening, sanctifying, saving. 
 Sincere Christians left the church rejoicing, feeling 
 like the disciples at Emmaus ; the Scriptures were 
 opened, and their hearts warmed by the Holy 
 Spirit, Christ Himself being in the midst of them, 
 fulfilling His promise, " Preach ye the gospel," 
 and " I am with you always, to the end of the 
 ages.", 
 
 Mrs. Saphir passed away in perfect peace. Her 
 funeral took place on Friday. Dr. Saphir sat in a 
 chair and received the mourners. After a short 
 service all left for Kensal Green cemetery, leaving me 
 in charge of Dr. Saphir. Being alone, we conversed 
 about his beloved wife, already " absent from the 
 body," but "present with the Lord." He spoke of his 
 last sermon (on Enoch, and applied it to her), and 
 then said how the eleventh chapter of St. John was 
 never out of his mind. , "It abode with me," he said, 
 "verse by verse, ever since I took ill ; but to-day I 
 am calmed and resigned by this word, ' God is light, 
 and in Him is no darkness — no darkness — no 
 darkness,' " emphasizing it thus. I now took leave, 
 
BEAUTIFUL THOUGHTS. 339 
 
 handing him over to the care of his brother-in-law, 
 neither of us dreaming that we should never 
 again converse on earth. Next morning a message 
 came, " Dr. Saphir passed away in perfect peace 
 before nine o'clock this morning." Lovely in 
 their forty years' union, in death they were not 
 divided. 
 
 A few days after the funeral of Dr. Saphir, Mr. 
 Schonberger remarked, " I closed the eyes of Dr. 
 Saphir's father in Buda-Pest ; I closed the eyes of 
 Dr. Saphir's mother, who lived with me in Prague ; 
 and now I am come to London to do the same, at 
 his deathbed." Mr. Schonberger could not see the 
 meaning of his return at first, but now it was 
 all plain. He and his wife, Dr. Saphir's only 
 surviving sister, carefully endorse the following 
 beautiful thoughts from the pen of one who is now 
 looking at ail things from the heavenly heights : — 
 
 " All the events of life are precious to one that 
 has this simple connection with Christ of faith and 
 love. No wind can blow wrong. If God but cares 
 for our inward and eternal life ; if by all the experi- 
 ences of this life He is reducing it aud preparing 
 for its disclosure, nothing can befall us but pros- 
 perity. Every sorrow shall be but the setting of 
 some luminous jewel of joy ; our very mourning 
 shall be but the enamel around the diamond ; our 
 very hardships but the metallic rim that holds the 
 opal, glowing with strange interior fires." 
 
 A German journal, devoted to Jewish missions, 
 thus noticed his death : — 
 
340 MINUTE OF GREENWICH SESSION. 
 
 " On April 4 of this year fell asleep in London, 
 at the age of sixty, the Presbyterian preacher, 
 Dr. AdoJph Saphir, the blessed witness of the 
 gospel from among the people of Israel, the 
 Christian writer full of genius, whose book, Christ 
 and the Scriptures, won for him numerous admirers 
 in Germany, the warm friend of Jewish missions 
 in recent times, of the work especially of Joseph 
 Rabinowich, whose financial support was chiefly 
 dependent on him ; one of the ripest fruits that 
 God has given to the mission during the present 
 century." 
 
 Many letters were M^ritten, expressive of deep 
 sorrow. Mr. Cockburn, his aged and devoted friend, 
 since departed, wrote : — 
 
 " It has been a very terrible time. The loss of my dear 
 friend and teacher and guide for so many years (ever since he 
 came to Greenwich), is a most soi-e calamity, a great gulf in 
 what remains to me of life ; and to how many more must it 
 not be inexpressible loss ; and what infinite good has he not 
 done in that life of most earnest work in the Lord's service ! 
 Friends rightly term this sudden removal a translation." 
 
 The Session of Greenwich drew up a minute in 
 which it was said : — " Although many years have 
 elapsed since the pastoral tie connecting him with 
 this congregation was severed, his name is still a 
 household word, and the memory of his faithful 
 ministry is imprinted on many a heart." 
 
 Dr. Saphir was buried in Kensal Green. The 
 selection of the ground, and all the preparations, 
 had been made by Lady Grant. There was a long 
 
INSCRIPTION ON THE TOMBSTONE. 341 
 
 procession of carriages, with mourners representing 
 many sections of the Church. The following is 
 the inscription on the tombstone : — 
 
 §ac«i) to the ^tcmorj) 
 
 OF 
 
 THE REV. ADOLPH SAPHIR, D.D. 
 
 MINISTER OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Bom September 26, 1831 : died April 4, 1891. 
 
 "I determined not to know anything among yon, save Jesns Christ, 
 and Him crucified." — 1 Cor. ii. 2. 
 
 AND 
 
 SARA SAPHIR, 
 
 THE BELOVED WIFE OF DR. A. SAPHIE, 
 
 Born May 10, 1826 : died March 31, 1891. 
 
 They " were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they 
 were not divided." — 2 Sam. i. 23. 
 
342 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 PITHY SAYINGS AND SHORT EXTRACTS. 
 
 The Christian's Walk — What a Beautiful Saviour I have — 
 The Devil's Gospel — Going to Heaven — Little Steps- — 
 Answers to Prayer — The Bible and Nature^ — The Penitent 
 Thief — God gives the Superfluities — Out and Out Christians 
 —False and Ti'ue Worship — Union with Christ — The 
 Trinity — Beauty of Scripture — Jesus identifying Himself 
 with Humanity — Preaching, what it is — Heaven's In- 
 habitants — The Apostolic Church — The Cross — Affliction 
 and its Blessed Influences — Keeping the Garments always 
 White — The Lord's Supper and the Passover — Assurance 
 — God in the Old Testament — Union of Christians — Joy 
 precedes Peace — The Wonderful, Tender Love of God^ — God 
 and Satan — The Jews — Faith and Prayer — Genius and 
 Spirituality — The Body not the Chief Centre of Sin — The 
 Apostles and Idolatry- — The Apostles — " The World " — 
 Preaching Christ according to the Scriptures — " Except ye 
 become as Little Children." 
 
 WE give the following selection of pitHy sayings 
 and short extracts. Dr. Saphir had special 
 power of expressing great truths in a few telling 
 words, which easily fixed themselves on the memory, 
 and we ^.re sure that this selection will be read 
 with interest. For most of these we are indebted 
 to the quotations and ample notes of Miss M. H. 
 Greenwood, who wrote out in full, in many volumes, 
 most of the sermons preached by Saphir, when 
 minister of Greenwich. She has given a graphic 
 
SINGING WITH UNDERSTANDING. 343 
 
 account, whicli we have inserted in its place, of the 
 effect of his preaching and ministry at Greenwich. 
 
 MATTER NOT CARNAL. 
 
 " Don't fall into the clumsy mistake that all 
 matter is carnal. Matter is not carnal. All created 
 things come from God, and He also created the 
 ear, the eye, and the receptive faculties to enjoy 
 the beauties of His creation." 
 
 SINGING WITH UNDERSTANDING. 
 
 " The hymns we sing, how much do you mean 
 of them ? Of course you say the words, because 
 they go nicely to the tune, and that carries you 
 along. 
 
 ' The dying thief rejoiced to see 
 That fountain in his day, 
 And there may I, though vile as he, 
 Wash all my sins away.' 
 
 But I tell you what you really sing in your 
 hearts — 
 
 ' The dying thief rejoiced to see 
 That fountain in his day, 
 Much more may I, less vile than he, 
 Wash my few sins away.' " 
 
 A SHORT RULE FOR THE CHRISTIAN'S WALK. 
 
 Let your great delight be, to be in the company 
 of Jesus, and then do whatever you like. 
 
 " UNTO HIM BE DOMINION." 
 
 When the whole self is dedicated to Jesus, and 
 His love is ruling in our hearts, then is His 
 dominion manifested in us ; if we go on in gloom, 
 
344 ' UNTO HIM BE DOMINION.' 
 
 selfishness, aud unbelief, where is the dominion of 
 Jesus ? If under the dominion of Him who loveth 
 us, it would be all sunshine, patience, submission, 
 surrender of our faculties to God. Dominion of 
 Jesus means that those under it depart from 
 iniquity ; that Jesus, by the power of His dying 
 love, be with us as a fire consuming that which 
 defiles. Dominion of Jesus means that in God's 
 strength we are not only to resist, but to overcome. 
 And now as we come to His table, may we pray in 
 our hearts, " To this Jesus be glory and dominion, 
 and may the power of His shed blood and present 
 love be made manifest in our lives ! " When His 
 glory and dominion shine into our hearts, and are 
 shown forth in our lives, then do we bring Him 
 some new thing in which He rejoices. 
 
 WHAT A BEAUTIFUL SAVIOUE, I HAVE. 
 
 The one who believes in Jesus, and loves Jesus, 
 can't rest satisfied till he knows also about the 
 future of this God manifest in the flesh. It is 
 easy to speak about ia dead Christ ; all so-called 
 religion is easy if we leave out God, the living God. 
 Can any one earnestly try to realize God, without 
 flying to Jesus as their Kedeemer and Shield ? If 
 Jesus is a recdity to us, and we believe that He is 
 in heaven now, having died for us, and now lovino' 
 us, the question at once arises. Is He coming again ? 
 If the Second Advent is ignored, it is not a doctrine, 
 but Jesus Himself that is ignored. When faith 
 rests on what Jesus has done, love goes forth to 
 
WHAT IS THE LORD'S DAT? 345 
 
 Jesus as He lives at present, and the soul that sees 
 Him does not say, " I ought to be religious," but 
 " What a beautiful Saviour I have ! " 
 
 WHAT IS THE LOED's DAY ? 
 
 What do those mean who are always seeking 
 amusement ? They mean, There is one person in 
 the world I hate — that is myself. Divert me from 
 myself in any way — there is no rest, no use, no 
 support to lean upon, no repose, no certainty. 
 The ungodly are Sabbathless ; there is no rhythm, 
 no music, no harmony, no pause in their life ; but 
 while we grieve to see them going their own way 
 on the Lord's Day, we can't give them a command 
 to keep it, for it is something much higher and 
 more beautiful. Lord's Day ! — the day of Jehovah 
 manifest in the Hesh, day of Jesus, the glorified 
 Son of man, foretaste and earnest of that never- 
 ending blessedness which we shall enjoy with Him. 
 
 Believer in Jesus, don't you rise on the Lord's 
 Day a sinless, spotless man ? He died because of 
 sin. He rose because of justification, and though 
 the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young- 
 men shall utterly fall, those that wait upon the 
 Lord shall renew their strength. On this day 
 John was in the Spirit, therefore there was no 
 doubt, or sorrow, or grief with him. He heard a 
 voice speaking with him ; he had known Jesus on 
 earth, and now he fell at His feet adoring, as one 
 dead. The clay tenement could not stand the 
 exceeding brightness before him ; but there is no 
 
k6 THE DEViUS GOSPt'L. 
 
 terror that can take away the life of a believer, no 
 glory can overwhelm it; and so John lived on, 
 because he felt the beloved hand of Jesus resting 
 upon him. How well he knew that pierced hand ! 
 Do you know it ? And Jesus said as Jehovah 
 ■always has said to His people, " Fean^ not." Why ? 
 " Because I am Jesus." The world says. What 
 do you beheve ? No ivhat at all : tvliom do you 
 believe ? And if you can answer, " I trust Jesus," 
 that's all. 
 
 THE devil's gospel. 
 
 "Don't believe the devil's gospel, which is a 
 chance of salvation ; chance of salvation is chance 
 of damnation. Is God's love a love that will 
 meet you when you die? Is it a love that is 
 waiting for you to do a number of things before it 
 receives and embraces you 1 No ; it is love for all 
 eternity, which reached us when Jesus died upon 
 the cross ; love that you have but to receive, and 
 you are sealed with this Holy Spirit of promise, 
 who is to be with you — keeping, assuring, sealing, 
 training, comforting, enabling you to live to the 
 glory of God. The seal has two aspects — inside, 
 ' The Lord knoweth them that are His ' — outside, 
 ' Let every one that uameth the name of Christ 
 depart from iniquity.' You are black, but comely ; 
 poor, but Jesus is your riches ; weak, but Jesus is 
 your strength. There is a secret acquaintance 
 between God and you, and when you are gathered 
 in with the blessed people of the Lord, Jesus will 
 
GOING TO HEAVEN. 347 
 
 not say, ' I never knew you,' for even before His 
 name was as music and fragrance to you, He 
 knew you, quickened you ; it may be like the little 
 maid, amiable and beautiful to man, but dead; or 
 like the ydung man whom they were carrying to 
 his burial ; or like Lazarus, offensive even to man, 
 steeped in sin. Jesus can say, ' I quickened you,' 
 calling you by name. ' I knew you in doubt, cheer- 
 ing you in sorrow, comforting and confirming you, 
 as with the two disciples on their way to Emmaus.' 
 " This seal is the earnest of the inheritance, a 
 part of it, as an assurance of the whole. All other 
 religions are like false bank-notes, issued on a bank 
 that will never pay them ; but the promises God 
 gives are not paper, but substance." 
 
 GOINtt TO HEAVEN. 
 
 " Does one ask, Are you going to heaven ? I 
 am gone there. What is heaven ? Fellowship with 
 God 1 I have it alreadv. Peace in Christ ? Access 
 into the holiest ? Love to all that love Jesus ? 
 These I have already, truly not yet in full measure ; 
 but he that believeth hath, and the Holy Spirit in 
 us is the earnest. 
 
 " In heaven we shall see the Lord Jesus exalted 
 on His throne. The Spirit reveals Him now to the 
 eyes of our faith as the Lamb in the midst of the 
 throne. 
 
 " Can sin enter there ? Can the accusations of 
 the devil enter there ? Will you be in peace and 
 safety there ? Will you be afraid of over falling 
 
348 LITTLE STEPS. 
 
 out again when you are there ? Jesus says, They 
 must have a little of all this now ; they must hay-e 
 it in substance, though not in degree. Is it nol 
 written, 'Blessed be the God and Father of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us ' ? 
 
 " Won't we be strong when we get there ? Won't 
 we serve Him, and not spoil it as we do now ? 
 The Holy Spirit is given that we may do our dailj' 
 business for Jesus, and adorn the doctrine of God 
 our Saviour in all things. Beholding Jesus is 
 heaven. Perfect peace in Jesus is heaven. 
 Serving God out of love is heaven. Have you 
 not got it all now, dear believer, by the Holy 
 Ghost?" 
 
 LITTLE STEPS. 
 
 "If you will be simple, God will take little steps 
 with you. It is wonderful, when a sinner comes to 
 himself, all in himself is uneasy and wretchedness ; 
 but deeper than himself will he find the everlasting- 
 arms ; and if he digs very deep, he wiU find the 
 mercy of God compassing him about." 
 
 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 
 
 The prayers of the Bible are not notions in 
 grand phraseology, but the prayers of men who 
 spoke straightforward from the heart, in simple 
 language, unto God ; the more simple the better. 
 God answers in different ways ; it need not be in 
 the way we expect. We pray that He would re- 
 move a difficulty, God answers by giving more 
 strength to bear it ; we pray to have a temptation 
 
THE BIBLE AND NATURE. 340 
 
 removed, God answers by increasing our purity 
 of heart, so that it ceases to be a temptation. God 
 sometimes hears while we are speaking, as with 
 Daniel, and sometimes He defers the answer. There 
 is a beautiful saying in the ancient Church, " If 
 Stephen had not prayed, Paul would never have 
 preached." Thus our faith is a great reality not 
 merely over the world, but a great reality with 
 God. Simeon prayed all his lifetime, but it was 
 only at the end of his days that the " Amen " 
 came. 
 
 THE BIBLE AND NATURE. 
 
 There is no book in the whole world that has 
 such a tender affection for nature as the Bible. 
 God loves His works. He knows they are very 
 good, created by His dear Son, perfected, brought 
 into living beauty by the power of the Holy Ghost. 
 He knows what depth of thought He has put into 
 them, that hidden thought of love, which was from 
 all eternity : so that the heavens and earth, the 
 trees and fields, all that we see around us, is illus- 
 trative of some eternal and heavenly truth, and 
 therefore we are often told in Scripture to look 
 around and above us, that we may find out the 
 hidden depths of God's love in . the works of 
 creation. 
 
 THE PENITENT THIEF. 
 
 People say he was saved ; but he will have a 
 starless crown. I don't believe there is a minister 
 of God who will have so many stars in his crown 
 
SoO aOD GIVIJS THE SUPERFLUITIES. 
 
 as this penitent thief, or who has been the means of 
 saving so many souls as the history of this man's 
 repentance and faith. How many from the depths 
 of crime, encouraged by reading this history, have 
 gone to the scaffold to suffer the penalty of their 
 deeds trusting in Jesus, and who shall be numbered 
 with His saints in the glory everlasting ! 
 
 GOD GIVES THE SUPERFLUITIES. 
 
 This is not a case of people starving, as when in 
 the wilderness Jesus fed them, or of disease and 
 suffering when He in love delivered them from it. 
 This was simply a superfluity, a luxury ; they had 
 no wine, and what does this mean ? — for it is a 
 sign, and must signify something. That God 
 created man not merely that he should endure 
 existence, that he should drag through life, but 
 that he should rejoice ; that there should be a 
 happiness, a festivity, a gladness within hira ; not 
 only that he should be reconciled to his existence 
 and have what is needful, but that he should feel 
 within him a music, a rhythm ; that he should be 
 able to say. It is a joy to live, He hath crowned 
 me with loving-kindness and tender mercies. So 
 that in one sense the world is not wrong when it 
 seeks for the ornamental and the beautiful ; it is 
 an instinct of what is true, that God created us for 
 brightness and glory. 
 
 OTJT AND OUT CHRISTIANS. 
 
 We must be out' and out Christians, unmistak- 
 able Christians. We are bidden to be strong, and 
 
FNIOX WITH CHnrsT. nr,! 
 
 ought to be, if the Spirit is the oil of gladness, if 
 Jesus is the chief among ten thousand, if God is 
 the God of all grace, and Father of consolation. 
 Dear friends, either the world is mad, or we are 
 mad. The truth of the Gospel is hght that comes 
 down in lore. 
 
 FALSE AND TRUE WORSHIP. 
 
 The difiercnce between false and true worship is. 
 that false worship aims at forgiveness, true worship 
 begins with forgiveness of sin. In false worship 
 there is no thanksgiving ; true worship gives 
 thanks for full remission, begins with praise, with 
 Abba Father. 
 
 UNION WITH CHRIST. 
 
 There is a wonderful peace and calmness in a 
 union which is not to be severed. For ever, Christ 
 is ours. Here all is perfect. The ivhole Christ is 
 ours — what Pie lived, what He suffered, what He 
 is now, and what He will bo. His past and His 
 future is all ours ! And because we have this per- 
 fection in Christ, we press towards the mark, and 
 take more freely out of His fullness. IMy Beloved is 
 mine. In this we rest ; in this we walk. It is not 
 now six days' Avork and seventh day rest. God says, 
 the first thing you must do is to rest in Himself ; 
 and when one rests in Jesus, then we work for 
 Jesus ; when we rest in faith, Ave live by faith ; 
 when we rest in love, we ioalk in love. Every one 
 has a god. Something every heart is loving ; if 
 ■not Jesus, none can rest. Rest then in Jesus, 
 
352 THE TRINITY. 
 
 who is God's Beloved ; and when you see Him at 
 Bethlehem, in Gethsemane, on the Cross, and in 
 heaven interceding for you, then can you say, 
 " My Beloved is mine." 
 
 THE TRINITY. 
 
 Only in a triune God, is perfect atonement and 
 reconciliation. God was in Christ reconciling the 
 world to Himself. By the Holy Ghost, Christ and 
 the Church are one ; He is in them, and they are 
 inseparable from Him in life and death, in time and 
 eternity. Thus the Church was to baptize into the 
 name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. In 
 the very commencement of Genesis we are taught 
 that God, who created all things, created all things 
 by the Word, and that the Spirit of God moved 
 upon the face of the waters. The doctrine of the 
 Trinity is the great stumbling-block, to modern 
 Jews; and yet, as is shown, the testimony of 
 Jewish writings to the doctrine of the Trinity is 
 not inconsiderable. They derived it from the Old 
 Testament, and many of them believed that the 
 Messiah was to be truly God — though not the 
 Father. In the Church there is to be obedience 
 to the Divine law. It consists in a Divine love, 
 it proceeds from the reception of redeeming love, 
 it is formed after a Divine pattern, and it is shed 
 abroad and kept in the heart by the Holy Ghost. 
 
 BEAUTY OF SCRIPTURE. 
 
 Luther has said that when he looks at any 
 Scripture passage he finds it so full of beauty and 
 
JESUS IDENTIFIED WITH HUMANITY. 353 
 
 instruction, that it appears to him that every daisy 
 becomes a whole meadow. And indeed it is so. 
 Every narrative about Christ, every doctrine about 
 God, every promise given to the children of the 
 Most High, is inexhaustible in the depth of its 
 meaning and its consolation ; every tree as we look 
 at it becomes a whole forest. 
 
 JESUS IDENTIFYINO HIMSELF WITH HUMANITY. 
 
 Jesus became man to remain man for evermore ; 
 and when Jesus was living on earth His great 
 object, the great task set before Him, was to get 
 back again where He was before. He had left His 
 position, never again to have it as He had it before, 
 never again to divest Himself of His humanity. 
 He had, as it were, cut off the bridge behind Him, 
 by identifying Himself with our nature, with all our 
 load of sin, on the Cross. Christ's object was to 
 bring humanity not back to where it was originally, 
 but where it never was before ; and as He came 
 nearer to the great channel where He had to pass. 
 He prayed God to glorify Him as He had glorified 
 Him before. It was necessary that Jesus, to be- 
 come the beginner of a great multitude of people, 
 should be glorified, and on the cross He was glori- 
 fied. Because He died and rose again, He could 
 take His place on high, as the first-born of many 
 brethren, as the Saviour of His people. Jesus 
 knew that through sufi'ering alone could He get 
 back again into that glory, which He had with the 
 Father before the world was. 
 
35 ( PREACHING, WHAT TT IS. 
 
 PREACHING, WHAT IT IS. 
 
 The preaching of the gospel, however legitimately 
 allied to natural and mental acquirements, must 
 always retain the mark of crucifixion. It does not 
 become us to be orators. There is an element in 
 human eloquence, which is not according to the 
 gospel of Christ. Preaching is more than an 
 exposition of Scripture ; it is a reproduction of 
 Scripture. It is the Word of God, and it is in- 
 spired; though not as the Scriptures, — in which 
 there is no admixture of sin and error, and which 
 remains always the standard by which even apos- 
 tolic preaching is judged (Acts xvii. 11). The 
 gospel is preached with the Holy Ghost sent down 
 from heaven. It brings light, it produc.es faith. 
 What the preacher describes, the Holy Ghost 
 reveals and bestows upon the hearer. 
 
 heaven's inhabitants. 
 
 Jesus is in heaven as a. Man that can he seen 
 in God ; the Father is represented, in Jesus. The 
 angels and the spirits of just men made perfect are 
 also in heaven ; when we draw near in pi'ayer, we 
 behold also the dead saints who have fallen asleep 
 in Jesus, for the dead also are linked to Jesus. We 
 have no description of their place or condition ; but 
 this we know, that they praise and adore God ; 
 they are near to heaven, and whatever mysterious 
 mission is assigned to them, it is theirs to offer 
 unto God. 
 
THE AFOSTOIJC CHURGII. 355 
 
 THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 The history of the Apostolic Church is the guide- 
 book of the Church in every age — a Church full of joy 
 and peace' — the home of Love. Full of spirituality, 
 and yet. with the combination of liberty and order, 
 all gifts were encouraged. The first great object of 
 the Church is worship. The spirit of worship ought 
 to manifest itself in all things connected with our 
 assemblies. It is from worship, from communion 
 with the Father and the Son, that the congregation 
 is to go forth into the life of the week. The Church, 
 renewed every Lord's Day in her resurrection-life, 
 will then, during the week, live and work for the 
 Master. 
 
 THE CROSS. 
 
 Without the Cross there is no Christ. The Lord 
 is called Messiah, Anointed, because He is the true, 
 perfect, and all-sufficient Prophet, Priest, and King. 
 In this threefold office, Christ is the only Mediator 
 between God and man ; in this threefold office He 
 brings light, love, and life to our hearts. These 
 three offices comprise His mediatorial work. They 
 are inseparably connected one with another, and 
 they all culminate in the Cross. His whole earthly 
 life was a preparation for this Priesthood. It was 
 on the Cross that He offered Himself a Sacrifice to 
 God. He entered into the Holy of Holies by virtue 
 of- the Blood which He shed upon the Cross. Our 
 Lord was continually looking forward to His death. 
 While other men look upon death as the limit and 
 
356 BLESSED INFLUENCES OF AFFLICTION. 
 
 terminatioa of tlieir work, Jesus regards His death 
 as His great, His all-glorious work, the source and 
 commencement of His true and eternal influence. 
 
 AFFLICTION AND ITS BLESSED INFLUENCES. 
 
 Affliction is a school, but the Holy Spirit is the 
 Teacher. 
 
 First, the full use of affliction is to make a man 
 examine himself before God, and in doing so 
 David found not only his sin but his sincerity. 
 His heart was loyal to God, and though His gifts 
 were withdrawn, the Giver was still beloved. 
 Secondly, affliction gave David a strong heart. 
 There is a paradox. Who h;is a strong heart 
 but he who has a broken heart, who loathes 
 himself, and whose strength and joy is in the Lord 
 of Hosts 1 Thirdly, afiliction developed the meek- 
 ness of David. There was only One who needed 
 no trials to humble Him in the sight of God ; and 
 when John saw Him coming, a hero from the fight, 
 he saw Him as the Lamb. Fourthly, affliction 
 taught David patience. What is patience 1 It is 
 not indifference ; it is not insensibility ; it is the 
 standing erect of a strong, sensitive soul, under 
 the burden which God sends. It is to see the 
 hand of God and kiss it. It is the exercise of 
 faith, never doubting the goodness of God. In this 
 patience there is hope. There are many standards 
 of suffering. First, I must suffer. Secondly, I 
 am willing to suffer. Thirdly, I can suffer, God 
 strengthening me. Fourthly, I am privileged 
 
KEEPING GARMENTS ALWAYS WHITE. 357 
 
 to suffer. I glory in tribulation. " Tribulation 
 worketli- patience ; and patience, experience ; and 
 experience, hope : and hope maketh not ashamed." 
 Affliction worked in David, humility, contrition, 
 strength, meekness, patience. 
 
 KEEPING THE GARMENTS ALWAYS WHITE. 
 
 God always told the Jews that they polluted 
 themselves, by coming into contact with the idols 
 of the heathen nations. What are idols to us 
 now ? The religious opinion of the world, the false 
 doctrine of the world, relying on outward things, 
 the standard and the custom of the world, the 
 sinful practices of those around us ; we must live 
 in the world, but Jesus prays, " keep them from 
 the evil." Christians must keep themselves "un- 
 spotted from the world," and this can only be done 
 in a twofold way ; firstly, by not touching the 
 defiling things, abstaining from them; and secondly, 
 when they touch you, by immediately resisting 
 them. The command is to keep our garments 
 always white. White is the brightest, most 
 sensitive colour, shows most quickly and distinctly 
 any touch and soil. We must have a high 
 standard — pure, even as Christ is pure ; not clean 
 only, but white; this signifies the perfection of 
 the Lord Jesus, — ahvays, not occasionally, but 
 always. Do you ask, if there are such sources of 
 defilement within and around us, how is this 
 possible ? Answer : We must always he washing 
 them. This is the only way, continually going to 
 
358 THE LORD'S SUPPER. 
 
 Jesus,. and asking Him, by the power of the Holy 
 Ghost, to apply to our heart the power as well as 
 the merits of His all-sufficient atonement. This 
 implies_ sensitiveness. The experience of the 
 Christian must always be that he becomes more 
 alive to the impurity of the world, within and 
 around him. 
 
 THE lord's supper AND THE PASSOVER. 
 
 The institution is mentioned in the three first 
 gospels, but not in John. It is omitted there for 
 three reasons, but chiefly because throughout John, 
 more than any other part of the New Testament, 
 the spiritual meaning of the Lord's Supper is dwelt 
 upon. Jesus is spoken of as the Bread of Life and 
 the Water of Life. It is extraordinary that this 
 ordinance, so simple in itself, has been so misunder- 
 stood. Jesus gave it as a plain explanation of 
 something more difficult, and instead, it has been 
 made a mystery. The Romish Church has made it 
 a sacrifice, while the sacrifice has been once naade 
 for ever. But, what is still more wonderful, 
 people have made it a cause of discord and 
 separation ; while it is intended as a feast of love 
 and union. People will hear the Word^reached, 
 join in prayer, and yet not break the bread and 
 drink the wine together, which shows that they 
 do not see that it is the Lord's table, and not 
 the Presbyterian, Episcopal, Indepfendent, Baptist 
 table ; and while they are meeting together, they 
 are all the time spiritaally partaking of the Lord's 
 
THE PASSOVER. 359 
 
 Supper, by feeding upon Jesus in their hearts by 
 faith. It is often celebrated unlike a supper, 
 people going few at a time, kneeling at an altar. 
 Altars should be done away with. There is no 
 priest but One, God's High Priest, entered into the 
 heavens for us, except in the sense of Eevelation i. 6. 
 The true idea is that of a supper, a family brother- 
 hood gathered together, with Jesus Christ as the 
 Head, presiding by the power of the Holy Ghost. 
 It is also clearly connected with the Passover, thus 
 linking the Old and New Testaments. "AVitli 
 desire, have I desired to eat this passover with 
 you." The Passover was a united family festival, 
 where the father presided, and at a certain part of 
 the feast, the youngest asked the meaning of it all, 
 and the story of God's love and mercy was given. 
 Luke xxii. 16th relates to the rejoicing before 
 the God of Israel as a united family when they 
 are restored, and the 20th verse to the cup of 
 benediction. " This is the New Testament in My 
 blood." Jesus wished to assure them that though 
 He was going to ascend into heaven, yet He was 
 still to be their Head, and the real presence they 
 would still have, though He was to be in glory. 
 And to assure their hearts that He, their Master, 
 was still present with them, thej^ were to break 
 bread and drink wine in remembrance of Him. 
 
 ASSTIEANCE. 
 
 There come times when all your past experience 
 seems taken away from you. You can't remember ;. 
 
360 ASSURANCE. 
 
 at least you can't appropriate, you can't realize it. 
 It is as though we had never ate and drank of 
 what Christ gives us. We have no joy with which 
 to rejoice. This also is an experience, through 
 which all God's people have come. This is the 
 wonderful thing in the Prophets and Psalms. God 
 does not put before us the image of His saints as 
 they ought to be, but as they were — all their 
 tears and failings and complaints and feelings of 
 desertion and groanings. 
 
 I fear many things are said of assurance that 
 never ought to have been said. It is very difficult 
 to speak of assurance, so as not to distress the 
 truly godly, and not to puff up those who think 
 they are rich and have need of nothing. The Lord 
 will satisfy the hungry ; He will raise up those 
 that are bowed down; He will feed them just 
 because they are hungry ; He will strengthen 
 them, just because they are weak. 
 
 After Jacob had gained the victory over Jehovah 
 and been called Israel, how did he go on all his 
 life '^ Not as a hero triumphant, but he went 
 halting. Many would like always to be singing 
 " Hallelujah ! " to have entered already the land of 
 promise and glory, to put aside the weapons of 
 their conffict. So was it not with the old saints. 
 Don't you be discouraged when you are weak, 
 when you cry out of the depths in your helpless- 
 ness, when you experience that there is another law 
 within you, striving against the Spirit of life within. 
 The Lord is revealing to you your weakness and 
 
aOD IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. ?,&\ 
 
 nothiugness. Jesus is cleansing and sanctifying and 
 comforting and strengthening you. He is saying 
 afresh to you to-day, "Thy sins are forgiven thee." 
 
 GOD IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 
 
 In the character of God, as described by Moses 
 and the prophets, there are two elements which it 
 is difficult to combine — that God loves the sinner, 
 and God abhors evil. God is justice, holiness, and 
 truth. At the same time He is infinite tenderness, 
 mercy, and compassion. It is difficult to know 
 which element is brought out most strongly in the 
 Old Testament. Where will you find such ex- 
 pressions as you find in Moses, the Psalms, and 
 Prophets, about the tenderness of God, (if I may 
 so speak,) the suflferings of God ? " You have 
 ivearied. Me with your transgressions." " How 
 sliall I give thee up, Ephraim ? " "Oh, that My 
 people had hearkened unto Me, I should soon have 
 subdued their enemies," &c, And the same tender- 
 ness and compassion which is manifested in Jesus, 
 is also in Jehovah. Jesus sighs and weeps over 
 the ravages of sin, and over human suffering. It 
 is what Jehovah does in the Old Testament. If 
 the holiness and compassion of God are to be 
 reconciled, it is evident that the sword must fall 
 upon some one, and how wonderful it is, when we 
 see in Jesus, God and man, the love and holiness 
 of the Father, the tenderness and compassion of 
 the Father — unite, and in our nature, for our 
 good, in our stead. 
 
 A A 
 
362 UNION OF CHRISTIANS. 
 
 UNION OF OHRISTIANS. 
 
 -The union of Christians is maiTed not bj^ giving 
 to6 much importance to little things, but by not 
 keeping sufficiently prominent the great things'. 
 Did it ever strike you that the early Christians 
 also differed on minor points, for which now-a-days 
 it would be thought quite necessary to make a new 
 sect ? but they were so absorbed in thinking that 
 they knew God as their Father, that Jesus was 
 their Saviour, that they were possessors of the 
 Holy Ghost, that nothing could separate them. 
 Thus it is that when we go to a meeting where 
 Christians meet as Christians, we feel as if we lost 
 our asthma, we can breathe. 
 
 Christianity without Christ does not exist. 
 There is nothing in it, except as you connect it 
 with the living, risen One in heaven. 
 
 JOY PRECEDES PEACE. 
 
 The first thing that God gives us is joy, and 
 then out of this joy comes calmness, fortitude, 
 equanimity. Paul says, " Eejoice in the Lord, 
 and again, rejoice " — and then afterwards, "Be 
 careful for nothing." It is perfectly correct that 
 We have joy and peace in believing, but joy comes 
 first. How can I be in peace, and calm, and quiet, 
 in the midst of all that disturbs me, unless I know 
 that I have something much better, and more 
 glorious ; unless I know that I have found the pearl 
 of great price, that I possess a better country, that 
 is a heavenly ? 
 
THK WONDERFUL LOVE OF OOFJ. 'MP, 
 
 When we first believe in Jesus, joy fills our 
 hearts ; we are delighted, astonished ; — how beauti- 
 ful, we say. Then comes peace. God will console, 
 will keep, will strengthen ; and in all after diffi- 
 culties it is the same. Let the joy of God fill our 
 hearts, and we are at peace. Therefore the only 
 ordinance that is of continual recurrence in the 
 church is festival, not fast, so that in the wilderness 
 we sing praises and give thanks, because all is of 
 grace. God is indeed our portion ; but it requires 
 faith to rejoice in God. If we can in any wise 
 take hold of this, "God is mine" — only think of 
 it ! — then surely we shall rejoice. 
 
 THE WONDERFUL TENDER LOVE OF GOD. 
 
 Let me ask you, Have you ever thought of 
 this wonderful, tender love of God ? God has to 
 be so gentle and tender with us, to put away 
 everything that can ruffle our hearts or minds, 
 to speak to us as it were with hushed breath, to 
 have the tenderness of a nurse dealing with the 
 peevishness of a little child. He touches ns with 
 the delicacy and tenderness with which you would 
 touch one, covered with wounds and sores. God 
 invites us so simply ; just asks us to turn round to 
 Him, as if He existed for us. Can any one say 
 to God, " True, you invited me, but in such a way 
 that it hurt me. I knew you would receive me, 
 but I thought it would be with fault-finding " ? 
 Can any one say that ? It is wonderful how God 
 says to us, " Only come to Me, only turn to Me, 
 
P,G4 (^OD AND SATAN. 
 
 only give Me a look," and if we look unto Him 
 He receives us. 
 
 The Rock of Ages, Jesus, is not of yesterday; 
 His goings forth were of old. "Before Abraham 
 was, I am." By Him the world was created, and 
 before creation the Eternal Wisdom was with the 
 Father, and was His delight. Older than time, 
 stretching back into eternity, " Jesus Christ is the 
 same, yesterday, to-day and for ever." 
 
 In the Eternal Counsel of God, before the 
 foundations of the world were laid. He was the 
 Lover of mankind, and in the fullness of time He 
 went forth, full of compassion, and died upon the 
 cross for sinners, that He might give eternal life to 
 all the poor and needy that put their trust in Him. 
 
 GOD AND SATAN. 
 
 God draws ; Satan only tempts. All the evil 
 influences which prevent our approach to God do 
 not deserve to be compared with the attractive 
 power of God. I dare not speak lightly of the 
 innate love of sin and the world, or of the tendency 
 of fallen human hearts to gravitate to the earth, 
 or of the force of habit, or of the fascination of that 
 enchanted ground, this present age, which lulls 
 us to sleep, or of the subtlety and power of Satan. 
 No ; these arc great and potent influences, but 
 nothing when contrasted with God. Satan, and all 
 evil under and with him, cannot prevail. Satan is 
 powerful, but not omnipotent ; he is cunning, but 
 neither omniscient nor wise. He has an ally 
 
GOD AND SATAN. 365 
 
 within us, even sin ; but he has never yet under- 
 stood a human heart. God alone can search the 
 heart ; He alone can draw it, can open, can melt, 
 can fill it. Satan has no right, no claim on me, on 
 my nature, on my will, on my affections. How- 
 ever wicked and polluted a human being may 
 be, it is not his nature to be evil. And though 
 he be so degraded as to feed the swine in the far 
 country, that dark citizen has no real claim on 
 him, and no true affinity with him. Man's heart 
 was created for the love of God, and will only be 
 happy there. The eye of His soul was made to 
 behold the sun, and to rejoice in the light. And 
 fallen though he be, his very mercy proves his 
 original grandeur. Let us remember that God 
 created man in His image. Let us never forget 
 that at the right hand of God is the Man Christ 
 Jesus. Let us behold ourselves not in the wreck 
 and ruin of our fallen condition, not in the mirror 
 of the world and of Satan, but in the mirror 
 of the hope of the resurrection, when the purpose 
 of God will be fulfilled in us, and we shall be con- 
 formed to the image of His Son. When the trans- 
 forming power of the precious blood of Christ shall 
 be made manifest on the resurrection morn, then 
 shall arise, with transfigured and spiritual bodies, 
 true human beings full of love and truth, without 
 a single spot, blemish, or wrinkle, holy and pure, 
 like Christ. If it be so, look upon evil as judged, 
 condemned, and slain ; upon Satan as bound and 
 cast out. He cannot draw, he cannot reach the 
 
366 THE JEWS. 
 
 inmost depths of yourself; he has uo right over 
 you ; he has no power except the power you give 
 him. Only resist ; only show your face as conscious 
 of your Divine origin ; only adore God, and Satan, 
 powerless and abashed, will flee from j'ou. There 
 is no real connection between us and Satan. 
 
 Ah ! how different it is with God ! He is the 
 Magnet. We are His offspring. He is able to 
 dwell in us, and to make us dwell in Him. He 
 draws with an irresistible power, and yet He does 
 not force or compel us ; He sets us free when His 
 love subdues our heart. He restores us when He 
 takes possession of our souls. He is our rightful 
 Lord ; He alone is the King whose it is to rule, 
 and His rule is love. 
 
 THE JEWS. 
 
 There is a Book different from all other books. 
 There is a nation different from all other nations. 
 There is a Man different from all other men. 
 
 There are about seven millions of Jews existinor 
 at the present time. That they are the descendants 
 of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, is beyond all 
 doubt and question. Other nations have passed 
 away. Though speaking the various languages of 
 the world, and accommodating themselves to the 
 various usages and customs of the nations among 
 whom they live, they have sustained their national 
 peculiarity, not merely their physical, but still 
 more their mental and spiritual features. That 
 they exist is a miracle ; but that they are what 
 they arc is still more wonderful. In the field 
 
FAITH AND PRAYER. 367 
 
 of abstract thought they produced a Spinoza ; in 
 music, a Mendelssohn ; in poetry and light literature, 
 in politics, in the exact sciences, in every branch 
 of thought and modern civilized life they have 
 shown themselves quite able to compete with any 
 nation. 
 
 FAITH AND PRAYER. 
 
 Amen is the voice of faith. We must pray not 
 only in the name of Christ, but pray believing that 
 we shall receive our requests ; faith and prayer are 
 almost the same. The vibration of faith is prayer, 
 the music of faith is prayer, faith is the very soul 
 of, prayer. When faith becomes vocal, that is 
 prayer. Take the case of Elijah : "As the Lord 
 God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there 
 shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according 
 to my word." James (v. 17) explains the matter. 
 Why have we so little faith in prayer ? Because 
 we keep that old philosophical idea, that prayer 
 influences us, and not God ; that it was all settled 
 long ago, and our praying will make no difference ; 
 that we should pray and relieve our minds, pray 
 till we are soothed. If that is true there need be 
 no God to pray to. We might as well pray to the 
 air. Prayer is to influence God. We must look 
 on prayer as pre-ordained from all eternity by God 
 to be a law, a force in the world, as much as any 
 other force in nature or in history. Prayer is a 
 link in the wonderful chain fixed in God's own 
 love, on the one hand, and in man's action, on the 
 other. 
 
368 GENIUS AND SPIRITUALITY. 
 
 GENIUS AND SPIRITUALITY. 
 
 The natural or merely psychical man does not 
 understand spiritual things. He deems them foolish- 
 ness; earth and the lower sphere of reason and 
 feeling satisfy him. But among the psychical men 
 are some who break through the circle of nature 
 and science into a higher region. We call these 
 men of genius. But with all their power of thought 
 and imagination, they cannot lift themselves above 
 "the world." Faith alone is the victory which 
 overcometh the world. The Spirit of God alone 
 changes us into spiritual men. Genius is often, to 
 the more thoughtful and noble-minded, the substi- 
 tute for God's revelation. They know and love 
 that which is " spiritual." And in many views and 
 expressions there is necessarily a similarity between 
 the man of genius and the spiritual man, because 
 both are opposed to the lower sphere of the visible. 
 But there is a radical opposition between the 
 psychical man who has not the mind of Christ, and 
 the spiritual. And as the age advances, the con- 
 flict between Christ's Church and the world wall 
 become more what it was in the Apostolic times ; 
 lietween the foolishness of God and the wisdom 
 of man. Paganism, the worship of the created 
 (spirit) — the self-sufficiency of man, aurapxeia — 
 man, being a god to himself— is the spirit of the 
 world. Hebraism, or Jehovahism, and Hellenism, 
 are the opposing principles. 
 
THE BODY NOT THE SOURCE OF SIN. 369 
 
 THE BODY NOT THE CHIEF CENTRE OR SOURCE 
 
 OP SIN. 
 
 There is no opposition between body and 
 spirit ; Christ has a body now, and yet He is 
 Spirit. His body also is spiritual, full of glory, 
 light, and power. There are spirits without bodies, 
 and some of them are devils. "Carnal" is often 
 confounded with bodily. Views are sometimes 
 suspected as "carnal" which are scriptural and 
 spiritual. " The end of all God's ways is embodi- 
 ment," is a fruitful saying of Otinger. God prepares 
 a body for Christ. There is a place of glory for 
 the glorified ; there is an outward and visible 
 kingdom yet to appear, ushered in by signs and 
 wonders, even as there is a spiritual and invisible 
 kingdom, Avhich cometh not with observation. The 
 two kingdoms are one. 
 
 THE APOSTLES MADE NO CONCESSIONS TO IDOLATRY. 
 
 The commission to teach all nations shows the 
 universality of His power and claim, the unity 
 of the race, the final conquest of the world. And 
 so the Church jDlanted by Christ is to be filled 
 with love to all men. The commission is to teach. 
 The Word of God is the lesson. This teaching or 
 preaching was the great commission of the Church. 
 
 It was the highest office of an Apostle. Both 
 Apostolic missions and modern missions have 
 proved that there is no nation so sunk in idolatry 
 and vice, so degraded and ignorant, but the Word 
 of God is able to penetrate the darkness, with 
 enlightening and healing power. The Word is 
 
370 NO CONOESSIOm TO IDOLATRY. 
 
 the sword ; let it not be sheathed and rendered 
 powerless, in the ceremonies and traditions and 
 concealments of human adaptation and policy. 
 The truth can make all men free; we have no 
 right to bring them into our intermediate region 
 of tutelage and bondage. How flimsy appear the 
 defences of pictures and - ceremonies, when con- 
 sidered in the light of Scripture ! Did the Apostles, 
 coming to idolatrous, rude, and uncultivated tribes, 
 find it necessary to have recourse to images and 
 ritual ? Did they think it wise and right to keep 
 the people in a state of infantine passiveness and 
 mechanical obedience? Did Paul present to the 
 idolatrous Ephesians half-truths, and give them 
 a scanty instalment of the doctrines of life ? No ; 
 he declared to them the whole counsel of God. 
 The Church is a witness and light sent by Christ, 
 and the Word, which she hath received from her 
 Lord, she giveth to the world. The Church is 
 where the Word of God is. The Reformers spoke 
 very clearly and emphatically on the true character 
 of the Gospel ministry. 
 
 THE APOSTLES. 
 
 Next to Christ Himself, there is nothing more 
 wonderful than these Apostles. A general shows 
 his discrimination, shows that he is a general, by 
 appointing suitable men to different positions. 
 The Lord Jesus set apart twelve men. He waited 
 for the Father to send them to Him — men who 
 should do His work after He had departed ; so 
 they had always to be with Him, because they 
 
THE APOSTLES. 371 
 
 were to be witnesses for Him ; pillars on which 
 the Church is to rest ; great soldiers who should 
 go forth without swords to fight great battles. 
 They were also to perform miracles. Jesus waited 
 till His Father sent them to Him, and then He 
 thanked God for them. He chose them with 
 infioite wisdom. There was great variety of 
 character among them, but one thing attaches to 
 them all, even to Judas — great energy and decision. 
 Very various are their characteristics ; Peter warm- 
 hearted and excitable : John and James, called the 
 sons of thunder, very ambitious, but it was a 
 good ambition ; they wanted to sit one on the 
 right hand and the other on the left hand of 
 Christ in His Kingdom ; and when asked if they 
 could be baptized with His baptism, they said, 
 " We can." There was Nathanael, called also 
 Bartholomew ; and Thomas, melancholy by the 
 very force and intensity of his love. Of some 
 we know nothing ; let us learn from this that 
 some do work, which no one knows about ; it is 
 not to be talked about ; but still, if we only stand 
 on the muster-roll of the great Master, it is there. 
 Judas was also chosen? Why? What blessed 
 lessons we have here ! No one can fall into false 
 security who remembers that, even among the 
 twelve Apostles, there was Judas. Already had 
 Christ said, "Ye shall sit on twelve thrones, judging 
 the twelve tribes of Israel." Could Judas not say, 
 "There is a seat for me as well as for the rest"? 
 Dear friends, we may be among the number of 
 the disciples, hear the precious promises, but still 
 
372 THE APOSTLES. 
 
 we need the warning to be careful and watchful, 
 "working out our own salvation with fear and 
 trembling." There is no such thing as a title-deed 
 way to heaven. We can't see our title clear, 
 except hy constantly looking to Jesus. What 
 affection Jesus bore them ! He was like a mother 
 to them. He sometimes rebuked them for their 
 ignorance and slowness of heart. Yet, notwith- 
 standing all the sorrow they gave Him, how He 
 treated them ! He always left them at liberty. 
 " Will ye also go away ? " He had fastened them 
 to Himself. How He delighted in them ! How 
 eager He was to pi'aise them ! Learn how mag- 
 nanimous He is, notwithstanding all our faithless- 
 ness and sin. The Lord Jesus trusts us. He 
 wants to bring out the peculiar grace and treasure 
 He has entrusted to each of us. " Whom say ye 
 that I am ? " He expects their answer will dis- 
 tinguish them from the rest — they will have a 
 different view of Jesus, the Son of man. 
 
 " THE WORLD." 
 
 The world is often spoken of, and it is an expres- 
 sion that is used very superficially ; but we should 
 know what it means. God loves the world ; it 
 is very beautiful and very good. Not natui'e only, 
 but the various institutions among men ; God has 
 Himself created the family, the government, the 
 power with which He has gifted man, his intellect 
 and imagination, and the powers which result from 
 the combination of men. God loves all this. He 
 honours it, and stands by it. Whenever we see 
 
THE World: 373 
 
 anything orderly, sensible, disciplined, it is of God, 
 even though it be among the unconverted. There 
 is a sense in which God loves the world— science, 
 art, politics, and knows all that is going on. There 
 is a sense in which God hates the world — all that is 
 sinful, unholy, impure. So far as the world is 
 based on God's creation, He loves it ; so far as it 
 is based on the fall. He hates it. 
 
 The first danger is, to say that all material things 
 are worldly — science, art, commerce, army, navy, &c. 
 Not so ; they are God's institutions. He is not an 
 enemy but a friend to them, and in this sense it 
 is the duty of a Christian not to be cowardly, but 
 to go in and take possession. True ! it is a lower 
 sphere, but God has put us there, and He influences 
 us, by all around us. The Church is to keep separate 
 from that which is sinful ; but what is sinful ? We 
 must not think we are keeping separate from the 
 world, when we absent ourselves from a certain 
 society, and things in it. There was a time when 
 Christ said, " Get thee behind Me, Satan," so that 
 we may be in the society of Christ and His apostles, 
 and yet in the world. Ambition, lust, self-asser- 
 tion, cowardice, there are a thousand different 
 manifestations of the world, and from this " world " 
 you are to keep yourselves. You might steep 
 Jesus right into the world, and it would not affect 
 Him. He was not afraid of it, for wherever He 
 went, He caused light and blessing, power and life 
 to arise there. I know there is a great and 
 immense difference between Him and us, and 
 between different Christians too. We are to fight. 
 
THE world: 
 
 not only against the world around us, but the- 
 worJd within us, and in proportion as we overcome 
 the world within us, we shall be able to exert 
 a good influence on those around us. There is 
 such a thing as marbid scrupulosity ; there is a 
 disease among professing Christians, one that sees 
 small things appear large, and large things appear 
 small ; but Jesus never loses the right balance. A 
 Christian should be like a safety-lamp, able to go 
 into noxious vapours, and yet remain separate 
 from them, by prayer, humility, and the love of 
 Christ — he himself giving light, and yet being in 
 safety, undisturbed, untouched by them. The 
 Church is compared to fire in the midst of water, 
 sheep in the midst of wolves, holiness in the midst 
 of sin, heavenliness in the midst of earthliness ; it is 
 wonderful, how the Lord does preserve His Church. 
 There is only one Church ; and Jesus, the Son of 
 God, is the foundation on which it is built. When 
 I was baptized, I did not think I was baptized into 
 any particular sect, but into the Church of Christ, 
 and it is blessed to remember that all faithful 
 disciples make up one great and glorious body. . . . 
 Jesus sends us that we, as human beings in the 
 different places assigned to us, should show forth 
 the mind and the will of God. I know it is diffi- 
 cult, dear friends, but God encourages us in it all. 
 Why did Jesus live thirty years upon the earth, 
 unknown to any but as the carpenter, a good son, 
 a kind brother, industrious, One who adorned His 
 profession of faith in God ; as One who studied and 
 exemplified what He described in the Sermon on 
 
'THE world: 375 
 
 the Mount ? Love, He tells us, is the fulfilling of 
 the law. As Pascal has said, "No amount of 
 matter cjan produce thought, no amount of thought 
 can produce love ; as thought is above matter, so 
 is love above thought." So let us strive to love, 
 for love comes down from God the Father, through 
 Jesus, by the power of the Holy Ghost ; therefore 
 we must abide near to Jesus. 
 
 Love is the enemy of the world — which is wilful 
 and self-concentrated. If we walk in love we must 
 overcome the world, both within and around us. 
 
 PREACHING CHRIST ACCORDINa TO THE SCRIPTURES. 
 
 The first thing that strikes us is, that we preach 
 a Person. We hear the voice ; we behold the 
 countenance of a Person. " I am the Lord." 
 " Look at Me." " Eeturn unto the Lord thy 
 God." "I am thy Shield, and thy exceeding great 
 Reward." In all Old Testament history we behold 
 God ; not Deity, an abstraction, a Divine power — 
 but the living God ; not God hidden in impene- 
 trable darkness — but God, as in condescendiug love 
 He seeks and saves man, making known His name 
 and showing His face. In the New Testament the 
 same supreme, central, and all-pervading position 
 which is given to Jehovah in the Old is assigned 
 to a Person, whose name is Jesus. (2) If we preach 
 a Person, and, as need scarcely be added, a Divine 
 Person, for it is inconceivable that the messenuer 
 of God to man should be a creature ever so exalted 
 and perfect, we cannot truly understand Christ, 
 except by Divine revelation. No man can under- 
 
37 G PREACHING CHRIST. 
 
 stand Christ — even since Christ has lived and died ; 
 and without the help of the New Testament Scrip- 
 tures — unless He is revealed to Him also by the 
 Spirit. Here lies the source of all pseudo-Christi- 
 anity. A Divine person is understood only by a 
 Divine revelation, of which Scripture is the record 
 M'ithout, and the Holy Ghost the illumination 
 within. To preach Christ means to preach Christ 
 according to the Scriptures. (3) If Christ is a 
 Person, the Son of God, and if He is to be preached 
 according to the Scriptures, then to preach Christ 
 means to preach Christ crucified. The death of 
 Christ as an atoning sacrifice is the very centre 
 and heart of preaching Christ. The Cross of 
 Christ is the meaning of all ; the central point 
 from which radiates Justification, Sanctification, 
 and the Future Glory. God hath given to us the 
 ministry of reconciliation ; and by reconciliation 
 nothing else is meant but the expiatory substitutive 
 death of Christ. This is the Gospel. 
 
 To the world our message is — Christ crucified : 
 to the believer — Christ risen. The crucifixion 
 took place before the world ; the resurrection, in 
 secret. It is perfectly true that if Christ had not 
 risen, the Gospel would neither be true, nor would 
 it be a living and vitalizing power ; but the Gospel 
 itself is — Christ died for the Ungodly. The 
 significance of the resurrection is that Jesus, the 
 Christ, our Substitute, was raised. He lives and 
 sees His end, because His soul was made an 
 ofi"ering for sin. He shall divide the spoil with 
 the strong, because He poured out His soul unto 
 
PREACHING CHRIST. 377 
 
 death. " I am He that liveth, and was dead, and, 
 behold, I am alive for evermore." The glory of the 
 Risen Lord as Prophet and royal Priest can only 
 be seen in the light of Golgotha. Even the glori- 
 fied saints cry, " Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed 
 us to God by Thy blood." Preaching Christ cruci- 
 fied is the only way in which His life and ministry 
 can be understood. The glory of Christ's life was, 
 that for the glory of the Father and the salvation 
 of sinners He became man, and having become 
 man, went in the path of humility ; always looking 
 forward to, and at last enduring, the death of the 
 Cross. In this light alone we truly behold the 
 Lamb without spot and blemish. Thus we are to 
 preach Christ crucified ; not to the exclusion of His 
 life, but to the inclusion and true possession of all 
 that is in Christ. (4) For we preach not the cruci- 
 fixion of Christ, but Christ Himself. Christ 
 yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Christ as Prophet, 
 Priest, and King; Christ in His humiliation, and 
 Christ in His glory ; Christ the Lamb fore-ordained 
 before the foundation of the world, foretold by the 
 prophets, welcomed by the godly in Israel — a 
 Person, true man and yet true God, in whom we 
 possess the Father, and from whom we receive the 
 Spirit. 
 
 In preaching Christ, three things are to be borne 
 in mind — (1) Christ is ahsolutely necessary. (2) 
 Christ is absolutely sufficient. (3) Christ is 
 absolutely accessible. 
 
 Modern preaching lacks power mainly in this 
 fundamental point — that Christ is absolutely neces- 
 
 B B 
 
378 PREACHING CHRIST. 
 
 sary. The grandeur of the Eemedy cannot be seen, 
 unless we know something of the depth of the Fall. 
 This expression — the wrath of God — is an expression 
 most obnoxious to the present age. True ! God is 
 love ; but that very love must hate sin. He is a 
 consuming fire. Thus it was that Christ died not 
 the death of a martyr ; but He felt death in its 
 penal connection with sin. The severity and love 
 of God were revealed in the Old Testament, but 
 made bright and intense in the New. It is from 
 the lips of Jesus we are taught the judgment of 
 everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. 
 Christ is absolutely sufficient both for the present 
 and the future. Our adoption is not merely legal, 
 but real. Everything is given us with Him, and each 
 believer has an everlasting and blessed existence. 
 And Christ is accessible. What appears easy in 
 theory however is difficult in practice. There is 
 the difiiculty of taking in the idea of Feee 
 Gkace — the dread of contact with God ; the 
 shrinking from having anything definitely con- 
 cluded between God and us. The Church of Eome 
 has illustrated these three tendencies. She places 
 the narrow path, good work, ceremonies, &c. before 
 the strait gate ; she places God and Christ at a 
 great distance, with mediation between ; and in- 
 stead of giving present salvation, she substitutes an 
 indefinite hope in herself, after thousands of years 
 of purgatory. There is no difference between Jesus 
 on His heavenlv throne and Jesus when on earth. 
 This is the glory of Jesus at the right hand of God, 
 that He rcceiveth sinners. He is now a merciful 
 
'AS LITTLE children: 379 
 
 and compassionate High Priest. The name He 
 bears, Jesus, means, in the words of David, " He 
 shall redeem Israel from all their iniquities." 
 Christ is absolutely essential ; He is all-sufficient ; 
 He is willing to receive sinners. This is the 
 message of the preacher. 
 
 "except ye become as little children." 
 
 1. Look first at the docilitij oi childhood ! It is 
 constantly being taught, corrected ; rules and laws 
 are given to it which are received with all 
 simplicity, without thinking them strange or 
 hard ; and the continual influence of a stronger 
 mind and more powerful will does not raise up 
 a wall of separation between the child and its 
 teacher ; but, on the contrary, is a sweet link of 
 afi"ection, the strength of which nothing can 
 weaken, and the sweetness nothicg can embitter. 
 How soon do we lose it ; how impatient are we 
 that God should be a continual influence in all our 
 ways and works, that He should be brouglit into 
 the minutest details of our life ; with what a bad 
 grace do we become disciples, learners ; how far 
 from the docility of little children ! 
 
 2. The earnestness of childhood. A superficial 
 observer would say it was not so ; that a child is 
 fond of mirth and laughter, has no care for the 
 morrow. That is true ; but it is also true that 
 the characteristic of childhood is solemnity and 
 earnestness. Have you ever noticed how solemnly 
 they will listen to a history of self-sacrifice, loyalty, 
 and love ; how easy it is for them to believe in 
 
380 'EXCEPT YE BECOME 
 
 things spiritual and eternal ; how simple and 
 direct their faith in God ; how they at once apply 
 the rules of the Word of God to the course of life 
 before them ; how immediately they expect an 
 answer to prayer ? How different is it afterwards 
 when we have grown wise and become young men 
 and women (and our young men and women are 
 the most sophistical portion of the human race) ; 
 how we pride ourselves on our knowledge that we 
 understand the motives of men ! To the things of 
 God we become calm, languid, sceptical, undecided ; 
 and to the things of the world, prejudiced, eager, 
 excited, intoxicated. " Except ye be converted, 
 and become as little children." 
 
 3. The heauwiiivl frankness and unsuspiciousness 
 of childhood. It does not see why it should 
 disguise its thoughts and feelings ; or why it should 
 have such deferential reverence to a rich man or a 
 learned man ; it breathes as yet the fresh air of 
 the woods, instead of the sickly scented air of our 
 civilization ; it distinguishes the excellent and the 
 beautiful, whatever shape it may wear. How 
 different it is afterwards ! 
 
 4. The helplessness of childhood. A little child 
 is so conscious of its helplessness ; it is so easy 
 for it to be humble ; to say thank you, to appeal 
 to you to do an act of kindness ; it is not 
 difficult to stoop ; its natural attitude is sitting 
 at the feet of the Master and those representing 
 Him. 
 
 5. A child lives in the present, is not anxious 
 for the morrow ; a disappointment does not crush 
 
AS LITTLE CHILDREN.' 381 
 
 it ; it springs back again, because the undercurrent 
 of its life is joy and confidence. 
 
 6. In childhood there is a distinct idea of 
 Divine justice. Tell a child a story in which the 
 wicked go unpunished, and it is disappointed ; its 
 tiny conscience rebels, and there is no difficulty in 
 feeling that the motive of punishment is love, and 
 so it is able to return again with perfect confidence 
 to the love and tenderness of its father, knowing 
 that love is the deepest of all parents and teachers. 
 Are your children teaching you ? — for only then 
 will you be able to teach them. Many will say I 
 am idealizing ; of course I am. What is the use of 
 the Bible if we could not idealize ? To see beneath 
 the surface must be given to us by the Spirit of 
 God. What I have said does not exist in any 
 child in perfection, nor alone, but is mixed with 
 much that is not beautiful, but ugly, the con- 
 sequence of our sinful, fallen condition. Eemember 
 what Christ says, " as little children" humble, 
 docile, not self-reliant, believing in the love of God 
 spite of all chastisement and affliction ; joyous in 
 His favour, rejoicing to serve Him ; knowing that 
 to serve Him is perfect freedom. 
 
 7. Let us look at the limitation of childhood. 
 Paul refers in one instance to his childhood in that 
 wonderful chapter on love — 1 Cor. xiii. 11. Let us 
 remember that we are but little children in relation 
 to God and eternity, and therefore I am not 
 astonished that in the Bible there are many 
 doctrines I cannot comprehend, many sentiments 
 I cannot reconcile. Why should we be alarmed 
 
382 ' 'EXCEPT YE BECOME 
 
 or have onr faith shaken by our difficulty in 
 comprehending the whole counsel of God f On 
 the contrary, it is at once an exercise and a 
 confirmation of faith. If the Bible was not 
 wonderful, I could not believe it; if it was not 
 mysterious, I could not accept it ; if it was not 
 great, I could fathom it, but now it fathoms me. 
 We are little children. God is our Father, and 
 the Bible His Word. If I only know that I am 
 His child, then it is easj'' to believe, in spite of 
 all that is mysterious, but not because of it. 
 
 8. The contrast of childhood. We are told in 
 malice to be children ; but in understanding, in 
 courage, in loyalty, in service, we are to be inen, 
 not tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. 
 Let us beseech you, in the name of the Apostle who 
 thus writes, and of the Lord who inspired hihi, to 
 quit yourselves like men. It is taught us in 
 Scripture, and confirmed by the experience of the 
 Church, that where there is most of the simplicity 
 of childhood, there is the greatest manliness in the 
 service of Christ. What a blessed thing it is to 
 be a child of God ! It contains the humility and 
 simplicity of a little child, the ardour and earnest- 
 ness of youth, the peaceful security of old age 
 (l John ii. 12 — 14). There is no true man but a 
 Christian; but he is a true man, for he is infant, 
 youth, and old man all in one, because he is a man 
 in Christ Jesus. 
 
 Dear friends, are you the children of God ? Do 
 you love God as your Father? Is that world a 
 reality to you ? The children of the world are 
 
^.5 LITTLE CHILDBEN: 383 
 
 always saying that God is their Father ; but to 
 them it means only that they may do as they like — 
 hoard up wealth, fritter away the precious time ; 
 that it does not matter whether they love Jesus 
 or serve Him ; and they will secure themselves by 
 saying, "God is a Father." I should not like to have 
 such a Father. If my Father is indifferent whether 
 I love Him or His Jesus, that is no Father to me. 
 Oh, repent, turn back from this miserable empty 
 life, that can only end in death ! Don't believe 
 there are any insuperable difficulties to be over- 
 come. God is willing and waiting to receive you. 
 Jesus is ready to welcome you. The Holy Ghost 
 is just at the door of your heart, that He may 
 enter in and cry Abba. Only he a sinner. Go 
 out of the circle of death unto Him who has said, 
 " Come unto Me." May there be none of us here 
 who are not members of that family who are 
 washed in the blood of Jesus, and renewed by the 
 Holy Ghost ! But we must be convinced of it even 
 now ; we cannot remain in doubt of such a thing, 
 but must immediately, when we see the heavenly 
 vision, without conferring with flesh and blood, 
 run into the open arms of the Father, that He may 
 enfold us, — to keep us in eternal security for ever- 
 more. May the Lord by the Holy Ghost give joy 
 to all His believing children, and convert all, for 
 they need conversion, who do not believe in Jesus ! 
 Amen. 
 
384 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN'S HOPE} 
 
 " Belovedj'now are we the sons of God, and it doth 'not yet appear 
 what we shall be : but we know that, when He shall appear, 
 we shall be like Him ; for we shall see Him as He is." — 
 1 John iii. 2. 
 
 nOPE, like faith and love, is a grace given by God and 
 implanted by the Holy Spirit. Faith is the gift of 
 God. Love to Christ is the gift of God. Hope is the gift 
 of God. Hope is as essential as faith and love. In fact 
 there can be no real faith in Christ, there can be no real 
 love to the Saviour, unless they be accompanied by hope. 
 For what is it that we believe ? We believe that Jesus 
 has saved us. Saved from what ? From the wrath to 
 come. Saved us unto what? Saved us unto eternal 
 glory. Both the wrath to come, from which the Lord has 
 delivered us, and the eternal glory, which is to be our 
 portion, are things of the future. We look forward unto 
 them in hope. If we believe in Jesus, we must have hope. 
 If we love Christ, we must have hope. For if we love 
 one and he is absent from us, our great desire is that we 
 may be united — that he may come again unto us, and 
 that he may then take us into such fellowship with him- 
 self that we can never more fall away from him — that 
 we can never more be separate. If a man says he loves 
 Jesus, and he is indifferent about the return of Christ, or 
 about heaven, or about being united with Christ evermore, 
 that man's words are vague. 
 
 1 Preached on Sunday i\Iorning, December 31, 1871, in St. Mark's 
 Presbyterian Church, Greenwich. 
 
THE CHRISTIAN'S HOPE. 385 
 
 We have received eternal life, and yet we have not 
 received it. We are saved, yet we are only saved by 
 hope. We have received grace, and yet the Apostle 
 Peter exhorts us to be sober, and to wait for the grace 
 which is to be revealed nnto us at the coming of Christ. 
 We are made children of God, and yet the Apostle Paul 
 says we are waiting for the adoption, that is, the re- 
 demption of the body. We have received the great 
 salvation, and yet that salvation is -only the end of our 
 faith, and shall be given to us at the coming of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. We are glorified, because those whom God 
 hath called and justified He has also glorified ; for the 
 spirit of Glory is resting upon us ; and yet the glory hath 
 not yet appeared. We are looking forward unto it. So 
 that in all things, in every respect, beginning with the 
 most elementary manifestation of the grace of God, and 
 ending in that which is its consummation, we have already 
 the germ of the future; but the fulfilment of that germ 
 we have not received, and, like all the creatures round 
 about us, we are crroaning and travailing in birth — for our 
 own birth — that we should be made manifest in Christ. 
 When Christ shall appear, when Jesus Christ shall be 
 sent again from heaven in the hour which God has ap- 
 pointed, then shall we obtain the end of our faith, namely, 
 our perfect and full salvation. So are we bound up in 
 Christ, inseparably from Him, that all His history is as it 
 were repeated in us, and that we cannot be complete until 
 the whole object of God has been perfected in Him. When 
 we think of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, we say, 
 " We are saved," — " Emmanuel, God with us " — and yet we 
 know tl'at salvation is not complete. It has only begun. 
 For it is necessary that this child should grow, that he 
 should be obedient unto the law, that he should be the 
 perfect servant of God upon earth. When we think of what 
 Christ has been for thirty-three years upon earth we say, 
 
386 THE CHRISTIAN'S HOPE. 
 
 " Here is our Representative ; here is the Lord our God 
 who saves us/' and yet we know it is not complete ; for 
 it is necessary that He should die upon the cross. And 
 when we see Him upon the cross, then we say, " Here is 
 our salvation ! Here is the Lamb of God that taketh 
 away our sin " ; and yet we know that our salvation is not 
 complete ; for it is necessary that if He died He should 
 rise again from the dead. And when we see Him rise on 
 the third day, we say, " Behold Christ the first-fruits of 
 them that slept — the quickening spirit, — the Second 
 Adam." And yet we know it is not complete ; for He 
 must ascend again, and He must take up His position as 
 the Son of man at the right hand of God, there in heaven 
 to appear for us. And when we see Him at the right 
 hand of God, there, we say, " Behold the Lord our Right- 
 eousness ! We are seated together with Christ in heavenly 
 places." And yet then it is not complete ; for even Christ 
 Himself is looking forward, waiting and expecting, until 
 the time when He shall come again ; for then only shall 
 the purpose of God be fulfilled in Christ and in the Church. 
 When He shall be made manifest, we also shall be made 
 manifest with Him in glory. So, where Christ is, there 
 His servants are to be. We must follow Jesus Christ. 
 
 Now the promise that is given unto us is this — At 
 present it does not yet appear what we shall be. "We 
 shall be like Him," when Christ appears. And the reason 
 why we shall be like Him is because " we shall see Him 
 as He is." These are the two great promises given unto 
 those that love Jesus Christ, that believe in His Name, 
 and that have become the sons of God through faith in 
 Him. They shall be like Him, because they shall see 
 Him as He is. 
 
 Now, as we have seen already, this must have already 
 its beginning in us at present. To a certain extent we 
 must be like Christ even now, if we are to claim His 
 
THE CHRISTIAN'S HOrE. 387 
 
 promise that we shall be like Him altogether. And to a 
 certain extent we must see Jesus even now, if ours is the 
 promise that we shall see Him as He is. Therefore, what 
 is revealed unto us in the future is not something that is 
 unintelligible to us ; it is not something that is distant — 
 away ; but we have got already as it were the first-fruits 
 of that which we shall reap ; we have got already a fore- 
 taste of that enjoyment which shall be ours. We can 
 understand it, because we have already entered into the 
 possession of it, although we have not yet fully come to 
 possess it. 
 
 Now this morning we shall consider the one promise, 
 that we shall see Christ as He is, this being the ground 
 upon which He has built the other promise, that we shall 
 be like Him. 
 
 We shall see Christ as He is. There are two things 
 to be considered here : — first, the object of our vision — 
 Christ; and secondly, the manner of our vision, and there 
 we must consider how we have it at present, and how we 
 shall have it in the future. 
 
 Whom shall we see? Christ. We shall see Him as 
 He is. 
 
 Now we already see Christ at present by faith. God 
 reveals His Son Jesus Christ unto our souls, so that 
 we know Him. But then we shall see Him as He is — 
 different from the way in which we see Him now. What 
 is it, then, that is at present imperfect in our vision of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ ? We see, the Apostle tells us, as in a 
 glass darkly; but afterwards we shall see face to face. 
 Jesus Christ is revealed unto us in His words, and in our 
 experience and by the manifestation of the Spirit ; and it 
 is this same Jesus whom we shall see in the future. 
 
 Now let us first think of it in this light, that it is the 
 same Saviour whom we shall see. That is the same Jesus 
 Christ who is revealed unto us now in His Word, and who 
 
388 THE CHRISTIAN'S HOPE. 
 
 is revealed unto us in our experience, whom we shall 
 afterwards behold. When the Lord Jesus Christ rose 
 from the dead, and appeared unto His disciples. He 
 manifested unto them the same grace and the same love 
 which they had experienced during the days that He was 
 walking with them in the weakness of the flesh. There 
 was the same condescension, there was the same com- 
 passion, there was the same sympathy. He appeared 
 unto Thomas in condescension to the great weakness of 
 the faith of Thomas. He appeared unto Peter, and He 
 asked him, " Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me ? " He 
 argued with them; He reasoned with them; He explained 
 unto them the Scriptures. He not merely manifested unto 
 them that it was the same body which they had seen 
 dying on the cross, but He also gave unto them proof that 
 in His mind, that in His disposition, that in His character, 
 that in His dealings with them, it was the same Jesus of 
 Nazareth who had attracted them, who had taught them, 
 and who had borne for three years with such patience and 
 with such long-suffering all their weakness and all their 
 doubts. And, certainly, this is the great truth which is 
 to be held fist by us — that it is the Lord Jesus Christ 
 Himself, as He reveals Himself now to us by His Word 
 and by His Spirit, who is to be manifested uuto us in the 
 future. There will be the same grace, there will be the 
 same sympathy, there will be the same tenderness ; and, 
 if we have experienced now, in the midst of our sins and 
 in the midst of the accusations of our conscience, and in 
 the down-pressing feeling of our unworthiness, how in 
 Jesus Christ there is nothing but grace and forgiveness 
 unto all those that come unto Him ; or, if we have 
 experienced in our weakness and infirmity, how the Lord 
 will be our strength in our affliction and our sorrow — how 
 Jesus Himself is afflicted in our affliction, and bears with us 
 as a compassionate and merciful High Priest ; all this shall 
 
THE CHRISTIAN'S HOPE. 389 
 
 be the same when we shall behold Jesus Christ in glory 
 at His second coining, and through the ages that we are to 
 be with Him. It is the same Christ according to the Word 
 — according to the spiritual experience of the believer. All 
 the saints of God shall rejoice to find when they go to heaven 
 that all the promises of the Word and all the descriptions 
 of Jesus Christ in the Word are true, and that God has not 
 given unto us any other manifestation of Himself than that 
 which corresponds with the reality and with truth. But, 
 at the same time we cannot but feel that our knowledge 
 of Jesus Christ — our perception of Jesus Christ — is 
 defective ; that it is imperfect, that it is unsymmetrical, 
 and that it is dark. No person can say that he knows 
 Jesus. However much God may have given unto us to 
 see of Christ, however deeply we may have studied the 
 Scriptures, and however varied our experience may be of 
 the Saviour, it is impossible for any one of us to say we 
 know Christ ; but we all must say with the Apostle Paul, 
 that it is our great desire and our constant efibrt that we 
 may know Him ; for in the Lord Jesus Christ there is the 
 whole fullness of the Godhead dwelling bodily, and in Him 
 there is given every manifestation of the character of 
 God ; so that we are not able to see all that is in Christ ; 
 so that we can only study and gather together, as it were 
 by a laborious process, the different elements of the 
 character of the Lord Jesus Christ, and combine them in 
 our mind. We all must have experienced it when the 
 Spirit of God leads us into different aspects of Christ at 
 different times. For instance, sometimes we dwell much 
 in our thoughts and in our meditations, and, more than 
 that, it is deeply impressed upon our conscience and 
 upon our feeling, that Jesus is God — that He is the 
 Lord God ; that He is infinite ; that He is eternal ; that 
 He is the Word that was with the Father from everlasting ; 
 that He is holy ; that He is onmiiJotent ; that He is 
 
390 THE CHRISTIAN'S HOPE. 
 
 omniscient; that it is impossible, as it were, to fathom 
 the fullness that is in Him. We are filled with the sense 
 of the grandeur and of the majesty of Christ. At other 
 times again we dwell upon the humanity of Jesus; we 
 remember that He was born of a woman; that He was 
 a child ; that He grew ; that when He was a man He 
 hungered and thirsted ; that He was overcome with 
 fatigue ; that He sympathized in all things that were 
 good and pure, with those that were around Him. We 
 think of His benevolence, and of His affability, of all His 
 kindness, all His readiness to bless, to heal, to forgive. 
 And then we feel that the Lord Jesus Christ is indeed 
 the Lamb of God, that He is gentle, that He is tender ; 
 that we can draw near unto Him with full confidence. 
 Now while we are thinking on the Divinity of Christ and 
 feeling it, and while we are thinking on the humanity of 
 Christ and feeling it, we do not see Jesus as He is. We 
 have only a one-sided view of Christ, and a one-sided 
 feeling corresponding to that view of Christ. He is both 
 God and man: He is both dreadful and awful in His 
 majesty, and gentle and tender in His grace ; but we 
 have only a one-sided impression, and a one-sided feeling. 
 We do not see Him as He is. Or again, if we think of 
 Jesus in all His activities, it is impossible for us to see 
 Jesus as He is — to take a comprehensive and therefore a 
 true view of Christ — what He is in relation to His Father, 
 the activities going upwards to God in the way of inter- 
 cession ; what He is towards the angels — what He is 
 towards the Church — what He is towards unbelievers 
 — what He is towards the inanimate creation. It is 
 impossible for us while we are fixing our mind on one of 
 these aspects, not to forget the others. We find it next 
 to impossible — exceedingly difficult — to allow everything 
 to have its just weight or just proportion. Or take the 
 names of Jesus which are the manifestation of what He is 
 
THE CHRISTIAN' ii HOPE. 391 
 
 — His name Jesus — Emmanuel, the Lord our Righteous- 
 ness ; His name Melchisedec, and the great number of 
 other names which God, in His great mercy, has revealed 
 unto us in order that we may study to see Jesus — to 
 know Jesus. Oh, who of us knoweth the name of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ ? We know something of different 
 names of His; but who of us has got the power of 
 combining them all ? So again His first coming and His 
 second coming. So again all the different types by which 
 He is revealed to us — His character as Abel — His character 
 as Enoch who ascended to heaven — His character as 
 Noah — His character as Joseph, who, through suffering, 
 goes to glory — His character as Moses, the true mediator, 
 who speaks to God face to face — His character as Joshua, 
 who leads the children of Israel into the promised land — 
 His character as David and Solomon. Who is able to 
 comprehend all these ? In the history of the Church as 
 well as in the history of each individual, we find, at differ- 
 ent times, different aspects of Chi-ist are held — true in 
 themselves, but one-sided, defective. For instance, during 
 the time of Romanism — the beginning of it — they were 
 so impressed with the sense of the grandeur of Christ, the 
 majesty of Christ, the divinity of Christ, that they said, 
 "We cannot approach Him. He is so great. He is so 
 infinite, He is so glorious, He is so holy ; we are afraid to 
 go near unto Him. Perhaps the mediation of angels, 
 perhaps the mediation of saints who walk in closer com- 
 munion with Him, perhaps the mediation of Mary His 
 mother will be a help to us." Well now, the feehng that 
 prompted itself was quite a correct feeling ; but it was 
 one-sided. Jesus is very great. The Majesty of Jesus is 
 exceedingly awful. When we think of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, the Eternal Word, the only begotten of the Father, 
 the appointed Heir of all things — when we read the 
 description of Christ as it is given to us in the Book of 
 
392 THE CHRISTIAN'S HOPE. 
 
 Revelation, surely we must all tremble ; we must all be 
 filled with awe ; we must say, " Who is like unto Thee ? " 
 It is quite possible, dear friends, that we may be just as 
 one-sided, and just as defective both in our views and our 
 feelings, when we lay all our emphasis upon the meekness 
 of Christ, and upon His gentleness — when we do not think 
 of Him as the Lord and the Judge, as the great and 
 mighty One who is equal with the Father. But in this 
 they were wrong, that they did not see Jesus as He is, 
 namely, that they did not see the manifestation of the 
 glory of God in the mercy of Christ, in the willingness of 
 Jesus to receive all — in His saying, " Him that cometh 
 unto Me, I will in no wise cast out " — in the tenderness 
 with which He receives all those who turn from wicked- 
 ness, and are anxious to seek the living God. 
 
 Or again, view Jesus as the Justifier — as the Lord our 
 Righteousness. Some people are so fond of saying — " It 
 is all finished " — everything is done for them. Yes, dear 
 friends, but then has everything been done in them ? 
 Jesus the Lord our Righteousness is also the Lord our 
 Sanctification. In that He died, sin was condemned in the 
 flesh, that we being acquitted might learn with the Lord 
 Jesus Christ to suffer in the flesh ; that the life may be a 
 life of holiness, well pleasing in the sight of God. And 
 when we say we are justified by faith, do we also re- 
 member that before we are justified by faith we are 
 sanctified — we are set apart to be new, to be clean, to be 
 unblamable in the sight of God — that we are justified not 
 merely by faith, but by Jesus and by the Spirit of the 
 Lord God — that God never says a thing which is not a 
 reality, and that when God declares, "This man is just," 
 He makes the man also justified ? When God declares 
 " This man I wilMook upon as My child," He makes him 
 also His child, endowing him with the new nature, 
 renewing him after the image of Christ, giving unto him 
 
T?IE CHRISTIAN'S HOPE. 393 
 
 a hatred of sin, a love of that which is good and 
 holy. 
 
 Yes, dear friends, the great thing is to see Christ as 
 He is ; that is, to see the whole Jesus Christ. And this is 
 not given unto us here upon earth. We must always be 
 upon our guard lest we become one-sided. Being one- 
 sided, dear friends, is not a matter of small importance : 
 it is a matter of vital importance. Here, on earth, we can 
 only strive to know the Lord Jesus Christ, but there we 
 shall see Him ; we shall see Him as He is. And this is 
 the most glorious promise that can be given unto us — to 
 behold Him in whom dwelt " the fullness of the Godhead 
 bodily " — to behold Him who is the delight of the Father, 
 whom to see is the Father's great joy from everlasting to 
 everlasting — to behold Him who seeks (?) His incarnation 
 especially as becoming the well beloved Son of God, to 
 whom God hath given to fulfil all His pleasure, and whom 
 all angels and all principalities adore. Look, dear friends, 
 and this is also one of our defectivenesses, one sign of our 
 departure, as it were, from the fullness, and from the 
 simplicity in Christ Jesus. When the Apostles speak of 
 the knowledge of Christ — of knowing Jesus by the gospel 
 — they cannot find words enough, they cannot find 
 illustrations enough to show the sense they have of the 
 grandeur, of the brightness, of the glory of the exceeding 
 great preciousness of that revelation of God in Jesus 
 Christ. To them the gospel does not seem such a simple 
 thing as it does to us, and such a tame thing, and such a 
 pale thing, and a thing which becomes tiresome and 
 tedious when you hear it often repeated ; but, on the 
 contrary, they cannot find words enough to express the 
 exceeding great brightness and glory of that revelation 
 which God has given unto us in the face of His only 
 begotten Son, Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul says, 
 
 " What can it be now ? What terms shall be able to 
 
 c c 
 
394 THE CHRISTIAN'S HOPE. 
 
 express it ? With what words shall we be able to designate 
 that feeling and impression which we have got of the 
 glory of Christ ? If even the revelation of God through 
 Moses — if even the reflection of the countenance of God 
 upon the countenance of Moses — was so bright and so 
 splendid that the Israelites could not bear to see it, and 
 to look on the face of Moses, and he had to put a veil 
 upon his countenance by reason of the greatness of that 
 light, what will happen to us when we see the reflection 
 of God on the face of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ 
 — when we see the reality of the glory of God in Him who 
 is the brightness of His glory, — the face of Christ the 
 Lord who appears unto us without a veil, but shows 
 Himself unto us that we may see Him face to face ? " 
 
 Now let me just appeal to you. Answer this. Is there 
 anything in us corresponding to the feeling which dictated 
 those chapters in the Corinthians which we have read 
 together this morning ? Do you think it such an over- 
 powering and overwhelming glory to read in the Word of 
 God about Jesus the Son of God ? Do you think it such 
 a remarkable thing that you should hear of Christ — that 
 you should pray to Christ — that you should bend your 
 knee before the Son of God who has become man, and who 
 is your Saviour ? Ah, dear friends, how little do we feel 
 the power and the brightness of the glory of God in the 
 face of Jesus Christ, His Son ! How little trembling of 
 awe and of rejoicing is there in our souls w^hen we think 
 of that simple truth, " God manifest in the flesh : the 
 Word became flesh, and dwelt among us" — when we think 
 of that blessed Name, the Name above every name given 
 unto the Lord, that at the Name of Jesus every knee 
 should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth ! 
 We shall see Him as He is. Oh, that we may have here, 
 at least, some things, some foretaste, some earnest of that 
 great revelation which shall there be made unto us of the 
 
THE CHRISTIAN'S HOPE. 395 
 
 Lord Jesus Christ in the fullness of His perfection, and in 
 the fullness of His character ! 
 
 Now there is a difference not merely in the object that 
 we behold — Christ Himself and the whole Christ, but 
 there is a difference also in the manner of our beholding 
 Him — the manner of our beholding Him. I have already 
 indicated that here it is through a mirror ; and that here 
 it is by an effort ; and that here it is by faith ; and that 
 here it is in scattered rays which have to be combined. 
 But there it shall be vision, an immediate, easy, joyous 
 beholding of the Lord in His fullness. The Apostle speaks 
 of the veil — the veil of Moses that is taken away. Unto 
 the Jews there was a two-fold veil In the first place, 
 there was a veil on the face of Moses, and then there was 
 a veil on their hearts. That is to say, the revelation of 
 God was a defective one in the Old Testament times. 
 That veil is taken away, and God has revealed Himself 
 now without veil in the face of Jesus Christ, His only 
 begotten Son. No man hath seen God at any time but 
 the only begotten of the Father — He hath revealed Him. 
 God has taken away the veil : God has revealed Himself 
 exactly as He is in the face of Jesus Christ of Nazareth 
 — in His life upon earth, in His death on the Cross, and 
 His resurrection from the dead. " He that hath seen Me, 
 hath seen the Father." Oh, what a wonderful thing it is 
 that when we read the sweet story of old — the Bible 
 narrative of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ — we behold 
 there, God ! This is God. This Jesus reveals unto us the 
 Father. E/ery word that He speaks is an echo out of the 
 heart of the living God. Everything that He does, every 
 truth that He proclaims, every manifestation of His 
 character He gives, is all a revelation of God. He and 
 the Father are one. God dwelleth in light that is un- 
 approachable and full of glory, but He has sent Jesus 
 Christ to reveal unto us, and we behold the glory of God 
 
.396 THE CHRISTIAN'S HOPE. 
 
 in Him as the glory of the only begotten, full of grace 
 and truth. Here in itself there is a test of the state of 
 our mind. But the second veil was the veil that was on 
 their hearts. The first veil was that the revelation itself 
 was a defective one. God spoke by the prophets at 
 sundry times and in divers manners with a veil. Now 
 God speaks by His Son without a veil. But the second 
 veil was on their hearts ; that is, the veil of sin, the veil 
 of selfishness, the veil of worldliness, the veil of unbelief, 
 so that they did not see even the imperfect revelation, as 
 now when they are reading the Law the veil is still on 
 their hearts. And the second veil is also on the heart of 
 every unregenerate and unconverted person. Why, dear 
 friends, is the Gospel not plain, not intelligible, not 
 attractive, not easy ? Why then do so many people not 
 understand it ? God has taken away the veil. The face 
 of Christ shines forth with splendour and glory. Then 
 why do not people understand it? Because there is a 
 veil on their hearts. Who puts that veil there ? " If 
 our gospel is hid" — if the message which we declare is 
 not understood— if it is not accepted — if Christ is not 
 seen in the Word, what is the reason ? What is the 
 reason ? The Apostle explains it to us ; and he, beinc 
 inspired of God, explains it to us truly. It is that the 
 devil binds people by sin, by worldliness — that he blinds 
 them, and prevents them from looking at Christ lest they 
 should see the glory of God in the face of His Son, and 
 seeing that glory, should repent and turn from sin unto 
 the Lord their God. That is the reason — not that the 
 gospel is not plain. "If our gospel is hid, it is hid to 
 them that are lost," whom the god of this world, Satan, 
 blinds, lest they should see the glory of God in Christ. 
 Now, both these veils are taken away. The one was taken 
 away eighteen hundred years ago, when God sent Jesus 
 into the world. The other is taken away by the power of 
 
THE CHRISTIAN'S HOPE. 397 
 
 the Holy Ghost, when we individually are turned unto the 
 Lord. Therefore there is a beholding of Jesus. And 
 this shows unto us that the seeing of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ is something that depends not merely on the object 
 that is presented before us, but also on the state of him 
 that is to behold. And thus we see that when we come 
 to be with the Lord Jesus Christ, there shall be the 
 perfect beholding of Jesus, because our hearts shall be 
 perfectly delivered from that veil which is now upon 
 them. As the Lord Jesus Christ says, "Blessed are the 
 pure in heart, for they shall see God." Therefore, it is 
 the condition of the heart, it is our spiritual and moral 
 character in the sight of God, it is our faithfulness in that 
 which God has entrusted to us, it is our fighting against 
 sin, the world, and the flesh — it is this which is connected 
 with our beholding Jesus Christ even now upon earth. 
 But when we shall be perfectly delivered from the bondage 
 of sin and of corruption — when there shall be taken away 
 from us every weight, and that sin of unbelief which doth 
 so easily beset us — then shall we behold the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. We shall see Him, because He shall be manifested 
 unto us in all His completeness; we shall see Him per- 
 fectly because the veil shall be taken away from our 
 hearts, and everything that now hinders us from behold- 
 ing. We see now darkly, as through a glass. So even 
 the Apostle Paul had to confess. Now we can argue from 
 the greater to the less. If Paul had to make this con- 
 fession, how much more we ; because, only remember the 
 case of the Apostle Paul. He saw Jesus in the vision, not 
 merely as we do in the Word and by faith ; but Jesus 
 appeared unto him. That vision of itself would not have 
 been sufficient, because, as the Apostle Paul explains it, 
 God revealed His Son in him. If Saul had merely seen 
 Christ in the heavens, and heard His voice, that would 
 never have converted him. What converted him was that 
 
398 THE CHRISTIAN'S HOPE. 
 
 afterwards God by the Holy Ghost revealed in the heart 
 and conscience of the Apostle Paul that Jesus was Lord 
 and Christ, and that in Him alone forgiveness of sin and 
 eternal life can be obtained. Notwithstanding all this, 
 the Apostle Paul, with all his knowledge and experience, 
 and with all the wisdom which was given unto him, and 
 insight into the Word of God, confessed all his life that 
 the great object of his life was to know Christ; and then 
 he confesses that "here we see through a glass darkly, but 
 then we shall see face to face " : here we know only in 
 fragments, but " then we shall know even as we are 
 known." And therefore the seeing Christ as He is, is 
 something which is connected with our life and our 
 strength. And in this respect the use of the word in 
 Scripture is different from our use of the word. We do 
 not attach much importance to knowledge. We separate 
 between knowledge and what is to be produced by that 
 knowledge. We say a man may know a number of 
 things, and yet it may not be of any good to him. But 
 the idea which the Bible has of knowledge is something 
 not merely of the intellect, or of the imagination, or of 
 the memory. The knowledge of which the Bible speaks 
 is a thing which possesses the whole mind of man and the 
 whole character of man, so that the man that knows God 
 possesses God. Why is it made a promise throughout all 
 the prophets that the time is coming when all shall know 
 the Lord? "Then shall ye know the Lord." If that 
 knowledge was something merely of the intellect and of 
 the memory, what great benefit or boon would it be ? 
 Why, it might only aggravate the guilt of man ; for we 
 all are aware of this, not merely to understand a thing in 
 our mind, and to remember a thing with our memory, if 
 it has no influence upon our character, is no real benefit, 
 but only an aggravation of our guilt. But when the 
 Bible speaks about knowing God, it means possessing 
 
THE CHRIiSTIAN'S HOPE. 399 
 
 God. For instance, " This is our eternal life " — what is 
 eternal life ?• " That they should know Thee, the only true 
 God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." Then this 
 is not merely a thing of the intellect, but it is life ; it is 
 vital; it is a new existence; it is something which will 
 change the whole man — this knowing; the Lord. 
 
 Then, again, we are told that when we look unto the 
 Lord Jesus Christ we shall be healed. Then this seeing 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ is something that affects not 
 merely the eye, or the understanding, or the mind, but it 
 is something which takes altogether from one state of 
 existence into another state of existence. " We shall 
 know Him even as we are known." What is the meaning 
 of that ? Oh, we are not able fully to understand what 
 the meaning of it is ; but the meaning of it is this, — that 
 we shall not merely see Christ, but by seeing Christ we 
 shall more and more become one with Christ. It is the 
 communion that subsists between Christ and the soul. It 
 is the knowledge that He is ours and that we are His, — 
 that all that we behold in Him is given unto us, — that 
 He has taken hold of us even as we have taken possession 
 of Him. That is the meaning of that seeing Him. We 
 shall know Him even as we are known of Him. And 
 thus it is that the promise that is given unto us will have 
 an immediate effect upon us — that beholding Jesus Christ, 
 we shall be like unto Him. 
 
 Notice, dear friends, a thing which refers to aU the 
 statements of the Bible. We take the words of the Bible, 
 and we understand them according to the common use of 
 the words which we make of them in our life ; and there- 
 fore we find it necessary always to put a codicil to them, 
 a caution, a supplement, to put them straight. But if we 
 understood the words of the Bible as they are, as God 
 wishes us to understand them, it would not be necessary 
 to put any such caution. For instance, — "justification." 
 
400 THE CHRISTIAN'S HOPE. 
 
 We explain the doctrine of justification by faith, and then 
 we must add, " But a man that is justified by faith will 
 lead a holy life." The Bible does not require that to be 
 added. It is a matter that explains itself, because from 
 the way in which the Bible explains justification by faith, 
 he cannot but lead a holy life. Again, the Apostle John 
 says, " Every one that hath this hope in him purifieth 
 himself, even as He is pure." We would say, " This hope 
 is set before you ; it is a very glorious hope ; but re- 
 member, you that have this hope ought to purify your- 
 selves." The Bible does not say " ought " at all, because 
 the Bible says if the man hath this hope he will purify 
 himself. "Everyone that hath this hope purifieth him- 
 self, even as He is pure." And so it is with the knowledge 
 of God. If we understand it in the Bible sense, then all 
 the consequences of it, as they are in the Bible, will natur- 
 ally flow from it. He gives unto us salvation. How ? 
 Through the knowledge of His name — through the know- 
 ledge of His name. And therefore it is that, seeing Christ 
 as He is, we become like Him. 
 
 What is the inference from that ? That in proportion 
 as we do see Christ we must become like Him ; and in 
 proportion as we are not like Jesus Christ we have never 
 seen Him. It is not that you must add the second to 
 the first, but the first does not exist without it. As the 
 Apostle says, " If a man does not love his brother, he has 
 not seen God." He has " not seen God." What does he 
 mean by that ? He means by that, that if he has seen 
 God, he must love his brother. We say a man has seen 
 God, but he does not remember that he also ought to love 
 his brother. The Apostle does not say that. On the 
 contrary, he says, '' If a man does not love his brother, he 
 has never seen God." Oh that we may enter into the 
 reality of the Word of God ! Oh, then we will find out, 
 dear friends, that we have a great iiiany things to learn — 
 
THE CHRISTIAN'S HOPE. 401 
 
 things which we fancied we learnt years ago. What is 
 the meaning of repentance ? What is the meaning of 
 conversion ? What is the meaning of faith in Christ ? 
 What is the meaning of justification ? What is the 
 meaning of the new birth ? What is the meaning of 
 being washed in the blood of Jesus ? Let none of us 
 think that we have learnt these things, for in the Word 
 of God the first and the last, the beginning and the end, 
 are all inseparably connected. And while we are in the 
 flesh, and while we are still learners and disciples upon 
 earth, this must be our great and our humble task day 
 by day — that we may know Christ — that we may know 
 Christ. 
 
 And, in conclusion, let me say a word unto any among 
 us who do not know Jesus, but who wish to know Jesus. 
 What description can one give of the terror and the 
 blackness and the misery of that second death, but simply 
 to say that you will be excluded from Jesus ? There must 
 be darkness there, because Jesus is the light. There 
 must be death there, because Jesus is the life. There 
 must be utter helplessness there, because Jesus is the way. 
 There must be intense ugliness there, because Jesus is 
 the beauty. There must be everything inhuman there, 
 because Jesus alone is the man in whom humanity can 
 be restored. What greater joy can there be than to 
 behold Jesus ? What greater misery can there be than 
 not to behold Jesus ? Only think of that. However 
 little you may know of Jesus, take it for granted : believe 
 it on the testimony of God in His Word, and on the testi- 
 mony of all godly men that have ever lived : all is in 
 Jesus. All is in Jesus. To see Him is life and joy, and 
 not to see Him is unspeakable misery. 
 
 Now if a man wants to see Jesus — and even those 
 Greeks, with their imperfect knowledge, said unto Philip, 
 " Sir, we would see Jesus." They had heard sufficient of 
 
402 THE CHRISTIAN'S HOPE. 
 
 Jesus to arouse their curiosity. And you remember that 
 little man Zacchsus, who was anxious to see Jesus, — how 
 he overcame all difficulties. There was a sycamore tree, 
 and climbing up that sycamore tree, he was waiting 
 anxiously until Jesus should pass. And then see how the 
 Lord Jesus honours and rewards and acknowledges even 
 the slightest desire that is in the heart of a sinner towards 
 Him ; for when He came near to Jericho He looked up, 
 and He invited and commanded Zacchaeus to come down, 
 not merely to see Him, to catch a passing glimpse of Him, 
 but because Jesus wished to be his guest, and to abide in 
 his house. Oh, do try and find some sycamore tree to 
 catch a glimpse of Jesus ; and when the desire of your 
 heart is to see Christ, do not rest until that desire is 
 fulfilled, and until you behold Him, the Saviour, the 
 Sanctifier, and the Lord of life ! 
 
403 
 
 THE FEAST OF PENTECOST} 
 
 " And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with 
 one accord in one place. And suddenly there caine a sound 
 from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the 
 house where tliey were sitting. And there appeared unto them 
 cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them." — 
 Acts ii. 1 — 3. 
 
 rpHE two points which occupy our attention this morning 
 -*- are, in the first place, the Jewish festivals; in the 
 second place, the outward manifestations and signs v?hich 
 accompanied the gift of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 When God in His condescension became the Creator, He 
 set into existence space and time. All space is to be filled 
 with His glory ; heaven and earth are to show forth His 
 wisdom and His power. Throughout the whole realm of 
 space the majesty of God is to be manifested from that 
 centre which He has Himself appointed. "The Lord hath 
 established His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom 
 ruleth over all." And as all space is to be filled with 
 God, so the Lord also is the Lord of all time. There are 
 ages — dispensations — of immense duration, aion after 
 aion. All those ao-es are to be filled with the music of 
 God ; and as God, the Creator, is the Lord of these ages, 
 so Jesus Christ, the Son, is the centre of the ages, and the 
 Holy Ghost is that Spirit which proceeds from the Father 
 and the Son, who in all ages carries out the sovereign 
 
 ^ Preached in the Trinity Presbyterian Churcli, Ladbrooke Road, 
 Netting Hill, oa Siiuday Morning, February 17, 1877. 
 
404 THE FEAST OF PENTECOST. 
 
 counsel of God. From before the foundation of the world 
 the Lamb of God was ordained, and, therefore, of all the 
 immense space which God has called into existence, the 
 most important and beautiful spot is that little hill 
 outside Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified. And of all 
 the ages and dispensations which from before the throne 
 of God continue in succession, there is no time so im- 
 portant, which shall be remembered throughout all eternity, 
 as those thirty-three years when in the fullness of time 
 the Son of God lived upon the earth, and offered Himself 
 as a sacrifice to manifest the Glory of Jehovah. Now 
 when in the Lord Jesus Christ we have revealed to us the 
 full counsel of God, we are able to look upon all space 
 with a feeling of confidence and of homeliness, and we are 
 able to think of all the ages both which have gone before 
 and which are yet to come with rejoicing hope, knowing 
 that Jesus is the heir of all ages, and that throughout all 
 ages there shall be made manifest in the Church unto 
 all the creation of God, the manifold riches of His grace 
 and of His power. When God created the world, He 
 created in six days, but He did not finish creation in six 
 days. It is a mistake to think that the world was created 
 in six days, and that after the creation was finished, the 
 seventh day was the day of rest ; for as you find it in the 
 second chapter of the Book of Genesis, it was the rest of God 
 which was the finishing of His works. It was on the seventh 
 day that God finished all His works ; but if God had only 
 created in six days, and if there had not been the seventh 
 day of rest, the works of God would have been incomplete. 
 He who out of His fullness went forth calling things into 
 existence, had to go back again into His fullness and to 
 take all those that He had created into His own bosom, that 
 within Himself they should have life and joy and peace ; 
 and therefore it is that the Lord hallowed the Sabbath Day, 
 for in that day were completed the works of God, and He 
 
THE FEAST OF PENTECOST. 405 
 
 had delight in all the things that He had made. And 
 when God afterwards brought the children of Israel, whom 
 He had chosen to be His own property, out of Egypt, the 
 house of bondage. He commanded them to remember the 
 Sabbath Day and to keep that holy, thus teaching them 
 that that Jehovah who had brought them out of Egypt, 
 the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, was not merely 
 their God, but He was the God of heaven and of earth, and 
 therefore the Sabbath Day, as it commemorated the creation, 
 so it also brought vividly before them their redemption, 
 and was a sign between Jehovah and His people that they 
 were united together. And as God appointed the seventh 
 day to be kept holy, so He appointed the seventh month to 
 be holy unto Himself. And in that seventh month there 
 was the feast of trumpets, and the beginning of the year, 
 and also the day of atonement. And as the seventh 
 month was holy, so the seventh year was holy, and the 
 earth was to rest from its toil and labour, and everything that 
 was brought forth of its own accord was to be free unto 
 the poor and unto the stranger, and even unto the beasts 
 of the field. And as the seventh year was holy, so the 
 seven times seventh year, the fiftieth year, was the year 
 of Jubilee, where again there was to be no labour, where 
 all debts were remitted, where all slaves and bondsmen 
 were emancipated, and where there was to be great joy 
 throughout the whole land, ushered in on the evening of the 
 day of atonement, that through the forgiveness of sin there 
 was now come the year of thanksgiving and of rejoicing 
 before the Lord. It was the seventh day, the seventh 
 month, the seventh year, and the fiftieth year, for 7 is the 
 holy number — 3, the number of God — 4, the number of the 
 world — 3, the number of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost — 4, 
 the number of the created things, the four living beings, 
 the four rivers in the Garden of Eden, east and west, and 
 south and north, the four corners of the earth. Seven, 
 
406 THE FEAST OF PENTECOST. 
 
 then, is the number of God in the creation, and thus the 
 whole time of the Israelitish nation was a time that was 
 filled with music. It was not like the wilderness, in which 
 there was no division, in which there was no break. It 
 was not like the maze, in which there was no organization. 
 It was not like mere sound, in which there was no rhythm ; 
 but it was filled with manifestation of God, and with the 
 music which makes glad the heart of man. 
 
 But besides these sevenths, the Jews had their festivals. 
 They had a festival, — a Passover, — when God brought the 
 children of Israel out of Egypt through the shedding of the 
 blood of the Paschal Lamb; and on the morrow after the 
 Sabbath of the Passover, as you remember, there was the 
 beginning of the harvest — the barley harvest — and the sheaf 
 was waved from earth unto God. And fifty days after that 
 there was the Pentecost, when the harvest was completed, 
 and when the two loaves, not of barley, but of wheat, not 
 without leaven, but with leaven, were presented unto the 
 Lord ; and again there was the feast of the tabernacles, 
 reminding the Jews of the time when they had been in 
 the wilderness living as it were in tents and booths. But 
 thanksgiving unto God also was connected with that, for 
 the vintage was over, the fruit was gathered in, and also 
 the oil had been brought in. In all these festivals Israel 
 was to rejoice before the Lord. 
 
 Now before I pass on to the meaning of these festivals, 
 let me remind you of the character of these festivals. 
 
 In the first place, there was joy abounding unto the 
 people. God is the God of love, of benevolence, of 
 generosity. Although sin has abounded unto death, the 
 love of God abounds unto exceeding great joy. There 
 must be weeping for a night, but "joy cometh in the 
 morning." God wants us to be restoi'ed unto paradise, in 
 which there was fullness of pleasures from before His 
 presence ; and therefore the Jewish religion was a religion 
 
THE FEAST OF PENTECOST. 407 
 
 of gladness. There were few fast days. There were many 
 days in which the people were to rejoice before God. 
 
 Learn also that God wanted to impress upon Israel that 
 He was a God of wealth abounding. Never mind about 
 the land. God will take care of the land, and there will 
 be a three-fold harvest the year before the seventh. Never 
 mind about the fiftieth year. There will be no impoverish- 
 ing of the nation, for the Lord will abundantly make up 
 that which in obedience to Him is done unto Him, for God 
 wants His people to be generous. He does not wish them 
 to be narrow-minded and close calculators. He does not 
 wish them to think that profit and loss 'and political 
 economy are altogetlier governed by laws of supply and 
 demand, or the laws of nature, but He wishes them to 
 remember that the Lord is our Host, and that we are His 
 guests, and that He has provided for us a bountiful and a 
 liberal board, and He wants His people to be courageous 
 and enterprising and liberal, and to go forth with this 
 thought, " He who condescends to be our God and the joy 
 of our soul, will He not provide food for the body and 
 raiment to put on ? " 
 
 But notice, in the third place, all the festivals of Israel 
 had a three-fold aspect. They commemorated the past. 
 God brought us out of Egypt. God gave unto us the law. 
 God led us in the wilderness. But while they commemor- 
 ated the past, they realized the present existence of God. 
 "We now rejoice before Him." This very day He loves 
 us, and looks down upon us. But while they thus realized 
 the present, they looked forward into the future, for all 
 these festivals were only types and shadows of the things 
 that were to come. 
 
 And now let me speak of the fulfilment. For "the 
 body is Christ " ; the substance is Christ, anticipated by 
 faith in the olden days, but now realized by us in a fuller 
 measure. 
 
408 THE FEAST OF PENTECOST. 
 
 What is the Sabbath Day? "Come unto Me, all ye that 
 labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." 
 This is the Sabbath Day. On the Sabbath Days the Jews 
 were not allowed to fast. If a fast-day happened to fall 
 on a Sabbath Day, it was postponed, for when we rest in 
 God how is it possible for us to be sad ? How can the 
 children of the bridechamber fast while the bridegroom 
 is with them? 
 
 Look at the Passover. On the Passover Jesus was 
 crucified. The Paschal Lamb was offered without spot 
 and without blemish. Not a bone of His sacred body was 
 broken. Exactly as the type had prefigured it, so was 
 He offered up unto God. And on the morrow after the 
 Sabbath Day He came forth the Sheaf, the Branch out 
 of the earth. He grew up as it were before Jehovah. 
 Such a man God had never seen before. Oh, what a 
 contrast between the first Adam and the last Adam !' 
 " The first Adam a living soul ; the last Adam a quicken- 
 ing Spirit." Suffering and death were behind Him. He 
 had died once unto sin, but now He lived unto God. 
 Here is the glorious Head of humanity coming forth out 
 of the earth, a sheaf waved from the earth unto God, that 
 He might sit at the right hand of the Father. But not 
 merely was He this sheaf; He was the Representative 
 Sheaf. Christ rose from the dead, the first-fruits of them 
 that slept. He rose out of the grave as our represent- 
 ative. He died for sins which were not His own; He 
 rose in order to be the Eighteousness of His people, and 
 in Him we also are raised and brought near unto God. 
 Oh, how beautifully is the Passover fulfilled unto us ! 
 Christ our Passover is offered ; Christ the first-fruits of 
 the dead is risen. We are brought out of Egypt, the 
 house of bondage. We have been redeemed with the 
 precious Blood of the Lamb of God. 
 
 And on the fiftieth day came the Pentecost. On that 
 
THE FEAST OF PENTECOST. 409 
 
 day the result of the harvest — the completion of the 
 harvest — was to be shown. As Jesus said, " If the corn 
 of wheat die not it abideth alone, but if it die it abideth 
 not alone, but bringetli forth fruit." As Jesus said when 
 He looked upon the fields, " The fields are white unto 
 harvest," so there were now the first-fruits of all the 
 creatures of God gathered in, in the one hundred and 
 twenty disciples — in the three thousand that believed and 
 that heard the counsel of God, and proclaimed in all the 
 various languages in anticipation of that final harvest 
 when round Israel all the nations of the earth shall be 
 gathered to praise and to magnify the Lord ; whereas the 
 feast of tabernacles remains still in the future, when all 
 the wilderness and pilgrimage shall have come to an 
 end, and when the Kingdom of God shall be established 
 upon the earth in outward manifestation and beauty. 
 
 Now the disciples knew that the Paschal Lamb had 
 been offered. They knew that Jesus had risen from the 
 dead. They were now waiting for the outpouring' of the 
 Holy Ghost, but it did not happen until the day of 
 Pentecost vsras "fully come." 
 
 Let me go on now to remind you of those outward 
 manifestations and signs which accompanied the gift of 
 the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, 
 
 There is one God ; and why should we be astonished to 
 find that one and same God everywhere, both in the 
 kingdom that is visible, and in the kingdom that is in- 
 visible? See how God did not allow Israel ever to 
 separate between the things which are seen and the 
 thinss which are not seen — how all those Jewish festivals, 
 although they commemorated the covenant dealings of 
 God with His people, were also in connection with the 
 natural seasons of the year — with the harvest which God 
 gave unto His people — with the outward blessings with 
 which He surrounded them. And therefore we find that 
 
410 THE FEAST OF PENTECOST. 
 
 in all Scripture the believing Israelite sees God near unto 
 him. It is the same God to him who appoints the sun, 
 the moon, and the stars — who gives food unto the ravens 
 that cry unto Him, and who divided the waves of the Red 
 Sea that His people might pass through them. Now do 
 not mistake it. The Bible does acknowledge the kingdom 
 of nature. The Bible does acknowledge that there are 
 laws of nature. If the Bible did not acknowledge that, 
 there would be no miracle. If everything is mere 
 accident, nothing is mere accident. If we say that the 
 converting of water into wine at the marriage of Cana is 
 nothing different from the way in which God gives us 
 wine in the grapes, then that is only confusing boundary 
 lines which God Himself has made. There is a kingdom 
 of nature; there are the laws of nature; at the same 
 time, it is God's kingdom, and it is the laws which He 
 has established, and which at any time, if it pleases Him 
 in His infinite wisdom and power. He may suspend in 
 order to remind us of His existence, and to teach us the 
 more important lessons of the spiritual world. But, on 
 the other hand, is it not natural — is it not reasonable to 
 suppose— that there will be a parallelism between those 
 two kingdoms — that the God of creation, the God of 
 providence, the God of redemption, and the God of final 
 glory will be the centre of all these various circles ? 
 When we are told that before the foundations of the world 
 were laid Christ was set up in the counsel of God — nay, 
 when the whole creation, the six days and the seventh 
 day, are full of illustrations of the gospel of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, how can it be otherwise but that everywhere 
 we shall see the wonderful interference of God at certain 
 times ? Therefore in history, when we read history — when 
 we read of the wonderful victory that the Greeks achieved 
 over the prowess of the East — when we read of the 
 wonderful way in which the Roman Empire was estab- 
 
THE FEAST OF PENTECOST. 411 
 
 lished — this is what people call profaae history; but it is 
 sacred history ; it is the going forth of God according to 
 the redemption plan. It is with reference to Jesus that 
 all these things happen. It is according to the prophecy 
 which God gave unto His chosen servants. It is to brine 
 about the final fifth monarchy when Jesus shall rule upon 
 the earth, and likewise in the kingdom of nature. Every 
 Christian must rejoice over every progress of science, but 
 every Christian must feel fully established in his own 
 mind that it is the Lord who is God. 
 
 Now we see in the Old Testament that the goings forth 
 of God in redemption were always accompanied with 
 outward visible signs. Take for instance the Exodus. 
 What is the most important thing in the Exodus ? The 
 Paschal Lamb, and the fact that it was God who brought 
 out His people. But were there not great and mighty 
 signs which ever^^body could see, whether he was a 
 believer or not? Was not the river Nile turned into 
 blood ? Were not the powers of nature, as it were, 
 summoned in order to show forth unto the Egyptians the 
 power of God and the severity of God ? Was not the Red 
 Sea divided ? Were there not these miracles ? They are 
 not the most important, but they are as it were shadows 
 of that brightness of spiritual power which God shows 
 forth. Take again the passing of the children of Israel 
 through the wilderness. What is the most important 
 thing there? That God led them; that Christ was 
 among them ; that faith was exercised. But were there 
 not miracles ? Was there not the manna from heaven ? 
 Was there not the rock that gave forth the water ? Was 
 there not the healing through looking at the brazen 
 serpent ? Again, take Elijah. When God revealed Him- 
 self unto Elijah, was there not the earthquake and the fire 
 before there came the still small voice ? Or when Jesus 
 was born. What is the most important thing there ? 
 
412 THE FEAST OF PENTECOST. 
 
 Whj', nothing can for a single moment be compared to 
 this — the Word was made flesh. That is the greatest 
 miracle. But was there not the star, a miraculous thing 
 that brought the wise men from the East in order that 
 they might worship tlie new-born King of the Jews ? 
 Take again when Jesus was upon the earth. Was there 
 not a voice which came down from heaven and said, " This 
 is My beloved Son," and everybody heard that voice ? It 
 was the Bath-Kol, as the Hebrews called it — an audible 
 voice from heaven. The people said it thundered, and 
 some said an angel spake unto Him, but Jesus said, " It 
 was for your sakes that this voice came down." Again, 
 when Jesus died upon the cross. Marvel of marvels ! 
 God incarnate ! After Jesus died there were great out- 
 ward manifestations of God's power. There came dense 
 darkness over the whole land. What was the meaninar of 
 that ? When Jesus first appeared preaching the gospel, 
 the prophecy in Isaiah was fulfilled, " The people that sat 
 in darkness have seen a wonderful light.'' The Jews 
 rejected Jesus. When they put Him to death they had 
 rejected Him. Therefore God, the Father, sent a dense 
 darkness over all the earth in order to symbolize unto the 
 nation that in the rejection of Jesus Israel had rejected 
 the sun, the fountain of all light. Then the veil in the 
 temple was rent in twain. What was that to show ? 
 That the access into the holy of holies had been made 
 manifest. Then the earth quaked, and the rocks were 
 rent. What was that to show ? As Haggai says, " I shall 
 shake the earth before the final restoration comes." The 
 death of Jesus is that upon which the whole renovation of 
 the earth is based. Then the graves were opened, and 
 the dead men went forth and appeared unto their friends 
 in the holy city. What was the meaning of that, but 
 that Jesus had the key of Hades, and that the just men 
 of the old dispensation were made perfect through the 
 
THE FEAST OF PENTECOST. 413 
 
 accomplishing of the sacrifice ? So we have in all the 
 dealings of God in redemption at important periods of the 
 history of God's people outward and visible signs. And 
 when Jesus will come again — who knows when it will be ? — 
 but when Jesus will come again there will be again signs 
 and wonders in heaven above and upon the earth below. 
 Men shall see it in the moon, and in the stars, and in the 
 rocks, and in all things around them when the day of the 
 Lord is approaching. Therefore we, who believe in God, 
 Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, one Lord, are not astonished 
 at all those wonderful outward signs and manifestations 
 which are recorded in the Word of God. And it is nothing 
 but the latent imbelief in the heart which does not wish 
 to acknowledge God the Creator of heaven and earth. 
 Although it wishes to acknowledge Him, it does not wish to 
 have Him near — does not wish to have Him come again 
 and manifest His power ; it is only this latent unbelief of 
 the heart which finds fault with those miracles which are 
 recorded to us in Holy Scripture. 
 
 Now let us look at the outward signs which accompanied 
 the descent of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 " Suddenly." Suddenly. They had been praying for 
 ten days, and yet it was suddenly. God often in answer 
 to our prayers hesitates as it were, and leaves a clear 
 margin in order to show that He does it in sovereignty, 
 whenever He chooses, in order to remind us that although 
 it is through our prayers, it is not on account of our 
 prayers, and that He is the first in all things. 
 
 " From above." Holy disciples had now quite a different 
 view of above from what they had before. The heavens 
 were now opened unto them. As Jesus said unto 
 Nathaniel — " Henceforth ye shall see the heavens opened." 
 Right through the sky, into the Holy of Holies, they were 
 able to look now with the eye of faith. Jesus was there 
 — the same Jesus whom they had known upon the earth. 
 
414 THE FEAST OF PENTECOST. 
 
 Ob, how homely was heaven to them ! "la My Father's 
 house I go to prepare a place for you." The very Jesus 
 who was above all blessings will now come down, and the 
 manifestations addressed themselves to the ear and to the 
 eye. There was a sound as of a mighty rushing wind. 
 Notice the caution of Scripture. It does not say it was 
 a wind, but " as of." It says it was like fire ; that is to say, 
 the human words by which we can express that reality 
 which appeared — the most approximate expressions for it — 
 are to say that it was like the mighty rushing wind, or it 
 Avas liha fire. The wind, you know, is the emblem of the 
 Spirit of God. First, it is mysterious and sovereign, 
 beyond our control. " The wind bloweth where it listeth." 
 Thou hearest the sound thereof, but thou knowest not 
 whence it cometh, and whither it goeth. Besides its being 
 mysterious, it is full of power. We cannot see the wind. 
 It may come very gently, as it were on the curls of a 
 little infant, and not disturb them, but it may come with 
 a mighty and irresistible energy. The wind is also an 
 emblem of the life-giving power of God. As in the thirty- 
 seventh chapter of Ezekiel the prophet beheld the many 
 bones that were very dry scattered upon the field, and the 
 wind arose and breathed upon them, even the Spirit of 
 the Lord, and they were quickened, and stood up, a mighty 
 army. Or, again, it may be animating, arousing, and 
 alarming. " Awake, O north wind, and come, thou south ; 
 blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow 
 out. Let my beloved come into His garden, and eat His 
 pleasant fruits." The rushing mighty wind came down 
 from heaven, and made Himself felt in the whole of the 
 house. 
 
 The second emblem was fire. Ah, dear friend, throuffh 
 the winter nights when you are looking into the fire, does 
 it not remind you of something ? God is the fire — emblem 
 of purity. In God is nothing but light and pui-ity. God 
 
THK FEAST OF PK NT BOOST. 4ir, 
 
 is fire. "Our God is a consuming fire." The holiness 
 of God, which separates from itself everything that is 
 impure, which must consume everything that is ungodly — 
 wherever the love of God expresses itself as the fire of 
 wrath. Fire is the emblem of brightness and of heat, 
 bringing with it life and fervour. Fire also is the emblem 
 of that which cannot but communicate itself, even as the 
 light cannot remain in itself— must go forth, and bring 
 light and gladness unto others. Do you remember how 
 Moses when he was minding the sheep of his father, 
 Jethro, saw a great marvel in the wilderness — a marvel- 
 lous phenomenon — a bush burning and yet not consumed ? 
 And out of the fire of that bush, who spoke unto him ? 
 God spoke unto him — God the Sou, the angel of the 
 covenant, that led Israel through the wilderness. Do you 
 remember the blessing that was given to Joseph — the 
 favour of Him that was in the bush ? Christ was in the 
 bush ; and the burning bush is not so much an emblem 
 of the Church as an emblem of the Son of God taking 
 upon Him our humanity, entering in His humanity into 
 the fire of God's holiness and yet not consumed, for through 
 the atonement of Jesus, the fire of God unto them is 
 now a fire of blessing — a fire of life and a fire of strength. 
 And thus was it that the Holy Ghost came in His outward 
 manifestations of the wind and of the fire. 
 
 Now, in conclusion, let me ask, have you received the 
 wonderful gift of the Holy Ghost — the wonderful gift of 
 the Holy Ghost ? Jesus only is able to give it. But let 
 me say to any among you who do not know the wonderful 
 gift of the Holy Ghost, there is no preparation on your 
 part needed for receiving it. There is no delay. There 
 are no conditions laid down. Jesus is willing and able to 
 give the Holy Ghost unto every one that comes unto Him. 
 Oh, do you not remember that beautiful hour when Jesus 
 our Saviour sat thus on the well, and when the poor 
 
416 THE FEAST OF PENTECOST. 
 
 woman of Samaria came tliere, ignorant, thoughtless^ 
 frivolous, sinful, and Jesus said unto her, "If thou knewest 
 the gift of God, and who it is that saith unto thee, Give 
 Me to drink, thou wouldest ask Hun, and He would give 
 unto thee living water " ? So with every one, and any one 
 that knows the gift. "If thou knewest" — if you knew 
 there is such a person as Jesus, the Son of God, Saviour 
 of sinners, sender forth of the Holy Ghost, who alone can 
 give rest unto those who are burdened and heavy-laden ; 
 who alone can give pardon unto those that have sinned 
 against God ; who alone can open the kingdom of heaven 
 to the guilty and those that have departed from the Lord. 
 "If thou knewest the gift of God," purchased with blood, 
 coming out of the sovereign free goodwill of tlie Father. 
 " If thou knewest the gift of God." 
 
 But knowing is not enough. All of you know it. You 
 must ask, you must wish it. You must not merely say, 
 " It is a desirable thing," but " I wish it." You must not 
 merely say, " I wish it," but you must say, " I will it." 
 You must not merely say, " I will it," but you must say 
 " I will lose anything and everything, but I must get that." 
 You must not merely say, " I must get it," but you must 
 say, " It is for Him to give it. I have no claim on it. I 
 will ask Him. I will ask Him." "If thou knewest the 
 gift of God, and who it is that saith unto thee, Give Me 
 to drink, thou wouldest have asked Him, and then, without 
 any delay or uncertainty, He would give unto thee that 
 living water." 
 
 And oh, what a blessed thing when we have come to 
 Jesus — when we have entered in by the door, and when 
 we have received from Him the living water ! You 
 remember the beginning of that wonderful poem of Dante, 
 when he describes the gate of hell and the inscription on 
 that gate. " Give up all Iwpc, ye who enter here." Ah, 
 there is another door, Jesus the crucified and now exalted 
 
THE FEAST OF PENTECOST. 417 
 
 Redeemer, leading unto heaven, and on that door is written, 
 " Give up all fear, all ye that enter here ; " and the moment 
 we have entered in through that open door, and are inside 
 the door, and look back on the other side of the door, we 
 read this inscription, " None of those who have entered in 
 can ever be lost." Jesus will take care that if you have 
 once entered in by the door you will never be lost, for 
 " My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they 
 follow Me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they 
 shall never perish, nor shall any one pluck them out of My 
 hands." Jesus seals us with His Holy Spirit unto the day 
 of Redemption. Oh, that we also may know the day of 
 Pentecost fully come ! Amen. 
 
418 
 
 THE WISE VIRGINS} 
 
 T WISH to speak to you this morning on the wise 
 -'- virgins, and especially that which distinguishes the 
 wise virgins from the foolish virgins. All the ten appeared 
 as virgins. All the ten went forth to meet the bridegroom. 
 All the ten had lamps in their hands, and the lamps were 
 burning. All the ten slumbered and slept. What then 
 was the difference between the wise virgins and the 
 foolish virgins ? The difference is mentioned by our Lord 
 in these simple words — that the wise took oil in their 
 vessels with their lamps. This and this only constituted 
 the difference upon which such mightj' and awful issues 
 depend. The wise had not merely lamps burning, but 
 the wise, foreseeing the delay, took also in the vessels 
 which belonged to the lamps a supply of oil. 
 
 And this, dear friends, is the one point of which I 
 would speak to you to-day. You know that there are 
 more warnings addressed in the Word of God to professing 
 believers than even to the wicked and the worldly. There 
 are more passages in Scripture which are addressed to 
 those who appear to be believers and who think them- 
 selves believers, showing them the possibility that in the 
 sight of God they are unsaved, and that their final end 
 will be destruction. 
 
 Those who do not receive the Word of God at all are not 
 
 PreaclieJ in Belgrave Presbyterian Churcli, on Snnday Morning, 
 July 1, 1883. 
 
THE WISE VIRGINS. 419 
 
 treated of by our Lord in the parable of the sower ; but of 
 those who do receive the Word of God, He tells us that 
 three classes receive it in vain, and that only one class 
 receive it in reality. "Not every one that says unto 
 the Lord, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of 
 heaven." Not merely a few, but many who profess to be 
 believers in the Name of Jesus, who have even the gift of 
 explaining the gospel, who are even successful in the work 
 of the gospel — many shall appear in that day to have had 
 only the form of godliness without the power. The opinion 
 of your fellow-believers does not decide the matter; for he 
 who was admitted to the marriage feast was considered by 
 every one to be fit until the Lord Himself came and asked, 
 " Friend, how earnest thou hither, not having on a wedding 
 garment ? " Even among the twelve apostles one of them 
 was Judas the son of perdition. And of ten virgins, fi^"e 
 were wise, and five foolish ; not in the estimation of the 
 world, and very likely not in their own estimation, but in 
 the estimation of Him " who searcheth the hearts, and 
 trieth the reins." 
 
 Now when we think of this, the question arises in our 
 minds, whether we have any life within us, and any anxiety 
 about our future salvation. " Lord, is it I ? " If we re- 
 member that not all who are called are roused — that not 
 all who are roused are convinced — that not all who are 
 convinced are brought to believe in Jesus — that not all 
 who appear to believe in Jesus really do believe in Jesus 
 — oh, then the question must arise in our mind, " What 
 is that all-important, all-decisive, mysterious element 
 known only to God, which distinguishes the precious from 
 the vile, and the chosen from those who shall ultimately 
 be lost ? " No doubt this is the impression which the 
 parable of the ten virgins leaves upon every one with 
 whom God's Spirit is dealing at all ; but, if the impression 
 that was left was merely one of fear and of terror, it would 
 
420 THE WISE VIRGINS. 
 
 not be the impression which is intended by the Holy 
 Ghost ; for fear contracts the heart, and when the heart 
 is contracted, then there is no communion witli God. It 
 is by the heart being opened, expanded, melted — it is by 
 the heart trusting, by the heart going forth in confidence, 
 that the work of salvation in the soul is begun, continued, 
 and completed. That paralyzing fear has nothing to do 
 with the gospel, but belongs to the law. It was that fear 
 which took hold of the unprofitable servant, who said — 
 " Oh, salvation is no easy matter. Salvation is a very 
 solemn matter. There are a great many risks that are 
 possible here ; and therefore, knowing that the Lord is a 
 severe master, I will be very careful that I keep the talent 
 entrusted to me." And he became an unprofitable servant, 
 and was cast out into the outer darkness. Then what is 
 to be the effect of this parable on you — on me ? It is to 
 be this — that with our fear, with our misgiving, with our 
 consciousness of our own sinfulness, and of the deceitful- 
 ness of our hearts, we should be sincerely dealing with 
 God Himself: we should go into the light of God: we 
 should deal with our heavenly Father, who is full of love, 
 and with that Saviour who died on the Cross, and who 
 is full of mercy and compassion, and be intensely interested 
 about our salvation in the presence of God and of Jesus 
 Christ; and knowing that this must be the secret life 
 from our apparent conversion even until we end and stand 
 before Jesus, — that all the time we are bavins; our callins 
 and our election confirmed unto us, and that all the time 
 we are in communion with God, and that all the time 
 there is a secret between the Shepherd and the sheep, so 
 that Jesus says, "I am known of Mine, and I know them," 
 so that at the last what has gone on, point to point, day 
 to day, forms one continuous line until Jesus says — and 
 says before the whole world — " Come, ye blessed of My 
 Fatlier, and inherit the kingdom prepared for you." 
 
THE WISE VIRGINS. 421 
 
 Two points in Christ's history stand out pre-eminently. 
 One is when He died upon the Cross, and shed His 
 precious Blood for remission of sins. That is the love of 
 Christ in dying, "the just for the unjust." "Greater love 
 hath no man than this." Greater love there is not, even 
 in the depths of Godhead. Greater sacrifice never will be 
 beheld by this universe. The highest point, the culmin- 
 ating point, of the love of God is on the Cross of Christ. 
 Throughout all eternity there will be nothing grander; 
 there will be nothing more beautiful and glorious to be 
 thought of than the death of Jesus on the Cross. On the 
 other side of eternity there is nothing more wonderful 
 than what you are going to commemorate this very 
 morning. Throughout all eternity angels and saints will 
 know no other subject of praise and of adoration but the 
 Blood of the Lamb that was slain. 
 
 But as this is the one point, so the other point is the 
 return of Jesus, when He will bring everlasting blessed- 
 ness and glory to all that wait for His appearing. When 
 we think and feel these two points, then we have the 
 whole influence of Divine life and power acting upon 
 ourselves — the love of the past, the glory of the future — 
 the death of Jesus on the Cross — the appearing of Jesus 
 for His Bride. This is the fire of gratitude, and of love, 
 and of devotedness, and this is the fire of anxiety to 
 please Him, and of hope and of perseverance. Without 
 these two we cannot live properly, and therefore the 
 Lord's Supper is all-comprehensive. If the Lord's Supper 
 is that one institution by which Jesus Christ nourishes 
 and cherishes the Church, which is His Body, it is simply 
 because it brings before us these two points — Christ's 
 death on the Cross, and Christ's apj^earing to take us 
 unto Himself. Without the death of Christ on the Cross 
 there is no Christian life. Without the expectation of the 
 return of Jesus there is no healthful Christian life. Those 
 
422 THE WISE VIRGINS. 
 
 two must go together. When the Church forgets the 
 Atonement, and when the Church forgets the second 
 advent of the Lord, it has reached its freezing-point. In 
 the Blood is the hfe of the Church ; and in personal love 
 to Jesus, and waiting for His return, is the life of the 
 Church. 
 
 The ten virgins went forth to meet the Bridegroom. 
 Look at the wise virgins as we see them now in the 
 light of eternity, and as we see them now with the eyes 
 of Jesus. They had been separated from the world. 
 They had tasted that the Lord is gracious. They had 
 chosen Jesus to be the lover of their soul. They were 
 waiting now for His appearing, and for their entry into 
 the full enjoyment and fruition of the blessing which was 
 already theirs. Lamps they had in their hands, and the 
 lamps were burning ; but their desire was not merely to 
 appear to be Christians : their desire was to be Christians. 
 Their anxiety was not merely for the present moment. 
 Their desire was to have within them that which would 
 last and endure ; and therefore it was that, besides having 
 the oil burning in the lamp, they had provided themselves 
 also with oil to last them through the long delay. To 
 please the bridegroom — to be really in communion with 
 Him — to have that which, unknown and unobserved of the 
 world, was known and observed by Him, and which would 
 ever stand by them through all the various experiences 
 and vicissitudes of their course — that was their anxiety. 
 
 Now the bridegroom tarried, and while the bridegroom 
 tarried all the virgins fell asleep. Yet there was a differ- 
 ence between the sleep of the wise virgins and the sleep 
 of the foolish virgins. Oh, dear friends, our natural life 
 requires sleep, and sleep is no loss of time for our physical 
 life or for our mental life, because the rest is necessary in 
 order that the energies both of body and of mind should 
 be recruited, and that then we should be able to begin a 
 
THE WISE VIRGINS. 42.". 
 
 new course. Not until we have new bodies and perfected 
 souls shall we be able to serve the Lord day and nio-ht 
 without any intermission. In this outward life of ours 
 sleep is a blessing. Sleep is no loss of time. Sleep does 
 not weaken us. But in the spiritual life there ought not 
 to be a moment of sleep, for the night is past, and the sun 
 is shining, and Jesus is the light ; and He has given to us 
 in Himself a fullness out of which we are to take con- 
 tinually, and grace for grace. Then we are not to close 
 our eyes ; and not to give in to dreams and imaginations, 
 and not to be separated from communion with Him. The 
 sleep into which the wise virgins fell may have been a 
 culpable sleep. There is the enchanted ground, and even 
 Christians often are influenced by the fascinations of the 
 world — by the false notions of the world — by the low 
 standard that is in the Church. And there are times in 
 the life of most Christians when, owing either to the 
 enjoyments, or to the many occupations, or to the troubles 
 of this our present earthly life, they become dead to 
 Christ, lukewarm, confused in their minds, not hearing 
 distinctly His voice ; and mingled visions, indistinct and 
 vague and erroneous, come into their thoughts, so that the 
 voice of God and the voice of the world are heard in 
 confusion. Ah, then the wonderful compassion of Jesus 
 watches over His poor and guilty one, and it may be 
 through severe chastening and bitter experience such a 
 one is brought back again to allegiance to his Saviour. 
 But it is possible that this sleep of the wise virgins was 
 like the sleep of Peter, John, and James, when Jesus, 
 scarcely rebuking them, said unto them, " Can you not 
 watch even one hour with Me ? " However that may 
 have been, it was a different sleep from the sleep of the 
 foolish virgins, for when the wise virgins were aroused 
 by the voice, "The bridegroom cometh," there was no 
 consternation in their mind. Gladly they rose. Collected 
 
424 THE WISK_ VIRGINS. 
 
 were their thoughts. Fixed was their affection. Sure 
 was their faith. And they trimmed their lamps. And 
 as a smile irradiates the countenance of one who sees 
 a long-missed friend again, so the oil went through their 
 whole mind and soul, and with renewed strength and 
 renewed joy they went forth to meet the bridegroom. " I 
 sleep, but my heart waketh." So says the bride in the 
 Song of Solomon, and such may have been the sleep of 
 these five virgins. But when they were roused by the 
 voice, they were collected : tViey had oil in their lamps : 
 they were ready; and they went in, and they became 
 partakers of the joy of the bridegroom, for they had been 
 wise virgins who had taken oil in their vessels with their 
 lamps. 
 
 Now what was the oil, and what was the taking of the 
 oil in the vessels ? In the parable of the Steward, what 
 the Lord wishes to show to us is faithfulness ip service. 
 In the parable which is afterwards mentioned, of the 
 Judgment, when all the nations of the world appeared 
 before the throne of God, what the Lord wishes to im- 
 press upon our minds is mercifulness during this present 
 dispensation to all who are poor and needy, or lonely or 
 sick — faithfulness in service — mercifulness durino- this 
 dispensation of afifliction and trial. But in the parable 
 of the Virgins our Lord does not dwell upon the outward 
 action, or upon the dispensing of those gifts which we 
 have received. He dwells upon the inward state and 
 condition. It is the inward condition of the five virgins 
 which is brought before us, and that is symbolized by the 
 fact that they had oil with their lamps. In one word, 
 they were spiritually-minded; and to be spiritually- 
 minded is the only way of being watchful. Not by 
 studying prophecy,— not by being like the Apostles, gazing 
 into heaven when they saw Jesus disappear in the sky, 
 but by having oil in the vessel with the lamps — by being 
 
THE WISE VIRGINS. 425 
 
 spiritually-minded — by being in communion with the 
 Lord continually, and by treasuring up unto ourselves, 
 through continuous dealings with God, we attain to that 
 state of watchfulness, of collectedness, and of joyfulness, 
 that whenever the Lord Jesus comes we are ready to go 
 in with Him to the marriage. 
 
 The key to explain to us the taking of the oil in the 
 vessels, and having a reserve fund, is given to us in the 
 passage in the Second Epistle of Peter, which we have 
 read to-day. All things which pertain to life and godliness 
 are given to us in Christ Jesus. When a man is con- 
 verted — when a man is brought to the Lord Jesus Christ 
 — there is in that Jesvxs Christ everything that he needs : — 
 pardon for his sins — renewal for his heart — strength for 
 his energies — purpose for his will — knowledge for his 
 mind ; all patience, all watchfulness, all meekness, all 
 power of forgiving the trespasses of his neighbour. There 
 is no sin but he can overcome ; there is no temptation but 
 he can resist and conquer ; there is no grace but he can 
 take it out of the fullness of Christ ; there is no difficult 
 task but he can perform it, for all thiugs which pertain 
 unto life and godliness are treasured up in Christ Jesus. 
 But this he must do. He must not be like the foolish 
 virgins, and say, "Oh, I am converted : I am so happy. 
 Do you not see that my lamp is burning ? " — more bent 
 upon appearing to be a Christian than on being a 
 Christian — more bent on having peace and enjoyment 
 and consolation for his soul than really pleasing the Lord, 
 and having communion with Him. Then begins his real 
 work. Why, up to this you have not been able to do 
 anything but mischief. Now begins the real work. 
 Seeing that He has given unto us all things which pertain 
 to life and godliness, bring out of these one thing after 
 the other. To faith, add virtue ; to virtue, add knowledge ; 
 and to knowledge, add temperance; and to temperance, 
 
 E E 
 
426 Tim WISE VIRGINS. 
 
 add brotherly love; and to brotherly love, add charity. 
 Bring out what is given to you in Christ first. Or again, 
 as the Apostle Paul writes to the Philippians, " Because I 
 love you, I have you in my heart ; but I am confident of 
 this very thing, that he who liatli begun a good work will 
 perform it unto the day of Christ " — not with j)aralyzing 
 fear which the unprofitable servant had, but the heart 
 expanded in truthfulness to Jesus, who died for us, and 
 who surely loves us much more now that He has brought 
 us unto Himself. And he says, " I am anxious that you 
 should increase more and more in all knowledge ; that you 
 should approve the things that are excellent ; and that you 
 should be found to be sincere and without blame in the 
 day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness, 
 which are not of your exertion, but by Christ Jesus, to the 
 gloiy of God." This having the reserve fund — the oil in 
 the lamp — is, that, according as the Apostle Peter teaches 
 us, and according as the Apostle Paul teaches us, we are 
 trusting in Jesus, abiding in Jesus, going daily to Jesus, 
 leaning on Jesus, and treasuring up to ourselves continually 
 more light, more love, more faith, more patience, more 
 self-denial, more forgivingness, more meekness, more self- 
 control, more everything that is like the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. They took oil with them in their vessels with the 
 lamp. Not for the world to see or admire. It was .a 
 secret between them and the Lord. Oh, if you love any 
 one very much, you do like to speak to him without any 
 third person being present. It is a secret between the 
 Lord Jesus Christ and the soul. Enoch walked with God. 
 Oh, how simple is this expression, yet how delightful, how 
 perfectly self-illuminating ! Enoch walked with God ; and 
 if we walk with God, every day must be progress : eveiy 
 day must be a renewal : every day must be replenishing. 
 They took oil with them in the vessels with the lamps. 
 " Buy for yourselves." That is what the wise virgins 
 
THE WISE VIRGINS. ill 
 
 said to the foolish. " Buy for yourselves/' No books, no 
 ministers, no meetings, no medium here between you and 
 the Lord. It is a personal transaction. It is a daily 
 transaction. It is a dealing with the Lord. Buy for 
 yourselves ; for what you need you only can know. What 
 you wish to obtain from the Lord cannot be understood 
 perfectly by any other person, and the obtaining of it is a 
 personal thing between you and the Lord. Oh what an 
 expression that is ! " Buy.'' It is said, " Ho, every one 
 that thirsteth, come ye, and he that hath no money, buy : 
 buy wiue and milk without money and without price." 
 Ay, it is true that it is of grace, according as He hath 
 given unto us all things which pertain unto life and godli- 
 ness. As free as the precious blood of Jesus, so free is 
 every gift, every virtue, every feature of sanctifi cation, 
 which God in Jesus bestows upon us. Only trust Him as 
 freely for replenishing you with the oil as you trust Him 
 for having given you the first knowledge of Himself as a 
 Saviour. 
 
 But there is something else implied in the buying. It 
 does not merely mean that it is for nothing. It means 
 also the very opposite — that you must pay everything that 
 you have in order to get it ; for when the merchant had 
 sought goodly pearls, and discovered the pearl of great 
 price, he sold all that he had in order to get into possession 
 of that one. " Buy for yourselves." That was the search- 
 ing message to the foolish virgins. They had never given 
 themselves, and everything that they were and had, in 
 order to obtain that one thing that was necessary. 
 
 But, still farther, if you ask, " Why is all this compared 
 with oil ? " the answer occurs to you, that it is not merely 
 as a beautiful illustration — a most marvellous illustration. 
 If you look upon that parable simply as a skilful parable, 
 you must be astonished at it — how in a story which was 
 continually occurring, and with which all the people there 
 
428 THE WISE VIRGINS. 
 
 were perfectly familiar, our Lord Jesus Christ has illustrated 
 the most various and important truths in the experience 
 of spiritual life. But the oil/ we know, means the Spirit 
 of God. If means that Holy Ghost who from the Father 
 and the Son desceads into the hearts of God's people, 
 who converts, who sanctifies, who enlightens, who comforts, 
 who imparts to us all the treasures of the Divine Grace. 
 But it does not mean the Holy Ghost Himself merely, 
 but that which is born of the Holy Ghost. That which is 
 of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is 
 spirit. The oil in the vessels along with the lamps means 
 the spiritual mind of the Christian. As I said before — 
 and this is the point of the whole parable — to be spiritually- 
 minded is to be watchful : to be in the Spirit is to keep 
 up the communion with the Lord Jesus Christ : to be in 
 the Spirit is the test whether we have been converted, for 
 " If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of 
 His." 
 
 But now there remains the most important point still to 
 be noticed. You can have no doubt what Jesus intends 
 of you. You can have no doubt that Jesus does not wisb 
 any of His disciples to be in a state of consternation when 
 He comes. You can have no doubt that Jesus wants you 
 to receive Him with a joyful face — that He wants you to 
 be ready for Him, to say, " Lo, this is our God : we have 
 waited for Him with gladness, and we welcome Him, 
 knowing that He loves us, and that He will give to us now 
 the full fruition of what His death on the Cross has produced 
 for us." We are to be ready : we are to be prepared ; we 
 are to be rejoicing. And whence is it we are to derive 
 this readiness ? In the parable of the Wise Virgins it is 
 hinted to us. In the institution of the Lord's Supper it is 
 put before us clearly, so that we can perceive it even with 
 our outward senses. There is no other preparation for 
 the second advent but the eating that Body which is food 
 
THE WISE VIRGINS. 429 
 
 and bread indeed, and drinking that Blood which is drink 
 indeed. The oil, the Holy Ghost, the spiritual mind, 
 comes only out of one channel. You know that the Holy 
 Ghost could not be given, until Jesus had died upon the 
 Cross and was glorified. There is no oil except it comes 
 out of the riven side of Jesus. There is no Spirit but as it 
 comes with the Blood of Christ. It is by our continually 
 remembering the salvation of Christ on the Cross — it is by 
 our continually holding fast the beginning of our confidence 
 — it is by our continually sitting spiritually at the Lord's 
 Supper, and dwelling upon the death of Jesus, and the love 
 which Jesus had when He died for us — it is only in this 
 way that the Spirit is given unto us, and that we are kept 
 watchful and ready to receive our Lord. 
 
 Exclude then from your mind everything that is legal 
 — all fear which is of bondage — all self-righteousness or 
 self-sanctification. " By Christ ye have been saved through 
 faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God." 
 The forgiveness of sin is your starhing-point, and not the 
 goal towards which you strive. You have already obtained 
 through faith the love of God, the favour of God, and the 
 everlasting salvation of God. Eat this ; drink this ; and 
 you have filled your vessels with oil ; and thus looking 
 back to the Cross of Jesus is the only preparation and the 
 only strength in which we can look forward to the coming 
 of Jesus. Amen. 
 
430 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 DR. KEITH'S ILLNESS — THE ARCHDUCHESS. 
 
 The following are extracts from articles written by Dr. 
 Keith, and published in the Sunday at TFo'nw in 1867, in 
 which he describes his illness at Pesth, and wonderful re- 
 covery, and the kindness of the Archduchess ; and the way by 
 which this illness led, in God's providence, to the establish- 
 ment of the mission to the Jews in Pesth. Speaking of the 
 deputation, or Commission of Inquiry, from the Church of 
 Scotland (appointed to visit different countries, with a view 
 to the planting of Jewish missions), composed of himself, 
 Professor Black of Aberdeen, McCheyne, and Andrew Bonar, 
 he says : — It is a story of thrilling interest, manifesting the 
 guidance and care of God. The deputation had a letter from 
 the Foreign Office (Lord Palmerston) to the British am- 
 bassadors and consuls, for our use, wherever we might go. 
 At Pesth there was no consul. We had an accvimulation of 
 introductions for other cities, but not one for it — nor did we 
 know one single individual within it. Yet we would have 
 been faithless to our charge if we had passed it by, or tarried 
 only for a night. According to the original plan of our route, 
 we had resolved not to come within hundreds of miles of it, 
 but there we were ; and long ere we reached it we had 
 resolved to stop at Pesth, at least for three days, till the next 
 steamer should arrive, thinking that that time might suffice 
 for it. But brief as it was, it sufficed to convince us that of 
 all the cities we had visited, none was to be compared to it, 
 as the promising site of a Jewish mission. Our inquiries were 
 then incomplete ; we could not go, till we could learn still more ; 
 and though we had paid for our passage by the next steamer, 
 we let it pass withovit entering it. A Rabbi (a nationalist), 
 as if provoking us to persevere, said, " Send us out a mis- 
 sionary, and we will reason with him." We had no such 
 challenge in any other city. We had ascertained that there 
 were many such Jews to be reasoned with there, and were 
 
nn. KEITH' ^ ILLNESS. 431 
 
 informed by one of the professors that there were thirty 
 Jewish youths at the University. As to the desirability of 
 a mission there we were soon fully satisfied ; but as to its 
 possibility we saw no way. We knew well that the Austrian 
 Government, then supreme in Hungary, would be dead 
 against it. The dread object in our view was the grand 
 palace of the Prince Palatine, an Austiian archduke, the 
 uncle of the Emperor. The first sight of it seemed to defy 
 us, and to destroy all hope, if, hoping against hope, we had 
 cherished any. However beautiful, it had, when we thought 
 of our object, no beauty in our eyes ; and it was the very last 
 place to which we should have looked for help. 
 
 Help was needed to give us any hope, and even, it may be 
 said, to keep one of us from the grave. Two quarantines on 
 the banks of the Danube, and ascending slowly up that river 
 for many hundreds of miles, at the most pestilential season of 
 the year, had smitten us both with intermittent or, as it is 
 called, the Danube fever. Enfeebled thus, we had at first to 
 grope our way as strangers in a strange city, and to gather 
 information from public men, whose names we had to ascer- 
 tain — Eabbis, Professors, Protestant clergymen, &.c. — as quietly 
 and unostentatiously as we could. Steam navigation had made 
 travellers less objects of observation. Going thus from house 
 to house to complete our inquiries, and to find, if we could, 
 some friend to our cause, I was suddenly seized in passing 
 along the street with faintness and sickness, and had to retreat 
 into a house, and I lay there for some time before I was able 
 to return to the hotel. 
 
 On reaching the hotel I was speedily prostrated by an 
 attack which had some of the symptoms of cholera ; while my 
 beloved friend of many years — now the late Dr. Black, — while 
 I live to write it, — saw me sinking more and more, till he 
 thought I was about to die, was walking up and down 
 wringing his hands, bemoaning himself and weeping like a 
 child; and I, who thought myself dying, but believing in 
 Jesus, felt my true self, though not the shell, to be all alive, 
 was trying to comfort him, so long as I could speak. I fainted 
 away, became insensible, my pulse stopped as if "all was 
 over," as mortals creatures speak, and this fleeting life had 
 passed away. A scene of yesterday is not more fresh in my 
 
432 DR. KEITH'S ILLNESS. 
 
 mind than this, as I seemed to take the last look on earth of 
 my Christian friend, and I seem to see him still. He was the 
 strength of our mission — a man of vast erudition, and a pro- 
 found theologian. He spoke nineteen languages, and wrote 
 twelve. On seeing me, as he thought, dying or dead, his 
 afieotionate heart was touched to the quick, , and his fever 
 returned with increased violence. I saw him not again for 
 six weeks, though there was only a thin wall between our 
 rooms ; when he came to see me — the shadow of what he was — 
 I have often said that we were like two dead dogs. But it 
 is now time to say to the reader : Come and see what the 
 Lord can do, who said to His disciples, " The very hairs of 
 your head ai'e all numbered." 
 
 At the time I became insensible, the master of the hotel, 
 observing a foreign gentleman passing along the street, ran 
 to him and asked, " Are you an Englishman '? " He said that 
 he was. He then besought him to enter, and see two English 
 travellers, one of whom was dying, and the other was taken 
 very ill, and he did not know what to do. The stranger (a 
 Mr. Wakefield) said that he could do nothing ; for he and 
 his family were to start the next morning at five o'clock for 
 Transylvania. Still pressed, he came. On seeing me, though 
 1 saw him not, he said, "Two English ladies have arrived, 
 and I will let them know." 
 
 They were Mrs. and Miss Pardee. The latter had gone to 
 Constantinople to write the City of the Sultan, and she had 
 now come to Pesth to write a book on Hungary. She had 
 seen Prince Esterhazy, who had put a coach at her command 
 to visit his palaces — to paint them to the English public. 
 More than that, he introduced her to the Archduke, who was 
 then presiding over the Hungarian Diet at Presburg. From 
 him she brought a note to the Archduchess, whom she had 
 already seen. No sooner did Miss Pardee hear the doleful 
 tidings from Mr. Wakefield, than she hasted to the bedside 
 of the speechless stranger, and learned the name by looking 
 for it on my portmanteau. Being herself a stranger in 
 Pesth, she returned at once to the Archduchess, who sent 
 immediate orders that everything possible should be done for 
 my recovery. 
 
 A sparrow cannot fall unto the ground without the Father. 
 
THE ARGIIDUCHEF^Fi. 
 
 Apparently I was about to fall unto the ground, and speedily 
 to be laid in the grave. According to the law and practice 
 there, so soon as a foreigner dies, the body is laid twenty-four 
 hours in a church, and then buried. Two men, as I was 
 afterwards told, were there awaiting at my bedside to carry 
 me away. A literary gentleman of position and influence, 
 whom we had previously seen, calling at the time, on seeing 
 me said, " Nothing can be done but order the coffin." But 
 other and imperial orders were obeyed, and everything possible 
 was done. When vital heat was slowly restored to my cold 
 body, and signs of recovery appeared, the physician cried in 
 my ear, "We all thought you were dead." "Not dead," was 
 my reply. These were the only words I uttered, and day 
 after day I continued in a state of unconsciousness, at least 
 to all outward things. Awakening as if from a sleep, seeing a 
 lady at my bed-side — Mrs. Christie with her husband, Captain 
 Christie, then on their way to the East — I asked, " What 
 day is this 1 " " Not possible," I said, when I was told that 
 it was Sabbath, having no knowledge or recollection beyond 
 the tenth day previously. She afterwards informed me, in 
 Edinburgh, on referring to this, that the first words I spoke 
 were, " Is that clock striking yet ? " Blisters had been put 
 over my body, and hot bottles around it, but I never felt 
 them. When restored to sensibility, feeling some splashes 
 on my breast, on asking what they were I was told that 
 there burning wax had been dropped. And again, " These 
 crusts ? " " There you were punctured, to try if there was any 
 sensation." But there was none, and the only sign of life 
 was that of my breath on a mirror, put close to my mouth, 
 so faint that of it there were doubts . . . The physician who 
 attended me, one of the professors, said, "I never knew, 
 heard, or read of any one but yourself who touched the gates 
 of death without passing through them." 
 
 It was a new thing, so far as known, for any Church, as 
 such, to send forth missionaries, or establish missions, specially 
 and expressly for the conversion of the Jews. No little interest 
 had thus been excited among the friends of Israel, when the 
 deputation went forth from Scotland. Many bestirred them- 
 selves to secure letters of introduction for our use ; and we 
 were thus furnished with a large number from many indi- 
 
434 DR. KEITH'S ILLNESS. 
 
 viduals personally unknown. Among these, as she afterwards 
 informed us, was one from Miss Pardee, to a Pasha, or some 
 dignitary in Cairo. She thus knew at once that we were 
 there on our return from Palestine, and could tell who we 
 were, and the purpose of our journey. So soon as she took 
 the tidings' to the Archduchess, and informed her how and 
 where I lay, she said that " the Archduke had given her a 
 book of his" (Dr. Keith's), "with views in Palestine" (refer- 
 ring to the illustrated edition of the Evidence of Prophecy). A 
 motive power compared to which the mere doings of men were 
 a nothing, sprang up that moment in her mind, which was 
 never afterwards obliterated or diminished ; which no human 
 being had any part in exciting or anything to do with, which 
 influenced, as it explained, her future actions and her uli- 
 flinching devotedness ; but which she did not tell to a 
 stranger. As repeatedly thereafter told by herself to different 
 Christian friends, it had thus its origin. 
 
 During the previous fortnight, night after night, without 
 the exception of one, she awoke suddenly in the middle of the 
 night, at the same hour, with a strong and irrepressible con- 
 viction that something was to happen to her. It uniformly 
 continued for a wakeful and most anxious hour, and when it 
 passed away she had her undisturbed and usual rest. Re- 
 curring thus regvilarly and uniformly, the impression was 
 more and more deepened in her mind ; and she thought in 
 vain what it could be, except it was the death of her mother, 
 as she thought that would affect her most. Thus, day after 
 day, on the arrival of the post she looked for tidings of her 
 mother's death. This continued till the day Miss Pardoe 
 told her that I was lying in a seemingly dying state at Pesth. 
 Instantly, as she expressed it, she thought within herself, 
 "This is what was to happen to me." That night, and 
 uniformly after, her sleep was as unbroken as before, without 
 any real disturbing thought. Seven years thereafter, when 
 the Duchess of Gordon and I went to meet her at her mother's 
 in the palace of Kirkheim in WUrtemburg, referring to it she 
 said that she never had any such feeling in her life, either 
 before or after, but only then. 
 
 In that feeling, involved as it was with many coincidences, 
 which it was not man that directed and over-ruled, lay the 
 
THE ARCHDUCHESS. 435 
 
 key whereby a door was to be opened for the Jewish mission 
 at Pesth, though no one knew it, or thought of it then .... 
 
 As soon as it was deemed that my returning strength would 
 permit, the Archduchess came for the iirst time to see me. 
 So far as known she had never previously entered an hotel in 
 Pesth. It took the inmates by surprise. The cry was r.aised at 
 her coming — " The Princess Palatine ! " There was a hubbub 
 in the house, a running to and fro — all bustle and preparation. 
 
 Dr. Keith proceeds to give an account of the frequent visits 
 of the Archduchess — of her unfolding to him all her mind — 
 of her sorrow for the loss of her beloved son, the Prince 
 Alexander, of great firmness and possessed of true Christian 
 faith, at the age of seventeen, two years before — though she 
 was perfectly submissive — but especially of the burden of her 
 sins, for which she thought special judgments had overtaken 
 her. Her mind was full, and she poured out her sorrows. 
 When she had spoken at great length. Dr. Keith's first words 
 indicating the purport of her statement were, " No, madam, 
 if there be faith in Christ, afllictions, however great, are 
 not evidence of the wrath of God, but tokens of His love, 
 who chasteneth whom He loveth, and scourgeth every son 
 whom He receiveth." The Archduchess continued to visit 
 him during his illness every alternate day, and there was 
 much conversation as to a possible mission to the Jews. 
 
 Dr. Keith tried to leave Pesth with Dr. Black (who had to 
 return to his University duties), two months after he had been 
 seized with illness ; but being again attacked with fever and 
 ague, he had to remain some months longer — six months in all. 
 It was not till after this attempt to leave that he saw Mr. 
 Saphir and others, and acquired the knowledge which made 
 him urge the establishment of a mission to the Jews in Pesth. 
 He had inquired of a literary Polish gentleman if he knew 
 any intelligent Jew in Pesth on whose testimony he covild 
 thoroughly rely. "There is no man like Mr. Saphir," he said. 
 With him and others he had many conversations. From his 
 great candour, he had good hopes that Mr. Saphir would 
 become a convert. But it was some years later before the 
 great change took place. " His was a long and hard struggle," 
 says Dr. Keith, "before he was convinced that the Jews 
 crucified the Messiah." Some idea may be formed of the 
 
 to 
 
430 DR. KEITH'S ILLNESS. 
 
 nature of the conflict in his mind from what he said when it 
 was finished. After a sleepless night, he said to his wife, 
 " I am convinced that Jesus is the Christ, and though I see 
 nothing but starvation staring us in the face, I must go and 
 confess it." 
 
 As to the Archduchess, Dr. Keith continues : — " Litei'ally 
 she ministered to me with her own hand. Often when I was 
 athirst, or fatigued in the course of conversation, putting one 
 of her hands under my head, she gently raised it from the 
 pillow, and with the other gave me to drink. She brought 
 the same cup with which she had ministered to her dying 
 son." Dr. Keith had relapses at different times, and but for 
 her constant attention would never have recovered. Thus in 
 the very centre of power was found the protection and 
 zeal for the mission, which Dr. Keith pressed forward 
 afterwards in committee, amidst much opposition, convinced 
 that God Himself had indicated to them Pesth as a grand 
 centre for Jev/ish missions. 
 
 Of the Archduchess he says, in winding up his narrative : — 
 "To me she was Christian kindness itself, and none the less 
 because of my using 'all plainness of speech.' So observant 
 and considerate was she, that noticing _ that my bed was so 
 short that I could not stretch myself on it " (Dr. Keith was 
 very tall), "she sent without delay a fine long bed — that, as 
 she afterwards told me, of the Archduke, being the longest in 
 the palace — on which I lay till my departure. When again 
 in a high fever, and my life in danger, I one day wondered 
 at the unusual and perfect stillness, and, on asking the cause, 
 was told that the street was covered with straw near the 
 hotel, and a soldier (Austrian soldiers too) was stationed at 
 each end of the street to prevent any thoroughfare, and to 
 keep any carriage that stopped in it at a walking pace. Her 
 attention to all my wants or comforts was unremitting and 
 unwearied; and long before I left, my chief meal was sent 
 daily in hot dishes from the palace, as the physician prescribed 
 what was best for my use. . . ." 
 
 He long lay very ill, and but for the arrival of one of his 
 sons, then a student of medicine in Edinburgh, who adopted 
 quietly more decisive and effective treatment, and who re- 
 mained with him till he left, would probably not have recovered. 
 
437 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 DK. Duncan's wondeeful influence in pesth. 
 
 There was nothing more remarkable in the Pesth mission 
 than the wonderful influence at once obtained by the Rev. 
 Dr. Duncan, who was a man of singular absence of mind, but 
 of much philosophical and theological, and above all spiritual, 
 power. He at once commanded a respect, from his learning 
 and spirituality combined, which from the very first raised 
 the mission to a position of influence, among both Jews and 
 Gentiles, Protestants and Roman Catholics, and the effect of 
 which was felt for many years after he had gone. He was 
 respected in his own country, but never exercised such power 
 as in his brief missionary life at Pesth. We have there- 
 fore thought it advisable to give in an appendix a fuller 
 account of his influence than we could well have done in the 
 Life. We derive our information from the Recollections of 
 the Rev. J. Duncan, LL.D., by Dr. Moody Stuart, and from 
 the well-known Life, written by the Rev. Principal Brown, D.D. 
 
 " Before leaving Scotland he had been married to a Mrs. 
 Torrance, who entered with Christian enthusiasm and energy 
 and wisdom into all his missionary work. Their house in 
 Pesth was thrown open to the Jews ; they saw all their habits 
 and ways, and had Christianity presented before them without 
 being forced upon them. His very peculiarities seemed to 
 suit them, and to attiuct rather than to offend ; and his truly 
 Christian tact was so great that his opponents spoke of him 
 as 'a very cunning missionary.' 
 
 " On their arrival in Pesth they found a number of English 
 engaged in the erection of a chain-bridge, and their presence 
 gave the missionaries a legal opportunity of preaching the 
 gospel, of which they gladly availed themselves. Dr. Duncan 
 was reqnested to marry two British subjects, and consented. 
 A few days after he had performed the ceremony, the Arch- 
 duke Palatine of Hungary sent for him, and after a kind 
 reception told him that it was his duty to inform him that 
 
438 DR. DUNCAN'S WONDERFUL 
 
 tlie act was illegal, and must not be repeated. He answered, 
 ' I am an ordained minister of the Established Church of 
 Scotland, and I hold myself entitled under Christ to administer 
 the ceremony of marriage between British subjects.' The 
 Archduke replied, ' I don't question your ministerial orders, 
 but marriage in this country is civil as well as religious, and 
 must be administered by a clergyman recognized by law. 
 But all that I ask you to do is, in future, to act on such 
 occasions as the vicar of a legally recognized pastor.' Pro- 
 ceeding on his uniform breadth of view, and acting with his 
 usual prudence. Dr. Duncan at once consented ; and in 
 baptism and every other ordinance both he and the other 
 naissionaries to the Jews always acted as vicars to Pastor 
 Torbk, the honoured superintendent of the Reformed Church, 
 from whom they invariably received the greatest kindness.'' 
 
 Dr. Duncan's conscience was more alive than most men's 
 to the evil of any conformity with or countenance to the errors 
 of Papacy, and he would not be present, even in the way of 
 curiosity, at the idolatrous service of the Mass. When his 
 friends went to witness the pomp of that worship in Rome on 
 a high occasion, he left them at the door of the church. But 
 he would attend the preaching without scruple ; he described 
 with great vivacity the sermons which he heai-d in Italy ; and 
 in the Roman Catholic creed he always owned the " wheat " 
 with which the "arsenic" was mingled. Of his remarkable 
 intercourse in Pesth with the Hebrew and Roman Catholic 
 doctors Mr. Allan gives a graphic account. " For a while in 
 Pesth it was a precious time. The great subjects of the gospel 
 were presented and defended as new. The venerated beliefs 
 and positions of Judaism presented themselves in numbers of 
 living, intelligent men ; and the discussion of these gave exer- 
 cise to his beloved acquirements of Hebrew and Latin. The 
 latter he spoke with great purity, precision, and readiness ; 
 the effort that he required to make to find and frame his 
 words gave compactness to his discourse ; when he had to 
 quote the Scriptures it behoved to be in the original, as such 
 is the practice of the Jews, and only so is it of authority. 
 Such engagement kept mind, body, and spirits healthy ; prayer, 
 too, active, and the fruit was seen. 
 
 " It was at this time that, besides daily converse with learned 
 
INFLUENCE IN PESTH. 439 
 
 Jews and Roman Catholics, numbers of both attended his 
 services. Among the latter was a company of four friends, 
 three of them priests, and one a young lawyer. The elder of 
 the priests had the honorary office of chaplain to the King 
 of Sardinia ; another of them appeared prominently in the 
 Council at Rome (1870), Sr. Lodovicus Haynald, Bishop of some 
 place in Croatia, I think. Among other duties they conducted 
 a newspaper in Magyai-, and at that time the controversy was 
 very free between them and Protestant Rationalists. Of 
 course the Catholics were too wise — I may say too faithful — • 
 to take their stand upon any accretions ; they stuck to the 
 f undamendal verities. ' I,' said the doctor, openly and re- 
 peatedly, ' side with the Catholics.' He could not then read 
 Magyar, but he used to see both papers on the controversy, 
 and count the passages of Scripture quoted by each. ' I 
 find,' said he, ' that the Catholics quote Scripture sis times 
 for the Protestants' once.' Our friends attended our Sabbath 
 services most regularly ; the doctor preached a series of dis- 
 courses on the Lord's Prayer ; they (the Catholics) were very 
 anxious to have these discourses to publish in their paper ; 
 but you know how impossible that was in the absence of a 
 shorthand writer. One thing was very marked in his public 
 and private intercourses with these gentlemen and others of 
 the same Church ; he always guardedly spoke of the Church 
 as the ' Western Church.' I understood it to be a compromise 
 between Catholic and Roman. I remember the great surprise 
 expressed by my young friend the priest in these words, ' But 
 your doctor is orthodox.' 
 
 "These things recall very pleasant memories. Our four 
 R. C. friends wished to learn English (as England at that 
 time was the model set up by the Hungarians), and I was 
 their teacher. It opened for me much pleasant intercourse. 
 "Would that it had been more profitable ! I spent some days 
 with Haynald at Gran, where he was Professor of Theology,i 
 and had the honour of being introduced to the Prince Primate. 
 I am sure my then master, Dr. Duncan, would not have 
 objected to any respect shown the venerable man, or any 
 
 1 Al'tenvarils Cavdiual Archbishop UayiiaU, Kalocsa, Huugaiy. He 
 was at the Papal Council in Rome in 1870, and opposed the decree of 
 infallibility. 
 
440 DR. DUNCAN'S WONDERFUL 
 
 received fi-om him. Dr. Duncan said he would preach in 
 the Pope's pulpit if he asked him, and I feel sure he would 
 have done it, with surpassing delicacy." 
 
 It was towards the close of this happy time that we used to 
 have the communion in the upper room, joined with others by 
 a venerable Countess Brunswick, a devout Catholic clinging to 
 the hope of reformation in her venerable Church. Schauffler 
 and family visited us about the same time on their way from 
 Vienna, where he had been printing his Bible. Old Saphir 
 had for some time been often with us in public and private ; 
 leading (or being led, you could hardly tell which) by the 
 hand his Benjamin — Adolph. He was present as a witness 
 on the occasion of our communion to which I refer. I can 
 never forget that sight. He was sitting on a chair. The 
 boy, standing, was between his knees, the young head reaching 
 nearly to the aged face, the face nearly resting on the youth- 
 ful head. We had ended the Supper. Dr. Duncan gave out 
 the sixty-fourth paraphrase, ' To Him that loved the souls of 
 men.' To our surprise the voice of the old Hebrew rose 
 above our voices, and when we looked to him the tears were 
 falling plentifully on the head of Adolph. These are days to 
 be remembered." 
 
 " The dust of the earth on the throne of the Majesty on high 
 was the great stumbling-block to those Israelites ; yet some of 
 them were learning to call Jesus, Lord." 
 
 " The venerable Saphir, one of the most respected of the 
 Jews in Pesth, and his whole family with him, were among the 
 first-fruits of the mission. The boy, on whose head his old 
 father's tears fell so fast, has long been well known as one of 
 the most devoted, honoured, and successful of the Presbyterian 
 ministers in England. Two Hebrew stiidents, afterwards the 
 Kev. Mr. Edershoim of Torquay, and the Pev. Mr. Tomory of 
 Constantinople, were among the earliest converts. Of his 
 daily intercourse with them and others in the freshness of their 
 first love, Dr. Duncan spoke afterwards with interest and 
 enthusiasm. In reading the New Testament with them they 
 found it speak so exactly to their own circumstances, their 
 joys, their hopes, their difficulties, their trials, that he said to 
 me, ' They used to read day after day the Epistles of Paul, as 
 if they had been letters that had come by that morning's 
 
INFLUENCE IN PESTII. 441 
 
 post.' In this city more than a hundred Hebrew converts 
 have since been baptized (in 1873) in the name of Him whom 
 the nation abhors." 
 
 The Rev. Alexander Tomory, long missionary to the Jews 
 in Constantinople, himself one of the first-fruits of the mission 
 to Pesth, gave also in Dr. Moody Stuart's volume an interesting 
 account of Dr. Duncan's work. "While the Church at home 
 made preparation for her work among the children of Israel, 
 and fixed on Pesth as her first central mission, the Lord 
 prepared some souls in that dark land to be the first recipients 
 of those bounties, the first-fruits of the great gathering, the 
 trophies of His redeeming love. If my time permitted, I 
 would gladly prepare a full statement as a tribute of filial 
 affection to him who, in the providence of God, was to me as 
 a father, at whose feet I gladly sat, and whose teaching and 
 godly example were so much blessed to me. 
 
 " Six hours distant from Pesth sighed a lonely soul for the 
 Word of Life. In vain did I speak to Protestant theological 
 professors and Roman Catholic bishops ; they had nothing to 
 say to lead an erring sheep back to the Great Shepherd ; but 
 a high prelate in Vienna on hearing my story said, ' Why did 
 you come here 1 In Pesth there are English missionaries.' So 
 these functionaries then had notice of Dr. Duncan's presence 
 in the capital of Hungary, and three days later I was intro- 
 duced to the dear man. In a most syllogistic way, and in 
 fluent Latin, he brought out the truth of the gospel, and 
 urged me to accept Christ as my Saviour. I well remember 
 the time and the locality ; the very words still linger within me 
 with a thrilling echo. But quite in keeping with the character 
 of the doctor, with the ruling passion, in the same breath he 
 began to teach me English. While the tears were yet in my 
 eyes and his, he began to conjugate an English verb, and made 
 me repeat it. After that I saw him almost daily till he left 
 for Italy. This was in the year 1842. He left, but the blessing 
 remained behind. It was a time of love, a time of the right 
 hand of the Most High ; it was a pentecostal time. I have 
 seen for months a large hall filled with Jews twice a week, 
 drinking in the words as they came from Messrs. Smith and 
 Wingate. It was a time of earnest prayer, and souls were 
 born as in a day. Two or three met together, and spent 
 
442 DR. DUNCAN'S WONDERFUL 
 
 whole nights in prayer ; they prayed for the missionaries, for 
 the work, for individual souls, and for Israel in general, and 
 surprising answers were granted. 
 
 " When he returned to Pesth in June 1843, I was already 
 baptized, and a number besides. He was surrounded by a 
 flock of new-born souls, and felt quite overwhelmed. I well 
 remember his English sermon preached on the first Sabbath 
 after his return, on 3 John 3, ' I rejoiced greatly, when the 
 brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even 
 as thou walkest in the truth.' He was deeply moved, and 
 scarcely able to proceed. The words of Csesar might have been 
 applied to him in a spiritual sense, ' Veni, vidi, vici.' Whole 
 days were occupied in receiving visitors, and his metaphysical 
 and conversational powers were brought into full play. I 
 heard him talking away for hours together on the most 
 abstruse questions. We hung on his lips, and drank in every 
 word. A Popish priest, professor in the Theological Seminary, 
 called one afternoon, and the discussion was a most animated 
 one. The doctor brought out glorious truths in the most 
 classic Latin, and the Professor seemed to enjoy it immensely, 
 although opposing the propositions advanced. His learning 
 attracted many people — Eabbis, teachers, and students were 
 daily visitors ; there was a constant coming and going, and 
 the regular instruction was left almost entirely to Messrs. 
 Smith and Wingate. His influence in the place was immense, 
 and he certainly used it for good. 
 
 " He greatly desired the revival of the Hungarian Church ; 
 various plans and means were proposed. A great influence 
 was produced on both the Lutheran and Reformed Churches 
 in Pesth and Hungary generally. Many were delivered from 
 rationalism. Among others Bauhofer, chaplain to the Arch- 
 duchess, who confessed before he died that he owed his 
 conversion to the missionaries.'' 
 
 The following description of Duncan is given by the Rev. 
 Dr. Smith in Principal Brown's Life of Duncan .•— " He seemed 
 to be a child and a giant in one, both characters curiously 
 intermingled, making intercourse with him peculiarly delight- 
 ful. No man ever inspired less awe, nor called forth deeper 
 reverence. What added greatly to the weight of his words 
 was, that all his views on the great questions of philosophy, 
 
INFLUENCE IN PESTH. 443 
 
 theology, and philology were thoroughly matured. You very 
 rarely discovered an idea in the process of formation. Every 
 thought came forth from the birth in full maturity. But 
 though from the circumstances his opinions were not only 
 clear, but strong and decided, he was singularly free from 
 dogmatism. The severe mental conflict by which the most of 
 them had been reached, made him tolerant towards the cruder 
 and less perfectly formed views of others. All this I learned 
 more fully afterwards, but I saw enough at my first interview 
 to convince me that the Church had made a wise arrangement 
 in giving him the superintendence of the younger missionaries, 
 and I reckoned myself fortunate in the prospect of possessing 
 such a guide in my preparation for future labour." 
 
 A fuller account is given by him of the Archduchess' 
 earlier history : — 
 
 "The Archduchess Maria Dorothea was by birth a princess 
 of the house of Wiirtemburg, and a Protestant. When she 
 consented (while spiritually unawakened) to marry the Roman 
 Catholic Archduke Palatine, Joseph, the Emperor's uncle, and 
 Viceroy of Hungary, it was with the express security that she 
 should enjoy full religious liberty for herself ; and even after 
 she became so decided, she had the sincere attachment of her 
 husband. Still, she felt herself alone in her adopted country, 
 and though feeling the deepest interest in its religious welfare, 
 she was able to do next to nothing for it, owing to the jealous 
 watchfulness of the Eomish authorities, then all-powerful in 
 Austria. But the deep waters of affliction through which she 
 had to pass were greatly blessed to her. Her eldest boy — a 
 youth of great promise, and already styled ' the hope of Hun- 
 gary,' of high talents, good address, and handsome person, and, 
 what his mother valued most of all, already her companion in 
 decision of Christian principle— had, to her unspeakable grief, 
 been taken from her at the early age of seventeen. Driven to 
 her Bible and her knees, she there found the needed relief. 
 The palace in which she resided stands on an eminence, looking 
 down on the Danube rolling beneath, with the city of Pesth 
 on its opposite bank ; and her private apartment lay towards 
 the front of the building. ' There in the deep embrasure ' she 
 poured forth her prayers to God, for a revival of spiritual life 
 in Hungary." 
 
444 
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 
 (The following obituary notice is abriclged from the Humorist of 
 September 7, 1858, of which paper Mr. M. G. Saphirhad been 
 proprietor, editor, and publisher.) 
 
 DE. saphir's uncle, moritz g. saphir, poet and satirist. 
 
 MoEiTZ Gottlieb Saphir, the great humorist, and successor 
 of Jean Paul, was born at Lovas-Bereny on February 8, 1795. 
 This is a little Hungarian town in the Stuhlweissenbourg 
 district, the inhabitants of which are engaged mostly in vine- 
 tillage. 
 
 The grandfather of the poet was named Israel Israel. 
 When the Jews, at the command of the Emperor Joseph II., 
 were obliged to adopt family names, the magistrates summoned 
 the above-mentioned grandfather, and asked him what name 
 he wished to be known by in future. Israel Israel at first 
 did not himself know ; but, as he wore on his iinger an heir- 
 loom in the shape of a signet ring with a sapphire stone in 
 it, the magistrate suggested to him, " Call yourself simply 
 Saphir." And this he did. 
 
 It was the wish of his parents that M. G. Saphir should 
 enter a commercial house ; but he himself desired a literary 
 career. A middle course was sought for, and Saphir was set 
 to study the Talmud. Saphir went to Prague, in order to 
 devote himself to the study of the Talmud. Thus passed the 
 long, period from 1806 — 1814. He spent these beautiful 
 years of youth in the earnest and unremitting pursuit of this 
 knowledge. 
 
 A really spirited nature however will not allow itself to 
 be for ever gagged and fettered, and so, by and by, Saphir 
 burst his restraining bonds, and firmly decided only to listen in 
 
MORITZ G. SAPHIR. 445 
 
 future to the inspirations of his muse. The young writer was 
 very well received by the reading world ; his poems found a 
 warm welcome, and his satirical talent especially attracted an 
 unwonted amount of attention. The future unsparing critic of 
 bad writers and rhymers was at this time remarkable for the 
 weight of his lash. 
 
 Saphir however was not contented with the laurels which 
 a city of the second rank could afford. Pesth was not at that 
 time fitted to become the Capua of any great talent. Our 
 humorist hastened from thence to the imperial city on the 
 upper Danube. Literary and artistic circles in Vienna all 
 admired him greatly. 
 
 Unpleasant incidents, produced by some of his satirical 
 writings, induced Saphir to leave Vienna and go to Berlin. 
 The richly-gifted writer was by no means received there with 
 open arms, for at that time an envious feeling was prevalent, 
 which caused them to receive the most brilliant productions 
 of Southern Germany with cold and severe criticism, Holtei 
 has described with praiseworthy honesty in one of his books 
 how terrified every one was when Saphir, thanks to his 
 Schnellpost, which he began to publish in 1826, suddenly grew 
 to be a power in criticism. 
 
 In the following year he founded a second periodical. The 
 Berlin Courier. At this time he began to use his well-known 
 nom de plume, Dr. Debeck, with which he signed many later 
 articles. Opponents were not wanting, but Saphir came out 
 of such polemical skirmishes with fresh laurels. 
 
 In the year 1828, Saphir wrote two pamphlets which the 
 brilliancy of his mockery and satire made famous. One 
 brochure bore the title Der getodtete und doch lehendige Saphir, 
 and the other Kommt her I Both pamphlets created a 
 tremendous sensation. 
 
 In 1830 he made a journey to Paris. He lived while in 
 Paris in cordial intercourse with Heinrich Heine and Ludwig 
 Borne : in fact he lived in a furnished apartment immediately 
 above the room occupied by the latter, which served still 
 further to strengthen the bonds between them. In the' same 
 year, namely 1831, Saphir was recalled to Munich by the 
 King of Bavaria, in order to undertake the editorship of Der 
 Bairische Beohachter, and he also started at the same time 
 
446 MORITZ G. SAPHIR, 
 
 Ins Miincliener Horizont, which in a short time became one of 
 the most widely-read papers in Germ.any. 
 
 In the beginning of 1832, his profession of Christianity 
 took place. Saphir was baptized in Dean Beck's house, 
 according to the practice of the Protestant Church. 
 
 With the year 1834, his journalistic activity in Munich 
 came to an end. Sapliir returned to Vienna. His fame as 
 an author procured him admittance to salons whose doors 
 were opened only to the creme de la creme. That he should 
 thus be introduced into the drawing-rooms of the great, was a 
 reward which only envy or ignorance could have objected to. 
 
 From this time he was recognized as the principal critic in 
 the capital. Three years later (1837) he began the editor- 
 ship of his journal Der Humorist. After 1850, Saphir's 
 humorous and satirical Volkskalender appeared annually, and 
 became so popular that in spite of an edition of from 16,000 
 to 20,000 copies, it was usually sold out in a few weeks. 
 Saphir procured further benefit to poetiy and art by the 
 founding of his Musikalisch-declainatorische AJcadkmie. 
 
 His fame as a writer spread far ; and he undertook some 
 professional tours beyond the frontiers of the Empire. They 
 were intellectual triumphs. Soon after, as will be read further 
 on, Saphir extended his conquests across the Rhine. 
 
 In the month of August 1858 he was sent as the 
 representative of literature to Brussels, to be present at the 
 marriage of the Archduchess Maria Henrietta Anna to the 
 Duke of Brabant, the Belgian Crown Prince. In Brussels 
 Saphir formed a close friendship with the celebrated Dumas 
 jxre, who subsequently, in the drawing-rooms of Prince 
 Napoleon and Princess Matilda, told so many fine stories 
 about the German humorist, that both illustrious members 
 of the French Imperial House lived in the belief that M. 
 G. Saphir was only a myth whom Dumas had created out of 
 his own mind, for the entertainment of the Prussian Court ! 
 Saphir was consequently received with open arms in Paris 
 when he went there to be present at the Industrial Exhibition 
 in 1855. 
 
 Saphir was tall and slender. In his eyes could be read 
 intellect and good-nature,— only about his lips there sometimes 
 hovered a sort of derisive smile. His dress was faultless, and 
 
POET AND SATIRIST. 447 
 
 ho had the manners of a perfect gentleman. He was almost 
 the only German literary celebrity who, like our colleagues 
 across the Rhine, lived entirely by his writings (^Ein Rentier 
 des Geistes). In short he may be described as the Geiman 
 Alexander Dumas. In addition to his mother tongue Saphir 
 spoke French, English, and Italian fluently, and also some 
 Hungarian. His Hebrew studies we have already mentioned. 
 
 With regard to Saphir's poetry, one must especiall}' admire 
 the many-sidedness of his talent. As a singer of love, and as 
 a lyric poet, Saphir could touch all hearts. His collection 
 Wilde Rosen may be compared to a jewel-case containing many 
 precious gems. 
 
 The pure morality which almost without exception distin- 
 guished his works is worthy of all praise. 
 
 Saphir was, however, especially distinguished in the domain 
 of criticism. He possessed all the gifts which Borne has 
 stated to be necessary for a good critic, viz. wide reading, 
 general knowledge, versatility, and courage. 
 
 His handwriting was very bad. He humorously thus refei'red 
 to it : " If you cannot read my writing you must have 
 patience till I come myself, and I will bring with me my 
 compositor from the printing-office, who is tlie only man on 
 earth who can read my writing. I will confide a secret to 
 you. In the course of years I and my compositor have so 
 grown together, that we deserve to be exhibited as a marvel- 
 lous phenomenon ! I cannot live without him, for nobody 
 else can put my writing in type ; but he also, good man, cannot 
 live without me, for he can no longer read ordinary good 
 writing ! " 
 
 He died on September 5, 1858, at Baden. The body was 
 thence conveyed to Vienna, where there was a very large 
 funeral. 
 
 Dr. Adler, Chief Rabbi in London, in a recent lecture on 
 Jewish humour, says of M. G. Saphir — "During the major 
 portion of the century, the Hungarian Saphir was acknow- 
 ledged as the leading humorist in Austria. His caustive 
 satire made him excessively distasteful to the petty sovereigns 
 with whom the Germany of those days abounded. Ordered 
 to quit the territory of one of these princelets, he calmly 
 observed, ' If his highness will deign to look out of his palace 
 
448 MORITZ G. SAPHIR. 
 
 windows, he will see me crossing the frontier of his dominions.' 
 On another occasion the King of Bavaria, who was fond of 
 dabbling in poetry, ordered him to leave the country within 
 twenty-four hours. On being asked whether he could get 
 away in so short a time, he answered, ' Oh, certainly ! Por, 
 if my own feet will not carry me with sufficient rapidity, I 
 can always borrow some of the superfluous feet in his Majesty's 
 last volume of poems.' " 
 
 An author, jealous of Saphir's fame, taxed him with writing 
 for money. " I do not act thus," he continued, drawing himself 
 up proudly, " I write for fame ! " "I admit the soft impeach- 
 ment," rejoined Saphir. " Every one writes for that which he 
 most grievously lacks : I lack money, you lack fame." 
 
 An acquaintance once said to Saphir, " Making debts ruins 
 a man." "My experience is different," dryly observed Saphir, 
 " I find that paying debts ruins me." 
 
 Mrs. Amery, Dr. Saphir's cousin, writes of other relations 
 who were distinguished : — ■ 
 
 " A cousin of dear Dr. Saphir, Karl Saphir, is still living, 
 and seventy-four years old. He is one of the professors of 
 the Musical Academy at Buda-Pest. Another cousin of Dr. 
 Saphir was the sub-editor of a principal Vienna journal, and 
 only recently died. Two others were well-known doctors in 
 Hungary — and a female cousin was devoted, the last twenty- 
 five years of her life, to the Froebel Schools of Buda-Pest, and 
 to the training of teachers on the Froebel system for Hungary. 
 The Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, decorated her for 
 her services to education." 
 
 THE EXD. 
 
JOHN F. SHAW & Co;s 
 
 FTTEXiIO^^TIOISrS. 
 
 JUST PU BLISHED. 
 
 Dcniy %vo^ wiih Portrait hi photograinwe^ 7/^* 
 
 "MIGHTY IN THE SCRIPTURES:" 
 
 A MEMOIR OF ADOLPH SAPHIR, D.D. 
 
 By the Rev. GAWIN CARLYLE, MA. (Edin.) 
 
 "The life of Dr. Saphif was one of remarkable interest: not so much in its 
 variety of incidents as in its early associations and in the striking personnel of 
 the man." — Extract from Preface. 
 
 Works by Rev. ADOLPH SAPHIR, D.D. 
 
 EXPOSITORY LECTURES on the Epistle to the HEBREWS. 
 
 New Edition, Two Vols., cloth, 13/6. 
 
 "Singularly independent in his Une of thinking, and unconventional in his 
 way of expressing his thoughts, the author has succeeded in throwing much and 
 varied light upon the high argument ot the apostle." — Daily Et"iUL-.v. 
 
 THE HIDDEN LIFE. Thoughts on Communion with God. 
 
 New Editidn, Crown 8vo, cloth, 5/- 
 
 " Quite worthy to take its place beside 'Goulburn'b Thoughts on Personal 
 Holines'i."* — Neiv York Christian World. 
 
 OUR LIFE-DAY. Thoughts on John ix. 4. 
 
 " I must work the works of Him that sent Ale." New Edition, Crown 8vo, 3/6. 
 "A more seasonable book could hardly be supposed. It is a treasury of happy 
 and helpful thoughts." — Edinburgh Daily Review, 
 
 FOUND BY THE GOOD SHEPHERD. 
 
 Bible Records of Conversion. New Edition, cloth, 3/6. 
 " I know no book like it on the subject."— D. L. Moody. 
 
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