SEP 14 1W2 ^LOGICAL SE*^ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library http://www.archive.org/details/pioneerofsouthOOpres A PIONEER OF SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY A TRIBUTE TO Rev. ALLEN H. BROWN BY THE PRESBYTERY OF WEST JERSEY COMMEMORATING HIS EIGHTIETH BIRTHDAY AND FIFTY-FOUR YEARS OF SERVICE INCLUDING HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY, HISTORICAL PAPERS AND A FEW SERMONS Philadelphia Allen, Lane & Scott 1211-13 Clover Street 1901 Press of Allen, Lane & Scott, Philadelphia. PREFACE. This volume is published by direction and under the auspices of the Presbytery of West Jersey. It is inspired by an earnest desire to convey to Rev. Allen H. Brown, through some fitting medium, the ap- preciation and affection of his brethren and friends. The form of the testimonial is that most agreeable to Mr. Brown. A tribute of more substantial personal benefit was at first projected; but, as in all his life work, so in this memorial, he has chosen unselfishly. The desire has been uppermost with him that the Committee should commem- orate his work in a form that would bring honor and glory to Christ Jesus rather than profit or prominence to himself. Part I. contains the proceedings of Presbytery and other relative historic matter. Part II. contains a few of Mr. Brown's sermons. In the preface the author indicates some considerations that influenced him in allowing them to be published. Similar considerations have led the Committee to admit into Part I. encomiums that may seem to some extravagant or fulsome. It need only be said that the Committee are per- suaded that these tributes of esteem and affection are none too strongly put. On the contrary, the great multi- tude of men, women, and children who have learned to love and venerate the name of Allen H. Brown will be ready to w r onder why so much has been left unsaid. A word of deserved praise to a living man is better than the best epitaph. A rosebud placed in a living hand is better than the treasures of a conservatory laid on a grave. "Aforetime anointing" of the servants of Jesus must be pleasing to Him who said of the woman : "Let her alone; she hath wrought a good work." Frederic R. Brace, Sylvester W. Beach, Editorial Committee. <3) PART I. CONTENTS. Part I. PAGE. Initial Action of the Presbytery of West Jersey, June 26th, 1900 9 Commemorative Services, September 26th, 1900 n Autobiography of Rev. Allen H. Brown 13 Address on behalf of Presbytery 27 Resolutions of the Session of the First Presbyterian Church of Atlantic City 32 Tribute from the Presbyterian Historical Society 34 Letter from Rev. William Bannard, D. D 35 Letter from Rev. Henry C. Cameron, Ph. D., D. D., of Princeton University 36 Action of the Presbytery of Monmouth 37 Historical Letter by Rev. Allen H. Brown 39 Historical and Descriptive Address of Rev. Allen H. Brown at the Unveiling of the Presbyterian Historical Monument, Monmouth County, N. J., on June 14th, 1900 45 REV. HENRY REEVES, PH. D., D. D. THE ACTION OF THE PRESBYTERY OF WEST JERSEY. At the regular meeting, in Woodstown, June 26th, 1900, the following resolution, offered by Dr. Brace, was adopted by a rising vote : — "That a committee be appointed to arrange for a proper recognition of the fifty-four years' service of Rev. Allen H. Brown in this Presbytery; also of the goodness of God in permitting him to reach the age of fourscore years, and that a special service be held in connection with the next meeting of Presbytery." On this committee Frederic R. Brace, D. D., Henry Reeves, D. D.,* and Elder Eben S. Mathis, of Atlantic City, were appointed. At the Fall meeting of the Presbytery of West Jersey, in Cape May, September 25th, the report of the Com- mittee on the recognition of the lifelong services of Rev. Allen H. Brown made the following report, which was adopted : — "We recommend that the exercises connected with the recognition of the services of Rev. Allen H. Brown be held at 11. 15 to-morrow morning. "We further recommend that Mr. Brown be requested to place in the hands of Presbytery for publication some of his sermons that he is willing to have printed, with his autobiography and photograph, and that there be added to the present committee to secure the publication thereof Judge Allen B. Endicott, Rev. Sylvester W. Beach, and Rev. W. H, Fishburn, D. D." A true copy. Attest : Henry Reeves, October 3d, 1900. Statcd CUrk ' *Dr. Reeves was taken sick in January, and died March 13th, 1901. (9) TRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF CAPE MAY, WHERE IHI PRESBYTERY ME1 SEPTEMBER 26TH, 19OO. COMMEMORATIVE EXERCISES, SEPTEMBER 26th, J900. At the Fall meeting of the Presbytery of West Jersey, in Cape May, September 26th, 1900, Rev. Allen H. Brown presented his resignation as Presbyterial missionary. His resignation was accepted and the following paper adopted by Presbytery : — "In accepting the resignation of Rev. Allen H. Brown as Presbyterial Missionary, we desire to express to him our appreciation of his faithful, earnest, and self-sacrificing work during the many years that he has acted not only as the Presbyterial Missionary of our own Presbytery, but also of the adjoining Presbytery of Monmouth. We rec- ognize that the growth of the churches along the Shore and in the newly-settled portions of South Jersey has been greatly promoted by his wise and judicious management; that he has by his large sympathies and kind expressions of interest brought hope to many of the feeble churches, almost ready to give up, and that have since grown into strong, self-supporting churches. He has also brought inspiration and encouragement to the self-denying min- isters of these feeble churches. "We rejoice with him in the goodness of God in sparing his life so long, and enabling him to do so blessed a work. We also rejoice with him in the growth of the Church within our bounds, and pray that the life that has been so filled with usefulness may long be spared, and that we may continue to have in the future, as in the past, his wise counsel, his loving sympathy, and his prayers of faith." At 11.30 A. M. the order of the day was taken up, and services were held in recognition of the life work of Rev. Allen H. Brown. Prayer was offered by Rev. John Ewing. D. D., of Daretown. An autobiography of Mr. Brown (n) 12 . COMMEMORATIVE EXERCISES. was read by Dr. Brace. An address in behalf of Presby- tery was read by Dr. Brace. Rev. Frederick J. Stanley, D. D., of Atlantic City, presented a series of resolutions adopted by the session of the First Church, Atlantic City. Resolutions of congratulation and goodwill were pre- sented by Dr. Brace from the Presbyterian Historical So- ciety of Philadelphia. Mr. Brown then spoke very appropriately and with deep feeling, expressing his gratitude for the action of Presby- tery, and disclaiming all personal merit for his work, as- cribing the honor and glory to the great Head of the Church, who had so marvelously opened the way. Voluntary remarks were then made by Revs. E. P. Shields, D. D., of Bridgeton; Henry Reeves, D. D., of Gloucester City; Heber H. Beadle, of Bridgeton, and others. Prayer was offered by Rev. Sylvester W. Beach, and the benediction was pronounced by Mr. Brown. Attest : Henry Reeves, Stated Clerk. REV. FREDERIC R. BRACE, D. D. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF REV. ALLEN H. BROWN. Read before the Presbvtery by Rev. F. R. Brace, D. D. God's purposes are unfolded and made known by His providential works, and they who observe His providence shall have providences to observe. The first Synodical Missionary in New Jersey was the Rev. John Brainerd, who was born at Haddam, Conn.. February 28th, 1720, and, when the annuity of the Society in Scotland for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge failed, the Synod of New York and Philadelphia repeat- edly ordered collections to be taken in all its churches for his support. (See Minutes of that Synod, 1760, pages 299 and 300, and 1771, page 419.) The second Synodical Missionary in New Jersey was the Rev. Allen H. Brown, born of Connecticut ancestry in the city of New York (182 Pearl Street), on September 23d, 1820. It is an interesting, but not important coinci- dence that these two men, who were destined for similar work, were born one hundred years apart, one in 1720. the other in 1820. It is more important to notice that they occupied the same field of labor and traveled the same territory, from Toms River to Cape May, and from Bridgetown (now Mt. Holly) to Salem, and with the same purpose in view, viz., to remove spiritual destitutions by preaching the Gospel, promoting the cause of education, erecting school houses and houses of worship, organizing churches and securing other laborers to do the work which they, single handed, could not accomplish. Mr. Brown was the third of the family of nine chil- dren of Silas and Olivia Brown. His academic education was in the notable school of William Forrest, in New York. He entered the University of the City of New (13) 14 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF REV. ALLEN H. BROWN. York in the sophomore class, and finished also the jun- ior year. When internal troubles arose, and all the Professors (save one) of that institution resigned, Mr. Brown and his classmate, Harvey D. Ganse, took the senior year at Columbia College, in New York. Both delivered ad- dresses at the commencement, and were graduated in 1839. The prayers of a devoted mother, the letter of an older sister, the exhortations of a pious nurse, and es- pecially the active efforts of a faithful Sunday-school teacher, who took him to revival meetings in the church of Rev. Edwin F. Hatfield, accompanied by the influence of the Holy Spirit influenced and determined his religious life. In the case of some, whose experience under con- viction is not of an emotional or excitable character, it is not easy to designate the moment of regeneration, or the day and hour of conversion; but here is a scrap of paper on which are written with pencil these few words : — Joe pom*. JUsh ^-CaArk^cLs ohi^^c/L, Mr. Brown made his public profession in the Murray Street Presbyterian Church, where the family worshipped about two years, and then they returned together to the Duane Street Church, which in the interval had removed from Cedar Street. The family later accompanied that branch of the Duane Street congregation which removed AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF REV. ALLEN H. BROWN. 15 to University Place, under the ministry of the Rev. George Potts, D. D. The providential position of the young col- lege student as secretary of the Sunday-school Missionary Society of the Duane Street Church for 1838-39 may have had some influence in shaping his future course and en- listing him in the work of Home Missions. Mr. Brown's Bible-class teacher, William Mulligan, an eminent counsellor, one day remarked that many young men enter the learned professions too hastily, with too little preparation. In consequence of this remark, Mr. Brown after graduation from college spent another year in private study, and at the same time, for the study of Hebrew, attended Dr. Nordheimer's class in Union Sem- inar}' in New York City. This is the only ground for the appearance of his name in the general catalogue of that seminary. He was matriculated at the Theological Sem- inary of Princeton in the class of 1840-41, and having pursued the regular three years' course, took also a fourth scholastic year in that seminary. Providentially, during this period, the American Tract Society prosecuted the work of colportage under the enthusiastic and energetic superintendence of Rev. R. S. Cook, one of the secretaries of that society. For obvious reasons Mr. Cook employed students of Princeton to spend their now longer vacations as colporteurs in the pines of New Jersey, as well as in the mountains. One day he proposed to Mr. Brown to become agent of the society and superintendent of the work in Xew Jersey. Mr. Brown having accepted this proposal visited the churches of co-operating denomina- tions and traveled, largely by private conveyance, from the beautiful hills of Sussex and Warren Counties to the sands of Atlantic and Cape May Counties. The work involved raising funds for the Society, distribution of its publications directly and mediately and superintendence of colpor- teurs. Interesting reports from some of those young men are now in the archives of the Synod at Princeton. The severity and exposure of the first Winter prompted Mr. Brown to spend the second Winter at his father's house in the city. He signified to Dr. Archibald Alexander his l6 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF REV. ALLEN H. BROWN. willingness during the third Winter, to supply any vacant pulpit. William Forrest, Jr., having supplied May's Land- ing for a short time, informed Dr. Alexander of the need of the church, and the result was that Mr. Brown went to May's Landing in December, 1846, to supply the pulpit, and under a promise to resume the work of the Tract Society in the Spring of 1847. I n the Autumn of that year (1847) he returned to May's Landing to enter upon what has proven to be his life work, and to fulfill or make prophetic the words of the wise Dr. Alexander, "That the time might come when there would be more than one Presbyterian church in that region." It was certainly a region then destitute of Presbyterian churches. The little church of May's Landing of eight members (with a heavy debt on its building) was the only one in the large county of Atlantic, and only one Presbyterian church was in Cape May County on the south nearly forty miles distant, while there was none on the upper coast for twice that distance, unless we make an exception of Manchester, which was begun as a mission by the New School Presbytery of Brooklyn, led by Rev. Samuel H. Cox, and was organized as a church by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, March 13th, 1842, three months after the organization of the one at May's Landing. This is the same territory over which John Brainerd itinerated nearly one hundred years previously. Mr. Brown took an early opportunity to ex- plore the surrounding country, and found that in Atlantic County the large majority of between eight and nine thou- sand people lived along the rivers and on the shore, and that these were supplied with Gospel preaching by two minis- ters of the Methodist Episcopal Church making a large circuit, each minister supplying one of the appointments once in four weeks. Local preachers helped on vacant Sabbaths, and Protestant Methodists had some small churches in the same territory. In his itinerating, Mr. Brown found at Absecon a strong and fast friend in Dr. Jonathan Pitney, who came from Mendham, in Morris County, New Jersey, in 1820 and practiced medicine in a very large district for over fifty years. For want of time AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF REV. ALLEN H. CROWN. 1 7 and space we must be content to refer for further notice of Dr. Pitney to a paper which Mr. Brown read, by re- quest, before the Xew Jersey Historical Society in New- ark on May 20th, 1886, entitled "Fifty Years' Progress on the Coast of Xew Jersey." Itinerant Pioneers. Then was commenced a work of Presbyterian itinerat- ing as other young men could be induced to enter upon the work, extending from May's Landing, as a centre, to Weymouth, Estelville, Leeds Point, Port Republic, Ocean- ville, Absecon, Somers Point, Batsto, Bass River, Tucker- ton, and other places. The printed reports of the Sunday- school Missionary Society of the Presbyterian Church on University Place, Xew York, covering a period of ten years, from 1847 to I 857, show that the society gave not less than $1632 through Mr. Brown's agency for this work. The only known extant copy of these reports gives information which cannot elsewhere be found, unless it be in Mr. Brown's own reports to the Board of Do- mestic Missions, and published in the Home and Foreign Record. By the help of the reports of the Sunday-school Missionary Society, we recall the names of pioneers of that decade who labored in Atlantic, Cape May, and Bur- lington Counties. Among these names are G. J. Harri- son, Mr. Edwards, Joseph Rogers, R. R. Evans, Robert H. Reeves, George F. Goodhue, F. Senour, Edward Eells, Mr. Davis. H. X. Bittinger, George S. Woodhull, H. B. Burr, Isaac Todd, and John White. These men could not have performed the work which they did without the aid from that Sunday-school Missionary Society. Licensure and Ordination. Mr. Brown was licensed to preach the Gospel in 1843 by the Presbytery of Xew York. On October 12th, 1847, with a written memorial from some members of the Presbytery of West Jersey, obtained 18 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF REV. ALLEN H. BROWN. at Mt. Holly on the 6th, he appeared before the Presby- tery of New York at Jamaica, L. I. Here, with the assist- ance of his pastor, Rev. George Potts, D. D., and Rev. James W. Alexander, D. D., arrangements were made for his ordination as evangelist by the said Presbytery of New York. A few days afterwards the Synod of New York took exception to this action of the Presbytery and thwarted this well-intended scheme. Mr. Brown was or- dained at May's Landing as evangelist by the Presbytery of West Jersey, on January 5th, 1848; and regarding his work as that of an evangelist, or itinerant, or missionary at large, he was never installed pastor of May's Landing, nor of any other church. On that occasion, members of Presbytery, driving long distances, spent a part of three days at May's Landing. Mr. S. Beach Jones, Mr. John Burtt, and Mr. S. K. Kollock each preached a sermon, and Mr. Jones delivered the charge to the evan- gelist. The Presbytery of Burlington, in April and September, 1 861, by formal action, indorsed and welcomed Mr. Brown as Missionary Agent within their bounds, and made an effort to raise some money for his support. Thus his work was extended to the upper coast. Church Extension. At a meeting of Synod at Trenton in 1872, Mr. Brown introduced a resolution for the appointment of a com- mittee to consider the work of Home Missions and Church Extension in New Jersey. Dr. Samuel Miller, the Mod- erator, appointed the committee of one from each Pres- bytery and Mr. Brown its chairman. (See minutes of Synod, 1872, pages 37 and 53.) The committee made a report, which was printed in the minutes of the meeting at Washington in 1873. This committee became a Per- manent Committee on Church Extension, with Rev. Rob- ert Aikman as its efficient chairman, and Synod appointed Mr. Brown Synodical Missionary, to be supported not by the Board of Home Missions, but by the contributions of the several Presbyteries. While supported by the whole AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF REV. ALLEN H. BROWN. 19 Synod, his field of labor was restricted to the two Presby- teries — West Jersey and Monmouth. The annual reports presented for eleven years by Dr. Aikman, and for two years by Dr. Gosman, and printed in the Appendix to the Minutes of Synod, contain interesting details of the rapid progress of Church Extension along the coast at the new watering places, as well as at inland town- springing up on the lines of new railroads. The report of 1883 gave a review and summary for the preceding ten years. Fifty years ago there was no railroad in Southern Jer- sey, excepting the New York line from Camden via South Amboy. Forty-six years ago (in 1854) the first railroad to the seashore and Atlantic City was opened, and now in every direction rapid trains rush with marvelous re- sults in the upbuilding of towns, the enhanced valuation of lands, increase of population, and multiplication of our churches. The attentive observer of providential events will not fail to notice how, before these developments began, the way was prepared for the Presbyterian Church to re- enter and reoccupy the territory which it had neglected for many years after the days of John Brainerd. Mr. Brown declares that one of the greatest difficulties which he had to encounter in his missionary work was to arouse an interest and convince the Church and its of- ficers that this southeastern part of the State was worthy of cultivation. In the Princeton Review for January, 1862, appeared an article which the Board of Education dis- tributed as a pamphlet of sixteen pages. Its title was : "Are there too many ministers?" The author, Dr. Charles Hodge, advocated a more liberal support of ministers, on the plan adopted by the Church of Scotland (page 15). commonly called the Sustentation Plan, and on page 13 writes : 'Tn large districts of the country — as in the pines of Xew Jersey, for example — where the people are poor and widely dispersed, we can have no churches. So far as we are concerned, such districts are left entirely deserted." With the progress of events a great change has been made in the popular estimate of this region. 20 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF REV. ALLEN H. BROWN. Residence. During all his missionary work, Mr. Brown has reck- oned Atlantic County as his legal residence or centre of op- erations, although sojourning for a limited season in New- ark, New York, or Camden. Schools and Education. Half a century ago the public money for the district schools was very inadequate, sometimes sufficient for a free school for only three months in the year. Some trus- tees prolonged the term by making it partly free and partly pay, that is, supported by the parents in part. Chil- dren were numerous and of good natural ability; but few good teachers, combining mental and moral qualifications, were attainable. In this low state of educational affairs, Mr. Brown's efforts in the first years for education and schools were subsidiary to and almost as important as his efforts for churches. At May's Landing a school had been conducted in con- nection with the church from its beginning. Schools were established in connection with churches in buildings erected or adapted for the double purpose of education and worship at Estelville, Leed's Point, Oceanville, Ab- secon, Somers Point, and Tuckerton, besides the log school house a few miles north of May's Landing. While Dr. Cortlandt Van Rensselaer was secretary of the Presby- terian Board of Education, some, not all, of these schools were aided by that Board, and the work was very much like the school work which is now conducted by the Woman's Board of Missions. Mr. Brown first sought to supply the want of teachers by bringing students from the college and seminary at Princeton during their vacations. In two instances the American Sunday School Union granted aid. This work of students was in good measure successful, but attended with so many difficulties, chiefly the brevity of the term of service, and in the Summer time, that it seemed better to secure female teachers, who would AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF REV. ALLEN H. BROWN. 21 be more permanent. Accordingly, Mr. Brown made a special visit to Holyoke Seminary and consulted with Miss Mary Lyon. The result was that on April 12th, 1849, two teachers came as pioneers from that institution, and in the years succeeding twenty-five or more of different denominations, and not of Presbyterian antecedents, and all (save one) professing Christians, came to teach in dis- trict schools, from Beeseley's Point, in Cape May County, through Atlantic County, and as far north as Manahock- ing, in Ocean County. Another result was that one of those teachers, Miss Martha A. Dodge, of Amherst, N. H., on August 1 2th, 1852, became the wife of Mr. Brown. She died at her son's house, in Newark, on March nth. 1885. Of her four children, one son and two daughters survive. In the Genealogical History of the family of William Fiske, Sr., of Amherst, N. H., Mr. Albert A. Fiske pays a tribute to her intellectual gifts and moral traits.* Her poetical talent appears in a booklet printed for her family in 1878, entitled. "Spring Flowers and Autumn Leaves." Bible Society. For more than half a century Mr. Brown has been closely identified with the Atlantic County Bible Society, having been for many years its secretary, and in recent years its president. He has been familiar and active in all its work, and very seldom has failed to attend its an- nual meetings. Sabbath Observance. For several years Mr. Brown made strenuous efforts to promote the observance of the Sabbath. The South Jer- sey Joint Sabbath Committee was organized in 1870. It would make an interesting page to give an account of its delegation of three ministers — Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian — to Washington in regard to Sunday mail service to Atlantic City. *See pages 70-72, Chicago, Ills., 1S67. 22 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF REV. ALLEN H. BROWN. This South Jersey Joint Committee was merged, in 1874, into the New Jersey Sabbath Union. An account of the principles and plans of this Union may be found in its tenth annual report, which was published in 1884, and gave a decennial review of its work. It is significant that the leaders of the New Jersey Sabbath Union, Rev. W. J. R. Taylor, D. D., Rev. Joseph H. Knowles, D. D., and Rev. George S. Mott, D. D., became active workers in forming the American Sabbath Union. The force still lives to protest against and oppose a barrier to the tidal wave of Sabbath desecration. It would require a volume to give a history of the conflict between Sabbath observ- ance and Sabbath desecration. A letter from the daughter of the proprietor of one of the large window glass manu- factories in New Jersey must here suffice : — «z? a tj -d "Waterford, Aug. 8/1871. Rev. A. H. Brown, ' ° ' ' "Yours of the 27th was duly received, and I hope you will excuse me for not answering before. I am happy to inform you that Waterford Works were the first to stop working on Sabbath, March, 1848. "My mother and sisters distinctly remember hearing Father say it was a tract* given him by yourself, that caused him to investigate the matter and see if the melts could be made without working on the Sabbath. The man- ufacturers had two or three meetings on the subject, and decided to engage the men for the next year not to blow on Sunday. (That was in March.) My father came home on Saturday from the last meeting. My brother Clark was a partner with my father, called the men together and told them the result of the meeting. The men all (with but one dissenting voice) wanted to know why they could not stop at once, which they did, and from that time there was no more glass blown for Jos. Porter & Son on Sabbath, and our Sabbaths were as quiet as any country town. "Hannah C. Porter/' *The tract mentioned was "Edwards' Sabbath Manual." AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF REV. ALLEN H. BROWN. 23 All the window-glass factories in South Jersey from that time discontinued glass blowing on Sunday. Synodical Missions or Sustentation. In 1883, most unexpectedly to himself, Mr. Brown was elected a Commissioner to the General Assembly at Sara- toga. Upon the day devoted to the Board of Home Mis- sions, he noticed in the annual report of the Board a suggestion about the care of feeble churches by the older Synods, and realized that an opportunity for action had come, and that something was wanting. After six reso- lutions contained in the report of the Standing Committee had been adopted, he was emboldened to go upon the platform and offer this resolution, No. 7: "Resolved, That this Assembly commend to the favorable consideration of the older Synods the suggestion of the Board of Missions in regard to Sustentation, as found on page 20 of its annual report." (See Minutes General Assembly, 1883, page 603.) He was about to make some remarks, when the chair- man of the Committee, Rev. George D. Baker, D. D., then of Detroit, now of Philadelphia, said he thought he had indorsed this topic in the body of the report, but that he would take the responsibility of accepting this resolution as a part of the report. Thus, without noise or discussion, this suggestion, like a nail well driven, was surely clinched; and, truthfully, one after adjournment remarked : "The General Assembly does not realize the importance of what it has done this day." Returning to New Jersey, Mr. Brown, as secretary of the Church Extension Committee of the Synod, called the attention of the Committee to this recommendation of the General Assembly. A tentative plan was drawn and printed for the use of the Committee. It was considered, amended, and approved by the Com- mittee on the morning of the day w T hen the Synod met at Orange, in October, 1883. Copies of the plan, thus amended, were reprinted and ready for Synod on the next morning. The document was held so long in the Com- mittee on Bills and Overtures before it was reported to 24 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF REV. ALLEN H. BROWN. Synod, and then was referred back to the Committee on Church Extension, that the whole subject was postponed until the Synod's meeting at Elizabeth, in 1884, when, under the leadership of Dr. Craven, the plan was again discussed, amended, and referred to the Presbyteries to report upon it in 1885. At the meeting of Synod in At- lantic City in 1885, the reports from the Presbyteries were not all favorable, and the fate of the plan seemed to hang in doubt, when Dr. John Dixon moved that it be referred to a special committee to report in 1886. Dr. Dixon, as chairman of this special committee, reported at Camden in 1886 the plan which was finally adopted and which has been in successful operation since January 1st, 1887, and was revised in 1900. Among its benefits which may be mentioned are: 1. The Presbytery has much more money for missionary work than ever it had before. 2. It has independent and absolute control of the funds. 3. The laborers are better paid. 4. There are fewer vacant churches. 5. The increase of churches and of ministers and spiritual results all attest the wisdom of the plan. In 1886 this Presbytery enrolled 44 ministers and 45 churches. In 1900, 64 ministers and 56 churches, an increase in fourteen years of 20 ministers and 1 1 churches. Added to all this in New Jersey, six or seven other Synods have adopted the principle of synodical support of weak churches, some of them varying in details of ad- ministration. Historical and Monumental. Mr. Brown, as an itinerant, discovered many important and forgotten historical items in regard to the labors of John Brainerd and the churches which he established dur- ing the eighteenth century, especially before the Revolu- tionary War. To preserve these from perpetual oblivion he printed a series of seven letters in the Woodbury Con- stitution in the Autumn of 1850. He also co-operated with Prof. George Macloskie, LL. D., of Princeton University, in publishing the Journal of John Brainerd for the years 1761 and 1762. Dr. Ma- AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF REV. ALLEN H. BROWN'. 25 closkie brought this precious manuscript from London. It was published in successive numbers of The New Jersey Courier at Toms River, and was issued as a pamphlet in 1880. (Twenty-six pages.) Among Mr. Brown's published historical papers are An Outline History of the Presbyterian Church in West or South Jersey from 1700 to 1865, delivered by appoint- ment of Presbytery in Bridgeton, October 5th, 1865. The appendix contains facsimile epitaphs of twenty-nine Pres- byterian ministers, who had been buried within the bounds of the Presbytery of West Jersey. (Seventy-six pages.) Before the Historical Society of New Jersey, on May 15th, 1879, by request, he read a paper on The Character and Employments of the Early Settlers on the Coast of Nezu Jersey (forty pages), and defended the people of Barnegat from the charge of piracy. Before the same Society he read a paper on May 20th, 1886, on Jonathan Pitney, M. D., and Fifty Years' Prog- ress on the Coast of New Jersey. (Sixteen pages.) In 1888 the Synod of New Jersey published Mr. Brown's Historical Sketch of the Synod of New Jersey for the quarter of a century from 1861 to 1886. This was a dis- course delivered by him as retiring Moderator of the Synod, at its opening in the First Presbyterian Church of Camden, October 18th, 1886. (Thirty-two pages, with a map of Synod.) The history of the Presbyterian Church of Pilesgrove, or Pittsgrove, was published by that congregation. Mr. Brown prepared this history from 1741 to 181 1, and the pastor, Rev. John Ewing, D. D., continued the history from 18 1 2 to August, 1891, when the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary was celebrated. (Fifty-four pages.) Discovering the location of Brainerd's extinct churches, Mr. Brown has always been interested in studying their history. The same historical interest prompted him to offer a resolution in the Synod in 1886 for the appoint- ment of a committee to gather materials of the history of the Presbyteries and the churches of the Synod of New Jersey. This committee also became permanent, and one 26 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF REV. ALLEN H. BROWN. needs only to glance at the reports of the Custodians in the Appendix to the Minutes of Synod, to discover how numerous and valuable are the acquisitions of historic materials in the archives of Synod in the library building of the Theological Seminary at Princeton. Thus, providentially, was Mr. Brown called, with the help of others, to lead the pilgrimage to the Old Scots' Burial Ground and Tennent Church in 1895, and by the voice of the Synod to superintend the raising of the money and erection of the Presbyterian Historical Monument in Old Scots' Ground, in Monmouth County. His ad- dress at the unveiling on June 14th, 1900, gives the his- tory and description of the monument.* This has been his last public official work, and though not fully recovered from nervous prostration of the last Winter, he is spared to be with us to-day (having completed his eightieth year on the last Sabbath), and to realize more than ever before the meaning of the Psalmist : "If by reason of strength the days of our years be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; and whoso is wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving kind- ness of the Lord." (See Psalms xc. 10 and cvii. 43.) *See address in this volume (page 45.' ADDRESS ON BEHALF OF THE PRESBYTERY. By Rev. Frederic R. Brace, D.D. My Dear Brother Brown: — It is my pleasant duty and privilege to say to you on behalf of the Presbytery of West Jersey and your numerous friends that we joy and rejoice with you in the goodness of God, who has permitted you to see not only your eightieth year, but also fifty-four years of active, blessed service within the bounds of this Presbytery. Too often the words of love and appreciation that would have brightened the pathway of a faithful worker for God and humanity are left un- spoken until the ear that could hear them has the seal of death affixed to it, and the life that would have been cheered and helped and strengthened and lengthened has passed away without their encouragement and blessing. We do not want it to be so in your case. While you are with us we want to tender you our tribute of respect and love and let you know how highly we appreciate the great work that you have done, not only within the limits of this Presbytery, but throughout the State. Your fifty-four years of service in the vineyard of the Master have passed swiftly with you, for each day has been filled up with some work for God. When you left Princeton Seminary to come to South Jersey in 1844 as agent of the American Tract Society and superintendent of its work in New Jersey, except a narrow fringe along the shore of the Atlantic inside the beaches, and another fringe along the Delaware River, almost all the rest of the counties of Camden, Atlantic, Cumberland, also of Burlington and Ocean, were covered with forests of pine, with here and there a grove of oaks. These were inhabited (27) 28 ADDRESS ON BEHALF OF THE PRESBYTERY. chiefly by wood-choppers, charcoal-burners, and teamsters, scattered sparsely through all this territory. There were a few villages in which the proprietors and some few dwell- ers lived. In these villages were always found the store, with sometimes a glass factory or an iron furnace and a saw-mill, for almost all the villages were located on streams that could be utilized for water power. Occasionally there was a little frame building erected for a church, where infrequent services were held and perhaps a smaller frame building for a school house, where a few months' tuition was given by a man generally utterly unqualified to teach, and the whole curriculum included nothing more than the mere elementary branches. There was no railroad com- munication between the river Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean. The only railroad in South Jersey was the one from Bordentown to Camden. Absecon Beach, on which Atlantic City has grown to such wonderful proportions, was a long strip of sand, covered with sand dunes and a few weather-beaten, shrunken cedars. Here and there was a patch of salt grass on which a few cattle fed. One or two houses stood in solitariness on that forbidding sand waste. So was it with the other island beaches that act as God's breakwaters along all the southeastern coast of New Jersey. The population of the six lower counties constituting now the territory of the Presbytery of West Jersey was 92,127, not as much as that of Camden County alone now. The city of Camden had in 1840 only 3366 inhabitants, and in 1850, 9618; Bridgeton had in 1850, 2246; Millville in 1840, 1771, and in 1850, 2332. The population of Cape Island, now Cape May City, is not given separate from the township in which it was situated before 1855, when it was 597. Vineland, Hammonton, and other growing and flourishing towns were not in existence. The popu- lation of this territory now is nearly 300,000, and that of the cities mentioned: Camden, about 75,000; Atlantic City, 25,000; Bridgeton, 15.000; Millvile, about the same as Bridgeton; Vineland (Landis Township), 10,000; Ham- monton, 4000; Cape May City, over 3000. ADDRESS OX BEHALF OF THE PRESBYTERY. 29 You have seen all the beaches of the New Jersey coast from Bay Head to Cape May City transformed into peopled towns and cities, great health resorts for the mill- ions that come from all parts of these United States, and "The Pines," the great wilderness, filled with villages and towns and gardens and vineyards and farms. The Presbyerian churches erected in these cities and towns that afford the opportunities for worship to the settled populations, to the thousands of Summer and now Winter visitors, are in many instances the result of your far-seeing mind and never-flagging energy. And what shall I say of your efforts in behalf of education in these years? One who has known you and your work from almost the beginning, writes to me: "When Mr. Brown came into Atlantic County the teachers then employed could teach only the three 'R's,' and some scarcely knew enough to do that. He at once began to amend matters by getting teachers from various parts of New England from colleges and seminaries, and a revolution was soon effected through his agency in most parts of the County." And this I know to be true, for after my advent into the same region in 1861 I saw much of the fruits of your wise and beneficent work. It would be impossible to estimate the debt the church owes you for your indefatigable and careful investigations of the origin and early history of our churches, and the life and labors of the consecrated men who ministered to them. Libraries, vaults, attics, cellars have been searched by you to find the story of a church or a life and they have been compelled to give up their long concealed treasures. Old tombstones in forgotten graveyards and neglected burying grounds have been examined and deciphered and made to tell their story of the past generations. Through your zeal there stands upon the old historic Scots' Burying Ground that beautiful monument that tells of the first or- dination of a Presbyterian minister by a Presbytery in this country. As the historian of our Presbytery, we present to you our heartfelt thanks and hope that you may still, as health and strength may allow you, carry on this work 30 ADDRESS ON BEHALF OF THE PRESBYTERY. which has given you so much pleasure and the Church so many historic treasures. My brother, it was through you that I came to this sec- tion of the State more than thirty-nine years ago. Your wise counsel, loving sympathy, and inspiring example can never be forgotten. Following your example I have con- tinued my work in the one Presbytery. Not one member of the Presbytery that welcomed you to your self-denying work remains with us. Only two are here who were in the Presbytery in 1861. The band grows less as the years pass away, but the members are gathering in the great as- sembly on high to welcome us when we apply for admit- tance there. It is not often, my brother, that a man, brought up in a home of affluence and comfort, with its pleasant refine- ments, its social culture, and its elevated companionships, a man gifted by the Lord with superior mental abilities cul- tivated and strengthened by a thorough collegiate and sem- inary training, turns his back on refinement and culture and ease and wealth, and catching the sound of a cry from the wilderness goes thither and makes his home there, putting up cheerfully and willingly with all the depriva- tions to minister to the inhabitants in their spiritual des- titution, and endeavor by his preaching and his influence to develop them into a higher life. I think that I can say, without any fear of contradiction, that you made this noble sacrifice. You came to "The Pines," a terra incognita at that time to the people of North Jersey, to whom the very name was suggestive of terror, peril, and of degradation. You carried to the people the blessed word of God, the great refiner of human life; you used your influence and your money, until it was swept from you, for their bet- terment; you brought teachers of culture and refinement to the little school houses scattered through "The Pines" ; you visited the people in their homes and talked with them and read from the sacred Scriptures to them and prayed with them; ) r ou stood by them in their hours of sorrow, minis-* tering to them the comforts of the blessed Gospel ; you went with them to the quiet sleeping place of the dead to lay ADDRESS ON BEHALF OF THE PRESBYTERY. 31 there the bodies of beloved ones, worn out in life's hard struggle, and pointed the heart-broken weepers to the Resur- rection and the Life. You have tried to be a true apostle of Christ to the people among whom you chose to cast your lot, and we believe — may I not say we know — that through the grace of God you have succeeded. Many a one has risen up to call you "blessed" ; many a star shall glisten in your crown in the day when the great Lord, your Christ and our Christ, shall place it on your head. May the dear Lord spare your life many years for the happiness and blessing of your beloved children, for the joy of all your friends. Presbytery by resolution requests you to place in its hands for publication some of your sermons, your autobiography, and photograph; so that your friends may have something of value, beside loving memories, to put among their sacred treasures. ACTION OF THE SESSION OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF ATLANTIC CITY. Whereas, The Rev. Allen H. Brown has been associated so intimately with the First Presbyterian Church of At- lantic City from its incipiency; And Whereas, the said church has been so blessed of God during these forty-seven years since the first Presby- terian service was conducted in the then small village of Atlantic, that at present there are five centres of Presby- terianism manned with five pastors or supplies in charge. Therefore be it Resolved, By the Session of the First Presbyterian Church of Atlantic City, that we request Presbytery, at its commemoration of the eightieth anni- versary of the birth of Rev. Allen H. Brown, at the Ses- sion to be held in Cape May, September 26th, 1900, to permit us to add this tribute of our esteem and affection and Christian love to the garlands already prepared by Presbytery to wreathe this venerable servant of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our beloved brother of four-score years came over to Absecon Island as a young man in the prime of life from his charge in a neighboring town on the shore, at his own charges, on an errand of love. He established the first Presbyterian service, fostered the little plant for years, se- lected and secured the donation to our church of the present charming site (now valued at not less than $40,000), per- fected a temporary organization, and in 1870 was one of the Committee of Presbytery that organized the First Pres- byterian Church of Atlantic City with seven members. During these four decades, Rev. Allen H. Brown has kept a watchful eye over the interests of this branch of Zion, and in all times of perplexity or discouragements he ACTION OF THE SESSION. 33 has proven himself to be the Session's wise counsellor, trusted friend, and God's chosen servant to guide and guard this flock. The community esteem and confide in him — the people revere and love him — while the Session, for many years, have regarded him with deep veneration and Christian affection. We praise the Lord for such a life among us. His "hoary head is a crown of glory," for it is ''found in the way of righteousness." Young and old receive a con- stant benediction by his presence in our church and con- gregation. His blessed life happily verifies Psalm xcii. 12-14: "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age." May the Lord's richest blessing continue to follow our venerable and beloved brother as the shadows of life lengthen — "his eventide be light" — and the western slopes be aglow with the joys of his coming Saviour to welcome him home to the church triumphant. May Numbers, vi. 24-26, and Jude, 24, 25, be our Heavenly Father's constant benediction and joyful plaudit. By order of the Session. Frederick Jonte Stanley, Moderator. Eben S. Mathis, Clerk. Thompson Irvin, Chairles B. Boyer, Charles E. Adams, R. D. Craighead, Clinton K. Harris, Elders. TRIBUTE FROM THE PRESBYTERIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Philadelphia, September 17th, 1900. To the Reverend West Jersey Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of the United States. Fathers and Brethren: — The Executive Council of the Presbyterian Historical Society, at its last stated meet- ing, heard with great pleasure of your recent action in appointing a committee to make arrangements for a serv- ice at its next meeting in which your reverend body might officially and publicly testify to its high apprecia- tion of the ministerial character and labors of Rev. Allen H. Brown, and in particular to record its appreciation of his labors as an historian. The members of the Executive Council feel that they cannot allow the contemplated meeting to be held with- out begging the privilege of being permitted to have a share in this tribute to extend to Rev. Mr. Brown our cor- dial congratulations and heartfelt wishes on the auspicious occasion, and at the same time to express our sincere af- fection for him, our admiration of his Christian character and worth and our cordial appreciation of his invaluable labors in connection with the work of our Society. We sincerely pray that our Heavenly Father may long spare him in health and strength to the church of which he has been for so many years an earnest, faithful, and honored minister. With profound respect we remain, Yours in the fellowship of Christ, (Signed) Henry C. McCook, President. James Crawford, Chairman of the Executive Council. (34) LETTER FROM REV. WILLIAM BANNARD, D.D. The following letter from Dr. William Bannard was received by the Stated Clerk: — Accept my thanks for the notice of the meeting of Pres- bytery and its proposed recognition of the long and faith- ful service of Brother Brown. He deserves whatever honor may be conferred on him on the occasion. I re- call the interest I felt as a student in the seminary at Princeton when he graduated to become a missionary in "the Pines" of New Jersey. My interest in him was revived when more than thirty-one years ago I became a member of the Presbytery of West Jersey, and I found him still bishop of all that region, and learned something of his active, self-denying, and successful work. His continued service of fifty-four years in that position is an unusual event, and of itself bears witness to his wis- dom, patience, and persistence in meeting the perplexities and trials he must have encountered. Many have already, and more, doubtless, will hereafter, rise up to call him blessed, so that it is not merely his ''hoary head," but his labors of love for them and his zeal for religion, that will be his crown of righteousness. Fraternally yours, William Bannard. (35) LETTER FROM REV. HENRY CLAY CAMERON, Ph.D., D.D., OF PRINCETON UNIVERSITY. Princeton, N. J., March, 1901. Rev. Allen H. Brown. My Dear Friend: — * * * I am very glad to hear that your Presbytery is honoring you. Not only the Presbytery of West Jersey, but the Synod and the whole Presbyterian Church are under the greatest obli- gation to you for what you have done for the Church along the entire New Jersey coast, and in the matter of the John Boyd monument. Without your labors, energy, and perseverance these great and good things could not have been accomplished. I am truly thankful that a kind Providence permitted me to give you a little assistance in the work. With the best wishes and kindest regards, I am, as ever, Most truly yours, Henry Clay Cameron. (36) COPY OF THE INSCRIPTION, AS IT APPEARED IN 1895, IN THE OLD SCOT'S BURYING GROUND, IN MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY, UPON THE TOMB- STONE OF THE REY. JOHN BOYD, THE FIRST MINISTER OF WHOSE ORDINA- TION BY THE PRESBYTERY IN AMERICA ANY OFFICIAL RECORD EXISTS. From Photograph made for Kev. Henry Goodwin Smith, D. D. PIENTISSIMI DOMINI JOANNIS BOYDII CINERES ECCLESIAE HUJUS CAL VINI PASTOR[IS] HIC DEFODIUNTUR. SU AM OPERAM QUAMVIS STERILI SOLIDO CONSUMPTAM NON PERDIDIT. QUI ILLUM PERNOVERUNT ATQUE VIRTUTIBUS INGENTIS ILLO TE MPORE DIGNITATEM EJUS EX PLORAVERUNT. LECTOR VESTIG IA ILLIUS PERSEOUERE ET T E BEATUM FORE SPERO. MOR TEM OBIIT TRICESIMO DIE AUGUSTI MILLESIMO SEP TINGENTESIMO OCTAVO AETATIS SUAE VICESIMO NONO. THE ASHES OF THE EMINENTLY PIOUS MR. JOHN BOYD, PASTOR OF THIS CHURCH OF CALVIN, ARE BURIED HERE. HIS LABOR, ALTHOUGH EXPENDED ON BARREN GROUND, HE DID NOT LOSE. THEY WHO KNEW HIM WELL ALSO PROVED HIS WORTH [WHO WAS] AT THAT TIME DISTINGUISHED FOR [HIS] VIRTUES. READER, FOLLOW PERSEVERINGLY HIS FOOTSTEPS. AND I HOPE THOU WILT BE HAPPY. HE DIED THE THIRTIETH DAY OF AUGUST, ONE [•HOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND EIGHT, IN THE TWENTY-NINTH YEAR OF HIS AGE. THUS, FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHIC COPY, THE REV. HENRY C CAMERON, D. D-, PROFESSOR IN PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, HAS SUCCESSFULLY DECIPHERED, RE STORED AND TRANSLATED THE TIME-WORN INSCRIPTION UPON THE TOMB- STONE OF THE REV. JOHN BOYD. ACTION OF THE PRESBYTERY OF MONMOUTH, JANUARY 22d, 1901. The Presbytery of Monmouth takes peculiar pleasure in joining with the Presbytery of West Jersey in offering to their beloved friend, the Rev. Allen H. Brown, at the con- clusion of eighty years of life and over fifty years in the Gospel ministry, a token of their deepest respect and tenderest affection. They wish him to understand that they consider him as though a member of their own body, and their meetings scarcely seem complete when he does not show his face for at least a part of the sessions of Pres- bytery. They are grateful to God that he has been pleased to preserve his life during so many years of devoted and self-denying labor, and that he has given him strength to bear the trials and sufferings which have been made his portion during his long ministry. They feel under deep obligation to him for the time and toil he has expended within their bounds, the intelligence and wisdom which has characterized him in counsel, the appreciation he has dis- played for the historical associations connected with much of their territory, for the enthusiasm with which he has pursued his historical researches, for the ability which he has shown to excite the interest and zeal of others and for the substantial results which have followed from his un- tiring labors. They beg that he will accept from them this imperfect expression of admiration for his character, their gratitude for what he has done for them, and their constant affection for his person. Their fervent prayer is, that the God he has served so faithfully may give him perfect peace and comfort in the (37) 38 ACTION OF THE PRESBYTERY OF MONMOUTH. evening of his life, and that he may have the happiness of finding at the conclusion of his labors that what he has done meets with approval and acceptance in the presence of Him whose love was the inspiration of it all. Edward B. Hodge, A. H. Dashiell, B. S. Everitt, George Swain, Frank R. Symmes, Committee. The Presbytery adopted the above unanimously and or- dered the Stated Clerk to enter it on the records, send a copy to Rev. A. H. Brown, and one to the Presbytery of West Jersey. A true copy, Attest : Bent. S. Everitt, Stated Clerk. HON. ALLEN BROWN ENDICOTT. HISTORICAL LETTER FROM REV. ALLEN H. BROWN. The following reply to an inquiry from Judge Allen B. Endicott is worthy of a place in this volume. Hon. Allen Brown Endicott. My Dear Sir : — You ask, How many churches have I established? It is difficult to give a direct answer, for two reasons: First, because the word "church" is often used in a double sense, sometimes for the house of worship and sometimes for the ecclesiastical organization of living members. Again, it is difficult to answer because it is impossible in any important undertaking for any one person alone to do all the work. One person may plan the campaign and lead the forces, but he must have associates and co- workers to execute his plans and share with him the honor. An Admiral may gain a naval victory and he receives honor from his countrymen. He honors himself when he gives a share of the praise of victory to the men behind the guns. To obviate these difficulties, we must discriminate and divide the churches into classes, viz., the Pioneer Class, the Co-worker, and the Assistant. I. In the first class, I include new localities, where there was no Presbyterian Church, and where I have been the Pioneer, striving not to build upon another man's foundation. I now mention these names in geographical, rather than in chronological, order. Initial services were held in the open air, in private dwellings, in school houses, stores, lodge rooms, hotel parlors or dining rooms, or a court house. The names are printed in italics where only a building was erected, without a church organization. The Pioneer Class includes the Log School House north of May's Landing; Cape Island, now Cape May; Holly (39) 40 HISTORICAL LETTER FROM Beach, Tuckahoe, Cape May Court House,* Stephens* Creek,-)- or Estchille, and Oceanville,% Leeds Point, and a separate schoolhouse; Absecon, Somers Point (in which a young ladies' school was taught) is now removed to Pleasantville, Atlantic City,§ Brainerd Church, at Elwood; Hammonton, Elmer, Woodstown, Swedesboro, Woodland, now Calvary Chapel, in South Camden; Westville (sold to the Protestant Methodists), Bass River, now New Gretna; Tuckerton,^" Barnegat Village, Barnegat City, Shanwng, now Chatsworth; and Whitings. II. In the second class, I have been a Co-worker in lo- calities where some other person opened the way for the church, and I followed on to remove an overwhelming debt, or a legal barrier, or to erect a building, or to bridge over a chasm which appeared to be impassable, or secur- ing a pastor. Here belong: May's Landing, Billingsport, Green Creek (where Rev. A. P. Johnson was the leader), Avalon, Ocean City, Waterford, Atco, Berlin, Third Church of Camden (where Rev. William Boyd was the pioneer), Forked River (with Rev. James M. Denton), Toms River, || * Organized December ist, 1856, and dissolved October 7th, 1863. Most of its members lived at Green Creek. Its book of sessional rec- ords was given to the First Presbyterian Church of Atlantic City. ft These two buildings having rendered good service for a generation, both for public worship and for school purposes, were destroyed by forest fires and were not rebuilt. § In Atlantic City are now five Presbyterian Church organizations and three church edifices. If The labors of Rev. Samuel Miller, D. D., and Dr. C. Van Renssel- aer's legacy of $1000 are here to be held in grateful remembrance. A school for young ladies prepared the way and was continued in this church of Tuckerton. || At Toms River, Elder William Torrey began the work. When the building had stood unused for two years I co-operated with Revs. T. L. Janeway, D. D., and Charles Worrall, D. D., in the completion of the house, and later with Revs. James M. Macdonald, D. D., and George Hale, D. D., in its dedication and the organization of a church of five members. PRESBYTERIAN MANSE AT MAY'S LANDING, ERECTED IN l8oi. REV. ALLEN H. BROWN. 41 Asbury Park* (with Rev. John E. Peters, Sc. D.), Long Branch, where Mrs. Robert L. Stuart paid $6000 for the purchase of Sea Side Chapel, of which the proceeds were merged in the new edifice erected under the ministry of Rev. Maitland Alexander, D. D. Having mentioned the name of that benefactor of the Presbyterian Church, Mrs. Stuart, it must be recorded that her liberal gifts secured the erection of manses at Tuckahoe, May's Landing, New Gretna, and Barne- gat, all of these excepting Barnegat being now free from debt. III. The third, or Assistant Class, includes churches where I rendered important assistance in preaching often and securing other ministers, and in many ways which cannot here be described. Such are Haddonfield, Mer- chantville, Delanco, Fairview (which was subsequently dissolved), Riverton. Manchester (now Lakehurst), Point Pleasant, South Amboy, and other places in less degree. Before closing this part of my letter I must mention the good work of Rev. Alfred H.'Dashiell, D. D. While I was called Synodical Missionary and was supported by the entire Synod, not by the Board of Home Missions, and devoting all my time to the two Presbyteries, which covered more than half the State, he was always a leader in church extension, and upon my resignation of half the territory he became the Presbyterial Missionary Super- intendent of Monmouth Presbytery. His influence was manifest in some of the places already mentioned, and yet more in those to be mentioned, especially in the uplift of Bergen Iron Works to Bricksburgh, and now wonderful Lakewood ; also at Hope Church, Holmanville, Farm- ingdale, Oak Glen, Squan Village (now Manasquan), West Mantoloking, Atlantic Highlands, Sayreville. South River, Moorestown. Providence, Jacksonville, and other places. * A tabernacle had been erected previously by Founder Bradley and Rev. John A. Liggett, D. D., and was merged in the first church of Asbury Park, which has erected a second new building. A second church, called Westminster, has also been established. 42 HISTORICAL LETTER FROM Allow me now, my clear sir, to take a survey of the Southern Half of New Jersey. First, of the two Presbyteries separately and combined; and, secondly, of the seashore counties, and you will rec- ognize the providential growth of the Presbyterian Church in this region during the past fifty and the past one hun- dred years. West Jersey Presbytery. In the present territory of West Jersey Presbytery there were a hundred years ago (1800) eight Presbyterian churches, viz., Cold Spring, Fairfield, Bridgeton, Green- wich, Deerfield, Pittsgrove, Timber Creek (now Black- wood), and Woodbury. In 1839, when the Presbytery was organized (with larger territory than at present), it contained 13 churches, 12 ministers, and 1085 communicants. In 1900 it reported 56 churches, 64 ministers, and 7730 communicants. Monmouth Presbytery. In 1800, in the present territory of Monmouth Presby- tery (including the counties of Burlington, Ocean, Mon- mouth, and a part of Middlesex) were four churches, viz. : Freehold (now called Tennent), Shrewsbury, Allentown (once called Crosswicks), and Cranbury. At the organiza- tion of the Presbytery of Monmouth, in i860, it had 12 churches, 12 ministers, and 1436 communicants. In 1900 it reported 49 churches, 54 ministers, and 6564 communicants. The two Presbyteries combined now report : — Churches. Ministers. Communicants. West Jersey 56 64 7, 730 Monmouth 49 54 6,564 Total 105 118 14,294 Survey of the Seashore. Having thus taken a general review of the whole terri- tory, let us take a survey of the seashore in both Pres- byteries, including the whole of Cape May County and REV. ALLE.X H. BROWN. 43 those eastern portions of Atlantic, Burlington, Ocean, and Monmouth Counties which are between the ocean and the New Jersey Southern Railway, as far as Shrewsbury and Keyport. Counting in the churches which are located on that railroad, we have a well-defined territory in which, prior to 1840, were only three Presbyterian churches — Cold Spring (1714), Shrewsbury (1733), and Middletown Point, now called Matawan (1820). Now we can count in this same territory thirty-nine churches and forty-nine Presbyterian houses of worship, among these being seven private chapels, which were built and are controlled by Presbyterians, but not by Presbytery, and are used mainly in the Summer season. We now classify them all by counties. Localities where there is a Presbyterian house of worship under ecclesiastical control, without a church organization, are printed in italics. Private or independent chapels are printed in small capitals. Other places in Roman have both houses of worship and regular church organizations (except two in Atlantic City, as noted above). In Cape May County. Cold Spring, Tuckahoe, Cape Island (now Cape May), Beadle Memorial, Green Creek, Holly Beach, Avalon, Ocean City. Sea Grove Auditorium, at Cape May Point, was erected by Alexander Whillden, and was sold and re- moved. In Atlantic County. May's Landing, Leed's Point, Absecon, Brainerd (at Elwood), Hammonton, Italian (at Hammonton), Pleas- antville, Atlantic City First, Olivet, Germania, Westmin- ster, Chelsea.* Besides the ten mentioned, two buildings were de- stroyed by forest fires, and two school houses have been sold. In Burlingfton County. Bass River (now New Gretna), Shamong (now Chats- worth). * The above five are in Atlantic City. The last two have no building. 44 HISTORICAL LETTER FROM REV. ALLEN H. BROWN. In Ocean County. Tuckerton, Barnegat City, Barnegat, Forked River, Tom's River, Whitings, Manchester (now Lakehurst), Lakewood, Farming-dale, Ortley, West Mantoloking, Bay Head, and Point Pleasant. In Monmouth County* Shrewsbury, Middletown Point (now Matawan), Key- port, Eatontown, Atlantic Highlands, Sea Bright, Red Bank, Oceanic, Long Branch, Elberon, Asbury Park First and Westminster, Ocean Beach Tabernacle, Ocean Beach (now Belmar), Spring Lake, Manasquan. Summary of Presbyterian Churches and Houses of Worship by Counties on the Seacoast of New Jersey as far West as the New Jersey Southern Railroad : — Counties Organized Houses of counties. Churches. Worship. Cape May 6 8 Atlantic 12 10 Burlington 1 2 Ocean 9 13 Monmouth 11 16 39 49 Thus, my dear sir, your inquiry has prompted me to write a long letter, which I believe to be accurate, and hope that it will be helpful as a basis for the future study of the history of our beloved Church, and am with high esteem, Yours very truly, Allen H. Brown. March 1st, 1901. THE PRESBYTERIAN HISTORICAL MONUMENT IN MONMOUTH COUNTY, N.J. UNVEILED JUNE I4TH, I9OO. ADDRESS BY REV. ALLEN H. BROWN At the Unveiling of the Presbyterian Historical Monument in Monmouth County, N. J., on June 14TH, 1900, Giving a History and Description of the Monument. Dear Friends : — We welcome you, on this joyous occa- sion, to this place, around which cluster so many sacred historical associations. Do you ask how or why this monu- ment has been erected? It is a providential growth from a very small beginning. In 1886 the Synod of New Jersey appointed a standing committee to collect historical mate- rial relating to the Presbyterian churches within its bounds. That committee has already deposited in the Archives of Synod in the library of the Theological Seminary at Prince- ton, books and manuscripts of great historical value. Not long afterwards the chairman of this committee very re- luctantly yielded to an earnest solicitation to prepare an article upon the beginning of the Presbyterian Church in New Jersey, for a volume, which has not yet been published. Then the question arose, when, where and by whom was the Gospel first preached and the Christian Church first established in the colony of New Jersey? Does this honor belong to the Swedes who settled on both sides of the Dela- ware River and Bay early in the sevententh century, or to the Hollanders, who occupied New Amsterdam and came over the river and established the Reformed Dutch Church at Bergen? Or does it belong to the Independents, who came from New England and settled at Newark and Eliza- bethtown, and, owing to the influx of the Scotch, became Presbyterian in the next century? We now offer proof that the first true blue Presbyterian church in New Jersey after the model of the Church of Scotland, its doctrine and (45) 46 ADDRESS AT THE UNVEILING OF THE polity, was established by the Scotch exiles, who came to this county of Monmouth between 1682 and 1700. That Latin inscription on the tombstone of John Boyd calls him Pastor of this church of Calvin. Rev. William Tennent, Jr., wrote in 1744: "The settlement of the Gospel ministry here was owing, under God, to the agency of some Scotch people that came to it, among whom there was none so painful in the blessed undertaking as one Walter Ker, who in the year 1685, for his faithful and conscien- tious adherence to God and his truth as professed by the Church of Scotland was there apprehended and sent to this country under sentence of perpetual banishment." The appropriateness of the text, Acts viii. 4. after the martyrdom of Stephen, "Therefore, they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word," must be manifest. Rev. John Woodhull, D. D., wrote April 23d, 1792 : "The Church was formed about one hundred years ago chiefly by persons from Scotland." (Hodge's History, i. 56.) This is our only authority for 1692 as the date of the origin of the Church. It must have been earlier, for Walter Ker could not have lived in this region seven long years without some place of worship. Dr. Hodge in his history says, "In Jersey the church in Freehold was the only one at first belonging to the Presbytery." (Hodge, i. 75.) Dr. Hodge does not say that Freehold was the first, or oldest Presbyterian church in the country. He does not say that there were not churches in other colonies at that time connected with the Presbytery; but simply that in Jersey, Freehold was the first church so connected. It must be conceded that Woodbridge had an earlier exist- ence as an independent church and became connected with the Presbytery soon after Freehold. Presbytery began ne- gotiations for Mr. Boyd to preach at both churches, but this plan ceased at his lamented death. The best way to study church history is to go to the original records. Our appeal is to the printed volume of the Records of the Presbyterian Church from 1706 to 1788, when the first General Assembly was constituted. Trace backward the history of the United Synod of New York I h**f*- f^Ji Q is rj, '!' ' ' > * d£s-f us all." (Isa. liii. 4-6.) It was on our account and in our stead, for our sakes, for our benefit, for our ransom, for our eternal life and happiness. All this He secured in our stead by taking our place in relation to the law, rendering a perfect obedi- ence to its demands, and suffering all that He did suffer in our place. Thus, full satisfaction is rendered to God's holy law, and He is still just while He justifies the ungodly. Another proof is afforded by all the Jewish atoning sacrifices, which were typical of this Lamb of God. The idea of substitution was prominent. The innocent lamb was slain, not for itself, but for the penitent worshipper, who, laying his hand upon the head of the victim, con- fessed that he needed some one to bear his sins. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ, including all His sufferings, is everywhere represented as a sin offering and a sacrifice. "He bare our sins in His own body on the tree" (1 Peter ii. 24, 25); they were laid upon Him and He was treated as a sinner on our account. Our sins were imputed to Him; not that they made Him a sinner, but caused Him to be treated as if He had sinned. On the other hand, His righteousness is imputed to us, or set to our account, not that it makes us actually innocent and sinless, but it secures that we shall be treated as if we were innocent. But what were we that He should thus take our place and make Himself poor for our sakes? What had we ever done to deserve such treatment? Was there any excellence which made us worthy of His love; or had we so faithfully served and obeyed Him that we could de- mand His protection and defense? Far! far otherwise! We had no claim upon Him, having forfeited His favor by disobedience, and being justly exposed to His wrath and under the condemnation of His holy law. Can we picture to ourselves a miserable, poor, dissi- pated wretch, clothed with rags, reduced to this condition, not as the consequence of misfortune, but by his own fault, the victim of vice and disease, despised by all as a hopeless 78 THE GREAT WORK OF CHRIST FOR US outcast, a loathsome object from whom every one turns with horror and disgust? Then can we imagine a prince, enjoying honor, wealth, friends, uprightness — all that can make him rich, who is moved with compassion for the miserable outcast upon whom no other shows pity? He speaks words of com- passion, takes him to sit beside him, clothes him with his own costly garments, bids his servants wait upon him, takes him to his own home, supplies every want, defends him from all prosecution, and pays all his debts. It would not be difficult to find the original picture of the beggar, but where shall we find the counterpart of his rich benefactor? You will say that it is an unnatural, im- possible representation; that you never knew such a case. Truly we have heard of none like him, save Him, who was more than man, and in comparison with Him the condescension of this imaginary benefactor is nothing. We were blind, poor, wretched, miserable, sinful, loathsome, and there was no eye to pity and no arm to save; but the Lord Jesus Christ comes and takes our place, clothes us with the robe of His own righteousness; He causes us to sit with Him in heavenly places; He speaks peace and pardon and cancels our debts; He assures us of a man- sion in heaven and an inheritance, that we may be rich. IV. This brings us to consider the fourth precious gem of comfort which the text contains, viz., that ye may be rich, not in temporal and earthly things, but with heav- enly treasures. The Lord does not promise uninterrupted worldly prosperity to his followers. If any follow Him with this expectation they do greatly err. He says, "In the world ye shall have tribulation." On the other hand, we are ready to appeal to the true believer who has suffered affliction are you willing to exchange the consolations of religion with those who have their portion in this life only ? Even in this life believers enjoy the benefit of justifica- tion, including not merely pardon or escape from punish- ment, but a restoration to the rights of citizenship in the new Jerusalem. They become, also, the sons of God, being adopted into His family, and through sanctification - THE STRONGEST PLEA TO WORK FOR HIM. 79 are enabled more and more to die unto sin and live unto righteousness, and when they have done with this world the souls of believers do immediately pass into glory, and being reunited with their bodies at the Resurrection, they shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted and made per- fectly blessed in the full enjoyment of God to all eternity. Such is the rich inheritance to which ye are introduced by the poverty of Christ. If you believe in Him, believe that all these things are yours. In conclusion, we may yet consider in the text two or three small words, which are big with meaning and full of instruction. The Apostle says to the Corinthian Chris- tians, "Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ." Have I experimental knowledge of this grace? Can we all say that we know? Alas, there are those who have no interest in Christ. They are invited to a feast; but they will not partake. The door of Heaven is open, but t/hey will not enter. The Saviour calls, but they will not hear, nor accept His invitation. Why, oh why, longer refuse the rich blessings which he offers to you? Does any one ask how may I know that I am a Chris- tian? We answer that there is a distinction between faith and assurance. There may be a sincere, true, humble faith, which has not yet attained unto full assurance. Al- though this assurance is desirable, yet it is not essential for coming to the Lord's table; but the trembling and doubting, who are sincerely penitent, are invited to the sacramental feast. There is an inward witness by the Holy Spirit, whereby we cry Abba, Father, and know that we are the children of God. There is also an outward evidence, which mani- fests to ourselves and others that we are true disciples. The best evidence of the existence of grace is growth in grace. Our Saviour said, "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples." (John, xv. 8.) When we go into an orchard in the Winter, and when all the trees are bare, it may be difficult for our unprac- ticed eye to decide or discern which tree is dead and which 80 THE GREAT WORK OF CHRIST FOR US has life in the root; but when the Springtime comes and bud and blossom and fruit appear there is no difficulty in distinguishing between the living and the dead trees. There is no need to dig around the roots of the tree loaded with fruit to determine the question whether it is alive. If, then, we can discern evidence within or with- out of growth in the fruits of the Spirit, such as love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance (Gal., v. 22, 23), we have a grow- ing assurance of our title to eternal life, and may say with the Apostle, "I know whom I have believed, and am per- suaded that He is able to keep that which I have com- mitted unto Him against that day." (2 Tim. i. 12.) There remains yet a little word of only three letters — f-o-r — which connects forcefully our text with the con- text. In this chapter the Apostle Paul makes an ap- peal to the Corinthian Church to give a liberal contribu- tion to the poor saints at Jerusalem. He tells them of the liberality of the churches of Macedonia out of their deep poverty. He now asks for a proof of the sincerity of their love, and urges this by what Christ had done for them. For, ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Ghrist by what He has done and suffered for you. If it were our aim at this time to make an appeal for contributions to some charitable or missionary cause, we might lawfully tell what other feeble churches had done, or how some poor widow had given her all; but the strongest plea would be that of the text — what Christ has done for you. Since it is not our aim now to make any appeal for charitable giving, we may use this text as an argument in a more comprehensive sense for an entire consecration of all that we have and are to the service of our Lord Jesus Christ, and daily to remember that the great work of Christ for us is the strongest plea to work for Him. "I gave my life for thee, My precious blood I shed, That thou might'st ransomed be, And quickened from the dead. I gave, I gave My life for thee What hast thou given for me? " JESUS CHRIST OUR PROPITIATION AND ADVOCATE. " My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous ; and He is the propitiation for our sins ; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." — i John ii. /, 2. Here the Apostle declares one part of his design in writing the epistle. The last of the Apostles saw and felt the necessity of raising a warning voice against the here- sies which were already creeping into the Christian Church. He opposes the errorists, who maintained the doctrine of sinless perfection; who distorted the Christian religion into a license to live without restraint; who perverted the doctrines of grace into an encouragement to sin, that grace might abound; who maintained a profession of Christianity with a life of profligacy. Against such heretics and dis- turbers of the Church the language of the Apostle is clear, bold, and uncompromising. As there is something deeply interesting in the last acts and the last words of the illus- trious patriot, the eminent statesman outliving his con- temporaries, and still living (after death) in the memory and affections of his countrymen, so is there something more of moral solemnity, nay, of moral sublimity, in the spectacle of this eminent Apostle in the Church, at the age, probably, of fourscore and ten years, giving his af- fectionate counsels to those who regarded him as their spiritual father. He, alone, of all living, had been person- ally familiar with the history of the Church from the time that a little band met in an upper chamber, where he him- self leaned upon the Master's bosom and celebrated the Lord's Supper at its first institution until now flourishing churches were established in various parts of the world. (81) 82 JESUS CHRIST OUR PROPITIATION AND ADVOCATE. By a natural impulse those who are advanced in years regard those whom they knew as children, yet as children, even though these have grown to maturity, and still call them by the familiar names of childhood, as in bygone years. Thus, the aged Apostle, having outlived two gen- erations, remembering that many had been baptized by him and many had been brought to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ under his own ministry, he might appro- priately use this term of endearment, and say, ''Children, my children, my little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not." He had also another design in the words chosen for our text, not only to keep the little ones from sinning, but to encourage and save them from despair when they had sinned. Where are they who are uncon- scious of guilt? Who will deny that they have sinned? In the preceding verses the Apostle distinctly says that such deceive themselves, .are liars, and incur the guilt of charg- ing God with falsehood. With this explanatory context he cannot mean in the phrase "if any man sin" to imply that some do not sin ; but it is as if he had said : My little children, when any of you, notwithstanding all your good resolutions and efforts and prayers, are overtaken by some easily besetting sin, when with increasing knowledge of sin you are discouraged, do not despair; there is One ready to help you — for you have an Advocate to plead your cause, to comfort and console. And as if to point out the ground of successful intercession, He is the pro- pitiation — that which renders propitious; the sacrificial of- fering, which makes God propitious or favorable to us, by Himself becoming the atoning sacrifice, and this He does not for us exclusively, but for many others through- out the whole world. If, then, we have a well-grounded hope that we have been born again and become like little children, we may find in this text an appropriate theme for our meditation, especially when the outward and sensible signs of what our Advocate has done are presented for the confirma- tion of our faith, and we are about to renew the covenant between God and our souls. Let us, therefore, seek to JESUS CHRIST OUR PROPITIATION AND ADVOCATE. 83 commune with our Mediator and contemplate once more his character and his work of propitiation and interces- sion with its far-reaching results. Need of Mediator. In common life, if one man desire to obtain some favor from another, with whom he is not on the most friendly terms, he is glad to avail himself of the intervention of a third person, even a mutual friend. Before a court of justice every accused person, whether guilty or innocent, seeks the ablest counsel attainable to manage his case, and to obtain any object from the legis- lative or executive department of a government, it is highly advantageous first to secure the co-operation of one who has influence with the executive officer or the legislature; as, for example, to secure a pardon from the Chief Magis- trate. For much stronger reasons than exist in any of these illustrative cases, the creature needs a Mediator in approaching to his Creator. Not only have we cause to take the lowest abasement as dependent beings before the Infinite One, but the alienation has been so greatly in- creased by sin that without some one to go between us and the offended Jehovah there would be no ray of hope; but one impenetrable night of despair. Had we treated a fellow-creature with one-millionth part of the ingratitude, rebellion, and contempt which we have manifested toward God, very shame would keep us from coming into his presence, and most thankfully should we accept the kind offices of one who would take our petitions and plead our cause for us. Blessed be God, we have such an Advocate as we need in the court of eternal justice, as the words of Paul to Timothy fully corroborate the truth of our text: "For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ran- som for all, to be testified in due time." (i Tim. ii. 5, 6.) Here are two inspired witnesses respecting the name and person of our Advocate. He is the Anointed and long- promised Saviour, who was born in Bethlehem of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried; the third day He rose from the dead, He ascended into heaven and sitteth on the right hand of 84 JESUS CHRIST OUR PROPITIATION AND ADVOCATE. God the Father Almighty: from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. Consider next, and briefly, His Character. How com- prehensively in a single word Simuxu, without the ar- ticle, the Apostle expresses it. Jesus Christ, just or right- eous. Having such a degree of righteousness as no mere man has had since the fall — having, too, His own inherent righteousness. In pleadings between man and man suc- cess sometimes depends upon the character of the me- diator. If he be an individual of rank, of acknowledged integrity of life, of honest purpose, of pure motive, jealous of the rights of the offended party, and dearly beloved, then has the offender much reason to hope when his cause is committed into such hands. If we may apply our illustrations from things human to divine affairs with- out irreverence, then shall we find that the qualifications of our Advocate in the court of heaven are all that we could possibly expect or wish. Whither shall we go to find a friend of more exalted dignity? He is the very Son of God. What stain of personal guilt could be proven upon Him, even His enemies being judges? Such an High Priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners." (Heb. vii. 26.) He was moved to undertake our cause not from selfishness of motive, but by pure love to lost and helpless sinners and an earn- est desire to satisfy the demand of the broken law of the King of kings. Yet the chief reason of his success and the strongest ground of our confidence we discover as we go backward and listen to the echo of that voice, which, as He ascended from the baptismal water and upon the mount of transfiguration, declared, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." (2 Peter i. 17, 18.) How can the work of such a beloved Son be unaccept- able? How can the intercession of Him whom the Father heareth always be in vain? "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Rom. viii. 32.) His Work we may view as to the past and present, or consider what He did for us once for all, and what He JESUS CHRIST OUR PROPITIATION AND ADVOCATE. 85 now does continually. Jesus Christ is called the propitia- tion for our sins; that is. the sacrifice or offering which propitiates or secures God's favor. It was the duty of the high priest of the Old Testament not only to sacrifice the lamb, but to offer the incense of prayers and inter- cession for the people, as in the great day of atonement appointed in Leviticus in the sixteenth chapter and in the Epistle to the Hebrews, the ninth chapter abundantly and particularly shows how those ancient services were typical of our great Advocate, the propitiation for our sins. If the high priest had merely slain the lamb or the bullock or the kid, and had done no more, his work would have been incomplete and fruitless. Had he offered supplica- tions, without the sacrifice, no pardon could have been granted, for without shedding of blood is no remission. (Heb. ix. 22.) As these earthly things were types, or pat- terns, or figures of the true and heavenly, and both the sprinkling of the blood and offering of the incense were indispensable duties of the priest on earth, so the pro- pitiatory work of our heavenly High Priest consists in His offering up Himself a sacrifice to satisfy Divine justice, and in continually making intercession for us. Although these two are indissolubly connected, yet we may view them separately. Therefore, let us view Jesus Christ as our propitiation in the primary and strict sense of an offering or sacrifice to satisfy the justice of God. We can most safely exhibit the true doctrine in the comprehensive words of the Scrip- tures: "Nor yet that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with the blood of others. For then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world; but now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself; and as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment; so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many." (Heb. ix. 25-28.) Again, "And the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin." (1 John i. 7.) "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent His Son to be 86 JESUS CHRIST OUR PROPITIATION AND ADVOCATE. the propitiation for our sins." (i John iv. 10.) "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God." (Rom. iii. 25.) "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." (1 Pet. ii. 24.) These Scriptures clearly teach the follow- ing truths or propositions, each of which (did time per- mit) is worthy of more particular meditation. The pro- pitiatory sacrifice, which Jesus Christ offered once, is all- sufficient, and there is no need of another. That sacri- fice is effectual for many, for a multitude which no man can number. Our sins can be cleansed only by the shedding of His blood. Had not God so loved us no propitiation had been made or accepted. In this method of pardon- ing sinners God does not cease to be just. He does not relax nor abandon the demand of the law — for its de- mands are fully satisfied by Him, who is the propitiation for our sins. It is by the substitution of the innocent in the place of the guilty that we are saved, and all the suf- ferings which He endured upon the cross were entirely for our sins. Salvation is then by grace, and can be obtained in no other way. Beautifully the Prophet Isaiah unites the two-fold offices of Christ: "And he bare the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." (Isaiah liii. 12.) Intercession. As it was essential to the integrity of the Aaronic offering of atonement that the high priest should enter into the holy of holies, so was it expedient that our great High Priest should pass into the heavens. "For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." (Heb. ix. 24.) He who was our propitiation is now our Advo- cate, and "He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them." (Heb. vii. 25.) How amaz- ing the thought that the once crucified, bleeding, broken JESUS CHRIST OUR PROPITIATION AND ADVOCATE. 87 body of our Saviour is now transcendently glorious in heaven! The friend of sinners is still their friend. He makes their cause His care. Come, O redeemed souls, and behold how your Advocate is employed at the right hand of the throne of God! Dismiss your doubts! Banish your fears ! Who is he that condemneth when Christ hath died for you? What can separate you from His love, while He ever liveth to make intercession for you? Our petitions, loaded with sins, would never reach the eternal throne except our Advocate takes them and makes them His own. Let us strive better to understand His words when he said, "Xo man cometh unto the Father but by me." (John xiv. 6.) Perpetual. It is also a consolatory reflection that this intercession is perpetual. As the Saviour on earth prayed "not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me," so does He continue to pray. He ever liveth to this end. His love is unchangeable and His intercession with- out ceasing. It is also effectual and all-prevalent. Him the Father heareth always. (John xi. 42.) It is often the practice of human advocates to plead in behalf of their clients some extenuating circumstances — their integrity of character, their previous deeds of excellence or valor. But our Ad- vocate can urge no merit of ours; no moral character; no deeds of loyalty; no righteousness. He rests his argu- ments on what He Himself has done, on the work of propitiation which He has made, and pleads the promise of the Father that He shall see of the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied. In Flavel's "Fountain of Life" (chapter 13. page 154) we find a rare illustration of the efficacious intercession of Christ in heaven in the story of Amintas, who appeared as an advocate for his brother Aeschylus, who was accused and likely to be condemned to die. Amintas having performed great services and merited highly of the commonwealth, in whose service one of his hands was cut off in the field, came into the court in his brother's behalf to plead for him. He said nothing, but only lifted up the stump of his arm, the sight 88 JESUS CHRIST OUR PROPITIATION AND ADVOCATE. of which so moved them that without a word said they freed his brother immediately. Thus, with mute elo- quence do the pierced hands and feet and wounded side of the Redeemer plead in heaven for our pardon, and as the Father beholds the well-beloved Son and remembers His propitiatory work, and the intimate relation subsist- ing between the Father and the Son, no other plea is needed, and the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son to bear witness with our spirits that we are born of God, as His little children, justified and adopted into His family, and made heirs of heaven. The concluding part of our text suggests the great extent and value of this propitiation. The whole world needs this same salvation, for the whole world, being de- ceived by Satan, lieth in wickedness, and no other plan can be devised, there is none other name under heaven whereby men must be saved. The sufferings of Jesus Christ are sufficient for the whole world, and had He ab- solutely determined to save all our race, no more suffer- ing or humiliation would have been required. Therefore, salvation is freely offered unto all men, not to Jews only; not to the people of the first century only, but it is to be preached to all nations and classes of men throughout the whole world, and it is the immediate duty of every impenitent sinner to apply to the great Advocate. You deceive yourselves if you say you have not sinned. You need not despair, even though you are the chief of sinners. If you will intrust your cause entirely to His hand your final acquittal is sure; but if you rely upon yourself, your condemnation is certain. As we who have fled to Him for refuge receive the sign and seal of the covenant in the sacramental supper, may our faith in Jesus Christ as the propitiation for our sins be renewed and our confi- dence in Him as our Advocate be strengthened. We must conclude this discourse with some practical reflections: — I. Let this subject teach us to take correct views of sin; to confess and hate our sins; to pray for the pardon of sin ; to view Jesus Christ's blood as sufficient to cleanse JESUS CHRIST OUR PROPITIATION AND ADVOCATE. 89 from all sin; to rest our hope of pardon on His merit alone; to resolve to die unto sin and live unto righteous- ness. II. Learn that the doctrines of grace do not encourage carelessness or profligacy of life. The Apostle Paul taught that we are saved by grace, through faith, and that not of ourselves; it is the gift of God (Eph. ii. 8); and again, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." (Titus iii. 5.) True religion teaches not that because Christ died for us we may continue in sin. In the verses following our text the Apostle John in strong language declares that keeping the commandments of Christ is essential to a true knowledge of Him. Let no one charge upon us that we hold the false doctrine that one may live an unholy life and entertain a good hope of salvation. III. In the third place, learn the sad condition of those who have no Advocate. We who trust in Christ do not claim to be sinless. We are all sinners, and the difference between us is that some trust in Jesus Christ as their Ad- vocate and others have no Advocate. We are hastening to the judgment seat, and how shall we there appear? Those who have truly confessed Him before men, He will confess before His Father and the holy angels. He is now willing to undertake your cause, if you will trust Him. Picture in your mind a human tribunal before which a criminal is to appear, of whose guilt there can be no doubt. Imagine, if you can, that one of the judges comes down, and, moved with compassion, says to the criminal, "Friend, I see that you are in a pitiable condition. Com- mit your case to me; make full confession; trust me, and if I cannot obtain a verdict of acquittal I will secure for you a full pardon." Where is the criminal so hardened as to refuse such an offer? And yet you are doing even worse, while through unbelief you refuse to commit the salvation of your soul to the only Advocate. IV. Finally, behold the assurance of the believer's safety; we do not say the safety of every professor, but of 90 JESUS CHRIST OUR PROPITIATION AND ADVOCATE. every true believer. Our salvation depends either upon ourselves or upon Christ; upon works, or God's grace. If our salvation depends upon ourselves, we may well fear and tremble. If our salvation depends upon Christ and we trust in Him, we are safe. Are you perplexed with doubts? Whence do they arise? Is there any in- sufficiency or imperfection in the work of propitiation? What is wanting? Is there uncertainty as to the success of our Advocate? Is it possible that, having undertaken our cause, He will abandon it? I can see no room for perplexity or fear, unless it be a question whether you truly and entirely rest upon the propitiation of the Ad- vocate and intrust all to him. The remedy for this is a renewed exercise of faith — a new consecration to Him, and a new looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Oh, disciples of Christ, perhaps you are troubled be- cause you are looking for evidence of goodness in yourself and you find nothing but sin. You are expecting enjoy- ment, when you have been living carelessly, and find much to mourn over. Cease this self-dependence and self- righteousness. Look upward, and think what an Advo- cate you have. Does He plead for you? He never pleads in vain. He is able. He is willing. Doubt no more. NAAMAN, THE SYRIAN: THE TYPE OF THE SINNER. "And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My Father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it ? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash and be clean? " — 2 Kings v. 13. The Apostle James exclaims, ''Behold how great a mat- ter a little fire kindleth," as he notices the power of the small bit in the horse's mouth, the great ship turned with a very small helm, and the tongue among the members of the body (iii. 5). Even so are we often surprised by the great results which flow from some apparently trivial, nay even casual, antecedent. In God's government of the affairs of men there is a remarkable connection and de- pendence of one event upon another, each being linked with the preceding, so that the whole may be compared to a chain, a few links of which we may discover, whilst the others reach far backward and upward to the hand of the omniscient and eternal One. Take the case before us as an illustration of great effects from a small cause. A distinguished and honorable Syrian, a mighty man of valor, much esteemed by his king, with horses and chariots and a great company and rich presents, proceeded on a journey to the capital of the kingdom of Israel. The court of that monarch was greatly agitated and alarmed through a misapprehension of the design of their distin- guished visitor, thinking that the Syrian king designed to provoke a quarrel or war. The prophet Elisha sends word to the king. Let him come now to me and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. A wonderful mira- cle was soon performed for the cure of Naaman, and throughout the land of Israel and Syria and wherever else this remarkable event was published, there was an evi- dence to Jew and Gentile that the prophet Elisha was a (9r) 92 NAAMAN, THE SYRIAN : man of God and that the God of Israel was superior to all the gods of the heathen, and that He alone was the true God. Besides this we may suppose that God was glorified by other ultimate temporal and spiritual results even to the present day which are not recorded. Now, so far as we can trace back these events in the chain of providence, on what did they depend? Whence did they originate? All had been occasioned by the remark of a little maid servant, an Israelitish captive, as she waited on Naaman's wife. She had not, among idolaters, forgotten the God of her father's land. Though a captive servant, she felt an interest in her master's welfare, and though the prophet Elisha had not healed any of the many lepers of Israel, she had heard of his many other miracles, and had faith to say, "Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy." In this case of Naaman we have a signal instance of a proud, passionate man, unwilling to sub- mit to God's disposal, and it is not an unauthorized ac- commodation, if we attempt to derive spiritual benefit from it and to show some analogy between the conduct of Naaman, the Syrian, and the conduct of many a man who is a sinnner, and argue that if Naaman acted unwisely in the first instance how much more unwise is the sinner who rebels against God's appointment and sets up some plan of his own for salvation. And if Naaman, when brought to a better mind, obtained the relief which he desired, how much rather should the awakened sinner, who is ready to do some great thing, consent to give up his own exertions and to wash in the fountain, which Jesus Christ the Lamb of God has opened for cleansing from all the guilt of sin! In pursuing this analogy therefore let us view separately these points : Naaman's Condition, His Expectations, His First Treatment of the Message, and His Final Recovery. i. His Condition. He was a leper. All his power honor, and wealth could not save nor deliver him from this dreadful disease. The Mosaic law concerning the leper is contained in the thirteenth and fourteenth chap- THE TYPE OF THE SINNER. 93 ters of Leviticus, and we concede that Xaaman was not subject to that law. *The leprosy was a scaly disease of the skin, and because the term was applied indiscrimi- nately during the dark ages to all chronic diseases of the skin the greatest discrepancy and confusion have prevailed among writers upon this subject. It has been confounded with elephantiasis, which spread like an epidemic over all Europe about the period of the Crusades, when leper or lazar houses (so called from Lazarus) abounded every- where, and as many as two thousand are said to have ex- isted in France alone. In this disease (elephantiasis), almost too loathsome for description, the body became frightfully deformed and ulcerated. Nevins applies the above symptoms to leprosy; but Kitto does not by any means. Whether or not the leprosy of ancient times was like this in all its horrors, yet it is regarded as a terrible disease. You might have seen among the Israelites a per- son approaching of dejected mien, with his clothes rent, his head bare, a covering upon his upper lip, and he cries in accents of despair and warning, ''Unclean! unclean!" He is returning from the priest a confirmed leper, and the people flee from his presence lest they shall contract uncleanness or infection. Now, in the Scriptures, language drawn from the most dreadful disease is employed to describe the moral deprav- ity of man, and these words may be used by way of accom- modation, "From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores; they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment." (Isaiah i. 6.) Hence we may speak of a moral leprosy which affects every human soul, embitters every enjoyment, produces incalculable sufferings, and renders us all pitiable and help- less. Well, then, might we lay our hands upon our mouths and in deep dejection on account of our miserable condition cry Unclean! unclean! God be merciful to us sinners! O Saviour of men, if thou wilt, thou canst *See Kitto's Encyclopedia. 94 NAAMAN, THE SYRIAN: make me clean. Most loathsome was the leprosy. What is there more loathsome and hateful in the sight of God than sin? In every way — by commandment and entreaty, by threatening and by punishment, He has manifested His detestation of it, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing which I hate. Another point of analogy is that, as the leprosy could not be removed by human power and human remedies, so it is with sin. In several instances the disease was sent as an immediate act of God's displeasure, as in the cases of Miriam and Gehazi (Numbers xii. 10, and 2 Kings v. 2j), but in no instance was it removed without the miraculous interposition of Divine power. Who, then, can wash away the stains of sin? Who make his heart clean? Who pay a price sufficient for his soul's healing? We are helpless sinners, and for the pardon of sin and the salvation of our souls we are as dependent upon the will and the power of the Almighty as Naaman was to be healed of his leprosy. We remark again that, like the leprosy, sin banishes us from the communion of the good and pure. Among the Jews the leper was carefully excluded from other people, and outside of the camp or elsewhere those who were miserably afflicted with the dreadful disease congre- gated to bewail their sad and hopeless condition. Thus our sins deprive us of communion with God, and unless our guilt be removed by the blood of sprinkling, the moral leper will at last be shut out of heaven and be ex- cluded from its sacred employments and holy joys, be banished from the society of saints and angels and the presence of God forever. Thus his condition is most pitiable and an eternal death awaits him, unless ere it be too late he finds healing through the mercy of God in Christ who was typified in the sacrifices of the Old Tes- tament. II. Secondly, let us derive some instruction from the expectations and feelings of Naaman. He deeply felt the evils of his condition. He endured much bodily and mental suffering and unhappiness. He had a sincere and THE TYPE OF THE SINNER. 95 strong desire for relief and health and restoration to so- ciety. So great was his conviction of his evil situation and so great his desire for health that he was willing to do anything, however great or costly, which would secure recovery; he took with him ten talents of silver and six thousand pieces of gold and ten changes of raiment, and thus was prepared to pay any price which the prophet or king might demand. He did by no means wish to receive a benefit without paying an equivalent for it. In like manner many a sinner becomes convinced of the misery and danger of his condition; feels unhappy after all the w r ordly means which he has employed. He de- sires ardently to obtain peace of mind, and thinks that he is willing to do anything, make any sacrifice, pay any price for his soul's salvation; but, like Naaman, is mis- taken and deceived respecting himself and has much to learn. He needs to be so humbled as to give to God alone all the glory of his salvation. It is worthy of no- tice how for his body Naaman did not reject or doubt the testimony of the little maid. Xaaman's views and expectations were erroneous. He looked to human power, even to the king of Israel, as described in the sixth verse. And when he was directed to the prophet of God he expected that a man of his rank and power and pompous retinue would receive marked attention, and not be treated in the same manner as a person of less worldly pretension. He had already made up his mind in what maimer the remedy would be ac- complished. He thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place and recover the leper. Instead of this, and probably for the very purpose of humbling him and showing him what was in his heart, the prophet sent a messenger unto him, saying, "Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean." A distinct command and a positive promise. This message seems to have hurt his pride. Now, oftentimes the anxious sinner has erro- neous expectations respecting the way of salvation. He 96 NAAMAN, THE SYRIAN I looks, perhaps, to the efficacy of some powerful and popu- lar preacher, or he trusts to certain new measures of ec- clesiastical machinery for manufacturing converts, or to his own ability, or to the number and merit of his prayers and other righteous works. It may be he has already formed his expectation that he must be converted pre- cisely as some others of whom he has heard. Perchance he is waiting for some vision of the eternal world, to hear an angel's voice saying, Thy sins are forgiven, or to be- hold the Saviour in the agony of his cross with some great shining light and having thus determined what God will grant, he will not be satisfied with any other experience or evidence of his conversion; but his expectations are as erroneous as those of Naaman, and his astonishment is equally great when he finds that the message sent in some humble way is, Go by faith and wash in the fountain of blood which Jesus Christ has opened for the sins of the world; believe and trust in Him, who, having suffered in your place is willing to save all who trust in Him; be willing to go to Him and you shall be saved. This is all you have to do, this you must do, for it "is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." (i Tim. i. 15.) III. In the third place, see how the sinner receives the message. Ah, like Naaman again, with an angry, re- bellious heart, he goes away from the Saviour as Naaman in the twelfth verse exclaiming, "Are not Abana and Phar- par, rivers of Damascus, better than the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage." What a pitiable spectacle does he present ! Suffering from a disease which renders his exist- ence a burden to himself and offensive to others, he pro- fesses to desire a recovery from this calamity. A very easy, simple, certain remedy is proposed with a strong assurance of success. Surely, it could at least do no harm to try it; but instead of doing this, poor mortal, he gave way to the most violent expressions of an uncontrollable passion, not only against Elisha, but against the Lord God of Elisha. His anger was very sinful, but there were THE TYPE OF THE SINNER. 97 other and more important elements of his sin. He was guilty of rebellion against the King of kings. His heart rebelled against the commandment "Go, wash," and he was disobedient. He was guilty of unbelief. He had the promise, the word as from the unchangeable God, "Thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean." He rejected this as a falsehood, for the man who does not believe God insults Him by treating Him as a liar. Again, he set up his own judgment and plan above the wisdom of God. He despised God's method. He pre- sumptously insisted that some other plan was equally good or better than His. Now, see the analogy of the sinner. Of such sins is every impenitent person guilty when he refuses, and so long as he refuses, to come to Christ. He disobeys God's command; he disbelieves God's word; he presumptuously lifts up his heart against God so long as he quarrels with His method of salvation, and trusts to some delusive hope. How pitiable a spectacle for angels to behold! Gladly, indeed, would those ministering spirits bear to heaven the tidings this very hour that any among you had now ceased your impotent contest with the Almighty, and like Naaman, yielded finally to the entreaties of your ecclesiastical servants, and your Saviour himself whose Holy Spirit is striving with you. IV. Fourthly, notice Naaman's final recovery. "And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? How much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?" Notice, also, the long suffering and forbearance of the Lord. There would have been nothing unjust nor unreasonable if the Lord had visited Naaman with new punishment for his wicked and contemptuous conduct, or if He had forever deprived him of any subsequent opportunity of washing in the waters of Jordan, and left him to the waters of Abana and Pharpar, which he chose. So has every sinner — yea all of us — great occasion to thank God that, after so much disobedience, unbelief, and contempt, He 98 NAAMAN, THE SYRIAN : has not long ere this withdrawn His Holy Spirit, and abandoned us to our own ways. Whilst the Lord was full of compassion, Naaman saw the folly and sinfulness of his conduct; he resolved to go to Jordan as his only hope. It might do some good, though he knew not how or why. He knew that he was a wretched leper, and if not healed according to the prophet's promise he would always be a leper, therefore "Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean." In like manner must the inquirer after spiritual salva- tion be humbled to feel that he is nothing, and deserves nothing. He must be brought to abandon all personal merit and human strength. Thus must he be brought to see his helpless condition and to despair of all other methods of salvation before he will say: — "I can but perish, if I go, I am resolved to try ; For if stay away I know I must forever die." He goes to Christ, and, as Naaman's flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, so when the penitent truly believes in Christ he becomes like a little child in spirit and temper, and is cleansed from the guilt of all his sins. He also is entirely changed. The narrative in- forms us that a great change was produced in the feelings and conduct of Naaman, and we might hope that he be- came a true believer and a child of God, when we read his resolution in the seventeenth verse, "For thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offerings nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the Lord." Behold the wonderful change in Naaman; his joy, his gratitude, his confession, and the strivings of his con- science. "He returned to the man of God * * * and said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel; now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant." But Elisha persistently refused THE .TYPE OF THE SINNER. 99 to receive any reward or present. We might have thought how much good might have been done with some of that silver and gold in endowment of the college of the sons of the prophets! The prophet would give to Naaman no occasion to think that God's favor could be purchased. Even so let the penitent sinner humbly recognize that God's grace is free, and thus do we preach free grace. Naaman, who had contemptuously despised the waters of Israel, now begs that he may be permitted to carry home two mules' burden of the sacred soil, wherewith to erect an altar, "for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the Lord." In conclusion, we may derive additional lessons of in- struction from this narrative. i. And first, we may learn how the humblest believer may be instrumental in doing good. Apparently no one had less opportunity to do a great work than the little captive. What were the feelings of the little maid, while her master was on his journey, and what was her joy upon his happy return, you may try to imagine. A word fitly spoken how good is it! If we have a heart of sympathy and love we shall often find opportunity to do good by relieving the temporal sufferings, or supplying the spiritual wants of our fellow creatures. 2. Secondly, let those who think that they must do some great thing for salvation learn their error. It is not some great work of self-righteousness, or of self-inflicted suffering, but as the Apostle says, "That if thou shalt con- fess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." (Rom. x. 9.) 3. And finally, if you are now ready to accept Christ, realize the danger of making any reservation in your res- olution to serve the Lord God only, for our Saviour has said, "Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, cannot be my disciple." (Luke xiv. 33.) A HEART ALL BROKEN BY THE SAVIOUR'S LOOK. " And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. And Peter remem- bered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out, and wept bitterly." — Luke xxii. 61, 62. It is profitable to study the minute particulars of the last hours of our Redeemer. It is interesting to collate and harmonize the accounts given by four different wit- nesses. This study does more vividly impress the events upon our minds and deepens the conviction that the Evan- gelists were honest men and true witnesses. The denial of our Lord by one of His most honored disciples presents one of the most affecting scenes in the last hours of the Redeemer. More painful to Him was this than the simul- taneous insults of the servants and officers who held Jesus and mocked Him, and smote Him, and blindfolded Him, and struck Him on the face. May we not say that of all the sufferings inflicted by man and proceeding from man this one was the most painful? The prediction of Peter's denial and the event are recorded by all four of the Evangelists. Luke gives the most full account, and John adds some particulars not mentioned by the others. According to Matthew, when Jesus announced "All ye shall be offended because of Me this night: for it is written, I will smite the Shep- herd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad, * * * Peter answered and said unto Him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. Jesus said unto him. Verily I say unto thee. That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny Me thrice. Peter said unto Him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples." (Matt. xxvi. 31-35.) Mark adds: "But (IOI) 102 A HEART ALL BROKEN He spake the more vehemently, If I should die with thee, I will not deny Thee in any wise." (Mark xiv. 31.) Ac- cording to Luke, "He said unto Him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison and to death." (Luke xxii. 33.) According to John, "J esus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for My sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, the cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied Me thrice." (John xiii. 38.) Cock croiving. It was already evening, during which the passover had been observed for the last time, and the Lord's Supper had been instituted in its place. (Matt. xxvi. 20.) Although clocks and watches abound as time- keepers among us, yet in rural districts, even in our land now, many take notice of the approach of day, more from the clear notes of their barnyard fowls than by the striking of the clock. These chanticleers chant clearly to announce the fact that the day dawns. Therefore, in a period when artificial clocks were unknown, we discern a reason why the term "cock crowing" would be com- monly used to express a certain period of the day. Hence, our Saviour's prediction simply meant that before day- light, or before the next morning, Peter would thrice deny Him, notwithstanding his loud protestations. We suppose that Peter uttered his vain boast after the institution of the Lord's Supper and before the long dis- course which John records in his fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth chapters, because John assigns it that place in his narrative. But we suppose that the remarks about the two swords (and this concerns Peter) occurred after this long discourse and as they were about to go out and cross the brook Kedron to the garden of Gethsemane. Luke alone records this remark of one, "Lord, behold, here are two swords. And He said unto them, It is enough." (See xxii. 38.) Enough! What were two swords, or daggers, to arm eleven or twelve men! In the garden, when Peter had drawn one of these swords and aimed a deadly blow at the head of the foremost assailant in defense of his Master and in attestation of his own BY THE SAVIOUR'S LOOK. IO3 prowess, the Master gently rebuked him, saying, "Put up again thy sword into his place; for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father and He shall pres- ently give Me more than twelve legions of angels?" (Matt, xxvi. 52, 53.) At the same moment He touched the wounded man and miraculously healed his wound. (Luke xxi. 51.) On the next day He declared before Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world : if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now is My kingdom not from hence." (John xviii. 36.) From all this, it is evident that the impetuous Peter misunderstood our Lord's meaning, when he interpreted literally His words, "And he that hath no sword let him sell his garment and buy one." Whereas he should have regarded it figuratively, that they would thereafter be exposed to new dangers and bloody perse- cutions. John alone tells us that it was Simon Peter who had the sword and drew it, and that the high priest's servant, whose ear he cut off, was named Malchus. (John xviii. 10.) The other evangelists say indefinitely it was one of the disciples who drew the sword. Why this differ- ence? It is easily and naturally explained by the fact that John wrote his gospel long after the others, being the last survivor of the Apostles, and by the supposition that Peter had already suffered martyrdom and was beyond the reach of the vengeance of Malchus or any of his friends, and probably Malchus also was dead. From the garden — the scene of the agony and the scene of the betrayal — Jesus was led by those who appre- hended Him, first to the house of Annas, but only for a brief time, thence to the palace of Caiaphas. Here the Sanhedrim held a night session, they awaited the return of the officers, and here they condemned Him on the charge of blasphemy. It is evident that they held a morn- ing session and plotted how they could secure His con- demnation by Pilate on some other charge. "When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the 104 A HEART ALL BROKEN people took counsel against Jesus to put Him to death. And when they had bound Him, they led Him away and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate, the governor." (Matt, xxvii. i, 2.) Now it is a political accusation of rebellion against the government, forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, and claiming that He himself is Christ a king (Luke xxiii. 2), and when Pilate yet sought to release the innocent prisoner, the Jews threatened Pilate himself with the charge of treason, saying, "If thou let this man go, thou are not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar." (John xix. 12.) The narrative brings into contrast the characters of the two disciples, Peter and John. The difference is marked. "Peter followed afar off," and came to the door and stood without (Luke xxii. 54), and John, availing himself of his acquaintance with the high priest, went resolutely into the palace, and afterwards went out and spake to her that kept the door and brought in Peter (John xviii. 16), who then stood in the hall or courtyard with the servants and warmed himself by the fire. If John had once deserved to be called a Boanerges, or son of thun- der, his character was so matured by grace as to exhibit sub- sequently an unwonted combination of firmness with gentle- ness and to entitle him to the name of the loving and the beloved disciple. So it often is that the affection which is ostentatious and babbling, like the rivulet, dashing among the rocks, soon exhausts itself; but that which is more powerful runs noiselessly like the deep river. A maid, the one who opened the door — perhaps not immediately but soon — asked Peter, "Art not thou also" (as well as John) "one of this man's disciples?" Promptly he saith, "I am not." ( John xviii. 17.) Presently another (where many stand around and several speak, we may expect some differences of statement), renewed the charge. And Peter said, "Man, I am not." (Luke, xxii. 58.) It would appear that Peter became uneasy and uncomfortable, changed his position, went out into the porch, as if he would escape into the street, but found BY THE SAVIOUR S LOOK. IO5 the door shut, for when he had gone out into the porch the second charge was made, and there "he denied with an oath, I do not know the man." (Matt. xxvi. 71, 72.) An hour passed, during which attention was given to the trial in the council chamber opening into the court- yard. Some suppose our Lord is led across the inner court again to the hall of the high priest, where the decisive final session is to be held, and thus He looks upon Peter. May we not suppose that during the recess of the Sanhe- drim He is delivered to the keeping of the officers and to the buffetings of the servants in the courtyard, as after- wards to the soldiers in Pilate's hall, and here Peter witnesses His maltreatment and becomes alarmed for himself? And about the space of an hour after occurred the third at- tack on Peter and his third denial, for "Another confi- dently affirmed, saying, Of a truth, this fellow also was with Him: for he is a Galilean." (Luke xxiii. 59.) His Galilean dialect attracted attention and betrayed him. Yes, he was a fisherman from the sea of Galilee, and Jesus was from Nazareth, in that same region. Now comes an excited and important witness against Peter, released from the trial of the council chamber. He makes a point-blank accusation, "One of the servants of the high priest, being his kinsman whose ear Peter cut off, saith, Did I not see thee in the garden with Him?" (John xviii. 26.) Yes, I saw you raise your sword against my kins- man and give him a murderous blow. I call for ven- geance ! Alas ! This was too much for Peter's courage. He probably had expected that his innocent Master would obtain some miraculous deliverance, or had hoped that the disciples might be permitted to fight in His defense; but seeing Jesus thus condemned and maltreated, all hope for Him is gone and all other thoughts are now absorbed by fears for his own personal safety. He begins to curse and to swear. Hark! The shrill, sharp sound of the cock crowing startles his ear. And why? His eye meets the eye of his Master, for the Lord turned and looked upon Peter, but not a word He spake. 106 A HEART ALL BROKEN Others must have noticed how He turned and won- dered why He turned, regardless of the insulting servants, to look at yonder disciple. I would not compare our Lord Jesus Christ to Caesar, but there is an incident in the life, rather the death, of Julius Caesar, which af- fords just here an appropriate illustration. The Roman senators conspired against Caesar, the first emperor, and stabbed him in the senate house, where he died, pierced with twenty-three wounds. (44 B. C.) At first, he at- tempted to make some resistance, but when he saw Bru- tus, his most intimate friend, among the conspirators, he submitted to his fate and fell down at their feet muffling up his mantle and exclaiming, "Tu quoque Brute." In allusion to this scene, the great dramatic writer, true to human nature, represents Marc Antony thus arousing the citizens of Rome : — "This was the most unkindest cut of all, For when the noble Caesar saw him stab, Ingratitude, more strong than traitor's arms, Quite vanquished him. Then burst his mighty heart." "And in his mantle muffling up his face, Even at the base of Pompey's statue, Which all the while ran blood, great Caesar fell." {Vol. VI., p. 59.) By parallel reasoning, do we say that Peter's ungrateful denial was the keenest blow inflicted by man in the last hours of the Redeemer. He could say, and by His look did say, And thou, Peter! So honored, so trusted, so valiant, so earnest in protestations above all others to die with me! In the garden I saved thee by saying, Let these go their way. If thou canst not now die with Me, when I die for thee, why, why dost thou deny Me? These questions rush upon us : Why was Peter permitted to fall? Could not the Lord have sustained him before, as He did afterwards? What was the result of this fall on Peter himself? What has been the effect of Peter's fall upon others? It was recorded for us. Does it en- courage to sin? Does it teach that there can be a falling from grace? BY THE SAVIOUR'S LOOK. IO7 Our theme in one aspect may l>e stated as repentance at the cross, of which the Lord's Supper is an evidence and monument, or it is a heart all broken by the Saviour's look. As we look at Jesus, here set forth and crucified for us, and our eye meets His eye, a recollection of His words and of our unfaithfulness and broken vows should fill us with deep contrition and humiliation. Enter the council chamber of the Sanhedrim and behold their administraton of law and mockery of justice, and learn how, under the garb of religion, falsely so called, worthy only to be called fanaticism, ecclesiastical tyrants may become the most cruel and bloodthirsty, even more guilty than the pagan Roman, Pilate. Before those raging priests and obsequious, malicious servants stand in the foreground for our contemplation two persons : the one is a poor, weak disciple of humanity, the other is the Divine man, our Redeemer. I. Consider Peter more closely. Contemplating Peter, we obtain an instructive lesson and admonition with an illus- tration of the weakness of human nature, even such as all Christians are. Peter was a Christian, a sincere friend of Christ, a true believer. He was a self-confident Christian. Young converts, before they have gained experience, often condemn those who have longer followed Christ. Cen- soriousness towards ministers is a common fault, and so is spiritual pride. Thus an inexperienced soldier, with armor untried, is ready to assume the whole campaign. He was ignorant of himself. That the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, was proven in Peter's history, and the same is true of us. We are no better by nature than he was. Who, then, has made us to differ? Weak was Peter, and so are we. He quailed before a maid servant. There is a difference between martial courage and moral courage. One faces the cannon who will not stand up for Jesus. Peter began to yield where he should have resisted, even at the threshold. Beginning to yield often insures defeat. Satan, like a skillful general, when he discerns that the ranks of the opposing forces waver, or the 108 A HEART ALL BROKEN centre yields, makes his most furious assault on the weak- est point, hoping that a panic may complete the over- throw. We learn the force of tempation and the power of in- dwelling sin, which affords, however, no valid excuse for sin. Peter was strangely betrayed into cursing and swear- ing. See thus the confirmation of Luke v. 8, where Peter says truly, "I am a sinful man, O Lord." Here the old habit of the early fisherman seems to break over the re- straints of three years' discipleship at the feet of the great Teacher. Learn the power of early habits, which some- times break forth. When we thought them dead, they assert their vitality and power. Hence we may account for the fall of many Christians. Therefore, learn to guard against any easily besetting sin, and to avoid the forma- tion of any evil habits. Peter's bitter tears and subsequent life attest the reality and sincerity of his repentance. He was unlike Judas in this respect. Judas did not fall from grace, because he had none. Peter did not totally fall from grace. He was restored. Tears could not wash away his sin. Why did he weep so bitterly? To find himself so weak? So igno- rant of himself? So cowardly? Such a blasphemer? That indwelling sin was so strong? These things were enough to make him weep, but not all. Did he weep most bit- terly because his sin was known, or would become pub- licly known, and placed on record? Enough. But this was not all, not even the chief consideration or aggravation of his grief. More than all, Jesus knew it ; that Jesus who loved him and whom he really loved, and he could say with David, "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight." (Psalm li. 4.) That look of commingled love and sorrow and anguish broke him down completely. He remembered that it was after solemn vows and protestations above all others; after sol- emn sacramental privileges and pledges; after warning, that he had denied his Master. He was one of the three who had been permitted to meet with Moses and Elias and to behold the glory on the mount of transfiguration, BY THE SAVIOUR'S LOOK. IO9 and to feel that it had been good to be there; he also had witnessed something of the agony in the garden. As his ear caught the shrill sound, and his eye met the gaze of his Master, these and many other thoughts flashed upon his memory and, rushing out in a tumult of grief, he wept bitterly, and the spectators, with mingled feelings of sur- prise, pity, and disgust, permitted him to escape into obscurity. What was the effect of Peter's fall upon his subsequent life and character? He was not so self-confident. When the Saviour at the Sea of Galilee asked three times, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?" with breaking heart the penitent Peter cried, "Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee." (John xxi. 15-17.) "The fall and repentance of Peter was one of the most powerful means by which he was trained into one of the most eminent Apostles. A character like his would never have mounted so high if it had not fallen so low." (See Lange on Epistles of Peter, page 355.) Jesus looks upon some, for whom he died, who have not yet confessed Him before men. To refuse to confess Him is practically to deny Him. My dear hearer, are you one of these; are you ashamed even to be thought anxious about your own soul's salvation? Oh, Lord, our Saviour, with one look of love melt and soften that heart to peni- tential tears. II. Finally, contemplate Jesus the Saviour. How sub- missive and meek, while cruelly mocked and buffeted! From His treatment of Peter, we gain a powerful illus- tration of His love and compassion, which is full of en- couragement to ourselves. He knows what is in man. He knew^ and predicted Peter's fall. He did not cause it. Peter alone was responsible and guilty. For wise reasons the Saviour did not prevent it. Peter's sin added to the suffering of the Saviour, and so did our sins. This was a part of the burden of agony which He bare, for "He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." His intercession saved Peter from total apostasy, and thus He sustains us, for we IIO A HEART ALL BROKEN BY THE SAVIOUR'S LOOK. have not a high priest who cannot be touched with a feeling of our infirmities, but one who ever liveth to make inter- cession for us. His righteousness covers all our sins. His eye is upon us, and he looks upon us in compassion and love. We may well be humbled and self-condemned because we have failed to confess Him; to stand up for Jesus; to speak for Jesus; to maintain a consistent and consecrated life. Christians are not perfect, and are liable to fall. If we have not openly denied our Lord, not unto us be the glory, but unto Him, who has kept us from falling. "Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion, and power, both now and ever." ( Jude 24, 25.) CHRIST'S SUFFERING IN THE GARDEN. "Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane." — Matthew xxvi. j6. It was already night when Judas, having received the sop, went out from the company of the disciples, who were gathered in an upper room to celebrate the passover. (John xiii. 30.) Then followed the long discourse and the prayer, which the Evangelist John recorded in four chapters. (xiv.-xvii.) Therefore the evening must have well advanced when Jesus, the Master, followed by His eleven disciples, passed through the streets of Jeru- salem and out of the east gate of the city and by a bridge over the brook Kedron, or Black Brook, so called from the blood and drainage of the temple. It runs through the valley of Jehoshaphat. Having crossed the brook and valley, He came to the Mount of Olives, or the foot of the mount. The Mount of Olives, which was thus named from the abundance and luxuriance of its olive trees, lies about three-fourths of a mile east of Jerusalem and be- yond the Valley of Jehoshaphat. "At the foot of the mount on the western side is the site of the Garden of Gethsemane, now in possession of the Latin monks. It is an even piece of ground, nearly sixty yards square, and thickly planted with olives, some of which are evidently of very great age." (Rosenmuller in Views, by American Sunday School Union.) The name Gethsemane means oil press — others say Valley of fat- ness. It is not improbable that a press for the manu- facture of olive oil was in that vicinity. This garden, deeply interesting to all Christian travel- ers, was the frequent resort of our Saviour and His dis- ciples, for Luke says, He went, as He was wont, to the (in) 112 CHRIST S SUFFERING Mount of Olives (xxii. 39), and John tells us that the traitor Judas knew the place; for Jesus oftimes resorted thither with His disciples, and therefore Judas led thither the band of soldiers to seize him. (John xviii. 2.) Our Lord, leaving eight disciples, probably near the entrance, took with Him the remaining three and went a little farther. These three, James and John, sons of Zebedee, and Peter, had been the chosen and favored wit- nesses of His glory on the mount of transfiguration and now were witnesses of His deepest humiliation. Won- derful contrast! He unfolds to them His peculiar bur- den of sorrows, saying, "My soul is exceeding sorrow- ful, even unto death; tarry ye here, and watch with me." In some measure they sympathized in His sorrow, al- though they could not understand it fully. While the exhortation repeated afterwards, "Watch and pray," had special reference to themselves, it does not forbid the idea that they should keep awake and be ready to announce to Him the approach of the traitor who was expected at least by Himself. Leaving these disciples, He went yet farther, seeking retirement, and first kneeling on the ground and then falling on his face, He prayed, saying, "O, my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt." Three times he repeated substantially the same prayer, each time returning to His chosen disciples and finding them asleep. He spoke to them in terms of gentle rebuke, and especially to Peter, because of his very recent vain glorious boast of pre-eminent fidelity, "Although all shall be offended, yet will not I." (Mark xiv. 29.) "Simon, sleepest thou? Couldest not thou watch one hour?" Their sleep was not a profound slumber; but an inter- rupted drowsiness, such as sometimes comes over per- sons even in our churches, when they think that they know all that is going on ; but others know that they are anything but awake. Our Lord's expression in the last part of the forty-first verse, "The spirit, indeed, is willing, but the flesh is weak," has been regarded by many as an apology for their drowsi- IN THE GARDEN'. II3 ness; but it may be better viewed as a reason why they should watch and pray. Finally, He saith: Sleep on now, and take rest; behold the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me. As if He had said, Take your rest for the remainder of the time, which is short. I am now ready. It is enough. The transition to "Awake, Arise'' is not un- natural nor inconsistent upon the supposition that having given them permission to rest, He at the next moment discovers the flashing light of lanterns and torches and hears the approaching footsteps of the enemies of the Son of man. The thought that He meant by Let us be going to say, Let us flee and escape, is utterly inconsistent with the whole spirit of the narrative. After this introductory survey of the circumstances the theme of our meditation is Christ's agony in the garden and its lessons. Come, behold the sufferer. Who is He? According to Matthew (xxvi. 45) and Mark (xiv. 41), He called Himself the Son of man, saying, "The Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners." Often He had said, '"Mine hour is not yet come," but now He knew and de- clared, "The hour is come." He had known antecedently, and again and again had foretold, that He should be put to death by cruel crucifixion. In that mysterious union of the Divine and human nature, He as man knew all that the Divine nature permitted the human soul to know. In Gethsemane the humanity of Christ is more con- spicuous than His divinity. And yet we do not forget how He healed Malchus' ear which Peter had cut off. (Luke xxii. 51.) So far as we can penetrate the mystery, which surrounds the scene, difficulties are best explained by the fact of His real humanity. The agony and the prayer of the garden prove that He was really a man. He possessed a true body and a reasonable soul — all the faculties and instincts of human nature, yet so far as they are without sin. His feelings became more intense as the hour drew near. ii4 Christ's suffering Some rationalists have ascribed these feelings of our Lord to bodily exhaustion or illness. Others attribute to Him cowardly fear in the prospect of death, and allege that many men, martyrs and philosophers, have met death without such weakness. Was there any wavering of purpose? Such an idea would be contrary to all previous declarations and testi- mony. Upon an entirely different occasion, viz., after the rais- ing of Lazarus and His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, John records a somewhat similar expression, the brief prayer or exclamation, "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour; but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify Thy name." (John xii. 2J, 28.) Some interpret these words as a double question. What shall I say? Shall I say, "Save me from this hour?" No! because for this very object came I unto this hour. To escape the difficulty which arises from the Saviour's prayer in the garden, some limit "this hour" or this cup to the hour or cup of anguish in the garden, and say the agony of Gethsemane was not a dread of the agony of Calvary, but a specific agony. He prays that the hour of this suffering might pass; that is, He may not be overwhelmed by it and die. (See Lange on Matthew, page 481.) Does this cup which He asks may pass away mean, then., the present agony in the garden, or the whole suffering which was then in prospect? Most interpreters hold that it refers to the whole pros- pective sufferings, and so do we. If it refers to the whole suffering, was there anything sinful in this utterance, any- thing inconsistent with His character? No. There was certainly no wish nor thought suggested con- trary to God's will. This was thrice told. There was no desire for anything impossible or inconsistent with the requirements of the case or contrary to the divine attri- butes. His humanity explains His feelings. If He had manifested stoical apathy, an enemy would have said that it was unnatural and the narrative could not be true. His IX THE GARDEN. 115 humanity shrank from sufferings and from death and ex- torted the groan, O that it were possible that all this might not be necessary and yet there was really no draw- ing back, no change of purpose, for again and again did He say, "Not as 1 will, but as Thou wilt," and "O, my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me except I drink it, Thy will be done." A more beautiful exhibition of submission and resignation cannot be imagined. Yea, more, though not always stated with sufficient prominence or emphasis, did not His pure, spotless, sin- less humanity shrink not merely from physical and mental suffering; not merely from death, but much more from the endurance of the wrath and curse of God, though even for a limited time? ''Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." (Gal. iii. 13.) On Matthew xxvi. 39, Dr. Scott quotes Beza thus: ''Christ dreaded not death in itself, but the wrath of God against sin, the weight of which, for our sakes, must be sustained." If a fellow-creature, moved by philanthropy, should go down to the abodes of filth and sin and degradation to reclaim the wretched victims of vice, would not even his nature shudder and shrink from the sights and sounds which he must encounter? If convinced that it was his duty to go and take up his abode with them, would not his inmost soul cry out. How can I do this? even when determined to do it? Suppose that an angel or a glorified saint were required to go to the abodes of the damned, not merely to sound a message from Heaven, but even to share with them the wrath of God for a brief sea- son, could the thought be entertained without a fearful conflict? We cannot understand the mystery of that horror of agony which came over the pure and harmless and un- defined soul of the Son of man at the thought of en- during the hidings of His Father's countenance. What must have been the reality? "What he endured, Oh, none can tell To save our souls from death and hell " n6 Christ's suffering when a few hours later was extorted from him that cry, "Eli ! Eli ! lama sabachthani" ! This He foresaw and dreaded. From this He shrank. Thus did the Man of Sorrows fulfill in part the work of atonement, when His soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, and ready to die, even then almost beyond endurance by His sensitive human frame. Having arrived at this conclusion and interpretation by comparing text with text, we are gratified to find the same confirmed by the more emphatic language of Dr. J. Addison Alexander in his commentary on Mark (xiv. 35, 42), which I now quote. He maintains that "our Lord desired that, if it were possible, that is, compatible, with God's perfections and design, the hour or time so long expected of His bloody passion might pass from Him, be removed and cease without His suffering what now im- pended," and adds: "The key to this mysterious enigma, so far as it can be unlocked to the mind of creatures, is afforded by the obvious consideration that our Lord en- dured precisely the same kind of suffering which any mere man would experience in the same situation, but without sin of His own. He therefore shrank from death and sunk beneath the sense of God's wrath no less really than we do. This was a necessary incident of His in- carnation, and essential to His genuine humanity, His actual possession of a true body and a reasonable soul. His sufferings in the garden were vicarious. * * * His expressed desire to escape is a necessary incident of His humanity, and also as a part of His vicarious suffer- ing. If He had not shrunk from death, it must have been because He was impassible, incapable of suffering, and therefore unfit to become the substitute of sinners doomed to everlasting woe. If He had not humbly consented to endure the will of God for man's sake, the great purpose of His incarnation must have been unaccomplished. But by doing both, both perfectly, and both at once, He proved Himself to be indeed the one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." Behold the Man, and contemplate now his sufferings. We cannot measure nor weigh His sufferings in the gar- IX THE GARDEN. II7 den, but we may look at them now a little more closely. There is a mystery which we cannot fathom. The ex- pressions employed indicate the most intense suffering. He began to be sorrowful, very heavy and despondent; to be sore amazed and very heavy. "My soul is exceeding- sorrowful, even unto death." "And being in an agony, He prayed more earnestly; and His sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground." (Luke xxii. 44.) The first thing which we notice as a fact is that mental sufferings are equal to and often more severe and power- ful than mere bodily sufferings. You have noticed or ex- perienced how exhausting and overwhelming are mental anxieties and sorrows. You have observed the face be- come haggard, the frame emaciated, strength exhausted, until one shall appear to have passed through a serious attack of illness or swoon away into insensibility, whose only disease has been trouble of mind. Another fact is apparent. Anxieties of mind and sor- rows of heart are sometimes accompanied by physical phenomena more peculiar than these just now mentioned. It is not infrequent that those who have much care and brain work become prematurely old. We know how in times of great excitement, fright, or suffering large drops will appear on the forehead, or a profuse perspiration covers the body. Medical testimony may be found of a bloody or sanguineous sweat.* In the case before us, remember that soon afterwards, on that same night, it was so cold that the soldiers and servants in Pilate's hall or court made a fire of coals to warm them- selves, and we shall wonder yet more at the mystery of that agony, which caused the sweat, as it were great drops of blood, to fall from the Redeemer's face to the ground. There were special causes of suffering. The Divine at- tributes appeared to Him with a clearness which we can- not understand. He knew, as we do not know, how the holy God cannot endure the smallest sin. * See Bloomfield on Luke xxii. 44. n8 Christ's suffering He felt, as we cannot feel, that the just God must pun- ish the least transgression or omission of His command- ments. He understood not by an abstract definition, but by an overwhelming burden of personal experience, what is meant by the wrath of God against all ungodliness. He saw and felt the millions of sins of millions of beings laid upon Himself, and ours among them. Thus in the lan- guage of the prophet did He see of the travail of His soul. Another source of suffering. We cannot understand what were His conflicts with the powers of darkness and the prince of the power of the air. But we cannot doubt that the adversary of God and man, who tempted our Redeemer at the outset in the wilderness to doubt the word of God; to abandon His painful undertaking and to set up an earthly kingdom, or to do something incon- sistent and sinful, we cannot doubt, that He, while on the one hand urging on Judas, would on the other hand tempt our Lord with sinful suggestions to wrongdoing. But since temptation promptly and successfully repelled is not sin, our Redeemer came forth from Gethsemane as well as from the wilderness triumphant over sin and Satan. Prayer Answered. — See now how His prayer was an- swered, for, first, he had asked nothing contrary to the will and purpose of God. Thrice had He said, "Not my will, but Thine be done." He had asked only, if it were possible, if entirely consistent with all the attributes of God, if there were any other way to accomplish man's redemption; if not, Thy will be done. Thus He teaches us how to pray and how to do our duty. His prayer was answered, secondly, by the appearance of an angel to strengthen Him. It was thus in accord- ance with the covenant of redemption between the First and the Second Persons of the Holy Trinity that the Father would sustain the incarnate Son in all His humil- iation and conflict. Thus strengthened, he went forth to conflict calm in the assurance of duty, and filled with the greatness of His work, and trusting in the sustaining power of God. No trace of fear, no doubt, no hesitation IN THE GARDEN. H9 now appears. And was it not because His countenance was radiant by reason of celestial communion with the angel that his enemies, at their first approach, were over- awed and went backward and fell on their faces to the ground? Why did He suffer this agony? It was necessary. Thus learned He obedience. Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suf- fered. It was a part of His atoning sacrifice. (Heb. v. 8.) He suffered in bearing our sins; our sins; not His own. "Surely, He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." (Is. liii. 4, 5.) Lessons from the agony of GctJisemane. 1. From the example of Christ we learn how to prepare for conflict, viz., By going to the oft resort where Christ meets His disciples. He now can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Be it a garden or a garret, a lone mountain or a desert, go to Jesus, for we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. 2. From the same example we learn how to meet suffer- ing by submissively saying. Thy will be done. 3. To shrink from death is not per se sinful. It is a natural instinct at the first summons. Much depends on the motives and reasons for shrinking from death. The Apostle Paul could say, "Willing to be absent and to be present with the Lord," and again, "having a desire to de- part, and to be with Christ, which is far better; never- theless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you." (2 Cor. v. 8; Phil. i. 23.) 4. To purpose to do God's will at any cost and sac- rifice is duty. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. 5. It is our great duty to fear and shrink from God's wrath and curse. Can any one desire, nay, even be will- ing to endure this eternally? Was Paul willing to endure it to save his countrymen when he said, "I could wish that mvself were accursed from Christ for mv brethren, 120 CHRIST S SUFFERING IN THE GARDEN. my kinsmen according to the flesh"? (Rom. ix. 3.) Christ alone could and can do this. How could you en- dure eternally what Christ endured for a brief period? You must endure it unless saved by Christ. We do ac- knowledge that God might justly condemn, but we are not required to be willing to be damned. Are you willing to be damned? Are these sufferings of Christ nothing to thee? Dost thou despise His agony? It is related that Kajarnak, the first Greenlander who was converted, owed his conversion to the preaching on our Lord's agony in Gethsemane. No mere morality will suffice. God, grant one more conversion from this con- templation upon Christ's suffering in the garden. By the sufferings which are represented by this broken bread and by this cup of sorrow is the only way to escape the wrath of God due for our sins. It was impossible otherwise to save. Had it been possible, such suffering would not have been inflicted. We may believe that He suffered this agony for us. Our sins, mine, thine, were included in that cup of sorrow which He drank to the dregs. His cup of sorrow is our cup of joy, and becomes a Eucharist. In a new sense, if we have suffered with Him, we shall also reign with Him. Such is our union with Christ that we suffered in the garden and on the cross. If united to Him, His death was our death to sin. In His life is our life to righteousness. THE LAST RESOLVE. "And so will I go in unto the king: and if I perish, I perish." — Esther iv. 16. The history of Esther is one of deepest interest. The simple narrative declares nothing improbable, nor unnat- ural. It contains many instructive lessons. Esther belonged to a family of the Jews who had been carried into the Babylonian captivity. The seventy years' captivity had ended and the Persians and Medes had con- quered Babylon. Ahasuerus, King of Persia, whom we suppose to be the same as he who is elsewhere called Artaxerxes Longi- manus (see Neh. ii. 1.) had put away his wife, Queen Vashti, and among the young and fair maidens another queen was sought. Now it happened that in Shushan, the capital, was a Jew named Mordecai, descended of the captives, who had been carried away from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon. This Mordecai brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter. She was an orphan and fair and beautiful. Among the maidens, Esther was presented in due time to the king and pleased him more than all the others and he set the crown royal upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. Here have we a remarkable evidence of God's wonder- fully working providence; when by such a combination of events an obscure Jewess was exalted to be the queen of a mighty monarch, throughout whose dominions were scat- tered a people whom God had promised by his prophets to restore to their own land. Again have we an illustration of the Proverb, "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water : he turneth it whithersoever (121) 122 THE LAST RESOLVE. he will." (Proverbs xxi. i.) We can see by what means this same king was induced to permit Nehemiah and others afterwards to go to Jerusalem and helped them to rebuild it. (See Neh. ii. 6.) The prominent characters in this true story are very different one from another, and four of these are graphically described. You see a profligate monarch, a despot, yet easily swayed by his counsellors. You admire the gentle and beautiful Esther, a heroic and noble character. There is something unusual in the honest, fearless Mor- decai ; his trust is in God ; he scorns to do a wrong act him- self, and he will not stoop to honor a wrongdoer. That wicked, cruel, ambitious Haman, full of pride and self-conceit, rose rapidly to power and fell from the sum- mit as suddenly. It has been suggested as the reason why Mordecai bowed not to do him reverence that Haman was a descendant of the Amalekites, the sworn enemies of the Jews and accursed of God. There may have been other reasons in his char- acter which are not mentioned. Haman showed his char- acter when he sought, not to lay hands upon Mordecai alone, but to avenge himself by destroying all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom. Such was the vengeful spirit of an Amalekite. He accused the Jews as a dangerous people and asked the king to issue a decree for their destruction and promised to pay as an equivalent ten thousand talents of silver. The weak monarch yielded to his favorite and handed him his ring, with which to seal such a decree as he pleased, and he hastened the mes- sengers to carry the decree sealed with the king's ring into all the provinces to destroy, to kill, and cause to perish all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month * * * and to take the spoil of them for a prey. (Es- ther iii. 13.) Then the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Shushan was perplexed. Mordecai, in deepest grief, cried with a loud and bitter cry. His grief was told THE LAST RESOLVE. 1 23 to Esther. She sent to inquire the cause. You will bear in mind the seclusion of women, especially those of high rank, in Eastern lands. Mordecai told the sad story and urged her to go to the king and make intercession for her people. The gentle, timid Esther hesitates. It will be at the risk of her life if she goes unbidden into the king's pres- ence, and as an indication that her husband's affections had been alienated she had not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days. .Mordecai again insists that she cannot escape; her own life and that of her father's house is now in peril, and believing that God might grant other deliverance, yet sug- gests that in His providence she had come to the kingdom, her present position, for such a time as this, for the very purpose of saving God's people at such a crisis. Such proved to be true. Now does Esther develop traits of character before unknown. Entreating her countrymen and maidens to unite in fasting and prayer for her, trust- ing in the protection of God, she nobly resolves in the words of our text, "And so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law : and if I perish, I perish." We might here enlarge upon the lesson of God's special providence, but desiring to obtain spiritual instruction from this narrative, let us examine more closely the trying sit- uation of Esther and her feelings. We notice — 1. She became fully aroused to the danger of her situa- tion, and yet gradually. The cruel decree seemed an im- probable event, and to one so recently exalted to the highest position, it might seem to be at first impossible. In her seclusion and security only by degrees could the truth be realized, that she was surrounded by jealous rivals, who, under the unalterable decree, would demand her life. She awoke to the reality, and death stared in her face and seemed to be very near. And was the king already alienated ? 2. She despaired of all other refuge and rescue. To hide and to flee were alike impossible. Whither could she go? 124 THE LAST RESOLVE. The law could not be repealed, for as seen in the case of Daniel, "No decree, or statute, which the king establisheth may be changed." (Daniel vi. 15.) Even those who trusted that God would deliver them could not conjecture whence deliverance should arise. It might even be a mystery what the king could do. But if he would do nothing all was lost, and all must perish. In him was the only hope or possibility of help, and the only person who could approach him was his beloved and lovely queen, and soon she was satisfied of this. 3. Esther's mind was agitated by mingled fear and hope. She did not utterly despair and say, I must perish; I will not try to do anything; it is useless. She was buoyed up by the hope that there was a possibility of meeting the favor of the king. He might hold out to her the golden sceptre. The benefit to be obtained was worthy of the effort and the risk. Nothing could be lost, her condition would be no worse if she failed, but all would be lost if she refused and did not go. At times there may have been misgivings and trembling. Yet we may suppose that when, having put on suitable attire, and having committed herself unto God, she approached the royal throne, a serene composure possessed her soul and added a peculiar love- liness to her countenance, which rendered her more beauti- ful than ever to the eye of Ahasuerus. 4. There was a moment of time when she made this de- cision: "And so will I go in unto the king." She had doubted as to what was her duty. But there is no evidence of a vacillating, changeable mind. She exhibits decision of character. She has made up her mind and determined her course of conduct, whatever may be the consequences. Thus she ventures all upon the decision of that moment, and there is no turning backward. 5. She submits to the manifest will of God and com- mits herself entirely to Him and His disposal, saying, "And if I perish, I perish." This is not the language of despair nor of yielding to blind fate, but it is an expression of humble trust in God. I can but perish if I go, and if it is the will of God that I perish by the sword of the ex- THE LAST RESOLVE. 125 ecutioner the Lord's will be done. Be it so; He cannot do wrong. I need not remind you how the king held out the golden sceptre and said, "What will thou. Queen Esther, and what is thy request? It shall be even given thee to the half of the kingdom." You remember how Haman was hanged and Mordecai exalted, and how by another counteracting decree the Jews were authorized to defend themselves and slay their enemies. We return to the text and, seeking yet spiritual instruction, would the more earnestly urge the sinner under the condemnation of death to say and do as Esther did, "I will go in unto the king, and if I perish, I perish." My dear friend impenitent, there are some points of re- semblance and some of difference between your condition and that of Queen Esther. In like manner the decree which condemns to death has gone forth and it is universal — "the soul that sinneth, it shall die." Whosoever has not already believed in an of- fered Savior is already under condemnation. (John iii. 36.) On the other hand, this decree of condemnation is not the unjust and capricious enactment of a despot. The Lord, who reigns upon the throne of the Universe, is just and righteous. He punishes no man more than he de- serves. So far from this, "He hath not dealt with us after our sins ; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities." (Psalm ciii. 10.) He is merciful and waiting to be gracious. There is no law which forbids access to him. You need not fear that he will not hold out the golden sceptre of his favor for he has proclaimed "Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." The door of access is open, therefore, as your danger is greater and your apparent difficulties are less than those of Queen Esther, you will be more inexcusable if you refuse to go unto the king. As Mordecai urged Esther, on her own account and for her family and nation, for her own life and happi- ness and usefulness, so again and again, by many mes- sengers and by many arguments, have you been urged to do your duty. Why hesitate? Why longer delay? 126 THE LAST RESOLVE. From the example and history of Esther learn these lessons which the Holy Spirit teaches. Like her you must — i. Realize the danger of your situation. You cannot be ignorant of the fact that the law of God pronounces the penalty of eternal death against all transgressors. Your own consciences testify that you are included in that num- ber. What infatuation of false security lulls you into in- difference? Does the King easily change his laws? Does he not mean what he says? Is there a lurking secret unbelief as to the final execution of the sentence ? You are like one who calmly sleeps and dreams pleasant dreams, while the crackling, roaring flames are rapidly approaching his dwelling and no voice of alarm reaches his ear. And yet he sleeps. At last, he awakes, realizes his situation, sees that there is only one avenue of escape and that must be promptly used, or it will be too late. Thus must you realize your danger before you will flee to a place of safety. Thus must a sinner realize his guilt and its consequences before he will cry, God be merciful to me, a sinner. 2. If thus awakened, you must, secondly, abandon all other hope or refuge except the one which God has opened and pointed out. To Esther's view, every other way of escape was closed. To the sinner every way of salvation is shut up except by the door which Christ has opened. He is the Door. He is the Way. There is none other name given among men whereby we must be saved. The sooner the awakened sinner discovers this truth the better for himself. He ofttimes seeks other ways and other saviours. By his own prayers, tears, works, gifts, by some form of self righteousness he tries to escape ; but all in vain. Therefore abandon at once all other refuge and go in unto the King, for he is on a throne of mercy and says, "Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." 3. You have less reason to despair and more ground for hope than had Esther. Satan may tempt you to despair by such suggestions as these, viz. : It is of no use to make any effort ; your sins are too great for pardon ; you have com- THE LAST RESOLVK. 127 mitted the unpardonable sin. But so long as you have some solicitude, some desire to escape from wrath and be reconciled to God you need not despair, nor give up all hope. It is an element of true repentance not only to have a true sense of our sin ; but also to have an apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ. God is reconciling the world unto himself through Christ. He has given the highest evidence of His love and mercy by the gift of His Son. God is faithful and just to for- give us our sins; for "if we confess our sins, He is faith- ful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (i John i. 9.) Take Him at His word. 4. You must, like Esther, come to a decision. Contem- plate the situation, past, present, and future; settle clearly what is the path of duty and of wisdom, then decide and act promptly as she did. Suppose Esther had replied, Yes! the danger is immi- ment; your advice is good. I will think about it. There is no immediate haste; there are yet several months before the day appointed for the execution; I am enjoying very comfortably the luxuries of my position ; I will wait, and a little time before the appointed day of death I will ask the king. O foolish Esther! you would say. With far more reason God says to that one who counts on long years of life and plans to eat, drink, and be merry, "Thou fool." There is no certainty of months nor even days. There must be a decision to give up sin; to turn and serve God; to look to Christ and take him for a Saviour, and do every known duty. The point of time of this conversion unto God may be more or less clearly defined and distinguish- able in different persons. But there must be made in re- liance upon Divine aid and Christ's merit a firm and unalter- able decision and thus go and take the first step, and here is a test question: Am I willing now thus to go in unto the King? 5. If thus willing to commit yourself to God go forward in the performance of duty saying. If I perish, I perish. 128 THE LAST RESOLVE. This does not imply a willingness to be damned, nor does it mean, If I am to be lost, I shall be lost, do what I may; but it is well rendered in the hymn — " I can but perish, if I go, I am resolved to try : For if I stay away I know I must forever die." It acknowledges, with the returning prodigal son, I am not worthy of the least of thy favors. It acknowledges that we deserve to perish for our sins ; but yet an apprehen- sion of the mercy of God in Christ gives renewed earnest- ness to the supplication for pardon and salvation. Go, then, in the spirit in which Esther went; go into the audience chamber of the King of kings, cast yourself at the footstool of mercy — "Venture on Him, venture wholly, Let no other trust intrude ; None but Jesus Can do helpless sinners good." THE SCRIPTURES FULFILLED IN THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. "Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken : ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." — Luke xxiv. 25-2J. When we have an opportunity of viewing some splendid pageant, or a magnificent building, or one of nature's scenes of beauty or of grandeur, we desire at one time from some commanding eminence to take an enlarged and comprehensive view of the whole, and again descend- ing and approaching nearer we make a more particular examination of the most interesting portions. It is profitable sometimes thus to study the Bible, and may the Lord aid and bless us in taking a general and com- prehensive view of the gradual and progressive revelations of the plan of salvation and prepare us to draw near and meet our Saviour, who hath suffered and entered into His glory. We are more affected by things which we see than by any account which we may receive from eyewitnesses. Thus it is impossible for us to be as deeply affected by the death of some distant friend as we would be if we were present with him, watching by his sick bed, witness- ing his sufferings, and beholding all the solemnities of his death and burial. On this account we may not appre- ciate fully the feelings of the sorrowing Cleopas and his companion, whose name we know not. But let us join them and inquire into the cause of their sadness. They have just passed through most exciting scenes. Jerusa- lem was filled with strangers, who came up to the feast, and perchance they are returning home. Mr. Moody has (129) I30 THE SCRIPTURES FULFILLED suggested that the companion of Cleopas was his own wife. We know from John xix. 25 that Mary, the wife of Cleopas, was with Mary Magdalene and the mother of Jesus standing by the cross. What more natural than that husband and wife should return home together? Here are two who seem to take no notice of the sur- rounding country, nor of the multitude by the way; but, intent on some subject of deep interest, side by side they pursue their journey, deeply absorbed in conversation. How sad their countenances! And now a stranger joins them. They would have passed him unnoticed had he not addressed a question, which would have seemed in- trusive but for the kindness of the stranger's manner, as, touched with sympathy, he asks after the cause of their deep sorrow, for if they had been to a feast they ought to return with joy. Either His countenance is so changed by recent suffering, or their eyes by some natural or super- natural hindrance are so obscured, that they do not think whether they have ever seen this man before. Cleopas in reply asks not whether he is a stranger, but, with surprise, can it be possible that even a stranger can be ignorant? Have you been here two or three days, or if you have only come to-day, have you not heard the things which are come to pass here concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a mighty prophet, as was proven by his miracles and power- ful preaching? Have you not heard of the unusual dark- ness of the sun, day before yesterday, and of the earth- quake, and how the veil of the temple was rent, and of the crucifixion, for our chief priests and rulers condemned Him to death and have crucified Him? This has been to us a great disappointment, and our hopes are crushed, for we confidently believed that He would have redeemed Israel from all our enemies and raise our nation again to independence and prosperity. Besides, other strange things, which we cannot under- stand, we have heard to-day; for certain women went early to His sepulchre and could not find His body which had been carefully guarded, and they reported that they had seen a vision of angels, which said that He was alive, and IX THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. 131 their words were confirmed by certain others who visited the sepulchre. Now, their unknown companion shows that he was not as ignorant of these things as they supposed, and having been silent, merely to draw forth an expression of their feelings, He takes the lead in the conversation, saying, "o avdr/roi, fools and slow of heart, ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory?" He uses not the language of reproach and condemna- tion, but of pity and surprise. The English word "fools" is almost too strong for our Saviour's meaning, and He calls them unthinking, unmindful ones, erring friends, how sadly have you mistaken and misunderstood these things! How dull of apprehension and slow to believe the truth! Ought not Christ, the anointed one, to have suffered pre- cisely in this manner? There was no necessity, indeed, laid on God to provide a Saviour; there was no necessity or obligation laid upon the Saviour to suffer. Yet was it not necessary, according to the Scriptures, to fulfill the types and predictions of the old Testament, and thus to accomplish the decree of God in the plan of redeeming sinners? Then did he open the Scriptures, and with as- tonished minds and burning hearts the two disciples began to see that all these things 'had been foretold, and that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed their long-expected Mes- siah. I. With our Saviour's example before us, at a remote distance, indeed, we will take a hasty and comprehensive view of the Scriptures respecting the Messiah as they foretell His coming; the time, place, and circumstances of His birth; the manner of His life; His sufferings, death, and resurrection, and observe that the apparently conflicting predictions of His humiliation and exaltation are both ac- complished. The first proclamation of hope and the first promise of redemption appear, obscurely, indeed, set forth in the words of the Lord God to the serpent but a short time after the sin of our first parents. "And I will put enmity 132 THE SCRIPTURES FULFILLED between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." (Gen. iii. 15.) The coming of a Saviour is involved in the promise made to Abraham, viz., "In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." (Gen. xii. 3.) A more clear annunciation appears in the prophetical words of the dying Jacob : "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come." (Gen. xlix. 10.) Some understand Shi- loh to mean He whose right it is, and others the Prince of Peace, in each case, however, referring it to the Mes- siah. The meaning is that "Judah shall not cease to exist as a tribe, nor lose its superiority until it shall be exalted to higher honor and glory through the great Redeemer, who shall spring from it, and whom not only the Jews, but all the nations of the earth shall obey." (Hengsten- berg, vol. I., page 59.) This prediction gives much trouble to the Jews, who deny that the Messiah has come. The brazen serpent was a type of Christ, for our Saviour said to Nicodemus, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up." (Compare Numbers xxi. 9, and John iii. 14.) Moses declares "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto Him ye shall hearken." (Deut. xviii. 15.) "The point of resemblance consists in the office of mediator. Because the Israelites are unable to endure the Divine majesty, God will communicate with them in fu- ture times through a mediator as he had hitherto done through Moses." (Hengstenberg, vol. I., page 71.) Ezekiel prophesied of the Messiah under the terms of a Shepherd and Prince and David, and Isaiah (Ezekiel, xxxiv. 23, 24; Isaiah ix. 1, and xi. 1) speaks of His com- ing as a light upon the people who sit in darkness. There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse. These predictions are a few of many, which refer to the Re- deemer in general and sometimes obscure terms. IX THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. 133 II. We will next notice those which more definitely refer to antecedent events, and to the time and circumstances of His birth. The prophet Malachi announces as the word of the Lord, "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me; and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple;" and "Behold, I will send you Elijah, the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord." (Malachi iii. i, and iv. 5.) He was therefore to come while the second tem- ple was standing, but that has long since been destroyed, and the New Testament shows that the forerunner of Christ, like a voice crying in the wilderness, was John the Baptist, who came in the spirit and power of Elias. The prediction already quoted, that the sceptre shall not de- part from Judah until Shiloh come also limits the time, while the words of Daniel in his ninth chapter are won- derfully exact according as they have been explained by eminent students of the Bible. While Daniel was pray- ing for the people it was revealed to him that from the command of God to rebuild the city to its completion the time would be seven weeks of years, or forty-nine years, and that to the public appearance of the Messiah should be sixty-nine weeks of years, four hundred and eighty- three years, and that in the midst of the seventieth week he should be cut off by a violent death, and that the sac- rifice should cease, and the city and sanctuary be de- stroyed. One who has written a volume on this prophecy remarks, "Our wonder must rise to the highest pitch when it appears from accurate examination of the dates, while among all the chronological determinations not one differs over ten years from the testimony of prophecy, the only one among them which is correct makes the prophecy and history correspond with each other even to a year." (See Hengstenberg, vol. II., page 394.) Isaiah thus foretells the miraculous birth of the Messiah, "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel" (Isaiah vii. 14); and the Prophet Micah thus fixes the place of his birth : "But thou, 134 THE SCRIPTURES FULFILLED Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel." (Micah v. 2.) How these predictions were exactly fulfilled no one needs to be told who has read the first and second chapters of the gospel by the Evangelist Matthew, and we next observe how — III. The prophets foretold the characteristics and man- ner of the life of the Redeemer. His divine character is set forth when Isaiah calls him Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the Father of Eternity, the Prince of Peace. (Isaiah ix. 6.) Everywhere under the figure of a lamb His meek and lowly character is represented, and it is said "A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench." (Isaiah xlii. 3.) "As a sheep be- fore her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth." (Isaiah liii. 7.) And thus saith the Apostle, "Being re- viled, he reviled not again." In the second Psalm He is represented as opposed and persecuted by kings, who rage and set themselves against the Lord's anointed. In the twenty-second Psalm treated as a worm, a reproach of men, and despised of the people; and in Isaiah liii., "Despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." These prophets show beforehand the humiliation of the Saviour, while the only instance of kingly triumph on earth was plainly foretold by Zechariah, "Rejoice greatly, O daugh- ter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass and upon a colt the foal of an ass." (Zech. ix. 9.) IV. But we must hasten on to learn from the prophets the Saviour's deeper humiliation in His extreme suffer- ings and the circumstances of His death. All the sacrifices set forth a suffering and bleeding Sa- viour. But this fruitful theme we pass over for the ex- press word of the Lord, who cries, "Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts : smite the Shepherd," &c. (Zech. xiii. 7.) IN THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. I35 Isaiah declares that He shall die a violent death, saying (in other words) "By oppression and a judicial sentence He was dragged to punishment." (Isaiah liii. 8.) Ex- actly as it came to pass it was foretold that the Shepherd of Israel would be sold, or betrayed for thirty pieces of silver, and that these would be given to the potter. That he should die by crucifixion, a mode of death unknown among the Jews, was evident from the prophet Zechariah (Zech. xi. 13, and xii. 10), and from Psalm xxii. 16, viz., "They shall look upon me whom they have pierced," and "They pierced my hands and my feet." The conduct of the scribes and priests, as they stand around the cross, is described by David, who compares them to dogs, to wild bulls, and a roaring lion. They laugh Him to scorn; they shoot out the lip; they shake the head, saying, "He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver Him; let Him deliver Him, seeing He delighted in Him." (See Psalm xxii.) Other minute circumstances of His death were foretold, e. g., in Psalm lxix. 21, "They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." In Psalm xxii. 18, "They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture." As it was strictly commanded that a bone of the Paschal lamb should not be broken, even so when the crucifying soldiers brake the legs of the two thieves, they were restrained from breaking a bone of the Son of Man; but one of the soldiers pierced His side and forthwith came thereout blood and water. His body might have been cast out with the malefactors who were crucified with Him, but Isaiah had long foretold "They appointed Him His grave with the wicked, but He was with a rich man after his death though," &c. (Translated by Hengstenberg, vol. I., page 523.) They would have treated His dead body with contempt, but Joseph of Arimathea, a rich man, laid Him in a garden in his own new tomb. Now, ye sorrowing disciples, with these Scriptures before you, ought not Christ to have suffered these things? In His death and burial He ended His sufferings and His hu- miliation. 136 THE SCRIPTURES FULFILLED Resurrection and glory. V. Ought He not also to enter into His glory? The words of the angels and of the women confirm the Script- ures, which foretold the resurrection and glory of your cru- cified King, for have you never heard the words of Da- vid : "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption"? (Psalm xvi. 10); and David could not have said this of himself, but of the resurrection of Christ. Thus the Apostle Peter after- wards reasoned in Acts ii. 27-31. Other predictions of His glory we find closely connected with the predictions of his humiliation in those passages already quoted. In them it is declared of the Anointed, "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." (Psalm ii. 8.) "All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord." (Psalm xxii. 2j.) "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied" (Isaiah liii. 11); and in the seventy-second Psalm the glory of his peaceful reign is described, and in many portions of the prophets the future glory of His kingdom is promised. He was represented as a king and priest, as a peaceful and prosperous king who would destroy all his enemies, and his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. (See Jere. xxiii. 5.) It is not strange that the Jews could not reconcile these conflicting and apparently contradictory prophecies; but they erred in looking for an earthly king and a temporal kingdom. With the clearer explanation of the Script- ures the two disciples began to understand that the king- dom of Christ was not of this world, and that He con- quered by dying; and as they discoursed, the time passed quickly and they found themselves at their journey's end, when their instructive companion seemed determined to proceed further; but they insisted that He should tarry with thejm and rest awhile. As they sat at meat there was something in the action of the stranger which awakened their attention, and we cannot picture their mingled feelings of doubt, surprise, IN THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. 137 and joy when their eyes are opened to see that it is in- deed their risen Lord, who now vanished out of their sight. They cannot keep to themselves the good news; they feel no more fatigue, but immediately, with quick- ened steps and joyful hearts, they hasten back to Jerusa- lem to meet the eleven, to hear that the Lord hath ap- peared unto Simon, and to declare how he was known of them in breaking of bread, and as they thus wondering spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and said, "Peace be unto you." Let us now draw 7 near to commune with one another at the table of the Lord and hear what our Saviour will speak to our souls. At the Lord's Table. Having thus hastily taken an extended view of the whole revelation of redemption, let us now descend and take a closer view of the grand attraction. As the prophets seem to pass in long procession before us, they all tend to one grand centre — they all meet on Calvary. Let us gather round the cross of Calvary. How won- derful the harmony of the Old Testament writers! How plain is it that the whole design of the Scriptures is to lead lost sinners to salvation by a Redeemer! When the predictions were given in successive and distant ages it is impossible that any man or men could have invented such a scheme. It were equally absurd to suppose that either the enemies or the friends of Christ, finding the predictions, could have designedly brought about their fulfillment. It was not the design of the priesthood of that day, for they were the bitterest of Christ's enemies, and little did they think that in every action they were literally fulfilling what the Scriptures had foretold. The friends of Christ, feeble, scattered, and despairing, had neither design nor ability to fulfill the prophecies, for they were dull of understanding and slow of heart to believe what the prophets had spoken. How strong must be our conclusion that the Scriptures are the word of God! As an expected Messiah was the grand theme of the prophets and as the apostles determined to know nothing but 138 THE SCRIPTURES FULFILLED Christ, and Him crucified, so let Christ and His cross be all our theme, and let the language of our hearts be "None but Christ." To the cares, pleasures, and business of the world let us say, Begone! we would commune with none but Christ. To those, who have chosen the world we declare that we choose for our portion none but Christ. Of all the physicians for healing the soul's maladies, and of all the means recommended to secure the pardon of sin, we know of none but Christ, and Him crucified. We are called by these emblems to view a suffering Saviour. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things? What things! What sufferings! Here is an atoning sac- rifice for sin; not that Christ suffers again; nor are here the real body and blood of Christ; but this bread and wine represent the sufferings which Christ endured for our sins and which were completed in the garden of Gethsemane and in the shedding of His blood upon the cross. Ought He? was it necessary for Him, to suffer for our sins? By no means. We cannot view in a becoming manner the sacrifice for our sins and keep this commemorative feast, without clear and distinct views of our unworthiness and sinfulness. Why have we been made to see our danger, and why hath God chosen us to manifest his amazing love toward any of us? avorjTOL! How foolish have we been! How unmind- ful! How forgetful! We have not seen as we ought to have seen the number and evil of our sins. We have not hated sin as God hates it. We have not been resolute enough and constant enough in our endeavors to put away all evil and to grow in grace. We have been unmindful of Christ and His sufferings, of what He has done for us. We have been forgetful of His word. Like the two disciples, we forget what He has told us of His sufferings. We have not meditated enough upon His love. We have not lived near enough to our Saviour. Now in partaking of the bread, the emblem of His broken body, we cannot worthily eat except we truly repent of all sin, and look alone to the merit of Christ's IN" THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. I39 sacrifice for pardon of sin and the acceptance of our services. Distribution of bread and wine. Peace, Peace be unto you, said the Saviour when the two disciples met with the eleven and Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and said, "Peace be unto you." They were filled with sorrow and anxiety. If, like them, any of us mourn the departure of our Saviour, and sorrow be- cause we enjoy not His presence as once we did, if we truly repent of our sin, and resolve to return from our backsliding, Jesus our Saviour says to us, Peace, troubled soul. M embers of Christ's body, if we sorrow over the de- parture not of the head but of a fellow member, let us not sorrow as those without hope. If it hath pleased the Lord to call any of our friends to heaven before us to commune this day in the courts above, let us not repine at the will of the Lord, but hear a voice saying, "Be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye look not for Him the Son of Man cometh." Jesus Christ directed the sorrowing disciples to the Scriptures, which Moses the prophet did write. Let us look to the same fountain for streams of consolation. How slow have we been to believe the Scriptures! How slow were we to hear, believe, and accept the offers of a suffering Saviour! We are too backward in drawing con- solation from the promises and consoling truths of the Bible. If there is any truth in the Bible, and in our pro- fession, we ought to find comfort therein, and the world ought to see that there is a difference between the sorrows of the righteous and of the wicked, even as there is in their joys and hopes. We have been too slow in believing and obeying the commands of the Scriptures. Let us be more diligent in the performance of the duties which we owe to God, to ourselves, to the Church, and to the world. We are too slow to believe what the Scriptures have spoken of Christ's glory. He hath suffered. Ought He not also to enter into His glory? He hath gone to His I40 THE SCRIPTURES FULFILLED glorious home, but the Scriptures speak of the extension of His glory upon the earth until His kingdom shall ex- tend from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth. We have too little faith in looking for the dis- plays of His glory in this church and the coming of His kingdom among us. Why may not His power and grace open the eyes of those who have continued long years in sin and make them as little children? Why may not the children of the covenant, dedicated to God, instructed in the ways of religion, come out from the world and enrol themselves with the people of God? What hinders? Is it our unbelief? The Saviour was near to the two disci- ples and they knew Him not. So he may be near to us, and while He makes as though He would go further to prove our sincerity and attachment, let us with wrestling entreaty constrain Him to abide with us. Some are here as strangers among us, yet we welcome you as friends in Christ. Born in different quarters of the globe in all human probability it is impossible that some of you will meet with us under the same circum- stances. Remember at the throne of grace the interests of this church and all in like situation. After all the wonderful events of the crucifixion and resurrection, there were some who doubted and did not believe. How many here occupy the places of the unbelievers! The warnings, the commands, the entreaties, the invita- tions of the Gospel you have often heard, and still you re- main among the enemies of Christ. Are your consciences at peace? Are you satisfied thus to remain, or do you wish to join the friends of Christ? What is it keeps you back? If you believe not the evidence before you neither would you believe though Jesus Christ himself should show you His pierced hands and His feet. We have nothing new to offer. What is it keeps you back? Some secret doubt and unbelief? Is it not rather an inward unwilling- ness to come? You are not convinced of your danger; you are not tired of your sins; you are not in earnest for the salvation of your souls. The possibility that it may be the last offer or opportunity is often urged upon the IN THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. 141 impenitent sinner as a reason for fleeing from the wrath to come, and the afflictive hand of God has visited, too recently and too suddenly, for us to omit that the shaft of death may be aimed already at some one of us. If ere another communion occasion returns, the mortal body of some impenitent hearer shall sleep in yonder burying ground where, oh where, shall be that immortal soul? And now, Christian friends, let us journey together and talk of Christ as the disciples journeying to Emmaus. But we cannot thus walk, except we be agreed. Let us agree together, unite in prayer and follow Christ, and He will meet with us and say, Peace be unto you. CHRIST IS PRECIOUS TO BELIEVERS. " Unto you therefore which believe He is precious." — / Peter ii. 7. The Apostle Peter addressed the strangers scattered throughout the provinces of Asia Minor. Whether they were converts from paganism or Judaism, they would readily understand the figurative language drawn from temple worship, from a priesthood, and sacrifices. To the Gentile converts he might say, Ye are now turned from the worship of dumb idols and from sacrifices to devils, to offer up spiritual worship to Him, who must be worshipped in spirit and in truth. (See Acts xvii. 24-31.) To the Jewish converts he substantially says, the Aaronic priesthood is no longer needed and is abolished; animal sacrifices are no more required; the great temple itself shall be destroyed, but in its place we have a Lamb, a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, and God establishes a great spiritual temple, and so in the fifth verse he says, "Ye also, as lively stones" — that is, living spiritual stones — "are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ," and in the ninth verse adds, "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him, who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." A great spiritual temple is to be erected. Behold, the corner stone of the foundation is Christ. On one occasion the disciples called the attention of their Master to the great stones and substantial foundations of the temple. See what manner of stones and what buildings are here, where- upon He foretold the destruction of those great buildings : "There shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down." (Mark xiii. 1, 2.) (143) 144 CHRIST IS PRECIOUS The foundation of any building, and especially of a temple, is of the greatest importance. If we should be- hold a magnificent building of costly materials and most approved architecture resting upon a foundation of wooden blocks, a sense of incongruity, of instability, and of danger would engross our minds to the exclusion of all pleasurable emotions. The corner stone, occupying the extreme angle of the foundation, is regarded as the important stone, and should correspond with the foundation, even as the foundation should correspond with the entire structure. The head stone of the corner was sometimes placed at the angle on the top of the wall. In the context the Apostle de- clares and proves that Christ Jesus is the corner stone of this temple, for in the fourth verse, speaking of the Lord, he says, "To whom coming as unto a living stone," that is, a spiritual, life-giving stone, possessing life in him- self, and confirms this by a quotation from Isaiah. Let us first notice other scriptural proof that Christ is the rock and corner stone of his Church. Moses sang, "For their rock is not as our rock, even our enemies themselves being judges." (Deut. xxxii. 31); and Paul, speaking of the Israelites in the Wilderness, says, "For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ." (1 Cor. x. 4.) But more pointedly we have Peter's confession, "Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God," and our Saviour's declaration, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matt. xvi. 16, 18.) To which may be added Paul's words to the Ephesians: And are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone. (Eph. ii. 20.) Let us now turn back to the proof which the Apostle Peter draws from the prophet Isaiah, remembering, too, that every quotation of the Old Testament by an inspired writer in the New is an inspired attestation to the an- cient Scriptures that they are the authoritative words of God. "Wherefore also it is contained in the Scripture, TO BELIEVERS. I45 Behold. I lay in Zion, a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on Him shall not be confounded." (Quoted from Septuagint, i Peter ii. 6.) More literally adhering to the Hebrew : Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will found or establish (as a building) in, or within Zion, a stone, a stone tried (of) a corner precious, a foundation well founded, and he who leaneth (or trusteth) upon (it) shall not make haste (». c, to flee away.) (Isaiah xxviii. 16.) A more free translation and following the Septua- gint, paraphrased freely: Wherefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay for the foundations of Zion, a stone (of great expense to procure) elected (selected for that very purpose by the great Architect), a corner (or ex- treme angle) stone, esteemed (highly valued) for its foundations, and he believing shall not be shamed or dis- graced, shall not be brought down in disgrace : his looks of hope and expectation and joy shall not be disappointed in tears and sorrows and shame. Zion was one of the hills or mountains on which Jeru- salem or the southern part of the city was erected. The name is often employed for that city, or figuratively for the church of God. The temple was erected on Mt. Moriah, on the eastern part of the city. The promise of Isaiah may have had a local and contemporaneous appli- cation, and, as says Dr. Scott, "It was well suited to give to the pious remnant an encouraging assurance that the Assyrians should not prevail against Judah as they had done against Israel," or as Dr. Bloomfield says, "It prom- ised security in Zion or Jerusalem to all who took refuge there from the tyranny of Sennacherib, king of Assyria. But that the prediction had a far deeper and more exten- sive meaning is evident from its frequent quotation by New Testament writers and their application of it to Christ." The magnificent temple of Solomon shall be destroyed, the stones used, although of enormous size, shall be thrown down; but the stone, the tried, the elect and pre- cious stone, laid in Zion, is well founded. They shall per- ish, but thou remainest. (Heb. i. n.) 146 CHRIST IS PRECIOUS It is now proven, first, that a spiritual temple is to be erected; and, secondly, that Christ is the corner stone of that temple; third, a question now arises: How is this corner stone regarded? and is answered in the text and context differently by two classes of persons. By one class He is disallowed, a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence even to them, which stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. This treatment of Him was predicted in Isaiah (chapter liii.), and in Psalm cxviii. 22, where it is written, "The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner." Our Saviour charged upon the Jewish rul- ers this rejection of the corner stone in His application of the parable of the vineyard, when the owner of a vine- yard sent first his servants and then his son, saying, They will reverence my son; but him also they cast out and slew. Thus they rejected the corner stone. (Matt. xxi. 42, 43.) The same accusation did Peter also boldly bring against the Sanhedrim, when, having been im- prisoned with John, he was put on trial and examined by what power or name have ye done this miracle? He replied, By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified. This is the stone, which was set at naught of you builders, you who ought to be the build- ers of the spiritual temple, and it has become the head of the corner. (Acts iv. 10, 11.) And Paul declared of the nation of Israel, "They have not attained to the law of righteousness. For they stumbled at that stum- bling stone; as it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offence: and whosoever be- lieveth on Him shall not be ashamed." (Rom. ix. 32, 33.) Paul here combines Isaiah xxviii. 16 with Isaiah viii. 14. Alas! that there are now among us so many following the same example of Jewish unbelief. To you who have not believed our report, the Saviour of men is as a root- sprout out of a dry ground! To your apprehension He has no form, nor comeliness! When urged to behold Him as the Lamb of God, you see nothing lovely, nothing at- tractive, nothing desirable in Him; you feel no need of TO BELIEVERS. I47 Him. He is rejected and by some the plan of salvation through the substitution of another is viewed as absurd and contemptible. His sufferings awaken not even sym- pathetic sorrow. You turn away your faces from Him and esteem Him not. In thus refusing to receive Christ, you stumble over that Rock on which you should rest as your only hope: you reject the corner stone of the whole system of the Christian religion, the only sure foundation of salvation. Are you aware of the danger, and what shall be the con- sequences? Our Saviour added to the parable already re- ferred to, "And whosoever shall fall upon this stone, shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder." Thus the severest judgments are de- nounced. They who stumble at this stone and are of- fended at this rock shall fall into the abyss of eternal per- dition. But now flee to the Rock for a refuge. ' The text especially declares how another class esteem this living stone. May the contrast between the two classes deepen the impression of divine truth. Unto you, therefore, which believe He is precious. Who are believ- ers? They who receive the truth. Briefly, the truth which Peter confessed, viz., "Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God" (Matthew xvi. 16), or the word of faith, which Paul preached, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." (Rom. x. 9.) To you, to you he is n/ifj, that is, preciousness. Some, contrasting the text with the rest of the verse respecting the rock of offence and stone of stumbling, interpret the text to mean, Unto you which believe He is the author or cause of honor and happiness. (So Bag- ster and Schleusner.) Very good, but we prefer to re- tain, with many, the idea of precious as we derive it from the fourth verse, and the quotation from Isaiah. Accord- ing to the English version, the word precious is a favorite expression with the Apostle Peter, since it occurs in his writings, as translated, more frequently than in any other I48 CHRIST IS PRECIOUS book of the Bible, excepting the Psalms of David and the Proverbs of Solomon. We therefore understand the word precious to signify that which is valuable and estimable. In these two words — valuable and estimable — there is a distinction and a double sense, e. g., a thing may be really valuable and yet not esteemed, for we may be ignorant of its value or indif- ferent. Again, we may esteem very highly and regard as precious to us something which is not really valuable in itself nor to others. There is, therefore, an objective and a subjective value or preciousness. A bar of gold is usually valued highly; but we can sup- pose many situations, as in case of a fire or a wreck, where a good axe would be more precious to a man than gold. Crown jewels are called precious, yet there are instances when a man will sacrifice jewels, gems, precious stones, all for his personal liberty, or his life. You may have some memento of a deceased friend, and though lightly esteemed by others, it is so precious to you that you would not exchange it for its weight in gold. These illustra- tons may make plain the distinction and show how the word precious is applicable sometimes to express the in- trinsic value of an object and, again, our estimation of its value. In this double sense, let us contemplate the living Cor- ner Stone, remembering that there ought to be and must be an inevitable and inseparable connection between the two as of cause and effect, that is, if an object be intrin- sically precious, it must be precious in our esteem, pro- vided that our views are correct and our affections right. How is Christ the precious corner stone, beyond con- ception valuable? The first requisites of a foundation and corner stone are proportionate size, strength, and dura- bility. Its value will be enhanced if the material is so scarce or brought from so great distance as to be procured only at great cost, and yet more, if it be naturally of a beautiful color and of such fine particles or grain as to admit of a very smooth polish. If, in addition, we have evidence that the master builder has himself selected this TO BELIEVERS. 149 stone from all the materials within his reach and knowl- edge, then we have an assurance that there could be none better, if any as good. A good workman selects the largest stones for the foundation, because these make not only apparently but really a stronger wall, and the foundation must be solid and substantial. For similar reasons, certain kinds of stone, though they may be of sufficient size and apparent strength, he will reject, because they are soft, consequently will crumble and endanger the whole building. Some stones, c. g., some fine marble, can be found only in par- ticular localities, in foreign lands, and are imported for special cases at great expense. Now, turning to behold the living Corner Stone, which has been laid in Zion, and on which the spiritual temple rests, we ask for strength. Is it strong? Is it adequate to bear the superstructure? The answer is, It is omnipo- tent. Omnipotence Himself, for at the foundation of the whole Christian system lies the doctrine of the divinity of Christ. He is truly the Son of God, and as we firmly believe, we need nothing more — He can do all things. He can and will save unto the uttermost. The chief of sinners need not fear. The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin. He is able, He is willing; doubt no more. We have not only a strong, but a durable foundation. It is the same exalted character of our Redeemer, which assures us that He is unchangeable. Having loved His own, He loves them unto the end. Trust Him, for He will never leave nor forsake. Witness the triumphant confidence of the Apostle : "For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." (2 Tim. i. 12.) "And Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever." (Heb. xiii. 8.) " Who can separate from His love ? His loving kindness changes not." This living stone has been brought from a vast distance and over great obstacles and at immense expense. Christ I50 CHRIST IS PRECIOUS came from heaven to earth; He overcame the difficulties arising from Divine justice and the guilt of sin, and when no other price was adequate He shed His own blood. For, saith the Apostle, "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, * * * but with the precious blood of Christ." (i Peter i. 18, 19.) No greater evidence of love can any man give — no greater price can any man pay for friends or enemies, than his own blood. Like as the pure white marble, free from flaw and stain, sparkling in the sunlight dazzles the eye of the beholder, so the pure and spotless character of the Son of God is resplendent. The tried Corner Stone, elect, precious, reflects or is radiant with the divine glory. No flaw is discovered in His character, no stain of sin polluted His soul. It enhances the value of this corner stone that it is elect — selected of God for this very purpose. It is evi- dent that none other would fit the case or meet the re- quirements. Hence it is the more precious. It is also manifest that any other foundation, which man might choose and upon which he might rest his hope, would be of no value, if it were not accepted and approved by God Himself. Peter was well assured upon this point and could not forget the scenes on the mount of transfigura- tion. He gives his testimony, "For He received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is My be- loved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (2 Peter i. 17), and adds, "Who verily was foreordained before the founda- tion of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you." (1 Peter i. 20.) Such is the living stone, the elect chief corner stone. Is it not precious? Therefore, we conclude that He is valuable and of great worth. Need we ask in further application why He should be precious in our esteem? Christ is and ought to be pre- cious to believers and highly esteemed by them. This is perhaps the most common idea which ordinary readers derive from the text. We repeat that whatever is in- TO BELIEVERS. 151 trinsically valuable ought to be highly esteemed. One way to cultivate this esteem, or love for Christ, is to contemplate His excellence. He should be precious to believers for what He is. Therefore the more we know of Christ, the more clearly shall we understand and admire His excellence. Christ should be precious to us for what He has done. Contemplate His atoning work, including His obedience, sufferings, and death, and obtain a believing apprehen- sion that this He endured for us individually, and the soul exclaims, Precious Saviour, thou art mine and I am Thine. Think of His present intercession, His exceeding great and precious promises, and all the happiness laid up in heaven. Precious Saviour, all these hopes we owe to Thee. We are not what we once were. We are not what we hope to be, but by the grace of God (said Paul) I am what I am. (1 Cor. xv. 10.) Whatever we have obtained, or whatsoever things we hope for, Jesus Christ is the chief corner stone of all our hopes. Without Christ we are of all creatures most miserable. At the Lord's Table. Is Christ precious in our esteem? Do we esteem Him most excellent? Do our hearts burn within us as we commune with Him and He opens to us the Scriptures? What are we willing to do for Him? What have we done for Christ? What sacrifices are we willing to make for Him, who impoverished himself for us? Do we see more and more beauty in Him? Do we ob- tain clearer views of Him? Modern excavations at Jeru- salem confirm the Scriptures. Thus, as we dig into these foundation truths, let our faith become stronger. Do we count all things but loss for Him, as Paul did? Do we find our highest happiness in Him and in His service, in His word and ordinances? Does that which gives Him joy, give us joy? There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth. Would we surrender our hope in Christ at any price? 152 CHRIST IS PRECIOUS TO BELIEVERS. It is enough if the Son of God is our Rock and Founda- tion. Cling to the Rock of Ages. As the wrecked sailor abandons the raft which he had made and clings to the rock while the furious winds roar above and around h.im, and the waves dash at his feet, so let us abandon our own works to cling alone to Him, who is the Rock of Ages and who says to all opposing and raging enemies, Hith- erto shalt thou come, and no further. " Rock of ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee. Not the labor of my hands Can fulfill the law's demands. Nothing in my hand I bring ; Simply to Thy cross I cling." DIVINITY OF CHRIST PROVEN BY JOHN'S GOSPEL. "And Thomas answered and said unto Him, My Lord and my God."— John xx. 2S. The time and the occasion when these words were ut- tered are worthy of a brief notice. "And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them; then came Jesus, the doors be- ing shut, and stood in the midst and said, Peace be unto you." Comparing the twenty-sixth and nineteenth verses, we may learn how the disciples observed the first day of the week and discover some reason for the change of the sacred observance of the day of worship from the seventh to the first day. It is well to read from the twenty-fourth verse to the twenty-ninth for the better understanding of the occasion, when our text was uttered. Thomas, in Aramaic thoama, is the same as the Greek AiSv/iog, Twin. He was one of twin children, but who was the other is a matter of conjecture. A more important statement is that he was not with the Apostles on the first Lord's day when they were as- sembled. Why he was absent is not clearly recorded. Perhaps he was so much discouraged as to be almost ready to despair. His example suggests to us how much may be lost by one absence from the assembly of the dis- ciples, from the place where the Lord Jesus is wont to manifest Himself to His people and to say, "Peace be unto you." Thomas at least lost a whole week of com- fort and peace, and suffered a week's painful doubt and uncertainty. My Christian hearer, remember the case of Thomas when you are tempted from indifference or luke- warmness or any slight obstacle to absent yourself (153) 154 DIVINITY OF CHRIST voluntarily from the meeting of the disciples. You know not how great may be your spiritual loss. Thomas could not or would not credit the testimony of the other disciples when they said that they had seen the Lord. He demanded the testimony of his own senses, that he might see and feel; otherwise he would not be- lieve. A week elapsed, and under similar circumstances our Lord suddenly stood in the midst, condescended to grant Thomas the evidence which he wanted, and with a Divine knowledge of his thoughts and feelings, said, Reach hither thy finger and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into My side and be not faithless, but believing. Then in the words of our text, "Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God." Generally these words are accepted as a proof that Christ is God. To overcome this argument, Socinians and Arians, who deny the divinity of Christ, strive to in- terpret the words of Thomas as an exclamation of aston- ishment and surprise as when some say, "My goodness! or good Lord !" To this we reply : — 1. Such expressions in the English language are usually regarded as profane and violations of the third com- mand. 2. No such expressions were commonly used by in- spired writers. Even where the translators have put into Paul's lips, "God forbid," he simply said, "Let it not be." 3. Such an expression would therefore have been re- buked by our Lord as profane. Not only does He not this, but 4. He accepted the words as addressed to Himself, and this was consistent with claims which He elsewhere made. 5. And He commends the faith of Thomas and of others, who believe the same doctrine. The term "Lord" among the ancient Greek, as well as in modern English, had various significations, and was applied sometimes to man in a lower sense and some- times in the highest sense to the Supreme Lord. Here PROVEN BY JOHN S GOSPEL. I55 Thomas seems to say, Thou art (or Oh Thou) my Master, my Redeemer, Divine, my God! Design of John. — This interpretation is consistent with the design of John in writing this Gospel, for he says in verse 31: "But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name." It is generally agreed that John wrote long after the other evangelists, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Some have considered that he aimed to supplement their narratives. Many of the discourses and several of the events and miracles which he records are given by him alone. Be- sides all these things he had a special object : it was to confute the heretics, such as Cerinthus, who denied the divinity of Jesus Christ, for, as already said, he wrote these things that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Consistently with this design and appro- priately does he introduce the case of Thomas, his doubts, his caution, his opportunity of ascertaining the facts not on hearsay, and his conclusive testimony. Now consider the character of Thomas and value of liis testimony. John alone records an earlier incident in the apostolic career of Thomas. When Jesus had heard of the sickness of Lazarus and proposed to go into Judea again, the disciples dissuaded him from exposing himself to danger, saying, ''Master, the Jews of late sought to stone Thee; and goest Thou thither again?" And when he would not be persuaded. "Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus. unto His fellow-disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with Him." (John xi. 8, 16.) This lan- guage indicated a deep attachment, a firm and courageous spirit. Thomas was less impetuous than Peter, who ut- tered such vain boastings, but not less reliable. He ar- rived at his conclusions more slowly; but he adhered to his principles more firmly. The general law, which ob- tains in the vegetable kingdom, viz., those things which are slow of growth, like the oak, are strong to endure, applies also to moral and mental phenomena. Hence, do we attach a special value to the conclusion and testimony I56 DIVINITY OF CHRIST of Thomas from the fact that he arrived at his conclu- sions slowly. He has been censured severely for his un- belief and doubts. Well, be it so. We shall not entirely exculpate him. But we discern in him a cautious dis- position. He is not willing to be deceived nor mistaken. He does not question so much the veracity of his fellow- disciples as their judgment. They believe what they say, but may not they have been deceived ? Could they have seen an apparition, a ghost? He had showed them his hands and feet, and when at the first appearance they were af- frighted, and thought that they had seen a spirit, He said, Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I myself; handle Me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me have. (John xx. 20; Luke xxiv. 36-43.) By absence from the first Lord's day assembly, Thomas had lost all this, and we cannot much wonder that he desired to enjoy it. Since it was essential to the office of an Apostle that he should be a witness of the resur- rection of Christ, our Lord granted unto Thomas his de- sire for the confirmation of his faith and of ours. The simplicity of the narration of these facts may prove that there could be no collusion among the disciples. Tra- dition tells us that Thomas preached afterwards in Par- thia and Persia. Another tradition is that after laboring in India he there suffered martyrdom. The testimony of Thomas affords a strong proof of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This cardinal and essential doctrine of the Christian system we shall not here discuss. The doctrine which especially concerns us now is that which John aimed to establish, viz. : — The divinity of Jesus Christ. Irenseus, of the second century, and other ancient writers inform us that one ob- ject of the Evangelist John in writing his gospel was to refute the heresies of Cerinthus and the Nicolaitans, who had attempted to corrupt the Christian doctrine. Cerin- thus was by birth a Jew, who lived at the close of the first century. Having studied literature and philosophy at Alexandria, he attempted at length to form a new and singular system of doctrine and discipline by a monstrous PROVEN BY JOHNS GOSPEL. 157 combination of the doctrines of Jesus Christ with the opin- ions and errors of the Jews and Gnostics.* In a single sentence, his system was a strange and confused combina- tion of Judaism, heathenism, and Christianity, utterly de- structive to the claims of Jesus to be the Son of God. Therefore, keeping in view the circumstances of the Evangelist and the special design of his gospel, we shall not now range over the entire Old and New Testaments for evidence, which abounds in almost every page, that Jesus is Divine, but request you to examine carefully the testimonies which John adduces in these twenty-one chapters to prove that Jesus Christ is God. These proofs may be classified or introduced under three heads, viz. : — 1. The declarations of the inspired Apostle and others, whose testimony he records. 2. The claims of our Saviour in His own words in His discourses. 3. His miracles. The scenes of the crucifixion and res- urrection. Divine attributes and work are ascribed to him such as can be properly ascribed to none but God. His eternity and creative power are distinctly declared in the first three verses of the first chapter. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made. In the tenth verse, again, creation is ascribed: "He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not." Omniscience is ascribed to Him. Nathaniel expressed surprise that Jesus knew Him : "Jesus answered and said unto Him, Before that Philip called Thee, when Thou wast under the fig tree, I saw Thee." Then "Nathaniel answered and saith unto Him, Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel." (John i. 48. 49.) * Home's Introduction, Vol. II., pages 315, 316, and Rev. ii. 6 and 15. 158 DIVINITY OF CHRIST The Evangelist testifies to the same attribute, saying, "Jesus did not commit Himself unto them, because He knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man; for He knew what was in man." (John ii. 24, 25.) Peter's testimony in the concluding chapter is also valu- able. When he was grieved, yea, painfully distressed, be- cause Jesus had thrice repeated the question, "Lovest thou Me?" he exclaimed, "Lord, Thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love Thee." John the Baptist's testimony. The heretic Cerinthus had maintained that John the Baptist was not only equal to, but in some respects superior to, Jesus Christ. Therefore, in this light we discover a special force and value in the introduction of the Baptist's testimony as re- corded by the Evangelist. As the Baptist cried, "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world !" and after describing the descent of the Holy Spirit upon him, he adds, "And I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God." (John i. 29, 34, 36.) Again do we see the force of the testimony of John the Baptist in John iii. 28, 30: "Ye yourselves bear me wit- ness that I said I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before Him." * * * "He must increase, but I must decrease." Consider the claims of Jesus. Witness His discourses, more fully reported by John than by others. He claimed to be one with God the Father; to be equal to Him; to have been with Him from eternity, and to be worshipped as the Father. This will appear by reference to particular passages. When the Jews persecuted Jesus after healing the man at the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath day, Jesus answered them, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. There- fore the Jews sought the more to kill Him, because He not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God." Thus they understood His meaning." (John v. 17, 18.) Instead of saying that they misunderstood His mean- ing, He proceeded to argue and prove, as in the twenty- proven by john's gospel. 159 third verse : "That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father." In the tenth chapter, also, when Jesus had said, "i and My Father are one. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him,'' and as they said, "For blasphemy, because that Thou, being a man, makest Thyself God." (John x. 30-33) Only upon the admission of His Divine omnipresence can we understand His claim, "And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." (John iii. 13.) Eternity He claimed. He claimed to be eternal when the Jews said, "Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast Thou seen Abraham?" He replied, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. Then took they up stones to cast at Him." (John viii. 57, 58.) The claim is distinctly asserted in that beautiful prayer of our Redeemer : "And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was." (John xvii. 5.) Recall the miracles narrated by John. We now glance at the miracles recorded in this Gospel, remembering that several of these are recorded by John alone. Maintain- ing, too, that these miracles are so many Divine attesta- tions to the truth of Christ's claim to be the Son of God, according to the principle laid down by Nicodemus, who said, "For no man can do these miracles that Thou doest, except God be with him." (John iii. 2.) The first recorded miracle is the turning six water pots full of water into wine at the marriage in Cana of Galilee. This miracle is mentioned by John only. (John ii. 1-11.) He heals the dying child of the nobleman, answering his urgent entreaty by these words: "Go thy way; thy son liveth." It required nearly or quite a day's journey for the father to meet the servants who were coming with the welcome tidings of the convalescence of his son, and then to learn that yesterday at the seventh hour, the very hour when Jesus had spoken, then it was that the fever left him." (John iv. 52.) l6o DIVINITY OF CHRIST He also healed the impotent man at the pool of Beth- escla, bidding him, "Rise, take up thy bed and walk;" and upon this occasion he asserted before the cavilling Jews His equality with the Father. (John v. 1-9.) He mirac- ulously fed five thousand and proclaimed Himself the Bread of Life. (John vi. 1.) He proclaimed Himself the light of the world (viii. 12), and bidding a blind man to go wash in the pool of Siloam, restored his sight. (Chapter ix. 7.) The most remarkable and crowning miracle was the raising of Lazarus after he had been dead four days. The other evangelists do not record this miracle. A probable reason may be found in the fact that the Jewish rulers sought to put Lazarus also to death, because many, see- ing him, went away and believed on Jesus. An event so public and well attested could not easily be forgotten by living witnesses. Yet its extensive publication recorded by the evangelists in writing might unnecessarily subject Lazarus, and perhaps themselves, to renewed persecution. But John, having outlived all those parties, might with great propriety and more safety record the event, espe- cially since it afforded the most overwhelming and con- vincing proof of the truth which he wished to establish, viz., "That Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God." The tone of authority with which Jesus spake strengthens the proof. When the stone had been removed by human hands, He spake with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth, and he that was dead came forth." (Chapter xi. 44.) How strange it is that any who witnessed that event could fail to believe and acknowledge that Jesus was the Christ! But so it was. His death and resurrection prove His divinity. I suppose that it was with the same end in view that the Evangelist John gives a particular account of the death and resur- rection of Jesus. Now, I beg you to notice not only the particulars which He narrates, but the value of His testimony, being an eyewitness and knowing what He affirmed. If the reality of the death and resurrection could be controverted or disproven, the whole Christian PROVEN BY JOHN'S GOSPEL. l6l system falls like a building when its foundation has been swept away. If Christ did not really die, then it could not be said in a true sense that He rose from the dead. If He really died and did not rise from the dead, then the Christian religion would become a false religion. Hence, we see the reason why John so fully proves the death of Jesus and uses the testimony of Thomas to prove that He rose again. Upon the arrest of Jesus by the band of men in the garden, all the disciples at first fled; but John and Simon Peter, rallying their courage, returned and followed Jesus. Turn back to the eighteenth chapter and you see that John was well known to the high priest, and at once en- tered the palace, while Peter stood without, until John went out and by his influence brought in Peter. Watch- ing his narrative so modestly given as to conceal his own name we see the beloved disciple standing courageously and faithfully by his Master, from the beginning of the trial to the expiring agony, when He said unto his mother, "Behold thy son. Then saith He to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home." (John xix. 25-27.) Thus was he an eyewitness. He says the soldiers pronounced Him dead and this was the reason why they did not break his legs as they did those of the crucified thieves. But as if to make certainty doubly sure one of the soldiers pierced His side, and forthwith came there- out blood and water. Scientific men have written treatises on this clause to show the certainty of death, and that His heart was broken. John assures us (again speaking of him- self in the third person), And he that saw it bare rec- ord, and his record is true, and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. He does not say that he took part in the burial; yet this is probable. John tells us, "Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples." (Chapter xx.30.) He could have written many more of the deeds and words of Jesus, both before and after His death and resurrec- tion. He had given his own testimony; the testimony of l62 DIVINITY OF CHRIST the women who were early at the sepulchre; the remark- able testimony of Thomas, and he deemed these sufficient to convince the unbeliever and to confirm the wavering and doubting. Yet in the concluding chapter he gives an affecting account of a third appearance of the Lord to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. Is not this ac- cumulation of evidence sufficient to convince you, my hearers, that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, so that, believing, ye might have life through His name? In conclusion, since John had a double design in writing, viz., not only to convince the judgment and establish by testimony that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, but also through this intellectual conviction lead souls to sal- vation in or by His name, we remark that salvation is not without belief. It is one thing to convince the head, another to affect the heart. Intellectual conviction can- not be a substitute for simple, saving faith. Let the world call it shame; but the doctrine of the text is the rock of our hope. Some derided, as did the rulers; some believed the false declaration of the soldiers. But great must be the guilt of rejecting the incarnate God. If Christ be not Divine then for eighteen hundred years the Christian church has been guilty of idolatry. His di- vinity is inwoven in our hymnology. "Jesus, my God, Thy blood alone Hath power sufficient to atone." " Rock of ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee." "Jesus, lover of my soul, Let me to Thy bosom fly." " Saviour, visit Thy plantation, Grant us, Lord, a gracious rain." These are not the flights of poetical fancy, but are the outbreathings of believing souls. We have no right to demand as a condition of belief the testimony of our senses. It is impossible in the nature of things. Will you believe nothing which you cannot see? The evidence of Christianity is sufficient, and should satisfy every one. PROVEN BY JOHN'S GOSPEL. 163 Behold the condescension of Christ to Thomas. If we are not permitted to put forth our hand to the print of the nails and His bleeding side, we may put our hand to the bread and the wine, which represent His body broken and His blood shed for us. Let us appreciate the value of a personal reliance on Jesus Christ as my Divine Lord and Saviour, and so make our confession of Him, My Lord and my God. PRESBYTERIAN DOCTRINE. " But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest : for as concerning this sect, we know that everywhere it is spoken against." — Actsxxviii. 22. [A tract of sixteen pages, on the "Practice, Doctrine, and Government of the Presbyterian Church," was written by Rev. Allen H. Brown, and printed in 1851, without the author's name. Now, retaining the introductory and concluding sen- tences, and omitting the chapters on the Practice and the Government, the second chapter on the Doctrine Most Surely Believed Among Us, in simplest language, for the benefit of the unlearned, is here reprinted, with a few slight verbal changes by the author.] It is easy to infer from these words of the chief of the Jews at Rome, that the mere fact of a religious sect being everywhere spoken against is not a certain proof that it is dangerous to society or erroneous in doctrine; for such was the treatment which the truth received even when it came from the lips of the Apostle Paul. Those Jews at Rome, and the noble Bereans, who would not at once condemn the practices and doctrines of the new Church, because contrary to their customs and prejudices; nor form their opinions from a one-sided hearing of their own priests and scribes, but would themselves listen at- tentively to Paul, and exercise the right of examining the subject and of searching the Scriptures daily, to see whether those things were so, acted only as reasonable and honorable men ought ever to act, and set an example worthy of our imitation. The writer of these pages, believing that the Presby- terian Church is. of all churches, the most like that which Paul and his companions established, entreats you, kind (165) 166 PRESBYTERIAN DOCTRINE. reader, to act like the nobler Jews, whilst with great plain- ness he attempts to present, not arguments, but some simple statements, respecting the doctrines of the Pres- byterian Church, for, if your knowledge of these has been obtained entirely from those who have spoken against them, it is possible that you have been deceived or influ- enced by unfounded prejudices. We rejoice in the real prosperity and usefulness of all denominations of true Christians, and whilst we believe that it is the duty of each one to love his own the best, we also hold it to be a duty not to build up one by pulling down another. As we have no fear that our customs of worship will appear very offensive to those who will carefully inform themselves, so are we not unwilling to declare our doc- trinal belief to those who will try it by the Bible. But here we have reason to complain that our doctrines have been everywhere spoken against, most shamefully abused, and misrepresented ; and we appeal to your common sense and honesty, and ask, will you form your opinion of our be- lief from the statements of those who are interested oppo- nents of our doctrines, or from ourselves ? Surely we ought to know what we believe ; and when we deny the grossly ab- surd and impious opinions which are charged upon us by others, our denial ought to have at least as much weight as their assertion. It is often asserted that we hold that "a portion of mankind shall be saved, do what they will, and another portion shall be damned, do what they can, and conse- quently that preaching and praying are useless." When and where have you ever heard Presbyterians advance such sentiments? But what is meant by this language? If it is intended that some will certainly be saved by God, and that some will certainly be damned by Him, we hold this, for we are no Universalists. But if any intend to convey the idea that we hold or teach that some may live an unholy life, commit all manner of crimes, and yet in- dulge a good hope of Heaven, and, continuing impeni- tent, may be saved; and that others, who seek the Lord with the whole heart, penitent and believing, will be re- PRESBYTERIAN DOCTRINE. 167 jected and lost, we solemnly declare that we hold no such abominable doctrine, but utterly abhor it, and protest against such a false presentation of our opinions. What shall we say if some first misrepresent and falsify our doctrines, and then, because we do not preach the abominable sentiments call us hypocrites, as though we do not preach our real opinions? The differences between evangelical denominations are real and important, but often they are less in reality than in appearance, and not ^infrequently spring from a mis- understanding of words, or from using the same words with a different meaning. That this is true is confirmed by the experiment which has been made by some, who have preached in simple Bible language the strongest Calvinistic or Presbyterian doctrines in the hearing of those who have been accustomed openly to deny them; yet when some of the disputed and misaprehended terms of theology have been avoided, these same hearers have received the doctrines as the precious truths of the Bible. To those who are acquainted with the liberal education and enlarged benevolence, the active zeal and strict disci- pline which prevail among our more than seven thousand* regularly ordained ministers, more than seven thousand seven hundred churches, and one million comunicants (ir- respective of other branches of the great Presbyterian fam- ily, almost equal to our own), to such we need simply say : "The tree is known by its fruits," and point to the prac- tical results, wherever our Church has had a fair oppor- tunity to exert its influence, as a sufficient proof that our doctrines cannot be so bad, nor have so bad a tendency, as some affirm. But why should any be opposed to the Presbyterian Church? Is it as a general thing unfriendly to education? Does it injure the morals of a community when it comes to aid sister denominations? Does it allow its members or ministers, who have committed flagrant crime, to pass without notice, or refuse to call them to trial, when any responsible person will appear as the accuser? At the same time we admit that there are difficulties in our * Statistics of 1900. 168 PRESBYTERIAN DOCTRINE. doctrines, but they are no greater than the difficulties of the Bible, for even the Apostle Peter* says of the writings of his brother Paul, "in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, unto their own destruction" ; and we proceed to give, without argument, a simple summary of our belief. We would not provoke re- sistance by ill-advised attempts to compel you to believe as we do, nor forfeit your confidence by denying our real sentiments, but prefer to present them so mingled with the sweet texts of Scripture that what has hitherto appeared nauseous and detestable shall become precious and salu- tary. We hold the same great truths respecting the plan of salvation in common with all the true churches of Jesus Christ, and that there is but one way to Heaven, and that those who are traveling in the same road, and striving for the one place, ought to live in peace, even though they may differ in some smaller matters. We do, indeed, hold certain doctrines differing from some denominations, and we deem them important, yet not so important as that a belief of them is necessary to the salvation of the soul, and we are willing to receive, as Christian brethren, those who may differ from us in these points, if they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and show that they are His disciples by love to the brethren. We believe that all the descendants of our first parents are sinners by nature and by practice, children of wrath, and unable to save themselves; that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into the world, took the nature of a man, obeyed the law of God, and died upon the cross, to satisfy God's justice, that thereby sinners may be saved; that whosoever repents of all sin, and believes in Jesus Christ as his Saviour, shall be saved, and that all others continu- ing impenitent and unbelieving, will perish forever; but, as man is naturally opposed to God and holiness, that he needs God's special grace and the influences of the Holy * 2 Peter iii. 15, 16. PRESBYTERIAN DOCTRINE. 169 Spirit before he will repent and believe, and that no one will come to Christ unless thus drawn by the Holy Spirit. John vi. 44: "No man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him." Do not all Christians con- stantly pray to God to pour out His Holy Spirit and save sinners? This would be unnecessary if they could save themselves. We believe that salvation is all of grace, or God's free gift.* and that as God alone can save men, and does not act without a plan,f so that He alone in His own counsel and free grace determines^: whom he will save; and that while these are saved, not because they deserve salva- tion, nor on the ground of any foreseen || good works, but only on account of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, in whom God has enabled^ them to trust; all others will justly perish for their sins. Why God does not choose or deter- mine to save more, or even all men, as He certainly could do, and as certainly does not, we cannot tell. We believe, both from the teaching of the Scriptures, and from our inward feelings, that we are free agents, and responsible for our actions. But to reconcile this fact with the other Bible truth, that salvation is all of grace, and that God alone can save our souls, is a difficulty which rests upon other religious denominations with quite as much force as it does on our own, and we do not think that it is our duty to attempt to explain it; and those who deny our doc- trine that the infinitely wise God so far has a plan as to determine beforehand whom He will save, but admit that * " For by grace are ye saved through faith : and not that of your- selves ; it is the gift of God." — Eph. ii. S. t " Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world." — Acts xv. iS. X " Being predestinated according to the purpose of Him, who work- eth all things after the counsel of His own will." — Eph. i. 11. I " Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us." — Titus iii. 5. "Not of works, lest any man should boast." — Eph. ii. 9. \ " For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." — Phil. ii. /j. I70 PRESBYTERIAN DOCTRINE. God knows beforehand whom He will save, will find, upon a little closer study, that they have by no means escaped the difficulty. God determined, foreknew, and declared His purpose to punish Babylon, by means of Cyrus, who turned the waters of the river Euphrates, and led his army through its dry channel to the two-leaved gates, which the drunken guards had left open.* How will you reconcile these things with the free agency of Cyrus? And did not the Jews, with wicked hands crucify the Lord Jesus Christ, when they did that which God had appointed or determined to permit them to do? See Acts ii. 23; iii. 18; iv. 2.J, 28. We believe that God has appointed means to be used for salvation as certainly as he has appointed means to be employed by the farmer to secure a harvest and that those whom, in amazing mercy, He has determined to save, He will save ordinarily, only through His revealed truth and the means which are made known in the Bible. Therefore, we must use the means and send the Gospel to others; and God's purpose or foreknowledge of things unknown to us, does not destroy the freedom of our actions, and affords no ground to neglect those means, which he has promised to bless. Nay, we have every reason to believe that, if we use them in humble dependence and prayer, He will hear and bestow the blessing. Compare the above statement of doctrine with the Script- ures, and if you can admit that it is not contrary to, but according to the Bible, then you are prepared to receive the doctrine of God's purpose, and the election of grace as contained in the Confession of Faith of the Presbyterian Church. It is all included here, and, when properly ex- plained, is very different from the oft-repeated assertions of those who, everywhere, speak against the things which they do not understand. We do most certainly believe in the necessity of a change of the naturally wicked heart of man by the power of God's * See Jeremiah xxv. 8-13, and Isaiah xliv. 28 and xlv. 1-3, and 2 Chron. xxxvi. 18-28. Dan. v. 24-30. Ezra, 1 chap. PRESBYTERIAN DOCTRINE. 171 Spirit; yet that the Spirit of God operates differently upon different persons.* With some the work of conviction and conversion is very sudden, with others, more gradual. Some will be gently led and constrained by the love of Christ, while, others may be much excited by fears, and even bodily agitations ; and while we do not deny that some true converts have been so overcome with joy as to shout aloud, and others, by terror, so as to fall into convulsions, and others have had the imagination so excited as to think that they had seen visions, yet we do deny that such ex- perience is necessary in order to conversion, or that it is even a safe and certain evidence of a change of heart. Evidences more scriptural, and a thousand times more valuable, are love to God our Father, to Jesus Christ our Saviour, and to the Holy Ghost our Comforter; love to our fellow- Christians of every denomination; the other fruits of the. Spirit — joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, a delight in punctual attend- ance upon the public and private duties of religion, keeping holy the Sabbath, not profaning it by attending to worldly business and unnecessary visiting, truth between man and man, honesty in business dealings, zeal in good works, and holy living in all things. When all these, or many of these evidences are wanting, in the case of any members of the Church, we fear that they are only professors, and not pos- sessors, of true religion. Finally, we believe that many mere professors of relig- ion, like Judas, have become apostates, and have gone down to perdition ; and we believe that possessors of true religion, as King David and the Apostle Peter, may fall into sin and backslide for a time, but we also believe that God has promised not to suffer any person whom He has once regenerated to fall entirely away, and eternally perish. This is the doctrine of the Final Perseverance of the Saints, and it is not that they cannot fall, nor that they will not fall if left to themselves. Nay, they would certainly fall if God should forsake them, but, believing *John iii. 7, 8. 172 PRESBYTERIAN DOCTRINE. that He has promised to keep them, we also believe that what He has promised He can and will perform.* Although the standards of our Church, like the Bible, say very little respecting the future state of departed infants, it is the generally received opinion in our Church that those who die in infancy enter the Kingdom of Heaven, not in virtue of their own innocence, but by the merit of the blood of Jesus Christ. As the Presbyterian Church has always been the strong advocate of liberty, so has she ever been the friend of edu- cation. Avoiding the disparagement of other denomina- tions, let us as much as possible live peaceably with all men, and pray more earnestly and labor more diligently, that the great blessings which we enjoy may be more highly appre- ciated and more rapidly extended throughout our country and the world. Our Church has often suffered persecution, preferring to suffer in silence rather than to waste time and strength in useless contention ; but as there is a time to be silent, so is there a time to speak; as there is a time to suffer, so is there a time to defend one's self. Ever the friend of union, she has gone far in yielding, for the pur- pose of conciliating others, and has expended many thou- sands of dollars in union societies and efforts, which have done more to build up other denominations than our own. But this is no cause of regret, and however we may differ in some things, let us unite with true Christians of every name on these three points : first, that all men are sinners ; secondly, that Jesus Christ is a Saviour sufficient for all; and, thirdly, that zvhosoever truly repents, and believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, shall be saved. Kind reader, we have endeavored to tell you what we think, as Paul did to the inquiring Jews, concerning the sect which has been everywhere spoken against, and commend these statements to your prayerful attention ; while, at the same time, we can hardly expect to receive any better treat- ment than Paul, when "some of his hearers believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not." * " My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than all: and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." — John x. 2J-29. THE BLOOD OF CHRIST SPEAKETH BETTER THINGS THAN THAT OF ABEL. " And (ye are come) to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." — Hebrews xii. 24. What was the aim of the Apostle, and consequently the scope of the passage? A knowledge of the one will assist us to understand the other. He aims to show the su- periority of the new dispensation as established by Christ above the old dispensation, which was introduced by Moses. This idea runs through the epistle. In this con- nection the Apostle dwells upon the precious privileges of the gospel times in order that he may build upon this foundation a stronger appeal not to reject Him who pro- claimed the glad tidings to the whole world. Some persons suppose that because the Jewish dispensa- tion is done away, therefore we have nothing to do with it. True, it is abrogated as a rule of observance and service, but not as a subject of study and means of in- struction. A knowledge of the ancient or Jewish dis- pensation is necessary to a full understanding of the mod- ern or Christian dispensation. Especially must the epistle to the Hebrews be a mystery and an enigma to one who is ignorant of the writings of Moses. To understand the text the context from the eighteenth verse must be kept in mind. It is as if the Apostle had said. Ye are not come to Sinai with its thunders which so terrified the people, but to Zion, where God shows His milder presence and His glories. God speaks here not in terrible wrath, but in love. An innumerable com- pany of angels who have manifested the deepest interest in the recently-enacted scenes of the humiliation and incarnation, the crucifixion, the resurrection, and the (173) 174 THE BLOOD OF CHRIST SPEAKETH ascension of our Lord still wait to witness the effects and results of redemption. Are not the angels all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? (Hebrews i. 14.) The general assembly and church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven, even the elect of God, He is now gathering from all the nations of the world. They bid you come. The eye of God, the great Judge before whom we must give account, is upon you. The increasing multitude of the spirits of saints who have died and are now made perfect in heaven await you. Above all, Jesus, who died, is ready to receive you; that Jesus, who as a Mediator is far superior to Moses. Even that Jesus, who sprinkled the blood far more efficacious and precious and eloquent than even the blood of Abel. He is looking down upon you and is speaking unto you. See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. The privileges which they enjoyed and the peculiar position which they occupied solemnly called upon them not to reject the claims of Christianity. Such was the Apostle's appeal to the Hebrews, of which our text forms the climax: Ye are come even to Jesus, the Mediator, and the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. Behold and consider this blood of sprinkling. By ref- erence to the uses and practice of sprinkling, we may learn its significance. David fervently prayed, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean : wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow," for it was with the hyssop branch that the blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled. (Psalm li. 7.) "And half of the blood Moses sprinkled on the altar. * * * And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words." (Exodus xxiv. 6, 8.) The writer of this epistle refers to this custom, and en- larges upon it in the ninth chapter: "For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book BETTER THINGS THAN THAT OF ABEL. IJ5 and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the testa- ment, which God hath enjoined unto you." (Hebrews be 19, 20); and with many other words he proceeds to prove the superiority of the new or Christian dispensation over the old. The earlier practice of sprinkling in Egypt is mentioned in the eleventh chapter: "Through faith he (Moses) kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them." (He- brews xi. 28.) Thus the sprinkled blood on the door- posts saved the families of the Israelites from the destroy- ing angel. Therefore, the sprinkling of the blood was a solemn and significant part of sacrificial worship. Blood was the life of the sacrifice, and sprinkled by the priest it had atoning and cleansing significance and efficacy. This blood of sprinkling to which the Hebrews had come, as mentioned in the text, must be Christ's blood which was shed upon the cross. Jesus had said in antici- pation. This cup is the new testament in my blood. The blood is no longer to be applied literally to human bodies and upon human altars, but it is sprinkled spiritually upon our hearts. By the exercise of faith, as we approach the memorials of the sacrifice, we receive the benefit and by the Holy Spirit the sprinkling is made efficacious. For says the Apostle, "And having an high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." (Hebrews x. 21, 22.) Our text declares that this blood of sprinkling, this blood of Jesus, speaketh better things than that of Abel. or speaketh better things than Abel. There is a variation in the original reading, and consequently a difficulty in the interpretation of the last clause, that of Abel. That what — that blood or that sprinkling? Was it Abel's own blood or the blood of Abel's sacrifice? Instead of puzzling your minds with any critical exe- gesis of the Greek text, which has perplexed many scholars, we set before you two interpretations and argue that the 176 THE BLOOD OF CHRIST SPEAKETH comparison is between Christ's sacrifice and Abel's sacri- fice, and that the former speaks far better things than the latter. Many writers have been satisfied with saying, "The blood of Abel, his blood which Cain shed, spoke of wrath and called from the ground for vengeance on the mur- derer, while Christ's blood assures us of atonement and pardon." This view has not been satisfactory to us, for it is diffi- cult to see the fitness, or propriety, or satisfactory mean- ing of reference to the blood which Cain shed with murderous hands. Why not as fitly speak of the blood of Stephen, or of the prophet Zacharias, son of Barachias, whose blood was shed between the temple and the altar? (Matt, xxiii. 35.) They were all righteous men, innocent of crime, martyrs to the truth, and the blood of each and all cried equally for vengeance against their murderers. But we can see reasons for referring to Abel's bloody sacrifice on the altar as a type of Christ's sacrifice. May not, then, the blood of Abel, or Abel's sprinkling, be the blood of the firstlings of his flock which Abel slew and the blood of sprinkling which he sprinkled upon the pri- meval altar? At this late day, while revising this discourse for the printer, we are happy to discover somewhat similar views maintained by Albert Barnes. In his commentary on this passage he emphatically says, "In the original there is no reference to the blood of Abel shed by Cain, as our translators seem to have supposed, but the allusion is to the faith of Abel, or to the testimony which he bore to a great and vital truth of religion. * * * The meaning is that the blood of Jesus is the reality of which the offering of Abel was a type. * * * Salvation by blood is more clearly revealed in the Christian plan than in the ancient history." The Apostle had just spoken of Abel's sacrifice and of his continuing to speak and naturally returns and takes up the same idea. Only in the preceding chapter he had said, "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, bv which he obtained witness that he BETTER THINGS THAN THAT OF ABEL. 1 77 was righteous, * * * and by it he being dead yet speaketh." (Hebrew xi. 4.) Yes, by the sprinkling or by the sprinkled blood of that excellent sacrifice he con- tinues to speak and exhibits his faith; but the blood of Christ is more excellent and speaketh better things than that which Abel sprinkled. Another reason for understanding Abel's sacrifice as a type of all sacrifies upon human altars slain is that as the Apostle places his name in the preceding chapter first in the catalogue of patriarchs and martyrs worthy of record for their faith, so is Abel's sacrifice the first clearly and positively recorded sacrifice in the Bible and in the his- tory of man. Mention of the coats of skins, with which our first parents were clothed, suggests that they had been directed to offer bloody sacrifices; but the statement is not so made. (Gen. iii. 21.) Again, this view especially harmonizes with the whole spirit and aim of the epistle, which was to show the significance and fulfillment of all ancient sacrifices in the finished sacrifice, our Great High Priest. This view seems more worthy to crown the climax of lofty truths upon which the Apostle rests his appeal, viz., "See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh : for if they escaped not who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven." Whatever may be the true solution of the exegetical difficulty, we cannot greatly err in the general doctrine and its lessons, teaching the superiority of Christ's sacri- fice above all the sacrifices on Jewish altars slain, of which Abel's offering was the prototype. What now does the blood of Abel's sacrifice, as the type of Christ's blood and in common with all the later sacrifices, speak or teach? It speaks of guilt needing pardon. Sin had entered into the world. The firstborn children in the world, Cain and Abel, suffered the conse- quences of our first father's fall. Notwithstanding the superiority of Abel over his brother in point of character, his offering evidenced his sense of sin and need of some 178 THE BLOOD OF CHRIST SPEAKETH method to take away sin. Abel's sacrifice spoke of the wrath and displeasure of God. For as disobedience drove out our first parents from the Garden of Eden, so does sin separate from the favor and enjoyment of God's pres- ence. Abel felt this when he offered the firstlings of his flock. Pardon of guilt could not be obtained without an atonement or satisfaction to the broken law. That atone- ment could not be made without the shedding of blood. The sprinkling of Abel's bloody sacrifice spoke of the necessity of a substitution. It spoke of a lamb slain — for he offered the firstlings of his flock — intimating not a single offering, but his continual or repeated practice. It spoke of the necessity of faith in order to acceptable worship. For his faith does the Apostle especially com- mend Abel and hold him up as a model for our imitation. His offering spoke of the insufficiency of works as a method of salvation, or the insufficiency of any method not appointed by God. At the same time it spoke of the necessity of righteous works as the evidence of a gracious character. He is called righteous Abel. Justified, Abel's offering may be regarded as a type of all those who de- pend upon grace, and Cain's offering as a type of all those who depend upon works of their own invention for ac- ceptance with God on works as a substitute for shedding of the blood and faith. Abel's offering spoke of reconciliation with God and acceptance of the sinner by God, for the Lord had re- spect unto Abel and his offering. Next our inquiry is: How and what does the blood of Jesus and its sprinkling teach? It speaks of the same truths as did all the sacrifices from that of Abel to the time when the vail of the temple was rent in twain; but more clearly, more emphatically, more effectively. Even as the substance is better than the shadow, for says the Apostle again : "For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices, which they offered year by year continually, make the comers thereunto per- BETTER THINGS THAN THAT OF ABEL. 1 79 feet" (Hebrews x. i), even so the fulfillment is better than the promise. The antitype is better than the type. The thing signified is better than the sign. Abundant illus- tration of these thoughts may be found by comparison of the Old and New Testaments, and especially by the study of this epistle to the Hebrews. More particularly the sprinkled blood of Jesus Christ tells us of guilt of deepest dye more emphatically than could be told in any other way. God could not give a stronger attestation of the evil of sin and of His hatred of it than by the gift of His well-beloved Son for its re- moval. In no other way consistently with His character could the guilt of sin be washed away. It tells us of infinite love and mercy, of inexorable jus- tice and holiness, and shows us how all the attributes of God are harmonious. It speaks of the impossibility of salvation by any human work or by man's w r isdom. Else why did Christ die if man can save himself? Many have been and are the systems of religion which men have devised to take the place of the simple doctrine of Christ and Him crucified. The sprinkling of this blood tells us in the words of John the Baptist, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." To this one sacrifice the sac- rifices of flocks and herds innumerable for four thousand years directly pointed. This gave to them their only value and significance as acts of worship. Without this, they had been a useless waste and an unmeaning shedding of blood. This sprinkling tells us of an atonement not only nec- essary, but actually made. It teaches us that there is no need of any repetition of the sacrifice nor of any ad- ditional merit. It is already infinite in value for the chief of sinners. Sufficient for all who ever will come. Yet only those who do actually come shall enjoy its benefits. It speaks of faith as a necessary condition of the saving benefit. Believe, only believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Whosoever believeth and is bap- tized shall be saved; but whosoever believeth not, shall be damned. (Mark xvi. 16.) l8o THE BLOOD OF CHRIST SPEAKETH This blood speaks of justification complete, full, and gracious. For "through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be jus- tified by the law of Moses." (Acts xiii. 38, 39.) "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." (Rom. viii. I.) This blood of Jesus speaks of peace. "Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Rom. v. 1.) Who Himself de- declared, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John xiv. 27.) It speaks of reconciliation. "And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us unto Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Him- self, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation." (2 Cor. v. 18, 19.) It speaks of joy. "And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement." (Rom. v. 11.) Precious texts ! Precious truths ! Time would fail to unfold and illustrate them all. Beloved Christian friends, drink of the cup of consolation drawn from such a cluster. It speaks in tones of consolation and comfort. To those who have accepted the sprinkling it gives assurance of safety, even as to the Israelites, who had obeyed and sprinkled the doorposts, did the blood of the paschal lamb. Contrast the condition and feelings of the saved Israel- ites with those of the Egyptians. Reception of the sprinkling, or looking by faith to Christ for that sprinkling, is our present duty and privi- lege. It implies also our entering into covenant with and engagement