CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
Cornell University Library 
 BT205 .S64 
 
 Who is He? an appeal to those who regard 
 
 olin 
 
 3 1924 029 375 692 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029375692 
 
Who is He? 
 
 AN APPEAL TO THOSE WHO REGARD WITH ANY DOUBT 
 
 THE NAME OF 
 
 JESUS. 
 
 Dost thou believe on the Son of God? Who is he, Lord, that I might 
 believe on him ? — John ix. 35, 36. 
 
 S. F. SMILEY. 
 
 ' PHILADELPHIA 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 
 1868. 
 
A. 3761 
 
 CORNEL 
 UNIVERSITY 
 \ LIBRARY 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by 
 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the 
 Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Lippincott'b Press, 
 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
It does not lie within the purpose of this work to 
 meet the cavils of those who hold themselves in resolute 
 hostility to the Gospel. It appeals only to such as are 
 earnest in their inquiries, and who prize, above any 
 mere pleasantness of Opinion, the honesty of Truth. 
 
 Nor does its scope admit of more than a general 
 recognition of all those practical bearings of the Gospel, 
 which fill the Christian's life, as the working out of his 
 salvation. There has been therefore no attempt to 
 travel round the vast circumference of Truth, but only 
 to survey steadily Him who is its Centre. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. The Authority of Holy Scripture 7 
 
 II. The Creator, King and Judge 20 
 
 III. The Son of Man 25 
 
 IV. The One God 29 
 
 V. The Saviour 34 
 
 IV. How He Saves 38 
 
 VII. Type and Antitype 4S 
 
 VIII. Perplexities and Mysteries 54 
 
 IX. The Lord our Righteousness ... 69 
 
 X. Emmanuel — Christ and the Spirit 73 
 
 XI. The Everlasting Gospel S3 
 
 XII. Appropriation of Christ 96 
 
 XIII. Christ's Invitation 100 
 
Who is He? 
 
 i. 
 
 HO is He? In this one short and simple 
 question may be gathered up the com- 
 plex doubts and difficulties of many 
 hearts. In it we may hear the cry which now 
 again, as often in the past, appeals the most 
 loudly to the Church of Christ. If, as has been 
 said by one who spoke advisedly of the ever- 
 downward tendency of an age of doubt, it must 
 come at last to this — " Is there a God ?" — then 
 surely when this most solemn of all verities is 
 established, the next hold in the upward reach- 
 ing must be upon Him who stands confessedly in 
 some relation or other between God and man ; — ■ 
 Who is He? 
 
 In that artless narrative of the fourth Gospel, 
 
 7 
 
o WHO IS HE? 
 
 in which we find the question, we can trace in 
 
 him who asked it a slowly growing certainty of 
 
 knowledge, ending in clear and full belief. He 
 
 had been born blind ; and to the question of the 
 
 Jews, "How were thine eyes opened?" he first 
 
 answered, " A man that is called Jesus made 
 
 clay and anointed mine eyes." Soon after he 
 
 said of Jesus, "He is a prophet ;" and again, 
 
 " If this man were not of God, He could do 
 
 nothing." Then when the Jews had cast him 
 
 out of the synagogue for these sayings, Jesus 
 
 found him and asked him, " Dost thou believe 
 
 on the Son of God?" He answered and said, 
 
 " Who is He, Lord, that I might believe on 
 
 Him?" And Jesus said unto him, " Thou hast 
 
 both seen Him, and it is He that talketh with 
 
 thee." And he said, " Lord, I be- 
 John ix. 1-38. 
 
 heve." And he worshipped Him. 
 
 And who is He, that we also might believe on 
 Him ? Is it not the suppressed sigh of thou- 
 sands? And the yearning hearts of the young 
 at least are audibly uttering it. Weary of groping 
 from doubt to doubt along a still darker and 
 more uncertain way, you are longing for the sure 
 foothold and firm grasp of faith, where from one 
 conviction to another you may climb upward to 
 
WHO IS HE ? 9 
 
 the light. But is there such a path ? you ask. 
 The whole Christian world is full of the stir and 
 tumult of contending parties. All seem equally 
 certain that they alone are on the side of truth ; 
 and some say one thing and some another. Is 
 there any possibility of certain knowledge ? 
 Who, indeed, is He, that we may doubt no more, 
 but may believe ? 
 
 Now, upon such a question what testimony 
 shall we receive ? In the things of God no evi- 
 dence can be sure that does not come from God ; 
 for none of us has ever entered heaven to bring 
 back its secrets ; none of us has ever beheld 
 God that we should make known his nature ; 
 and as no creature below man can understand 
 man, so no more can man by himself compre- 
 hend a Being so far above him as God. Or, to 
 borrow a more sententious language in which 
 the same necessity was long ago argued, " No 
 
 man hath ascended up to heaven." 
 
 r John iii, 13. 
 
 "No man hath seen God at any John i, 18, 
 time." " What man knoweth the 1 0ra ' "' 1L 
 things of a man, save die spirit of man which 
 is in him? even so the things of God knoweth 
 no man but the Spirit of God." All, then, that 
 we can possibly know of Him beyond the infer- 
 
IO WHO IS HE? 
 
 ence of " His eternal power and Godhead" from 
 His visible works, must be by manifestation or 
 by revelation. The Holy Scriptures contain the 
 record of the one under the seal of the other. 
 First prophecy prepared the way with its ante- 
 t . ... .„ cedent proofs. Then One "came 
 John i. 18. down from heaven." The only be- 
 gotten Son declared the Father. In some sense 
 (it would anticipate too much to define it closely) 
 
 . w . ... ,„ " God was manifest in the flesh." No 
 1 Tim. 111. 16. 
 
 speech nor language could set forth 
 
 the fulness of God, and when at last it was to 
 
 Heb. i. 2. be uttered, it was spoken by a life, — 
 
 John i. 14. u TheWordofGod .» Then, through 
 
 the Apostles were still further made known li the 
 
 wisdom of God," and " the deep things of God," 
 
 and also " things to come ;" which God so revealed 
 
 unto them by His Spirit, that they 
 1 Cor. ii, 1-16. 
 
 had " the mind of Christ." 
 
 In this volume of recorded facts and revealed 
 
 truths, we find then the evidence we are in 
 
 search of. Yet here an objection may meet us. 
 
 These things of God are " spiritually 
 
 lCor.ii.14, . f J 
 
 discerned," and to our spirits also 
 
 they must be revealed by His Spirit ; therefore 
 
 does not the inward witness supersede the out- 
 
WHO IS HE? II 
 
 ward testimony? But important as is the work 
 of the Spirit upon the individual mind, and pre- 
 sumptuous as it would be to limit His power in 
 the direct illumination of the soul, yet how can 
 we possibly appeal to such an influence as an 
 authority for doctrine? Were this the only 
 channel of Divine Revelation, what false and 
 conflicting claims — all resting on no other evi- 
 dence than the word of each man or the agree- 
 ment of a few — would abound in the world, with 
 no hope of refutation left us ! While a written 
 record, given forth by this same Spirit for all 
 men to believe, supplies just such a universal 
 standard as we need. Nor is it taking aught 
 from the high prerogatives of the Holy Spirit 
 to receive as His own work the Holy Scriptures ; 
 to believe that " holy men of old spake as they 
 were moved by the Holy Ghost,'' and that " all 
 Scripture is given by inspiration of God ;" while 
 we admit that the Spirit now completes the 
 mission of revealing the things of God, by adding 
 to this outward evidence the power of spiritual 
 reception, and so applying the truths of which 
 they wrote directly to our own souls, according 
 to the need of each. 
 
 But if we do not receive the Bible as a true 
 
12 WHO IS HE? 
 
 record, what else have we to found any religion 
 upon ? There must be some proof to satisfy our 
 minds. No reasonable being is required to be- 
 lieve anything without evidence of its truth. 
 And once rejecting the Holy Scripture, or even 
 reversing its rule to receive its testimony, " not 
 
 as the word of men, but as it is in 
 
 1 Thess, ii, 13. , . , r „ . „ , , , 
 
 truth, the word of God, where then 
 
 in Nature, in Reason, or in Experience is there 
 anv solid proof whatever that we have immortal 
 souls to be saved, and that there is a way in 
 which to save them? Nor can we partly re- 
 ceive and partly reject this revelation. It claims 
 for itself to be as complete as it is true. The 
 solemn warning which closes its final prophecy — 
 that none should add and none should take away 
 Rev. xxii, 18 fr° m i ts words — covers most obvi- 
 19, ously all that has the same author- 
 
 ship. No power of selection is allowed us with 
 any portion of it. We must receive it as a whole 
 or reject it as a whole. And to be consistent in 
 such a rejection-, one would have to set aside also 
 every conclusion which it authorized, and place 
 himself precisely on a level with the heathen as 
 respects the knowledge of heavenly things. 
 All that the world at large has gained through 
 
WHO IS HE? 13 
 
 e^en a very partial reception of that wisdom 
 which it teaches — all the fertilizing streams of 
 influence that have flowed from this fountain, in 
 the wider prevalence of truth and justice, in the 
 amelioration of human wrongs and sufferings, 
 in a higher moral standard, and in the love and 
 gentleness it has fostered — all this we must reject 
 as a delusion also ; or else account that those 
 things which are noblest and loveliest upon this 
 our earth, rest on no surer foundation than a 
 fable or falsehood — that man's highest prosperity 
 depends upon his being most foolishly deceived. 
 It is true that, since the final seal was set to 
 their inspiration, the Holy Scriptures have had 
 to come down to us through the often dark and 
 troubled years of eighteen centuries. But in 
 their faithful transmission, and the general accu- 
 racy of their translations, we can find traces of a 
 Divine Providence still caring for the priceless 
 treasure which was entrusted seemingly to human 
 hands. The external evidences which sustain 
 their authenticity are among the strongest known 
 to History, and lie open to an)' ordinary intelli- 
 gence. But in the vast results which their re- 
 ception has effected in the world, and still more 
 in their marvelous fitness to our own natures — 
 
H WHO IS HE? 
 
 to the depth of our need, to the height of our 
 longing, and throughout the whole range of the 
 daily-widening interests of life, we find other 
 evidence ; and all combined i so solid a structure 
 that the hand must be rash indeed that would 
 think to shake it. And though the highest con- 
 firmation of all is only to be reached through 
 spiritual experience, yet the lower proofs are 
 amply sufficient for the place they fill. 
 
 Let it be supposed, then, that the testimony of 
 the Holy Scriptures is freely accepted as conclu- 
 sive. A wide field of doubt may still lie open 
 in their interpretation ; and how, it may be asked, 
 among all the different constructions given to its 
 words, can we find our answer to the question, 
 Who is He ? But how hopeful does this inquiry 
 become as we consider that on this important 
 subject they themselves profess to furnish a direct 
 and explicit testimony, and that among all the 
 high objects kept steadily in view, the pre-emi- 
 nence is ever assigned to this ! 
 
 In the New Testament, not only is it an- 
 nounced, either directly or indirectly, that the 
 design of each Gospel is to tell of Jesus Christ, 
 of " all that He began both to do and teach" — 
 not only are there four successive histories of His 
 
WHO IS HE? 15 
 
 /ife, that so we " might know the certainty of 
 these things," but an ultimate purpose is dis- 
 closed. "These are written that ye might be- 
 lieve that Jesus is the Christ, the 
 
 John xx, 31. 
 Son of God, and that believing ye 
 
 might have life through His name." The Acts 
 of the Apostles give us also the most direct 
 views of His person and offices in a record of 
 the early preaching of the Gospel. The Epis- 
 tles — nearly all beginning with the announce- 
 ment of their writers as commissioned servants 
 of Jesus Christ, and ending with ascriptions to 
 Him or blessings in His name — are also filled 
 with declarations of what He is, and what He 
 has done, and the results of faith in Him. Then, 
 finally, the closing book of the New Testament 
 is " The Revelation of Jesus Christ" — a prophecy 
 of Him in the future as the other portions are 
 His record for the past. 
 
 And as respects the Old Testament, Jesus 
 Christ and His Apostles constantly appealed to it 
 as the only evidence of the kind then available. 
 To the Jews, in their»exasperation at His making 
 himself equal with God, Jesus answered, " Search 
 
 the Scriptures. . . . They are they 
 
 r . 7 ,., - „ w , JohmT.18,39. 
 
 -which testify of me. When ap- 
 
16 WHO IS HE? 
 
 pearing to His disciples after His resurrection, 
 
 "beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he ex- 
 
 . „„ pounded unto them in all the Scrip- 
 Luke xxiv. 27. r 
 
 tures, the things concerning Him- 
 self." And again He said, "All things must 
 
 be fulfilled which were written in the 
 Luke xziv. 44, , _ - . , . , , 
 
 law of Moses, and in the prophets, 
 
 and in the psalms, concerning me.'' It was out 
 of these Scriptures of the Old Testament that 
 the Apostles reasoned, and "mightily convinced 
 the Jews," " showing that Jesus was Christ." 
 And one of them, linking the office of the 
 written word with the preaching of Jesus Christ, 
 declares that thus the revelation of the mystery 
 so long kept secret is " now made manifest, and 
 by the Scriptures of the prophets, ac- 
 cording to the commandment of the 
 everlasting God, made known to all nations for 
 the obedience of faith?' 
 
 Now, if a volume of such size has indeed been 
 written by inspiration of God, at such different 
 periods of time, and through so many of His 
 servants, and all this chiefly, to testify of Christ, 
 to make Him known for the obedience of faith, 
 it would be strange indeed if its many pages no- 
 where furnished a clear answer to the question, 
 
 i 
 
WHO IS HE? 17 
 
 Who is He? If it does not do more than this, 
 and place that view of Him which it designs to 
 give beyond all doubt to an unprejudiced mind, 
 then an imperfection, that would inevitably con- 
 demn any work of human authorship, is found 
 in one the source of which is divine. 
 
 If, however, we expect to find, in addition to 
 what the Scriptures reveal as true of Jesus 
 Christ, a solution also of every difficulty that 
 reason can suggest, we then ask too much. We 
 receive, without any such demand, the facts of 
 science and the phenomena of nature — even 
 those which no human intellect can fathom and 
 explain, and some of which seem even contra- 
 dictory. Both in the world of matter and in the 
 world of mind we find sooner or later a limit to 
 our powers of thought. And if it be so with 
 things created, how must we expect the mystery 
 to deepen when we turn to their Creator ! 
 " Canst thou by searching find out God ? Canst 
 
 thou find out the Almighty to perfec- 
 
 " J Job xi. 7-9. 
 
 tion ? It is high as heaven ; what 
 
 canst thou do ? deeper than hell ; what canst thou 
 
 know ? The measure thereof is longer than the 
 
 earth, and broader than the sea." An infinite 
 
 mind, in the very nature of things, is beyond the 
 
 2 
 
1 8 WHO IS HEt 
 
 grasp, of a finite mind. Nor are we called upon 
 to believe what we cannot fully comprehend, 
 upon any less authority than a Divine Revela- 
 tion. Of that revelation by far the larger por- 
 tion is clear and intelligible, and in the fullest 
 sense reasonable. That it is a revelation suf- 
 ficiently justifies all the remaining difficulties. It 
 is no Arch-Deceiver that gives the challenge, 
 bidding Reason halt, while summoning our Faith 
 to pass on alone into dim, uncertain regions ; but 
 it is a Guide from heaven that, leading Reason 
 on far as her foot can follow, then points out to 
 the keener eye of Faith the things beyond. It is 
 the very triumph of Wisdom to await calmly 
 the promised possession of higher powers. " For 
 
 now we see through a glass darklv ; 
 1 Cor. xiii. 12. s 5 J ) 
 
 but then face to face : now I know in 
 part ; but then shall I know even as also I am 
 known." Nor is this growth in knowledge 
 wholly reserved for a future world. For even 
 as a child in his early lessons has often to apply 
 the rules which he cannot yet understand, their 
 practical working being his first need, so is it 
 with the learner of divine truth. That truth 
 grows clearer through its constant application ; 
 even as Jesus said, " If any man will do His 
 
WHO JS HE* 19 
 
 will, he shall know of the doctrine ; 
 
 John vii. 17. 
 whether it be of God, or whether I 
 
 speak of myself." And let it be borne steadily 
 in mind that, with whatever plausible theories 
 of our own we attempt to remove these difficul- 
 ties, we are driven directly to this alternative ; 
 the fallible judgment of man on the one side ; 
 on the other, the infallible word of God. Let 
 it be remembered, also, as we advance to the 
 consideration of the testimony of Holy Scripture, 
 that however great the perplexity which detached 
 passages may. offer, whatever doubt may rest 
 upon the correct rendering of some, or even the 
 genuineness of a very few, yet still, if the cumu- 
 lative evidence of many other portions sustain 
 the same truth, such an uncertainty leaves us ab- 
 solutely nothing with which to oppose it. No 
 doctrine of vital importance is found dependent 
 upon a single sentence ; and it would appear rea- 
 sonable to somewhat adjust our estimate of the 
 relative importance of these Divine teachings by 
 the very frequency of their repetition. 
 
II. 
 
 John i. 3. 
 
 Col. i. 16, 17. 
 
 j|HO is He, then? What saith the Scrip- 
 ture? "All things were made by Him, 
 and without Him was not anything 
 made that was made." "All things 
 were created by Him, and for Him, and He is 
 before all things, and by Him all 
 things consist." 
 Can we not understand, then, how, in perfect 
 accordance with these words, we read in the 
 record of our creation, "And God* said, Let us 
 make man in our image after our 
 likeness"? And does it not accord 
 with this that the prophet Micah, in fixing the 
 birthplace of Jesus Christ at Bethlehem, said, 
 "Out of thee shall He come forth, 
 whose goings forth have been from 
 of old, from everlasting;" and that Isaiah gave 
 among the august names of the child that should 
 
 * Elohim, the plural expression for God, is used here 
 and often elsewhere. 
 20 
 
 Gen. i. 26. 
 
 Micah v, 2. 
 
WHO IS BE? 21 
 
 be born, one that made Him known as " the 
 
 Everlasting Father" ? 
 
 & . Isa.ix.6. 
 
 Oh call not then any longer Him a 
 
 creature who is thy Creator ! Call Him not a 
 
 finite man, for man is but of yesterday, and his 
 
 " days upon earth are a shadow.'' 
 
 3 . ^ Jobviii.9, 
 
 But this thou mayst say of Him — in 
 
 inspired words of praise, that a Psalmist used 
 when he called upon his God, and then an Apos- 
 tle used as he spoke of Christ — "Thou Lord in 
 the beginning hast laid the foundations of the 
 earth ; and the heavens are the works p .. „g m 
 of thine hands. They shall perish; Het. i, 10-12. 
 but thou remainest. . . . Thou art the same, and 
 thy years shall not fail." 
 
 Who is He ? One like thyself — a subject of 
 " the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only 
 wise God?" Does any word of His, spoken in 
 the days of His humiliation, tempt thee to such a 
 thought? Hear, then, the Apostle Peter as he 
 
 fearlessly speaks of " the everlasting 
 
 3 v . 2 Pet, i.11. 
 
 kingdom of our Lord and Saviour 
 
 Jesus Christ." Hear the prophet Daniel as he 
 
 tells how he saw in the night visions, " And 
 
 behold, one like the Son of man came with the 
 
 clouds of heaven. . . . And there was given 
 
22 WHO IS HE? 
 
 Him dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all 
 
 people, nations and languages should serve Him ; 
 
 His dominion is an everlasting dominion which 
 
 shall not pass away ; and His king- 
 Dan, vii. 13, 14, r .7 > *> 
 
 dom that which shall not be de- 
 stroyed." Listen to the Angel as he announces 
 to Mary, His mother — " He shall reign over the 
 
 house of Jacob for ever ; and of His 
 Luke i. 33. . J 
 
 kingdom there shall be no end." 
 
 Note also how boldly, in the Epistle to the He- 
 brews, the words of the psalmist are declared to 
 be written of Christ — " Unto the Son he saith, 
 Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever : a 
 
 sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre 
 Heb.i.8. . 
 
 of thy kingdom." And then look at 
 
 Him, who in the vision of John, is seen with a 
 
 vesture dipped in blood and followed by the 
 
 armies in heaven ; and read the name written 
 
 upon his vesture and on his thigh — 
 Rev. xix, 16. 
 
 " King of kings and Lord of 
 
 lords." And thai there be no doubt who He is 
 
 who bears this name, read yet again where it is 
 
 said of the Lamb. He is Lord of 
 Rev, xvii, 14. 
 
 lords and King of kings. Does not 
 this suffice? Then hearken yet again as Isaiah 
 the prophet tells of the awful glory of that 
 
WHO IS HE ? 23 
 
 vision, when he " saw the Lord sitting upon a 
 throne high and lifted up ;" while the seraphim 
 cried one unto another, and said, " Holy, holy, 
 holy, is the Lord of hosts ; the whole earth is 
 full of His glory.'' The prophet in his fear ex- 
 claims, " Woe is me ! for I am undone ; . . . . 
 for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of 
 hosts." A message is given him ; " Go and tell 
 
 this people, Hear ye indeed but un- 
 
 r J Iaa.vi.1-9. 
 
 derstand not ; and see ye indeed but 
 
 perceive not." Now this very message is spoken 
 of by John as fulfilled when, " though Jesus had 
 done so many miracles before them, yet they be- 
 lieved not on Him ;'' and after giving in full this 
 prophecy of their blindness and hardness in re- 
 jecting Him, he pronounces the whole vision a 
 revelation of Christ, by adding, - ... 
 " These things said Esaias, when he 
 saw Jit's glory, and spake of Him." 
 
 Who is He then ? Oh answer like that Israel- 
 ite, indeed, in whom was no guile — " Thou art 
 
 the Son of God ; thou art the King 
 
 John i. 49. 
 of Israel." 
 
 And own Him not as thy King only, but as 
 
 thy Judge. Do we find that prophecy fulfilled 
 
 which foretold so minutely the sufferings of 
 
24 WHO IS HE f 
 
 Mio. v. 1, Jesus — " They shall smite the Judge 
 
 Matt,xxvii.30. G f Israel with a rod upon the 
 cheek," — then let us consider that other prophe- 
 cies await their no less sure fulfilment ; — that it is 
 written, " The Lord Jesus shall be revealed 
 
 from heaven with His mighty angels, 
 2Thess.i,7,8. & J 
 
 in flaming fire, taking vengeance 
 
 upon them that know not God and that obey 
 
 not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ ;" that 
 
 it is written, " We must all appear 
 2 0or,v. 10, . . . , . „, . „ 
 
 before the judgment seat of Christ ; 
 
 that it is written again in words as clear as they 
 
 are solemn, " The Lord Tesus Christ 
 2Tim,iv.l. _ J , 
 
 .... shall judge the quick and the 
 
 dead at His appearing and His kingdom." 
 
 And therefore let thy faith in Him be the faith 
 
 of one, who, hanging on a cross beside Him, 
 
 while the rulers derided Him, and the Soldiers 
 
 mocked Him, and the other malefactor railed on 
 
 Him, yet said unto Jesus, " Lord re- 
 Luke xxiii, 42. 
 
 member me, when thou contest into 
 
 thy kingdom." 
 
III. 
 
 JIHOisHe? Is there yet a doubt? Why 
 
 does He call Himself the Son of man? 
 
 Blessed be His name, He was the Son 
 
 of man ! But could the words spoken of Him 
 
 as man be spoken of any other of all the sons of 
 
 men? The prophet Isaiah foretold Him as a 
 
 man — but, oh, such a man! — "A man shalt be 
 
 as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert 
 
 from the tempest ; as rivers of water 
 
 Isa, xxxii. 2. 
 in a dry place, as the shadow of a 
 
 great rock in a weary land !" 
 
 The promise of God is heard ages before His 
 appearing. " I will make a man 
 more precious than fine gold ; even 
 a man than the golden wedge of Ophir ;" and 
 His herald proclaims His nearer coming — 
 " The man that is my fellow, saith 
 the Lord of hosts." 
 
 He called himself indeed the Son of man — 
 
 but how? — "The Son of man hath power on 
 
 25 
 
 Isa. xiii. 12. 
 
26 WHO IS HE? 
 
 Matt ix, P, earth to forgive sins." " The Son of 
 Matt, xx, ;,8. man came ... to give His life a 
 ransom for many." The Son of man shall send 
 forth His angels, and they shall gather out of 
 
 His kingdom all things that offend 
 
 Matt, xiii, 41. ,..,...„ . , 
 
 and them which do iniquity. And 
 
 again, "When the Son of man shall come in 
 
 His glory, and all the holy angels 
 Matt, xxv, 31. 
 
 with Him, then shall He sit upon 
 
 the throne of His glory." The Son of man, 
 
 indeed ; but not even then limited to a human 
 
 existence upon earth ; for He said, " No man 
 
 hath ascended up to heaven but He 
 Join iii. 13. 
 
 that came down from heaven, even 
 
 the Son of man which is in heaven?' And 
 
 His very being as man gives Him a right to be 
 
 also the Judge of man ; for He speaks of the 
 
 Father as giving Him authority to 
 John t. 27. . , 
 
 execute judgment also, because He 
 
 was the Son of man. Having often foretold that 
 
 the Son of man should " first suffer many things, 
 
 and be rejected and be slain," there came a time 
 
 when He could say, " The hour is 
 John xii. 23. „, 
 
 come that the Son- of man should be 
 
 glorified." And in that glory Stephen beheld 
 
 Him when he said, " Behold, I see the heavens 
 
WHO IS HE? 27 
 
 opened, and the Son of man stand- 
 ing on the right hand of God." 
 And in that glory John saw Him — still, " like 
 unto the Son of man," but " His countenance 
 was as the sun shineth in his strength," and 
 " His voice as the sound of many waters ;" 
 while He proclaimed to the disciple who had so 
 often leaned on Jesus' bosom, but now, when he 
 saw Him, fell at His feet as dead, "I am the 
 first and the last : I am He that liveth and was 
 
 dead, and behold I am alive for ever- 
 
 , * Rev, i, 13-18. 
 
 more, Amen ; and have the keys of 
 
 hell and of death." The Apostles speak of Him 
 as man, but the words they use most plainly in- 
 dicate an assumed nature. They speak of Him 
 as "made in the likeness of men," as "being 
 found in fashion as a man," as becoming a par- 
 taker of flesh and blood. But they say also that 
 through this man the forgiveness of sins is 
 preached, and by that man will the world be 
 judged. They say that " this man, after He had 
 
 offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever 
 
 Hel>, x, 12, 13.. 
 sat down on the right hand of God ; 
 
 from henceforth expecting till His enemies be 
 
 made His footstool." 
 
 Thus do all the Scriptures speak of Him, 
 
28 WHO IS HBf 
 
 whom it behooved in all things to be made like 
 unto his brethren— of "the last Adam "—" the 
 second man, the Lord from heaven ;" the " one 
 Mediator between God and man, the man Christ 
 Jesus ;" " the days-man betwixt us that can lay 
 His hand upon us both." 
 
 What shall we say then but this? — borrowing 
 the assurance of Divine Inspiration upon a truth 
 which its plainest declarations leave unexplained 
 — that while He was " made of the seed of David 
 according to the flesh," He was also declared to 
 be the Son of God with power, ac- 
 cording to the spirit of holiness, by 
 the resurrection from the dead ;" that so He has 
 passed into the heavens as our " Great High 
 
 Priest, Jesus the Son of God " — a 
 Johui,12. / . 
 
 Son of man, who gives to as many 
 
 as receive Him and believe on His name, power 
 
 to become the sons of God ! Behold the Man ! 
 
 And, O doubting heart ! wilt thou not say as 
 
 the Centurion said, when he stood over against 
 
 the cross of Jesus, and saw Him give up the 
 
 ghost, " Truly this man was the 
 Mark xv. 39. _, 
 
 Son of God ! 
 
IV. 
 
 UT who is He? What shall be said then 
 of those solemn assertions of the unity of 
 the Godhead : " Hear, O Is- Deut. vi. 4, 
 rael, the Lord our God is one Lord"— Isa " xlii ' 8 ' 
 " I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory 
 will I not give to another." Shall there be another 
 God save Him ? Shall He be robbed of any por- 
 tion of His glory ? What saith the Scripture ? 
 Did Jesus Christ claim to be another? Did He 
 not say, "He that hath seen me hath Johnxiv.9, 
 seen the Father" — "I and my John x. 30. 
 Father are One." Did He therefore rob the 
 Father of His glory, when He declared it as 
 His own will, " that all men should 
 honor the Son even as they honor 
 the Father?" Did the Apostles proclaim an- 
 other when they said of Jesus Christ, " Who is 
 over all, God blessed for ever ;" and Earn, ix'. 6. 
 "This is the true God and eternal ij hnv, 20. 
 life ;" and ascribed " to the only wise Jude 25 - 
 
 29 
 
 John v. 23, 
 
3° WHO IS HE? 
 
 God our Saviour glory and majesty, dominion 
 and power ?" 
 
 Did the Apostle Paul rob the Father of His 
 glory, and giye it to another, when, after speak- 
 ing of Him, "who being in the form of God, 
 thought it not robbery to be equal with God," 
 yet " made Himself of no reputation, and took 
 upon Him the form of a servant, . . . humbled 
 Himself and became obedient unto death, even 
 the death of the cross ;" he goes on to say, in rapt 
 and glowing language, " Wherefore God also 
 hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name 
 which is above every name : that at the name of 
 Jesus every knee should bow, of things in hea- 
 ven, and things in earth, and things 
 Phil, ii. 6-11. , , , , 
 
 under the earth ; and that every 
 
 tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord 
 
 to the glory of God the Father.'' What though 
 
 Jehovah had said by His prophet, " There is no 
 
 God else beside me. Look unto me and be ye 
 
 saved, all the ends of the earth : for I am God, 
 
 and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, 
 
 the word is gone out of my mouth in 
 Isa. xlv. 21-23. J 
 
 righteousness and shall not return, 
 
 that unto me every knee shall bow, every 
 
 tongue shall swear," — yet it is still no robbery 
 
WHO IS HE? 31 
 
 that the name at which we bow should be the 
 
 name of Jesus, and that the solemn confession of 
 
 every tongue should be that Jesus Christ is Lord. 
 
 Even this is "fo the glory of God the Father" 
 
 In the very strength of these declarations of His 
 
 unity — " no God else beside me" — " none else" 
 
 — "look unto me and be ye saved" — we find 
 
 fresh authority for receiving, with no diluted 
 
 meaning, the words of His Apostle, 
 
 6 v ' 1 Tim, iii. 16. 
 
 " God was manifest in the flesh." 
 
 The most critical reading might possibly reject 
 
 some of these expressions, and the most candid 
 
 interpretation might find precedent elsewhere for 
 
 giving a lower significance to others. But there 
 
 is a consistency in them as a whole that defies 
 
 rejection, by presenting to those who solve their 
 
 difficulties thus, still greater ones. That there is 
 
 a sense, and a high and' true one, in which the 
 
 Father and the Son may be spoken of as " One" 
 
 — " One God " — that there is also a sense in 
 
 which they must be distinguished, in which the 
 
 Son, as taking upon Him our nature also, fills 
 
 for a time a subordinate and dependent place — 
 
 is the great mystery which human phrases, for 
 
 the most part, confuse. The only illustration 
 
 which it seems to admit, is the recognition of 
 
3 2 WHO IS HE. ? 
 
 similar mysteries elsewhere. The sacred writers 
 
 announce it boldly, and then leave it. In the 
 
 words already partially repeated, neither the 
 
 Psalmist nor the Apostle pauses to explain the 
 
 sudden transition of the name of God from One 
 
 who is addressed to the One who speaks : "Unto 
 
 the Son, He saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever 
 
 and ever ; . . . Thou hast loved righteousness 
 
 and hated iniquity ; therefore God, even thy 
 
 Eebi 8 9 God, hath anointed thee with the oil 
 
 of gladness above thy fellows." And 
 
 so, in the words of Jesus, He no less freely 
 
 acknowledges the earthly humiliation — " My 
 
 Father is greater than I " — than, see- 
 John xiv. 28. 
 
 ing the hour of His change coming, 
 
 He calmly claims the heavenly honors that had 
 
 been ever His ; in words of prayer, indeed, but 
 
 such a prayer as none of us could dare to make 
 
 our own : " And now, O Father, glorify thou me 
 
 •with thine own self, with the glorv 
 
 Jonnxvii.5. . J 6 J 
 
 •which I had with thee before the 
 
 world was." 
 
 Who is He, then? Oh, remember that it was 
 
 one who doubted — one to whom the risen Jesus 
 
 showed the print of the nails in His hands, the 
 
 deep wound of the spear in His side — the marks 
 
WHO IS HEt 
 
 33 
 
 of His suffering humanity — who yet answered and 
 
 said unto Him, " My Lord and my 
 
 John xx. 26-29. 
 God !" Thou canst not see Him 
 
 like Thomas, that thou mayst believe ; yet re- 
 member that Jesus said to him, " Blessed are 
 they that have not seen and yet have believed." 
 
Matt, xvi. 16. 
 
 1HO is He? What more must we learn 
 of Christ ? Owning Him as our Creator, 
 as our King, as our Judge — ready to an- 
 swer to His question — " Whom say 
 ye that I am ?" " Thou art the Christ, 
 the Son of the living God" — shrinking not to say 
 with His apostle — " In Him dwell- 
 eth all the fulness of the Godhead 
 bodily" — what shall next be added to such names 
 as these? Let us turn to the words of that disci- 
 ple whose full faith and full confession were so 
 honored by his Lord as to draw from Him that 
 Matt, xvi, IB- strong assertion — "Upon this rock 
 18 I will build my Church." The for- 
 
 given, converted Peter becomes the foremost 
 Apostle. What more will he now say of that 
 Jesus who has been crucified and risen from the 
 dead ? " Neither is there salvation in any other ; 
 
 for there is none other name under 
 
 Acts iv, 12. . , . 
 
 heaven given among men whereby 
 
 we must be saved." 
 
 31 
 
WHO IS HE? 35 
 
 At the coming of Christ upon earth it was a 
 Saviour and His salvation that both angels 
 and prophets announced. " Thou 
 shalt call His name Jesus," said Ga- 
 briel to Mary, His mother, " for He shall save His 
 people from their sins." " Good tidings of great 
 joy," said the angel of the Lord unto the shep- 
 herds, sore afraid as the glory of the Lord shone 
 round about them — " Unto you is born this day, 
 in the city of David, a Saviour, 
 which is Christ the Lord." And 
 when Simeon, to whom it had been revealed by 
 the Holy Ghost that he should not see death be- 
 fore he had seen the Lord's Christ, came by the 
 Spirit into the Temple, what saw he there as the 
 object of these special revelations, made repeat- 
 edly to one who waited for the consolation of 
 Israel? " The child Jesus" brought there ac- 
 cording to the custom of the law — only to human 
 sight a little helpless infant of but three-and- 
 thirty-days, out of that life of three- 
 and-thirty years. Yet he took Him 
 up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, 
 " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in 
 
 peace, according to thy word : for 
 
 „ „ Luke ii, 29, 30. 
 
 mine eyes have seen 1 ny salvation. 
 
36 WHO IS HE ? 
 
 " An horn of salvation]' said Zacharias, as he 
 prophesied, filled with the Holy Ghost, " has 
 God raised up for us." The mercy long prom- 
 ised was to be now performed — " that we, being 
 delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might 
 serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteous- 
 ness before Him all the days of our life." Such 
 was the salvation ; and it was honor enough for 
 his own child, over whose birth he was rejoicing 
 
 to give knowledge of it, as " the 
 Luke i. 67-79. . c , „. 
 
 prophet of the Highest. 
 
 And with what strength and emphasis of lan- 
 guage do all the Apostles speak of Him as the 
 Saviour ! " This is a faithful saying, and worthy 
 of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus 
 came into the world to save sin- 
 ners." " And we have seen and do testify that 
 the Father sent the Son to be the 
 Saviour of the world." " Where- 
 fore He is able also to save them to the utter- 
 most that come unto God by Him, 
 • Het, vii, 25, TT ,. , 
 
 seeing He ever liveth to make inter- 
 cession for them." 
 
 Can we not believe on Him for these sayings, 
 until, through a closer and more personal know- 
 ledge, we can say, as the Samaritans whom a 
 
WHO IS HE?y 
 
 37 
 
 woman of their city had told of Christ : " Now 
 we believe, not because of thy saying ; for we 
 have heard Him ourselves, and 
 know that this is indeed the Christ, 
 the Saviour of the world" 
 
 John iv, 39-42. 
 
VI. 
 
 ND how is it that He saves us ? — for this 
 is but another phase of our question, 
 Who is He ? There are who call Him 
 Saviour, and are willing to take Him as their 
 blessed Example ; or still further to recognize the 
 attractive power and vast moral influence of His 
 life and death in stirring our hearts through 
 such sublime self-sacrifice to a kindred devotion. 
 There are those who claim that a warm personal 
 attachment to Him, in whose character they find 
 their loftiest ideal, and then to humanity for His 
 sake, has power, -when carried to the pitch of 
 passionate enthusiasm, to purify the soul and 
 raise it above the reach of temptation. And 
 there are others who own Him as their Saviour, 
 but look for His salvation solely in the cleansing 
 power of His Holy Spirit ; yet all agreeing in 
 this, that His sufferings and death upon the 
 cross and the blood which He shed on Calvary, 
 whatever their deep significance, were not the 
 
 38 
 
WHO IS HE? 39 
 
 procuring causes of our salvation — not the basis 
 of our acceptance with God — not that by which 
 we are justified — not the proper objects of our 
 faith. 
 
 And here upon this ground we find ourselves 
 in the very thick of the battle — the fight of faith. 
 Unbelief has recalled her forces from the too ex- 
 posed front of the mere humanity of Christ, and 
 holds them now in the shelter of a dubious 
 Cross, an heroic sacrifice. She loudly vaunts 
 that thus she protects the very highest morality, 
 and she dares to call it holiness. She scoffs like a 
 Goliath at those who confess so much of sin and 
 its forgiveness, and taunts them with a righteous- 
 ness not real, because it is imputed. Yet the 
 humblest believer may find his ready and suffi- 
 cient defence, " the smooth stones of the brook," 
 lying everywhere along that blessed stream of 
 Divine Inspiration, which he knows so well for 
 its gladness and refreshment. 
 
 Therefore again let us ask, What saith the 
 Scripture? What is its repeated testimony? 
 And if the objection be ever springing up that the 
 words we read are but a figure, that such modes 
 of expression were usual with those who wrote 
 the Scriptures, and are not to be received to the 
 
40 WHO IS HBt 
 
 letter, but must be applied with a meaning more 
 intelligible or more spiritual, let us also consider 
 in what a variety of ways we find the same 
 truth repeated ; in historic and ceremonial types, 
 in figure, in allegory, in lofty strains of prophecy ; 
 but also in the simplest statement, the most un- 
 adorned language, the most close and solid argu- 
 ment. Can it indeed be possible that those Holy 
 Scriptures which are able to make us wise unto 
 salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus, 
 after all present us only with a shadow of truth 
 and leave us to look for the reality elsewhere — 
 not in revelation, but in reason ! If so, then 
 surely that is not a " form of sound words," 
 which we are exhorted to hold fast. 
 
 How then is it that He saves us? All proud 
 philosophic systems, all notions of mere natural 
 exaltation, all self-reliant schemes whatever, are 
 utterly swept away before the irresistible power 
 of one simple saying — "By grace are ye saved, 
 
 through faith : and that not of your- 
 Eph.ii.8. . 
 
 selves : it is the gift of God." The 
 
 same truth appears, more expanded and won- 
 
 drously guarded from all one-sidedness, in the 
 
 Epistle to Titus — "After that the kindness and 
 
 love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, 
 
WHO IS HE? 41 
 
 not by works of righteousness which we have 
 
 done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by 
 
 the washing of regeneration, and re- 
 
 & & Titus iii. 4-7. 
 
 newing of the Holy Ghost, which 
 
 He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ 
 our Saviour ; that, being justified by His grace, 
 we should be made heirs according to the hope 
 of eternal life." Not our works, not our right- 
 eousness ; for there behind, whatever the present 
 life, is the old score which had just been summed 
 up — of the foolish, the disobedient, the deceived — 
 serving pleasure or something worse than pleas- 
 ure, living in malice and envy, hating one an- 
 other. The debt due upon this long account — 
 
 which is signed by no base crim- 
 
 J Titus iii, 3. 
 
 inal, but by an Apostle for himself 
 
 and such as he— must be met. And so it is 
 Mercy that saves us — Grace that justifies us. 
 And yet we are saved in a way that secures a 
 life wholly new, and the constant support and 
 development of that life ; or regeneration and 
 renewing of the Holy Ghost. It is this great 
 result of real holiness which is here spread out 
 before us as it flows down to us with its abun- 
 dant outpouring* through Jesus Christ our Sa- 
 * 'Eft^eev. 
 
4 2 WHO JS HE? 
 
 viour. Let us now turn elsewhere to trace the 
 Fountain-head so clearly indicated. 
 
 When Nicodemus came to Jesus by night, up 
 to a certain point he recognized his divine cha- 
 racter and mission — " We know that thou art a 
 TeacJier come from God." A Teacher ; and so 
 doubtless he was eager to learn from Him, and 
 to add some new merit, it might be, to the already 
 solid groundwork of his own religious character. 
 With what amazement must he have heard the 
 words that taught him that, instead of adding to 
 his knowledge, the very foundations of his faith 
 had yet to be laid ! that, instead of coming to 
 Jesus as a Teacher, as a condemned man he 
 must come to Him as a Saviour to ' find life 
 itself! "Jesus answered and said unto him, 
 
 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Ex- 
 John m, 3. 
 
 cept a man be born again, he cannot 
 
 see the kingdom of God." The objection, the 
 
 difficulty, the seeming impossibility, call forth 
 
 the reassertion of its absolute necessity. " Verily, 
 
 verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of 
 
 water and of the Spirit, he cannot 
 John iii. 5. 
 
 enter into the kingdom of God." 
 
 "Of water and of the Spirit:" what is this but 
 
 the same process which we have before consid- 
 
WHO IS HE? 43 
 
 ered — the laver of regeneration* and renewing 
 of the Holy Ghost. But, now, in what follows 
 we find our Lord giving us a further answer as 
 to how it is that He saves us. Let us follow 
 reverently whither He leads us to look upon the 
 Source of all our life : " As Moses lifted up the 
 serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son 
 of Man be lifted up : that whosoever 
 believeth in Him should not perish, 
 but have eternal life." What did that serpent of 
 brass do for the stricken, dying Israelite? " It 
 shall co?ne to pass" said the Lord to 
 Moses, " that every one that is bit- 
 ten, -when he looketh upon it shall live." 
 Read the words of Jesus again, and trace the 
 likeness : " That whosoever believeth 
 in Him should not perish, but have 
 eternal life." What then the looking upon the 
 serpent did, the believing in Jesus does. What 
 that did for the body, this does for the soul. It 
 heals the deadly wound of sin. It gives eternal 
 life. Nor need we pry too curiously behind that 
 promise, " 7/ shall come to pass." They tasted 
 not their remedy ; they touched it not. Only the 
 eye could reach that distant serpent of brass set 
 * AoiTpov TraXe~yyEVEaia<;. 
 
44 WHO IS HE? 
 
 up upon its pole. But nevertheless it came to 
 
 pass, that as they looked, they lived. In a far-off 
 
 land, and in an age now dim with distance, the 
 
 Son of Man was lifted up upon His Cross : and 
 
 still it comes to pass that as we look and believe 
 
 ■we live. And to the end of the world will the 
 
 call of Christ crucified be heard: "A Saviour! 
 
 there is none beside me ! Look unto 
 Isa. xlv, 21, 22. 
 
 me and be ye saved, all the ends of 
 
 the earth !" 
 
 And now are there other ways, or is this the 
 
 only way? On a subject so solemn, so fraught 
 
 with life and death, let the Saviour Himself 
 
 answer, even as He did to Nicodemus : " He 
 
 that believeth on Him is not condemned ; but he 
 
 that believeth not, is condemned already, because 
 
 ... he hath not believed in the name of 
 
 John in. 18. 
 
 the only begotten Son of God." 
 Condemned already ! And only one way of 
 escape is shown us — to believe on the Son of 
 man who was lifted up — in the Saviour, who 
 said, " When ye have lifted up the Son of man, 
 
 Johnviii. 28. then sha11 ve know that I am He ;" 
 John viii. 24, " If ye believe not that I am He, ye 
 shall die in your sins." 
 
WHO IS HE? 45 
 
 And it was such a Saviour, and such a salva- 
 tion that had been foretold. In the book of 
 Isaiah we find a prophecy of the humiliation of 
 Christ — so strange a description of the coining 
 Messiah, so wholly unlikely in itself to attract 
 attention and be welcomed as true — that the 
 prophet even begins by saying, " Who hath be- 
 lieved our report? And to whom is the arm of 
 the Lord revealed?" What words are these? — 
 "A tender plant" — "A root out of a dry 
 ground," " with no form nor comeliness" — " no 
 beauty that we should desire Him " — " despised 
 and rejected " — " a man of sorrows and ac- 
 quainted with grief" — " oppressed and afflicted," 
 "brought as a lamb to the slaughter" — "num- 
 bered with the transgressors." Nor is it merely 
 shown that " He was despised and we esteemed 
 Him not;" but also, "We did esteem Him 
 stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted." For 
 even from such a depth as this was to come up 
 that cry, more fearful than the darkness over all 
 the land, "My God ! my God ! why 
 hast thou forsaken me?" And why 
 all this? Again and again in this remarkable 
 chapter, in varied and emphatic language, we 
 find the awful wherefore of this shame and 
 
4° WHO IS HE ? 
 
 suffering and death, even to a nine- 
 Isa, liii. 1-12. s 
 
 fold repetition : 
 
 " But He was wounded for our transgressions : 
 He was bruised for our iniquities : 
 The chastisement of our peace was upon Him : 
 With His stripes ive are healed : 
 The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all : 
 For the transgression of my people was He smitten : 
 Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin : 
 'He shall bear their iniquities : 
 He bare the sin of many.'' 
 
 It is but the clearer development of this same 
 
 truth when the Apostle Paul says of "Jesus our 
 
 Lord " — " Who was delivered for our offences, 
 
 and was raised again for our justification. 
 
 B . „. Therefore, being Justified by faith, 
 
 andv, 1, we have peace with God through 
 
 our Lord Jesus Christ." And this atonement, 
 
 that " saves from wrath," and brings us to joy 
 
 Kom, iv, 6. "in God" — this " counting of faith 
 
 Eom. v. 11, IB. for righteousness,"— is a " free gift," 
 
 offered to all — a world-wide remedy — bringing 
 
 life to the many through the death of One. 
 
 — " And I, if I be lifted up from the: 
 John xri, 32, 33. _ r 
 
 earth, will draw all men unto me." 
 
 " This said Jesus, signifying what death He 
 
 should die." 
 
WHO IS HE ? 47 
 
 But how intense the interest added to those 
 words of Isaiah, as we hear in the Acts of the 
 Apostles of the man of Ethiopia, Candace's hon- 
 ored treasurer, returning from his worship in 
 Jerusalem, and reading, as he sat in his chariot, 
 this very place in the Scriptures. The Spirit 
 who had inspired it eight hundred years before, 
 gave now the command to Philip, " Go near 
 and join thyself unto this chariot." " Of whom 
 speaketji the prophet this?" was the perplexed 
 inquiry : " How can I understand except som& 
 man should guide me ?" "Then Philip opened his 
 
 mouth and began at the same Scrip- 
 Acts viii. 26-39. 
 ture and preached unto him Jesus." 
 
 O thou who readest the same Scripture now, 
 canst thou " believe with all thine heart ?" Canst 
 thou openly confess as he did, " I believe that 
 Jesus Christ is the Son of God?" Canst thou 
 believe that He who bare the sin of many, has 
 borne thy sin ? Then, as the Ethiop went upon 
 his way rejoicing, so go" thou also upon thy hea- 
 venward way, rejoicing in Christ Jesus — not see- 
 ing Him, indeed, but believing and loving, and 
 rejoicing " with joy unspeakable and full of 
 
 glory," "receiving the end of thy 
 
 r . , , . . r , , „ 1 Pet, i, 8, 9. 
 
 faith, even the salvation oi thy soul. 
 
VII. 
 
 Join. viii. 66, 
 
 OR was it only by direct prophecy that 
 Christ and His salvation were foretold. 
 We find in Him the Antitype of almost 
 countless types, each giving a glimpse of His 
 fulness. Jesus has told us that Abraham re- 
 joiced to see His day ; that he saw it 
 and was glad. May we not believe 
 that others also saw through those fleeting 
 shadows the eternal Truth? For there "sprang 
 from him as many as the stars of the sky in 
 multitude, who all died in faith, not having re- 
 ceived the promises, but having seen them afar 
 off, and were persuaded of them and 
 embraced them." In that childhood 
 of the Church they may have learned from such 
 pictures what we now learn through words. 
 They were taught, we know, the holiness of 
 God, and the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and 
 the easy defilements that cut off their souls from 
 blessing. Placed under a law that was " holy 
 
 Heb, zi. 12, 13. 
 
WHO IS HE t 49 
 
 and just and good," and yet " weak through the 
 
 flesh " — consenting to it, but not per- 
 
 Eomvii. 12-18, 
 forming it — two needs were con- 
 stant and imperative — a priest and a sacrifice. 
 The Scriptures leave us in no doubt at all as to 
 the figurative nature of all these ordinances un- 
 der the Old Covenant. But we are also forbid- 
 den to extend such an interpretation beyond its 
 close. For fourteen hundred years the Lord 
 thus trained for Himself a people by the law. 
 Through fourteen hundred years of type and 
 shadow, the blood of bullocks and of lambs had 
 been flowing day by day, in obedience to His 
 claim : " The life of the flesh is in the 
 blood. It is the blood that maketh 
 an atonement for the soul." Was it but a figure 
 still, when John the Baptist cried at the coming 
 of Jesus, " Behold the Lamb of God, 
 which taketh away the sin of the 
 world?" A figure still, when Jesus said, "This 
 is my blood of the new Testament, 
 which is shed for many for the re- 
 mission of sins?" Why, also, do we find in the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews, continuous chapters con- 
 trasting the "figures for the time then present" 
 and the " good things to come ?" How sharply 
 
5<3 WHO IS HE? 
 
 the line is drawn between the " blood of goats 
 and calves" and " His own blood" — between the 
 patterns of things in the heavens, and " the hea- 
 venly things themselves " that were purified with 
 
 better sacrifices, when Christ ap- 
 
 Heb. ix, 1-26. , , . , , , 
 
 peared to put away sin by the sacri- 
 fice of Himself. How firmly laid are those step- 
 ping-stones of argument, over which we are led 
 from type to Antitype — from the old covenant to 
 the new — from the law to Christ. First, " Al- 
 most all things are by the law purged 
 
 Heb, ix. 22. . , , , , , . , , , , ■ 
 
 with blood ; and without shedding 
 
 of blood is no remission." But " It 
 
 Heb. x, 4, i s n ot possible that the blood of 
 
 bulls and of goats should take away 
 
 Heb, x, 10. sin." Then, " We are sanctified 
 
 through the offering of the body of 
 
 Jesus Christ." Therefore, " Their 
 
 sins and iniquities will I remember 
 
 no more." And finally, " Where 
 
 emission of these is, there is no 
 
 Heb, x. 18. _ . c . „ „ . 
 
 more ottering tor sin. Having 
 
 brought us thus far, the Apostle now points out 
 
 to us, in words of joyful assurance, that " new 
 
 and living way," leading into the 
 
 Heb, x. 19, 20, .. , , . . 
 
 holiest, and declares that we may 
 
WHO IS HE? 51 
 
 enter boldly by the blood of Jesus. Yet he lin- 
 gers a moment for one move contrast — the death 
 without mercy for the despiser of Moses' law, 
 and the sorer punishment that awaited those, who 
 sinning wilfully after they had received the 
 knowledge of the truth, " counted 
 the blood of the Covenant an unholy 
 thing." 
 
 And in no cautious phrases, with no hint of 
 our danger in misapprehending them, do all 
 the Apostles speak of this " one sacrifice for 
 sins," and "the blood of the everlasting cov- 
 enant.' 7 
 
 What purged their conscience from dead 
 works to serve the living God? "The blood of 
 Christ." What cleansed them from Heb. ix. 14, 
 allsirf? " The blood of Jesus Christ." Uohmi, 7. 
 With what were His saints redeem- 
 ed? "With the precious blood of _ 
 
 r 1 Pet, i, 19, 
 
 Christ." How were they who once 
 
 were far off made nigh? "By the 
 
 _ J Eph.il. 13. 
 
 blood of Christ." What was the 
 
 purchase paid for the Church of 
 
 God? ".His own blood." How did Acts xx, 28. 
 
 they overcome " that old Serpent, 
 
 called the Devil, and Satan which dbceiveth the 
 
52 WHO IS HEt 
 
 whole world"? "By the blood of 
 the Lamb." Where did they wash 
 their robes and make them white? 
 Kev,vii.l4. "In the blood of the Lamb." Set 
 forth as our propitiation, through 
 faith in what were we to claim this? 
 Bom. iii. 25. "Through faith in His blood." Jus- 
 tified freely by the grace of God, still 
 by what is this effected? "Justified 
 Bom. v. 9, by His blood.'" Again, through what 
 have we redemption and the forgive- 
 ness of sins ? " Through His blood." 
 "Christ our passover is sacrificed for 
 us." What promise is renewed in that? — what 
 signifies that Passover? " The blood shall be to 
 1 Cor. v. 7. vou f° r a token upon the houses 
 Ex, iii, 13. where ye are : and when I see the 
 blood \ will pass over you." 
 
 We must admit indeed a partial metaphor in 
 many of these expressions. But while the 
 figures vary, the blood remains the same. There 
 can be no literal sprinkling of it, no actual 
 bathing in it ; but take away the simple force of 
 its own meaning, and what remains to cause one 
 Apostle to pause, in the very beginning of a 
 most practical Epistle, to dwell with exultation 
 
WHO IS HE? 53 
 
 on "the sprinkling of the blood of 
 
 r & 1 Pet. i. 1-21. 
 
 Jesus Christ," and another to inter- 
 rupt the brief preface of a most important reve- 
 lation with an outburst of reverent thanksgiving, 
 
 " Unto Him that loved us and washed 
 
 Rev. i. 5. 
 us from our sins in His own blood" ? 
 
 There is a very practical test of the meaning 
 which we most naturally undarstand such words 
 to convey, in the simple fact that those who do 
 not thus accept them, avoid them. There is no 
 significance left for which to cherish them. But 
 they who have found "peace through the blood 
 of His Cross," will not be slack to make mention 
 of it. They will plead its power in their pray- 
 ers. They will sound it in praise for ever. 
 
 Oh fear not then to draw nigh unto that 
 Throne, in the midst of which stands "a Lamb 
 as it had been slain," and to join thy voice with 
 the voice of those who sing a new song — "Thou 
 
 wast slain, and hast redeemed us to 
 
 Eev. t, 6-9. 
 God by thy blood, out of every kin- 
 dred and tongue and people and nation." 
 
VIII. 
 
 UT here we are met with a perplexity 
 not thus easily removed — a perplexity 
 perhaps the most widespread of all, 
 and the more insinuating as it often owes its 
 origin to a recoil from a mere mask of Faith, or 
 a reaction from some overstrained dogma. Were 
 it wholly a replying against God, one might well 
 shrink to repeat such words. "Who is He, 
 then ?" it is said ; " whom do you thus make this 
 Saviour, but a Victim appeasing the wrath of 
 God against sin, and averting His anger from us 
 by the sacrifice of one so innocent and holy? Is 
 this then the iron heel which is to crush our in- 
 stinctive belief in the love and goodness of our 
 Father, and doom us to struggle for ever with an 
 irrepressible conviction of His cruelty? How 
 could we accept salvation upon such terms? 
 How could we selfishly rejoice in such injustice ?" 
 Alas! indeed, for those whose Bibles are but 
 palimpsests ! who find those broad 4ines of 
 truth, and clear, bold characters of heavenly 
 
 54 
 
WHO IS HE? 55 
 
 wisdom, overwritten with the narrow creeds, and 
 cramped, unsteady thoughts of men ! Our ap- 
 peal must be away from this, to that which was 
 written by inspiration of God. We are search- 
 ing for a God of love ; and what say the Scrip- 
 tures? They tell us that "God so loved the 
 world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that 
 
 whosoever ,believeth in Him should 
 
 John iii. 16. 
 not perish, but have everlasting life." 
 
 They tell us that " God com?nendeth His love 
 
 toward us, in that while we were yet 
 
 • Eom, v. 8. 
 
 sinners, Christ died for us." Turn 
 
 where we will among such messages as these — 
 
 " God is love," " Herein is love," " In this was 
 
 manifested the love of God," " Here- 
 in ■ .i i » it /-i j 1 John iv. 8-10. 
 by perceive we the love, " God even 
 
 _ , ,.,,,, , ,. .! J" 1 " 1 iii' 16. 
 
 our t ather which hath loved us, 
 
 ' 2 Thess. il. 16, 
 " God who is rich in mercy for His E , .. . 
 
 great love wherewith He loved us" 
 
 — and what is it that follows and supplies their 
 
 point and proof? It is this gift of grace, this 
 
 propitiation, this sending of His only begotten 
 
 Son, this laying down of His life for us. And 
 
 where is the suggestion of a forced sacrifice in 
 
 any saying of the Saviour? We hear, in the 
 
 language of prophecy, His ready words, " Lo, I 
 
56 WHO IS HE t 
 
 Ps. xl, 7, 8. 
 
 John x. 15, 18. 
 
 come I ... I delight to do thy will, 
 
 my God !" We hear him saying, 
 "I lay down my life for the sheep. . 
 
 1 lay it down of myself ." The hour 
 
 draws nigh for Him to be led as a lamb to the 
 
 slaughter. Is there still no shrinking? We 
 
 hear, as it were, His inmost musing — "Now is 
 
 my soul troubled, and what shall I 
 Join xii, 27. . 
 
 say? Father, save me from this 
 
 hour : but for this cause came I unto this 
 
 hour" And so of the Father we can say, "He 
 
 that spared not His own Son, but 
 Eom. viii, 32. 
 
 delivered Him up for us all." And 
 
 of the Son we can say, "Who loved 
 Gal, ii. 20. 
 
 me, and gave Himself for me." In 
 
 the perfect oneness of their nature and will was 
 our redemption planned and wrought. " Be- 
 hold what manner of love the Father 
 1 John iii, 1, 
 
 hath bestowed upon us !" Therefore 
 
 let our adoring love flow back, an undivided 
 stream. 
 
 Councils and synods may have- issued their 
 dark decrees, and stern divines have drawn up 
 their inexorable formularies ; but we are called 
 upon by the authorized Ambassadors of God to 
 listen to His own offer of reconciliation. Can 
 
WHO IS HE? 57 
 
 we charge either them or their message with any 
 want of tenderness, as they announce it? — " To 
 wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the 
 world unto Himself, not imputing their tres- 
 passes unto them. . . . Now then we are Am- 
 bassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech 
 
 you by us : we pray you in Christ's 
 
 J J 1 J J 2 CoIi T 19| 20i 
 
 stead, be ye reconciled to God." 
 
 " But how," persists some objector, " can I 
 
 honorably accept this? For I read further in 
 
 this proposed treaty, and I find the ground of the 
 
 offer, ' For He hath made Him to 
 
 2 Cor, v. 21. 
 be sin for us, who knew no sin.' 
 
 And why should the innocent suffer at all for the 
 
 guilty, even if it be willingly? What justice is 
 
 there in such terms?" 
 
 So far as we ourselves are concerned, it is not 
 
 justice that we receive. Another has suffered 
 
 for us — " being 1 put to death" — " the 
 
 to r 1 Pet. iii. 18. 
 
 just for the unjust, that He might 
 
 bring us to God ;" and that which reaches us is 
 
 something far higher than justice. It is Mercy. 
 
 Do we, indeed, murmur at that? But as to the 
 
 justice .of God in itself, in permitting another to 
 
 bear our penalty, who are we who talk so freely 
 
 about His justice ? — we, of whom scarcely can 
 
58 WHO IS HE? 
 
 two agree in adjusting its claims upon each 
 other ; we, of whom the wisest and the best find 
 their perplexity the sorest to uphold securely 
 Law and Order and Discipline, and yet escape 
 the dangers of too severe a justice on the one 
 hand, and too lax a mercy on the other ; we, 
 who find our forbearance to the guilty end in 
 peril to the innocent ; we, who own it the un- 
 solved problem of all human governments, to 
 keep the law armed with terror for the prevention 
 of crime, while so softening it as to inspire the 
 criminal with the hope of restoration. Yet this 
 is the difficulty which has been met by the 
 Gospel. Christ did, indeed, " magnify the law 
 and make it honorable." And becoming both a 
 Ransom and a Surety, so saved the sinner as to 
 save him from his sin. The full terms of the 
 offered treaty provide for this : " He hath made 
 Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin ; that ive 
 
 might be made the righteousness of 
 2 0or.v. 21. * s J 
 
 God in Him." We may compre- 
 hend it more or less clearly, but there is the As- 
 surance, and these are the Signature and the 
 
 Seal : "A just God and a Saviour." 
 Bom, iii, 26. 
 
 " Just and the Justijier of him 
 
 which believeth in Jesus." 
 
WHO IS HE? 59 
 
 There are still others who call in question, not 
 the nature of the sacrifice, but the need of any. 
 And who are they who thus pass their futile sen- 
 tence upon their Lawgiver and Judge but those 
 who stand condemned before Him, cutting them- 
 selves off in their folly from all hope of His 
 mercy, so long as they insolently challenge His 
 justice? When once He comes, no more to 
 offer mercy, but " to execute judgment" — not 
 only on " ungodly deeds," but upon " Murmur- 
 ers and Complainers" "for all their 
 hard speeches" which these " un- 
 godly sinners have spoken against Him" — then 
 will their punishment be less because they have 
 denied His right or will to decree it? 
 
 Proud and blind in their rebellion, or despe- 
 rately deceived, shall these be reasoned with, and 
 how? Yes, the Ambassadors are charged with a 
 message even for such — honest but most com- 
 passionate — ■" Knowing the terror of 
 
 2 Cor, t. 11. 
 the Lord, we persuade men." And 
 
 the story comes down to us of one of them so 
 
 earnest in his loyalty, so patient and so tender in 
 
 his pity, that for " the space of three 
 
 Acts xx, 31. 
 years he ceased not to warn every one 
 
 night and day with tears," lest they also should 
 
60 WHO IS HE ? 
 
 be misled. He feared the wolf without, ready to 
 spring upon the flock — that " Church of God 
 which He had purchased with His own blood." 
 But even more He feared the treacherous shep- 
 herds within the fold ; — the men of their own 
 
 selves that should arise, " speaking 
 
 Acts xx. 29, 30. , . , ... 
 
 perverse things to draw away disci- 
 ples after them." And foreseeing it all, he 
 passed on to us the charge, " Therefore watch !" 
 
 And to this very day, they who watch are 
 startled to hear, suddenly, in their midst and 
 close beside them, the secret counsels of the 
 foe. 
 
 No need of an atonement ! No need of propi- 
 tiation ! No need to be pardoned, to be ran- 
 somed, to be redeemed ! What fallen spirit in 
 its fearful looking-for of judgment first dared the 
 bold denial? Even he, whom Christ called so 
 
 t^ ... ,, significantly, "A murderer from the 
 J ohn Tin. 44, 
 
 beginning" and " A liar and the 
 
 father of it." He purposed to destroy our life ; 
 
 and so he whispered as his first falsehood in the 
 
 ear of Eve, " Ye shall not, surely 
 Gen. iii, 4. .. „ , . 
 
 die. And still he would persuade 
 
 his victims to whom life is so freely offered, 
 
 " Ye are not surely dead." But we are dead — 
 
WHO IS HE? 6 1 
 
 not asleep only, not sick only, but ' j.^ y ( 1§ 
 " dead in trespasses and sins," — until Eph, ▼■ 14- 
 Christ gives us life — until by a new birth we 
 awake to righteousness. The actual position 
 of humanity has been described in words full of 
 deepest humiliation, and yet of highest hope. 
 " He that committeth sin is of the devil ; for the 
 devil sinneth from the beginning. For this pur- 
 pose the Son of God was manifested 
 
 1 John iii, 8> 
 that he might destroy the works of 
 
 the devil." These aie no fanatical words ; no 
 disagreeable phrases,- contrived to frighten us ; 
 no old wives' fables, but the accurate diagnosis 
 of Him who stands waiting to heal us. We re- 
 fuse to listen at our peril. For, " if we confess 
 our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our 
 sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 
 " If we say that we have no sin, we deceive our- 
 selves'' Nor is this all. " If we say 
 that we have not sinned, we make 
 Him a liar." 
 
 The fall of man from his first estate, his loss 
 of the image of God, his being thus overcome 
 and brought into bondage under a cruel enemy ; 
 and our being thus "by mature the children of 
 wrath," walking as " the children of disobedi- 
 
62 WHO IS HE? 
 
 ence," " according to the prince of the power 
 of the air," and "according to the 
 p ' "' ' course of this world" — these are facts 
 which the Holy Scriptures assert and assume 
 throughout. Nor was it a partial overthrow of 
 His temple, that called down its Builder from 
 heaven, to place His strong shoulder beneath 
 the sinking ruin, and to say, " The earth and 
 all the inhabitants thereof are dis- 
 solved : I bear up the pillars of it." 
 For so it is written, " There is none righteous, 
 
 no not one. . . . There is none that 
 
 Kom. iii. 10-12, , ,, , , „ rr, ■. ■ 
 
 doeth good, no not one. I rue it is 
 
 that we find still among these ruins, fragments 
 
 of marvellous beauty, and what to our eyes seems 
 
 purity, where the hand of the Restorer has not 
 
 been seen to pass. But God is the judge. " His 
 
 eyes behold, His eyelids try the children of men." 
 
 His eyes are purer, His eyelids search deeper 
 
 than ours; and it becomes us to say — "Yea, let 
 
 God be true, but every man a liar." Accepting 
 
 then his word, it is " proved both of Jews and 
 
 Gentiles that they are all under sin " . . . . 
 
 " that every mouth may be stopped, 
 
 and all the world may become 
 
 GUILTY BEFORE GoD." 
 
WHO IS HE? 63 
 
 In entile consistency with this, we find that to 
 the Hebrews, already possessed of a formal and 
 legal righteousness, there was proclaimed as the 
 preliminary of faith, " Repentance 
 from dead works." And so far were 
 the Apostles from claiming any advantage in 
 this respect over the more ungodly Gentiles, that 
 with a singularly adroit exclusion of all self-right- 
 eous claims, they say, " We believe that through 
 the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 we shall be saved even as they.'' 
 
 It is in keeping with the fatal deception that 
 our sin is not deadly, that we should doubt or 
 deny together, the power of Satan to destroy, and 
 the power of the Saviour to save. They who 
 explain away the very existence of the one, will 
 naturally proceed to lower the character and the 
 offices of the other. But once admitting the ex- 
 ceeding sinfulness of sin, and our peril of the 
 wrath to come, and then it becomes no mere 
 metaphor to us that " an Enemy hath done this ;" 
 and then, also, does such a sacrifice as that of the 
 Saviour reveal itself as most needful and most 
 reasonable. Christ crucified may be a stumbling- 
 block to some, and foolishness to others. But 
 they who are saved, and who stand with their 
 
64 WHO IS HE? 
 
 feet upon the rock, looking back into the horrible 
 
 pit, and can see what a marvellous work it was 
 
 to bring them up, these can behold in the cross 
 
 of Christ both " the power of God" 
 1 Cor. i. 83, 24. ^ u ^ wisdom of God .» What 
 
 seems the foolishness of God is wiser than men. 
 
 Could the world have believed it to be wisdom, 
 
 it would neither have crucified, nor would it now 
 
 reject, the Lord of glory. 
 
 And yet it is not for us to sound the unknown 
 
 depth of those words, " It became Him for 
 
 whom are all things, and by whom are all things, 
 
 in bringing many sons unto glory to 
 Heb.ii.10. b S . . . 
 
 make the Captain of their Salvation 
 
 perfect through sufferings." How vain all specu- 
 lative thought, as to why our release from suffer- 
 ing the penalty of sin should be purchased by 
 His suffering beyond any of us all ; as to why 
 He who had all power in heaven and on earth 
 should put himself unresistingly into the hands 
 of evil men ; as to why His divinity should hum- 
 ble itself to the straits and limits of our hu- 
 manity. Even to them which are perfect, the 
 
 wisdom of God is still spoken in a 
 1 Cor, ii. 6, 7. l 
 
 mystery. We know not the full 
 
 wherefore ; but the glorious fact itself is clear as 
 
WHO IS HE? 65 
 
 the noonday. He did it; and did it by no sud- 
 den surprise, but ih the calm fulfilment of the 
 whole spirit of prophecy, as so clearly announced 
 in the earliest of all— that He who, as the Seed 
 
 of the woman, should bruise the ser- 
 
 Gen, ill. 15. 
 pent's head, must in so doing suffer 
 
 that serpent to bruise His heel. The prophets 
 
 felt the burden of the mystery, " Searching what 
 
 or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ 
 
 which was in them did signify, when it testified 
 
 beforehand the sufferings of Christ 
 
 and the glory that should follow." 
 
 When Christ for the only time on earth assumed 
 
 that majesty, which was like the coming in His 
 
 kingdom, and there talked with Him Moses and 
 
 Elias, who appeared in glory, we are permitted 
 
 one glimpse of the unutterable interests of that 
 
 converse between the greatest of the prophets, 
 
 thus reappearing after the lapse of ages : They 
 
 " spake of His decease which He 
 
 Luke iz, 31. 
 should accomplish at Jerusalem." 
 
 Nor is it a theme alone for prophets and for 
 
 glorified saints to ponder : " These 
 
 b . r 1 Pet. i. 12. 
 
 things the angels desire to look 
 
 into." 
 
 What utter necessity there may have been for 
 
66 WHO IS HE? 
 
 the fulness of that cup of suffering we cannot 
 know. "Abba, Father, all things are possible' 
 unto thee," was the prayer of Jesus in His hour of 
 agony. And yet to His thrice repeated cry, " If it 
 Matt, xxvi. 39- De possible," we find no other answer 
 46 ' than an angel from heaven strength- 
 
 ening Him, and His own submissive going forth 
 to the death of the Cross. The truth which is 
 revealed is not whether it was for God the only 
 way to save us, but that it is for us the only way 
 to be saved. Enough for us that we can find in 
 that Cross the strongest conceivable proof of our 
 sin and our danger, and of His love and sure 
 salvation. On His head are many crowns ! 
 
 What if there be one name written 
 Bev. xix, 12. , , 
 
 that no man knoweth but He himself! 
 
 Who is He, then? Among those many crowns 
 
 which shall be held the highest and the brightest, 
 
 while things on earth and things in heaven do 
 
 homage to the name of Jesus? Prince of life 
 
 and Captain of our salvation ! casting out the 
 
 prince of this world — the Deliverer from the 
 
 enemy — redeeming man, and "ransoming him 
 
 from the hand of him that was strong- 
 
 Jer. xxxi, 11, ° 
 
 er than he ;" proclaiming liberty, and 
 
 opening the prison doors where the captives lay, 
 
WHO IS HE? 67 
 
 bound, and bruised, and blind, and broken- 
 hearted ; proclaiming the acceptable year of the 
 Lord, that is now, and the day of vengeance of 
 our God, that shall be hereafter ; healing, and 
 comforting, and leading out all that T . . 
 
 would follow Him ; bringing them Luke iv, 16-21, 
 
 tr n t • r a 1 Col, i. 12, 13. 
 
 over from that region 01 darkness 
 
 and death to His own kingdom ; redeemed, re- 
 stored, reconciled, and made at one with God ; 
 renewed in His image again, His children and 
 His heirs ! Such was Jesus, the Saviour, the 
 Redeemer ! 
 
 How shall we give honor to Him who thus 
 went forth " conquering and to conquer," and 
 when again He ascended up on high led captiv- 
 ity captive, and gave His gifts to the rebellious? 
 He who inspired His servants of old, and, when 
 they were to speak of the things touching the 
 King, gave them for a tongue the pen 
 
 Ps. xlv, 1. 
 
 of a ready writer, has so ordered it 
 that this greatest victory should be told in no 
 cold or common speech, but in songs of praise 
 and shouts of triumph, that burst from lips still 
 warm with the live coal of the Seraphim. 
 
 " Sing, O daughter of Zion ! shout, O Israel ! 
 Be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daugh- 
 
68 WHO IS HE? 
 
 ter of Jerusalem ! The Lord hath taken away 
 
 thy judgments ; He hath cast out thine enemy. 
 
 The King of Israel, even the Lord, 
 
 ep . in. , • j s j n jjjg midst of thee ; thou shalt 
 
 not see evil any more." 
 
 "I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy trans- 
 gressions, and as a cloud thy sins. Return unto 
 me, for I have redeemed thee. Sing, O ye 
 heavens, for the Lord hath done it : shout, ye 
 lower parts of the earth : break forth into sing- 
 ing, ye mountains, O forest, and 
 Isa.iliv.22,23. b J 
 
 every tree therein : for the Lord hath 
 
 redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel." 
 And so let the redeemed of the Lord, "whom 
 He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy," 
 take up the song of Moses, and turn it to a song 
 for their Deliverer — " Sing unto the Lord, for 
 He hath triumphed gloriously ; the horse and his 
 rider hath He thrown into the sea. . . . Thou in 
 thy mercy hast led forth the people 
 which thou hast redeemed : thou hast 
 guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habi- 
 tation. . . . Thou shalt bring them in and plant 
 them in the mountain of thine inheritance — in 
 the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for 
 Thee to dwell in I" 
 
IX. 
 
 ND this is His name whereby He shall 
 
 be called, The Lord our 
 
 Jer, xxiii, 6. 
 Righteousness." In this 
 
 rapid survey of the work of the Redeemer, 
 there are some aspects which have been hurried 
 past. Two of these especially have been often 
 mistaken and confused, for the simple reason 
 that they are the slightly varied views of one 
 and the same truth, placed side by side, and re- 
 quiring to be seen together, if we would bring 
 out their lifelike faithfulness. The closing of an 
 eye on one must dim the other. Thus the right- 
 eousness of Christ that through His death can- 
 cels the debt of sin, and the righteousness of 
 Christ that through His life becomes our real 
 possession, are inseparably bound together by 
 that Title Deed which conveys to us " the un- 
 searchable riches of Christ." The righteousness 
 that is imputed and the righteousness that is 
 imparted are all of one. 
 
 The Bride that brings to her Heavenly Bride- 
 
 69 
 
70 WHO IS HE? 
 
 groom no dowry but a hopeless debt, however 
 
 unspeakably humbled, is saved from all her 
 
 fears. Every claim of the past she can and must 
 
 refer to Him, as " the Lord her Righteousness." 
 
 And for all her present needs she has no wealth 
 
 to draw upon save His, who delights, as she 
 
 well knows, to have her " glorious within and 
 
 her clothing of wrought gold." Giving her to 
 
 the half of His kingdom, His very name is hers ; 
 
 for "this is the name wherewith 
 Jer. Kxxiii. 16. 
 
 she shall be called : The Lord our 
 
 Righteousness." She may sometimes waste His 
 treasm-es : she may sometimes fail in her full 
 love and duty; but not "for every cause " will 
 He put her away. 
 
 And constantly in the Holy Scriptures do these 
 truths pass over the one more or less into the 
 other. Few, indeed, are those portions where 
 we fail to find the overlapping edge. As an in- 
 stance, let us take those two representations of 
 the same Apostle — two and yet one : " All have 
 sinned and come short of the glory of God; 
 being justified freely by His grace, through the 
 redemption that is in Christ Jesus ; whom God 
 hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith 
 in His blood, to declare His righteousness for 
 
WHO IS HE? 71 
 
 the remission of sins that are past, through the 
 
 forbearance of God ; to declare, I say, at this 
 
 time His righteousness ; that He 
 
 . , , . , , „ Rom, iii. 23-26. 
 
 might be just, and the justifier of 
 
 him which believeth in Jesus." This presents 
 
 chiefly His righteousness for the past ; now for 
 
 the future : " He hath made Him to be sin 
 
 for us, who knew no sin, that toe 
 
 2 Cor. t. 21. 
 might be made the righteousness 
 
 of God in Him." So also that passage already 
 referred to, which so emphatically excludes the 
 thought that we are saved by works of righteous- 
 ness which we have done, is supplemented by 
 another which follows immediately': " This is a 
 faithful saying, and these things I will that thou 
 
 affirm constantly, that they which 
 
 1 11. , • ^ , . , , Titus iii. 8. 
 
 nave believed in God might be care- 
 ful to maintain good works." And again we 
 find both views tinited in a single period, as in 
 those tender and appealing words, "Who His 
 own self bare our sins in His own body on the 
 
 tree, that we being dead to sins 
 
 1 Peter ii. 24. 
 should live unto righteousness : by 
 
 whose stripes ye were healed." And yet it is the 
 
 dying to sins first, the living to righteousness 
 
 afterward ; the healing first, and then the health. 
 
7 2 WHO IS HE? 
 
 For while these fellow-truths lie so closely and 
 inseparably side by side, there can be no ques- 
 tion that the one precedes the other, even if it 
 be in itself the lesser truth. " If," says an Apos- 
 tle, " when we were enemies we were reconciled 
 
 _ ,„ to God by the death of His Son, 
 Bom, v, 10, J ' 
 
 much more, being reconciled, we 
 shall be saved by His life." And by all the un- 
 speakable blessings of health, and strength, and 
 full stature, and perfect soundness, will our in- 
 terest centre upon the point of healing — the pass- 
 ing from death unto life. Birth will ever remain 
 a greater marvel than existence ; and "joy shall 
 be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more 
 _ , than over ninety and nine just per- 
 
 sons, which need no repentance." 
 
X. 
 
 HEY shall call His name Emmanuel, 
 which, being interpreted, is 
 God with us." In that body 
 which was prepared for Him, He appeared but 
 once. But He is Emmanuel still. For forty days 
 Jesus showed himself alive after His 
 passion by many infallible proofs ; 
 and then from the midst of His disciples, gath- 
 ered together upon Olivet, " He was taken up, 
 
 and a cloud received Him out of their 
 . , „ _ . Actsi, 9, 12, 
 
 sight. But two great and precious 
 
 promises were first given to His people. The two 
 men in white apparel gave the one : " This same 
 Jesus, which is taken up from you 
 into heaven, shall so come in like 
 manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven" — 
 the same promise that was confirmed so solemnly 
 afterward : " Behold, He cometh with clouds ; 
 and every eye shall see Him, and they 
 also which pierced Him : and all kin- 
 dreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. 
 
 73 
 
 Matt, i, 23. 
 
 Acts i, 3. 
 
 Acts i, 11. 
 
 Rev, i. 7. 
 
74 WHO IS HE ? 
 
 Even so, Amen." The other promise, their sup- 
 port and comfort until then, Jesus Himself gave 
 Matt, zxviii, but a l' tt: ' e before : " Lo, I am with 
 20, you alway, even unto the end of the 
 
 world. Amen." Even in giving the promise of 
 
 the Spirit — " I will pray the Father, 
 Johaxiv, 16. , TT . ,. . , _, 
 
 and He shall give you another Com- 
 forter, that He may abide with you for ever" — 
 how tenderly did He teach them to identify this 
 new gift with Himself: " I will not leave you 
 John xiv. 18 comfortless : /will come to you. Yet 
 19, a little while, and the world seeth me 
 
 no more ; but ye see me : because I live, ye shall 
 live also." Yet even such sayings as these, have 
 been wrested and shaped into one of the most 
 subtle of errors — an error that numbers among 
 its adherents less deceivers than deceived. And 
 there may be not a few who miss that stand-point 
 where we can best behold the fulness of Christ, 
 not so much by wilfully stopping short of it, as 
 by anxiously passing too far beyond it. We have 
 now to consider such questions as these : Is it 
 not said, that " though we have known Christ 
 after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him 
 no more?" Instead of dwelling so much upon 
 a work accomplished so long ago, ought we not 
 
WHO IS HE ? 75 
 
 rather to look to the Holy Spirit and His work 
 in our hearts now, abide under His teachings, 
 mind the Light, follow our Guide, and thus know 
 a present manifestation of God in the temple of 
 the soul — Christ in us, our hope of Glory ? Why 
 should we seek.the living among the dead ? And 
 thus, even while opening a hand to receive this 
 added gift, the other hand loosens its hold upon 
 the old treasure. Too often the truths once for- 
 mally admitted, and still it may be retaining their 
 place in some abstract summary of doctrine, are 
 virtually laid aside as of no practical value — 
 things to be looked at, but not used ; armor which 
 it is well to hang upon our walls, but which we 
 have no need to wear. There is indeed no little 
 force in such objections when directed against 
 those who lay a foundation, but fail to build. 
 But what if, in building higher ourselves, we 
 meanwhile so hide our chief Corner-Stone that 
 others thinking to follow our faith forget even to 
 lay it ! 
 
 Again, what saith the Scripture? Or rather 
 let us ask, How has the Spirit of God, as speak- 
 ing through those pages, set forth His own work, 
 and what is the relation which it bears to the 
 work of Christ ? 
 
76 WHO IS HE? 
 
 " It is expedient for you that I go away," said 
 
 John xvi. 7. J esus ; for if l s° not awa y the Con> 
 
 13, forter will not come unto you ; but if 
 
 I depart, I will send him unto you." " He will 
 
 guide you into all truth." " He shall 
 Johnxiv, 26, , „ , . „ ,, r1 
 
 teach you all things. Why expe- 
 dient? What was He to teach them? Why did 
 Christ send Him? Was it to draw the mind 
 away from Him to a new object of faith?- Was 
 it to set aside His work as a thing of the past? — 
 to teach other words than those of which He 
 had said, "My words shall not pass away"? 
 Let us read over those promises : " He shall 
 
 teach you all things, and bring all 
 John, xiv, 26. 
 
 things to your remembrance, whatso- 
 
 Johnxv. 26. soever /have said unto you." " He 
 
 John rri. 15. shall testify of me" " He shall take 
 
 of mine, and shall show it unto you." 
 John xvi, 14, 
 
 " He shall glorify me. As surely 
 
 then as we are taught by the Spirit, we are taught 
 
 the things of Christ. Has a prophet set forth 
 
 the blessedness of being " taught of God" — the 
 
 " great peace," the " righteousness," 
 Isa,liv, 13-17. , , „ " 
 
 and the safety, that are thus found by 
 
 His children as " their heritage ?" Then Jesus 
 
 has also shown us the first result of being so 
 
WHO IS HE? 77 
 
 taught, and the true channel of all these bless- 
 ings ; for He said, " It is written in the prophets, 
 
 And they shall be all taught of God. 
 
 John vi, 45^ 
 Every man, therefore, that hath heard 
 
 and learned of the Father cometh unto me" 
 
 Jesus declared that this Spirit of Truth was to 
 
 " reprove the world of sin ;" but He 
 
 . . John xvi. 8, 9. 
 
 added, " Of sin, because they believed 
 
 not on me." The Holy Spirit is represented as 
 
 striving with man, reproving him, knocking at 
 
 the door, inviting him, drawing him ; but is 
 
 never spoken of as abiding in any heart until 
 
 that heart belongs to Christ. And the gift was 
 
 sure to follow upon that faith, as we may plainly 
 
 infer from the reverse saying : " Now, 
 
 if any man have not the Spirit of 
 
 Christ, he is none of His." The divine order in 
 
 the knowledge of Christ is this : " In whom ye 
 
 trusted, after that ye heard the word 
 
 Eph. i. 13. 
 of truth, the gospel of your salva- 
 tion : in whom also, after that ye believed, ye 
 were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." 
 To His disciples, and " not unto the world," did 
 Christ promise this new manifestation* in words 
 
 * A much-abused passage, I Cor. xii. 7, is no excep- 
 tion to this. The context plainly shows that the Apostle 
 
78 WHO IS HE? 
 
 that link together in inseparable unity Father, 
 Son and Holy Spirit : " If a man love me, he 
 
 John xi T . 22, wil1 kee P m y words : and m y Father 
 
 23, will love him, and we will come 
 
 unto him, and make our abode with him." 
 
 What shall we answer, then, to all those who 
 
 claim to have found more light, by looking away 
 
 from Him who said, "I am the Light of the 
 
 world : he that followeth me shall 
 
 not walk in darkness, but shall have 
 
 the light of life," and who claim to be more 
 
 spiritual, by leaving behind them the work of 
 
 Christ in the flesh ? We will answer with the 
 
 prophet — "To the law and to the testimony: if 
 
 thev speak not according to this 
 Isa,viii.20. . . 
 
 word, it is because there is no light 
 
 in them." We will answer with the Apostle — 
 
 " Hereby know ye the Spirit of God. Every 
 
 Spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come 
 
 in the flesh is of God ; and every 
 
 1 John iv. 2, 3. J 
 
 Spirit that confesseth not that Jesus 
 
 was speaking only of believers, and the gifts which 
 they received for the profit of the one body. The words 
 might be closely rendered: "To each is given the 
 manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." It 
 will be readily seen how this accords with what follows : 
 "to one," "to another," etc. 
 
WHO IS HE? 79 
 
 Christ is come in the flesh is not of God. And 
 
 this is that spirit of Antichrist whereof ye have 
 
 heard that it should come." It is not the bare 
 
 assent of the understanding to a fact that is here 
 
 demanded, but that with the heart 
 
 Rom, x. 8-10. 
 we should believe unto righteousness, 
 
 and then with the mouth make confession unto 
 salvation. 
 
 No ! the work of Christ in the flesh is never 
 to loosen its hold on our remembrance, or to 
 slide from its place in our faith and our affec- 
 tions. Never can we hope, through mere obe- 
 dience to duty (as if it were the sole office of the 
 Spirit to reveal this), to become the children of 
 God. There must be the obedience of faith 
 first. " This is the work of God, that 
 ye believe v on Him whom He hath John vi, 29. 
 sent." " Whosoever believeth that 
 Jesus is the Christ, is born of God." 
 Never may we dare to claim any real victory 
 over the world without this faith: "Who is he 
 
 that overcometh the world but he 
 
 1 John v, 5i 
 that believeth that Jesus is the Son of 
 
 God ?" To Him, and not to any gift, or power, 
 
 or principle apart from Him, are we directed for 
 
 life and strength. Still with us, as He is, even 
 
80 WHO IS HE? 
 
 unto the end of the world, His word is, "Abide 
 
 in me, and I in you. ... I am the 
 John iv. 4, 5. 
 
 Vine ; ye are the branches. With- 
 out me ye can do nothing." 
 
 And yet it is made equally certain that the 
 power of the Holy Spirit is essential to the very 
 life of our souls, and to every step of our spirit- 
 ual progress. "No man can say 
 that Jesus is the Lord but by the 
 Holy Ghost." " As many as are led 
 by the Spirit of God, they are the 
 sons of God." 
 
 The uniting link is easily found. The promise, 
 " He shall take of mine and show it unto you," 
 covers not the words which He spoke only, but 
 the entire truth as it is in Jesus — His life, His 
 death, His resurrection, His nature, His work — 
 Himself in His fulness. All this is summed up 
 in a comprehensive term, used in a sense not far 
 removed from that in which Jesus was person- 
 ally called " The Word" — a lower sense, and yet 
 akin to it — "the word," "the word of faith," 
 "the word of His grace," "the word preached," 
 "the ingrafted word," "the word of the truth 
 of the Gospel." And here also we find the 
 harmony of expressions which sometimes seem 
 
WHO IS HE? Si 
 
 at variance. We are to be born of the Spirit ; 
 
 but it is also said that we are begotten 
 
 by -the word of truth, "being born 
 
 again not of corruptible seed, but of 
 
 . 1 Pet. 1 23-25. 
 
 incorruptible, by the word of God . . 
 
 the word which by the Gospel is preached." We 
 
 are told both of the " baptism of the Holy 
 
 Ghost," and of the "washing of water by the 
 
 word." We are to be sanctified by the Spirit, 
 
 and yet Jesus prayed, " Sanctify them through 
 
 thy truth : Thy word is truth." " The 
 
 John xvii, 17. 
 
 sword of the Spirit is the word of 
 
 Eph, vi. 17. 
 
 God ; but only as it is wielded by 
 
 such a hand can it be said, "The word of God 
 is quick and powerful, and sharper 
 than any two-edged sword." 
 
 And so also it is through the presence and 
 power of the Spirit, that the life of Jesus in the 
 flesh and the shedding of His blood, meet our 
 daily and continuous need as our " Bread of 
 Life." Through one of the simplest yet closest 
 analogies, has our Lord taught us the constant 
 appropriation of His life and death. "Except 
 ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink 
 
 His blood, ye have no life in you." . . 
 
 ,,,, a , . . . , , , John vi. 63-57. 
 
 "My flesh is meat indeed, and my 
 
82 WHO IS HE? 
 
 blood is drink indeed." . . . "He that eateth 
 me, even he shall live by me." Rebuking the 
 gross misapprehension of His hearers, Jesus 
 taught that this bread of life could only be given 
 and received spiritually. " It is the Spirit that 
 quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth noth- 
 ing. The words that I speak unto 
 you, they are spirit, and they are life." 
 
 Thus the work of the Spirit blends harmoni- 
 ously with the work of Christ — distinct, and yet 
 separated by no abrupt line of division. The 
 one great object of faith set before us is Jesus 
 Christ. The awakening, life-giving and trans- 
 forming power within us is His Spirit. And so 
 it comes to pass that "we all with open face, be- 
 holding as in a glass the glory of the 
 Lord, are changed into the same 
 image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit 
 «f the Lord." 
 
XL 
 
 ESUS CHRIST, the same yesterday, 
 and to-day, and for ever," is an an- 
 nouncement followed by a charge which 
 
 is evidently founded upon it : " Be 
 
 Eeb, xiii. 8, 9, 
 
 not carried about with divers and 
 strange doctrines." There is still another weapon 
 that has been forged out of the Scriptures for the 
 overthrow of the Truth. Some, who do not 
 question how the Gospel was at first revealed, 
 are found claiming that it is subject to change ; 
 and that we may enjoy now a more perfect reve- 
 lation through the Spirit, than the primitive be- 
 lievers were prepared for. They rest this claim 
 upon those words of Christ which precede the 
 promise of the Spirit as a guide to all truth : 
 
 " I have yet many things to say 
 
 3 J & J John rvi. 12. 
 
 unto you, but ye cannot bear them 
 
 now." 
 
 Unquestionably Christian practice admits of 
 
 development and change. The Gospel is not a 
 
 83 
 
84 WHO IS HE? 
 
 collection of precise forms and minute directions. 
 It does not propose to chisel out for us rows of 
 perfect statues, but to give us armies of living 
 men — laborers for our harvest-fields — adapted 
 variously to the age they live in, and the work 
 which is assigned them. The laws of life and 
 health, the laws of perfect growth and full ser- 
 vice, are, indeed, most jealously guarded ; but 
 in minor matters, a large authority and power 
 of judgment is entrusted to the Church, under 
 the control and direction of the Head of the 
 Church. For guidance in his own special path 
 of duty, the believer must rest on that broad 
 promise : " I will guide thee with 
 mine eye. But this is not our ques- 
 tion — Is " the word of the truth of the Gospel" 
 to change ? Abundant space there is, indeed, 
 both in our individual lives, and from one genera- 
 tion to another, to grow in knowledge— \a un- 
 derstand and to apply, under ever-changing cir- 
 cumstances, that which has been once revealed. 
 But as to the Truth itself, that promised Spirit 
 of Truth came then, and was given to the Apos- 
 tles, largely and miraculously, for their all-im- 
 portant work in the Church of Christ. And so 
 it is still the one unchangeable Truth — u the 
 
WHO IS HBt 85 
 
 everlasting Gospel" — "the great salvation, 
 which at the first began to be spoken by the 
 Lord, and was confirmed by them that heard 
 Him ; God also bearing them witness both with 
 signs and wonders, and divers mira- 
 cles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost." 
 If any claim another revelation, fuller and more 
 perfect, where is the confirmation, and how does 
 God bear them witness ? 
 
 That which the Apostle Paul declared was " all 
 
 the counsel of God." The Gospel of 
 
 r Gal. i. 12. 
 
 Christ, which he preached, had been 
 
 taught him by revelation ; and he spake thus of 
 
 those who perverted it : " Though we, or an angel 
 
 from heaven, preach any other Gospel unto you 
 
 than that which we have preached unto you, let 
 
 him be accursed." It was no hasty speech, for 
 
 he solemnly repeats it: "As we said before, so 
 
 say I now again, if any man preach any other 
 
 Gospel unto you than that ye have 
 
 , , . . . , „ . , Gal, i. 8, 9, 
 
 received, let him be accursed. And 
 
 that other Apostle, whose heart was so full of 
 
 love, says, in words scarcely less strong, " He 
 
 that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath 
 
 both the Father and the Son. If there come 
 
 any unto you, and bring not this doctrine. 
 
86 WHO IS HE? 
 
 receive him not into your house, 
 
 2 John 9, 10. . , , . , , . „ , , „ 
 
 neither bid him God speed. 
 
 Who is He, then, as preached by the Apostles, 
 when in their ministry was at last set forth 
 the things which Jesus did not say, because they 
 could not yet be borne? In the Acts of the 
 Apostles, and in their Epistles, we shall find our 
 answer. And turning now from further consid- 
 eration of doubts and objections, to a more posi- 
 tive presentation of truth, let us listen to a simple 
 summary of their teaching. 
 
 In the first discourse of Peter after his bap- 
 tism by the Holy Ghost — a discourse which re- 
 sulted in adding about three thousand souls to 
 the number of believers — he dwells mainly upon 
 the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, and 
 the subsequent gift of the Holy Spirit : " This 
 Jesus hath God raised up whereof we all are 
 witnesses ;" " He hath shed forth this which ye 
 now see and hear :" " Therefore let all the house 
 
 of Israel know assuredly, that God 
 
 Acts ii. 32-36. , _ . 
 
 hath made that same Jesus whom ye 
 
 have crucified, both Lord and Christ." Again, 
 
 after the healing of the lame man at the gate of 
 
 the Temple, he proclaimed the same facts : " Ye 
 
 denied the Holy One and Just;" " Ye killed the 
 
WHO IS HE ? 87 
 
 Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the 
 dead;" "And His name, through faith in His 
 
 name, hath made this man strong 
 
 ■ , . „ . , Acts iii, 14-16. 
 
 whom ye see and know. And 
 
 then, filled with the Holy Ghost, he said unto 
 the rulers and elders : " This is the stone which 
 was set at naught of you builders, which is be- 
 come the head of the corner. Neither is there 
 salvation in any other; for there is none other 
 name under heaven given among 
 men whereby we must be saved." 
 Again, we find the same Apostle pleading before 
 the council : " The God of our fathers raised up 
 Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. 
 Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be 
 a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to 
 Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are 
 
 His witnesses of these things ; and 
 
 Acts v. 30-32, 
 so also is the Holy Ghost, whom 
 
 God hath given to them that obey Him." And 
 
 then departing from the council, " daily in the 
 
 Temple and in every house they 
 
 , T Acts v. 42. 
 
 ceased not to teach and preach Jesus 
 
 Christ." So, also, we follow Philip in the city 
 
 of Samaria, and in the Ethiopian chariot ; 
 
 and we find that he " preached Acta viii. 5, 35, 
 
88 WHO IS HE? 
 
 Christ " — " preached Jesus." A devout and 
 God-fearing man, Cornelius, is charged by an 
 angel to send for Peter, " who shall tell thee 
 words whereby thou and all thy house shall be 
 saved." What words, then, did Peter speak? 
 " The word which God sent unto the children 
 of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ" — 
 words which tell what Jesus of Nazareth did and 
 suffered, and that ended thus : " Whosoever be- 
 Aotsx, 1-48. lieveth in Him shall receive remis- 
 Actsxi. 1-18, sion of sins." And while Peter yet 
 spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all 
 them which heard the word ; for they believed 
 on the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 Such was the witness of those who could say, 
 
 "That which was from the beginning, which we 
 
 have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, 
 
 which we have looked upon, and our 
 
 hands have handled of the Word of 
 
 Life, . . . declare we unto you." 
 
 And now another witness, by whom He was 
 
 seen last of all, beholds at mid-day a light from 
 
 heaven, above the brightness of the sun, and 
 
 hears the voice of his Lord, saying, " I am Jesus 
 
 of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest." 
 Aots xxii, 8, 9. 
 
 It is told him by Ananias what he 
 
WHO IS HE ? 89 
 
 must do : "The God of our fathers hath chosen 
 thee, that thou shouldst know His will, and see 
 that Just One, and shouldst hear the 
 voice of His mouth ; for thou shalt 
 be His witness." " And straightway he preached 
 Christ." How does he preach Him ? We hear 
 him at Antioch, in Pisidia, saying, "God hath 
 raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus." "We de- 
 clare unto you glad tidings — how that the pro- 
 mise which was made unto the fathers, God hath 
 fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that 
 He hath raised up Jesus again." " Be it known 
 unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that 
 through this man is preached unto you the for- 
 giveness of sins ; and by Him all that believe are 
 justified from all things, from which ye could 
 not be justified by the law of Moses. Beware, 
 therefore, lest that come upon you which is 
 spoken of in the prophets, ' Behold, ye despisers, 
 
 and wonder and perish ; for I work 
 
 . . , , . . , Acts ziii, 23-41. 
 
 a work m your days, a work which 
 
 ye shall in no wise believe, though a man de- 
 clare it unto you.' " We hear him, in his prison 
 at Philippi, preaching the same Gospel to the 
 
 trembling jailer : " Believe on the 
 
 Acts xvi, 31. 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be 
 
90 WHO IS HE? 
 
 saved." We follow him to Thessalonica, and 
 we find him in a synagogue of the Jews for 
 three Sabbath days, reasoning with them out of 
 the Scriptures, "opening and alleging that Christ 
 must needs have suffered and risen again from 
 the dead, and that this Jesus whom I 
 preach unto you is Christ." We go 
 on to Athens, where they deem him " a setter- 
 forth of strange gods, because he preached unto 
 them Jesus and the resurrection." And we hear 
 him upon Mars' Hill, making known their un- 
 known God, and that man by whom He will 
 judge the world, "whereof He hath given 
 assurance unto all men in that He 
 „, " ' hath raised Him from the dead." At 
 ActsxTiii, 5, Corinth, pressed in spirit, he testifies 
 to the Jews that Jesus is Christ. And referring 
 to this visit in his first Epistle to them, he says, 
 
 "I determined not to know anything 
 
 1 Cor, ii, 2. T .-,, . , , 
 
 among you, save Jesus Christ, and 
 
 Him crucified." And again, " I delivered unto 
 you, Jirsi of all, that which I also received, how 
 that Christ died for our sins according to the 
 Scriptures ; and that He was buried, and that He 
 rose again the third day, according to the Scrip- 
 tures ;'' and this he declared as " the Gospel 
 
WHO IS HE? 91 
 
 which I preached unto you, which also ye have 
 received, and wherein ye stand ; by which also 
 ye are saved if ye keep in memory 
 what I preached unto you, unless ye 
 have believed in vain." 
 
 In his farewell address to the elders of Ephe- 
 sus, he thus reviews his ministry : "I kept back 
 nothing that was profitable unto you, but have 
 showed you and have taught you publicly, and 
 from house to house, testifying . . . 
 repentance toward God, and faith Acts XXi 2 o 21. 
 toward our Lord Jesus Christ." And 
 finally we see him at Rome, bound with his 
 chain, with many Jews around him in his lodg- 
 ing, to whom he expounded and testified the 
 kingdom of God, "persuading them concerning 
 
 Jesus, both out of the law of Moses 
 
 Acta xxviii. 23. 
 and out of the prophets, from morn- 
 ing till evening." And in the last record of the 
 ' now aged Apostle, as he dwelt two whole years 
 in his own hired house, we find him still 
 
 " preaching the kingdom of God, and 
 
 , . , , . ... Acts xxviii, 31. 
 
 teaching those things which concern 
 
 the Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 Such was the preaching which was in demon- 
 stration of the Spirit and of power. Such was 
 
9 2 WHO IS HE? 
 
 the preaching by which " it pleased 
 God to save them that believed." 
 So they preached and so they be- 
 lieved. Do we the same? There is none other 
 Gospel for any to preach, or for any to believe. 
 And though there were, and even an angel 
 preached it, he would be accursed. 
 
 And turning now to the Epistles, we find in 
 what manner the Apostles sought to strengthen 
 the churches, that they might present every man 
 perfect in Christ Jesus. To " keep in memory 
 these things, to have them always in .remem- 
 brance," was their charge. And they never rest 
 satisfied with present effort. There is to be a 
 constant reaching .forth to things before, an un- 
 wearied pressing toward the mark. The " Be- 
 lieve only" of the Gospel is shown to be a most 
 comprehensive belief, and the faith in Christ 
 Jesus a continuous faith. Again and again they 
 recur to the blessed truth, " Christ died for us," 
 and set forth its abiding and controlling influ- 
 ence upon the entire life of the Christian. "The 
 love of Christ constraineth us ; because we thus 
 judge, that if one died for all, then were all 
 dead : and that He died for all, that they which 
 live should not henceforth live unto themselves, 
 
WHO IS HE ? 93 
 
 but unto Him which died for them, 
 and rose again." We might take these 2 Cor ' T ' 14 ' 15, 
 words as the key-note of their whole teaching. 
 Let any one glance rapidly over those pages, and 
 especially the shorter Epistles, and see how often, 
 blended sometimes with the name of the Father, 
 and yet as frequently alone, he meets the words, 
 "Christ," "Jesus Christ," "our Lord Jesus 
 Christ." They repeat it often in a single sen- 
 tence, far beyond the requirements of a clear 
 meaning, as a name they love — a name whose 
 very sound is dear, and whose very mention 
 should have power in it. In their most practi- 
 cal exhortations, as well as in all doctrines, they 
 find a starting-point and a goal, their motive, 
 their encouragement, their final object, in Jesus 
 Christ. Seated in heavenly places, and blessed 
 with all spiritual blessings, accepted in the Be- 
 loved, still they say, " In whom we have redemp- 
 tion through His blood, the forgive- 
 
 . S Eph.i.3-7. 
 
 ness of sins." They are in Christ 
 
 Jesus, and He in them. Their life is " hid with 
 Christ in God." They are to be rooted in 
 Christ ; they are to be built up upon Christ. 
 Their bodies are the members of Christ, and 
 Christ is their Head. They are complete in 
 
94 WHO IS HE? 
 
 Christ. They do all in the name of Christ, all 
 for the sake of Christ, all from the love of 
 Christ, all through the strength of Christ, all in 
 the hope of Christ. " Christ is all and in all." 
 And. how all His blessed attributes are some- 
 times gathered up in one full accord of rejoicing 
 and of praise, as when they say, " It is Christ 
 that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is 
 
 ,, ... „. even at the right hand of God, who 
 Rom. Tin. 34, & 
 
 35 - also maketh intercession for us. Who 
 
 shall separate us from the love of Christ?" To 
 
 them to live was Christ, and yet a thing far 
 
 better was " to depart and be with Christ." The 
 
 joy of heaven itself was this, that when Christ 
 
 who was their life should appear, then they also 
 
 should " appear with Him in glory." 
 
 One glorious revelation triumphed 
 
 over all the dimness of the future — 
 1 John iii. 2i 
 
 " We shall be like Him, for we shall 
 
 see Him as He is." 
 
 What marvel then if, at the close of one of his 
 Epistles, an Apostle of Christ should write de- 
 liberately with his own hand* one more awful 
 anathema. He who preached another Gospel, 
 
 * As his autograph postscript — the main Epistle being 
 no doubtwritten by an amanuensis. See 2 Thess. iii. 17. 
 
WHO IS HEt 95 
 
 and he who received not that Gospel in faith and 
 
 love, are alike accursed. For even 
 
 .,,,., , lOor, xvi, 22. 
 
 so must it be " it any man love not 
 
 the Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
XII. 
 
 ?HO is He, hast thou asked? Almost 
 may it be said, with such a record 
 setting forth His glory, and proclaiming 
 Him with all the accordant voices of His wit- 
 nesses : " Thou hast both seen Him, and it is 
 He that talketh with thee." Oh, that there may 
 indeed have been, while we have thus com- 
 muned together and reasoned, another drawing 
 nigh as He did to His two disciples of old — 
 Himself opening the Scriptures, till thy heart, 
 Luke xxiv. 13- ^'^ e theirs, has burned within thee, 
 32, till thine eyes have been opened, and 
 
 thou hast known Him ; yet not as then to vanish 
 out of thy sight, but to hold thine eyes hence- 
 forward, " looking unto Jesus, the 
 Author and Finisher of thy faith.'' 
 For in this Gospel of Christ there is set before 
 us no mere theory, no cold and dead abstractions, 
 but an adorable Person; and we are shown the 
 actual relation existing between each believing 
 soul and an ever-living Saviour. To one who 
 
 96 
 
 Heb. xii, 2, 
 
WHO IS HE? 97 
 
 has been brought into this blessed union with 
 Him, there is no room for doubt. The evidence 
 of the Scriptures, and the witness of the Spirit, 
 the exact supply of all our felt needs in the all- 
 sufficiency of His grace, which rightfully consti- 
 tutes our experience, — these make the realities of 
 faith as sure though unseen, as are the things that 
 are seen. When the soul has learned to believe 
 in Jesus, and to love Him, it can trust Him for 
 all difficulties. Surely of such a love, beyond 
 any other, is it true that it " beareth all things, 
 believeth all things, hopeth all things, ^ Cor xiUi ™ 
 endureth all things ;" and so quietly 10, 
 waits till that which is perfect is come, and that 
 which is in part shall be done away. 
 
 The hand that now traces these words has in 
 days long past, written other words of doubt and 
 unbelief. The heart that now yearns with an 
 intense longing over you who are tempted in 
 like manner, once feared to call Jesus, Lord, and 
 to put its faith and hope in Him ; and searched 
 in vain with blinded eyes, through the whole 
 volume of Inspiration, to find one single con- 
 vincing proof of His Divinity, and the Atone- 
 ment which He made for sinners. Let the hu- 
 miliating record stand, if it may possibly per- 
 7 
 
9$ WHO IS HE? 
 
 suade any who have said, "We see," to ask now 
 
 of Him who came that they which 
 
 John ix. 39-11. . , . , ,. , 
 
 see not might see — " Are we blind 
 
 also ?" A man that is called Jesus anointed those 
 
 eyes ; and God hath shined in that 
 2Cor.iv. 6. , ..,,., . . , 
 
 heart, to give it the light of the know- 
 ledge of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ. 
 Such unbelief could never satisfy the soul. The 
 pride of reason was strong ; but it could not stay 
 the craving for peace, for nearness, for love, for 
 communion ; and these could not be found till 
 they were found at the cross of Christ. 
 
 What did He to thee? How opened He thine 
 eyes? is the question that some will surely ask. 
 And this brings us to that point where so many 
 stumble and grope perplexed — the personal ap- 
 propriation of the gospel to our own souls. To 
 the early Christians these truths were told as a 
 
 new thing. They heard the word, 
 
 they believed, and " passed from 
 
 death unto life." But what of those who have 
 
 been familiar with it all their days? Have they 
 
 no need to scale the heavens above, or to go 
 
 down into the depths beneath ? No, 
 Kom. i. 6-8. - 
 
 the word is nigh them, " the word 
 
 of faith." He who has so freely provided for us 
 
WHO IS HE? 99 
 
 this glorious Gospel of our salvation, knowing 
 our utter helplessness, has brought it so nigh to 
 us that there is to the willing heart but one step 
 to reach our Saviour — our faith. And even for 
 the taking of this one needful step, He holds out 
 His own hand to aid us, and offers us the very 
 faith which He requires of us. The necessity 
 of a power beyond our own, the agency of the 
 Holy Spirit, is never presented to us in the Holy 
 Scriptures as a hindrance, but always as the 
 ready help. The necessity of prayer is never in 
 any wise described as a barrier, but always as an 
 open door of access. 
 
 How opened He thine eyes? The blindness 
 was first confessed ; and then all followed as it 
 did with him who cried, "Jesus, thou Son of 
 David, have mercy on me ;" and who through 
 every hindrance cried so much the more, " Thou 
 Son of David, have mercy on me." The heart- 
 felt prayer, " Lord, that I may receive my sight," 
 must, so surely as He is true, be followed by His 
 ready word of power : " Receive thy sight : thy 
 faith hath saved thee." — " Immedi- Luke xviii. 35- 
 ately he received his sight." For the 
 way of Truth and Faith is short. The way of 
 error and unbelief is long. 
 
XIII. 
 
 j]HO is He that thou mayest believe? 
 
 Yes, truly thou hast both seen Him, 
 
 and it is He that talketh with thee. 
 
 Thou hast seen Him in that human life — upon 
 
 this very earth ; seen Him in all those mighty 
 
 deeds, in all those meek and gentle ways, in all 
 
 those loving, gracious words ; seen Him as He 
 
 hungered, and thirsted, and was tempted, and 
 
 prayed, and wept, as man ; seen Him as by a 
 
 power that belongs to God alone, he provided 
 
 bread for thousands, made wine for the wedding 
 
 feast, cast out the Tempter from the troubled 
 
 demoniacs, answered prayer, and gave back to 
 
 the weeping sisters their four-days' dead ; seen 
 
 Him as He was born, and lived, and died, and 
 
 rose again. The record is before thee, and One 
 
 is near thee, to open both the Scriptures and thy 
 
 L t xxiv 32 understanding, that thou mayest un- 
 
 4B ' derstand the Scriptures. 
 
 And thou hast heard His voice — " A still 
 
 small voice." It has whispered in thine ears the 
 100 
 
WHO IS HE? IOI 
 
 words He once spoke on earth. How it thrilled 
 upon thy troubled, doubting heart as it said, 
 " Ye believe in God, believe also in me." How 
 it wellnigh drew thee to Him as it said, " Come 
 unto me." How it almost made the cross He 
 asked thee to bear for Him seem light, when 
 such an one as He, bearing His own cross, said, 
 " Follow thou -me." How its tender tones 
 stirred up in thy heart the very affection it called 
 for, as it said, again and again, " Lovest thou 
 me ?" How it half constrained thee to a willing 
 obedience, as it said also, " If ye love me, keep 
 my commandments." How it fell upon the fal- 
 tering pauses of thy prayer, with a promise of 
 new power, " If ye shall ask anything in my 
 Name, I -will do it." Behold Him, then ! Say 
 unto Him, "Lord, I believe!" Yes, "worship 
 Him" — bowing where " all the an- 
 gels of God" have bowed before. 
 Receive His pardon, His peace. Receive His 
 Holy Spirit. Give Him the full faith of a trust- 
 ing soul. Give Him the love of thy whole heart, 
 and a life-long obedience. Fix also thy hope on 
 Him, even "looking for that blessed hope, and 
 
 the glorious appearing of the great 
 
 s rr " s Titus ii, 13, 
 
 God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ." 
 
102 WHO IS HE? 
 
 And say, as thou art " crucified with Christ" to 
 
 a world that lieth in wickedness, " The life 
 
 which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith 
 
 of the Son of God, who loved me 
 
 and gave himself for me." Say to 
 
 Him, as thy " earnest expectation " waiteth for 
 
 that other coming in His glory, and thou hearest 
 
 His promise — the last He left thee — 
 Rev. xxii. 20. 
 
 " Surely I come quickly. Even so 
 
 come, Lord Jesus." Or, falling asleep, if so He 
 wills it, thou canst say to Him, as to One not 
 only known and loved, but proved as the " Faith- 
 ful and True," " Lord Jesus, receive my Spirit." 
 And then, oh then, with the angels round about 
 the throne — the "ten thousand times 
 ten thousand, and thousands of thou- 
 sands" — thou wilt say, " with a loud voice," 
 
 Worthy is the Lamb that was slain 
 
 To receive Power and Riches, 
 
 And Wisdom and Strength, 
 
 And Honor and Glory, 
 
 And Blessing. 
 
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