S. fO . o^. 
 
 ^ PRINCETON, N. J. ^ 
 
 Presented byVv-o^~IBrS.VM(:7xX^-^Ae. \cX3)3) 
 
THE CREED OF CHRIST 
 
THE CREED OF 
 CHRIST 
 
 A Study in the Gospels 
 
 'By / 
 
 Rev. Richard Venable Lancaster 
 
 ft? 
 
 RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 
 
 The Presbyterian Committee of Publication 
 
Copyrighted 
 
 BY 
 
 R. E. MAGILL, Secretary of Publication, 
 1905. 
 
 The quotations and footnotes in this book taken from the 
 American Standard Revised Bible, copyright 1901, by 
 Thomas Nelson & Sons, are used by permission of the pub- 
 lishers. 
 
 Printeh by 
 
 Whittet & Shepperson, 
 
 Richmond, Va. 
 
TO THE MEMORY 
 
 OF 
 
 /iDp /iDotber, 
 
 WHO, BEING A WIDOW, 
 
 FILLED A mother's AND A FATHER'S PLACE 
 
 TO ME. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The Chinese have a beautiful custom. On 
 their mountain roads, at important turns in the 
 way, or near the hardest places, they erect 
 shelters of rest, where the weary traveller may 
 enjoy the prospect and refresh himself for 
 climbing still further upward. 
 
 Something like this is my justification for 
 sending forth this little book. It is not claimed 
 that a new Christ is here set forth, or that 
 startlingly new truths have been discovered 
 concerning the Christ already known. The 
 claim is simply that at a turn in the arduous 
 way I have caught a glimpse of Jesus from 
 what, to me, is a fresh viewpoint. And on 
 the spot I set up this wayside shrine, that 
 others, also, in passing may look and see and 
 be refreshed. 
 
 I pray God that this view of Christ may be a 
 
4 Contents. 
 
 real help to many a weary traveller, and that, 
 seeing him afresh, there may spring up in their 
 hearts a fresh love for him — a love which shall 
 grow until they love him better than they love 
 anything else in the world. 
 
 R. V. Lancaster. 
 
 Abingdon, Va., July, 1905. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 INTEODUCTION. 
 
 I. Page. 
 
 Creeds^ 9 
 
 II. 
 
 The Human Mind in Religious Study^ 11 
 
 III. 
 Why Study the Creed of Christ ? 14 
 
 THE CREED. 
 
 I. 
 
 The Scriptures^ 25 
 
 II. 
 God, 44 
 
 III. 
 Satan^ 58 
 
 IV. 
 Sin, 68 
 
6 Contents. 
 
 V. Page. 
 
 Punishment for Sin^ 78 
 
 VI. 
 Himself^ 92 
 
 VII. 
 Eedeemed Men^ 109 
 
 VIII. 
 The Kingdom, 122 
 
 IX. 
 
 The Kingdom in the World, 134 
 
 X. 
 
 The Holy Spirit, 152 
 
 XI. 
 The Home-going, 167 
 
 XII. 
 The Second Coming, 176 
 
 XIII. 
 
 The Final Glory, ^ 186 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 I. 
 
 Creeds. 
 
 T7VERY man has a creed. He may not be 
 ■*^ able to state it, he may not be willing to 
 state it, but he must believe something, and 
 what he believes will show out in his character. 
 He adopts the creed, and the creed in turn 
 makes him. It is the bony frame about which 
 is builded the spiritual stature of the man ; and 
 the finished structure of his moral and religious 
 life shows the curves and angles of the creed 
 on which that life is built. 
 
 The creed of a true man will show out in his 
 speech. When such a man deals with high 
 themes every word that he sends forth is chosen 
 because it is fit to carry to men the faith that 
 lives in his heart. His creed may not be a 
 perfect one, it may not be a religious one, but 
 
lo The Creed of Christ. 
 
 if he believes it, his system of belief will in- 
 evitably manifest itself. 
 
 Nor is it a hard task to gather out of the 
 lives and words of men a fair statement of 
 what their real creed is. The creed that we thus 
 construct for any definite man may not accord 
 with the creed which that man professes, but 
 the agreement will be near in proportion as the 
 man is true. 
 
 Assuming that the divine Christ was also a 
 sincere man, of simple faith, and that the 
 Gospels are a true record of his life, we have set 
 ourselves the task of gathering together and 
 stating the creed about which was built that 
 matchless character, and under the guidance of 
 which he did his mighty work and spoke his 
 wonderful words. 
 
11. 
 
 The Human Mind in Religious Study. 
 "How readest thou?" — Luke x. 26. 
 
 TT is assumed in this investigation that the 
 four Gospels are a true, though incomplete, 
 record of the life and words of Jesus Christ. 
 His life has been lived. His thought has been 
 expressed. Manifestly, then, nothing that is 
 in my mind, and no attitude of my mind, can 
 change one accomplished fact or spoken word. 
 These are finished results, and the mind should 
 be used in studying them just as it should be 
 used in studying the facts in any department of 
 nature. The geologist does not study the 
 structure of a particular mountain by simply 
 recalling the impressions of his childhood, or 
 by searching his mind to see how he thinks a 
 respectable mountain ought to be constructed. 
 He goes out with pick and hammer to uncover 
 and to break open facts, and as he sees them he 
 
12 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 accepts them. In such studies the mind is 
 receptive; and even when the mind is turned 
 in upon itself to study its own construction, it 
 must view the phenomena as objective things, 
 perceiving and recording what it sees. 
 
 By this practice since Bacon's time great 
 progress has been made in the knowledge of 
 men and of things, but those most experienced 
 in the application of this principle to the study 
 of nature seem, by a strange inconsistency, 
 most wedded to the opposite plan in the study 
 of religion. They cannot accept certain re- 
 vealed things as true, because they have an 
 impression in their minds with which these 
 things do not agree ! They will accept the facts 
 stored away or expressed in the world of mat- 
 ter, but they will not accept the clearer state- 
 ments made in the Book, as if God could speak 
 out of a stone, but could not use the language 
 of men. 
 
 If a man had skill to express an idea in a 
 painting or in a statue, would it be any strange 
 thing to find that the same man could express 
 the same idea, and even additional ideas, in a 
 book ? And should not the book be studied on 
 
The Mind in Religious Study. 13 
 
 the same principle, and with as little prejudice, 
 as the statue ? To cover the statue of Laocoon 
 with raiment never so beautiful and modern 
 would certainly obscure the ideas which the 
 ancient artist labored to express. To inject our 
 thoughts into the Gospels is to obscure their 
 teaching. To receive their teaching simply and 
 unchanged is to inform the mind. Let no man 
 be like the anaconda, which eats nothing until 
 he has first covered it with his own saliva. 
 
 Much of religious truth is already in our 
 possession. Much lies about us, ready to be 
 gathered up ; and doubtless much is travelling 
 towards us, like new stars which burst upon 
 the eye of him who watches the heavens. Our 
 duty is to receive it as it is, endeavoring to 
 understand the terms of the grant which God 
 has made to us, estabhsh our title under him, 
 and then bend every energy to explore the 
 boundless riches of our new possessions. He 
 who exploits a mine grows rich, not by what 
 he puts in, but by what he takes out. 
 
III. 
 
 Why Study the Creed of Christ ? 
 
 "The people that sat in darkness saw a great light." 
 Matthew iv. 16. 
 
 ^T^HE creed makes the man, and the creed 
 determines what the man will do. This 
 man is great, and has done great things. 
 Doubtless then he had a great creed. Like 
 forms of belief tend to produce like forms of 
 conduct. Whatever aided in the development 
 of that great character, and at the same time 
 tends to develop and to perpetuate in the world 
 a type of life like the life of Christ is worthy 
 of the study of all mankind. In him the people 
 which sat in darkness have seen a great light. 
 A sufficient time has elapsed since Jesus lived 
 for us to judge the truth of this statement by 
 what has actually taken place. Some one 
 might claim, however, that what is good in 
 these two thousand years of history might have 
 come if Jesus had never lived, and that when 
 
Why Study the Creed of Christ? 15 
 
 so many forces are at work, it is unfair to refer 
 to him as the source from which the bright 
 spots that now mark the face of the earth draw 
 their Hght. But it happens to be true that in 
 those places where Jesus is best known there 
 all blessings most abound, and the human mind 
 is accustomed to think in the following way: 
 when a result follows the presence of a definite 
 force, and when the result clearly follows in 
 proportion as that force is clearly present, and 
 when that result does not appear when that 
 force is absent, then that force is the cause of 
 that result. Our purpose is to show that Jesus 
 has been and is a great light. 
 
 Certainly darkness covered the earth when 
 he was born, and such darkness is a thing 
 which, undisturbed, grows denser. At that 
 time — we speak not of the year, but of the 
 century — Greece, so great in literature and art, 
 yet worshipper of gods so base that men would 
 have despised their own gods had these gods 
 been men (Gibbon), had fallen and become a 
 vassal of Rome. Her art had decayed. Her 
 worship and her lust remained. Rome is still 
 armed with power, but toppling because of rank 
 
i6 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 corruption; woman a chattel, or divorced so 
 readily that a man may have twenty wives 
 before being buried by a woman who has had 
 twenty-one husbands; a Roman senator — the 
 name sounds noble, but this man is so vile and 
 so servile, that he proposes in the Senate a law 
 that all Roman homes be free to Julius Caesar ; 
 Egypt, mighty country of the Pharaohs, has 
 for its last queen the unclean Cleopatra; Gaul 
 and ncrthern Europe is the home of the Druids, 
 and their human sacrifices ; Scotland furnishes 
 a race of naked warriors whom some call can- 
 nibals; Judea, home of God's ancient worship, 
 has hypocrites for priests and Herod for a 
 king; scarcely has there ever been a darker 
 time, and strange night was this for an exulting 
 song to break forth, "Unto us a child is born, 
 and his name shall be called Wonderful, 
 Mighty God, the Prince of Peace." ^ 
 
 How could that age produce a character that 
 has been the despair of all good men of all the 
 ages that have followed? We can duplicate 
 the military heroes of the ancients, or their 
 wealthy men, or their philosophers, but there 
 
 »Isa. ix. 6. 
 
Why Study the Creed of Christ? 17 
 
 has been only one Jesus Christ, and he is won- 
 derful. 
 
 He is wonderful in: 
 
 1. His person and character. 
 
 Most of us feel that what the great of earth 
 have been we too might be under similar con- 
 ditions, but before Jesus we stand abashed. A 
 babe might now be born who, under the tuition 
 of God, could do the work of Moses, but no 
 man can be trained into a state in which it 
 would be lawful for him to say, "Before Abra- 
 ham was born, I am," ^ and "when I am in the 
 world, I am the light of the world." ^ 
 
 Thoughtful men who do not love him over- 
 much feel that when Jesus makes high claims 
 and speaks great things, he speaks but fitly and 
 worthily. "I know men, and I tell you that 
 Jesus Christ is not a man" (Napoleon). "He 
 is the purest among the mighty, the mightiest 
 among the pure" (Richter). None like him 
 has yet appeared, nor shall to the end of time. 
 
 2. The Method of His Work. 
 
 As he was an unusual being, so was the 
 method of his work unusual. He sought not 
 
 = John viii. 58. « John ix. 5. 
 
i8 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 wealth in order to be great.* Croesus — but who 
 is Croesus, and what was his country and his 
 station ? He used not miHtary power to spread 
 his name.^ Alexander and Caesar used this, 
 and men now have to dig into the earth to find 
 vestiges of their broken empires. Jesus used 
 the mighty power of a heavenly life. His use 
 of that life, his interpretation of that life, the 
 life itself, constitute the foundation of an en- 
 during kingdom.^ 
 
 The hostility and indifference of men cannot 
 stand before a love like his. Rome endeavors 
 to crush his followers, but is herself broken as 
 she falls upon that great foundation stone. 
 Next come the Goths and Vandals to sweep 
 clean the earth where Christ is known. They 
 make a mistake in saving some alive. Ulfilas, 
 a slave child, is born in the land of the Goths, 
 and by knowing Jesus becomes the regenerator 
 of the nation that enslaves him. The Scrip- 
 tures which he translated into the tongue of 
 that mighty people are now our best means of 
 knowing how they spoke, and the religion of 
 Jesus has changed the land of the Goths into 
 
 * Matt. iv. 9. "^ John xviii. 36. " John xii. 32. 
 
Why Study the Creed of Christ? 19 
 
 modern Germany. The Mohammedans, mighty 
 apostles of fire and sword, turned back for the 
 first time before men who worshipped Jesus. 
 
 A still more dangerous obstacle arises. Un- 
 faithful friends forget his teaching, and for 
 policy's sake take on heathen forms and cus- 
 toms. Saints made like the Roman gods, and 
 angels, are worshipped more than he. It is 
 very dark again, but the light, though covered, 
 is not extinguished, and presently it flashes out 
 once more in Reformation days. A strange 
 method of work is his, but it counts. 
 
 3. The Results. 
 
 Take the world as it is to-day. The Chris- 
 tian countries are the bright spots, and those 
 are brightest where most is made of Jesus, and 
 his truth is held in purest form. No nation is 
 looking up unless it has come in contact with 
 him, or has been touched by those who do 
 honor him. Search the islands and the conti- 
 nents, and see if I sp^ak not the simple truth. 
 
 Nor is this mere twentieth century progress, 
 though the century be reckoned from him. 
 Contact with trade and power and wealth does 
 not elevate. The slave trade, the whiskey 
 
20 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 trade, the ivory trade, the opium trade, the 
 trade in implements of war, have helped none. 
 The Bible which Henry M. Stanley left with 
 King Mtesa, accomplished more than every 
 godless trader that ever put his foot upon the 
 dark continent. That Bible enabled men to see 
 the great light, the light which lightens the 
 nations, and is the glory of his people.^ Jesus 
 has made the modern world, and the things 
 which he has done, the impression he has made, 
 are proofs of his divine commission. 
 
 A pleasing reflection may be thrown into the 
 form of a question. If an imperfect perception 
 of his truth, and a half-hearted following of 
 Jesus have accomplished for men these won- 
 derful results, what may we not expect when 
 men see clearly, and follow him with all their 
 hearts? ''Of the increase of his government 
 and of peace there shall be no end." ^ 
 
 Because of what he is, because of what he 
 has done, because of what he yet will do, we 
 should study the faith that moved him, and the 
 purposes that filled his heart. He is great 
 enough to be my Lord. He is kind and humble 
 
 ^Luke ii. 32. ^ Isa. ix. 7. 
 
Why Study the Creed of Christ? 21 
 
 enough to be my brother. When I make his 
 creed my own, and that creed by hving in my 
 heart, has reformed my soul, I shall be like 
 him. 
 
THE CREED OF CHRIST. 
 
THE CREED OF CHRIST. 
 I. 
 
 The Scriptures. 
 
 "Whence then hath this man all these things?" — Matt. 
 xiii. 56. 
 
 "And he began to say unto them, To-day hath this 
 scripture been fulfilled in your ears." — Luke iv. 21. 
 
 A CCORDING to the Apostle Paul, three 
 -^ ^ sources of religious knowledge are open 
 to ordinary men: the works of nature/ the 
 moral constitution of man,^ and the sacred 
 Scriptures.^ These fountains feed alike the 
 high and the low. They have given to all men, 
 and they gave to Jesus Christ. The measure 
 that they fill for a man is the measure that he 
 brings.^ To Christ they gave abundantly, and 
 to him no one of these fountains was closed. 
 
 Over us indeed he had two advantages, a 
 clearer eye, and a higher view-point; yet he, 
 like any other man, could look upon the lilies 
 
 ^ Rom. i. 20. ^ Rom. fi. 15. ' Rom. ill. 2. 
 
 *Matt. vi. 22, 23. 
 
26 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 and the birds, and see his Father's hand at work 
 among them.'^ He could turn his thought to 
 the constitution of his own mind and heart, and 
 see all that we see of the divine law. And 
 much more could he see, for his self-conscious- 
 ness went back and took hold of things that 
 he had seen and known and heard of the 
 Father.^ Nor was this his only peculiarity. 
 High though his station was — nay, because 
 his station was so high ; clear though his vision 
 was — nay, because his vision was so clear, one 
 fact stands out that makes him a man of dif- 
 ferent faith from us. Mark that fact. Neither 
 in nature, nor in himself did he ever find a 
 truth at variance with the Scriptures of God. 
 The three open volumes told to him the story 
 of a common Author and Ruler, who, being 
 good and filled with knowledge, made every 
 statement in each book in view of what was 
 written in the other two. The foregoing state- 
 ments may be established in the following way. 
 God makes the lilies grow."^ God abode in 
 Jesus.^ God speaks in the Scriptures.^ Now 
 
 'Matt. vii. 26-28. ' Comp. John viii. 38; iii. 32. 
 
 ' Matt. vi. 28-30. * John xiv. 10. » Mark xii. 26, 36. 
 
The Scriptures. 27 
 
 God is consistent, "li God so clothe the grass 
 of the field, shall he not much more clothe 
 you?"^^ Small wonder is it, then, that of 
 men that have been born, no one has ever 
 equalled him in large-hearted loyalty to these 
 sacred books.^^ 
 
 His Bible, of course, was our Old Testament, 
 for he quotes from every part into which the 
 books were classed by the Jews of his time, and 
 since his day both Jew and Christian have 
 guarded them against corruption.^ ^ The man 
 Jesus was brought up in a very humble home, 
 and we do not know what access he had to the 
 Scriptures of God. Possibly the most revered 
 treasure of the house was the sacred lolls of the 
 Book. Possibly he attended the synagogue 
 school. But even if such opportunities were 
 denied him we know that, whether from the 
 lips of his mother, or from public inscriptions, 
 or from the copies stored in the synagogue, 
 somehow he studied at an early age,^^ and with 
 rare success, the written Word, and stored his 
 memory so well that he could quote the text 
 
 ^"Matt. vi. 30. "Matt. iv. 4; xxvi. 54; John x. 35. 
 
 ^ Luke xxiv. 44 (and quotations.) '^ Luke ii. 47. 
 
28 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 at will.^^ And so skillful was he and ready 
 that life-long students of the written Word 
 were baffled by the aptness of the quotations 
 which he made.^^ 
 
 Nor ought this picture of the Son of man 
 bending his mind and heart upon the words of 
 the holy Law to surprise us. The Bible meant 
 a great deal to him. We know how different 
 the page shines one day from what it does on 
 another. For him it shone more bristly every 
 day than it shines for us on the best of the days. 
 He loved the Scriptures, and the light which 
 they gave back as he gazed upon them must 
 have been entrancing.^ ^ Nor was it a mere 
 feast of the heart, his mind was enlarged to 
 grasp the soul of every word,^^ and type,^^ and 
 figure.^^ Certain it is that he saw deeper than 
 the people of his day ever did. ''Ye have 
 heard." . . . "But I say." ^o The teachers 
 of his time saw a law of external observances, 
 touching only the outward man. Jesus saw a 
 law that reached to the innermost springs of 
 
 "Matt. iv. 1-10 (and numerous other places). 
 
 " Mark xii. 34 ; Luke xx. 40. ^^ John v. 39 ; Luke xxiv. 27. 
 
 "John x. 36. "John i. 51; iii. 14. "Matt. v. 3-10. 
 
 ^^'Matt. V. 21-43; Luke v. 1-10. 
 
The Scriptures. 29 
 
 thought and action.^^ The people of his day, 
 confused by the composite picture of the Mes- 
 siah's kingdom, and led by natural impulses to 
 seek money and place and worldly profit, were 
 looking for a king Who would bring all these 
 things to them.^^ He, like John in the Revela- 
 tion, looked, and instead of a lion saw a lamb, 
 whose gift was his life, and whose glory was a 
 crown of thorns.^^ Other men could find no 
 proof of man's immortality in these pages. 
 Instantly he points to one passage whose deeper 
 meaning embraces that great truth.^* 
 
 Even his own followers were no better. 
 They at the very last did not understand, could 
 not understand, why shame and death should 
 come to him they loved,^^ and one of the ten- 
 derest services which he rendered to them at 
 the end of his life is described in these words, 
 ''Then opened he their mind, that they might 
 understand the Scriptures." ^^ Never was 
 there a sharper contrast than between Jesus 
 and all the men of his day. The teachers, the 
 people, his own followers were hopelessly 
 
 2^ Matt. V. 28; Mark vii. 15. ^^ John vi. 15. '' Matt. xx. 28. 
 
 2* Matt. xxii. 23-32. '= Matt. xvi. 22; Luke xxiv. 21. 
 
 " Luke xxiv. 45. 
 
30 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 bound by the idea of self-interest. The priests 
 must hold their place at all hazard. ^^ The 
 people will have no Messiah who will not be a 
 worldly king.^^ The apostles wish to have the 
 chief positions in his kingdom.^^ Jesus sees, 
 sees in the same pages that are open to them, 
 the divine vision of a spiritual kingdom,^^ 
 in which money is not the standard of value,^^ 
 and in which the only highway to glory is the 
 way of unselfish service.^^ 
 
 The chief point of interest, however, is not 
 what he knew about the Scriptures, for a man 
 may study them for a multitude of reasons, but 
 how that knowledge affected his life. In what 
 attitude did he stand to the writings and to 
 their contents? 
 
 I. As to the writings themselves, v/e note — 
 (i) He defended their authority. The 
 formalists of his day had accepted traditionary 
 rules of conduct, and substituted them for the 
 plain commands that had been written.^^ They 
 had also passed current among themselves cer- 
 
 " John xi. 48. ^* John vi. 15, 66. " Mark ix. 34. 
 
 3° John xviii. 36. «' Luke xii. 15. '' Matt. xx. 26. 
 
 3' Mark vii. 8. 
 
The Scriptures. 31 
 
 tain traditionary methods of interpretation that 
 robbed the truth of half its power.^^ Jesus, 
 the simplest mannered man, rebuked with 
 burning zeal the punctilious tither of mint,^^ 
 as well as the ones who had made void the 
 commands of God through their tradition.^^ 
 The laying of extra burdens on men whom God 
 had made to be free,^^ the warping of the sense 
 of the law so as to excuse current practices,^^ 
 the emphasizing of outward forms at the ex- 
 pense of the spiritual graces which the Scrip- 
 tures enjoin,^^ all these things are absolutely 
 condemned by him. 
 
 The rationalists of his day believed in the 
 present order of affairs, could find no room in a 
 material world for the supernatural.^^ Angel 
 and spirit and the future life were myths of 
 less enlightened times. While they claimed 
 against the formalists to honor the Scriptures,*^ 
 yet, since the Scriptures were full of stories 
 that ran counter to their beliefs,*^ of course 
 they must be allowed to select for obedience 
 
 »* Matt, xxiii. 16-22. '' Matt, xxiii. 23, 24. ^' Matt. xv. 6, 7. 
 
 " Matt, xxiif. 4. ^« Mark vii. 10-13. »* Matt, xxiii. 25, 26. 
 
 **Matt. xxii. 23; Acts xxiif. 8. 
 
32 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 only the portions that were agreeable to the 
 wisdom of advanced thought. Jesus, the hum- 
 blest minded of men, found in the same Scrip- 
 tures that were open to them God and Spirit 
 and eternal life.^^ To him the miracles of the 
 Old Testament presented no difficulties. He 
 believed the wondrous stories,*^ and with two 
 words he laid bare the sources of all intellectual 
 difficulties which proud minded men ever find 
 in the Bible, (a) Either we do not understand 
 the Scriptures, or understanding them, (&) we 
 doubt the power of God. *Ts it not for this 
 cause that ye err, that ye know not the Scrip- 
 tures, nor the power of God?" *^ 
 
 (2) He accepts these Scriptures as a suffi- 
 cient rule of conduct. Twice he gives the 
 great moral law, or its summary, as that which 
 if a man do, he shall enter the life of God,^^ 
 and when the amiable young man, with simple 
 frankness, claimed to have kept that law and 
 yet to be lacking, Jesus placed upon him a 
 command ^^ which in one moment showed him 
 
 *^Josephus' Antiquities, Bk. xiii., Chap, x., § 6. 
 *2Matt. xxli. 23-32. *' Matt. x. 15; xii. 40. ** Mark xii. 24. 
 «Matt. xfx. 16-19; Luke x. 25-28. "Matt. xix. 21, 22. 
 
The Scriptures. 33 
 
 to be ignorant of what that law really taught 
 when it said, ''Thou shalt not covet." *^ Thus 
 to men under the law he said, ''Keep the law 
 and you shall live." No precept does he re- 
 peal.^* The cry, "Repent," ^^ simply means, 
 come back to the standard which God has set 
 up. The law is broken, come back and make 
 amends. His great work was simply to help 
 the man who had broken that perfect rule, and 
 had no way to mend it.^^ 
 
 (3) He defended the integrity of the Scrip- 
 tures. Jesus was not a scholar in the modern 
 sense, but he knew a world more about the 
 Word of God and the days of its writing than 
 those who were doctors then, or are doctors 
 now, and he committed himself to the belief 
 that Moses and David and Isaiah and all the 
 prophets produced the books that are accredited 
 to them. Sometimes quotations are made in 
 such a way as not necessarily to imply this. 
 But the references to Moses in John v. 45-47, 
 and to David in Luke xx. 41-44 gain their 
 whole force from the personal relation of these 
 
 *' Exod. XX. 17. *« Matt. v. 17. " Matt. iv. 17. 
 
 '^OLuke vii. 41-50. 
 
34 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 two men to the writings in question. The 
 reference to Isaiah is distinctly personal in 
 Mark vii. 6. His treatment of the other 
 prophets is implied in Luke xxiv. 27. 
 
 Further still, there seems no doubt that in 
 the view of this man the Scriptures of God 
 were not only in their teaching, but in the 
 record of that teaching, without error. Please 
 consider whether a true man could possibly 
 have spoken as he did if this had not been his 
 belief. To say that the smallest Hebrew letter 
 {jot), or distinguis'hing mark of a letter 
 {tittle), ^'^ must stand as firm as the solid earth 
 or arching "heavens, to base substantial argu- 
 ments upon the use of single words, emphasiz- 
 ing \^^en he does it that the Scripture cannot 
 be broken ^^ — to say that a man spake by the 
 Holy Ghost,^^ to refer to the Scriptures as a 
 court of final appeal,^* as he so often did, could 
 any man have so used these Scriptures if he 
 had believed them partly true and partly false, 
 or if he had believed that God's truth was not 
 the Scriptures, but only contained somewhere 
 
 ^^ Matt. V. 18. ^^ John x. 35. " Mark xii. 36. 
 
 "Matt. xxi. 13; John vi. 45. 
 
The Scriptures. 35 
 
 within the Scriptures, with no means of our 
 determining where? 
 
 2. There is a difference still between what 
 men believe and how men believe. Did this 
 belief in the authority and faultless perfection 
 of Scripture affect practically his life? Three 
 ways appear. 
 
 (i) He consistently grounded his teaching 
 in these Scriptures. Knowing much unknown 
 on earth before,^' and conscious of his hig'h 
 place among the messengers of God to men,^^ 
 he still showed the utmost regard for every 
 prophet that had gone before, and declared that 
 he came to pull down no slightest stone which 
 they had placed in God's great temple.^"^ His 
 work was to complete what they had begun. 
 They in dim light had drawn an outline picture. 
 He, with all necessary skill and the light of a 
 perfect knowledge, had come to fill that outline 
 up, and make it the noblest, the clearest, the 
 most beautiful of all God's works. In this 
 sense he would fulfil wTiat they had done.^^ 
 The whole of the Gospels is an illustration of 
 
 •'Matt. xi. 27; John xv. 22. ^* Matt. xii. 41, 42. 
 
 " Matt. V. 19. " Matt. v. 17. 
 
36 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 this building on the work already done by lesser 
 hands, for besides the scriptural coloring and 
 images and illustrations with which his teach- 
 ing abounds, it will readily occur to the Bible 
 student that in such cases as his synagogue 
 sermon,^^ his teaching as to the permanence of 
 the marriage tie,^^ his showing how the men 
 led of God would come to him,^^ his tracing 
 through the whole Scripture the things con- 
 cerning himself,^^ — we have proofs of two 
 habits of thought. 
 
 (a) He often founded upon- a Scripture 
 statement some stately edifice of apparently 
 new truth. 
 
 (b) He appealed to the Scriptures as suffi- 
 cient proof of his statements, and did so in the 
 spirit of one who thought that no better proof 
 could ever be found. 
 
 (2) He takes the Scriptures as the rule of 
 his life. This will appear from the following 
 circumstances. At the time of his temptation 
 there were a number of considerations that 
 would have led an ordinary man to yield to the 
 
 *»Luke iv. 17-21. <«> Mark x. 5-9. «^ John vi. 45. 
 
 "^Luke xxiv. 27. 
 
The Scriptures. 37 
 
 suggestions made by the devil. All his physi- 
 cal nature was certainly on the side of his 
 obtaining food, and that in haste. The devil 
 had shown to him an easy and a ready way to 
 supply his wants. Jesus undertook to advance 
 a reason which would silence the devil by show- 
 ing that it was forever impossible for him, an 
 obedient son, to take the course suggested. 
 The reason given was that across that way the 
 finger of God had written, 'Thou shalt not." ^^ 
 The high-handed and revolutionary measure of 
 cleansing the temple he justifies by an appeal 
 to these same Scriptures,^* and to them he 
 appeals to show that his entering into social 
 intercourse with publicans and sinners was 
 right ;^^ that for him to receive the hosannas 
 of the children,^^ and for his people to do 
 necessary labor upon the Sabbath,^'' were not 
 sinful. But most striking of all perhaps is the 
 self-restraint which he showed at the time of 
 his arrest. The dark way, with its desertion 
 and pain, bad been revealed to him through the 
 study of the prophets.^^ His disciples know 
 
 "Matt. iv. 3, 4. "Matt. xxi. 13. «=* Matt. ix. 13. 
 
 «« Matt. xxi. 16. " Luke vi. 3. ** Luke xxiv. 44. 
 
38 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 not the end, and urge him to turn back from a 
 way that seems so hard.^^ With what amaz- 
 ing calmness does he assert that he could pray 
 and his Father would at once give him the 
 army of heaven to defend and keep him safe f^ 
 but he adds, "How then should the Scripture 
 be fulfilled ?" "^^ With power to flee, yet 
 bound by a high purpose, and by loyalty to 
 God's revealed will ! '^^ How mudh further 
 could devotion go? It is not intended that 
 the Scriptures held him as they hold a common 
 man whose will is contrary to the commands, 
 but it is held that Jesus, our Saviour, lived in 
 full knowledge of the Scriptures, transgressing 
 their teaching in nothing,"^^ and leaving undone 
 no duty which they require/'* A perfect man, 
 accorded with a perfect law, and freely walked 
 in its light. 
 
 (3) He found in the Scriptures the ideal life, 
 and followed it. Early he came to the study 
 of God's Word with the conviction that the 
 Word spoke of him, and showed the way of his 
 going. '1 that speak unto thee am he," the 
 
 «• Matt. xvr. 22. "° Matt. xxvi. 53. " Matt. xxvi. 54. 
 "John X. 18. '3 John viii. 46. ^* Matt. iii. 15; xvii. 24-27. 
 
The Scriptures. 39 
 
 Messiah J^ And who is that? Where does 
 one learn of him ? It is all written in the law 
 of Moses and in the prophets and in the 
 Psalms.^* Can we conceive the rapture with 
 which a man would dwell upon those glowing 
 pages, while the angel of a deep conviction 
 constantly whispered, ''These are they which 
 bear witness of thee ?" '^^ It was thus he read, 
 and in the reading saw himself, and followed 
 whithersoever the vision led. Then in the 
 synagogue at Nazareth,''"'' when the people are 
 wondering what great thing their townsman is 
 growing to be, he takes in his hand the 
 prophecy of Isaiah, reads in a way quite strange 
 to them that great passage about the burden- 
 bearer, the preacher, the liberator. His heart 
 swells before the grand picture of what his life 
 will be, and as the people fasten their eyes upon 
 him he exclaims, "To-day hath this Scripture 
 been fulfilled in your ears." From these be- 
 ginnings he passed on and on, the Messiah con- 
 ception resting upon him at once as a burden "^^ 
 and as an inspiration.'^^ With conscious pur- 
 
 "John iv. 26. ^*= John v. 39. "Luke iv. 16-21. 
 
 ^« Luke xii. 50. '" John xii. 23. 
 
40 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 pose he speaks to the people in parables f^ with 
 a like conscious purpose he plans the triumphal 
 entry into Jerusalem.^^ On and on, ne\^er for 
 a moment losing sight of what it behooved this 
 Messiah to do or say.^^ He measured even 
 his expectations from friends ^^ and enemies ^* 
 by what the prophets had spoken, for he could 
 trace his footsteps everyv/here, learning from 
 Moses and all the prophets the things concern- 
 ing himself — the Christ — ought he not ? ^^ 
 His heart would burn as truly as the hearts of 
 those who heard him, and it is no wonder that 
 he who found so much in these Scriptures loved 
 them with an absorbing passion. In the most 
 intimate of all relations, v/hen in prayer he 
 would speak the things of his heart to the heart 
 of God, he quoted them.^^ And even at the 
 very end, when after being in exile so long, and 
 was now returning home, he found his mother- 
 tongue, and yielded up his spirit into his Fa- 
 ther's hand with a word taken from among the 
 words that his own spirit had given to the 
 world.^^ 
 
 *<* Matt. xiii. 10-15. «^ Matt. xxi. 1-11. «- John iv. 34. 
 *^Matt. xxvf. 31. **Mark ix. 12. ^' Luke xxiv. 26, 27. 
 **John xvii. 12; Matt, xxvii. 46. *' Luke xxiii. 46. 
 
The Scriptures. 41 
 
 To make an estimate of what these Scrip- 
 tures really were to him is perhaps impossible 
 for us ; to possess a mind that stumbles not at 
 any of the teachings, and a heart that rebels not 
 at any of the commands, is the perfection of 
 Jesus. The best that we can do is to bow 
 humbly before the teachings that seem hard, 
 waiting patiently till our minds have time to 
 grow. Meanwhile we may so fill our hearts 
 with the ideals of life that the Scriptures give, 
 and the gracious promises that in them are 
 made, that our service shall be in full view of 
 what they teach, and we too be able to feel that 
 this duty has come to me, or this joy has filled 
 my heart, because it is so written concerning 
 me,^^ his child, and the Scripture cannot be 
 broken. ^^ With the Scriptures concerning 
 Jesus, added to the Scriptures wdiich he had 
 and loved, we are rich indeed — rich in light, 
 and in the countless possibilities of the ideal, 
 joyous life which opens to our view. The rea- 
 son for our poverty lies in our wilful ignorance 
 of what the Scriptures teach, or in our unbelief 
 of that portion of the teachings which to our 
 
 «»Matt. xxvi. 24; Luke xviii. 31. «^ John x. 35. 
 
42 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 minds seems clear. Jesus understood and be- 
 lieved his Bible; we do not. 
 
 Scholium. — The attitude of the divine Christ 
 toward the Old Testament must settle the atti- 
 tude of every regenerate man toward that 
 Book. Suppose it be proved that some of the 
 incidents and teachings found in the Old Testa- 
 ment are found also, with slight variations, in 
 the sacred books of Babylon, of India, or of 
 China. This fact could never prove the Bible 
 account to be untrue. And if we are at a loss 
 to know which of the various accounts we 
 ought to accept, the fact that Jesus was not 
 born in Babylon, in India, or in China, but was 
 born in Judea avowedly to meet the prophetic 
 expectations of the Old Testament, and did 
 meet them, must settle forever the transcendent 
 importance of that Book to all whose life is 
 bound up with his life. To such a man the 
 comparative study of the world's religions does 
 not debase the Old Testament to a level with 
 other books. It simply serves to show the ap- 
 proximations and departures which others have 
 made in reference to this, his ultimate standard 
 of belief. For in giving to the world the 
 
The Scriptures. 43 
 
 knowledge of himself and of things to come, 
 Jesus also adopted and gave this Book concern- 
 ing the things that had gone before. 
 
11. 
 
 God. 
 
 "The Father is with me." — John xvi. 32. 
 
 "1\ yrANY things may be believed and known 
 ^^^ concerning God, and there are many 
 ways in which one may beheve in God. This 
 is shown by James when he says, ''The demons 
 also believe and shudder." ^ It is in the atti- 
 tude which is held toward God that we find the 
 difference between the moralist and the re- 
 ligious man. The moralist goes his way, led 
 by considerations of what he is, and of what 
 his place requires, seeking the approval of his 
 own conscience as the highest joy. The re- 
 ligious soul bends before the revelation of a 
 personal will, and finds its strength in com- 
 munion with that personal God. Jesus Christ 
 was preeminently a religious man, and with 
 his superior ways of finding out, brings to us 
 very clearly the doctrines of God's unity,^ 
 
 ^ James ii. 19. ^ Mark xil. 29. 
 
God. 45 
 
 eternity,^ omnipresence,^ omniscience,^ omnip- 
 otence,^ goodness ''' and justice ; ^ but the most 
 manifest peculiarity of his faith was that God 
 
 IS NEAR.^ 
 
 The tendency of m.odern thought seems to 
 be away from this notion. When evolution 
 takes any account of God at all, it places him at 
 the beginning of an almost infinite series, too 
 far away to be taken into account, or to be of 
 any practical use. Physical science, if it finds 
 room for him at all, regards him only as a great 
 constitution builder, who, in setting up a uni- 
 versal reign of law, has limited his own free- 
 dom. His laws are but chains with which to 
 bind himself, and the cruel machine which he 
 has set up is beyond his own control, so that 
 we are foolish to cry to the God of nature for 
 any help. The higher criticism of the Scrip- 
 tures accomplishes very much the same thing 
 for us, by cutting out of the Bible all that tells 
 of events above the experience of men now 
 living. It is a little hard to see of what good 
 is a God thus bound and far av>^ay, but so 
 
 ' John xvii. 24. * John xiv. 23. ' Matt. vi. 32. 
 
 "John X. 29; Matt, xxviii. 18. ^ Luke xviii. 19. 
 
 «Matt. vii. 2; Luke xvfii. 7. « John viii. 29; xvi. 32. 
 
46 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 strong is this tendency that all who wish to 
 appear well informed seem inevitably urged on 
 to push God into the distance. 
 
 Granting that there is a God, his attributes 
 might well be what the Scriptures describe, 
 and we may find no difficulty in so thinking. 
 The practical difficulty nowadays is, to rise to 
 the faith of Jesus, to whom God was a present 
 and an efficient help,^^ for having heard a voice 
 at the beginning of his work which showed that 
 there was One just above him who cared for 
 him, and approved of the work which he was 
 doing,^^ he seems always to have been strong 
 and happy in that work. Nor was he lonely, 
 though alone; the Father was with him,^^ ^j^^j 
 to get rid of other company, so that he miglit 
 have communion with that Father,^ ^ was the 
 nearest approach to self-indulgence of which 
 he was guilty, and for this his highest joy he 
 rather robbed the hours of his own rest than 
 the hours which others miglit with reason 
 claim.^^. 
 
 This, then, was his faith. 
 
 "Matt. xii. 28; John v. 19. "Matt. iii. 17. 
 
 " John xvi. 32. " Matt. xiv. 23. " Luke vi. 12. 
 
God. 47 
 
 I. He believed God to be the actual ruler 
 and inspector of this world. In majesty he 
 sits upon the heavens for a throne/^ and the 
 earth is his fcK^tstool.^^ Out of his generous 
 hand the sunshine and the rain descend to bless 
 even the rebellious and unthankful.^ ^ All 
 power is his/^ and the Lord of heaven and 
 earth performs his pleasure and delivers au- 
 thority and power to whom he will.^^ All 
 living things depend upon his thoughtful care.^^ 
 The men of the world he holds responsible for 
 the gifts they have received.^ ^ Inspecting 
 every tree of his vineyard, he expects returns 
 proportioned to the care bestowed.^^ He also 
 is the one object of worship, to whom men must 
 everywhere bow,^^ and to whom every man 
 whose spirit pities the wasting harvest must 
 cry for laborers to bring in the whitening 
 grain.2* Thus God knows all, rules all, and is 
 so great that all everywhere may worship him 
 and be heard. But this care is not general and 
 indefinite. 
 
 " Matt. V. 34; xxiii. 22. ^^ Matt. v. 35. " Matt. v. 45. 
 
 "Matt. xi. 25-27; John x. 29. "John xix. 11. 
 
 2» Matt. vi. 26. ^^ Matt. xxv. 14-30. ^ Luke xiif. 6-9. 
 
 23 John iv. 20-24. ^4 j^^tt. ix. 38. 
 
48 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 2. Jesus believed in particular providence. 
 The sun shines, and all who are in the right 
 position may be benefited. If we could con- 
 ceive the sun as consciously lifting the mists 
 that hang thick above the valleys, intentionally 
 engaged in painting some tiny flower, lovingly 
 caring for each tender plant, and neither by 
 excess of heat, nor by hiding his face too long, 
 allowing the best interests of any creature to 
 suffer — if we could conceive of such a sun, 
 dealing v/ith each with all the care and skill 
 that he gives to all, we should have a much 
 nearer approach to Christ's conception of God's 
 gracious care. Each bird he feeds,^^ each lily 
 does he clothe,^^ the sparrow, sick or smitten 
 or freezing, and falling to the ground, escapes 
 not his affectionate notice,^'' and a man higher 
 and nearer to God than any of these may think 
 of God as numbering and marking the tiniest 
 thing that aids his comfort or adorns his life.^^ 
 
 Not only can God touch the individual, but 
 God must touch every soul of man that enters 
 the kingdom,^^ and they enter one by one, each 
 
 »»Matt. vi. 26. ^« Matt. vi. 30. "Matt. x. 29. 
 
 =*» Luke xii. 7. ^^ John iii. 3. 
 
God. 49 
 
 having had this high transaction for himself.^*^ 
 This tree bears fruit, and that does not.^^ This 
 man has revealed to him truth which is hid 
 from other minds, and which he had no means 
 of knowing till God became his teacher.^ ^ Each 
 branch he prunes, lest it be unfruitful through 
 neglect,^^ and if this little one is caught in an 
 evil snare, and this one set the trap, God knows 
 them both, and will arise to avenge the wrong. 
 Then woe, not to the world, but to that indi- 
 vidual whom God condemns.^* Jesus did not 
 seem to understand how God could govern the 
 world, and have nothing to do with the parts 
 that make up that world. To him God not 
 only had to do with masses — he ruled and 
 cared for men.^^ But higher still in this belief 
 did he go. 
 
 3. Jesus believed that God was concerned 
 about him. God had used the individualizing 
 "thou" and he had heard it.^^ Nevermore was 
 he alone ; the Father was with him, working in 
 what he worked,^*^ both directing ^^ and giving 
 power.^^ Every miracle was witness to this 
 
 »« John vi. 65. " -^^-^^ ^^^^ q_^ s2 ^^^^ ^^^ j^^ 
 
 '3 John XV. 2. "Matt, xviii. 6. 
 
 "Luke xxif. 32; John xvii. 9. ^« Mark i. 11. 
 
 ^^ John xiv. 10. «" John v. 19; xiv. 31. 
 
50 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 great fact. He might speak, and men might 
 wonder ^^ at the unseen power which accom- 
 panied his words. They attempted unsuccess- 
 fully to explain the strange phenomenon,**^ but 
 Jesus made it plain when he said it was simply 
 the finger of God.*^ *'The Father hath sent me 
 into the world" ; *^ his Spirit is upon me,** 
 and 'T do always the things that are pleasing 
 to him." ** Between him and God there was 
 personal communion and intercourse.*^ God 
 might and did love the world,*^ but dearer 
 than this God loved him, and let him know it.*^ 
 *'I know that thou hearest me always" ; *^ "I 
 abide in his love." *^ His labor and suffering 
 came not because the Father had forgotten, or 
 was unable to help him. Nay, the bitter cup 
 was held in the same loving hand that had 
 measured to him his greatest blessings, and he 
 braced himself to the supreme sorrow with the 
 reflection, 'The cup wdiic^h the Father hath 
 given me, shall I not drink it?" ^^ Aye, when 
 
 ''Luke xi. 14. **» Luke xi. 15. ' *^ Luke xi. 20. 
 
 *2John iii. 17; x. 36; xvii. 18. "Luke iv. 18. 
 
 **John viii. 29. "John xvif. *'' John iii. 16. 
 
 " John XV. 9. *'John xi. 42. *^John xv. 10. 
 "'John xviii. 11. 
 
God. 51 
 
 God measures out to a special man, if the man 
 have anything of God in his heart, he must 
 drink what the cup holds. 
 
 That this was Jesus' faith cannot be more 
 clearly shown than by examining the substance 
 and spirit of his prayers. There were definite 
 things which he wished to do, and he looked up 
 to heaven as he entered on the mighty tasks.^^ 
 His heart was not filled with general aspirations 
 which he could not, or dared not, express, and 
 which he had no reason to believe God would 
 grant if he did express them. He reached up 
 to God for aid in special tasks,^^ and for the 
 fulfilment of plans and desires which he must 
 leave unrealized.^^ The seventeenth chapter 
 of John is a definite prayer whose specific an- 
 swer is making richer the life of every child of 
 God to-day. Would he have spent whole 
 nights ^* upon the weary mountain top in 
 prayer if he had not believed that God came 
 down to meet and feed his hungry soul? 
 Would he have told of a poor, sin-burdened 
 man crying out for mercy and going home with 
 
 5^ Matt. xiv. 19. "John xi. 41. "John xvii. 20, 24. 
 ^ Luke vi. 12. 
 
52 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 a sense of infinite peace, if he had not believed 
 it was true ? ^^ 
 
 If there be hollowness in a man's teaching, it 
 will show in times of danger. But see Jesus 
 when they come for his arrest, and when he 
 knows the end to be near, standing with all the 
 dignity of a God in human form, and asking, 
 "Or thinkest thou that I cannot beseech my 
 Father, and he shall even now send me more 
 than twelve legions of angels ?" ^^ To one 
 who spoke like this, God surely was not far 
 away. And when previously in the garden he 
 used that strange address, a cry of the child- 
 heart, an address used only then — the word 
 *'my" coupled in direct address with the word 
 "Father" — "My Father" ^^ — T know that he 
 thought God heard those words. So also upon 
 the cross, when he said, "Into thy hands," ^^ it 
 seems as if "he thought he could reach up with 
 his poor hands and touch the hands of the in- 
 finite God. 
 
 II. Of this article in our Saviour's creed, 
 the nearness of God, we note — 
 
 ■» Luke xviii. 14. " Matt. xxvf. 53. " Matt. xxvi. 42. 
 "Luke xxiii.46. 
 
God. 53 
 
 1. It was a source of great comfort and 
 strength to him. He is the author of the words, 
 "Yea, Father, for so it seemed well-pleasing in 
 thy sight," ^^ and this was said in the face of 
 God's inscrutable providence. When the Jews 
 early in his ministry were going about to kill 
 him,^^ and again when he spoke to his disciples 
 of their leaving him alone to his dread fate,^^ 
 he uses the words which would make any heart 
 stout, "The Father is with me." Herod may 
 seek to kill him, but he knows that to meet the 
 Father's plan, he must work to-day and to- 
 morrow; therefore, no fear comes to his 
 heart.^^ God, whose eye is on him, is nearer 
 and stronger than Herod. Pilate, armed with 
 Roman might, may boast of authority, and 
 endeavor to disturb the calm prisoner of the 
 gentle eye and voice that stands before him, but 
 Jesus tells the haughty man that even Rome's 
 mighty power would be annulled if God let 
 down his hand between the prisoner and the 
 judge. ^^ 
 
 2. He wishes his people to believe as he did 
 
 " Matt. xi. 26. '^ John viii. 29. *^ John xvi. 32. 
 
 •^Luke xiii. 32. ^^ John xix. 10, 11. 
 
54 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 on this great point. God does hide himself in 
 his works and in the parables of life so that not 
 all are able to find him or to see his hand,^^ but 
 if one knows Christ and keeps his command- 
 ments, he will be taught the language of his 
 providence, and shall even have a special mani- 
 festation of God's presence in his heart.^^ Jude 
 did not understand this, 'but Jesus says it is 
 true, and he elsewhere asserts that he has in- 
 deed manifested God's name to certain chosen 
 ones who had been given unto him.^^ More- 
 over, at the tomb of Lazarus, the very purpose 
 of his prayer is declared to be the enlighten- 
 ment of his friends on this point, "I know that 
 thou hearest me always, but because of the mul- 
 titude that standeth around I said it, that they 
 may believe." ^^ O Lord, give proof that my 
 work is thy work, that when thy servant speaks 
 the Master hears ; and the proof came. Is not 
 every injunction to prayer but evidence of the 
 same desire on his part ? ''Thy Father seeth in 
 secret ;" ^® ask and he will give ^^ — give daily 
 bread, guidance, forgiveness, deliverance,"^^ 
 
 «*Matt. xifi. 11. "John xiv. 7-23. «« John xvii. 6. 
 
 ^' John xi. 42. <=« Matt. vi. 4. «® Matt. vii. 7; John xv. 16. 
 
 ^«Matt. vi. 9-15. 
 
God. 55 
 
 arid if there be any case unprovided for, re- 
 member that ''your heavenly Father knoweth 
 that ye have need." "^^ Can one get so far 
 away as to be beyond the reach of this, "My 
 Father knoweth" ? Here is comfort, courage, 
 peace and hope. In lonehness, when misunder- 
 stood, when defamed, when betrayed, when 
 broken-hearted, when bereaved, and we like 
 children are crying in the night, the cry goes 
 not out into earless, heartless space. The 
 Father knoweth and is very near. 
 
 This article of faith in the nearness of God 
 has been in the creeds of well-nigh all the great 
 of earth. Men are weak, and they need a 
 strong hand to hold them up and make them 
 stand. Even heathen men have felt the power 
 that comes from a thought like this. Confu- 
 cius conceived truth to be dear to heaven, and 
 that heaven would preserve him, because he 
 stood so near to truth. Thus in desertion and 
 shame he said, 'There is no one that knows me, 
 but there is heaven — that knov/s me." Cer- 
 tainly, then, faith in the nearness of the living 
 God would add strength to any man. Gideon 
 
 "Matt. vi. 32. 
 
56 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 in his battle cry coupled the sword of God with 
 the weapon which was wielded by his own arm, 
 and every arm that followed him was stronger 
 by reason of that faith. The prophet Elisha, 
 when surrounded by human foes, and when his 
 own friend has lost all faith and hope, could 
 see, and pray that the young man might see, 
 the hosts of God gathered upon the hills to 
 comfort and encourage him. God opened the 
 eyes of the youth, and all his fear departed. 
 Paul, the apostle, pressed well-nigh to crushing, 
 assures us that he could do all things through 
 Christ, and in giving account of his first ap- 
 pearance before the bar of the Caesar at Rome, 
 when all his friends forsook him, leaving him 
 unaided to face the dread tribunal, he tells us 
 that God stood with him and strengthened him. 
 Martyrs and reformers, whether in prison, at 
 the stake, or. on the mountains cold, felt the 
 power and comfort of this same faith. God 
 was near to them, nearest when they were most 
 in need. 
 
 As a particle of dust against the world, or a 
 feather in a whirlwind, so is one man against 
 the forces of nature or against the passions of 
 
God. 57 
 
 men, yet with this presence of God in his soul, 
 and this faith that God is near at hand, that 
 same atom may have courage to face the one, 
 and power to rule the other, for men are heroes 
 still when they catch from heaven the voice, 
 'To, I am with you always," "^^ and men are 
 comforted still when they can say, ''My Father 
 knoweth," ^^ and no burden can crush the man 
 who, in the simplicity of the faith of Jesus, can 
 say, "I am not alone." '^* 
 
 " Matt, xxviii. 20. " Matt. vi. 32. ^* John xvi. 32. 
 
III. 
 
 Satan. 
 
 "I beheld Satan fallen as lightning from heaven." 
 Luke x. 18. 
 
 CHRIST in this passage names his enemy 
 and tells of a wonderful vision concerning 
 him. Whatever the original occurrence was, 
 the words placed where they are mean that 
 Christ, as he saw his kingdom grow and vic- 
 tories over evil won, saw, as one sees a light- 
 ning flash in the heavens, Satan and his king- 
 dom falling to inevitable defeat. Christ and 
 Satan, leaders of two hostile forces, make no 
 truces,^ and are so related that gain for one 
 means loss to the other.^ Christ's kingdom 
 is set up against the kingdom of the Prince of 
 this world, and every follower of Christ is a 
 man snatched by violence from the power of 
 Satan.^ Satan, like some feudal baron,* is not 
 careful what his serfs may think of him so long 
 as the service is rendered and the revenues are 
 
 * Matt. iv. 8-11. ' John xii. 31-32. « Luke xf. 14-23. 
 * Luke xi. 21. 
 
Satan. 
 
 59 
 
 paid. He may hide himself from view until 
 men come to doubt whether there be such a 
 person or not. They may count themselves ''at 
 peace," ^ held by circumstances, their own 
 poverty, their weakness, to the soil. Little 
 cares he. So long as they serve, and die as 
 their fathers did, he is satisfied, for their skep- 
 ticism as to the lord within the castle gates may 
 remove from them an object of hate; as he 
 keeps them poor and weak, his reign is 
 strengthened by their doubts. His sway is 
 maintained by craft as much as by strength. 
 ''He is a liar." ^ And it suits his purpose for 
 men to ridicule his being and attributes. Whom 
 men despise they do not fear. The jests and 
 pictures that make men laugh and hold his 
 being in contempt really serve to throw us off 
 our guard, and make his victories the easier. 
 Who now believes? who now trembles before 
 the assaults of this enemy whom Christ named 
 Satan ? Christ doubted not, and Christ laughed 
 not. Satan was his enemy.^ 
 
 I. In him and of him he believed the follow- 
 ing: 
 
 *Luke xi. 21. "John viii. 44. « Matt. xiii. 39. 
 
6o The Creed of Christ. 
 
 I. His personality. To Christ Satan was 
 not a mere personification of .an evil principle; 
 he was the intelligent being from whom evil 
 arose, and who revelled and ruled among his 
 own ill-shapen offspring. "Ye are of your 
 father the devil, and the lusts of your father 
 ic is your will to do. He was a murderer from 
 the beginning, and standeth not in the truth, 
 because there is no truth in him. When he 
 speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he 
 is a liar, and the father thereof." "^ Nor did 
 he in his views of Satan merely accommodate 
 himself for purposes of teaching to the super- 
 stitions of the Jewish people. The whole tone 
 of the record ^ forbids this view, even if we 
 could suppose a true man to be guilty of such 
 a method. No, Satan was more to him than 
 either of these ideas will allow. Christ ad- 
 dresses him, and is addressed by him.^ Christ 
 assigns him powers of rule,^^ desires,^ ^ pas- 
 sions,^^ actions with moral quality,^^ responsi- 
 bility and condemnation.^^ These high attri- 
 butes belong only to persons. These things 
 
 ^ John viii. 44. *Luke xxii. 31; Matt. x. 1, 8. 
 
 • Matt. iv. 1-11. ^0 John xiv. 30. " Luke xxif. 31. 
 
 "John viii. 44. "John xii. 31; xvi. 11; Matt. xxv. 41. 
 
Satan. 6i 
 
 constitute personality. And therefore, accord- 
 ing to the form of the gospel narrative, Satan 
 is just as truly a personal and an active agent 
 as any of the men that are named, and is men- 
 tioned oftener than most of them. 
 
 2. Satan has high authority and power. He 
 has a kingdom, which he rules and for which 
 he labors.^* In the sphere of this world that 
 is Christless he is prince,^ ^ and men serve him. 
 It is in his power to afflict with physical ills,^^ 
 and when permitted by God he can toss and 
 expose to driving winds the children of men as 
 easily as a stalwart man can sift the grains of 
 wheat.^*^ A host of evil spirits hear his com- 
 mands and obey,^^ and men, called his children 
 because they are under his power and are like 
 him, fulfil his desires.^^ 
 
 3. His character is wholly evil. In fact, one 
 of the names applied to him is the Evil One.^^ 
 He is so evil that Jesus, who spake truly even 
 in the epithets which he applied, calls him liar 
 and murderer.^2 He deceives and kills, and is 
 
 " Luke xi. 18-22. " John xii. 31. " Luke xiii. 16. 
 
 "Luke xxii. 31. "Matt. xxv. 41. 
 
 "John viif. 44; Matt. xvi. 23; John xiii. 27. 
 
 ^^ John xvii. 15. " John viii. 44. 
 
62 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 the source whence lying and kiUing spring. He 
 deceives our hearts, and leaves them parched 
 like a desert land that is dead. ''Every one that 
 drinketh of this water shall thirst again." ^^ 
 He deceives our minds, and they wander into 
 darkness, there to become blind, and then to 
 stumble and to fall.^^ He deceives the pure, 
 and their innocence perishes. He deceives 
 the strong and young, and they spend their 
 strength in vain pursuits, and having spent all, 
 the famine comes and he leaves them to die.^^ 
 He is the father of lies, hatings and death, and 
 the father of all such as do the things that make 
 for falsehood and death.^* A terrible monster 
 is he, and yet this is Satan in the eye of Christ. 
 This being his character, it is not surprising 
 that he is represented by Christ as being op- 
 posed to him in all things. He would destroy, 
 if possible, what Jesus is doing. Jesus sows 
 good seed, but when it is left exposed for a 
 moment Satan snatches it away,-^ or comes in 
 the night time and sows seed of quite another 
 sort, so as to choke or pollute the Master's 
 
 " John vi. 13. " John xii. 35. '^ Luke xv. 14. 
 
 ^*John viii. 44. ^' Mark iv. 15. 
 
Satan. 63 
 
 grain. 2^ And not content with deeds like these, 
 he rises into bitter enmity against Christ him- 
 self. All his minions are against the Son of 
 man.2^ Satan himself tries to seduce him,^^ 
 and failing, stirs up men with murder in their 
 hearts to try to kill him.^^ Then, when the end 
 of his life drew near, the prince of this world 
 came, and Jesus felt his power.^^ Thus was 
 Satan evil enough to stand in the way and to 
 oppose the loving Christ. 
 
 4. Jesus believed in the ultimate ruin of 
 Satan.^^ Armed with a power which was 
 God's — so truly God's that he calls it God's 
 finger — Jesus had begun to enter the house of 
 the strong man, and everywhere proved himself 
 stronger than the opposing devil.^^ The prince 
 of this world was already condemned,^^ and 
 God's Spirit would prove to the world what 
 Jesus already believed.^* The kingdom of 
 Satan was to him a waning kingdom. While 
 his servants wrought, he was beholding Satan 
 as lightning falling ^^ ever toward a place and a 
 
 -«Matt. xiii. 39. "Mark i. 24. ^'^ Matt. iv. 1-11. 
 
 2»John viil. 40, 41. "OL^^e xxii. 53. "Luke x. 18, 19. 
 
 ^^Luke xi. 20-22. ^ John xii. 31. »* John xvi. 8-11. 
 
 •» Luke X. 18. 
 
64 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 fire prepared for him and for all those that were 
 his.^^ So steadfastly did Jesus believe this that 
 he, conscious of the good beginning and in 
 anticipation of the ultimate triumph, said to his 
 friends, "Be of good cheer; I have over- 
 come." ^"^ 
 
 II. The Gospels leave no room to doubt that 
 Jesus believed in such a personal devil, with 
 such a character and such a doom. They also 
 let us see some of the effects which this belief 
 had upon his daily life. 
 
 I. He was in constant opposition to the 
 powers of evil. The temptation ^^ showed that 
 there was nothing in common, either in their 
 nature or in their plans, between Jesus and 
 Satan. Christ occupied the position of an in- 
 vader.^^ The temptation may be compared to 
 a preliminary conference, in which Satan used 
 every art in his power to seduce God's lieu- 
 tenant from his purpose and his allegiance. 
 The result was an open defiance on each side. 
 They both understood that the war would go 
 on,*^ and Satan learned that this time God had 
 
 •• Matt. XXV. 41. " John xvi. 33. " Matt. iv. 1-11. 
 
 " Luke xi. 22. « Luke iv. 13. 
 
Satan. 65 
 
 sent a messenger stronger than he. There was 
 a quaUty in Jesus' person that seemed to force 
 every demon that came near him to declare his 
 own presence and to acknowledge the power of 
 Christ.^ ^ Full well do they know that he will 
 drive them out, and with harsh, stern words 
 as to a beast, he silences them.*^ So unfailing 
 is the opposition that in the parable, when the 
 picture is of things gone wrong, he says, ''An 
 enemy hath done this." *^ 
 
 It is not always safe to measure the Spirit 
 of Christ by our spirits, but if it is right to hate 
 evil, he could do even this right thing more per- 
 fectly than we, and the zeal which burned in 
 him for his Father's honor,^'* burned against 
 oppression and evil and found a conspicuous 
 object in this enemy that was doing these 
 things.*^ We stand in awe and are silent be- 
 fore the passions which filled his heart at the 
 end, when the victory was to cost him so much, 
 and when he succumbed for an hour before the 
 power of darkness.'*^ This time, not by seduc- 
 tion, but by bruising, does the devil try him. 
 
 "Matt. viii. 29; Mark i. 24, etc. "Mark i. 25. 
 
 " Mat. xiii. 28. " John ii. 13-17. " Luke xxfi. 53. 
 
(]^ The Creed of Christ. 
 
 Well do we know that Christ, all through his 
 life, ceased not for a moment to resist evil, and 
 we know that this enemy had much to do with 
 the sad, weary life which he passed on the 
 earth. 
 
 2. One other effect of this faith we notice. 
 The known hatred of Satan, the appreciation 
 of his strength, the familiar weakness of his 
 own people, awakened in the breast of Jesus the 
 keenest sympathy for those who would be ex- 
 posed to the endless attacks of an implacable 
 foe. He knows their danger ;*^ he wishes them 
 to stand.*"^ Christ's experience brings his heart 
 very near to the heart of a tempted man. He 
 therefore instructs them daily to pray for the 
 same strength that sheltered him,*^ and shows 
 the importance which he attaches to this prayer 
 by using the same petition when at the last he 
 goes into the Father's presence on their be- 
 half.^^ He descends even into particular cases, 
 and prays for one man who shall be sorely 
 tossed and broken, that his faith may not fail.^^ 
 
 Those who stand with Christ and believe 
 
 "Matt. xxiv. 24; xxvi. 41. "John xvii. 11. 
 
 *«Matt. vi. 13. ** John xvii. 15. "^ Luke xxii. 32. 
 
Satan. 67 
 
 with him should hate where he hated, and 
 surely we have double cause. Satan is the 
 being who came upon the scene when our first 
 father was fresh from God's hand, and living 
 ill innocence and joy. He changed that happy 
 world to a world like this, where innocence is 
 not found, and joy seldom comes ; and not that 
 only, but when the good God in great com- 
 passion sent to us a Saviour to bring us back 
 to the fellowship and peace of the new adop- 
 tion, Satan, implacable still above all beings, 
 came to seduce our Saviour and to rob the 
 world of its only hope. In this he failed, but 
 he hated still, and at the end of Jesus' life he 
 comes with all his dark power to crush him 
 v/hom he could not seduce. Hate him? yes, 
 and by God's grace I would love to hate him 
 more. And when, in the end, his fall complete, 
 my ever blessed King shall place his heel upon 
 the serpent's head and bruise it, I want to be 
 there to see the victory and to share the 
 triumph. 
 
IV. 
 
 Sin. 
 
 "Ye then being evil." — Matt. vii. 11. 
 
 IT is astonishing that upon this article of the 
 creed of Jesus the whole world is not 
 agreed. Jesus knew sin by observation; men 
 know it by hard experience — y^t it seemed a 
 more dreadful thing to him than it does to 
 them. This is to be accounted for by the fact 
 tliat he, being rich in holiness and peace, was 
 better able to measure the misery of those who 
 are too poor and besotted to know their own 
 lack, and by this other fact that he was able 
 in his vision to take in the ultimate condition 
 of a man when sin is finished and the wages 
 are all paid. 
 
 Now and then you find a man who, under the 
 teaching of Jesus has been brought around to 
 the view of Jesus; and to a man thus taught, 
 one of the standing marvels is, how men can 
 have any doubt upon this subject. To him it 
 
Sin. 69 
 
 seems that the fang of the serpent is in the 
 heart of the world. His hope is not in the non- 
 existence of the poison, but in an antidote. 
 The untaught ones, on the other hand, are de- 
 ceived in two ways. The virus is of so strange 
 a quahty that it destroys the edge of suffering ; 
 they lose the power to blush. Contrariwise, in 
 some of its most deadly forms, sin actually 
 makes show of perfect health. Like the dis- 
 eased silk-worm, grown great above its fellows, 
 and whose very size is an indication of ap- 
 proaching dissolution, so the proud, self-right- 
 eous, hypocritical man comforts himself with 
 swellings of the heart, which are not signs of 
 life, but of death. It is a mistake to think that 
 the average man is hungry and longing for 
 something holier than his present condition. 
 Often he feels no pain, and often he glories in 
 himself as having need of nothing. 
 
 Nor is he left to himself in taking this com- 
 placent view. Certain teachers from opposite 
 quarters come to him, and pitching their voices 
 on the same key with his, make him think that 
 already he sings v^ell. The prophet of New- 
 revelation and the prophet of No-revelation 
 
70 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 practically agree. The one says, sin has no 
 guilt, for it a sort of negation at best ; the other 
 says, sin has no guilt, for it is only a remnant 
 of mere animal tendencies. The man listens 
 to the so-called Christian Scientist, and learns 
 that if he could only think little enough of sin 
 to think it nothing, all would be well. He then 
 listens to the natural scientist, who tells him 
 that there has been no fall; that man is very 
 praisewor'thy for his present condition; and 
 that a slight turn of the wheel of evolution is 
 all that is needed to remove the imperfections 
 of the lower orders of life which still cling to 
 him. Thus do the conclusions of irrehgion, no 
 religion and high religion agree. 
 
 Sin has all the multitude of forms that may 
 arise from aiming at a wrong object ^ or from 
 aiming awry at an object that is right.^ Jesus 
 did not make for us a complete catalogue of 
 sins^ but, in a general way, it is impossible to 
 mistake his belief on this great subject. 
 
 I. He believed men to be sinners. We prove 
 the truth of this assertion in the following way : 
 
 I. Men were not in the moral condition he 
 
 ^Mark xii. 38-40; John v. 44. =^ Matt. vi. 5; xv. 7-9. 
 
Sin. 71 
 
 dtsired them to be. The first recorded word of 
 his public ministry is the cry, "Repent." ^ This 
 word so spoken has no meaning except as a 
 message to those who are perversely out of the 
 way, and Jesus had no right to insult the holy 
 with such an implication. Nor would he have 
 a right to disturb the quiet of the world by such 
 a cry, if all were well. With him the assump- 
 tion was that men are evil,* and his purpose in 
 coming to the world and living and dying, and 
 sending forth a ministry to men, is thus ex- 
 pressed, ''To open their eyes, that they may 
 turn from darkness to light, and from the 
 power of Satan unto God, that they may re- 
 ceive remission of sins, and an inheritance 
 among them that are sanctified by faith in me" 
 (Acts xxvi. 18.) 
 
 Seeking, saving, healing, and these at infinite 
 cost, that was the end of his human existence. 
 "The Son of man came to seek and to save that 
 which was lost." ^ ''Himself took our infirmi- 
 ties and bear our diseases." ^ "For the Son of 
 m_an also came not to be ministered unto, but 
 
 8 Matt. iv. 17. *Luke xl. 13; Matt. xfi. 34; Luke vi. 32-34. 
 ^Luke xix. 10. ''Matt. viii. 17. 
 
72 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 to minister, and to give his life a ransom for 
 many." ^ 
 
 To him there was as much difference as 
 there is to us between an Herodias and a Mary, 
 a Judas and a John, and we can safely chal- 
 leng^e the world to show a single instance in 
 which the ''world" is set forth other than as 
 an offence to his sense of justice ^ or as a bur- 
 den upon his loving heart.^ 
 
 2. The reasons why the world does not meet 
 his view : Men are in darkness ; nor is this a 
 mere misfortune, for they love the darkness 
 and what the darkness hides. "This is the 
 judgment, that light is come into the world, 
 and men loved the darkness rather than the 
 light; for their works were evil." ^^ They are 
 in ignorance of God,^^ which doubtless should 
 awaken pity; but when they come to see God, 
 they hate him, and hate Christ. ''Every one 
 that doeth evil hateth the light." ^^ ''Now have 
 they both seen and hated both me and my 
 Father." ^^ And they hate his servants because 
 they are different from the world.^* The wills 
 
 ^Mark x. 45. "Matt, xviii. 7. "John iii. 17. 
 
 "John iii. 19. "Matt. xi. 27. ^ John iii. 20. 
 
 "John XV. 24. "John xv. 19. 
 
Sin. ^ 73 
 
 of men are averse from God/^ and they have 
 given their allegiance to God's enemy, the devil, 
 who has come to bear such a relation to men 
 that he may be called their father.^^ And men 
 are like him, and they do his lusts,^^ and these 
 lusts defile.^ ^ 
 
 So painful is the truth that men hate God's 
 messenger w*ho declares it. "Me the world 
 hateth, because I testify of it, that its works 
 are eVil." ^^ "If the world hateth you, ye know 
 that it hath hated me before it hated you." ^^ 
 And so deep-rooted is the disease that, as he 
 points out to Nicodemus,^^ the very nature of 
 man is wrong and in need of a divine trans- 
 formation. "Ye must be born anew." No 
 teaching, though the teacher be come from 
 God — no physical wonder, like the restoration 
 to the comparative innocence of childhood, can 
 overcome the inflexible law, "That which is 
 born of the flesh is flesh." ^^ 
 
 II. Concerning this condition of men, which 
 broug*ht Christ Jesus into the world, and made 
 
 " John V. 40. ^« John viii. 38. ^' John vi'ii. 44. 
 
 "Matt. XV. 18-20. ^»John vii. 7; viii. 40. -»John xv. 18. 
 
 21 John iii. 1-14. ^2 j^j^j^ iji_ g^ 
 
74 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 him "a man of sorrows," the following state- 
 ments seem clear : 
 
 1. However the complaint may be defined, 
 he considered the evil to be a quality not of 
 actions only, but of persons. There is some- 
 thing in the tree that determines the character 
 of the fruit.^^ Strong men are usually exact 
 in their speech. To Jesus, men not only did 
 evil things, but were themselves evil,^* blind,^^ 
 hypocritical,^^ unclean,^^ wicked,^^ lost.^** Thus, 
 back of the evil deeds, he saw the evil man, 
 and came, not to stop the evil-doing simply, but 
 to save the man. 
 
 2. This evil quality attached, not to the body 
 only, but to the spirit. In vain we search for 
 any view of Christ by which a sin may be ex- 
 cused because it is only in the flesh. Evil de- 
 sires spring from the heart,^^ and set on fire 
 evtn those passions that are called animal. 
 Every temptation is first in the mind, and 
 throug'h the mind, the imagination, does it 
 affect the body.^^ It is indeed the attitude of 
 
 23 Matt. vii. 17, 18. ^4 ^yj^^^ ^ji ^i. ^^^ 45 
 
 "Matt. XV. 14; ^^ Matt, xxiii. 13, etc. 
 
 "Matt. XV. 19; John viii. 7. ^^ Matt. xiii. 49; v. 28. 
 
 ="Matt. XV. 24; Luke xix. 10. 
 
Sin. 75 
 
 the mind or heart that determines in every case 
 whether an action be good or bad.^^ Mani- 
 festly, the same bodily action may be either. 
 But evil in the mind's eye will make one see 
 evil,^^ and evil in the mind's ear will make us 
 hear amiss.^^ 'Take heed therefore how ye 
 hear." ^3 
 
 3. The evil quality attaching both to the 
 action arid to the person is not a mere absence 
 of good, but a very positive and real thing — 
 so real that it can produce physical effects, dis- 
 ease and death,^* — so real that it can defile the 
 whole man,^^ changing the character, not only 
 of that which he produces from within,^^ but 
 even the view that he will take of that which 
 appeals to him from without.^''^ 
 
 Why not say that good is a mere negation ? 
 The absence of evil? Certainly the active 
 power in evil is just as marked as are the active 
 qualities in good. In the parable of Jesus,^^ 
 the wolf has qualities of its own — cruelty and 
 
 "*Matt. vi. 5; xii. 34. , »^ Matt. vi. 23. 
 
 ^==Mark iv. 12; John viii. 43. "Luke viif. 18. 
 
 ^* John V. 14; viii. 24; Luke xiii. 3. ^ Mark vii. 23. 
 
 "Luke vi. 45. ^^ Matt. vi. 23; xx. 15. 
 
 ^Luke X. 3; Matt. vii. 15. 
 
76 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 thirst for blood. He is not simply not a lamb, 
 he is a wolf. The characteristics of the tares 
 are just as distinct as the characteristics of the 
 wheat. The tares are not simply not wheat, 
 they have harmful qualities of their own.^^ 
 Avarice is more active than generosity, and 
 hate burns as truly as does love. The sunshine 
 and rain that make for health are no more real 
 than are the thousand foes that threaten to de- 
 vour every living thing. Darkness might be 
 described as the absence of light, and death as 
 the absence of life, but the mighty revolution 
 which hides the sun and produces the one, and 
 th^ dread pestilence that produces the other are 
 very real things indeed. In this sense, lust and 
 avarice and hate are among the facts of the 
 world; great, devouring passions whidi grow 
 by that on which they feed — the lives and 
 souls of men. That which changes men to 
 devils, and teaches men to do the devil's work,^^ 
 cannot be a mere negation. That which com- 
 passed the death of Jesus Christ,*^ we cannot 
 call unreal. 
 
 Certainly Jesus believed himself to be fight- 
 
 "Matt. xifi. 41. *»John viii. 44. "Acts ii. 23. 
 
The Creed of Christ. 77 
 
 ing a real battle with real foes. The judgment, 
 0£ a part in a deathless feud, was of old upon 
 him,'*2 and he lived conscious of the opposition 
 that was felt and shown, with increasing force, 
 as he, with set face, went on.^^ Perhaps a mis- 
 sionary in a heathen land can best know the 
 mingled feelings of love,^^ of self-devotion,*^ 
 cf pity even to tears,*^ and yet of almost defiant 
 complaint against wilful injustice,*"^ and a cer- 
 tain looking-for of a glorious vindication in 
 the end,*^ which filled the heart of Jesus. 
 
 If men had been holy, none of the work of 
 Jesus would have been necessary. "They that 
 are whole have no need of a physician, but they 
 that are sick : I came not to call the righteous, 
 but sinners." *^ He begins his work with a 
 cry, "Repent" f^ he ends his instructions with 
 a message of remission of sins.^^ Men are sin- 
 ners, therefore in pity and love he came. Men 
 are sinners, therefore they made him suffer so. 
 His knowledge, and now his experience, com- 
 bine to make Jesus believe that men are sinners. 
 
 "Gen. fii. 15. "Mark viii. 31. ** John xv. 13. 
 
 « John X. 18. " Luke xix. 41. " John vii. 28. 
 
 *• Mark xiv. 62. *» Mark ii. 17. " Matt. iv. 17. 
 
 »^Luke xxiv. 47. 
 
Punishment for Sin. 
 
 "And these shall go away into eternal punishment." 
 Matthew xxv. 46. 
 
 SCHILLER speaks of a curtain let down at 
 the extremities of human life, before which 
 the whole race stands guessing what lies be- 
 yond. I take it to be a prudent thing to listen 
 to the voice of the only one who has come 
 from the other side to tell us what lies over 
 there. ^ Our guess, influenced by selfishness, or 
 even by charity, may be very wrong. 
 
 All situations where love for men and loyalty 
 to righteousness seem to be in conflict are very 
 trying to a conscientious man. He wishes to 
 think and to do what is right, but he shrinks 
 from doing what is unkind; and sometimes, 
 when a man has, throug'h a tender kindness, 
 sacrificed the right, he even congratulates him- 
 self upon the breadth of his love. But men 
 
 ^John viii. 42; xvi. 28. 
 
Punishment for Sin. 79 
 
 despise as weak the character that is too kind 
 to be just. Jesus was very loving and very 
 tender, but he was very strong. While his 
 heart was full of love, his view took in man's 
 responsibility and God's righteousness. ''The 
 Son of man shall come in the glory of his 
 Father with his angels; and then shall he 
 render to every man according to his deeds." ^ 
 And nothing is clearer than that he believed a 
 fearful doom to be hanging over men because 
 of gin.^ The kind-hearted guesses of men have 
 taken four forms ; one holding that the suffer- 
 ings of this life, with the added pains of death, 
 suffice to turn the hearts of all men to God, so 
 that the mercy of God opens heaven to all who 
 thus suffer. We might inquire how it is known 
 that these sufferings turn men to God, and we 
 might inquire into the reasonableness of 
 Christ's suffering so much, if any other suffer- 
 ing would accomplish for men the same object. 
 This view denies any suffering after death. 
 
 Another view admits the justice of a suffer- 
 ing for sin, but denies that it is eternal. The 
 reason for this denial is not that the Scriptures 
 
 ''Matt. xvi. 27. 'Matt, xviii. 6; xxi. 44. 
 
8o The Creed of Christ. 
 
 do not teach eternal punishment, but that such 
 a penalty seems too great, and that after 
 enough has been endured, all will be restored 
 to joy and to favor. Aside from the Saviour's 
 clear teaching, to which we shall presently 
 come, it may be worth while to remark that 
 there is no evidence, by analogy or otherwise, 
 to show that an evil and rebellious soul ceases 
 to be evil and rebellious in the world to come. 
 **An eternal sin" (Mark iii. 29) would imply 
 an eternal sinner. And if only one day's suffer- 
 ing were needed to atone for one day's sin, then 
 the sin of that suffering day would demand 
 another day of suffering still, and thus, without 
 a Saviour, the chain would never be broken. 
 
 Still another view, realizing that to treat the 
 evil like the good would not be right, believes 
 in the annihilation of the evil. This view can 
 perhaps bring forward more plausible support 
 from Scripture than the other two ; but unless 
 an adequate punishment preceded this strange 
 issue, neither would this be right. Annihila- 
 tion, if conceivable, must be conceived as a 
 **sl€ep in which there is not even a dream." 
 In one view, that of the miserable, this is rest, 
 
Punishment for Sin. 8i 
 
 not punishment. In another view, that of a 
 heart with hope, this would be a terrible pun- 
 ishment, and it would be eternal. 
 
 Still a fourth scheme has been presented 
 which seeks much support from Scripture, 
 and whose purpose seems to be to repre- 
 sent God's dealings with men under the 
 forms of love alone. This scheme is called 
 the doctrine of Conditional Immortality, and 
 teaches that all men are by nature mortal, 
 both in body and in spirit, and that they 
 only become immortal when touched by Jesus 
 Christ. A little further reading among 
 the words of Jesus will show that this view 
 does not accord with the picture which be 
 draws. In fact, for this view to prevail, some 
 of his clearest words must be disregarded or 
 counted untrue. Certainly he calls himself the 
 Judge as well as the Saviour. When we stop 
 toyconsider that justice also is a divine thing, 
 is there really any call for us to attempt to 
 make out Jesus better than he represents him- 
 self to be? 
 
 These four views we call guesses, because the 
 source of the teaching is in the human heart 
 
82 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 and mind. And now, without any theory to 
 present, and with a desire to submit even the 
 impulses of the heart to the teaching of Jesus 
 Christ, we wish to show as accurately as pos- 
 sible what he believed on this awful subject. 
 
 I. He evidently believed that some bad result 
 would follow a course of sin, and he describes 
 this result as made up of three elements. 
 
 I. There would be loss — loss of God's gifts 
 already bestowed,* loss of all the gifts that he 
 himself was bringing,^ loss of all the riches that 
 are wrapped in the glorious promises. Here is 
 a promise: *T go to prepare a place for you." ^ 
 But to some he says, "Whither I go ye cannot 
 come." '^ There is no word of blessing to men 
 of a particular sort which does not mean that 
 men of the opposite sort shall miss that bless- 
 ing. ''Blessed are the pure in heart." ^ But 
 suppose a man is not pure in heart? He does 
 not promise life and hope and love to all, but 
 to men of definite characteristics. ''Verily, 
 verily, I say unto you. He that believeth hath 
 eternal life." ^ But suppose a man does not 
 
 * Matt. XXV. 29. ^ Matt. v. 20; John vi. 53. ^ John xiv. 2. 
 ^John vni. 21. 'Matt. v. 8. » John vi. 47. 
 
Punishment for Sin. 83 
 
 believe? To miss these things is to suffer loss. 
 "I pray not for the world." ^^ 
 
 2. The second element in this evil result may 
 be described as the natural consequences of sin, 
 only we must remember that God is the one 
 who constitutes the connection between the sin 
 and the consequence, and guarantees that the 
 one shall follow the other. Men are already 
 in a condition from which they need to be 
 rescued, and failing a change in their prospects, 
 certain physical and moral ills will follow, and 
 should be expected to follow.^ ^ After the light 
 has shined, darkness is deeper than it was be- 
 fore.^2 xhe blind will fall, ^^ pollution will de- 
 file.^* 'Tf ye believe not that I am he, ye shall 
 die in your sins;" ^^ "Sin no more, lest a worse 
 thing come upon thee." ^^ 
 
 3. One would think that to have no blessing 
 from God was bad;^^ that to be subject to the 
 bondage of sin,^^ and simply left to eat its fruit, 
 v/as bad ; but Jesus believed in a third element 
 of evil in the form of a judicial sentence at the 
 
 ^"John xvii. 9. "Matt. vi. 23. ^^John xv. 22. 
 
 " Matt. XV. 14. " Matt. xv. 19. 20. ^^ John viii. 24. 
 " John V. 14. " John xiii. 8. ^« John viii. 34. 
 
84 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 bar of a supreme personal Judge.^^ If loss and 
 natural consequence were all, what power would 
 there be in repentance to change the result ? ^^ 
 If God were not displeased, why should he 
 speak at all of forgiveness and mercy ?^^ God 
 measures with an even,^^ yet retributive, 
 hand.^^ There is a day of solemn judgment,^* 
 and God has power to inflict the sentence.^^ 
 The messengers of God, with unerring dis- 
 crimination, shall gather out all that offend and 
 do €vil.^^ Men of a certain sort, Jesus will 
 himself deny;^^ and in the end having by a 
 review of their life separated the world into 
 two parts,^^ shall, under the rule of rendering 
 to every man according to his deeds,^® banish 
 the one part from his presence forever.^^ And 
 thus in places too numerous to quote, did Jesus 
 hold up the belief that the infinitely righteous 
 God would in a definite time ^^ meet the world, 
 and that in that day the wicked and rebellious 
 would go down in shame to a sentence divinely 
 pronounced and divinely inflicted. ''Be not 
 
 " Matt. XXV. 31. ^ Luke xiii. 3. ^ Matt. vi. 14, 15. 
 
 " Matt. vii. 2. '» Matt, xvfii. 35. ^* Matt. xii. 36. 
 
 "Matt. X. 28. "Matt. xiii. 41. "Matt. x. 33. 
 
 « Matt. XXV. 33. ^ Matt. xvi. 27. »" Matt. xxv. 41. 
 «^Matt. X. 15. 
 
Punishment for Sin. 85 
 
 afraid of them. that kill the body, and after that 
 have no more that they can do. But I will 
 forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him 
 who after he hath killed hath power to cast into 
 hell; yea, I say unto you; Fear him." ^^ 
 
 This third element in the result of sin is 
 really the important one, for herein are em- 
 braced the responsibility of men and the 
 authority of God.^^ If there were no God at 
 all, the first result would follow. If nature 
 were our only God, and nature's laws the whole 
 of his will, the second result would follow. It 
 is Christian Theism — The God who is the 
 Father of Jesus Christ, the God whom he loved, 
 in whom he believed, and whose character he 
 revealed — that tells us of a judicial sentence 
 pronouncing adequate penalty upon the evil- 
 doer. 
 
 II. Of this result of sin as penalty, Jesus be- 
 lieved — 
 
 I. That when the judgment was once ren- 
 dered the doom was fixed. No cry from with- 
 out would open the door that had been shut f^ 
 no intercession of friends would save the man 
 
 " Luke xii. 4, 5. ^ Matt. xii. 36, 37. " Matt. xxv. 11, 12. 
 
86 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 from loss;^^ no answering back would shake 
 the judgment given.^^ The separation would 
 be made,^^ and made even forcibly,'^ and the 
 gulf that marks the separation is impassable. 
 ''And besides all this, between us and you there 
 is a great gulf fixed, that they that would pass 
 from hence to you may not be able, and that 
 none may cross over from thence to us." ^^ 
 
 2. Jesus believed the penalty which God 
 would count the just due of sin a very terrible 
 thing. Here we must understand that such a 
 man as Jesus would not suffer his most figura- 
 tive words to be other than true figures. Not 
 even the rhetoric of Jesus is false. So terrible 
 is this penalty, that God sent him, and he will- 
 ingly came that men might escape it. ''God so 
 loved the world that he gave his only begotten 
 Son, that whosoever believeth on him should 
 not perish." ^^ So great is it, that men might 
 endure anything, loss of property,*^ of bodily 
 members,^^ of life,*^ of existence,*^ rather than 
 endure this. It is "outer darkness," *^ a "parch- 
 
 «' Luke xix. 25. ' Matt. xxv. 44, 45. 
 
 «^Matt. xiii. 41; xxv. 32. ''* Matt. xiii. 42; xxv. 30. 
 
 ^ Luke xvi. 26. *^ John fii. 16. *' Mark viii. 36. 
 
 *2 Matt. V. 29, 30. " Matt. x. 39. ** Matt. xxvi. 24. 
 
 *^ Matt. viii. 12. 
 
Punishment for Sin. 87 
 
 ing thirst/" *^ a "gnawing worm/' ^^ a "burn- 
 ing fire." It is death; '^^ it is helL^^ 
 
 3. He also believed that this awful condition 
 lasts. The unforgiving man shall not be for- 
 given ; ^^ the "fire is not quenched" ; ^^ "their 
 worm dieth not" f^ the "fire is eternal." ^^ The 
 doom lasts just as long as the bliss of the right- 
 eous lasts, and the word that he uses for both 
 is the word "eternal." "And these shall go 
 away into eternal punishment: but the right- 
 eous into eternal life." ^* 
 
 III. The grounds of all punishment are the 
 same. The judicial punishment of a day w^ould 
 rest upon the same justification as the punish- 
 ment of a thousand years. Jesus mentions two 
 reasons why sin will be visited w^ith evil. 
 
 I. The first is the law of retribution. If one 
 makes a debt, he oug^ht to pay it.^^ The unfor- 
 giving man ought not to be forgiven,^^ and will 
 not be.^^ He who trips up a weak and unof- 
 fending child ought to suffer for it.^^ The 
 wicked man who swallows down the sub- 
 
 *« Luke xvi. 24. " Mark ix. 48. ** John viii. 51. 
 
 *«Matt. xxiii. 33. ^« Matt. vi. 15. "Mark ix. 43. 
 
 ^2 Mark ix. 48. " Matt, xviif. 8. " Matt. xxv. 46. 
 
 "^Luke xii, 58. ^'^ Matt, xviii. 35. ''^ Matt, xviii. 6. 
 
88 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 stance of an unprotected widow must receive 
 greater condemnation.^^ The betrayer of Jesus 
 deserves bitterness and woe.^^ It is right, and 
 only right, that a man should receive according 
 to his deeds.^^ Woe, seven times repeated,^^ 
 has been pronounced against the Scribes and 
 Pharisees, hypocrites, by the lips of a righteous 
 man. We think that God has made men so 
 that the judgment of the average man will coin- 
 cide with the judgment of Jesus \^^hen he denies 
 the man that denies him, and banishes those 
 vv^ho are evil from his presence. "Whosoever 
 shall deny me before men, him will I also deny 
 before my Father who is in heaven." ^^ De- 
 part from me, ye cursed." ^^ We cannot con- 
 ceive that it would be right for John and Judas 
 to be treated just alike. 
 
 2. The other fact out of which grows the 
 inevitable punishment of the wicked is, that 
 God will some day cause truth to be vindicated. 
 It will be a bad day for darkness when every- 
 where the glorious light shall shine.^* When 
 
 •» Mark xii. 40. "^^ Matt. xxvi. 24. ' "* Matt. xvi. 27. 
 
 ®^Matt. xxiii. 13-29. '-Matt. x. 33. "'Matt. xxv. 41. 
 **John i'ii. 20. . 
 
Punishment for Sin. 89 
 
 God shall suddenly arise to avenge his own 
 elect,^^ the oppressor and seducer shall be forced 
 to loose their prey. However exalted Jesus is, 
 whi'ther he goes they cannot come.^^ When the 
 Son of man shall come in the glory of his 
 Father and all the holy angels with him,^^ as 
 come he will, and the persecutors and crucifiers 
 shall see him,^^ as see him they will, surely 
 shame like the shame of the defeated, and a 
 p.mg like the pang of the dying, shall come to 
 them.^^ 
 
 The revelation of the Son of man in his true 
 character will he like a raging flood "^^ or a con- 
 suming fire,'^^ and the tribes of men shall 
 mourn."^ And when his reign is established, 
 it will be with the breaking of all traitorous 
 opposition. "^^ Not all will be able to stand erect 
 before him when he cometh.'^* How can the 
 v/icked escape punishment, if they simply get 
 their dues,"^^ and if some day the right shall be 
 gloriously exalted ? ^^ Certainly even the com- 
 
 ^''Luke xviii. 7. «" John viii. 2. " Matt. xvi. 27 ; xxv. 31. 
 «* Matt. xxvi. 64. «" Rev. vi. 16. '" Matt. xxiv. 37-39. 
 
 " Luke xviii. 28-30. '- Matt. xxiv. 30. 
 
 "Luke xix. 14-27; xxi. 25-28. . ^*Luke xxi. 35. 
 
 "Matt. xvi. 27. "John xvi. 33; xvii. 5. 
 
90 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 ing of Jesus changed not the character of God. 
 He is righteous still.'^'^ 
 
 IV. Of this dread doctrine the speech of 
 Jesus is full. In the sermon on the mount/^ 
 in parables or interpretation of parables/^ in 
 v/arning words,^^ in prophecy of the future,^^ 
 as often as he spoke of sin or of sinners, this 
 thought came as substance or as shadow to his 
 wonderful words, and how he felt is not hard 
 to see. 
 
 He thought the rapacious Scribe ought to be 
 condemned.*^ He thanks his Father for his 
 righteous sovereignty f^ states how that Father 
 will visit evil for sin,^^ and announces that 
 when he comes to the station of Judge, his sen- 
 tence will be like God's sentence in all re- 
 spects.^^ His anger burned against those who 
 in pretended zeal for the law violated the law,^^ 
 and though his heart was full of a great love 
 for men,^^ he yet longed for the setting up of 
 a righteous kingdom,^^ and for the vindication 
 
 "John xvii. 25. "Matt. v. 29. "Matt. xiii. 39-42. 
 *'Matt. xi. 22; Luke xfi. 5. "Matt. xxv. 31-46. 
 
 "^ Luke XX. 47. *^ Matt. xi. 25-26. »* Matt, xviii. 35. 
 "John V. 27-30. «* Matt, xxiii. 33; Mark iii. 5. 
 
 *^Matt. xxiii. 37. «« John xii. 31,32. 
 
Punishment for Sin. 91 
 
 of his true character before the world.^^ He, 
 greater than Solomon or than Jonah, is de- 
 spised.^^ He, a prisoner, stands before the bar 
 of a wicked Judge, and his thoughts go out to 
 the glorious day of manifestation.^^ It will 
 cost the cities that despised him much.^^ It will 
 overwhelm the wicked Judge. But he longs for 
 the revelation of his glory, all the same.^^ This 
 is not cruelty in Gdd. Sin makes us to deserve 
 the ill. This is not cruelty in Jesus. He in the 
 very speaking, is filled with a deep love that will 
 cause him to lay down his Hfe for these doomed 
 ones. Men choose the sin, and sin is their great 
 enemy, not God and not Christ. 
 
 *» John xvii. 4, 5, 23. •» Matt. xfl. 41, 42. *^ Matt. xxvi. 64. 
 »" Matt. xi. 21. •' John xviii. 36, 37. 
 
VI. 
 Himself. 
 
 "I that speak unto thee am he." — John iv. 26. 
 "Even if I bear witness of myself, yet my witness is 
 true." — John viii. 14. 
 
 A CONFESSION: "Gladly, thou divine 
 -^ ^ Son of Mary, had I said something great 
 of thee. At times I thought I saw in the flash- 
 ing light of a blessed hour thy divine majesty 
 adorned in spotless purity ; but as I was about 
 to fix the holy vision, the pencil trembled in 
 my unskilled hand, and I could give only a pale 
 outline. Who are we that attempt to describe 
 thy holiness?" — Pressense. 
 
 The undertaking of a great enterprise by a 
 great man is always a profitable study. Several 
 questions may be asked : What is the work that 
 he undertakes to do? What moves him to 
 undertake this work? What methods does he 
 use ? Why does he, rather than another of his 
 time, undertake the work to which he devotes 
 himself? To answer all these questions is to 
 
Himself. 93 
 
 answer this other question, What thinks this 
 great man of himself ? And if the work is very 
 great, and the man is very courageous, so that 
 we can trace through his whole career a sublime 
 confidence in a self-wrought success, we say: 
 This man believed in himself. It seems that in 
 this respect the faith of Jesus never wavered. 
 If there ever was a man upon earth that be- 
 lieved he saw a great work to be done, and that 
 he was the man to do it, that man was Jesus 
 Christ. *'My meat is to do the will of him 
 that sent me and to accomplish his work." ^ 
 
 We have seen that in his view men were sm- 
 ners,2 and that because of that sad fact, coupled 
 with his knowledge of the moral government 
 of God, he believed a great doom to be hanging 
 over men.3 Here, then, is a right worthy enter- 
 prise, to deliver men from that awful doom,* 
 to cause them to cease forever being sinners in 
 the sight of God,^ and to bring them so into 
 life and favor that they shall be children of 
 God in a new and gracious sense.^ In a word, 
 to pierce that dark cloud of doom by a shining 
 
 ^ John iv. 34. » See Chap. IV. « See Chap. V, 
 
 * John iii. 16. ''John viii. 34-36. " Matt. v. 9; Luke vi. 35. 
 
94 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 pathway leading from each man's door straight 
 up to the footstool of God's eternal throne. 
 "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye shall see the 
 heaven opened, and the angels of God ascend- 
 ing and descending upon the Son of man." "^ 
 I know of no man who would for a moment 
 suppose that it was in his power to do this great 
 thing. Haw comes it that Jesus found it in his 
 heart to think that this was his work? And 
 that he would succeed ? 
 
 It ought to be stated that there is with him 
 no casting about for a business. The work he 
 did is what he came to do.^ God loved men,* 
 and he loved them as God did,^ and God ap- 
 pointed him to this mission,^ '^ and caused him 
 to be born into the world that he might fulfil 
 it.^^ We first find him a babe, a boy, a man, 
 and he seems quite like other men; but soon 
 there shines out a faith, a courage, a power that 
 lifts him up, and he is no more like ourselves, 
 but like God. He is God ! Even the men who 
 saw his human form and suffering, and had 
 their difificulties increased thereby, could con- 
 
 »John i. 51. 'Luke iv. 43. 'John xv. 9. 
 
 " John X. 36. " John xvifi. 37. 
 
Himself. 95 
 
 fess him so to be.^^ Wondrous combination, 
 true and preeminent manhood/^ coupled with 
 real and conscious divinity ! ^* The Son of 
 man, with affections, pains and members like 
 other men, and yet with that admirable con- 
 sciousness of power than enabled him to stand 
 upon a tossing boat and to see without surprise 
 the waves shrink, quivering, into peace before 
 his mild rebuke.^ ^ Had I thus spoken, and had 
 the sea thus obeyed, astonishment would h^ve 
 overwhelmed me; but with Jesus such po'wer 
 seems no strange thing. He counts himself 
 God's equal,^^ and teaches men to honor him 
 as they honor the ever-living God.^^ A good 
 man does not knowingly teach the ignorant an 
 untrue thing. 
 
 I. Jesus, then, believed himself to be the Mes- 
 siah. We have said that with him there was 
 no appearance of looking for work, or of inde- 
 cision as to whether he was the one to do the 
 work when found. Long time before he had 
 dwelt in glory with the Father.^ ^ God had 
 commissioned him to a great task,^^ and had 
 
 " John XX. 28. " Matt. viii. 20. " John x. 30. 
 
 "Mark iv. 39. "John v. 19. "John v. 23. 
 
 "John xvii. 5. ^» John x. 36. 
 
96 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 sent others to tell the world of one anointed 
 for the service.^^ Even the humblest of the 
 people could say, ''I know that Messias 
 Cometh ;" ^^ and when all is ready, Jesus stands 
 forth and says, '1 that speak unto thee am 
 he." 22 He was the Messiah when the plan was 
 first conceived. He was the Messiah when the 
 promise was made and repeated, and when, in 
 after days, men were straining their eyes to dis- 
 cover him; and when he actually came into 
 the world, he did not have to say, "I am going 
 to take up this undone work and do it, and 
 thus become the Messiah for men" — he said, 
 "I am the Messiah" ; "And because I am what 
 I am, I am ordained of God and pressed in my 
 own spirit to fulfil the task." 
 
 So, if any one ask, "How did Jesus come to 
 think of himself as the Messiah?" the answer 
 is that he was not formed upon the Messiah 
 idea as revealed, but the reverse is true — the 
 Messiah ideas and promises grcAv out of him 
 and his undertaking. His task was not to 
 assure his own heart, but to get others to be- 
 lieve as he did. His faith was so clear that 
 
 ^Luke xxiv. 44. *^John iv. 25 "John iv. 26. 
 
Himself. 97 
 
 the doubts of others could not shake it. To 
 the woman of Samaria he asserts the fact that 
 he concerning whom the prophets had been 
 talking was now come.^^ To his friend, John 
 the Baptist, wht> is in trouble and begins to 
 doubt, he reveals his great power, in order to 
 reassure the doubting heart.^^ On the confes- 
 sion of this faith he founds his church,^* and, 
 strange to say, God brought it about that he is 
 finally condemned under this specific charge. 
 They soug^ht other faults, but found nonCj^*^ 
 and Jesus, the Messiah, dies because he makes 
 this claim. *T adjure thee by the living God, 
 that thou tell us whether thou art the Christ, 
 the Son of God." And Jesus answered, 'T am, 
 and ye shall see the Son of man sitting at the 
 right han'd of Power and coming with the 
 clouds of heaven." ^^ 
 
 II. Being the Messiah involved with him at 
 least three duties or forms of activity. These 
 duties are also of such a sort that only he can 
 discharge them. He places himself as an abso- 
 lutely essential quantity in human life. "Ex- 
 cept ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and 
 
 *'John Iv. 26. *«Matt. xi. 2-6. =" Matt. xvi. 16-18. 
 "Mark xiv. 55-59. ^^ Mark xiv. 62. 
 
98 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 drink his blood, ye have not Hfe in your- 
 selves." ^^ He stands between men and God. 
 *'I am the way, and the truth, and the life : no 
 one Cometh unto the Father but by me." ^^ 
 And their fate turns upon their relation to him. 
 ''Every one therefore who shall confess me be- 
 fore men, him will I also confess before my 
 Father who is in heaven. But whosoever shall 
 deny me before men, him will I also deny 
 before my Father who is in heaven." ^^ 
 
 I. He brings a message and a revelation. 
 
 The message is of God's great love, yearning 
 over men, and calling them to a restless dis- 
 content with their estrangement from him; 
 such a discontent as will lead them to turn from 
 all evil, to come into the light, and to walk in 
 it ''God so loved the world." ^^ "Repent 
 ye." ^^ "He that doeth truth cometh to the 
 light, that his works may be made manifest that 
 they are wrought in God." ^^ 
 
 The revelation is of the great God himself. 
 He alone of men knows God, and only he can 
 teach this knowledge to others.^^ He shows 
 
 "John vi, 53. =» John xiv. 6. ^o i^^^i-^ ^ ^2, 33. 
 
 »•> John fii. 16. ^' Matt. iv. 17. ^' John iii. 21. 
 
 "Matt. xi. 27. 
 
Himself. 99 
 
 men plainly of the Father,^* and so competent 
 is he for this, and so divine, that when a man 
 knows him, he has already known God.^^ So 
 confident is he of his place as the world's great 
 teacher, that he presumes to speak with abso- 
 lute authority. ''The words that I have spoken 
 unto you are spirit, and are life." ^^ The earn- 
 estness and sincerity of 'his speech thrilled the 
 hearts even of his enemies.^ "^ No such teaching 
 as his had ever been heard before.^® His 'T 
 say unto you" was supreme.^^ He also deemed 
 his message to be urgent, for he tarries not for 
 men to come to him, but going from city to 
 city, 'he teaches and preaches with the same 
 commanding spirit. 
 
 2. There is not only a Messiah message, but 
 a Messiah life.*^ The form that that life would 
 take had long been a matter of debate. How 
 is the life of a Messiah to differ from the lives 
 of other men ? Is he king, with kingly retinue, 
 or is he a suffering servant O'f the world? In 
 his day, all the readers of all the prophecies had 
 failed to find the answer.*^ Prominent he puts 
 
 ^John xvi. 25. ^^ John xiv. 9. '^Johnvi. 63. 
 
 ^■'Matt. vii. 28, 29; xiii. 54. ^* John vii. 46. 
 
 ^^Matt. V. 22 ("I" emphatic). '^ Matt. ix. 35. 
 
 *^John vii. 25-44. 
 
loo The Creed of Christ. 
 
 the delivery of a gracious message to needy 
 ones. "I must preach the good tidings of the 
 kingdom of God to the other cities also; for 
 therefore was I sent." ^^ But it is more; he 
 is to heal the broken-hearted by getting close to 
 the burdened ones — lifting up their loads of 
 ill, and making their sorrows his own. "J^^us 
 wept." ^^ And it is not sympathy alone that 
 he brings, but sight,*** and health,*^ and life and 
 forgiveness of sin."*"^ 
 
 The Messiah's life belongs to the world. 'T 
 am the light of the world." ^^ We read not of 
 anything done for his own comfort and ease. 
 His was a kingly heart, ofttimes doing things 
 with spirit high enough*^ — but chiefly did he 
 count the world's Messiah to be the world's ser- 
 vant.^^ He touched the sores and filth of men 
 as humbly as a servant ; ^^ he healed and 
 cleansed them as royally as God.^^ A kingly 
 heart, doing humble things for a high pur- 
 pose ^^ — this was the manner of Jesus' life, 
 and he lived as a Messiah ought to live. 
 
 « Luke iv. 43. *« John xi. 35. ** Luke fv. 18. 
 
 "Matt. ix. 35. "John x. 10. « Matt. ix. 6. 
 
 "John viif. 12. "John ii. 15. "Matt. xx. 28. 
 
 " Matt. viii. 3; John xiii. 5. *' Matt. viii. 3. 
 "John xiii. 15. 
 
Himself. ioi 
 
 These two features of the Messiah's work 
 touch ignorance and sorrow and sickness ; but 
 these things, while bad enough, are themselves 
 indications of a worse disease, and that disease 
 is sin. The teachings of Jesus, and the unself- 
 ish life of Jesus, would have alleviated in many- 
 ways the condition of men, but even his teach- 
 ings and example would have been insufficient 
 for this greater task of bringing in salvation 
 from sin. Had he done ten times the amount 
 of that sort of work, the grain of wheat would 
 have still abided alone.^* So, to his mind, 
 neither his teaching nor his life were the essen- 
 tial things, but — 
 
 3. His death. ''And I, if I be lifted up from 
 the earth, will draw all men unto myself." ^^ 
 In the death lies the power. The message and 
 the life all tend to the supreme sacrifice. They 
 explain the death, and the death gives color to 
 them. By the first he seeks; by the last he 
 saves. Early he showed his knowledge of the 
 fact that he must be Hfted' up,^^ but it is only 
 after he had wrought into the hearts of his fol- 
 lowers the sublime faith that he was the 
 
 •* John xii. 24. " John xii. 32. " John lif. 14. 
 
I02 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 Christ ^^ that immediately he begins to open 
 his heart still further and to show that there 
 was a necessity upon him to die.^^ He must 
 go to Jerusalem, not to teach and probably to 
 die, but he must go there purposely to die ; and 
 when his friend would dissuade him from his 
 purpose, he rebukes Peter most harshly for 
 ignorance and Satan-likeness.^^ 
 
 The great fact stands out as pressing upon 
 his mind, and casting its shadow forward to 
 darken the way as he went on to meet it. He 
 tells his disciples as they journey toward the 
 city,^^ at the anointing,^^ at the last supper — 
 the Shepherd about to be smitten tells them, out 
 of his store of Bible knowledge, that God had 
 caused it so to be written. ^^ The fact he fore- 
 knew,^^ and the manner of death's coming,^* 
 and the reason ; ^^ and death came upon him 
 in a way fully to justify his forebodings. The 
 increasing dread with which he advanced into 
 the increasing darkness shows that either his 
 death meant more, or that his courage was less 
 
 '''Matt. xvi. 16, 20. '^^ Matt. xvi. 21. ^» Matt. xvi. 23. 
 •<* Matt. XX. 17, 18. " Matt. xxvi. 12. "^ Matt. xxvi. 31. 
 **Matt. xvi. 21. '^John xii. 33. ''Matt. xx. 28. 
 
Himself. 103 
 
 than that of some other men who have passed 
 that way.^^ Still, he dies like no other man. 
 No one could take away his life, he being un- 
 willing. '*I lay it down of myself." ^^ He was 
 bound, not by fetters, but by a sanctified pur- 
 pose, dedicating him to loyalty and to love. 
 *'The cup which the Father hath given me, 
 shall I not drink it?"^* ''The good shepherd 
 layeth down his life for the sheep." ^^ 
 
 It has been seen that his whole life of service 
 was a message and an example, and a burden- 
 bearing; but it is equally clear that in his view, 
 if he had failed to die, his whole mission would 
 have been a failure. ''Therefore doth the 
 Father love me because I lay down my life that 
 1 may take it again." "^^ "Thus it is written, 
 that the Christ should suffer, and rise again 
 from the dead the third day ; and that repent- 
 ence and remission of sins should be preached 
 in his name unto all the nations." "^^ The giv- 
 ing of his life had a definite meaning to him. 
 Led by the purpose to weaken the doctrine of 
 his sacrificial death, some think that they are 
 
 "^Luke xxii. 44. "^ John x. 18. '^ John xvifi. 15. 
 
 '^Luke xxii. 44. "John x. 18. "* John xviii. 11. 
 
I04 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 teaching truth when they assert that the "giv- 
 ing of his life" meant what those words might 
 mean in the indefinite EngHsh, if one should 
 say a man gave his life to a cause ; that is, gave 
 the whole course of his life. Let it be noted 
 that in Greek there are three words which 
 mean life: /Jioc,"^^ meaning the course of life, 
 or one's active existence; C^^/^ meaning the 
 life principle, or life in the abstract ; and (poyrfjy '^ 
 meaning the life that is lost with the pouring 
 out of the blood. It is life in this last sense 
 that one may stake in battle, or give for his 
 country. It is this idea of life, the word (poyij^ 
 v/hich in the Gospels is used with the possessive 
 pronouns; and this is the life which Jesus 
 speaks of when he says, "I lay down my 
 life." '^^ No man ever gave himself in service 
 with more untiring devotion than he. But this 
 is not what was in his mind when he spoke of 
 being "lifted up from the earth," ^^ and giving 
 "his life a ransom for many." '^'^ Teaching and 
 living might cure the ignorance of men, and 
 lead them to miss some of the natural conse- 
 
 " Luke viii. 14. " John i. 4. ^* Matt. ii. 20. 
 
 "John X. 17, comp. Matt. xx. 28. ^" John iii. 14; xii. 34. 
 
 " Matt. XX. 28. 
 
Himself. 105 
 
 quences of sin. The hard problem was to lib- 
 erate them from the obligation to punishment.^^ 
 His people shall not perish.'^^ If he is lifted 
 up, they shall have eternal life.^^ 
 
 He is no more ignorant of the reason for his 
 death than he is of the fact. He studies the 
 fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, and finds it de- 
 scribing what he came to do.»^ He talks of his 
 death with Moses and Elijah on the mount,^^ 
 perhaps instructing them, or else assuring his 
 own human heart by converse with men who 
 knew his glory ; and then, in plain speech, tells 
 his disciples that the "Good Shepherd layeth 
 down his life for the sheep." ^^ "The Son of 
 man gives his life a ransom for many." ^* Of 
 himself he lays down his life, and the Father 
 loves him for so doing.^^ There is no doubt, 
 then about his understanding the reason of 
 what he does. The labor was to make them 
 understand, for they were "foolish men, and 
 slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets 
 had spoken." ^^ Again and again he returns 
 to the subject.^^ His disciples, knowing not 
 
 "Luke xxiv. 46. 47. "John x. 28. »» John in. 14, 15. 
 
 «i Luke xviii. 32; xxiv. 46. '' Luke ix. 31. " John x. 11. 
 
 »*Matt. XX. 28. «'John x. 17. »« Luke xxiv. 25. 
 
 "Matt. xvi. 21; xx. 17, 18; xxvi. 12, 31. 
 
io6 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 the reason, cannot believe the fact.^^ Perhaps 
 to their minds the clearest statement comes near 
 the close of the conflict.^^ With the sacrifice of 
 the paschal lamb immediately before him, the 
 body of the lamb and the blood of the lamb 
 vividly present to the minds of the devout men 
 who followed him, he takes a loaf of bread and 
 says, 'This is my body" (not the lamb's). And 
 the cup he takes and says, "This is my blood 
 (not the lamb's) which is poured out for you." 
 At the paschal supper, to speak words like these 
 could mean only one thing. Jesus believed he 
 was about to die for men in a sense similar to 
 that in which the Passover lamb was slain for 
 them. As the paschal lamb was given to re- 
 deem the first-born of Israel, so the Son of man 
 came *'to give his life a ransom for many." ^^ 
 And when the suffering was all over, before 
 ascending into the ineffable glory, he tarries 
 with them for a little while, tenderly urging 
 upon them the thought that it was right for 
 him so to die.^^ After passing through the 
 darkness, because he knew the necessity and the 
 glory to come, he approves the way and the 
 
 " Matt. xvi. 22. «« Luke xx. 14-20. '•° Luke xxiv. 44. 
 
Himself. 107 
 
 result. "Behooved it not the Christ to suffer 
 these things and to enter into his glory?" ^^ 
 The final gospel is that sins are remitted 
 through a ransom, and that Jesus Christ is that 
 ransom.^^ 
 
 To undertake such a work, even on a small 
 scale, would mark a man either great or insane ; 
 but how sublime is Jesus! He does this for 
 the world.^^ He stands, in his view, a man 
 and God,^^ between men and God.^^ He is ab- 
 solutely essential to every human soul.^^ For 
 knowledge, guidance, life — for all spiritual 
 good, men need him,^^ and failing to find him 
 are lost.^^ His power is unlimited,^^ and his 
 station is the station of God.^^ ''Me, men must 
 honor and serve, and trust as they do the eter- 
 nal God." ^^^ "Me, men may worship,^ ^^ and 
 call by the names that belong to God alone.^^^ 
 
 So loving and so high is he, that my soul 
 may fly toward him through all the ages that 
 my soul shall live ; and if my soul, or any other 
 
 "^ Luke xxiv. 26. "^ L^j^g ^xiv. 46, 47. 
 
 "'John iif. 16; compare 1 John ii. 2. "* John x. 33-36. 
 
 »5 John xiv. 6. »« John vi. 53. »^ John iii. 18. 
 
 »«Matt. ix. 27. »« John xvii. 5. ""John v. 23. 
 
 "^ John ix. 38. "^ John xx. 28. 
 
io8 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 human soul, is thirsty, or hungry, or weary, 
 Jesus taught and Jesus beHeved that in himself 
 alone were drink and food and rest to be found. 
 'The bread of God is that which cometh down 
 out of heaven, and giveth life unto the 
 world." 1^3 '^i ^^ ^i^e bread of life; he that 
 cometh to me shall not hunger, and he that be- 
 lieveth on me shall never thirst." ^^^ ''Come 
 unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, 
 and I will give you rest." ^^^ May I think the 
 thoughts of Jesus after him, and his creed be- 
 come my creed, so that he may be to me all 
 that he is, all that he believed himself to be. 
 
 ^"»John vi. 33. ^<>*John vi. 35. "'Matt. xi. 28. 
 
VII. 
 
 Redeemed Men. 
 "He himself knew what was in man." — John ii. 25. 
 
 ^T^HE boundary line between knowledge and 
 -■- faith is sometimes hard to fix. What a 
 man knows makes up a part of. his system of 
 belief, and what he believes slowly grows into 
 a form of knowledge for him. We are clearly 
 told that Jesus, in his far-reaching view, knew 
 what was in man; knows even the false and 
 the openly opposed ;^ doubly then does he know 
 the man that is his own, for the new and great 
 things in this man are the work of his own 
 hands in a peculiar sense.^ Like a skillful 
 workman, he has passed through the tangled 
 wood of this world, and, with a keen eye, has 
 selected here and there a tree out of which he 
 will form the beams and pillars for the temple 
 he is building.^ 
 
 ^ John 11. 24. 2 John x. 28; xvll. 6-8. 'John xv. 16. 
 
no The Creed of Christ. 
 
 He makes no mistakes.* He is se'tting up a 
 kingdom,^ and that kingdom is not a place with 
 geographical boundaries, but simply a kingdom 
 of men — men who erstwhile were subjects of 
 an alien power, ^ but now, by a divine process 
 of naturahzation, have been transferred into a 
 new kingdom, and fitted, by throwing off their 
 old allegiance and by renewal of their very na- 
 ture, to take upon them the obligations of this 
 new King. ''Whosoever he be of you that 
 renounceth not all that he hath, he cannot be 
 my disciple." ^ "Except ye turn, and become 
 as little children, ye shall in nowise enter into 
 the kingdom of heaven." * "Except one be 
 born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of 
 God." 9 
 
 We wish to get his view of these redeemed 
 ones. He has made them to differ from com- 
 mon men,^^ and loves them in a peculiar way,^^ 
 for, divide the world as you please, his portion 
 is his people. This may have no value in the 
 eyes of the world, which thinks that the be- 
 
 * John vi. 64. ' Matt. iv. 17. « John xv. 19. 
 
 ^ Luke xiv. 33. * Matt, xviii. 3. " John iii. 3. 
 
 ^"John XV. 14-16. ^^ John xiv. 21-23. 
 
Redeemed Men. i i i 
 
 liever only pretends to a life in any way dif- 
 ferent from the life of other men, and the re- 
 deemed man himself may sometimes lightly 
 esteem the work that has been done for him, 
 and be ignorant of its value, like a man who, 
 for a life-time, labors to secure a scant living 
 from a stingy soil, while ignorant that every 
 day he walks above a mine of exhaustless 
 riches. But what says Jesus ? He knows men 
 — knows what they have been and are — knows, 
 too, the grand conception that fills his mind,^^ 
 and after which he is forming every child of 
 God; knows how weak the new life is,^^. and 
 knows, too, how hard the old life dies,^^ and 
 yet believes in man — sees more in him than 
 has been seen before — and because he knows, 
 or in spite of knowing, believes in him — be- 
 lieves in his future and trusts him. 'They 
 shall never perish." ^^ ''I have called you 
 friends." ^^ 
 
 I. These men have experienced a great 
 change. Jesus tells us what this change is, and 
 who brings it about, but just how the change 
 
 12 Luke XX. 29, 30. ^^ Matt. xii. 20; Mark ix. 42. 
 
 " Luke ix. 49, 54. '» John x. 28. '" John xv. 15. 
 
112 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 is produced he does not explain. He does 
 insist/*^ however, that it is not merely intel- 
 lectual enlightenment. No teacher, though he 
 be come from God, can by simple teaching pro- 
 duce this great result. Nor is it a mere going 
 back to the comparative innocence of child- 
 hood, however great a miracle that would be. 
 A man might literally be born again, and yet 
 no't know what this great thing is of which he 
 speaks ; still, it is a new birth, for he must use 
 a figure of speech from common life in order 
 to bring down the new thought to minds that 
 have never risen so high as this. A new birth, 
 and, stranger still, a ''passing out of death into 
 life," ^^ he calls it. What can this possibly 
 mean concerning the living spirits of men? 
 "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of ]man and 
 drink his blood, ye have not life in your- 
 selves." ^^ "The Son also giveth life to whom 
 he will." 20 
 
 To each person of the trinity he ascribes the 
 power to work this marvel in the life of men.^^ 
 
 " For following, examine John fii. 1-15. " John v. 24. 
 
 "John vi. 53. *»John v. 21. 
 
 "To the Father, John vi. 44; to the Son, John v. 21; 
 
 X. 28; to the Spirit, John iil. 5. 
 
Redeemed Men. 113 
 
 Men must believe ^^ and come,^^ but God gives 
 eternal life or quickens the dead, or is author 
 of the new birth ; ^^ still he tells us not how, nor 
 does he tell us this unless it be under the like- 
 ness of another wonderful thing.^^ A stricken 
 Israelite, in obedience to God's command, 
 looked upon a brazen serpent, and lo! the 
 doomed and dying man went free and well. 
 What cured him? Unless we say God, we 
 know not what to say. But how ? Ah ! there 
 the Saviour speaks to our pride and says: "I 
 am talking about things that I know, and of 
 v/hich other teachers in Israel are ignorant. 
 You will understand when your faith has 
 grown a little stronger." ^^ 
 
 It is easier for us to know the greatness of 
 the work than it is to know its nature. Results 
 are clearer than causes. There is a point at 
 which life and death may stand so close that 
 we can scarcely distinguish a dividing line; 
 still, they are separated by the boundless gulf 
 that divides the living from the dead. So these 
 new-born people may stand so close to the bor- 
 
 « John iii. 18. ^^ John v. 40. ^ John fii. 14. ^' John iii. 9-12. 
 
114 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 der-line that to human eyes they appear very 
 Jike the men on the other side ; yet to the eyes 
 of Jesus there is a gulf so wide that no man 
 can cross it, save by divine power.^^ His view- 
 will become our view when we consider his 
 teaching as to the old status of these men, and 
 as to the new status of these men. 
 
 I. The old status. This was made up of a 
 relation and a condition. A man, before Jesus 
 finds him and begins his wondrous work, is a 
 child of the devil, with a strong family likeness 
 to the father,^"^ and he is so opposed to the 
 wooings of the Saviour's love, so far away and 
 dead, that he cannot come to the light unless 
 the Father draw him.^^ His face to the devil, 
 his back to God. In love with sin, hating the 
 good.^^ His condition may be truly described 
 as blind,^^ unable even to see the grace and love 
 of God; as bound, drawn away and held by 
 ties which it is impossible for him to break ; as 
 bruised, beaten by God's judgments and his 
 own conscience, as well as by the hard service 
 of the devil; as broken-hearted, forlorn and 
 
 =« John vi. 44. "' Matt. xfii. 38; John viii. 44. 
 
 28 John iii. 20; xv. 18. ^^ See Luke iv. 18. 
 
Redeemed Men. 115 
 
 hopeless, with noble aspirations gone, and de- 
 spair hastening on — altogether in a condition 
 of absolute poverty, like the poverty of the 
 prodigal Who has spent all, and who in the time 
 of stress has no friends.^^ 
 
 2. The new status. Jesus comes to a man, 
 lean and miserable and estranged from God, 
 and by this mighty work of which I am speak- 
 ing, graciously gives life where death reigned,^^ 
 sight and light, instead of blindness and dark- 
 ness ;^2 liberates the captive, heals the broken- 
 hearted, nor stops until he has taken these chil- 
 dren of the devil, and made them sons and 
 daughters of the Lord God Almighty.^^ This 
 does not mean such a sonship only as may be 
 claimed by all men, by reason of creation and 
 tlie general love of God for men ^* — it makes 
 a man a brother of Jesus Christ and a child of 
 his Father. Who are my brethren? "Whoso- 
 ever shall do the will of my Father, he is my 
 brother." ^^ And mark how, after the resur- 
 rection, he sends a message to his brethren, not 
 to the world. "Go unto my brethren, and say 
 
 *° Luke XV. 14-16. »' John xvii. 2. '' John viii. 12. 
 
 "Luke vi. 35; compare 2 Cor. vi. 18. "John viii. 41. 
 
 35 Matt. xii. 48-50. 
 
ii6 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 to them, I ascen'd unto my Father and your 
 Father, and unto my God and your God." ^® 
 That loving message went out to a chosen few, 
 nor could it with reason or truth have gone 
 to men at large who despised and hated him. 
 "If God were your Father, ye would love 
 me" ^"^ — and no man who is indifferent to 
 Christ or inimical to Christ has a right to say 
 "My Father" in this high sense. Where the 
 filial spirit is not found, that form of words 
 would be a mockery. This transformation of 
 a doomed enemy into a son who is heir to all 
 the promises was in the mind of Jesus, a real 
 and a mighty change. 
 
 II. But not only was this change great. He 
 believed the gift of God, man's new possession, 
 to be of priceless value. There is in it some- 
 thing not desirable only, but essential to man — 
 so essential that though he gain the whole 
 world, if he miss this he is a bankrupt still.^® 
 Put the world on one side, and this simple gift 
 on the other, and the wise trader will take 
 this.^^ Worldly possessions are bought too 
 
 »« John XX. 17. "" John viif. 42. »« Mark viii. 36. 
 
 »"Matt. xiii. 45, 46. 
 
Redeemed Men. 117 
 
 dear, if the price be the man who seeks them, 
 or even if they cost his life, but here is a 
 treasure for which one may well lay down this 
 present life, for in so doing he gains himself, 
 and for himself a more enduring life."*^ But 
 the gift is not simply of great intrinsic value. 
 It must also be estimated by its guarantees. 
 He gives two : 
 
 1. The redeemed man is insured against 
 loss. No man shall die with Jesus in his debt. 
 Turn away, give up, surrender worldly good, 
 and you will receive more."^^ Go forth and 
 serve by following and by doing, and not even 
 a cup of cold water will I forget.*^ I will not 
 suffer any man to lose by me. 
 
 2. He also gives a guarantee for the future. 
 Trust on, and labor on, and your work will 
 stand; and better still, ye too shall stand. 
 Against my building, my body, the gates of 
 hell shall not prevail,^^ and my men shall stand 
 up against wind and flood, like houses built on 
 rocks, as solid as the rocks themselves.** 
 
 HI. Though this possession was of price- 
 
 " Mark viii. 35. " Mark x. 28-30. " Matt. x. 42. 
 
 *'Matt. xvi. 18. ■"Matt. vii. 24, 25. 
 
ii8 . The Creed of Christ. 
 
 less value, Jesus believed that it was of increas- 
 ing richness. The new-born, the redeemed 
 man, is at the worst richer than any natural 
 man can ever be, but is by no means so rich 
 as he may, nay, as he will be. Only place these 
 two principles together, and see if there is any 
 process known to us by which this man's wealth 
 may be estimated, (a) The good seed in good 
 ground brings forth an hundredfold,*^ and (b) 
 *'Unto every one that hath shall be given." *^ 
 The soil, richer each day by divine grace, re- 
 ceiving new increments of seed at the hand of 
 the divine Husbandman, then receiving more 
 and more according as more and more is pos- 
 sessed ! 
 
 The prayer of Jesus for his people holds in 
 its lap the same blessed principle: ''Sanctify 
 them in the truth ;" ^"^ set them apart and make 
 them holy by means of thy divine truth; and 
 the truth comes as the light breaks, gradually. 
 Thus we can bear it.*^ The more of truth is 
 brought to bear, and the more what is brought 
 to bear produces its desired results,*^ the larger 
 
 *" Matt. xiii. S3. " Matt. xxv. 29. " John xvii. 17. 
 
 "John xvi. 12, 13. "John xv. 3. 
 
Redeemed Men. 119 
 
 our minds and hearts become, and the holier 
 we grow. To know God is for the regenerate 
 heart to love him. To know him more is to 
 love him more ; and love will grow for me as 
 long as new views of him shall break upon my 
 soul. It is idle to talk of Sinless Perfection, 
 the result, being complete before truth, the 
 means, has been exhausted. To say that we 
 are intrinsically and perfectly holy is to say 
 that we know all of God's truth, and that that 
 truth has finished its beneficent workings in us. 
 Our Saviour's view was that his people were 
 moved upon by an inexhaustible power,^^ and 
 were receivers of boundless gifts,^^ which grew 
 richer and larger as men were able to receive 
 them.52 
 
 IV. These things the Saviour held, and one 
 other besides them. He believed that these 
 men became objects of personal concern and 
 regard on the part of God himself. "If any 
 man serve me, him will my Father honor," ^^ 
 and "my Father will love him." ^* He will 
 keep them so safe that no one shall be able to 
 
 "*« John xvii. 2. ^^ John fv. 10; Luke xxii. 29, 30. 
 
 ^^ John xvi. 12. '^ John xii. 26. '* John xiv. 23. 
 
I20 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 pluck them out of his hand.^^ When they 
 cry, he will rise to avenge their wrongs ; ^^ 
 and woe betide the man that meets God angry 
 because one of his little ones has been en- 
 snared.^^ He considers their needs in his 
 providential control ^^ and in his judgments on 
 the world, and for their sakes he shortens the 
 awful days of the final misery. "And except 
 those days had been shortened, no flesh would 
 have been saved ; but for the elect's sake those 
 days shall be shortened." ^^ 
 
 We are not much in the eyes of the world, 
 and in our own eyes we are weak and helpless 
 men; but it is grand to have God bestowing 
 rich gifts upon us, and fashioning these lives 
 until we become something to him ^^ — men 
 for whom he has spent more than for all the 
 world besides,^^ to whom he has given more 
 than to the angels in heaven,^^ and for whom 
 the future holds richer gifts than it is possible 
 to conceive ^^ — these men he loves. 
 
 Jesus knew all this ; Jesus believed all this ; 
 Jesus believed in these men, their present worth 
 
 « John X. 29. '"' Luke xviii. 7. " Matt, xviii. 6. 
 
 " Matt. vi. 30-32. '» Matt. xxiv. 22. *> Matt, xviii. 12-14. 
 « Mark xii. 1. ""^ John fii. 16. "' John xvii. 24. 
 
Redeemed Men. 121 
 
 and their future wealth ; he beheved that when 
 his work for them was done, they would be 
 worthy and capable of bearing these great 
 honors — the men would meet the event ; ^* 
 and he sets them in the world as the stars of 
 heaven are set — some for beauty, to gladden 
 the hearts of all with eyes to see ; some as stars 
 of hope, telling of a coming day, and by their 
 brightness turning men to think of what a man 
 will be when the full day comes in all its splen- 
 dor; and some as guides, steady as the very 
 pole star is steady, to call men back that are 
 lost, and leading, with God's own light, the 
 wanderers through the wilderness of this 
 v/orld. "Ye are the light of the world. Let 
 your light shine before men, that they may see 
 your good works, and glorify your Father who 
 is in heaven." ^^ It is desirable that this faith 
 of Jesus should become our faith. God's child 
 should bdieve in and love God's children.^^ To 
 step from death to life is a mighty stride ; ^^ 
 to have Christ is to be rich;^^ to. be heir of 
 God is ineffable glory ; ^^ these men are the 
 world's nobility.'^^ 
 
 •*Matt. X. 23; compare Rev. iii. 4. ^^ Matt. v. 14, 16. 
 
 •* John XV. 12. " John v. 24. ** Matt. xiii. 14. 
 
 «• Matt. XXV. 34. '» Matt. xi. 11. 
 
VIII. 
 The Kingdom. 
 
 "Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God 
 and saying : Tue time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God 
 is at hand ; repent ye, and believe in the gospel." — Mark 
 i. 14, 15. 
 
 /^^ OD reigns. But there is a narrow and a 
 ^-^ broad scope to this idea. Just as he is the 
 Father of all men, but in a special sense the 
 Father of those that believe, so he is King over 
 an essential and universal kingdom ; but is also 
 King in a new and revealed sense of a certain 
 restricted kingdom, which in the word of 
 Jesus is variously described as the ''kingdom 
 of heaven" ^ and the ''kingdom of God." ^ 
 This name, in one point of view, contains 
 Christ's ideal for his people ; but when we have 
 purpose and power to accomplish them, ideals 
 constitute also a part of our creed. 
 
 This special reign of God in the Messiah had 
 
 ^Matt. V. 3. Matt. xii. 28. 
 
The Kingdom. 123 
 
 been spoken of by the prophets.^ And in the 
 time of Christ not a few of the people, with a 
 real heart-sickness at the stress of the times, 
 and the deferred hope, were waiting for it.* 
 Only Jesus fully understood the sort that this 
 kingdom was to be. The King makes the king- 
 dom, and the unearthly King brings in a king- 
 dom, not of this world, but spiritual.^ A king- 
 dom that may be in a single heart,^ and yet 
 which contains all the hearts of all the lovers 
 of God.^ 
 
 Not Moses himself, bearing a message of 
 deliverance to oppressed Israel, could have re- 
 joiced more than did Jesus when, to his own 
 benighted generation, he lifted up his voice and 
 preached the blessed gospel of the glorious 
 kingdom.^ The King himself preaches the 
 gospel of the kingdom; and in this term he 
 also comprehends the sum of all the preaching 
 of all the preachers sent by him to the end of 
 time. *'And as ye go, preach, saying. The 
 kingdom of heaven is at hand." ^ Some mis- 
 
 »Isa. ix. 6, 7; Dan. ii. 44. * Luke ii. 25, 38. 
 
 ''John xviii. 36. « Mark x. 15. ''Matt. xfii. 38. 
 
 «Matt. iv. 23. » Comp. Matt. x. 7; Luke x. 9; Matt. 
 
 xxiv. 14; Acts i. 3; viii. 12. 
 
124 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 understood his meaning; ^^ some wrested his 
 meaning, in ofder to destroy him; ^^ but he is 
 not shaken. His first proclamation is this/^ 
 and his last confession is this : ^^ '^1 am a King, 
 and I have a kingdom." In his preaching, he 
 declares the kingdom to be near — so near that 
 it furnishes a reason for immediate action on 
 the part of all who hear. Prepare ; repent, for 
 the kingdom comes.^^ It comes as does the 
 gentle spring, without noise or observation.^'* 
 It is within you; ^^ it will come with manifest 
 power in the lives of men now living;^® the 
 signs of its power are the overthrow of evil, 
 and the building up of good.^''' It is this pecu- 
 liar kingdom — not the essential sovereignty 
 of God — for which his people are instructed 
 to pray, when they say, 'Thy kingdom 
 come." ^^ We call that faith strong which en- 
 ables one to give substance to things unseen. 
 To the heart of Jesus other kingdoms seemed 
 unsubstantial, while this unseen kingdom was 
 real and eternal. ^^ From his various proclama- 
 
 " Luke xiv. 15. " Luke xxiii. 12. " Matt. iv. 17. 
 
 "John xvlii. 37. "Luke xvii. 20. "Luke xvfi. 21. 
 
 " Mark ix. 11. " Matt. xii. 25-30. " Matt. vi. 10. 
 
 "Matt. xxiv. 1-31. 
 
The Kingdom. 125 
 
 tions there comes to us of the cruder sight a 
 revelation of the things which his heart saw, 
 and we can learn out of his lips the following 
 points concerning that kingdom of which he 
 is King, and of which redeemed men are the 
 subjects. 
 
 I. The gate of entrance into the kingdom 
 of God coincides with the new birth. "Except 
 one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom 
 of God." 2^ We have seen how Jesus believed 
 that men untouched by him belong to a hostile 
 kingdom. ^^ The accretions to his kingdom 
 ccme from the spoils of that ; ^^ still are they 
 unfit for him until his great power not only 
 transfers them, but transforms them, as by a 
 new creation. 2^ They, on their part, by re- 
 pentance throw off the old allegiance,^* and 
 by faith take on the new. Men are not to rest 
 like stones, to be bodily lifted. Their duty is 
 to strive to enter into the kingdom of Christ.^^ 
 And though they have great obstacles like the 
 love of riches,^® and though they be dead 
 
 «» John iii. 3. " See Chap. IV. " Matt. xii. 29. 
 
 " John V. 21. ^ Mark i. 15. " Luke xiii. 24-28. 
 
 *»Mark x. 24. 
 
126 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 toward the claims of God, as' the eyes of Bar- 
 timaeus were dead to the light, yet are they 
 bound like him to put forth every power of 
 mind and of heart that is yet alive — reason, 
 memory, imagination, conscience — tO' bring 
 the dead part of themselves to Jesus.^^ The 
 amiable, honest, ingenuous man may be near 
 the kingdom, while still without its bounds.^^ 
 To make the transfer, actually to cross over 
 the boundary line, means the cutting away of 
 every tie which binds one to that other life. 
 "Whosoever he be of you that renounceth not 
 all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." ^^ 
 Not only does he take the oath of allegiance 
 to this, he foreswears his allegiance to that 
 kingdom. 
 
 II. The members of this kingdom, as it lay 
 in the mind of Jesus, possess certain unusual 
 cliaracteristics, and in possessing them are 
 genuine. They do not merely pretend to ad- 
 mire or to obey the commands. They are real 
 men, who do what they say,^^ and when they 
 build, build upon the eternal rock.^^ They are 
 
 »^Mark x. 46-52. ^s j^^j.!^ ^n. 34. =^»Luke xiv. 33. 
 
 3" Matt. vii. 21; xxiii. 3. "Matt. vii. 24. 
 
The Kingdom. 127 
 
 kmd to others' faults,^^ severe upon their 
 own.^^ They do not go about making a dis- 
 play of what they do or do not possess.^* What 
 is seen in them is the shining out of a real 
 principle, which simply cannot be hid.^^ This 
 genuineness is a pervasive quality that attaches 
 to everything that this new man does. In 
 every department of his being, in every mark 
 that is mentioned below, this must be under- 
 stood — he is not a hypocrite.^^ 
 
 I. Unworldliness. In general terms, this 
 would mean that his foreswearing of allegiance 
 to the old kingdom was genuinely done. Jesus 
 could see a man in which this had gone so far 
 that he loves not and serves not the self to 
 w'hich that old world ministers ^^ — a man to 
 whom the new kingdom and the new King are 
 Rrst ^^ — a man who does not even seek the 
 temporal accessories that go with the well- 
 being of the new service,^^ — in a word, a man 
 who has made a complete transfer of his affec- 
 tions, and lives from a new set of motives. He 
 now does not serve mammon.*^ 
 
 »* Luke vi. 36, 37. '» Matt. v. 29, 30. '* Matt. vi. 1-18. 
 
 '''Matt. V. 14. ^«Matt. vi. 2; Luke xii. 1, 2. 
 
 " Luke xii. 21, 33. ^« Matt. vi. 33. ** John vi. 26, 27. 
 
 "Matt. vi. 24. 
 
128 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 2. Consecration. This means that though 
 he be beyond the jurisdiction of the old king- 
 dom/^ he is no expatriated wanderer.^^ He 
 has a new King, to whom all his love and all 
 his life belong.^^ Though in this kingdom 
 Jesus is King, he gave his all to it,** and he 
 expects his subjects to do as much.*^ The 
 spirit of the King permeates the spirit of the 
 people.*^ Loyalty to Christ transcends all 
 other passions. So devoted is this man, that 
 for the love of his new Lord he can go forth 
 bearing a cross ready at hand for his own 
 crucifixion. "If any man would come after 
 me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, 
 and follow me." *''' 
 
 Because of this devotion, certain strange 
 things come to pass. For inner joy he is not 
 dependent upon the abundance of earthly 
 things which he possesses.*^ His heart is ever 
 bigger than his hoard. In conduct he ever 
 gives an overplus. What he might be expected 
 to do because he is a man, he does; but ever 
 
 " John viif. 32. ** John xii. 26. « Matt. xvii. 37. 
 
 ** John X. 17. « John xv. 12, 13. 
 
 **Matt. XX. 26-28; xviii. 31. "Matt. xvi. 24. 
 
 *• Luke xii. 15; Matt. v. 11. 12. 
 
The Kingdom. 129 
 
 does he add the little more which shows how 
 love of Jesus has made him to differ from the 
 world. ^^ In most unlikely places he finds his 
 blessings,^^ and seeks his honors where other 
 men see only shame.^^ When these two things, 
 unworldliness and consecration, meet in the 
 same man, you have a subject of Jesus' king- 
 dom, a man who turns from worldly things 
 without regret,^^ and follows Christ without 
 distraction. "No man, having put his hand to 
 the plow, and looking back, is fit for the king- 
 dom of God." ^^ If this be the idea of Jesus, 
 does he find faith on the earth? 
 
 III. The relation between the subject and 
 the King. 
 
 It is difiicult to grasp Christ's view of this 
 relation. The king is absolute in power and 
 authority, but at the same time he exhibits an 
 amazingly democratic spirit. His people draw 
 near to him, and he gives them added power 
 to understand his will.^^ They can ask him 
 anything they wish,^^ and he for love will hear 
 them. The King is a Father ^® and a Shep- 
 
 *»Luke vi. 29-36. "^Matt. v. 3-12. "Mark x. 42-44. 
 
 "Luke xvii. 31, 32. "Luke ix. 62. 
 
 *^John vii. 17; xvi. 12, 13. "John xv. 7, 16. 
 
 ■^Luke xii. 32. 
 
130 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 herd,^"^ and spares not himself to protect his 
 people.^'' His laws are not to tax and to op- 
 press them, but are devised for their advan- 
 tage ; ^^ nor must they be so interpreted as to 
 crush the people's life.^^ He governs them, not 
 as a rebellious province would be governed, but 
 with equal laws with those which prevail in 
 the heavenly kingdom.^^ Those that keep 
 these laws are close to the heart of the Sov- 
 ereign, and he will not hold himself aloof, but 
 will love them so much that he will come down 
 into their homes and abide. The King comes 
 down, the man is lifted up. Whence was there 
 ever such a thougfht as this thought of Jesus — 
 men entering into terms of mutual confidence 
 with God. "If a man love me he will keep my 
 word: and my Father will love him, and we 
 will come unto him, and make our abode with 
 him." 61 
 
 IV. The relation of the members of this 
 kingdom to each other. There being one su- 
 preme Sovereign,^^ and every subject of the 
 kingdom being equally exalted by equal rights 
 
 " John X. 11. "^ Mark ii. 27. ^^ Matt. xfi. 7. 
 
 ^Matt. vi. 10. »^ John xiv. 23. "''Matt. xxii. 10. 
 
The Kingdom. 131 
 
 of approach to him, there is no such thing as 
 one asserting preeminence above another.^^ 
 All are brethren.^^ jj^^ right hand is usually 
 thought most of, but this is simply because it 
 has been used most, and so in this kingdom a 
 man may come to the front by urgent, and oft- 
 times bitter, service ; ^^ but this gives him no 
 rights of lordship. It is honor freely given, 
 not something that he may claim. Jesus ex- 
 pects his people to be great after the style that 
 he was great,^* and a bitter cup separates the 
 ordinary human spirit from the highest place.^^ 
 The true spirit is the child-spirit,^^ opposing 
 none that honor the King,^''' and not being dis- 
 turbed though others may think but little of 
 you.^® Jesus propounds a short, practical code, 
 by which they may know what to do. "What- 
 soever ye would that men should do unto you, 
 even so do ye also unto them." ^^ This rule 
 is intended for a measure, not for a motive of 
 conduct. When it becomes a motive, all grace 
 is lost. In Jesus' view, these men are all kings 
 and all servants. His own example shows that 
 
 « Matt. xxii. 10. «' Mark x. 42-45. »* Mark x. 45. 
 
 •° Matt. XX. 22. " Luke ix. 46-48. "*' Mark ix. 38, 39. 
 
 *» Luke ix. 53-55. »• Matt. vii. 12. 
 
132 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 there was in his mind a state in which every 
 servant is brother to his lord/^ and every lord 
 is servant to his servants.'''^ ' He graciously 
 puts great things in the reach of all, for he 
 measures work, not by the amount done, but by 
 the heart of the worker ; "^^ and the Hall of 
 Fame in his kingdom he fills with heroes who 
 served so humbly and so simply that they are 
 themselves surprised at their own exaltation."^^ 
 V. One other thing remains to be said. Con- 
 fusion has grown up in the minds of many 
 from the fact that Jesus seems to use the ex- 
 pression, ''kingdom of God," in a double sense. 
 Often he speaks of it as a kingdom to be imme- 
 diately set up. It is "at hand" ; "^^ it has ''come 
 nigh" ; '^^ it is "within you." ^^ Again he uses 
 it as if it would only be realized with his 
 glorious return on the clouds of heaven.''^ 
 This confusion is at once removed by the con- 
 sideration that the king^dom is not two, but one. 
 The kingdom of God, which has already been 
 set up, will be gloriously rounded out later; 
 
 '• John XV. 15. " John xiii. 14, 15. " Mark xii. 43. 
 "Matt. XXV. 37-40; xxvi. 13. '* Matt. IV. 17. 
 
 " Luke X. 11. '• Luke xvii. 21. " Matt. xvi. 27, 28. 
 
The Kingdom. 133 
 
 but a man that is in the kingdom, is in the 
 kingdom. We are serving now in a distant 
 province. We shall be members of the home 
 government ere long. The Lamb is my light. 
 He also is the lig-ht of the eternal city.^^ Jesus 
 is my King, and please God, I shall have none 
 other. He is my King for ever and ever. Let 
 us not treat him as only heir-apparent to the 
 throne, but let us have a coronation day, when 
 we shall take him as King of our hearts and 
 King of our lives. Jesus labored, beUeving 
 that he would inherit a glorious kingdom."^^ 
 Let him have it. 
 
 "Rev. xxi. 23. "John xviii. 37. 
 
IX. 
 The Kingdom in the World. 
 
 "As thou didst send me into the world, even so sent I 
 them into the world." — John xvii. 18 ; xx. 21. 
 
 "IV T Y kingdom is not of this world/ saith the 
 •^^^ King, yet here we are, both in the king- 
 dom and in the world.^ The lord of this world 
 also has his servants here.^ Some of the 
 world's folk have taken color from basking in 
 the light of the kingdom,'* and some of the 
 children of the kingdom have not fully cast off 
 their old livery.^ Worse than this, some of 
 those who claim to belong to the kingdom are 
 <ieceived,^ and deceive others; and some who 
 truly believe have hid the fact within their own 
 bosoms."^ We are confused, but the faith of 
 Jesus is clear.^ 
 
 A comprehensive confession of his faith on 
 this pHDint may be found in the seventeenth 
 
 ^John xviii.36. ^^ John xvii. 11. ^ j^^jj ^v. 19. 
 
 * Matt, xxiii. 27, 28. ^ Mark viif. 24. « Matt. vii. 22, 23. 
 
 'John xii. 42; xix. 38. ^John vi. 64. 
 
The Kingdom in the World. 135 
 
 chapter of John. His prayer is what he be- 
 Heved, and this is that for which he prayed: 
 a people chosen, changed, prepared, sent out 
 among enemies, kept for a definite purpose. 
 He knew the intimacies of human life ; he had 
 felt the temperature of the world; he believed 
 in the Father's promise to give to him and to 
 his people a kingdom ; and he had definite ideas 
 as to 'how that kingdom should be won. 
 I. The intimacies of life. 
 The line that separates his people from the 
 people of the world, though perfectly distinct 
 to him, is obscure to the eyes of other men, and 
 very crooked. In and out it runs, dividing 
 father from child,^ friend fro'm friend,^<* 
 brother from brother,^^ citizen from citizen,^^' 
 business partner from business partner.^ ^ So 
 intertwined are the two peoples that it would 
 work great injury to his own violently to sepa- 
 rate them now.^^ The great institutions of 
 life, the family ^^ and the state,i^ ^jerive their 
 authority and permanence, not from any other 
 source than God; and men, by entering his 
 
 "Matt. X. 35. "Luke xvii. 34. " Matt. x. 21. 
 
 ^ Matt. X. 11. " Luke xvii. 35. " Matt. xiii. 29. 
 
 ^'^Matt. xix. 4-6. ^^ John xix. 11. 
 
136 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 kingdom, cease not to be men, and escape no 
 duty that is reasonable and becoming to other 
 men.^''^ His service begets no mean spirit. His 
 men pay their dues to all,^^ and they are bound 
 by greater ties than other men, for since Jesus 
 has spoken, they do these things rehgiously. 
 
 II. The world, however, is inclement. 
 Sometimes the kingdom makes a stir, and men 
 endeavor with all their might to rush into it; ^^ 
 but usually the world is indifferent or hostile. 
 The worldly man really does not understand 
 the . nature and blessings of Christ's king- 
 dom ; ^^ his heart constitutes an unresponsive 
 soil, like the surface of a rock.^^ To such men 
 the invitations given and the provisions made 
 have no attractions.^^ They see no treasure 
 hid within this field,^^ and though they be 
 indefinitely seeking something that will make 
 them rich, they have not come as yet to see 
 it here.^^ It matters not who the messenger is, 
 or whether he speak loud or soft, it is all one 
 to them.25 
 
 " Matt. xxfi. 21. " Matt. xvii. 24-27. ^» Matt. xi. 12. 
 ^ Matt. xiii. 13-17. *' Matt. xiii. 5. '' Matt. xxii. 2-6. 
 *» Matt. xiii. 44. " Matt. xiii. 45. ^^ Matt. xi. 16-19. 
 
The Kingdom in the World. 137 
 
 This indifference often passes into active 
 hostility. Jesus was not Uke the world, and 
 the world hated him.^^ Jesus rebuked the 
 world, and the world resented it.^^ His very- 
 presence was ofttimes not desired; it was 
 taken as an interference.^^ When Jesus has 
 taken certain men of the world and made them 
 like himself, the world, being the same old 
 world, hates in his people the same things 
 which it hated in him.^^ If his people, for 
 righteousness or for mercy's sake, interfere 
 with business, men wish to drive them out. 
 Even their presence in certain places is sharply 
 resented. If they are loyal to Jesus, they, like 
 him, are not wanting for a day in the Gada- 
 rene country.^^ In 1887 a white-skinned sea 
 captain, w'ho plied between Yokohama and 
 Shanghai, would not have a missionary to sit 
 at his table, and said that Japan was a heathen 
 country, and he desired it to remain so. Times 
 actually come when it is proper to say that the 
 relation of the subjects of the two kingdoms is 
 like the relation between the wolf and the 
 
 ^ John XV. 24. ^^ John vii. 7. ** Mark i. 24. 
 
 ^John XV. 18-20. '"Matt. vfii. 34. 
 
138 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 lamb.^^ At such times the world persecutes 
 and kills and destroys ; ^^ at Other times it uses 
 blandishments to seduce the weak and cause 
 them to stumble.^^ Jesus, instead of delivering 
 his people at once from dangers like these (a 
 thing he does in a few cases), sends them back 
 and leaves them in this troubled, hostile coun- 
 try.34 
 
 III. His purposes are two : 
 
 I. That these men of his may grow. The 
 world of men is to them like the earth is to 
 seed, a place to grow in ; ^^ and only when they 
 have ripened to his mind, and the harvest-time 
 has come, will he send forth the reapers.^^ A 
 man when Jesus finds him is in many ways like 
 the prince of this world, whom he has been 
 serving.^^ His new destiny culminates in like- 
 ness to the new Prince who has redeemed 
 him.^^ The transforming life is planted in his 
 heart by divine power,^^ fed by divine truth *^ 
 and nurtured by all the resources of divine 
 
 "^Luke X. 3. 8' John x. 8-10. 
 
 "Matt. xxfi. 16; xviii. 7-9. 2* Luke viii. 38, 39. 
 
 »Matt. xiii. 23; Mark iv. 26-28. ^^ Matt. xiii. 30. 
 
 »^ John viii. 38. ^ John xvif. 16, 24. ^* John xvii. 2. 
 
 *<'John xvii. 17. 
 
The Kingdom in the World. 139 
 
 grace."*^ Even the storms and winters of the 
 hostile world tend in some strange way to its 
 advantage.^^ The season of growth is not of 
 equal length in all.^^ And, as some believers 
 enter at once into glory,*** we can conceive of 
 this work being done for all, by other means 
 and in sunnier fields than this dark world 
 affords. God has ways of developing a man, 
 though the man die as soon as he is born into 
 the kingdom. But there is another work 
 v/hic'h, as far as we know, must be done here 
 upon the earth and through the ministry of 
 human lives, and so — 
 
 2. His great purpose in sending them forth 
 was, that others might come to. know and to 
 believe in him."*^ His kingdom grows by ac- 
 cretions from the world, and he trains some of 
 his followers to cultivate hearts instead of 
 fields,*^ and to fish for men instead of fishes.*^ 
 It 'bore upon the heart of Jesus that his own 
 labors did not bring more victories,*^ but he 
 
 *^Luke xili. 8; John xv. 2. ""Matt. v. 11, 12. 
 
 "Compare the brothers James and John. 
 
 **Luke xxiii. 43. "John xx. 21-23; xv. 27. 
 
 "John iv. 35-38. *^ Matt. Iv. 19. 
 
 "Matt, xxiii. 37: Luke xvif. 17. 
 
I40 _The Creed of Christ. 
 
 believed — believed in such a way as to cheer 
 him — that his chosen men would do greater 
 things than he had done,*^ and would carry 
 the good news of the kingdom to the utmost 
 bound of earth ; ^^ that the growth of his king- 
 dom would be marvellous,^^ and would ulti- 
 mately affect the whole mass of men.^^ Jesus 
 died for the world, and he intends to win the 
 world.^^ If his people are worthy and united, 
 men will come to believe that God sent him, 
 and will believe on him.^* Aye, on him shall 
 even the Gentiles come to place their trust.^^ 
 The King was to overthrow Satan's kingdom 
 by drawing all men unto himself. ^^ If he fails 
 in this, the rest of his work fails. When, 
 therefore, he goes away, and leaves the work 
 undone, he sends his followers forth to do the 
 ^'greater works" of which he spake.^^ Jesus 
 did not desire simply to make a proclamation 
 and stop; he wished to win men. ''This man 
 receiveth sinners and eateth with them." ^^ He 
 goes after that which is lost "until he find 
 it." 58 
 
 "John xiv. 12. "Matt, xxviii. 19; Acts i. 8. 
 
 " Matt. xiii. 31, 32. " Matt. xiii. 33. "' John xii. 32. 
 "John xvif. 21. " Comp. Matt. xii. 21; Luke iv. 24-27. 
 "John xiv. 12. "Luke xv. 2. "Luke xv. 4. 
 
The Kingdom in the World. 141 
 
 To this end his people in the world should 
 be — 
 
 (a) Free men. He whose heart is set upon 
 v/hat the world holds, and whose expectations 
 are towards such honors as the world can give, 
 is not free for the service of this new King.^^ 
 In order that men may serve Jesus well, he 
 teaches that they must seek the honor which 
 comes from God only, and be content with 
 that.^^ No ill treatment on the part of the 
 world can ever surprise the man who has atten- 
 tively considered the warnings of Jesus; he 
 has only to ''remember" what his Lord has 
 said.^^ No ill treatment that the world can 
 bring can make this man afraid.®^ Faith in 
 God and fear do not dwell in the same breast.^^ 
 One of the strange things that Jesus can do is 
 to fill a heart with permanent peace, and with 
 the sweetest kind of joy, though that heart be 
 pressed on every side and Jesus be its only 
 friend. 'These things have I spoken unto you, 
 that in me ye may have peace. In the world 
 ye have tribulation ; but be of good cheer ; I 
 have overcome the world." ®* 
 
 "Matt. vi. 24. «»John v. 44. "John xvi. 1-4. 
 
 " Matt. X. 28. •» Matt. x. 29-33. •* John xvi. 33. 
 
142 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 But it is not only the fear of the world which 
 keeps a man in bondage, and incapacitates him 
 for this other service; the rewards which the 
 world gives also enslave him.^^ How can a 
 man in the pay of the world serve truly the 
 kingdom of Christ? The lust of gain and the 
 love of riches are fatal. "Children, how hard 
 it is for them that trust in riches to enter into 
 the kingdom of God!"«« 'The care of the 
 world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the 
 word." ^^ ''So, therefore, whosoever he be of 
 you that renounceth not all that he hath, he 
 cannot be my disciple." ^^ No rule that Jesus 
 lays down seems more unrelenting than this — 
 the worshipper of gold cannot be his disciple. 
 Here is something from which his people must 
 be free. "Ye cannot serve God and mam- 
 mon." 6» 
 
 This does not mean that his servants must 
 live in poverty. Many of his most faithful fol- 
 lowers were householders,'^^ and some of them 
 were ric^h enough to minister unto him of their 
 substance.'^^ Even a costly burial could be af- 
 
 « Matt. vi. 19-24. «» Mark x. 24. <" Matt. xiii. 22. 
 
 " Luke xiv. 33. ~ Matt. vi. 24. ^° John xix. 27. 
 
 ^^Luke viii. 3. 
 
The Kingdom in the World. 143 
 
 forded him by a rich man who truly believedJ^ 
 It does mean, however, that their hearts shall 
 not hold these things too dear. Possession is 
 no sin, but slavery to possession is. Jesus must 
 be both the Lord of his people and the Lord of 
 what they possess. This is shown by the cir- 
 cumstance that the only one on whom he laid 
 the command, "Sell all that thou hast and 
 distribute unto the poor," proved his need of 
 just that command by his inability to do it.'''^ 
 If his heart had been free from bondage to his 
 estates, the command would have been no more 
 necessary for him than it was for the loving 
 family at Bethany.*^* The spirit of Christ's 
 man must be free at every cost. The world 
 must not command him ; Christ is his Master. 
 If to purchase this freedom it is necessary for 
 any given man to sell all, why then he must 
 sell, or else he cannot be his disciple.*^^ The 
 Roman army officer had wonderful faith and 
 kept his office.'^^ Peter,'^'^ Levi ^® and John ^^ 
 followed their Lord, but did not sell their 
 houses. There is no virtue in wealth, and there 
 
 "Matt, xxvif. 55-60. "Luke xviii. 18-23. 
 
 " John xii. 1, 2. '^ Luke xiv. 26-33. '« Matt. viii. 5-13. 
 " Matt. viii. 14. " Luke v. 29. ^» John xix. 27. 
 
144 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 is no virtue in poverty, only the poor man, 
 having no master that takes up all his love, is 
 freer to take on the service of Christ.^^ There 
 is no sin in poverty, and there is no sin in 
 wealth; only the rich man feels no need, and 
 already has a master that takes up all his 
 heart.^^ Christ's servant, whether he be poor 
 or rich, must be free. If the rich be free, they 
 are a blessing to the poor,^^ and the free poor 
 man can often help in noblest ways the rich 
 man who is a slave, and restless and alone.^^ 
 (b) These people, being free from the world, 
 should be loyal to their new King. Under this 
 head may be gathered all those conceptions of 
 Jesus as to the method by which his kingdom 
 shall meet and overcome the world. A true 
 loyalty to Christ would lead his servants to 
 confine the sphere of his kingdom as he con- 
 fined it. His being the Messiah did not thereby 
 constitute him a civil judge.^* Some things 
 he came to do. Others he did not come to do. 
 "The Son of man came not to be ministered 
 unto, but to minister." ^^ ''God sent not the 
 
 ••Mark x. 24. "Luke xii. 19. '^ Luke xii. 33. 
 
 *• Luke xix. 1-10. " Luke xii. 14. " Matt. xx. 28. 
 
The Kingdom in the World. 145 
 
 Son into the world to judge the world; but 
 that the world should 'be saved through 
 him." ^^ He was not an overturner of civil 
 governments. Even Pilate was to him a law- 
 ful governor, and he stood before his bar.^"^ 
 No one could stop him in what he came to 
 do,^^ but he did not, as a man, embrace within 
 himself all offices.^^ Similarly, his people are 
 not "of the world," *^ and are not over the 
 world,^^ but are "in the world." ^^ In the last 
 analysis they have no Master but Christ.^^ But 
 this does not entitle them to be civil judges,^* or 
 constitute them lords of all the affairs of men. 
 A true loyalty to Christ would lead his ser- 
 vants to extend the sphere of his kingdom as 
 he extended it. This means to despise no man, 
 and to despair of no man.^^ The darkest place 
 is the place most in need of light. These ser- 
 vants are light-bearers. "Men loved the dark- 
 ness." ^* "And he that walketh in the dark- 
 ness knoweth not whither he goeth." ®^ "Ye 
 
 ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD." ^^ JeSUS loveS 
 
 «« John iif. 17. ^ John xix. 10. 11. «« Luke xiii. 31-3?. 
 
 ** Luke xii. 14. " John xv. 19. ^ Matt, xxiii. 8-12. 
 
 •^ John xvii. 11. »* Matt, xxiii. 10. "^ j^^tt. xxiii. 10. 
 
 •3 Luke vi. 35. »* John iii. 19. " John xM. 35. 
 •*Matt. V. 14. 
 
146 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 the world, and died for the world, and into the 
 world they must go, that the world may know 
 and believe.^^ Nothing but lack of faith, either 
 in the love or in the power of Jesus, will ever 
 make them turn back. Jesus never found even 
 in Judea a sinner too vile for him to save ; and 
 there is no one from whom his church has a 
 right to turn away.^^ Moreover, the field of 
 his activity is the whole world,^^ and no man 
 has a right to restrict it by high or low, by near 
 or far away. ''Ye shall be my witnesses both 
 in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, 
 and unto the uttermost part of the earth." ^^^ 
 A true loyalty to Christ would shut out for- 
 ever all worldly or unworthy means of win- 
 ning men. What has the church done when by 
 the world she has won the world? Has any 
 change been wrought? Are the men not 
 worldly still? Jesus bowed not down before 
 Satan, though, in a sense, it would have given 
 him the world.^^^ He did not want the world 
 as it was. If he must change to a worldling 
 in order to win it, the v/orld would be the 
 
 «^ John xvii. 21, 23. ^* Luke xv. 1, 2. *» Matt, xxviii. 19. 
 ^*^Acts i. 8. ^o^Matt. iv. 9, 10. 
 
The Kingdom in the World. 147 
 
 world still. If it come not lawfully he prefers 
 that it come not at all.^^^ He makes no com- 
 promises nor alliances with Satan. He shows 
 a square front and an honest breast to all the 
 opposition that he meets.^^^ A kingdom that is 
 not different from the world is not his king- 
 dom.^ ^* A kingdom won by worldly means is 
 still a worldly kingdom.^^^ Not such a king- 
 dom is his, and not by such means is it ad- 
 vanced. He commissions his servants to go 
 forth armed with a beautiful harmlessness to 
 interfere with the ignorance and sin of this 
 stricken world.^^^ They go to preach/^' to 
 teach/^® to bear witness/^^ to live/^*^ to 
 shine/ ^^ and thus to lift the clouds of darkness 
 and of misery that oppress the nations. If they 
 lose their distinctive character, they accomplish 
 nothing. If they are faithful, they shall gradu- 
 ally salt the whole mass of men with the de- 
 licious flavor of the Christ-life.^^^ 
 
 (c) Being free to do this work, these men 
 must not only be loyal to Christ, they must also 
 
 ^"^ John vi. 36-40. '"' Matt. xii. 25-30. ^''^ John xviii. 36. 
 
 ^°^ John XV. 19. ^»« Matt. x. 16. ^"^ Matt. x. 7. 
 
 ^''^Matt. xxviif. 20. ^°»John xv. 27. ^^^John xv. 5. 
 
 "^Matt. V. 16. ^^Matt. v. 13. 
 
148 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 catch the Christ-spirit. The men who walked 
 with Jesus from day to day found this very 
 hard to do, and were constantly breaking out 
 in tempers unharmonious with his.^^^ It may 
 be harder for us than it was for them to find 
 this spirit and to hold it against the world. 
 The kingdom ought to be permeated with the 
 spirit of the King/^^ and his people are to ex- 
 pect no more from the world than he re- 
 ceived.^ ^^ To begin with, Jesus did not con- 
 ceive his kingdo^m to be an incubus upon man- 
 kind, to be supported by unwilling gifts or 
 taxes. His friends supported him ; ^^^ he fed 
 the strangers who flocked about him.^^^ He 
 maintained his independence, his self-respect 
 and public respect.^ ^^ He shunned no obliga- 
 tion for the purpose of saving a little money.^^^ 
 Even a king could not with attentions buy his 
 
 silence, ^^^ but the poor were aided by his 
 gifts.^21 
 
 In sending out other men to work in his 
 name, he authorizes them to receive the willing 
 
 ""Mark ix. 33-37; Luke ix. 54, 55. "* John xiii. 15, 16. 
 ^» John XV. 20. "• Luke viii. 3. "^ Matt. xiv. 16. 
 
 ""John viii. 46. "''Matt. xvii. 24-27. 
 
 "«Comp. Luke ix. 9; xiif. 31, 32. "^ John xiii. 29. 
 
The Kingdom in the World. 149 
 
 gifts of those among whom they labor; ^22 \j^^ 
 it is only on the principle of equivalent service 
 having been rendered. "The laborer is worthy 
 of his hire." 122 ^^ jji^j. ^^^ ^^^.^ ^ ^^^^^ 
 
 under that rule. It means work, work, work. 
 If they have not rendered service, they are 
 unworthy of hire, and ought not to expect it. 
 Later, he instructs these same men, in order 
 to insure their independence, to take with them 
 whatever of worldly goods they may pos- 
 sess.123 'Yhe kingdom is a true blessing to the 
 nation in which it is found, and to whatever 
 nation it may be transferred.^^* It does not 
 absorb, it gives.^^s ]^q species of mean cring- 
 mg nor of fawning dependence is compatible 
 with the dignity of the King nor of his ser- 
 vants. ^^^ 
 
 The men of the kingdom, standing thus 
 upon their feet, need in their work two other 
 points of likeness to Jesus. They must have a 
 love that forgets all injuries and is equal to 
 all the burdens that shall come.^^T ^^ resent- 
 ment must burn against those who have ill-used 
 
 "^Luke X. 7. "'Luke xxii. 36. "* Matt. xxi. 43. 
 
 "^Matt. X. 8. "*Matt. x. 24-33. "^Luke vi. 27-36. 
 
150 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 the cause they love.^^® If a man believe not, 
 still must they labor on.^^o l^^ ^j^^ world hate 
 and persecute and kill, they, for the sake of 
 Jesus, must love and forgive and serve.^^^ The 
 kingdom is to the w^orld as Jesus was, the 
 light,^^^ and the duties of the men of the king- 
 dom are like the duties of Jesus, to live, and 
 to suffer, and, if need be, to die to win the 
 world.^^2 
 
 This leads to the second point of likeness. 
 To do this work, men must, like Jesus, feel a 
 great tompassion for the lost.^^^ ''Lift up 
 your eyes and look on the fields." ^^* The 
 kingdom does not occupy an humble station, 
 from which she looks up and asks favors. She 
 sees the whole world as a shepherdless mass, 
 and her heart is stirred like the heart of her 
 Lord.^^^ Hov/ beautiful is the compassion of 
 Jesus, and how like Jesus is the unselfish com- 
 passion Of a redeemed man ! The tender heart 
 of the summer cloud is moved in pity for the 
 parched earth, and she opens her bosom and 
 
 ^^«Luke ix. 54, 55. ^^ John xii. 46, 47. 
 
 ^^ Matt. V. 44, 45. ^" Matt. v. 14. ^^^ John xx. 21. 
 
 ^"Matt. ix. 36-38. ^" John iv. 35. 
 
The Kingdom in the World. 151 
 
 pours out her very substance upon the thirsty 
 ground ; and thus the kingdom of Jesus blesses 
 with the riches of her very soul the barren 
 wastes of human life. If all the members of 
 this glorious kingdom could thus live and love 
 and labor in the world — could all be united/^^ 
 in answer to the prayer of Jesus; could all be 
 filled with the Holy Spirit/ ^^ whose work is 
 the same as theirs ^^'^ — we might with good 
 reason hope to see that other prayer of Jesus 
 answered, too : "That the world may believe 
 that thou didst send me."^^^ There is so much 
 of the mass of men that has not been leavened 
 yet.^^^ There are so many birds that have not 
 come to know where this great tree is growing 
 and stretching forth its goodly branches. ^^^ 
 O Lord God! remember still the prayer of 
 Jesus. 
 
 "^ John xvii. 21. "« Luke xxiv. 49. "^ John xv. 26, 27. 
 "^Matt. xiii. 33. "» Matt. xifi. 31, 32. 
 
X. 
 The Holy Spirit. 
 
 "And the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form as a 
 dove upon him." — Luke iii. 22. 
 
 TJRAYER. Oh! thou whose gracious task 
 -*- it is to lead us into all truth, for Jesus' 
 sake, lead us into the truth concerning thyself. 
 The story of man's creation suggests to us 
 a plurality of counsellors in the stupendous 
 work;^ and the story of man's redemption — 
 a work of greater cost by far — opens with a 
 like revelation.^ By the brink of Jordan three 
 persons appear : Jesus, not fully learned in his 
 Father's will, and unseasoned to the tempta- 
 tions and burdens that make the climate of this 
 world; the Holy Spirit, descending in bodily 
 form out of heaven, to light on him, and be- 
 come his guide and helper; and God the 
 Father, speaking with a voice that men could 
 hear, and owning this man Jesus for a Son 
 
 ^Gen. i. 26. 'Matt. iii. 16, 17. 
 
The Holy Spirit. 153 
 
 and his work as well pleasing in his sight. We 
 have seen how Jesus believed in his Father,^ 
 and how he also believed in his own dignity 
 and success as the divine Redeemer * — but 
 who is this third blessed One that here ap- 
 pears ? And what is his work ? And how can 
 he come upon men? And what is the power 
 w^hich his coming brings ? 
 
 We are not permitted to doubt the existence 
 of such a Being, for Jesus, after seeing him 
 come down out of the rent heavens ^ — fit 
 symbol of the veil that divides this world from 
 that — having known the urging of that Spirit 
 upon his own heart as he led him forth into 
 the wilderness,^ and having in time of trial felt 
 the support of the world's Comforter, who was 
 first a Comforter to him,'^ and having returned 
 into Galilee filled with a consciousness of new 
 power,* enters the synagogue and makes the 
 distinct claim that this Spirit of God is still 
 upon him.^ God has anointed him for a spe- 
 cific and mighty work; and whether the "be- 
 cause" in Luke iv. 18 ("The Spirit of the Lord 
 
 » Chap. II. * Chap. VI. = Matt. iii. 16. « Mark i. 12. 
 ^Luke iv. 1. "Luke iv. 18, 21. 
 
154 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 is upon me, because he hath anointed me to 
 preach good tidings to the poor") mean that 
 the work was of such a kind that the call to it 
 proved the possession of the Divine Spirit, or 
 whether it mean that the conscious possession 
 of the Spirit proved the call to the work, we 
 are not at pains to decide. It is insisted, how- 
 ever, that Jesus saw and felt and claimed the 
 existence of this Holy Spirit of God. As we 
 proceed to ask certain questions about the Holy 
 Spirit, and endeavor to answer them, we im- 
 plore his guidance, and devoutly pray that we 
 may at least be saved from offending him. 
 
 I. The first question, then, is. Who is this 
 Spirit whom our Saviour distinguishes from 
 God the Father and from himself? And the 
 answer is. He is a divine Person. In this 
 answer there are really two points, his divinity 
 and his personality. The proof of one lies 
 neighbor to the proof of the other, for the 
 works assigned to him forbid that he be less 
 than divine,^ and the way in which he is de- 
 scribed as performing those works excludes 
 every idea except that of personal agency.^^ 
 
 *John iif. 5. "Luke xii. 10, 12. 
 
The Holy Spirit. 155 
 
 The baptismal formula itself embraces both 
 ideas, for in that formula he stands equal to 
 and distinct from the Father and the Son.^^ 
 Nor must it be forgotten that in describing 
 him the evangelist uses masculine pronouns, 
 when mere grammatical rules would require 
 the pronoun to be neuter.^^ He saves his 
 theology at the expense of his grammar. 
 
 This point is so generally admitted by the 
 church to-day that nothing beyond this simple 
 reminder of the usual line of proof will be 
 needed to win the consent of men to the state- 
 ment that the Holy Spirit is a divine person. 
 What seems to be needed now is to reckon this 
 position a fundamental one. He is a person 
 as truly as God the Father, or as Jesus Christ 
 is a person, and this fact must control the 
 answer to any other questions that may be 
 asked about his work or indwelling. Every- 
 thing that is said about the Holy Spirit must 
 be said with his personality in view, and the 
 form of every statement must be consistent 
 with this eminent characteristic. 
 
 n. In the view of Jesus, what work belongs 
 
 " Matt, xxviii. 19. " John xvi. 13, 14. 
 
156 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 to the Holy Spirit? In answering this ques- 
 tion, it is allowable to combine in one view two 
 distinct things, the work that he did for Jesus, 
 and the work which he will do for other men — 
 for Jesus was a man, and the Spirit that 
 wrought in him is the same that works in us, 
 and the efficacy of his working cannot be better 
 shown than in the full perfection of his energy 
 as found in the life of Jesus Christ. There is 
 a marked difference between the man who came 
 to John to be baptized in the Jordan ^^ and the 
 man who, in the power of the Spirit, returned 
 into Galilee; ^* but even this difference does not 
 measure the gulf that separates between two 
 certain points in a common man's life — the 
 one when he is a child of the devil, and doing 
 the lusts of his father,^ ^ and the other when 
 he is a son of the Lord God Almighty,^ ^ with 
 the likeness of God stamped upon him. 
 
 The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin,^''' 
 and leads to Jesus; ^^ he is the author of the 
 new birth,^^ the enlightener of the mind,^^ the 
 
 " Matt. iii. 13. 15. " Luke iv. 14. « John viii. 44. 
 
 "John i. 12, 13; iif. 5. "John xvi. 8. "John xv. 26. 
 
 "John iii. 5. ^"John xvi. 12, 13. 
 
The Holy Spirit. 157 
 
 guide,^^ counsellor,^^ teacher ^^ and sancti- 
 fier ^^ of believers ; he anoints with authority 
 and power for special work ; ^^ he speaks 
 through human lips ; ^^ he is the agent by 
 whom the testimony of men is made efficient.^^ 
 In a word, he does What Jesus would do if in 
 human form he still stood among his friends, 
 and does it more effectively. Jesus had helped 
 them, pleading with them for God,^^ and with 
 God for them.2^ He had answered for them 
 the criticisms of their enemies.^^ He had held 
 them to himself with words of warning ^^ and 
 words of hope.^^ He had been a present help, 
 a paraclete — and the Holy Spirit was to be 
 ''another," and a more efficient one, by reason 
 of his freedom from certain limitations that 
 belonged to Jesus as a man. He is to abide 
 with them, and lead them till need of leading 
 is felt no more. ''I will pray the Father, and 
 he shall send you another Comforter, that he 
 may be with you forever." ^^ And so, "It is 
 expedient for you that I go away." ^^ It will 
 
 ^ Matt. X. 19, 20. ^ John xiv. 6, 7. ^» John xiv. 26. 
 
 "Comp. John xvii. 17; xvi. 13. =*''Acts i. 8. 
 
 " John XV. 26, 27. ^ John xv. ^8 j^^^ ^vii. 
 
 ^Mark vif. 1-15. '<> Matt. v. 20. "Luke xviii. 30. 
 '=* John xiv. 16. "« John xvi. 7. 
 
158 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 be seen that to perform these tasks always and 
 everywhere, nothing short of a divine person, 
 with divine intelHgence and divine power, will 
 suffice. .While if he be as Jesus taught, a true 
 person thus gloriously exalted and endowed, 
 he is abundantly competent to undertake these 
 offices — offices which belong not to a blind 
 energy or influence — and to fill them with 
 success. 
 
 III. What is meant by "receiving the Holy 
 Spirit," ^^ or, ''the Holy Spirit coming upon 
 you" ? ^^ Certainly, everything that is taught 
 is consistent with the personality of the Holy 
 Spirit, nor can he be given nor received, 
 except as a divine person, for this he is. It is 
 true that he may manifest his presence in dif- 
 ferent ways, and in varying degrees of clear- 
 ness; but all the while it is he that possesses 
 the life and divides the gifts on different days, 
 or to different individuals, as he please. Thus 
 he was in the hearts of the believing apostles 
 from the time of their new birth,^^ but Jesus, 
 on leaving them, breathed upon them and said, 
 "Receive ye the Holy Spirit," ^^ doubtless as 
 
 »* John XX. 22. ''Acts i. 8. ''John iii. 5. '^John xx. 22. 
 
The Holy Spirit. 159 
 
 a spirit of understanding, "opening their 
 minds." ^^ But, even after this, there rested 
 on them the command to tarry at Jerusalem 
 until the Holy Spirit should come upon them 
 as a spirit of power for the work assigned,^^ 
 namely, witnessing to Jesus and his resurrec- 
 tion. ''Ye shall receive power, when the Holy 
 Spirit is come upon you; and ye shall be my 
 witnesses." *^ 
 
 It is not, then, a new portion of him that 
 comes, but rather the same gracious Person, 
 coming with a new gift. We are taug'ht to 
 pray, not for his influence, but for him,^^ and 
 all those expressions which would seem to 
 divide or portion out the Spirit of God are un- 
 scriptural. No one partitions the Saviour, and 
 no intelligent Christian prays for a part of his 
 sacrifice or blood to be applied to him. Nor 
 are we to divide or measure the Holy Spirit. 
 He, the adorable, intelligent, entire Person that 
 he is, takes up his throne in the hearts of men, 
 and on one bestows a gift of speech,*^ on an- 
 other a gift of understanding,*^ and on another 
 
 •»Luke xxiv. 45. '"Luke xxiv. 49. ♦"Acts. i. 8. 
 
 *' Luke xi. 13. « Matt. x. 21. « John xiv. 26. 
 
i6o The Creed of Christ. 
 
 a gift of joy *^ or of power ; *^ and when he 
 opens his hand to bestow these gifts, or comes 
 afresh to bear some new gift,^^ he is ever the 
 one, undivided Spirit of God. The words in 
 John iii. 34 ('Tor he whom God hath sent 
 speaketh the words of God, for he giveth not 
 the Spirit by measure") are not regarded as 
 contrary to this view, for the contrast in that 
 connection is not between Christ and lesser 
 messengers, but between the words of the mes- 
 senger and the words of God. He whom God 
 hath sent speaketh words that are really God's 
 words, for God giveth not the Spirit by 
 measure, so that one may say this message is 
 half human and half divine. He that has, and 
 speaks by the Spirit, speaks by a person who 
 is divine and undivided — speaks indeed the 
 words of God, and God is true. Just how this 
 divine Person comes into a human life and 
 influences that life may be as hard for us to 
 explain as it would be to show how one human 
 spirit stands near to and influences another; 
 but we are not endeavoring explanations — the 
 effort is to set forth facts, and these facts are 
 
 "John xiv. 16, 17; xv. 11. "Acts i. 8. 
 
 "•Luke xxiv. 49. 
 
The Holy Spirit. i6i 
 
 abundantly established in the teachings of 
 Jesus and in human experience. 
 
 IV. What is meant by the "power" which 
 one receives by the coming of the Holy Spirit ? 
 Here, again, the foundation fact that the Spirit 
 is a person must give character to any view 
 that is held, and, therefore, it cannot be true 
 that this power is a sort of energy or heavenly 
 electricity that is subject to the will and direc- 
 tion of its human possessor. So far from this 
 being true, it is the gracious prerogative of this 
 divine Person to oppose the will of the man 
 whom he possesses, and by his great power to 
 direct that human will into new channels. He 
 is opposed to man's ignorance, and teaches 
 him.*^ He is opposed to man's love of sin,*® 
 and weans him away from it. He is opposed 
 to man's rebellion, and subdues him.*^ He is 
 the master, not man. He leads, and if that 
 fails, directs.*^ Never is he described as a 
 something which I may use ; he is a Somebody 
 that can use me."*^ Never are we to conceive 
 that he puts infinite power under the control of 
 
 « Comp. Luke xxiv. 25; John xvi. 12, 13. " John xvi. 8. 
 "Comp. Luke xii. 11, 12; xxi. 14, 15. 
 *«Acts viii. 29; xvi. 6, 7. 
 
i62 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 human intelligence. He abdicates his throne 
 of authority in favor of none, nor does he lend 
 without reserve his resistless power to puny 
 men. 
 
 What does Jesus mean, then, by a man being 
 "'clothed with power"? The prophecy, or 
 promise, is best understood by the method 
 of the fulfilment. What Jesus gave is what he 
 meant to give. A study of The Acts will show 
 that the Holy Spirit did not use men as de- 
 fwDsitaries of a mysterious energy to be ex- 
 pended on other men. He simply took posses- 
 sion of men separately, and wrought upon them 
 each for himself, showing his presence by giv- 
 ing new powers, or new energy to existing 
 powers, in the life of the men upon whom he 
 came. In The Acts v. 32 the work of the 
 apostles and the work of the Spirit are not 
 identical, but distinct: "And we are v/itnesses 
 of these things ; and so is the Holy Spirit, 
 whom God hath given to them that obey him." 
 If the exigencies required that a man speak 
 with tongues, the divine Spirit enabled him to 
 do that,*^ but the hearing ear, and the under- 
 
 "Acts ii. 4. 
 
The Holy Spirit. 163 
 
 standing mind, were separate gifts.^<^ If a 
 man's duty was to be a witness to Jesus, the 
 possession of ''the power" simply meant that 
 the blessed Spirit gave him skill to present a 
 testimony clear and full.^i The believing heart 
 was a separate and direct gift. If the man's 
 business was to work a miracle, the Spirit of 
 God by his personal indwelling decided the 
 occasion, directed the method of the doing, and 
 put forth, apart from the man's strength, his 
 own creative power to make good a plan and 
 a word of his own choosing. Thus Peter, 
 miraculously taught and led by the Spirit, 
 preaches in the house of Cornelius, and speaks 
 with the Spirit's power. But the statement is, 
 'While Peter y^t spake these words, the Holy 
 Spirit fell on all them that heard the word;" ^^ 
 and we may select for illustration two accounts 
 of the preaching of the Apostle Paul, a man 
 full of the Holy Spirit.^^ In one case, a mul- 
 titude believed,^* and in the other the people 
 were so enraged that they wished, like beasts, 
 to tear him in pieces.^^ Paul's testimony was 
 
 »^Acts xi. 15-18. "Acts v. 1-16.; vii. '^ Acts x. 44. 
 " Acts ix. 17. " Acts xiv. 1. »" Acts xxfi. 23. 
 
164 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 at both times the testimony of a man clothed 
 with power, and full of the Holy Spirit. The 
 difference in results did not depend on him, 
 and were certainly not designed by him. The 
 very last account that we have of a sermon by 
 him shows that a cause beyond his control 
 determined the result. With impartial mind 
 he pleads with an assembled company, ''and 
 some believed the things which were spoken, 
 and some disbelieved." ^^ 
 
 The ''power" which Jesus promised them, 
 and which he gave, was not an edged tool with 
 which men might work at will, but was the 
 personal energy of God's Spirit put forth upon 
 the natural and gracious powers of men, en- 
 abling them to do or to suffer his revealed will. 
 A divine Person,'^ giver of life ^^ and graces 
 through the knowledge of Jesus,^^ and coming 
 as an abiding helper upon his people,^^ and fill- 
 ing them by his presence with all necessary 
 power for growth and work,^^ this Jesus con- 
 ceived the Holy Spirit to be. This is the One 
 whose coming would make up for the depar- 
 
 "Acts xxviii. 24. "John xv. 26. "John iii. 5. 
 
 ••John xvi. 13, 14. ""John xiv. 16. "Acts i. 8. 
 
The Holy Spirit. 165 
 
 ture of Jesus; ^2 ^^^ certain it is that we lose 
 nothing by his view, for the Spirit himself is 
 greater and more to be desired than any gift 
 that he bestows. 
 
 V. Does Jesus give a test by which the 
 Spirit's indwelling may be known ? Constantly 
 he is described as doing things ; and when we 
 see his work, we may reasonably infer his pres- 
 ence. This may be done with as much cer- 
 tainty as one may feel in passing through a 
 forest, and upon certain indications declaring 
 that the lightning has struck this tree. The 
 characteristic work of the Holy Spirit is thus 
 defined, ''He shall glorify me."' ^^ This is 
 done by leading to Jesus,^^ convicting concern- 
 ing Jesus,^* helping men to understand Jesus,^^ 
 bringing Jesus to the remembrance of men,^^ 
 and, in a word, exalting Jesus in the minds of 
 men as the object of supreme desire and afifec- 
 tion. This is the purpose of his mission, and 
 any Spirit that does otherwise is not the one 
 of whom Jesus spoke. The wonders and signs 
 done in apostolic times were done in testimony 
 
 "John xvi. 7. ^' John xvi. 13, 14. 
 
 ^'Comp. John xii. 32; xvi. 13. ^John xvi. 9. 
 
 **John xiv. 26. 
 
1 66 The Creed of Christ, 
 
 of Jesus, and in accrediting his witnesses.^^ 
 The apostles did not glorify themselves as won- 
 der-workers,^'^ nor did they invite men to look 
 to them as bringing in a new revelation. They, 
 when filled with the Spirit, spoke of God's 
 promises which he had fulfilled in sending 
 Jesus,^^ of Jesus' work,^^ and of Jesus' 
 promises.^^ 
 
 Upon the hearts of the men of Christ the 
 Spirit moves to fashion them after the likeness 
 of their Lord, and to fit them for their work. 
 Upon the world the same Spirit moves, lest the 
 work of Jesus and the work of believers should 
 fall to the ground. *'He shall take of mine, 
 and shall declare it unto you." "^^ "He will 
 convict the world in respect of sin." "^^ Would 
 you, then, look for the manifestation of the 
 Spirit's presence? Find a sinner turning his 
 weary face to God. Would you look further? 
 Find you a Christ-like man, that is working 
 for Christ, with a heart that gives Christ all 
 the glory. *'He shall glorify me," "^^ and a 
 Spirit-filled man will do the same. 
 
 «« Acts iv. 29, 30. " Acts fl. 12, 13. ««Acts iii. 25, 26. 
 
 ««Acts iii. 13, 18. '"Acts ii. 33. ''John xvi. 14. 
 
 " John xvi. 8. 
 
XL 
 
 The Home-Going. 
 
 "I leave the world, and go unto the Father." — John 
 xvi. 28. 
 
 ^TpHE expectation of a glorious end removes 
 "*■ the terrors from almost any journey. 
 Jesus had left the Father and come into the 
 world.^ It was no hardship for him to make 
 the return journey, for that would end where 
 he began — in glory.^ From the mountain-top 
 he descends into the valley of this world ; again 
 he leaves the valley and returns to the moun- 
 tain-top. The uncertainty which brings on 
 most of the fear which his people feel had no 
 place in his heart. To us, death is such a 
 strange thing, and it comes so often to snatch 
 our friends away, and we never see them any 
 more. When the shadow of its wing comes 
 between us and the light, shall we be afraid? 
 How much would I give to know whither I 
 
 ^ John viii. 42; xvi, 28. "John xvii. 5. 
 
i68 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 am going, and the way, and of what sort my 
 own self shall be? 
 
 What we, unaided, cannot see, Jesus saw and 
 believed, and out of his faith he teaches the 
 world a most pleasing view of this great mys- 
 tery. He had a Father,^ and a Father's house,^ 
 and when his definite work in this far-off land 
 was done, he simply went back home. He 
 knew whither he went: 'T go unto him that 
 sent me." ^ ''Father, I come to thee." ^ Death, 
 like a horrid portal, shuts out from our view 
 the pleasure gardens of the King that lie be- 
 yond, and it is only the things on this side 
 that seem of much account to us. Not so with 
 Jesus. He speaks with equal certainty of the 
 things that lie on both sides of the gate. The 
 separation seems so slight that he could say to 
 one who drew near to him on this side, that 
 passing through together, they would still be 
 near each other on the other side. ''Jesus, re- 
 member me when thou comest in thy king- 
 dom." ^ "To-day shalt thou be with me in 
 paradise." ^ 
 
 ^ John viii. 42; xvi. 28. ^ John xiv. 2. "John vi'i. 33. 
 " John xvii. 11, ' Luke xxiii. 42. '' Luke xxiii. 43. 
 
The Home-Going. 169 
 
 That Jesus did not lear death is too clear 
 to demand extended proof. His Hfe was some- 
 thing which for God's glory and man's good 
 he could spend as he might spend any other 
 precious possession.^ He was not forced to 
 suffer what men conceive to be an irreparable 
 loss,^ and he could have avoided making even 
 such an outlay as he saw to be involved in the 
 passing away of life.^^ He had power to shake 
 loose from the throats of other men the icy 
 hand of death ;ii and he who could do this 
 need not have died if he had been very much 
 afraid. Things which bring terror to the mind 
 do not cause gentle names to rise upon the lips. 
 Men speak of the ''king of terrors." Jesus 
 says, ''Our friend is fallen asleep." 12 ^ ^^^ 
 folds his hands and says, "I die": Jesus says, 
 "I go unto the Father." ^^ Men speak of the 
 grave, and he of his "Father's house." 1* Cer- 
 tain things about it, such as separation from 
 friends,!^ and physical suffering,^^ were indeed 
 painful; but in his view, it was not the one 
 
 •John X. 15. "John x. 18. "Matt. xxvi. 53. 
 " John xi. 43, 44. '^ John xi. 11. ^ John xiv. 28. 
 " John xiv. 2. " John xvi. 6. " John xiV. 28. 
 
170 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 who went away who was in need of comfort 
 or of pity; it was they who remained behind, 
 and had to wait and to endure.^ ^ 
 
 I. Jesus beUeved that to him death would 
 bring no suspension of his being, or of his 
 spiritual powers. Any man, in imagining his 
 own death, feels that in the supreme moment 
 he will be standing on one side to witness what 
 is going on, and Jesus constantly speaks as if 
 the passing away of his life would not touch 
 for a moment the real part of him. There 
 would be no break in consciousness, or in 
 memory.^® He had been with the Father,^^ 
 and was now here ; again, he leaves this place, 
 and goes to the Father.^^ The same person- 
 ality extends through the three stages of being. 
 If consciousness were broken, he could not be 
 sure of this. 'T came out from the Father and 
 am come into the world; again, I leave the 
 world and go unto the Father." ^^ Before 
 coming into the world, he undertakes a work.^^ 
 In the world he does it.^^ And while here, he 
 
 "Luke xxiii. 28. "Luke xxiii. 43. "John xvii. 5. 
 
 »" John xvi. 10. " john xvi. 28. " john viii. 42; vi. 38. 
 
 ^3 John viii. 28, 29. 
 
The Home-Going. 171 
 
 does not hesitate to make promises which he, 
 in the same personality, will make good when 
 he is gone.^"* He will remember his friends. 
 Their welfare will still engage him. 'T go 
 away," ^* ''but I will see you again." ^^ ''I will 
 send you gifts to help you on;" ^^ 'T will pre- 
 pare a place where I am to receive you." ^^ 
 And then, as if to prove his faith to the hearts 
 of all who feared, he came back to his people, 
 after death had done to him all that death 
 could do, the same thoughtful, loving, broth- 
 erly man that he had been before.^^ His say- 
 ing to the thief on the cross ^^ prevents our 
 thinking that there was any interruption of his 
 conscious existence even during those three 
 awful days of his hiding from the view of his 
 living disciples.^^ 
 
 n. Though there are certain manifest evil 
 effects of death, Jesus believed none of them 
 to be permanent. Friends are separated, but 
 they are friends still. ''Go unto my brethren, 
 and say to them, I ascend unto my Father and 
 
 '^John xvf. 7. 25jojjjj xvi 22. ^'^ John xiv. 13, 14. 
 
 2^ John xiv. 2, 3. ^^ John xxi. 9-14. ^^ Luke xxiii. 43. 
 
 20 Luke xxiv. 21. 
 
172 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 your Father, and my God and your God." ^^ 
 And the separation hath an end. '^l come unto 
 you." 32 'Thou Shalt follow me afterwards." ^3 
 His own body would be subjected to a painful 
 death, but he believed in his death no more 
 certainly than he believed in his resurrection. 
 "Having laid down my life, I have power to 
 take it up again." ^^ There was an hour of the 
 power of darkness,^^ but the suspicion that that 
 hour might stretch out forever seems never 
 to have come to him. "The third day" seems 
 fixed in his heart.^® Over and over he speaks 
 of it. Let the intervening days be what death 
 will make them, the third shall be what God 
 will make it — a day of life, and light, and 
 glory. 
 
 HI. In this great matter Jesus believed con- 
 cerning his people the same things which he 
 believed concerning himself. All seems so in- 
 definite to us that all seems dark. What if we 
 could take into the make-up of our own souls 
 the faith which Jesus pressed upon the heart 
 of Martha — "Believest thou this?"^^ — that 
 
 "John XX. 17. »^John xiv. 18. '» John xiii. 36. 
 
 '* John X. 17, 18. "' Luke xxii. 53. »* Matt. xx. 19. 
 
 "John xi. 26. 
 
The Home-Going. 173 
 
 the man who by faith is bound to me is aUve 
 in such a sense that death itself cannot disturb 
 the simple fact — he liveth.^® Open thy soul's 
 ear to receive another word, ''Because I live, ye 
 shall live also." ^9 
 
 Omitting the one circumstance of his pre- 
 existence with the Father, Jesus represents his 
 people as sustaining to that heavenly country 
 well-nigh all the relations which he sustained 
 to it. Has he a Father there ? So have they ; ^^ 
 and they have a Father's house,* ^ and Jesus,*^ 
 and memory,*^ and love.** No break whatever 
 is to come, in being or in consciousness ; *^ cer- 
 tainly nothing occurs which can disturb their 
 identity of person.*^ The same persons that go 
 from this world are the persons who arrive in 
 that.*^ The forces of death play about their 
 feet — they rise not above their heads. 'T go 
 to the Father; ye shall follow," saith Jesus; 
 and the believer is authorized by this faith of 
 Jesus to knock at the grim gate of death, say- 
 ing, Father, open to thy weary child, for I come 
 to thee. 
 
 "John xi. 25, 26. ^John xiv. 19. *«John xx. 17. 
 
 *"■ John xiv. 2. « John xvii. 24. " Matt. xxv. 34-40. 
 
 ** John xif. 26; xiv. 23. "Luke xxiii. 43. 
 
 "Matt. X. 32, 33. « Matt. xvii. 3. 
 
174 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 As for himself, so also for the believer, Jesus 
 believed that all the ugly marks which the fin- 
 gers of death could make were but temporary 
 evils. "I am the resurrection, and the life ; he 
 that believeth on me, though he die, yet shall 
 he live." ^^ It might take his people longer to 
 make some stages of the journey than it took 
 him ; but for them, too, there is a blessed "third 
 day" of light and glory. 'Then shall the right- 
 eous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of 
 their Father." *^ To the believer the same 
 things will happen that have already happened 
 to Jesus. The strong One who has walked that 
 way before knows how to keep them safe.^^ 
 The child in the arms of the father is as safe 
 in the dark as in the day. 
 
 What, then, is death? Only a gate so nar- 
 row that no man can pass with any gross en- 
 cumbrance. And what is the grave? Not an 
 inn, where the believer passes a night as he 
 journeys, but only a warehouse in which we 
 store for a time our heavier possessions as we 
 in haste pass on. He tells us not of the day 
 of our departure, but his words are so tender, 
 
 *« John xi. 25. " Matt. xiii. 43. '^ John xvii. 12, 24. 
 
The Home-Going. 175 
 
 and his thoughts are so clear that this inter- 
 vening time of separation should rather be our 
 time of mourning.^^ My Lover has gone into 
 a distant land, to prepare a home where I may 
 go and t>e with him forever." ^^ When all is 
 done, he will not even require me to follow 
 him — to make the journey thither alone. He 
 will come back again,^^ and help me all along 
 the way. Father, in company with Jesus, I 
 come to thee. 
 
 " Matt. ix. 15. " John xiv. 2. " John xiv. 3. 
 
XIL 
 The Second Coming. 
 
 "Henceforth ye shall see the Son of man sitting at the 
 right hand of Power and coming in the clouds of 
 heaven." — Matt. xxvi. 64. 
 
 "And what I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch." — 
 Mabk xiii. 37. 
 
 T N this year of our Lord, 1905, the average 
 behever has the hope of Christ's second 
 coming but little in his thought. A minister 
 who has been preaching the gospel for fifteen 
 years states that he has never preached upon 
 the subject. This indifference is accounted for 
 in two ways : the worldly prosperity that has 
 come to Christ's kingdom has made men feel 
 that there is really no great need for better 
 times ; but the chief responsibility for this con- 
 dition lies with those who have hotly engaged 
 in unfortunate debates which should never have 
 arisen about this great matter. Men have fixed 
 upon certain dates for the reappearing of 
 
The Second Coming. 177 
 
 Christ, and talked as if the truth of God was 
 pledged to support their solution of the com- 
 plex pro'blem. They have even gone so far as 
 to say that they would lose all faith in the 
 gospel if their schedule were not followed. 
 Some assert the day to be near, some that it is 
 very far away — and thus the battle has gone 
 on, the passing years putting many to shame, 
 and the general effect upon the church being 
 of such a kind that many devout men look with 
 incredulity and lightness upon the whole sub- 
 ject. Let us, with unprejudiced minds, ap- 
 proach the gospels and see what Jesus believed. 
 I. The fact. Whatever events or portents 
 may intervene between this time and that, 
 whatever the order of these events may be, 
 whatever periods of humiliation or of glory 
 may come to the church, there is a day in 
 which men "shall see the Son of man sitting 
 at the right hand of Power, and coming in the 
 clouds of heaven." ^ This is a part of our 
 Saviour's testimony when under oath.^ He 
 believed it with all his heart, and we are no 
 more permitted to doubt it than we are to doubt 
 
 ^Matt. xxvi. 64. * Matt. xxvi. 63. 
 
178 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 the fact that he is the Messiah, and has come 
 into the world once to suffer for our sins. The 
 prophets,^ Jesus,* the apostles,^ all classes of 
 God's messengers, have a word concerning this 
 great hope. Such a glorious manifestation of 
 Christ is required for a true rounding out of 
 the work that he has undertaken. No one can 
 doubt that before all is done, the despised 
 corner-stone shall, by God's almighty arm, be 
 lifted into its proper place,^ and that men shall 
 see it.''^ 
 
 This is not only a fact, but it is a distinct 
 fact, and must not be confounded with any- 
 thing else. Some are accustomed to say that 
 death, the believers going to Christ, is practi- 
 cally the same for each man as the coming of 
 Christ. This is not true. Death is seeming 
 defeat : ^ the coming of Christ is manifest vic- 
 tory.^ A disembodied spirit is not the same 
 as a redeemed man.^^ The body sown in weak- 
 ness and corruption is not the same as the im- 
 mortal, glorious body which God will give.^^ 
 
 •Dan. vii. 13, 14; Psa. cxviii. 22, 23. * Matt. xxfv. 30. 
 
 ■» 1 Thess. iv. 16. ' Matt. xxi. 33-42. ' Rev. i. 7. 
 
 •Luke xxii. 53; John xxi. 18, 19. "Matt. xiii. 43. 
 
 "Matt, xxvii. 52, 53. ''1 Cor. xv. 42-44. 
 
The Second Coming. 179 
 
 At that time the carnival of death shall cease ;^^ 
 the grave shall disgorge and devour no more.^* 
 A part of God's people will not be here, and a 
 part there, but ''one flock" shall they be,^* and 
 all that ofifend shall depart from among them.^^ 
 A great uniting time,^^ and a great separating 
 time,^^ will that be. And the King shall ''sit 
 on the throne of his glory," ^^ no more mis- 
 understood or despised, but come into his own 
 at last, vindicated and glorified. However, or 
 for how long his power and his grace may 
 show themselves in the meantime, there shall 
 come to him on that day his own proper station, 
 and to men, the going away into "eternal pun- 
 ishment," or into the "life eternal." ^^ 
 
 While Jesus believed in his return, and 
 promised his return, and counted it a time of 
 great glory to him and to his church, no one 
 can read his confession before Caiaphas with- 
 out feeling that in his assertion of a glorious 
 vindication there is contained a warning to that 
 wricked man. "I adjure thee by the living God, 
 that thou tell us whether thou art the Christ, 
 
 ^=^1 Cor. XV. 54. "John v. 28, 29. 
 
 "John X. 16; xvii. 20-24. ^^ Matt. xif. 41. 
 
 ^'Matt. XXV. 34. "Matt. xxv. 41. '» Matt. xxv. 31. 
 
 "Matt. xxv. 46. 
 
i8o The Creed of Christ. 
 
 the Son of God. Jesus saith unto him, Thou 
 hast said ; nevertheless, I say unto you. Hence- 
 forth ye shall see the Son of man sitting at the 
 right hand of Power, and coming in the clouds 
 of heaven." ^^ In view of that coming day, 
 greatly to be pitied is the man who now thinks 
 too little of Jesus Christ. Jesus is coming 
 again with great power and glory. 
 
 II. The time undefined to all but God. The 
 angels did not know it ; ^^ Jesus as a man did 
 not know it."^ Why, then, will those who are 
 men and nothing more insist on finding out? 
 The matter is purposely hid from us.^^ Even 
 the things which are spoken of as coming to 
 pass beforehand are of such indefinite outline 
 that they serve us not in fixing a date. Is it 
 said that the gospel must first be published 
 among all nations ? ^3 Who can use this as a 
 measure? Has it already been published in 
 the sense of the prophecy or not? Does any 
 one know? Or the ''times of the gentiles," ^4 
 or the people of Jerusalem changing their 
 view,25 — who can say what these things 
 
 <* Matt. xxvi. 63, 64. " j^att. xxiv. 36. " ^^.^g j 7^ 
 
 '" Matt. xxiv. 14. ^ Luke xxi. 24. 
 
 ^=Luke xiii. 34, 35; xvii. 22. 
 
The Second Coming. i8i 
 
 mean? The time is as indefinite to us as the 
 time of our death is ; not certainly far off, and 
 not certainl}^ near. Jesus spoke against two 
 errors. 
 
 1 . No one was to fix a near date, saying that 
 the kingdom of God would "immediately ap- 
 pear," ^^ and on that account cease to work. 
 There is time enough for the accomplishment 
 of great things; time enough to do what he 
 has given you to do.^"^ You do not know when 
 he is to come, therefore, so far from pausing, 
 work the harder, that he may find you faith- 
 ful. ^^ Keep the sinews of your endeavor tense. 
 "Let your loins be girded about and your lamps 
 burning." ^^ You know not the time. He 
 comes like the lightning's flash.^^ Work on — 
 publish forth his love, that the men in darkness 
 may see the sunlight ^^ before they see the 
 lightning.^^ 
 
 2. No one is to fix a date in the far distance 
 and say, "My Lord delayeth his coming." ^^ 
 Is not this the sin of the church's present atti- 
 tude toward this great matter? You do not 
 
 ^ Matt. xix. 11. " Matt. xix. 12-26. =" Luke xii. 35-40. 
 2» Matt. xxiv. 27. ^ Matt. v. 14. 16. *' Matt. xxiv. 27. 
 '-Luke xfi. 45. 
 
i82 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 know, therefore, ''what I say unto you I say 
 unto all, Watchr ^^ The fact that the ten 
 virgins did not know the time was no reason 
 for sleeping. It was a reason for watching.^* 
 The thief is coming, you do not know the time, 
 therefore go to sleep ? No ; therefore. Watch, 
 says Christ.^^ Jesus gives absolutely no war- 
 rant for casting the great thought out of our 
 minds, under the impression that his coming 
 is yet a great way off. No one has a right to 
 plan for one evil thing, believing that he will 
 have time to finish it before his Lord returns,^^ 
 and no one has a right to cease any work of 
 service because he believes his Lord will not 
 give him time to finish.^ ^ You know not the 
 time, therefore labor on; you know not the 
 time, therefore watch. 
 
 in. How will he come? In spite of the 
 warnings Jesus had given, he believed that his 
 actual coming would take men by surprise. As 
 an animal walking along an accustomed path 
 and suddenly striking a trap-stick, so will his 
 coming be,^^ or like men engaged in ordinary 
 
 ^^ Mark xiii. 37. ^* Matt. xxv. 1-13. »^ Matt. xxiv. 42-44. 
 ^«Luke xii. 45, 46. ^^ Luke xii. 35-S8. ^« Luke xxi. 34, 35. 
 
The Second Coming. 183 
 
 business when the flood came and took them 
 all away ; ^^ or like the men of Sodom on that 
 awful night, when Lot fled, and the fire fell 
 upon them.'^^ 
 
 Men have put the day a long way oflF, and 
 are like cattle grazing upon the earth, with 
 their gaze downward. If they would only 
 prayerfully watch, they would not at sight of 
 him flee away startled and surprised,*^ but 
 would be able to meet him with a calm courage. 
 *'Watch ye at every season, making supplica- 
 tion, that ye may prevail to escape all these 
 things that shall come to pass, and to stand 
 before the Son of man." ^^ He will come unex- 
 pectedly,^^ and he will come suddenly ; ^^ the 
 warnings are given. The cloud may be a long 
 time rising, but the lightning flash is a sudden 
 thing. His coming will also be manifest and 
 unmistakable.^^ The Son of man on the clouds 
 of heaven will ht a sight which friends and 
 enemies alike shall see ^^ — an event alone in 
 the experience of the race, the beginning of the 
 culmination of all hope, and of all fear. ''Be- 
 
 '" Matt. xxiv. 37-40. *° Luke xvii. 28-30. 
 
 "Luke xxiil. 30; Rev. vi. 16. '^ Luke xxi. 36. 
 
 *^ Luke xxi. 34, 35. *' Matt. xxiv. 26, 27. *= Rev. i. 7. 
 
184 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 fore him shall be gathered all the nations ; and 
 he shall separate them one from another, as 
 a shepherd separated! the sheep from the 
 goats." *^ 
 
 IV. What did Jesus believe to be the proper 
 attitude of his people toward that great day? 
 He speaks of urgent labor, that we be not un- 
 prepared, as one who is overtaken with his task 
 half done,*"^ and of never sleeping watchful- 
 ness, that we be not surprised, and fear come 
 to us instead of joy.*^ But, besides all this, 
 that great day of the Lord's return should be 
 looked for with a great longing in the soul. 
 It is the day when all our expectations for our 
 friends, for ourselves, for Jesus, shall ripen 
 into fruit; a day when the grave shall give 
 back to us the glorified forms of those we 
 love,^^ a day when we, too, shall be changed,*^^ 
 and, above all, a day when the great joy of 
 seeing Jesus crowned before the world shall fill 
 the heart.^^ What comes to me will give not 
 half so much of joy as shall spring from seeing 
 what shall come to him.^^ His followers will 
 
 « Matt. XXV. 32, " Luke xii. 35-40. " Matt. xxiv. 45-51. 
 
 *»1 Thess. iv. 14-17. ^1 Gor. xv. 50, 52. 
 
 " Matt. XXV. 31. " Rev. v. 9-12. 
 
The Second Coming. 185 
 
 no longer keep back the love that is his due, 
 and his enemies will despise him no more. A 
 new wife, with the Bridegroom snatched away, 
 and she left in poverty and reproach, herself 
 despised, and reproaches heaped on him, might 
 long for the time w^hen her man shall return 
 to vindicate himself before the world, and to 
 change her lonely misery into wifely joy, but 
 she has no more cause to hope for such a day 
 than has the kingdom of Jesus Christ in the 
 world. The coming of Jesus brings to that 
 kingdom the end of all misery, and the fulness 
 of all joy.^^ In suffering, in reproach, in dark- 
 ness, in death, she remembers his loving 
 promise, *'I will see you again," ^* and though 
 her strength be almost gone, yet turns she her 
 face yonderward, and cries, "Amen! come, 
 Lord Jesus." ^^ 
 
 "Matt. xiii. 43. "John xvi. 22. « Rev. xxii. 20. 
 
XIII. 
 The Final Glory. 
 
 "And now, Father, glorify thou me with thine own 
 self, with the glory which I had with thee before the 
 world was." — John xvii. 5. 
 
 "Father, I desire that they also whom thou hast given 
 me be with me where I am, that they may behold my 
 glory, which thou hast given me." — John xvii. 24. 
 
 "I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and my 
 God and your God." — John xx. 17. 
 
 TT T'E have no source of information on this 
 ^ ^ '■ topic, except the revelation of God, and 
 his revelation is by no means complete. For 
 just as we have conceptions which it is impos- 
 sible to express in the language of a Hottentot, 
 so God has thoug'hts so great that human lan- 
 guage can furnish no suitable vehicle for their 
 expression. He has other thoughts which may- 
 be expressed truly, but inadequately, in the 
 words which men have used. He who studies 
 a word of this latter class will find that as he 
 learns more the word can be made to hold 
 
The Final Glory. 187 
 
 more, and all of God's meaning, which the 
 original scope of the word could not embrace, 
 must be packed into it by future use. Joy 
 means one thing to the ignorant savage; the 
 same word means much more to the educated 
 Christian, and more still will it mean to the 
 believer who is permitted to enter into the joy 
 of his Lord. Any one, then, who endeavors 
 to speak of those things which have been told 
 us of the final glory is in danger of appearing 
 both low and weak in the eyes of those who 
 to-morrow shall know more. A true concep- 
 tion of what our Saviour believed is all that 
 we hope for now. The conception will be 
 fuller when we have lived with him longer. 
 
 Certainly Jesus did not believe this life to be 
 the end of things for him. He was a believer 
 in immortality,^ and concerning himself — 
 
 I. He believed that he would be restored to 
 his original station. Whatever of power and 
 authority and glory belonged to him in the 
 time before he came forth from the Father 
 would come to him again.^ His manhood 
 would not interfere with this culmination; he, 
 
 ^John xvi. 28. ^ John xvii. 5. 
 
1 88 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 a man, would come into his glory. What he 
 had done in this stage of his being, so far from 
 detracting from his honor, would in some defi- 
 nite points add glory to the ways in which he 
 would manifest himself.^ How can we know 
 what station is worthy of him until we know 
 what station is worthy of God ? * Once two 
 men appeared in glory upon the mountain top,^ 
 and Jesus left the form in which it was proper 
 to converse with common men, and took upon 
 him a form in which it was proper to converse 
 with them. This sight overwhelmed those who 
 witnessesed it; but God was still above the 
 cloud,^ and Jesus is not to stop until he takes 
 on him the very glory of the eternal God. 'T 
 ascend to my God and your God." '^ He shall 
 be seated on the right hand of that infinite 
 Being.^ We do not know how great God's 
 power and glory are, but we do know that this 
 station of Jesus is the highest station there is. 
 The second coming of Jesus is no sudden, tem- 
 porary, blazing forth of his glory; it is the 
 beginning of a manifestation that shall last.® 
 
 'John V. 27. *John v. 23. "^ Matt. xvii. 1-8. 
 
 ^ Matt. xvfi. 5. ^ John xx. 17. » Matt. xxvi. 64. 
 
 •Rev. xi. 15. 
 
The Final Glory. 189 
 
 11. Jesus believed that his people would 
 reach the place to which he has gone. They, 
 heing raised from the dead,^^ purged of all 
 evil/^ and leaving behind those relations of life 
 which have their use only in this world/^ shall 
 also ascend unto God and see the glory which 
 he has given to his Son.^^ All believers shall 
 be there, without the loss of even one.^* God's 
 original plan shall be accomplished for each.^^ 
 'They shall see God.^^ They shall ''shine forth 
 as the sun." ^"^ 
 
 Of the glory of the place we can say but 
 little other than that it is worthy of God. The 
 material figures used in The Revelation — for 
 that book is the revelation of Jesus concerning 
 these things — show us the costliest things that 
 we know put to very common uses. Pearls are 
 put instead of wood for city gates, and gold 
 instead of stones for paving the streets.^ ^ How 
 can we know anything of what is worthy for 
 the nobler uses in that beautiful home? But 
 these things are not intended to hold our at- 
 tention. God and the Lamb are the crown and 
 
 '^"John xi. 25. "Matt. xili. 41. "Matt. xxii. 30. 
 
 "John xvii. 24. "John xvii. 11, 12. "Matt. xx. 23. 
 "Matt. V. 8. "Matt. xiii. 43. "Rev. xxi. 21. 
 
190 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 centre of all glory to the believer.^^ That would 
 be a strange wife who thought more of a costly 
 suit of furniture than she did of her husband; 
 and in heaven there is one Being whose absence 
 would cause the light to go out of every man- 
 sion and every heart. "And if I go and pre- 
 pare a place for you, I will come again, and 
 will receive you unto myself; that where I 
 am, there ye may be also." ^^ 
 
 As far as we can see, the most comprehen- 
 sive term which Jesus uses to describe the sum 
 of what he brings to men, or the sum of that 
 into which men enter by him, is eternal life. 
 This is by no means intended as merely adding 
 an element of endlessness to the life which men 
 already have; all men are in this sense im- 
 mortal.^^ "Eternal life," as Jesus used the 
 term, describes something which is entirely 
 absent from men, except as they have Jesus 
 Christ.^2 Men enter into it.^^ He is the life,^* 
 and having him, men have the life even now.^' 
 God gives it,^^ and God gave his Son that men 
 might have it.^^ The expression is used inter- 
 
 '» Rev. xxi. 22, 23. ="* John xiv. 3. ^' Matt. xxv. 46. 
 ^ John vi. 53, 54. '^ Matt. xix. 17. " John xfv. 6. 
 
 =« John vi. 47. ^s j^jj^ v. 26; xvii. 2. ^t j^j^^^ jjj^ ^g^ 
 
The Final Glory. 191 
 
 changeably with the words "kingdom of 
 God," ^* and the final joy of the redeemed is 
 described as "going away into eternal life." ^^ 
 In another passage it sums up what God has 
 to give in the world to come to all who love 
 him.2^ Add together the chief thing that Jesus 
 brings to men in this world, and the crown of 
 all gifts in the world to come, and that supreme 
 joy or glory, as you please to view it, is eter- 
 nal LIFE.^^ 
 
 But what is eternal life? We cannot rest, 
 like children, in learning the name by rote. 
 Can any one tell us what eternal life is ? Jesus 
 seems purposely to have given a definition: 
 ''This is life eternal, that they should know 
 thee, the only true God, and him whom thou 
 didst send, even Jesus Christ." ^^ But even in 
 the presence of this definition we are at a stand, 
 for certainly this can be no common form of 
 knowledge. The object of knowledge is 
 clearly stated — God, and Jesus, and his 
 coming.^^ And thus, even for the thing 
 to be known, men are absolutely dependent 
 upon Jesus.^2 But there is also a strange 
 
 " Mark ix. 43, 47. " Matt. xxi. 46. ^' Mark x. 30. 
 
 *> John iii. 15, 16. "^ John xvii. 3. ^' Matt. xi. 27. 
 
192 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 method of knowing which we must learn. It 
 is not after the fashion that one might know 
 a common fact, but it is an opening of the mind 
 and soul to receive and to digest, not only the 
 truth concerning God, but God himself.^^ Out 
 of this sort of knowing spiritual life springs, 
 and growth, and glory. The water of life,^* 
 the bread of life,^' whether in Jesus, or as pro- 
 ceeding out of the throne of God and of the 
 LamlD,^^ must be drunk, must be eaten. ''Ex- 
 cept ye eat ye have not life." ^''^ What can 
 these figures mean, unless he intends to show 
 that just as bread and water are related to the 
 life and sustenance of the body, so he is related 
 to the life and sustenance of the soul? Such 
 knowledge of him here is eternal life.^^ Such 
 increase of this knowledge as shall come with 
 the perfect vision is eternal life above.^^ 
 
 The glory of heaven, then, is a personal rela- 
 tion of the soul with God and Jesus. All other 
 glory is but the bringing of all the accompani- 
 ments of life into harmony with that great fact. 
 "I go to prepare a place for you." Where is 
 
 "Comp. John vi. 52-58; xvii. 3. "John fv. 14. 
 
 "John vi. 51. »« Rev. xxii. 1. "John vi. 53. 
 
 ««John X. 27. 28. »»John xvii. 24. 
 
The Final Glory. 193 
 
 it, Lord? "Ye know whither. I go to the 
 Father." Which way is it, and how shall we 
 reach it? "I am the way and the truth and the 
 life." *^ He who has Jesus has God, and has 
 all the rest.'*^ The rewards, and the recom- 
 pense that are promised in return for suffering 
 and for service here seem not to be material 
 things. He who gives a dollar is not promised 
 a hundred dollars on the other side, or any 
 treasures of a similar kind. ''He shall receive 
 a hundredfold now in this time; and in the 
 loorld to come eternal life." ^^ It is not 
 those who give the greatest sums in this world 
 that always have the largest inheritance in 
 heaven.^^ We simply go out into the service 
 of Jesus, and he who serves in such a way as 
 to learn more of the Spirit of Jesus, and loves 
 in such a way as more nearly to fill his heart 
 v/ith the person of Jesus, is rich toward God.*^ 
 God has a thousand loving ways in which to 
 pay a loving heart, for it is love, not pay, that 
 the loving heart really seeks. Where Jesus is, 
 is heaven, and the knowledge and love of Jesus 
 make all the rewards of heaven.^^ 
 
 *> John xiv. 1-7. ** John xiv. 8-10. « Mark x. 30. 
 
 ^3 Mark xii. 41-44. ** Mark xix. 21; Luke xii. 33. 
 
194 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 This gives us a fresh view of a very familiar 
 saying : "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the 
 first and the last." ^' When man from his 
 present station begins to think back through 
 effect to cause till the first great cause is 
 reached, the mind rests not until it finds God, 
 the first cause — the first letter in the alphabet 
 of existence. And then when Jesus comes to 
 the task of showing us the thitherward end 
 of human destiny, he lifts this veil and that, 
 and, as the last goal of human thought and 
 desire, names God, the Omega, the last letter 
 of all our spelling. Fly onward, O my soul! 
 And gathering strength through all thy onward 
 flight, fly onward still. Know God, and know- 
 ing him, live. 
 
 Religion is personal union with God, and the 
 perfected fruit of aill religion is when the pure 
 in heart shall see God.^^ 'T would see Jesus ;'* 
 what care I for the pearly gates, and the golden 
 streets, except as for things which he has 
 made? Jesus holds my heart. From seeing 
 and knowing him spring eternal life and eternal 
 joy. 
 
 "Rev. xxii. 13. *• Matt. v. 8. 
 
The Final Glory. 195 
 
 'The bride eyes not her garment. 
 
 But her dear bridegroom's face; 
 I will not gaze at glory, 
 
 But on my King of grace ; 
 Not at the crown he giveth, 
 
 But on his pierced hand ; 
 The Lamb is all the glory 
 
 Of Emmanuel's land." 
 
INDEX. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Alexander, 18 
 
 Alpha and Omega, 194 
 
 Anaconda, 13 
 
 Annihilation, , 80 
 
 Babylon, 42 
 
 Bacon, 12 
 
 Baptismal Formula, 155 
 
 Bartimseus, 126 
 
 Being, three stages of, 170 
 
 Believer's death, 172-174 
 
 Believers, growth of, 138 
 
 Bible of Christ, 27 
 
 Book, possible for God of nature to make, 12 
 
 Brazen serpent, 113 
 
 Caesar, Julius, 16-18 
 
 Caesar ( Nero, Paul before ) , 56 
 
 Caiaphas, 179 
 
 Character, 9 
 
 China, 42 
 
 Chkist, at tomb of Lazarus, 54; believes in himself, 
 93; Christ-Spirit, 148; compassion of, 150; creed 
 of, why study, 14; death of, 101; devotion to the 
 Scriptures, 27, 38; divine, 94; essential to men, 
 107; final glory of, 186; himself, 92-108; life, 99; 
 message, 98; Mes-siah, 95; method of work, 17; 
 not civil judge, 144; opposed to Satan, 64; person 
 and character, 17; preacher's repentance, 71; pre- 
 existent, 167, 173; ransom, 106; second coming, 
 
200 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 Pagh. 
 176; source of light and blessing, 15; strong, 79; 
 sympathy of, 66; temptation, 64; transfiguration, 
 
 105, 188 ; wonderful, 17 
 
 Christian countries progressive, 19 
 
 Christian Scientist, 70 
 
 Cleopatra, 16 
 
 Comparative study of religions, 42 
 
 Conditional immortality, 81 
 
 Confucius cited, 55 
 
 Consecration, 128 
 
 Cornelius, . •. 163 
 
 Creeds, 9-10 
 
 Creed of Christ important, 14 
 
 Croesus, 18 
 
 David, 33 
 
 Death, 167-175 
 
 Death, believers, 172; effects not permanent, 174; 
 Jesus not afraid of, 169; names for, 169; no sus- 
 pension of being, 170 
 
 Deeper meaning of Scripture, 28 
 
 Disciples, ignorance of, 29 
 
 Doom, 79; three elements in, 82; fixed, 85; judicial 
 
 sentence, 83 ; loss, 82 ; naturg^l consequences, 83 
 
 Druids, 16 
 
 Egypt, 16 
 
 Elijah, : 105 
 
 Elisha, prayer of, 56 
 
 Eternal life, 190; consists in knowledge of God, 191 
 
 Evolution, 45 
 
 Family, from God, 135 
 
 Fatherhood of God, 115-122 
 
 Final Glory, The, 186-195 
 
 Believers with Christ in, 189; like h'm original 
 
 station, 187 ; not fully revealed, 186 
 
 Formalists, 30 
 
Index. 201 
 
 Pagh. 
 
 Free men, believers must be, 141 
 
 Gadarene country, 137 
 
 Gaul, 16 
 
 Geologist, 11 
 
 Germany, 19 
 
 Gethsemane, garden of, 52 
 
 Gibbons cited, 15 
 
 Gideon, battle cry, 65 
 
 God, 44-57 
 
 Attributes of, 44-45; concerned about Jesus, 49; 
 
 near, 45-52 ; ruler and inspector of the world, 47 ; 
 
 special manifestation of, 54 ; source of comfort, 53 ; 
 
 of strength, 56 
 
 Gospels assumed to be true, 11 
 
 Goths, 18 
 
 Grave, the, 174 
 
 Greece, 15 
 
 Greek, three words for life, 104 
 
 Growth of believers, 138 
 
 Hall of Fame, 132 
 
 Herod the Great, 16 
 
 Herod Antipas, 53 
 
 Herodias, 72 
 
 Higher criticism, 45 
 
 Himself, 92-108 
 
 Holy Spirit, 152-166 
 
 Characteristic work of, 165; a divine person, 154; 
 
 indwelling, how known, 165; in The Acts, 162 
 
 not to be divided, 159; power of, 161; receiving of, 
 
 158 ; work of, 155 
 
 HojVie-going, The, 167-175 
 
 Hottentot, 186 
 
 Human Mind in Religious Study, 11-13 
 
 Ideal life in the Scriptures, 38, 41 
 
 Immortality, 29-187 
 
202 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Inconsistency of scientists, 12 
 
 India, 42 
 
 Intimacies of life, 135 
 
 Isaiah, 34, 105 
 
 James, 44 
 
 Jerusalem, 40, 102 
 
 John the Apostle, 72, 88, 143 
 
 John the Baptist, 97 
 
 Jonah, 91, 156 
 
 Jordan, 152, 156 
 
 Judas, 72, 88 
 
 Jude, 53 
 
 Judea, 16 
 
 Judgment day, 84 
 
 Judicial sentence against sin, 83 
 
 Kingdom, The, 122-133 
 
 Characteristics of members, 126; defined, 122; 
 entrance to, 125; highest place in, 131; members 
 genuine, 126; near, 124; one in all stages, 132; 
 relation of subject and king, 129; relation of mem- 
 bers to each other, 130 
 
 Kingdom in the World, 134-151 
 
 Members of, forgiving, 149; independent, 149; 
 separate from the world, 135; sphere of, 144-146; 
 
 unworldly, 146 
 
 King, democratic, 129 
 
 Knowledge and faith, 109 
 
 Knowledge, sources of, 25 
 
 Laocoon, 13 
 
 Last Supper, 102, 106 
 
 Lazarus, 54 
 
 Levi, 143 
 
 Life and death, 113 
 
 Life, three words for, 104 
 
 Lot, 183 
 
Index. 203 
 
 Page. 
 
 Loyalty to Christ, 144 
 
 Mary, 72 
 
 Martha, 172 
 
 Martyrs, 56 
 
 Men in darkness, 72 ; sinners, 71 
 
 Messiah, 95; death of, 101; life, 99; message, 98; 
 
 three duties of, 97 
 
 Messiah conception, the, 39 
 
 Mind in religious study, 11 
 
 Miracles of Old Testament, 32 
 
 Missionary, 77 
 
 Mohammedans, 19 
 
 Moralist defined, 44 
 
 Moral law, 32 
 
 Moses, 17, 33, 39, 40, 105, 123 
 
 Mtesa, 20 
 
 Napoleon cited, 17 
 
 Natural consequence of sin, 83 
 
 Natural scientist, 70 
 
 Nature and Scripture one author, 26 
 
 Nazareth, 39 
 
 New birth, 112 
 
 New revelation, 69 
 
 New status, 115 
 
 Nicodemus, 73 
 
 No revelation, 69 
 
 Old status, 114 
 
 Old Testament, 27 
 
 Paraclete, 157 
 
 Paschal supper, 106 
 
 Paul cited, 25; confidence of, 56; preaching of, 163 
 
 Penalty, 85; eternal, 87; fixed, 85; terrible, 86 
 
 Peter a householder, 143; preaching of, 163; rebuked, 102 
 
 Physical science, 45 
 
 Pilate, 53, 145 
 
204 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 Pagb. 
 
 Possession no sin, 143 
 
 Power of Holy Spirit, 161 
 
 Prayer, Christ enjoins, 54 
 
 Prayers of Jesus, 51 
 
 Preaching, 163 
 
 Pressens^ cited, 92 
 
 Providence, particular, 48 
 
 Psalms, 39 
 
 Punishment for Sin, 78-91 
 
 Grounds of, 87; guesses concerning, four, 79; 
 
 Jesus speaks much concerning, 90 
 
 Question, a pleasing one, 20 
 
 Ransom, 106 
 
 Rationalists, 31 
 
 Redeemed Men, 109-121 
 
 God's gifts to, priceless, 116; guarantees for the 
 
 future, 117; have experienced a great change. 111; 
 
 increasing riches, 118; insured against loss, 117; 
 
 loved of God, 110, 119; new status, 115; old 
 
 status, 114; relation to property, 141; stars, . . . .121 
 
 Reformation, the, 19 
 
 Reformers, 56 
 
 Religious knowledge, three sources of, 25 
 
 Repent, 33,71 
 
 Retribution, 87 
 
 Restorationism, 79 
 
 Resurrection, 172, 174 
 
 Rewards of heaven, 193 
 
 Richter cited, 17 
 
 Rome, 15, 18 
 
 Saints, Romish, 19 
 
 Samaria, woman of, 97 
 
 Sanctification, , 118 
 
 Satan, 58-67 
 
 Authority and power of, 61; Christ opposed to, 
 
Index. 205 
 
 Pagk. 
 64; enemy of Christ, 58; evil, 61; hateful to 
 Christ, 65; not to be ridiculed, 59; opposed to 
 Christ, 62; personality of, 60; to be hated by men, 
 
 67 ; to be overthrown, 63 
 
 Schiller cited, 78 
 
 Scholium on Old Testament, 42 
 
 Scientists inconsistent, 12 
 
 Scotland, 16 
 
 Scriptures, The, 25-43 
 
 Authority of, 30 ; deeper meaning, 28 ; foundation 
 of teaching, 35 ; ideal life in, 38 ; integrity of, 33 ; 
 Jesus loved, 38 ; men too may love, 41 ; rule of life, 
 
 36 ; sufficiency of, 32 ; without error, 34 
 
 Sea captain, 137 
 
 Second Coming, The, 176-185 
 
 A fact, 177; not certainly far away, 181; not cer- 
 tainly near, 181; not same as death, 178; sudden 
 and unexpected, 182; time undefined, 180; to be 
 
 longed for, 184 
 
 Shanghai, 137 
 
 Silk-worm, deceased, 69 
 
 Sin, 68-77 
 
 Deceives, 69; is personal, 74; not in body only, 74; 
 
 not mere absence of good, 75 
 
 Sinless perfection, .119 
 
 Sinners, men are, 71, 77 
 
 Sodom, 183 
 
 Solomon, 91 
 
 Stanley, Henry M., 20 
 
 State, from God, 135 
 
 Synagogue schools, 27 
 
 Theism, 85 
 
 Thief on cross, 168 
 
 Third day, 172, 174 
 
 Trade not morally elevating, 19 
 
2o6 The Creed of Christ. 
 
 Paoh. 
 
 Tradition, 30 
 
 Transfiguration, 105-188 
 
 Truth not all discovered yet, 13 
 
 Truth to be vindicated, 88 
 
 uifiias, la 
 
 Universal ism, 79 
 
 Unprejudiced study commended, 13 
 
 Unworldliness, 127 
 
 Unworthy means of winning men, 146 
 
 Vandals, 18 
 
 Why Study the Creed of Christ, 14-21 
 
 World, dark when Christ came, 15; hostile to the 
 kingdom, 137; inclement, 136; meaning of in 
 
 speech of Jesus, 72; to be won by believers, 139 
 
 Yokohama, 137 
 

 Date Due 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 fgf ..' ■' a.p 
 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 -* 
 
 '' 
 
 i 
 
 .;-.,.^--w.**f-| 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 ! 
 
 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 i 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^