i J- a o t> ,o never faints under the burden. A glittering cross is oftener borne in pride of cir- cumstance than in poverty of spirit and in heaviness of heart. It is put on in the love of admiration and m rever- ence of the imaffe; and not for humiliation and renuncia- tion of the pomp and glory of this world. It is worne fr.r distinction, in gold and embroidery, in carved and gilt images, in prints and in flowers ; and lifted up in proces- sions ^ith musics with, trumpets, and with voices saying, ' 6 INTRODUCTION. " Behold the cross I the Saviour's cross ! the cross which delivered us from the condemnation of sin, and from the ' bondage of death 1 the cross of our salvation I " This modern show is like that of Israel before the golden calf; not meant to provoke, but to honour the invisible God, their Redeemer. However well intended, it misrepre- I sents the incompreheiiHil)lo glory of " the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for nil" (Ileb. x. 10), no less than the molten calf misrepresented the God who redeemed Israel from the bondage of Egypt ; and this idol iu the modern Church, no less than that idol in the ancient Cliurch, serves him who "was a murderer from the be- ginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he spenketh a lie, he speaketh 9f his own ; for he is a liar, and the father of it" (John viii. 44). GAENISHINQ THE TOMDS OF THE UlGnTEOUS. Tlie Churches of the Gentiles have no higher guaranty against apostasy than tlie Cluirch of Jerusalem had. Moses warned Israel of their departure from the faith and worship of God, and their consequent dispersion and reproach in all lands ; both which events have long since come to pass, notwithstanding the ceaseless confidence of that people in their election to subdue and govern the nations of this world, while they were being carried away captive to Babylon first, and again to Rome, in their dispersion to this day. Moses dealt very plainly with Israel, and so did all the Lord's prophets ; but the people hardened their liearts. The Lord Jesus dealt very plainly with their blind guides, who sat in Moses's seat, and taught their traditions for the commandments of God. But tlicy refused to listen, and they stirred up the multitude to cry " Crucify Him, crucify Hiin." Our Lord reproved them openly to their face, saying, " Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypo- ', INTRODUCTION. 7 crites I for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men ; for ye neither go in yourselves, neither sufTer ye them that are entering to go in 1 Woe unto you, scribes and Phari- sees, hypocrites I for ye devour widows' houses, and for n pretence make long prayers ; ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte 1 Fools and blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple or the altar, it i< nothing ; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, or by the gift on the nitar, he is guilty and a debtor. Woe unto you, scribes apd Pharisees, hy]iocrites I for ye i)ay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, an rain, to the same cross as the emblem of salvation." — Hist. ofMex. i. 292. Barnabas, nho calls hitnself the companion and felhn-tra- vetler of Paid the Apostle, on the Mijsterrj o/2\8,I HT. Discoursing upon the mystery of Jesus" name, and of flu,' sign of the cross, revealed in the number of Abraham's trained servants with which he rescued Lot, ns recorded Gen. xiv., Barnabas unfolds the power of T, as follows : — " For the Scripture says that Abraham circumcised three hundred and eighteen men of his house (a mistake). But what, therefore, was the mystery made known to him? Mark first the eightee^, and then the three hundred i for the numeral letters of 10 and 8 arc I H (iota, eta), and these denote Jesus. And because the cross was that by which we were to find grace, therefore he adds tlirce hundred, the note of which is T, the fgnrc. of His cross. He who has put the engrafted gift of His doctrine within us, knows that I never taught any one a more certain truth ; but I trust that ye are worthy of it," — Barn. viii. 10-14. Unfortunately for " the figures," the three letters, IHT, are Greek numerals, while the Scripture of Abraham's three hundred and eighteen trained servants is written, not in Greek rnmerals, but in Hebrew words at full length : (Gen. xiv. 14.) (100) (3) (10) (S) Sh«mr>Deh rMllr ri-(ih''ir'flh. m'Otli. 8 10 nntl 3 hundrpi) (»). -/ O. Furry. Therefore, " he that put the engrafted word" of this mys- tery in the mouth of Barnabas, betrays his forked tongue. There is a semblance of truth, however, in that T, or three hundred, bears a proportion to I H, or eighteen, not wholly 20 THE CR033 OF CIiniST NO IMAGE. unlike that attributed in Christendom to the saving power of tlie sign and image of the cross, compared with that attributed |to onr Lord Jesus Christ in person. Barnabns, chap. x. 9, says, " For the Lord knowetli tlie wayof tlie righteous, and the way of llie ungodly shall perisli. Consider )iow He has joined both the cross and the water together ; for thus He saith, Blessed are they who put their trust in the cross, and descend into the water." The Scrip- ture does nowhere join the cross and the water together ; neither does it pronounce them blessed who put their trust in the cross, and descend into the water. But thik is written, " Thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars" (Rev. ii. 2). Barnabns continues, " And yet further the Lord says by Moses, when Israel was fighting wilh and being conquered by n strange people, to the end that CJod might put them in mind now that for their sins they were delivered unto death ; yea, the Holy Spirit put it into the heart of Moses to represent both the sign of the cross, and of Him that was to suffer, that so they might know that, if they did not be- lieve in Him, they should be overcome for ever. Moses, therefore, piled up armour upon annour, in the midst of the rising ground, and standing up high above all of them, stretched forth his arms, and so Israel conquered again. But no sooner did he let down his hands, but they were again slain. And why so ? To the end they might know that except they trust in Him they cannot be saved." — Barn. xi. 1. These pretended quotations from the prophets, which are not found in the prophets ; these bold assumptions to speak in the name of the Holy One, in order to magnify the power and the glory of the sign and figure of the cross, have passed down the current of church history without particular challenge, but with general respect for the name of Bar- BARNABA8. 27 nabas to this day. The gravity with which he drops in lies between familiar truths again appears for the glory of the wood of the cross, as follows : — " Why were tlirec young men appointed to sprinkle the nahea of the red heifer ? To / denote Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because they were great before God. And why was the wool put upon n stick ? Because the kingdom of Jesus was founded upon the cross. But why was the hyssop and the wool put together ? To sig- nify that in the kingdom of Christ there shall be evil and filthy days, in which, however, we shall be saved ; because ho that has any disease in the flesh by some filthy humours, is cured by hyssop." — nar>i. vii. C. Biirnabas founds the ' kingdom of Christ on the wood. He inukcs it, in eommmi I with much modern opinion, begin on the cross ; and teaches that in Christ's kingdom there shall bo evil and filthy days. Thus he prepares the Church to believe itself, with all it* corruptions, the kingdom of God yet to govern this world for Christ. But the Scripture teaches, " Tliere shall in nowise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatso- ever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie" (Rev. xxi. 27). Therefore Barnabas deserves our contempt until we trace his in^uence upon all the succeeding ages of clnirch history. Then his teachings astonish us at their effrontery and at , their success, corrupting the unsearchable riches of Christ crucified with an imago of the cross, and founding on the wood the kingdom of Christ, " who shiiU judge the quick and the dead at His appearing, and His kingdom," which is founded on the covenant-promise of the eternal God : when " Unto the Son he saith. Thy throne, God, is for ever and ever : a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy king- dom. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee above thy fellows" (Heb. i. 8). Thus Barnabas was the first to indicate to the Cliurchcs 28 TIIK CnORS OF CHRIST NO lAtAOR tlint tlie kingdom of C'lirist sliall be in tliiii present world of evil and filthy days, contrary to the Scriptures, and to " the hope of tkrael," which is the resurrection from the dead (Acts xxviii. 20). Barnabas was the foremost to prepare the way of Anti- christ, and to provide the pagan form of the cross for his mark and banner. Now, iiiultitudcs of I'rotcstantR embrace this corrujition of the doctrine of Christ's kingdom, who are indifferent towards its image-banner. Many earnest and holy men cherish the idea of Chrisfn kingdom come in this world, and the ho])0 of its universal extension over nil nations, who refuse to glory in the imago of the cross. But since the days of John the Baptist and of Christ, " the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers " has been preached niid clicrislic ^! 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