i 3L I B I^ ^^ PI "2" I'RIXrEroX. N. J. The Stephen Collins Donation. BS 25A8 .J6 1865 Jones, Joel, 1795-1860. Jesus and the coming glory JESUS AND THE COMING GLORY: OR NOTES ON SCRIPTURE, BY JOEL JONES, LL.D. PHIL A D 1^: T. V H T A : JAMES S. CL AX TON, SUCCESSOR TO WILLIAM S. k ALFRED MARTIEN, No. GOG Chestnut Street. ISCf). Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 18G5, by JAMES S. CLAXTON, In tlm Office of the Clerk of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. PUBLISHER'S NOTICE. In presenting a new edition of tliis book to the pnblic, tlie Publisher has, at the solicitation of many friends of the work, changed its title from "Notes on Scripture''' to the one it now bears, believing that the present title will more fully present the character of the work to the e:eneral reader. TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Table of the genealogy of Jesus. Omission of names in the table of pedigree. Addition of title of King to David, and omission of the title to Solomon, sig- nificant. Omission of Matthew to make mention of the return of the tribes from captivity. Necessary change of phraseology— Emmanuel. Christ as truly the son of Joseph as of David or Abraham. Manner and occasion of the revelation made to Joseph. Testimony of Herod. Form of government ap- pointed for the tribes of Israel and for the land God gave them. Natural means of escape or protection, preferred to miraculous, in the passing of the Lord Jesus from infancy to manhood. The massacre of the children of Beth- lehem by Herod, a renewed cause for the lamentation of the mother of the ten tribes retrospectively spoken of by Jeremiah xxxi. 15. Pages 33—51 CHAPTER II. John's character and ministry, why called the Baptist. Difference between the opinions of the early Christian writers and those of the last two centuries on the prophecy Mai. iv. 5. John not Elias in person— John equal to Elijah — The Elijah of the legal economy — John the subject of prophecy as well as Elijah, but not of the same i^rophecies — Both to be sent to a people dwelling together in the land of Israel. Distinction between the miraculous passage through the Red Sea by Moses and the miraculous passage through the Jor- dan by Joshua. Significancy of the place where John baptized. John's object— his baptism ineffectual to restore national repentance. Momentous events to occur between John's baptism with water and the baptism of the nation with the Holy Ghost and with fire— John's baptism emblematical. The baptism of the Holy Spirit— our Lord's promise of baptism to his Apos- tles at his last interview does not include a baptism with fire. Baptism by fire. Baptism of Christ. The purpose of John's ministry declared by the angel. Intimate connection between the national salvation of Israel and the purpose of redemption. John preaches repentance— his eminence above others— "Wherein his preaching differed from the Apostles— Important pas- sages touching the character and offices of John. The question of the Phari- sees respecting John's office and authority. The question of the Priests and Levites respecting his baptism— His answer. John performed no mira- cles—Object of Christ's miracles. John's imprisonment— Suggestions as to the purpose for which John's imprisonment was so long continued. Com- mencement of Christ's ministry. Importance of considering Christ's personal ministry to the Jews under three distinct heads. Classification of miracles. Christ's Sermon on the Mount. The burden of the prophets. Christ's ful- filling the law— His restoration of all things. Christ's prohibition of oaths- Judicial oaths. The Lord's prayer. Miracles as a proof of the presence of the kingdom— Miracles for the purpose of proving the power of faith in the scheme of redemption— Healing the leper— The office of faith in miracles — Faith. Healing the Centurion's servant. Miracles in answer to faith— Diver- sities of the operations of faith— Typical import of these bodily cures. Christ's bearing our infirmities— Matthew's numerous quotations from the Old Testa- ment Scriptures. Christ's title — The Son of Man. Miracles as the Son of 12 CONTENTS. oviaenc«onuscU.mt««aohdislmctanomner , disciples. „il„ei,... a«d for d,«crenl 17„P"y ^o^er over tfe pl>y«i«»l i™r!d. 'The pose. Jesus' power over evil spirits 6 CHAPTER III. an, forgiven ojaeeoun. jt 'Je '.it;, of s,.p..M.ing ^^-^^^^^^^ ?2fs"a;?|^oZ,i'' £rofM.n^^^^^^^^^^^^^ nature. The ca 1 of Matthew-itie ^avwur s ^ intended as a 'T^HSili £"rLd?oVSe:^tiStlreroC« =^ofKg.>.J„^™--^^^ -t,""r 7ur & ^S?i^. .0 .|e jws 5 -^-^ -»f ^ JnTlS. a clear understanding of his ^^c^^^;*;^ J^'j ^hrisfs will as Lord of the Sab- authority over the Sabbath. The l^wer ot ^^"^l s v Christ's observ- fence) ia the rnidst of that people as a nation-Satan's kingdom real as proved ministcTif the circumcision, and his private functions as ^^^^^''f 'f f '^ ^^^^^^ Christ's private instructions to his disciples contain the go m of all t be great doctrines of the Epistles. Instruction on the parable of the 8o^^er. An alie CONTENTS. 13 gorical representation of the state of the world between the first and second advent of the Son of Man. The sublime conception enveloped in the parable of the tares of the field, made apparent by the Saviour's explanation — The central idea of the parable. Private instruction to the Apostles (specially intended) showing the result of their labours. A similitude of the teachers the Lord designed to raise up and instruct in the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. Distinction between the Saviour's miracles. . Pages 92 — 132 CHAPTER IV. Herod the Tetrarch's testimony to the truth and reality of the miraculous works of Jesus — The conclusion of the argumentative part of the Gospel of Matthew. Imprisonment of John the event upon which our Lord's public ministry was suspended. John's influence, The first seal put upon the nation's doom. Time of John's death — Term of his ministry — The connection between the personal ministry of John and the personal ministry of Jesus — Change in our Lord's public and private discourses and miracles, consequent on the death of John. The Saviour's design to make a new revelation of his character to the disciples and the multitude. The first miracle performed after the death of John the Baptist — This miracle an exercise of his Adamic power as Son of Man — Our Lord's argument deduced fron this miracle. Another exercise of our Lord's Adamic power belonging to his category of private instruction — The natural side of our Lord's character really the miraculous side — The miraculous side, but the natural outward actings of his glorious humanity. Peter's recognition of his Lord. The power of j)erfect faith. Perfect faith in Jesus, a power by divine constitution, superior to physical laws — One of the purposes of redemption, a construction of a new order of manhood by a gene- alogy derived from the second Adam. Two other miracles of power over nature silently wrought. Worship offered to our Lord. The Divine purpose as to the ultimate condition of this world. An illustration of the power of faith disconnected with the public purposes of Christ's ministry. Object of our Lord in the performance of the miracles near the sea of Galilee. The trial of the nation virtually closed — Our Lord's ministry personal. The dulness of the disciples — The import of the miracle of the loaves. The mystery of John the Baptist's person — The mystery of our Lord's person. Peter's acknowledg- ment of the incarnation of God the Son ia Christ. The first disclosure of the mystery of the Lord's person by the Father to one of his disciples. The foundation of the Church. Mistakes and corrections. Our Lord's injunction to secresy respecting his title of Christ — His names, Jesus and Christ. Our Lord's method in the instruction of his disciples. Another example of Peter's rashness — our Lord's rebuke. Peter's mistake and ignorance of all the mys- teries of redemption, except the incarnation. The value of the soul. Christ's title, the Son of Man. The Transfiguration. The instruction conveyed by the Transfiguration intended for the Church. . . . Pages 133 — 175 CHAPTER V. The Coming of Elias. Casting out demons. The apostle's want of faith for miracles. The faith for working miracles. Jesus as Son of Man and as Christ. Jesus as Son of Man and as Messiah. Christ's Kingdom as Messiah. Christ's paying tribute. The apostles' question, Who shall be greatest in the kingdom of heaven? — the reply of our Lord. Little children saved. The Son of Man come to save the lost. Contending brethren to be reconciled. Sense of the word "church." Binding and loosing. The discipline of the Church. There- generation. Personal reign of Christ. The new heavens and new earth. The apostles to sit on thrones. All believers to receive rewards. Christ foretells his crucifixion Pages 176 — 227 CHAPTER YI. Drinking of Christ's cup. The apostles not to be ambitious. The law of the kingdom. Christ came to serve. Melchizedec the Son of Man. Christ's entry into Jerusalem. Christ's lamentation over Jerusalem. Christ's expul- 14 CONTENTS. sion of the money-changers. The homage of the children. The withering of the barren fig-tree. Christ is questioned by the priests. Christ;s response. Christ's further response. The nation reject him. The parable of the two sons. The parable of the vineyard. The parable of the marriage. ' Pages 227 — 274 CHAPTER YII. The plot against Christ in regard to tribute. Christ's reply in respect to tribute. The Sadducees deny the resurrection. Christ's answer respecting the resur- rection. Resurrection promised in the ancient covenants. The resurrection promised to the patriarchs. Christ's answer respecting the commandments. Christ's question respecting his title as Lord. He silences those who questioned him. The intimate connection of the several parts of the evangelical record. The Jews to hear the teachers of the law. Why the teachers of the law were to be heard. Character of the Scribes and Pharisees. The ambitious to be humbled, the lowly to be exalted Pages 274—300 CHAPTER VIII. Our Lord's purpose in his address to the Scribes and Pharisees. Our Lord's purpose in prolonging the authority of the Scribes and Pharisees as teachers. Christ a sign to the Jews. The woe to the Scribes and Pharisees. A pre- diction of the issue of the trial of the nation under the dispensation of the Holy Spirit. The Scribes and Pharisees considered as representatives of the nation as well as individuals. The ground or cause of the nation's guilt for crimes committed from the beginning of the world. The apostrophe to Jeru- salem. Jerusalem and Judea to be desolated. The event upon which the return of the Divine favour is made. to depend. Destruction of the temple foretold. Question of the disciples about the temple. Question of the disciples respecting our Lord's coming. The meaning of the end of the ct'iuv or age. Im- perfection of the disciples' "knowledge— ignorance and misconception of the Divine purposes. False Christs to arise— a warning to the Jews. The true sign of the end. Jerusalem's respite, denoted by the second mission of the servants in the parable of the marriage. Jerusalem's desolation. The distress of the nations. The adveat of the Son of Man. The judgment of the nations. Christ's kingdom. The Revelation of St. John a symbolical explanation of the proiihecy, or principal parts of it, contained in the 29th 30th and 31st verses of Ma"tt. xxv. The prophecy relates to this world. . Pages 300—329 CHAPTER IX. Crucifixion. First step in the proceeding against our Lord. Evasive answer of the Jews. Jews' acknowledgment that they were a subject people. Pilate's cognizance of the case necessary to the fulfilment of the Saviour's prediction oflhemanner of his death— Charges against Jesus— Pilate's mind unaflected by them. Colloquy between Ciirist and Pilate. Christ not born to be a king, but a king before he was born. Pilate's public acquittal of the Lord Jesus. Reiterated charges, with additional circumstances, suggest to Pilate the dismissal of the case to Herod. Jesus' appearance before Herod. Herod's questions— Christ's silence. Herod declines jurisdiction. The union of Pilate and Herod with the people whom they represented, a fulfilment of the second Psalm Pages 330—354 CHAPTER X. Pilate resumes the trial of the Lord Jesus. Obliquity of Pilate's moral sense. Pilate's expedients to satisfy our Lord's accusers. The interrujition ot Pilate by the message of his wife. The proposal of Pilate considered as an inti- iiiiitii.n of what jiassod in the secret councils of th>^> Father, when our fallen race was set in comiiarison with his Son. The choice of Barabbas deter- mined- relations existing between Adam and Barabbas on the one hand, and the Lord Christ on the other. By the course of Pilate's ju-oceedings, and the form of his judgment, the Jews demand the crucifixion of their CONTENTS. 15 King and Messiah. The way to the mystery of the cross prepared by the imprudence of Pilate, and the crime of tlie priests and people. Pilate's attempt to conciliate the passions of envious wicked men with his duty. The voluntary wickedness of Pilate, and of that generation of the Jews, was the instrument of Christ's sufferings at that time. Pilate's solemn acquittal of Jesus — his criminal inconsistency. The imprecation of the Jews. Pilate's efforts to reconcile the demands of justice and his own conscience with his fears. Satan the instigator of the bodily sufferings of our Lord — An exhibition of the love of God, and of the Son, and of the severity of divine justice. The crime of the Gentiles. Second mockery of the royalty of Jesus. Jesus crowned with the emblem or symbol of the curse. Fulfilment of Isaiah 1. 6. Pilate's further attestation to Jesus' innocence. Pilate's presen- tation to the people of the true Messiah they had so long expected. The priests fear the effect of the appearance of Jesus on the people. Every pretext to future calumnies removed by Pilate's reiteration of the innocence of Jesus. The Jews endeavour to remove the scruples of Pilate by a new accusation — The grounds of the accusation examined — The foundation of the doctrine of the Trinity firmly laid in the Old Testament. The effect of this new accusation on Pilate. Pilate's inquiry into the origin of the Lord Jesus. Jesus' silence. Pilate's confession removes all excuse for his conduct. Jesus instructs Pilate upon the point of his (Pilate's) authority, inasmuch as he claimed a power independent of the providential government of God. Satan the chief actor in this great conflict. The death of the Lord on the cross by means of Judas, Jews and Gentiles, foretold by the words, "Thou shalt bruise his heel." Pilate given over to the invisible power of Satan. Jews' incon- sistency. Formal presentation of their King to the Jews. Their renunciation of him, and all the promises made to Abraham and David. God's judgments upon them. The Jews living witnesses of the divine mission of our Lord. End of the proceeding before Pilate — fulfilment of Isaiah liii. 8. Jews and Gentiles concur in the accomplishment of the mystery of redemption. Judas' repentance not genuine — his destruction a direct act of Satan's power. Irregular workings of conscience in depraved men. Perpetuation of Judas' and the priests' crime. Discrepancy accounted for. Leading the Saviour out of the city more than a compliance with Roman or Jewish customs. Christ bearing his cross. An allegorical intimation of the future call of the Gentiles, according to some of the early Christian writers. Mutability of popular feeling. Jesus' warning to those who bewailed him. National ruin of the Jews and its continuance'. Similarity between the language of our Saviour and that of Hosea, when predicting the fall of Samaria, and also with that of John, when opening the sixth vial. The hopelessness of the escape of the heir of the curse, except in the way of God's own appointment. Pages 354—403. CHAPTER XI. Fulfilment of Isaiah liii. 12. Tradition prevailing extensively in the early Christian Church. Different statements of the Evangelist reconciled. Divine simplicity of the statement of the Evangelists. An additional proof of Christ's divine mission. Christ's cross converted into a tribunal. The Saviour's prayer. Sins against the Son of Man. Sin against the Holy Ghost. Discrepancy (not affecting the substance of the writing) accounted for. Testimony of the Judge and Governor of the Jews as the murderer of their own Messiah. Pilate's peremptory refusal to alter the superscription. Christ's self-humiliation. The seamless coat typical of that perfected body of believers which our blessed Lord will at his coming gather to himself. Neces- sity for actual ocular witnesses of the death of Jesus. Seeming discrepancy between Mark XV. 25, and John xix. 14, reconciled. The proof demanded by the rulers inconsistent with the object of Christ's mission. Conduct of the sol- diers. The proof demanded by the chief priests and scribes not adapted to change the heart. Omissions of the Evangelists. The malefactor's rebuke — his repentance, faith, and prayer, a wonderful exhibition of the power and grace of Christ in his greatest humiliation — his testimony to the innocence of our Lord Jesus of a much higher order than Pilate's. The penitent male- factor more fully instructed in the mystery of redemption, while hanging on the cross, than Peter, John, or the other disciples were at that time — Jesus' gracious promise — The consciousness of the soul in its state of separation from 16 CONTENTS. the body. The company of friends around or near the cross. Existence of natural affection in the future state. The exfiliation of Jesus and the substi- tution of John, an official act. Proofs and signs of his Messiahship (now the Jews' probation as a nation was ended.) The abandonment of the Father, an indispensable part of the plan of redemption. Misunderstanding of the by- standers. One other prophecy to be fulfilled. Fulfilment of Psalm Ixix. 21. Erroneous belief of the by-standers. All things accomplished necessary for the perfecting of the new creation. Voluntary separation of Chrisfs spirit from his body by his own inherent power — Retention of his spirit up to the time when the Paschal Lamb ought to have been slain — A fulfilment of the type. Symbolical import of Matt, xxvii. 51 — 53; Luke xxiii. 45. Public dis- plays of the Divine power — A new dispensation — Risen saints. Impressive- ness of the last scene — Testimony of heathens to the excellency of our Lord's character. Etiect of the last scene upon those attracted by curiosity — Love a more powerful principle than fear, illustrated by the group of females in the distance. Fulfilment of Ps. xxxiv. 20; Exod. xii.46; Numb. ix. 10; and also a partial fulfilment of Zech. xii. 10. The death of Jesus established beyond the possibility of doubt. The request of Joseph of Arimathea. Pro- vidential arrangements for the accomplishment of Divine purposes. Nicode- mus's care of the body of our Lord. Sense of the Psalmist xvi. 10. Jewish mode of burial. An over-ruling providence in the selection of the place of the burial. Precaution taken by the disciples to secure the entrance into the sepulchre. Observance of the law of the Sabbath by the Jewish females, fol- lowers of Jesus. Disregard of their own law of the Sabbath by the chief priests and the Pharisees. The evidence of our Lord's resurrection by Divine power placed beyond all doubt or question. . . . Pages 403 — 146 CHAPTER XII. A short harmony of the chapters to be considered. The doctrine of the resur- rection equal in importance to any other in the Scriptures — absolutely essen- tial to the truth and consistency of the other Scriptures. First and second incarnation — the headship of Christ as the second Adam — the whole doctrine of the glorified church inseparably connected with the doctrine of our Lord's resurrection. The Marys at the sepulchre. The absence of all that can minister to vain curiosity an unequivocal note of the inspiration of the record — the descent of the angel, the earthquake, the' removal of the stane not necessary to the resurrection of Jesus, but a proof to the watch, and through them to the nation, of the presence and power of God, in bringing to nought their precaution. The address of the angel to the company of females at the sepulchre. The message with which the angel charged the woman — Inter- course between angels, the Saviour, and his disciples. The flight of the first party of females from the sepulchre — Difficulty in harmonizing this part of the Evangelist's record removed. Reproof of the angels to the females for their unbelief. Providential design in these successive companies of persons, mul- tiplying proofs, and more quickly and widely circulating the news. Impres- sion Mary Magdalen's communication made on the minds of Peter and John. John's timidity. Consistency of the narrative with the known character of these apostles. Effect on John's mind of his visit to the sepulchre. Ministry of angels in the present dispensation. Question of the angels — Mary's igno- rance of her Lord's character, and of the real object and end of his ministry — Cause of Mary's composure, so different from the manner of the company who fled affrighted from the sepulchre. Mary's view of Jesus, though unknown to her. 'The Saviour's question put as a proof to Mary of his bodily presence. Spiritual natures. Mary's recognition of her Lord, through his power over her mind and spirit — This power, an attribute with which he will endow the renewed nature of all his people, when they shall be changed into his like- ness. Christ's prohibition of Mary's touch explained by taking the passage in its literal sense — Christ prefigured by the High Priest, under the Levitical economy — the type to be fulfilled in all jK)ints— Distinction conferred on Mary Magdalene. Jesus in bis future interviews with his discijdcs no longer to be considered as an inhabitant of the earth, but as having completed his earthly ministry, as the rending of the veil denoted the end of the Levitical economy. Character of the narrative. Occurrences at the sepulchre communicated to the Apostles by the women. Peter's second visit to the sepulchre. Difference CONTENTS. 17 between the feelings of the women and the Apostles on Jesus' appearance to them — Different messages to his disciples by the two companies of women. Christ's risen body not confined to the earth during the forty days — Inade- quate conception of the attributes of our Lord's risen human body. The visit of the military guard to Annas and Caiaphas. The Sanhedrim convened — their consultation. Malicious ingenuity of the members of the Sanhedrim. Promised security from the punishment due to the soldiers for an alleged breach of military duty. The belief of the report that the body of Jesus was stolen, confined to the Jews — pains taken by them to circulate and perpetu- ate it. ..... • . Pages 4-±6— 490 CHAPTER XIII. Walk to Emmaus — Low views of the two disciples of the dignity, office, and work of Christ — The Messiah regarded chiefly as the promised deliverer of Israel from their bondage to the Gentiles — His kingdom believed by the Jews to be terrestrial merely. Diversities of exjjectations and hopes of the Jews in regard to the moral character of their nation in its restored state. Ignorance of the means necessary to accomplish this redemption of Israel according to the flesh — Ignorance of our Lord's purpose to gather an elect church out of all nations, and to exalt it far above all terrestrial glory — First disclosure of this purpose. The defective views of Christ's first followers accounted for, without ascribing to them carnal and merely worldly hopes. Ignorance of God's purpose to restore the earth to its lost place in his universal kingdom. Restoration of the theocracy. The chief object of our Saviour's discourse to his disciples on their way to Emmaus. Prophecies in the books of Moses con- cerning Christ. Conjectures as to the passages he cited and explained from the prophets. Jewish custom. Impression made on the disciples by the conversation of Jesus. Eecognition of these disciples. New views of the pro- phetic Scriptures obtained by them. The Lord's appearance to Peter. The return of the two to the company of disciples gathered at Jerusalem. The narrative of the two. The effect of the Lord's appearance. Universality of the belief of the spirit-world — good and bad angels. Jesus furnishes his disciples •with a convincing evidence of his corporeal and sjiiritual identity. Transition of feeling. Removal of all doubt. Criticism. Peculiarities of the writings of the different Evangelists. Christ with his disciples as he was with Abraham in the plain of Mamre, or with Manoah — matter of his address. Our Lord's sanction of the three great divisions of the Jewish Scriptures, and his asser- tion that he is the great subject of each of them. The disciples advance in knowledge. A new commission including Gentiles — all nations. Divine judgments on the Jewish nation. An election of grace. A supernatural vision necessary to make Peter comprehend God's purpose of mercy to the Gentiles. The great difficulty the apostles and most attached disciples of our Lord had in believing his resurrection became the means of establishing more firmly the truth of this doctrine. The great miracle of this dispensa- tion. Human testimony indispensable. Officeof bearing testimony conferred on his male disciples. Comparison of the mission given with the mission re- ceived. Symbolical action. Method of instruction. Inauguration of the new dispensation. Powers and gifts conferred on the apostles, and personal to them at the opening of the new dispensation, not transmitted to bishops, elders, teachers, and pastors of the church in later years. The ascension. Testimony of Barnabas to thebelief of the apostolic churches in relation to the eighth day. Confirmatory testimony afforded by the appointment of the temple-service for the day. Offering of Divine worship. Contrast in the state of mind of these believers. Fulfilment of the Saviour's promise. As- cension to the Father before appearing to any of the disciples except Mary Magdalene Pages 490 — 517 CHAPTER XIV. Effect of the first interview of the Lord with the apostles after his resurrection. Employment of the apostles between the day of the Lord's resurrection and the day of Pentecost. Thomas's absence — interview between the disciples and Thomas. Thomas reflects on the disciples as timid and credulous. The 3 18 CONTENTS. second appearance of our Lord to his male disciples. The conTiction of Thon as!^^esus proves Ins omniscience, and consequently h.s d:v,ne nature- Somas's recocnilion of his human and divine nature in the heartfelt confes- c-^?.f hi, f-.hh Illustration of the character which Paul ascribes to Jesus— ¥her surr ino jl^^^^^^^^^^ article of the Christian faith-The fact of the resurrection to be established at that time for all ages-Reason ol our LordVappoaring specially to Thomas-The principle which distinguishes the SeLat on oHhe^loly Spirit from that of our Lord's personal ministry-The f, ?nitv of the arLiue^it of infidels-Office of the Holy Spirit. The seven d" ci fesat ?he sfaof Tibcrias-their silence. The third appearance of our Lord to lis male disciples-the special reason of this appearance. Our Lord S «HflrP9s to Peter— Peter the only apostle whose personal history was foretold. Peter's curiosity-Our Lord's reply, withholding all information, except tiiat S was the sovereign disposer ot* John's life. Mistake of the disciples The appearance in Galilee-Manner of it-Worship offered to our Lord-Our Lord's response to the worship of his disciples. Scope of the_ Apostolic com- mission-Infant baptism. Importance and use of the promised miraculous endowments in laying the foundations of the Church-their long contin- uance unnecessary. Appearance to James-Final appearance of our Lord to his disciples as witnesses of his ascension— A paraphrase-Return fiom Mount Olivet to Jerusalem. The kingdom of God. The convening of he discinles John's Baptism. Misconception of the apostles m i-elation to the kinsdom'. Times and seasons in relation to the purposes of redemption eon- fined to the Divine mind. The Lord's ascension. The Apostles' employment until the Pentecost-Prayer offered to the Lord Jesus-The active public ministry of the gospel not committed to the female ^'^^'Pl^p^^^J'^^'^^J^^f Pentecost ° CHAPTER XV. The glorification of the crucified body of Jesus. The feast of Pentecost-Short pauses in the march of the Divine administration. The descent of the Holy Spirit— The first effect upon the Apostles— A fulfilment m part of the Saviour's promise, at his last interview with the twelve before he sutlered— Difference between the regenerative and the miraculous operations ot the Holy Spirit— Various effects on the minds of the people. Peter repels the calumny of the Jews— Uses the event as a proof of the resurrection— Peter s ar-niment- Design of the obscurity of the prophecies relating to the resurrec- tio°n and exaltation of Christ— The great change wrought in the mmd ot Peter by the Holy Spirit. The striking contrasts in the character of Peter as deli- neated in the gospels and the first fifteen chapters of the Acts. Efiect of the first sermon of the new dispensation. The only miracles of the day ot 1 cnte- cost— Object of conferring miraculous powers on the Apostles at this time— The elect Church— The inheritance of the elect Church— The visible Church. The miracle of healing— Peter's discourse. Means employed by the Holy Spirit to accomplish his own work— Holiness a means for the transmission ot Divine power. Chief design of the miracle of healing— Miracles as attestations of authority, irrespective of faith in the subject— Miracles of healing upon ap- plication of the subject; faith indispensable. Change in the Apostles address. The second personal coming of the Lord and the restitution of all things, suspended by Divine appointment upon the re])cntance and conversion ot Israel— The national existence of the Jews prolonged, lor what purposc--lbe Apostles' observance of Levitical rites proper, during the standing ol the te,nT)le— The first oiler of the gosi)el made to the Jews under the new dispen- sation. A new epoch in the national history of the Jews. The times of refrcHhinfr. The diflercnt dispensations. The restitution of all things. Opinion that the Millennium will precede the coming of the Lore irrecon- cilable with the Scrii)tures, concerning the possible nearness ol that coming. The whole subject of the coming disi>ensation beyond the sphere ol our con- ceptions. The restitution retarde.l by the fall of Israel, and still urther by the falling away of the Church— The times of restitution dependent upon the full execution of the Saviour's last command, . • Pages 5-iS—&7& A FEW PHELIMINAM WORDS. That tlie author of a work wluch, either as to its substance or its method, is seriously influenced by considerations which are not discussed in the work itself, should, by preliminary explanations, or even by a large introduction, set forth those controlling considerations, is extremely natural, may often be indispensable, and was formerly very general. But it is not possible for one human being so to possess himself of the whole thought of another, as to perform this service for him, even when it is needed, with complete success. Moreover, it is only in works of a peculiar kind — and this work of Judge Jones can hardly be said to be of that kind — that such attempts can be important, even when they are successful. It is because the duties of friendship are sacred — sacred towards the dead — sacred towards those Avho survive — far more than because there is any need of it, that any words of mine pre- cede these Notes on Scripture. Many years ago, and for a number of successive years, it was my fortune to be immediately connected, as owner, pub- lisher, and editor, with the periodical press. Judge Jones was one of the largest and most valued contributors to those pages for which I was, in so, many ways, responsible. Exposi- tions of Scripture, and expositions, critical and historical, of the Papacy, were his chief themes. This literary connection ripened into a warm and lasting friendship ; and in this man- ner were those abounding opportunities afforded, to appreciate justly his gifts, his attainments, and his virtues, and to speak with the greatest confidence of his remarkable fitness as an expositor of the word of God. Liberally educated, all that part of his culture was made both complete and permanent, by his pursuing the profession 20 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. of a teacher for some years during his early manhood : a pro- fession which, as President of the great Institution founded by Mr. Girard, he resumed for a short period in maturer life. Trained to the profession of the Law, and for a number of years a Judge, the habits of deep research and patient thought, which made that noble calling familiar to him, and the rec- titude of mind which made its administration honourable, all alike fitted him, at the same time, for some of the highest duties of an expositor of sacred Scripture. To a knowledge, at once accurate and broad, of those ancient languages in which God has revealed his will to man, he added a familiar acquaintance with the chief languages, both ancient and modern, in which mankind has most largely discussed divine things ; and in them all, how wide and thorough his reading was, all his Avritings testify. Naturally endowed with high faculties, justly balanced and nobly directed; enriched with great experience of life, and adorned with much of its best success; he added as his highest fitness for his favourite studies, that reverence and love for the word of God, that con- formity of heart and life unto it, and that spiritual insight of its mysteries, which they who have not, are but blind leaders of the blind. It is such a man, the last and, as he judged, the best labours of whose life, and that a life rather long than short, arc contained in this volume— nearly, though not strictly, posthumous. His gentle and modest spirit, though it did not direct, desired this publication. The bereaved partner of his life lays it as a tribute of love upon the altar of the Lord. If the saints of the Most High fructify by its use, its whole end is gained. It is striking and very affecting to observe, in all the scrip- tural expositions of Judge Jones, the direction which his thoughts took, and the tenacity with which his mind adhered to that Avhich occupied it most. These Notes on Scripture are, in effect, an exposition of the Gospel doctrine concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, as this diligent student of the Scriptures understood it. ^ They are Notes upon those portions of the Four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, embracing, rather incidentally, parallel and illustrative passages from all the other inspired books, which appeared to him to contain and to PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 21 develop the Gospel doctrine concerning the Saviour of the world. In some respects they are critical — in some respects they are historical; but it is their expository character which chiefly distinguishes them — expository in the sense of being carefully and continually directed towards the precise under- standing of the entire meaning of the particular inspired state- ments as contained in themselves, and as illustrated, enforced, or limited by other inspired statements, and by the great ideas, and aim, and end of all inspired Scripture. The aspect of the work is not devotional, nor is it controversial ; nor is it, pro- perly speaking, dogmatical; but it is of the nature of a judicial analysis, and determination of the true meaning of a record, the particular portions of which that bear specially upon cer- tain vast topics, have been submitted to a most rigorous scrutiny. And the candid reader will observe, everywhere, the studious diligence with which every conclusion is made to rest on special Scriptures, which are constantly cited ; the judicial fairness with which conclusions differing from his own are stated ; the modesty with which new interpretations, and peculiar opinions are announced; and the blended calmness and directness with which his own interpretations and judg- ments are given. The casual reader of this volume may receive the impression that it is fragmentary and incoherent. Whoever Avill carefully read over, in connection, the tables of contents prefixed to its fifteen chapters, will perceive how erroneous such an impression would be. Commencing with the genealogy of Jesus, the work terminates with the glorification of Christ. Between these two points lies the whole work of the Mediator between God and man, in his estate of humiliation, and also the beginning of his work in his estate of exaltation ; and all is discussed from the particular point of view occupied by the author. Of the seven chapters at the close of the volume, three are devoted to the crucifixion of Christ ; and the last four to his resurrection and all that followed, until, and including, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. From the beginning to the end, the chain of thought and the sequence of the facts is rigorously preserved ; and the numerous and important ques- tions of an incidental kind, which were obliged to be discussed, 22 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. are so skilfully disposed as to strengthen, instead of breaking the continuity of the development. In such a performance it would be impossible to evade the expression of the writer's opinions upon all those immense topics following after Pente- cost, which arise out of the dispensation of the Lord Jesus, considered in his estates of humiliation and exaltation ; and it is not improbable that the deep interest which Judge Jones is known to have felt for many years, in all questions connected with the second coming of the Son of Man, -may have been a chief cause of the composition of this work. Undoubtedly, his views on those subjects could not fail to enter into his views of many preceding subjects, out of which they grew ; and the spirit, and method, and rule of his interpretations upon strictly connected topics, could hardly fail, in such a mind as his, to be uniform and constant. As now used, the word Millen- narian is one of the vaguest ever employed to designate an opinion, a theory, or a party. Nevertheless, in a sense some- what peculiar to himself, but very clear and decided. Judge Jones was a Millennarian ; and to omit stating the fact here*, would have been deemed by himself, unworthy, if not sinful. While it is true, as I have intimated, that the views enter- tained by Judge Jones concerning the second advent, and the numerous and sublime events dependent on it, necessarily suppose a certain sense to be the true sense of various passages of Scripture which do not treat immediately of that second advent ; it by no means follows that all who accept this tone and particular sense of those passages last alluded to, must necessarily accept his views of the second advent. For ex- ample, it is impossible to see how he could embrace the views he held concerning the second advent, if he had not been a Calvinist; but it is very easy to see that one may be a Cal- vinist and not embrace them. Moreover, there are multitudes of topics in the Scriptures — and they amongst the most vital of all — which do not appear to have any assignable relation to any special class of opinions touching the Millennium ; as, for example, our Effectual Calling, its nature, and the manner of its occurrence. The object of stating these distinctions, is to point out how naturally it may occur, and to assert my per- sonal conviction that these Notes on Scripture^ wholly irre- PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 23 spective of their character as touching any doctrine of the Millennium, are of extraordinary value. Many questions of great difficulty and deep interest to every student of the Scrip- tures, are treated with great clearness and force; and many more of high personal importance to every human being, arc settled with singular distinctness; and all this is done with a simplicity of style and a fruitfulness of matter rarely combined. I shall not attempt to estimate, or even to state in a con- nected and systematic manner, the opinions of Judge Jones dispersed through this work, on those vast topics which em- brace the whole future of the human race, and of the kingdom of God, as connected with this earth. They are topics on which my own views have been laid before the public in a permanent form. It is proper to say, and it is sufficient, that I adhere to what I have published; in some things agreeing with the views presented in these Notes, in some things dissenting entirely from them, in some things standing in great uncertainty of mind where positive opinions are herein expressed. In these respects, I may probably consider myself not an unfit representative of the great mass of such serious Christians, now alive, as have anxiously pondered these things, and have found our attainments in Divine knowledge and the Divine life, not adequate, as yet, to the attainment of complete satisfaction regarding all their high mysteries. Very shallow views, which long prevailed amongst Protestant, and still longer amongst Papal expositors, no longer satisfy the minds of God's people; and my long and wide experience as an office- bearer in the Church of Christ, has made me fully aware, that the common people have as thoroughly passed from those inter- pretations, as our whole current religious literature shows that the minds of their teachers are widely unsettled concerning them. In this volume, we have an original, independent, temperate, and able contribution in aid of every one who is inquiring concerning the true sense of God's word, touching the great promise and the great threat of the New Testament Scriptures. They who the most readily receive, without careful examination, what is herein written, will depart the farthest from the spirit and the habit of him who wrote it. 24 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. There arc two particulars concerning the authorship of this volume -which, though subordinate in themselves, seem to me to demand special mention here. In the first place, it is the work of a private gentleman, much and long engaged in important affairs, apparently jemote from such studies; thus recalling the times when the highest officers of state, the noblest gentlemen and scholars, nay the great publicists and even captains, took in hand to record the doings, and to ex- pound the doctrine of the Lord ; and thus laid at the feet of Jesus, tributes which still adorn and enrich his people. It is a precious token of a better day with us. In the second place, it comes out of the bosom of the Presbyterian Church — that great branch of that God-fearing Reformed Church — to whose highest turrets men look to see the light of God as it rises, break on them first of all; and to which they look to see it linger there last of all, when it departs. One more of her sons has lifted up his clear and loud call to dying men — and the voice is all concerning Jesus, and the glory that is to be revealed. R. J. B. Danville, Kentucky, December, 1860. MEMOIR. Christian Biography is at once a just tribute to the dead, and an instructive monument to the living. When a useful life is closed in death, and a character moulded into completeness presents itself for a last survey, as we tenderly consign it among the treasures of memory, both philosophy and piety dictate that we should ponder its lesson, and heed its moral. And should we find, while pursuing the pensive task, that the world has been made richer by a new example of virtue, that we gain juster views of the dignity and value of human exist- ence, and of the entire compatibility of deep religious senti- ments with earthly toils, successes, and honours, it will then seem a duty as well as privilege, to extend and perpetuate the influence. It is such a moral legacy that has been bequeathed by the learned author of this volume. With his departure has passed away a type of the Christian scholar, as singular in its excel- lence as it is difiicult to delineate. It must remain a solitary model of blended learning and goodness that may be revered and cherished, but cannot be perfectly matched or imitated. Some may have approached him in mere erudition — some may have equalled him in mere piety — a few, under the impulse of an academic or clerical vocation, may have illustrated as sig- nally the harmonious union of these two attainments;, but it was his rare merit, and, it would seem, his peculiar mission, that while actively engaged in the legal profession, he should yet make himself a master in theology ; and, though called to public positions and busied with secular interests, should so thoroughly fuse together the judicial virtues and religious graces, as to present the two-fold aspect of a Christian without a trace of cant or enthusiasm, and a jurist without a taint of duplicity or worldliness. That such a life on review should seem comparatively un- eventful, may remind us that it is not always the most stirring careers that are the most useful, or the most worthy of study and imitation. Judge Joel Jones was born in Coventry, Connecticut, on the 26th of October, 1795. Descended from Puritan ancestry, and carefully trained by a mother who was of the same religious race, he exemplified the inheritance of natural virtue, and the covenant mercy which is from generation to generation. His 4 26 MEMOIR. father, Ama^sa Jones, was largely engaged in mercantile busi- ness as Avell as farming. His mother was the daughter of the Rev. Dr. Joseph Huntington, well known in the New England churches. He was the eldest of nine children. The first years of his life were principally spent upon the farm; but even at that early period, it is said that "the mature and elevated character which he ultimately developed was distinctly fore- shadowed." When he was about fifteen years of age, an uncle for whom he was named, desired to associate him with him in his busi- ness, and for this purpose he removed to Hebron. Here, though always diligent and courteous, he soon showed that such a calling was not consonant with his intellectual tastes and aspirations. Without the knowledge of any one, he purchased a Latin grammar, and devoted his leisure hours to self-prepara- tion for his future course. When his studious habits and inclinations became known, both his uncle, who was strongly attached to him, and his father, united to throw obstacles in his way, and to make large and tempting inducements for him to remain in a life of business. But his determined purpose, seconded by the persuasive counsels of his mother, prevailed, and the village pastor was engaged to direct his preparations for college. In the year 1813, he was admitted Freshman at Yale, taking rank from the first with the best scholars of his class. He had not, however, been enjoying these congenial pursuits longer than six months, when a reverse in the family fortunes threw a dark cloud upon his prospects. After a severe conflict between the claims of filial duty and that love of learning which became the master passion of his life, he at length resolved to reconcile both by devoting to them both the i)ro- ceeds of his labour as a teacher of youth during the intervals of study. To the necessities and struggles of this period, as well as to original disposition, he no doubt owed the formation of those habits of untiring industry, perseverance, and system, which characterized his Avhole subsequent career, and were the foundation of his success and usefulness; ■ and so proficient did he become in this school of blended trial and study, that he not only maintained his academic standing, but digressed into some medical studies outside of the course, and graduated with the Berkleian prize, and at but one remove from the highest honours of his class. His first deep religious convictions seem to have been received during his college life; but, though oljservant of out- ward church duties, and for a period superintendent in a Sabbath-school, he did not until some years afterAvards make a public profession of his faith. MEMOIR. 27 Amoncr the life-lono; friends he made while at New Haven was the late Judge Bristol, with whom he commenced the legal studies, afterwards finished at the Law School in Litchfield. The family having removed to Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, he joined them there, on the completion of his education; but, after meeting with new embarrassments, at length removed to Easton, and established himself in the practice of his profes- sion. He is remembered in that town by families in which he was always a welcome visitor, and also for the influence he exerted through the community in promoting literary tastes, and sound morals. It was there, too, that he first publicly united with the church, and entered with new interest and success into religious labours. In the year 1831, June 14th, at Philadelphia, he was mar- ried to Miss Eliza P. Sparhawk. Of their six children, tAvo only are living. His home was always the central sphere of his life, to which he devoted his most assiduous cares, and which he adorned with the virtues of the primitive household of faith. While at Easton he rose rapidly at the bar, acquiring a reputation for learning and ability. Having been appointed by the Governor of Pennsylvania one of three Commissioners to revise the laws of the State, he came frequently to Philadelphia to meet his colleagues; and at length, after having declined several other proffers of judicial position, he accepted that which brought him to Philadelphia, and ultimately established him as President Judge of one of its Courts. From this post he was called to the Presidency of Girard College, and during the brief term of his incumbency, impressed upon that Institution, then in its formation, a marked and salutary influence. On re- signing this position he was elected Mayor of the city of Phila- delphia, from which office he retired to active private life, and was pursuing with all his early zeal his professional labours, church duties, and favourite studies, when it became sadly evident that his physical system, so long overtaxed by incessant mental application, was beginning to yield to fatal disease. Having reluctantly abated his labours and submitted to the necessary retirement and quiet of an invalid, after a severe and painful illness, he at length passed away from the bosom of his family- circle and friends, while in the full possession of his faculties, and with an assured hope of glory. The event occurred in Philadelphia, February 3, 1860. It was noticed by the daily newspaper press with sketches of his public life and services, and the funeral solemnities, conducted in the Second Presby- terian Church, were attended by a concourse in which the learned professions were largely represented. In attempting to estimate a character tested by such varied 28 MEMOIR. positions and relations, we cannot but be struck with its steady truthfulness, unity, and harmony. As a public man. Judge Jones has left a reputation of almost singular value. He was, doubtless, too much of a scholar, and too little inclined by his retiring habits, his reli- gious tastes and principles, to adopt congenially much of the routine which has become essential to a successful politician. Yet, he never held an office or discharged a trust in which he was found wanting in any of the moral qualifications of pro- bity, discretion, and true solicitude for the public welfare ; and if his political friends and adversaries alike found it impossible to draw him into some of the current arts of partisanship, he certainly did not forfeit their respect by his strict adherence to duty, right, and principle. As a jurist, his peculiar excellence is too much a matter of professional appreciation, to admit of extended notice in these reflections. His pupils and associates hastened to bear testi- mony to his uniform official courtesy and propriety, to his accurate habits of thought and expression, to his severe dis- crimination, to his sound practical judgment, to the value of his judicial decisions, his legal consultations and opinions, and to his thorough mastery of the whole philosophy, litera- ture, and practice of jurisprudence. As a church officer he left vacancies lamented alike for the personal intercourse and judicious counsel which they termi- nated. In the various ecclesiastical Boards, of which he was an active and punctual member, his literary and legal opinions, always freely bestowed, were invaluable. In the church, of Avhich for several years he was a ruling elder, his charac- teristics were fidelity, humility, conscientiousness, an edify- ing fervour and unction, and a blameless and holy life. The prayer-circle found him always at his post; and Avhile leading its devotions, with his rich scriptural phraseology drawn from a heart imbued with the mind of the Spirit, and alike removed from the language of literature or of conversation, the scholar and the lawyer for the time so wholly disappeared in the hum- ble Christian, that the lowliest listener found himself in sym- pathy. His familiar presence will long be missed from the scene of worship, whither he came with such regularity, and at each returning communion so devoutly ministered at the table of his Master. But it was as a trained and ripe scholar that he impressed himself most obviously and characteristically upon the casual observer. Though no trace of pedantry tinged his ordinary intercourse, yet it was impossible not to see that his stores of learning were indeed vast — that his erudition was accurate, profound, and extensive; involving solid acquirements rather MEMOIR. 29 than the more graceful accomplishments. Both fitted and inclined by nature for severe studies, he had furnished himself with the aids of two libraries — the one enriched with treasures of divinity, and the other not less remarkable in the depart- ment of his profession; and joining to these appliances a thorough mastery of ancient and modern languages, he entered and traversed the whole field of human learning, until there was scarcely a recess left unvisited. In jurisprudence, his acquirements have been described as exhaustive. He was " conversant not only with the English common law, but with the civil law of Rome and the modern European systems. The compilations of Justinian were no less familiar to him as objects of study than the Commentaries of Coke. Indeed, from his taste for antiquities and for compara- tive jurisprudence, he was not only peculiarly qualified but intellectually inclined to explore the doctrines of the law to their historical sources, and gather around them, in tracing their development, all the accessories which history and learn- ing could supply. This was to him a loving labour — for he regarded the law as a lofty science, and its practice as the application of ethical principles by a trained logic." And he has adorned the literature of his profession with productions that will remain as monuments of his learning and industry. In theology, his attainments were, perhaps, even more varied and remarkable. He was closely familiar with the versions of the original Hebrew and Greek Scriptures, with the early Christian fathers, with the writings of the scholastic theolo- gians and of the English divines, particularly those of the Westminster Assembly; and if he neglected the modern Ger- man theology, it was more from a spiritual distaste for some of its remote tendencies than from any want of preparation for its acquisition. Into the rarely explored fields of Rabbinical literature, both ancient and modern, he had so extensively penetrated as to have acquired a European reputation ; while in the literature and history of the Millennarian controversy, which he made a speciality, he was without a superior in this or any country. His collection of books upon the subject, it is believed, is unequalled. He brought to the prophetical Scrip- tures his legal habits of interpretation, and, by an original exegesis, had constructed upon the basis of the orthodox theology a doctrine of the futurities of Christianity, which was not a mere theory, but inwrought with his whole personal expe- rience. The second coming of Christ, as ever imminent, was with him a belief that imparted a glow to his whole piety, swayed his daily conduct, and invested his life with an habitual, though cheerful, solemnity. In philology, he had made himself master of the Oriental, 30 MEMOIR. classical, and modern languages. He had a linguistic taste and tact, which made such acquisitions a pastime rather than a drudgery. As a well-read lawyer, a writer and a thinker, a linguist, a theoloffian, a biblical critic, he could have taken rank with the most eminent. His attaniments m divinity were so peculiar in one not trained for the pulpit as to have occasioned the remark at his funeral: "But yesterday the scholars of the Church were gathered at the grave of its most learned clergyman* — there are those present who will deem it no exaggeration to say, that to-day we are burying its most learned layman." The only regret that can be felt in view of such immense knoAvledge is, that it must perish from among us without ade- quate memorial; and that, with the exception of a few anony- mous contributions to periodical literature, and an occasional volume for the instruction of youth, he has so wronged by his modesty his reputation and usefulness. f It was this ardent love of learning for its own sake, and almost without conscious regard to its uses and advantages, which, fed by long indulgence, had become an absorbing passion, and even threatened to verge into a besetting in- firmity. It showed itself in a desire for the accumulation of curious volumes and ancient editions, and for the acquisition of extinct languages. A rare old book, if it could be procured at any sacrifice short of a principle, was a temptation it was simply impossible for him to resist. He expended large sums upon his theological library. His heart warmed, as with instinctive sympathy, toward needy scholars and struggling students, who, on applying to him, were always sure of a welcome and a helping hand. He lived the life of a student, amid the bustle of a great city and under the rigorous claims of a laborious profession, and was never happier than when secluded from the world among his treasured books, or discoursing to a congenial friend on his favourite views in theology. *" Rev. J. Addison Alexander, D. D. f Of his theological publications, the following may now be mentioned as the most prominent: Articles in the Princeton Fevicw on Protestantism; in the Baltimore Literanj and Relvjious Magazine, and the Spirit of the Nineteenth Century ; and in the Jewiitk Chronicle, over the signature of "Azor;" " Jicvicw of the Discussion between Bishop Hughes and Dr. John Breckinridge ;" "Notes on Scripture," over the signature of "Pihlo," in the Theological and Literary Journal, embracing a continuous commentary upon the Gospel history. " The Story of Joseph, or the I'alriurchal Age." He also translated from the French, with original notes, "Outlines of a History of the Court of Rome, and of the Temporal Power of the Popes," and edited and caused to be published " The Literalist," in 5 vols. 8vo, adding a treatise of his own, entitled "Ussays on the Kingdom of God," by "PaiLO- Basilicus." MEMOIR. 31 And yet, with all his learning, he was still content to be a pupil in the school of godliness, and a scholar at the feet of Jesus. Without pedantry, without intellectual pride, without sophistry, or scepticism, or vain philosophy, he preserved the humility and simplicity of a lowly disciple through all the temp- tations of learned investigation, and would have esteemed it the most precious of privileges to have been permitted to devote himself exclusively to sacred and scriptural studies. A new view of a familiar text, or solution of a difficult passage, delighted him more than any other intellectual acquisition; and though he brought to such researches all the irksome appliances of grammar, lexicon, and concordance, comparison of versions and citation of authorities, yet his reverence for the original as an actual Divine utterance, made the exercise devo- tional as well as critical, and had become so much the habit of his mind when quoting scriptural phrases, that even his dying protestations were interspersed with exegetical allusions. He regarded his commentaries as the most valuable labour of his life. Will they not also remain as his most fitting monument? If we turn away from these more public actions and visible traits which make up his ordinary reputation, and penetrate into his private life and experience, we find ourselves in pres- ence of a character which cannot be appreciated from any mere description — it was so simple, equable, and pure. It was the true gentle heart of a child masked under the gravity of a sage, and expressing itself in a blended kindness and decorum which had the grace of truth itself, and was utterly lost upon all who could not come within the circle of bis spiritual sympathies. Though unassuming, he was still content with himself in any human presence. He was incapable of pretence or guile, and shunned display. But it was his deep and fervent piety which formed his crowning characteristic. This was of a type growing rare in these days of busy philanthropy and religious dissipation. It partook of his quiet, undemonstrative nature — was an intensely individual sentiment engrafted upon a deeply rever- ential and trustful disposition — had been chastened by severe bereavements, of which he could never speak without emotion, and rigorously trained in daily duty, until it became the ever ascendant power of the soul. Religion in him had acquired the permanence of a habit and the force of a regulating prin- ciple. It pervaded his whole character and life, and was carried by him into every position and all occasions — not as a profession, but because he could not do otherwise ; and even in the most worldly associations, though never obtruded, still made itself felt with his very presence as an atmosphere of holiness and a rebuke to sin. All knew that he was a godly 32 MEMOIR. man, though no expression of mere personal experience Tvas ever allowed to escape his lips. It Avas only when disease and the prospect of death invaded his characteristic reserve and equanimity, that his secret walk Avith God be^an to reveal itself with a richness, a tenderness and beauty, that surprised even his most famdiar friends. His spirit seemed lingering as upon the very borders of heaven. His heart wa'^ full of Christian love toward all who approached him. To his relatives, his friends, his pastor, his fellow-members of the session, he sent messages of kindly counsel and affection. His only expressed anxiety to live was, that he might com- plete some Scripture studies in which he hoped to embody the matured results of his investigation of Divine truth. _ Bet^ween this holy solicitude and the commencing appreciation of the glory shortly to be revealed, he wavered, like the Apostle, in a strait between two— willing to remain, yet having the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Once while wei<^hincT this latter event as probable, he suddenly exclaimed, with an'' eye scanning unblenched the whole dread futurity, "Blessed Saviour! do I not love thee? Show me thy glory. But it would be trespassing upon the privacies of a home so lately bereft of his presence, to enlarge upon those sacred moments. It was a death-bed around which was shadowed no terror. Such unclouded tranquillity, such perfect assurance, such strong intelligent faith, such humility, trustfulness, and tender affection, such glimpses of the heavenly glory, made it like the exit of a saint of the olden times of our faith ; and when at length the bodily pulse began to wane, the beatifac vision so grew upon his spirit as to swallow up al earthly interests and affections, and even illumine the clouds ot physical anguish with the prophetic light of that broken utter- ance—the last ever breathed from his lips on earth— A jar more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." An hour ot placid breathing succeeded, during which he sank to rest so peacefully, that the practised eye of his physician alone de- tected the moment of departure. How the light of heaven falls in holy tranquillity upon the couch of the dying believer! AVhat a deep, rich calm there ensues upon the turmoil of life and the pains of parting and dissolution! We would not disturb it with one murmur of repining; and though life for a while must seem impoverished, and the earth vacant and lonely, yet we soon learn to thank God for the grace illustrated in the life and death of his ser- vants, and for one more proof that, even in this sinful world, true virtue shall not lose its reward. C. >V . b. Philadeli'iiia, December, 18G0. NOTESON SCRIPTURE. CHAPTER I. Genealogy of Jesus. — Form of Government appointed for the tribes of Israel and for the land God gave them. — Connection between the representation of Jere- miah xxxi. 15, and the massacre of the children of Bethlehem by Herod. Matthew i. 1. " The book of tlie generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham," -which may be para- phrased thus: The table of the genealogy of Jesus, who is the Christ, that great King in whom the covenants God made with Abraham and David met and were fulfilled. This title is not confined to the first seventeen verses. It extends to the whole chapter. The design of the Evangelists in composing the Gospels was to prove that Jesus of Nazareth, whom the Jews had just before rejected and put to death, Acts ii. 36, is the Christ, the Son of God, Luke i. 4. The Evangelist John expressly de- clares this as his motive, xx. 31; and Matthew virtually does so in this verse. Had it been his object merely to deduce the pedigree of the Lord Jesus, he would not have connected his name immediately with the names of David and Abraham, nor would he have given him, in this place, the title of Christ, or king. It would have been sufficient to say: The book of the generation of Jesus — Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob, &c. ' To prove that Jesus is the Christ, it was necessary to show his descent from David, Matt. xxii. 42. Had he descended froiu Levi, he might have been a priest, but not the Christ, Heb. vii. 14. Hence the words, "son of David," denote the first proof, or order of proof, of the Messiahship of Jesus, and w.ere added for that reason. But why add also, "the son of Abraham?" This was implied in bis being the son of David, 5 34 NOTES ON SCRIPTURE. for David descended from Abraham. And why did the Evan- gelist not add, "the son of Shem," or some other earlier ancestor of David ? see Luke iii. 34—38. The answer to both these questions is: the former were necessary to state lully the Evangelist's design in composing the gospel, the latter would have been superfluous. , , ^, . .1 j This will appear, if we reflect that the Christ was_ the seed especially promised to Abraham, Rom. ix. 7 ; Gal. iii. 16, 19, althouo-h afterwards promised to David under new relations. In other words, the two great covenants, viz. the Abrahamic and Davidic or royal covenant, both met and were fulfilled in the person of Jesus. Hence, we infer that the Evangelist's desio-n in the first verse of the gospel was to propound, for the confederation of his readers, Jesus as the seed of these two great national covenants. The efi"ect of these additions to the proper personal name of our Lord, then, is to circumscribe and define the subject he proposed to treat, as if the Evangelist had said, " I propose to write the history of Jesus of Nazareth, who is tiie seed first covenanted to Abraham, and afterwards to David, and therefore, the Messiah or Christ." The table of pedigree is then immediately added as the first proof of this proposition. This was a necessary, but not of itself a complete proof. Joseph, the husband of Mary, was a descend- ant of both David and Abraham, Matt. i. 20, yet not the Christ. To complete the proof, therefore, the Evangelist, as he proceeds, introduces, in logical order, other facts, which serve not only to discriminate Jesus from every other descendant ot David, but to evince the truth of his proposition boyond a rea- sonable doubt. In general terms they may be stated thus: 1 The human genealogy of the Lord Jesus. 2. His divine generation, i. 19. 3. Extraordinary public events which occurred about the time of his birth, and the efl-ect they had upon the mind of the king of Judea, chap. 11. 1, 2, 3— J, lb. 4 The ministry and testimony of John the Baptist, chap. 111. 5. The miracles of the Lord Jesus, many of which are recorded to show that they were just such works as the prophets fore- told Messiah should perform, iv. 23, 25. 6. The divine eleva- tion and purity of his doctrine, chap, v.— vii. 7. The manner of his death, xxvii. 50, 54. 8. His resurrection, chap, xxviii. Some authors, as Whiston, suppose that the first portion ot this gospel, as far as chap. xiv. 12, has been greatly disar- ranged. Others even call in question the authenticity of the first two%hapters. See Bowyer's Conjectures on Matt. 111. The foregoing observations furnish sufficient grounds ot dis- sent from all such surmises. The matters contained in the gospel are logically arranged with a view to prove the proposi- GENEALOGY OF JESUS. 35 tion contained in tlie first verse, which, as before explained, was not only the most important, but, in view of the sin and folly of rejecting him, appalling to the nation. Had Pilate written over the cross, " This is Jesus, the son of David, the son of Abraham, the king of the Jews," it would have been much more offensive to the priests than the one he actually wrote ; for it would have charged them with rejecting and put- ting to death that great deliverer and king, sent to them in fulfilment of those Divine promises, which were the most pre- cious inheritance of the nation. We regard this gospel as intended specially for Jews. It begins abruptly. It takes for granted that the readers are well acquainted with Jewish history. It was probably written in Hebrew and Greek by the Evangelist himself. See a Tract by Dr. Tregelles on this question. It is not improbable that many authentic gospels were composed for the use of that peo- ple by inspired men, which may have been, and probably were, written in the Hebrew, or the vernacular dialect of the coun- try; and that to such the Evangelist Luke refers in the first verse of his gospel, Luke i. 1. If so, it was a gracious provi- sion for that people, suited to the exigency of their times and condition as a nation, and quite in accordance with the reason of the injunction our Lord gave to his apostles, Luke xxiv. 47, "beginning at Jerusalem." See notes on Acts iii. 19 — 21. Their time was short. The gospel must be made known to them by writings and by preaching soon, or it would be too late. Other nations could wait, as their times were to be pro- longed. If, then, we suppose the gospels referred to by Luke were like this gospel of Matthew, written in Greek or Hebrew, or both, we can account for their loss by supposing they had served their special purpose when the nation was destroyed, and the people dispersed. This gospel of Matthew, however, was preserved for the instruction of the Gentile church. See Whitby and Doddridge on Luke i. 1. Also Clark and Town- send, at the same place. Matt. i. 2. "Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begat Judas, and his brethren." We observe that neither Ishmael nor Esau is included in the enumeration. It is true they were not ancestors of Jesus, nor were the brethren of Judas. This is a sufficient reason why their names should not be included in a table of pedigree, as such. Yet, as the Evangelist has respect to the Abrahamic covenant, it was important to refer generally to all the sons of Jacob, because they were embraced by it, and he does so. For the same reason Zara is mentioned, verse 3. But no allusion is made to the other sons of Abraham or Isaac, because they 36 NOTES ON SCRIPTURE. were to be numbered among the Gentiles, Rom. ix. 7; Gal. iv. 22. Matt. i. 6. "And Jesse begat David the king, and David the kiny begat Solomon" — not Solomon tlie king. Both the addition and the omission are significant. It was not to give frreater honour to David than to Solomon that this distinction was made: Solomon was as truly a king as David, and his reign was even more glorious. See Matt. vi. 29. There is an allusion here to the royal covenant or the covenant of the kingdom, which God made with David, of which we have an account in 2 Sam. vii. 12, 18 — 29; 1 Chron. xvii. 17. To the same covenant, the angel Gabriel refers in his address to Mary. Luke i. 32, 33. There is, perhaps, also an allusion to the typical relation of David to the Messiah. The mercies of David were made sure by covenant, Isaiah iv. 3; Acts viii. 3-4. They were not like Adam's, Gen. ii. 17, and Saul's, liable to forfeiture by dis- obedience, 1 Sam. xiii. 13, 14; xvi. 1; 2 Sam. vii. 14, 15. No other king of Israel was ever the object of so great conde- scension and grace as David. He was not only king by divine right — a type of the second Adam, but an everlasting kingdom is made sure to him and his seed, that is Christ, Dan. vii. 13, 14, Avho is the second Adam. See notes on Matt. ix. 6. The meaning of the Evangelist, then, may be thus para- phrased: "And Jesse begat David, that king to Avhom and to whose seed the kingdom was made sure and perpetual by the covenant of God with him." Matt. i. 12. "And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias," &c,, and verse 17, last clause. The Evangelist mentions the carrying away of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin to Babylon, but says nothing of their return from this captivity. The reason is, neither these nor the ten tribes which had previously been carried into captivity, had been restored in the sense of the covenant. God had promised Abraham to make him the father of an innumerable posterity, the father of nations, the father of kings. He had promised to give him a country for his posterity to dwell in, even the land of Canaan. He had also promised him his blessing and protection against enemies, and great renown; also to make him the means of blessing the whole world. And all these promises God had made sure to him and his seed for ever by an oath. See Gen. xii. 1, 3; xiii. 14 — 17; xv. 5; xvii. 3 — 8; xviii. 18; xxii. 17, 18; Rom. iv. 13. These promises were afterwards renewed and confirmed to Isaac, Gen. xxvi. 1 — 5 ; xxviii. 4, 29, and to Jacob, Gen. xxviii. 13, 15; xxxv. 11, 12; xlvi. 3. GENEALOGY OF JESUS. 37 The Jews, for whom this Evangelist especially wrote, were sensible that these great and glorious promises had never been fulfilled. The ten tribes were carried into captivity, B. c. 721, and had never returned. The two other tribes were carried into captivity B. c. 606, and very few of them comparatively afterwards returned. The Samaritans, a mongrel race, pos- sessed the central parts of the land of Canaan, and the descend- ants of the returned Jews were subject to the Romans, and obliged to submit to the arbitrary decrees of that heathen power. They had not in fact been an independent people at any time, after their captivity B. c. 606, except about forty years, and during that time they were under princes not of the tribe of Judah, but of Levi. The nation's hope even at that time was centred in the expected Messiah or Christ. None expected deliverance till he should come; but with his coming, the nation expected the realization of God's covenants with Abraham and David, Luke i. 71; ii. 26, 30, 33; Acts i. 6. What particulars were included in the nation's hope, may be learned from 2 Sam. vii. and 1 Chron. xvii. The whole of these chapters should be carefully considered. We select only a few verses: "Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant tliem, that tliey may dwell in a place of their oion, and move no more, neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more as beforetime; also the Lord telleth thee, that he will make thee a house, and when thy days be fulfilled, &c. I will set up thy seed after thee, &c., and I will establish his kingdom, &c. ... I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever, and thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee." 2 Sam. vii. 10, 11, 16; 1 Chron. xvii. 9, 11, 12, 14. How then could the Evangelist speak of a return from Babylon? To have done so, would have done violence to the nation's hopes as well as to the terms of these covenants. Some authors, however, maintain that portions of all the tribes did return from their captivity, and that therefore the prophecies relating to the restoration of Israel, may be con- sidered as fulfilled. It is not the purpose at this time to consider these prophecies. The subject comes up in connec- tion with God's covenants, with which no doubt the prophecies correspond. It is undeniable, however, that the Evangelist makes no mention of any restoration, although he might easily have done so if such were the fact, in the 12th verse — "And (after the return from Babylon,) Zorobabel begat," &c., or "Abiud begat," &c., as the fact might be. Josephus the his- 38 NOTES ON SCRIPTURE. torlan (Antiq. book ii. chap. 5, § 2) evidently supposed that the ten tribes remained in captivity when he wrote; and the same appears to have been the belief of his countrymen, John vii. 35; James i. 1; Acts xxvi. 7. Had there been a restoration in the sense of the covenants, and consequently of the pro- phecies also, it is probable the Evangelist would have noted it as Ije did the captivity, or he would have omitted both, espe- cially as the fact of a captivity had no necessary connection with the pedigree of our Lord, but only with the covenants which were to be fulfilled by him. If we had no means of information but this chapter, we might infer that not only Salathiel, but all those whose names follow his, were begotten in captivity at Babylon. Matt. i. 16 "of whom was born Jesus" — i^ r^c. The marginal translation of yzvvrfizv in v. 20, is begotten, which is preferable to horn. In the same sense should the 'word ysi'utofjLsuoii in Luke i. 35, and the word iyii^ur^dr^, in this place be rendered. In the previous parts of this chapter the word iyswr^ae is used in the causative or Hiphil sense (n^bnn.) Here the w'ord, without change of tense, is converted into the passive form, without any intimation in the context of any other change of the sense. It is simply a change of construc- tion made necessary by the divine generation of Jesus, which the Evangelist proceeds immediately to explain. Had not our Lord been divine as well as human, no change of pliraseology would have been necessary. The evangelist would have continued hoar^tp de Eyewr^ae top 'Ir^aouv tou hyo/ieuou Xfjcffzov, and this would have been in accordance with the Jewish notion of the promised Messiah, and with the heresy of Cerinthus, The nation believed that the promised Christ would be a mere man, who, by God's favour and blessing, would accomplish their deliverance. The Evangelist here corrects that mistake. Yet it was necessary that Jesus should be the son of Joseph as well as the son of God, Mark i. 1, in the proper and strict sense of the word. If not, the table of pedigree was superfluous — in fact, would prove nothing, by reason of its failure to connect Jesus with the ancestry of Joseph. He was, therefore, not merely born of Mary, but begotten of her by the Holy Ghost, yet made really and truly the son of Joseph by divine covenant, for the transaction re- corded in verses 20 and 21 amounts to a covenant between God and Joseph. As the creator of Joseph and Mary, of David and Abraham, it was not possible that lie should filiate himself to either in any other way. He took to himself the body GENEALOGY OF JESUS. 39 which was born of Mary,* that is, his Divine power was active in the generation or formation of that body, which, in the execution of the covenant, he committed for a time to their joint care and custody; each performing in the order of nature their appropriate offices. Said the angel to Mary, Luke i. 35, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, and therefore shall that Holy (being) which shall be {yevuco/xsvov) begotten of theef be called the Son of God — that is, he shall be called the Son of God, not because he was born of Mary, but because he was begotten by God the Holy Ghost. See Mark i. 1. According to this view, the word ysvyr^m^ in verse 18, or rather yeueac^, which is the true reading, should be rendered generation. This sense accords with the following verses, 20 — 23. The Evangelist is not speaking in this place of the birth of Jesus. Indeed, he nowhere records the time and circumstances of his birth, as Luke does, but merely adverts to the fact and place of his birth, in the first verse of the second chapter, which (as we may infer from chapter i. 25) did not occur till some time after the events recorded in verses 18 — 2L It may be added, that Beza translates this word in Matt, i. 16, 20, and in John iii. 3, 6, 7, by gigno, not 7iascor. See also Sebast. Schmidt's translation. Matt. i. 23. "And they shall call his name Emman- uel," &c. The framework of this chapter rests, so to speak, upon the names Jesus (Saviour, verse 22,) Immanuel (God with us,) and the appellative descriptions, the son of David (the heir or seed of the covenant of the kingdom, Luke i. 31 — 32,) the son of Abraham (the heir of the world, Romans iv. 16, or the seed in whom all nations should be blessed, Galatians iii. 8.) The chief object of the Evangelist was, at the beginning of the gospel, to propound or set forth Jesus, the great subject of the gospel, in these four relations. The whole Bible is little, * "Qaseritur nuin massa, ex qua Christiis progenitus est, in utero Marite a. peccito I'uerit piae^efvata an purificata, aut noviter creata," &c. (Walchii Mis. Sac.) We regard all such inquiries as irreverent We can know nothing more about God's Tiiy.sterious ways and workings than the Scriptures teach us. The incarnation wa.s an act of creative pnwer ; above the order of nature, and out of the sphere of natural causes. Who can explain to us how the human soul and the divine nature of our Lord became incarnate a second time in the dead body of Jesus in the tomb of Joseph I Such acts of divine power are too wonderful for us to explain. We should receive them as facts, as we do the fact of creation, Hebrews xi. 3. f These words, ''of thee," are supplied by the translators, though they do not appear to be an addition to the text, even in the earliest edition. (IGll.) 40 NOTES ON SCRIPTURE. if anytliing, more than an expansion of the things involved in these reUitions. The word Immanuel occurs in the New Testament only in this place. We infer, from the manner in Avhich the Evan- gelist employs the word, and the event with which he connects it, that it is a name assumed to denote the incarnate relation of Jehovah to his people. Before the incarnation, Jehovah was Eloah, or Elohim, to the seed of Israel, see 1 Kings xviii. 21, 39, (Hebrew text,) a distinction, however, which Elias Hutter, in his Hebrew version of the New Testament, and his revisers, have not observed, as perhaps they ought to have done in rendering Hebrews xi. 16. By incarnation, Jehovah assumed a new relation to the fallen race of man, viz. that contem- plated in the covenant of redemption. In this new relation he became the seed of David, the heir of the throne of David, Acts ii. 31 ; the heir of the world, Dan. vii. 14. As Jehovah and Creator, he is the Lord of the universe, as Son of man, (Ben Adam Ps. viii.) he is the Lord of the world, Deut. x. 14; Psalm' xxiv. 1; 1 Cor. x. 26, 28. As Immanuel, he has a land* especially his OAvn, Ezek. xxxviii. 16 — 21; having a defined length and breadth. It is the land which Isaiah pro- phesied would be overrun by the king of Assyria, Isa. viii. 8. He has a people also as well as a kingdom of defined limits, John i. 11. Eii; xa t'oia f^Xde xal ol I'dioc aurbv ou TtapiXa^iov. This land is the land given to Abraham and his seed by cove- nant. Genesis xiii. 14, 15; xii. 7. Of this covenant the Evangelist had already reminded his readers, in the first verse of the gospel, in a manner well calculated to suggest to an intelligent Jew of his OAvn day, how great were the sin and folly of their rulers in rejecting Jesus, in whom alone, any of the blessings of this covenant could be fulfilled. We sometimes hear devout persons invoke God's blessing on their country, in terms expressive of the relation which the Lord (Jehovah) assumed by his incarnation to the elect Israel and the land especially included in the Abrahamic covenant — "Make this land" (meaning their own country,) "Immanuel's land," or similar expressions. We doubt not that such petitions, devoutly uttered, may be answered, but not according to the letter, Isaiah viii. 8. The Evangelist quotes in this place, Isaiah vii. 14, where the name first occurs in the Old Testament. It occurs also in * It is to be observed tliat the rropcrty in the soil of Canaan, God expressly reserved to himself. " The land shall not be sold forever: for the land h mine: Ye are strangers and sojourners h«7A vie." Leviticus xxv. 'I'i. That is, the Israelites were to be mere occupants, not the proprietors of the laud. Comp. John i. 11. Original Greek. GENEALOGY OF JESUS. 41 Isaiali viii. 8, 10. The LXX. translate it in both these places fizd'' -q{xwv 6 dtoQ. So does John David Miehaelis. The Vulgate, Sebast. Schmidt, Castalio, Diodati, and the authorized English Version, transfer the word in viii. 8, as a proper name, and translate it in the tenth verse. Luther, Stier, and Theile trans- late the tenth verse, denn hier ist Immanuel, because Immanuel is here. Regarded as a proper name, and we may so regard it in all these places, the last clause of the tenth verse may be shortly expressed, "because of Immanuel," and the meaning of the Avhole verse would be. The counsel of the confederated enemies of Immanuel's land, the land of the covenant, should come to naught, and their word should not stand because of Immanuel. It is his land. See Glassius Phil. Sac. p. 1066, 7, and David Martin's (French version) Comm. on Isaiah viii. s! But the full explanation of this name is given by the Evangelist John i. 1—14. ^ J 8 J Matt. i. 24. " Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him," &c. If we were to inquire, " How could Christ, being the Son of God, become man?" it might be answered: By his creating for himself a true body and a reasonable soul, as he did for Adam, our first parent, and by then uniting to it his divine nature, so as to form one person. But had he adopted this method, he would not have been of our race, nor could he have been the promised seed of the woman, whose office it would be to crush the serpent's head. If we inquire again, " How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?" it might be answered, by his taking to himself a true body and a reasonable soul, in the race of man, and entering into the family of man, according to the order of nature which he himself had established. In this way, he did become a member of the human family, and the promised seed of the woman. But if we inquire again, " How could Christ, being the Son of God, become the son of Joseph?" it may be answered ;— in the same way that he could become the son of David, or the son of Abraham, Matt. i. 1. The difficulty in either case is precisely that with which our Lord pressed the Pharisees, Matt. xxii. 42, 45, when he inquired of them, "What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he?" In Rev. xxii. 16, he says of himself, "I am the root of David," that is, David as truly sprung from me as the tree grows up from its root. He adds, "I am the offspring of David," that IS, I sprung from David as truly as the branch shoots off from the trunk of a tree. But how can this be? He was David's Lord, because he created him. He was David's son, because he graciously covenanted with David that he would take to himself the human nature in his race. He was Joseph's son, 42 NOTES ON SCRIPTURE. because he selected the family of Joseph as that in which he would fulfil his covenant with David and Abraham. He was as truly, and in the same sense, the son of Joseph, as he was of David or Abraham. The cause or reason of his being the son of either was his sovereign purpose and promise to put himself in that relation. It may be objected that by son, Matt. i. 1, we must understand descendant, and thus understood, we may with strict accuracy say, he descended from Abraham and David through Mary, not through Joseph. But the word descendant creates the same difficulties as the word sow, under- stood in the sense of an immediate descendant. For, how, we may inquire as before, could Christ, being the Son of God, become a descendant of David, or of Abraham, or of Adam, or of Eve, or of Mary ? The answer must be the same as that already given. It may be objected again, that we find express cove- nants with Abraham and David to this intent, but none of like nature or import with Joseph. To this objection we reply, the transaction with Joseph recorded in verses 20, 21, and 24 amounts to a covenant. "Joseph did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him." See chap. ii. 13, 14, 19, 20—23. _ Matt. i. 18 25. From what has been said it sufficiently appears that these verses really form a part of the table of pedicrree. The Evangelist had shown the descent from Abraham to Joseph, the husband of Mary; naming the father who begat and the son begotten. In the 16th verse, he changes the phraseology. He says not that Joseph begat Jesus, but simply that Joseph was the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was begotten. Here, then, is an omission which must be supplied. Had the table stopped here, the reader might have inquired who begat Jesus ? Anticipating this inquiry, the Evangelist answers, " the Holy Ghost." Again it might be inquired, how could that be known? This question, also, is anticipated, and the answer given, "by divine revelation." The Evangelist then proceeds to show that such a revelation was made to Joseph ; the manner in which it was made ; and the occasion which led to it. He states the facts circumstantially as they occurred, doubtless by inspiration, and not upon information received either directly or at second hand from Joseph. By this method, we are taught incidentally several particulars of great interest and importance, which would have been excluded by a concise statement of the simple fact of the generation of the human person of the Lord Jesus by the Holy Spirit -rr^sy/^a 3s dy^ou Thus we learn, for example, that his personal name (Jesus) was divinely api)ointed, and that Joseph was commanded to call him bv that name, Matt. i. 21, as Mary previously had GENEALOGY OF JESUS. 43 been, Luke i. 31. The obedience of Joseph to this, as to other commands, gave to the proceeding, as has been suggested, the form of a synallagmatic transaction, and the effect of a cove- nant. In this way, too, the Evangelist shows how Isa. vii. 14, which predicts the incarnation, was fulfilled — a prophecy quite indefinite in its terms, but made precise by the revelation of the angel to Joseph. The prophet says, " Behold, a virgin shall conceive," &c. ; but by what power, he does not say ; and his words might naturally suggest the inquiry of Mary, Luke i. 34, 35. The Vulgate translates verse 18, Christi autem generatio sic erat. Erasmus preferred this reading, and Mill inclined to it ; but Whitby contended for the textus receptus. As the object of the Evangelist was to trace the descent of the royal office to Jesus, and show his right to it as the Christ or Messiah, we see a reason why he should use that designation. But as that was his title, not his personal name, it was proper, in this verse, to designate him by his personal name rather than by his title ; yet not improper to add the title, especially as he had already done so in the I6th verse after a 6 hyojxevo:;. The last word in the 25th verse may be regarded as a resuming of the narra- tive at verse 16. Matt. ir. The first chapter of this gospel — it has been suggested — begins with the proposition of the entire book. The first proof of it is the genealogy of the Lord Jesus. This proof involved the mystery of the incarnation, which, though taught in the Old Testament, Ps. ex., was not understood by the Pharisees, Matt. xxii. 41, 46, and excluded from the popular theology. The Evangelist, therefore, shows how he was the Son of God, and also the son of Joseph, and through him the heir of David's throne by descent. The Evangelist also con- nects with the table of genealogy, as we have seen, the two great national covenants, the Abrahamic and Davidic, in which all the blessings the nation hoped for or could expect were included. To the Jewish mind no subject more interesting or important could be presented, and to those Jews who still believed that Jesus was a deceiver. Matt, xxvii. 63, the addition of the title Christ to his name, thereby affirming that he was in truth the promised Messiah, and the further additions, "son of David," " son of Abraham," thereby affirming that he was that son, or descendant of those patriarchs, in whom the great and glorious covenants God made with them were to be fulfilled, must have been extremely offensive. In the second chapter the Evangelist proceeds to the second proof of his proposition, which may be called the testimony of 44 NOTES ON SCRIPTURE. Herod. The logical connection would be more obvious if the Evangelist had marked the transition from his iSrst to the second proof somewhat after this method : " But ye Jews, who still reject Jesus of Nazareth, and still persist in saying that the Messiah has not yet appeared, listen to the testimony of Herod the Great, one of your own kings, the close of whose reign some of you are old enough to remem- ber. Herod, indeed, never saw this Jesus, whose history I am writing, and knew not his person, yet he firmly believed that the promised Messiah was born during his reign, as is proved by the well-remembered visit of the wise men from the East, and the proceedings of Herod thereupon." Such, it is suggested, is the connection or undercurrent of thought; and thus regarded, the facts recorded in this chapter strongly support the leading proposition of the book. As an argument, it was peculiarly suited to impress the Jews of that day. The atrocities of Herod were well remembered, and some who suffered by them were, no doubt, alive when this gospel was written, which Avas probably about eight years after the resurrection of Christ. Herod was an unscrupulous and cruel prince, as his conduct proved ; but did he act upon insufficient grounds, or was he moved by a vain fear ? The grounds upon which he acted were public facts — the public appearance of the Magi — their public inquiry after the new-born king, &c. The force of the argument depends on the weight due to the acts of such a government as Herod's. The argument is not in itself absolutely conclusive, because Herod, with all the means of information his power could command, might have been mis- taken ; yet, taken in connection with the other proofs, it deserved the serious consideration of the Jews of that day.* Matt. ii. 2. "Where is he that is born king of the Jews," or rather where is the (6 zzyduc, paacXeoq) horn hing of the Jews, q. d. legitimus et naturalis ? Herodes enim factitius tantum erat et a Romanis datus, &c. Hardy's N. T. This question of the wise men taxed Herod's dynasty with usurpation, and rightly. The legitimate kings of that country were of David's race. They were kings jure divino, because kings by force of God's covenant with that patriarch, Ps. cxxxii. 11; Acts ii. 30; 2 Sam. vii. 12—16; 1 Chron. xvii. The last * We may quote in this connection a passage from Macrobius touching the acts of Herod. Writing of Augustus, lib. 2, cap. 4, he says: "Cum autlisset inter pueros, quos in Syria Herodes rex Juclaeorum infra biniatum jussit interfici, filium quoquo ejus occisum ; ait, Melius est Herodis porcum esse quam filium." It' Augustus said this in Greek — and some have conjectured he diTophetic hut retrospective. Rachel is represented as lamenting a calamity already suffered. In point of fact, the ten tribes had been in captivity more than a 7 50 NOTES ON SCRIPTURE. century when Jeremiah wrote. The prophecy respecting their restoration is contained in the sixteenth and seventeenth verses, which are not quoted. The cause of the lamentation of Rachel was the ruthless violence of the Assyrian in carrying away the ten tribes, after myriads of them had been slaughteued. The conduct of Herod, we may admit, was not less cruel, but this cannot be the reason for the quotation; for, besides that the number of Herod's victims was comparatively small, it does not appear that they were descendants of Rachel, or of the number of those for whom she is represented as lamenting. Yet says the Evan- gelist, "then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah, &;c., Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not." To satisfy the words of the Evangelist, we must find in the conduct of Herod a renewed cause for the lamentation of the mother of the ten tribes, and this will appear if we consider the general design of the Evangelist. This design was, as we have seen, to represent the Lord Jesus as the seed in Avhom the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants met, and were to be fulfilled. These covenants required the restoration and conversion of the ten tribes of Israel, and, of course, the fulfilment of the promises contained in the 16th and 17th verses, Jer. xxxi. — "they shall come again from the land of the enemy," "there is hope in thine end," thy children shall come again to the land of their own border." The rejection of the Lord Jesus by the nation, and his crucifixion by the command of Pilate, postponed, so to speak, the realization of these promises, and, in the figurative language of the prophet, were renewed causes for the weeping of their mother. In the same way the act of Herod was a blow aimed at the Deliverer, which led to his temporary exile, verse 14, and afterwards to his resi- dence in a despised place. Matt. ii. 23, John i. 46, and the reproachful epithet of Nazarene. All these acts of Herod, of the Jews, of Pilate, tended directly to prolong the calamity, at first inflicted by the Assyrian. In this point of view the Evangelist appears to have regarded it. If the original cap- tivity was a cause of weeping, now, when the appointed time for their restoration from captivity had come, any act that would frustrate their restoration, and thereby prolong, if not perpetuate, their captivity, was a fresh cause for weeping; not, however, for the children slain by Herod, who Avere not of the tribe of Ephraim, but for her own children, or the ten tribes represented by Ephraim, because, after so long a time, and even after their Redeemer had come to deliver and restore them, they still arc not. Before the advent of their Redeemer, she JOHN THE BAPTIST. 51 sorrowed for their loss by the hand of the Assyrian. But after their Redeemer came, and upon the first public announcement of his birth, Herod sought his life, and drove him into exile, her sorrow for the same cause is renewed and increased by disappointed hope. It is true, Herod did not accomplish what he attempted, though it is probable he thought he had. But the Evangelist, writing after our Lord's ascension, probably grouped in his own mind this act of Herod with the act of the Jews and of Pilate, who actually executed what Herod in vain attempted. Or, as an old commentator expresses it, Christ being yet scarce born, beginneth to be crucified for us, &c. The representation of the prophet is dramatical. By a bold figure, he represents " Rachel as come forth from her grave, lamenting bitterly the loss of her children ; none of whom pre- sented themselves to her view, being all slain or gone into exile." Blaney. The Evangelist adopts the imagery of the prophet, and applies it to the first of that series of persecutions, which resulted in the rejection and death of the Redeemer of her lost ones, because by means of those acts, the cause of this mother's sorrow was prolonged ; and, but for the mercy of God, through the blood of this rejected Redeemer, would have been per- petual. This view of the passage yields a sense in harmony with the scope of the Evangelist, and with the words, verse 17, by which he introduces the quotation. See Spanheim, Buh. Evang. 653 — 575, for an elaborate discussion of this passage. CHAPTER II. John's Character and Ministry. — John's Baptism emblematical. — Baptism of the Holy Spirit. — Baptism by Fire. — Baptism of Christ. — Commencement of Christ's Ministry. — Christ's Sermon on the Mount. — Tiie Office of Faitli in Miracles. — Diversities of the Operations of Faith.— Christ's title, "Son of Man." — Mysteries of Christ's Nature. — Christ's power over the Physical World. — Christ's power over Evil Spirits. Matthew hi. 1. "In those days came John the Baptist in the wilderness of Judea." The Evangelist refers to John as a well-known character; and such he was among the Jews. Josephus, the historian, forty years afterwards speaks of him much in the same way. Antiq. xviii. c. 5, § 2. He was also a very extraordinary character, in whatever view we consider him. His conception was announced by the angel Gabriel, Luke i. 13 — 19. It was miraculous, or out of the ordinary course of nature, Luke i. 7 — 18, as truly so as was 52 NOTES ON SCRIPTURE. Isaac's, Rom, iv. 19. His name (John) vrhich signijBes grace, favour, was divinely appointed, Luke i. 13, though not pro- phesied of. His manner of life was peculiar ; he dwelt in the deserts, until the day of his showing unto Israel at Bethabara, near the banks of Jordan, Luke'i. 80 ; Matt. xi. 18 ; John i. 28; iii. 23. His ministry was closed by his imprisonment — his imprisonment by his death. He was filled with the Holy Ghost from his birth, Luke i. 15, and performed his oifice with the spirit and power of Elias, Luke i. 17, although he was not Elias in person, John i. 21, as the name given him was designed to indicate. His mission and ministry were fore- told, Isaiah xl. 3 ; Matt. iii. 1 ; Mark i. 2 ; Matt. xi. 10, but not under any name ; as was that of Cyrus, Isaiah xlv. 1, and that of Elijah, Mai. iv. 5. His mission was divine, John i. 6, 33; Matt. xxi. 25, yet did he not use the style of the prophets, " Thus saith the Lord." The authentication of his mission and office was so complete, that the common people would not permit even their rulers to call it in question. Matt, xxi. 26. The masses of the people thronged his ministry, and submitted to his baptism, and mused in their hearts whether he were not the Christ, Matt. iii. 5; Luke iii. 15, 21. Yet he performed no miracle, John x. 41. It is remarkable, too, that the common people received him as a prophet, but not as Elias, while the learned rejected him as one possessed by the devil. Matt. xi. 18. His ministry was limited to the circum- cision, as was the personal ministry of our Lord, Rom. xv. 8 ; Matt. XV. 24. Very little has been recorded of it, and nothing separately, but only in connection with the personal ministry of the Lord. But whence did he derive his cognomination, Baptist ? It was not said to Zacharias that he should be so called, or that he should baptize the nation, Luke i. 13. It was not given him at his circumcision, Luke i. 60 — 63, Luke describes him as John the son of Zacharias, iii. 2 ; yet the addition was com- monly and properly made. Herod so called him. Matt. xiv. 2, John's disciples also, Luke vii. 20, and our Lord himself, Luke vii. 33; See also xiv. 8; xvii. 13; Mark viii. 28; Luke vii. 28; ix. 19. John says of himself that he was sent to baptize, John i. 33, though we know he preached also, and with great power, Luke i. 17 ; iii. 15. These were, however, distinct functions, 1 Cor. i. 17, and with John preaching was the subordinate; baptizing the chief function. This is, per- haps, one reason why our Lord said he was more than a pro- phet. The explanation probably is this : John was the forerun- ner of the new dispensation, the near approach of which he JOHN'S MISSION. 53 announced ; and his ministry was appointed to introduce it. Now baptism, or its equivalent, has hitherto introduced every economy of the divine government since the fall of man. Thus, Noah was introduced through water by means of an ark into a new economy ; in fact, into a new world ; and in this event the apostle Peter finds the equivalent for baptism, 1 Peter iii. 20, 21. Moses brought Israel into new covenant relations with God, by what Paul calls a baptism in the sea, and in the cloud, 1 Cor. X. 1, 2. The economy established by the hand of Moses, was now about expiring. A new economy — the dispen- sation of the kingdom of the heavens — had come nigh. John was appointed to announce the event, and baptize the people as a preparation for it. This being the chief object of his mission, he was therefore called the Baptist. Matt. iii. 3. "For this person," says the Evangelist, "is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, chap. xl. 3, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness : Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." John the Baptist applied the same prophecy to himself in answer to the questions of the priests and Levites sent from Jerusalem to him at Jordan, "Who art thou?" "What sayest thou of thyself?" John i. 22, 23. Our Lord also applied to him the prophecy in Mai. iii. 1, Matt. xi. 10, and the Evangelist Mark applies to him both, Isa. xl. 3, and Mai. iii. 1, Mark i. 2,3. It is remarkable that neither of the Evangelists, nor the Baptist, nor our Lord, evfer quotes or cites the very notable prophecy in Mai. iv. 5, concerning the mission of Elijah, as having reference to the person of John. But the common opinion of Protestant commentators of the last two centuries is, that all these prophecies were fulfilled by the mission of John the Baptist. Augustine, Chrysostom, Jerome, and the early Christian writers, on the contrary, generally held that the last of these prophecies, Mai. iv. 5, is yet unfulfilled. As the point is of considerable importance in its bearings on the interpretation of other Scriptures, it deserves a careful inves- tigation. With a view to this question, several distinctions, besides that above suggested, should be carefully considered. We notice them in this place very briefly, because they will occur in connection with other texts. (1.) John was not Elias m person^ John i. 21. He came during the continuance of the legal economy. His mission was unsuccessful. He did not restore all things. Matt. xvii. 11, Acts iii. 21. The Jews nationally rejected the Lord Jesus, and for that sin were destroyed as a nation, and scattered among the Gentiles. The restitution of all things is still future, Acts iii. 21. But the prophecy (Mai. iv. 5) foretells that the ^ 64 NOTES ON SCRIPTURE. mission of Elijah will be successful. "He shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children," &c., otherwise the Lord will smite the earth with a second curse, Mai. iv. 6, Matt. xvii. 11. While the legal economy lasted, and before the influence of the Holy Spirit had been purchased by the death of Christ, the mission of Elijah would have been premature, because, owing to the depravity of human nature, it would infallibly have been unsuccessful, as John's ministry proved ; and so this prophecy would have failed. But when Elijah comes, it will not be in his oivn spirit and power, but in the spirit and power of God the Lord, as his name imports, whose influences have been secured by the work of Christ. ■ ■ (2.) Although John the Baptist was not Elijah in person, yet he was equal to Elijah, Matt. xi. 11. He went forth to the people in all the energy and power of Elijah, Luke i. 17. He Avas therefore, in his office and functions, the Elijah of the legal economy, and was raised up especially to fulfil the office of Eli- jah at that time — that is, to do all that Elijah himself could have done towards preparing the way of the Lord, had he been sent to Israel at that time in ijerson. John would have been the Elijah foretold, if the people had received him. Matt. xi. 14. But it was not more impossible for John to be Elijah in person, than it was for the Jews to receive him with the obedi- ence of faith, Jer. xiii. 23; Isa. liv. 13; John vi. 44, 45. (3.) John was the subject of prophecy as well as Elijah, but not of the same prophecies. John was not prophesied of by name, but only by description ; as a voice crying in the wilder- ness, Isa. xl. 3, or as a messenger sent before the face of the Lord, to prepare his way, Mai. iii. 1. Elijah was prophesied of by name, and his mission and the successful result of it expressly foretold. (4.) Both, however, were prophesied of, as ministers of the circumcision. Both were to be sent to a people dwelling to- gether in the land of Israel, and not to that people, as they now are, scattered abroad among the nations. It is implied therefore in the prophecy of the future coming of Elijah, that Israel shall yet be restored to their land and be dwelling therein, after which this prophecy shall be fulfilled. Matt. iir. 6. "And were baptized of him in Jordan, con- fessing their sins." Paul represents the miraculous passage of Israel through the Red Sea as a baptism into Moses, 1 Cor. x. 1, 2, but not their miraculous passage through the river Jordan, Josh. iii. 14, 16, as a baptism into Joshua. Why was not the latter a baptism in the same sense as the former? The reason for the distinc- tion is not to be found in the nature or the relative magnitude JOHN'S BAPTISM. 55 of the miracles, but in the character and official relations of the persons who performed them. Moses introduced, officially or instrumentally, a new economy which was appointed to subsist until the Messiah should come, John i. 17; Joshua fulfilled no such office, Heb. iv. 8. The functions he performed were sub- sidiary to the work of Moses, and were not undertaken until near forty years after the giving of the law. His taking the people through Jordan was not, in any sense, a baptism intro- ductoi'y to a new economy, though it was a miraculous mani- festation of the divine power,, and a wonderful proof of the theocracy which had been established over Israel at Mount Sinai. As such, it was proper to be commemorated by especial means, Josh. iv. 4, 7, 20, 23. But Joshua, as well as John the Baptist, was, in a certain sense, a forerunner of the Lord Jesus. He was also a type of him. By taking the people through Jordan, Joshua did not introduce them into the pro- mised rest of the kingdom of God, Heb. iv. 8, but he pre- figured by this act that which Jesus — the Prince who appeared to Joshua, v. 13, 14, 15 — now at the close of that economy had come to perform, Luke i. 68 — 75, by actually bestowing upon Israel the blessings of the kingdom of which the promised land was a type. There may also be something significant in the place where John baptized. If it be inquired why John baptized in Jordan rather than in any other stream, may we not answer that both Jordan and Canaan were types of heavenly things, and that John, as the baptizer of Israel in Jordan, performed an office which Joshua could not, because the time appointed for it had not come? This answer, if well founded, suggests the further observation that John's ministry of baptism in Jordan, was, so to speak, supplementary to Joshua's in conducting the people through Jordan, and that the functions of both Joshvia and John must be combined, in order to make up what was included in the corresponding part of the ministry of Moses.* John the Baptist performed no miracle, but Joshua and Jesus did. Neither Joshua nor Jesus baptized the people, though they were themselves baptized. We do not read that John the Bap- tist was baptized by Jesus or by any other, although he was filled with the Holy Spirit from his birth, Luke i. 15. Matt. hi. 11. "I indeed baptize you with water unto" — in order to — "repentance; but he that cometh after me . * Quod Moses nequivit, Joshua fecit ; quod Joshua non facere potuit (intro- ducere in coelestem requiem) Jesus efficit solus. Joshua fluentum dirimit, aquas dissecat sed Dei mauu: — Jesus . . . propria, potentia, mari, vento, fluc- tibus imperat. Area fee leris in aquis stans omnibus Israelitarum securum transitum praebuit : Jesus in Jordane stans, coelum aperuit, etc. — J. H. Mains. 56 NOTES ON SCRIPTURE. he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and [with] fire," Luke iii. 16. John was a minister of the circumcision. His mission, like that of Isaiah, Elijah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the other prophets, was to the "house of Israel," or rather to the "house of Judah." His baptism was appointed for the whole people, and his preaching was addressed to all, Acts xiii. 24; Luke iii. 18, 21. We are to understand "you," therefore, in this enlarged or national sense. " I baptize you" Israel, or house of Israel, "with water," &c. In the same enlarged sense we are to under- stand the word "you" in the last clause, " He shall baptize you" 0 house of Israel "wuth the Holy Ghost and fire" — not you pharisees and sadducees, ftwrjfjLara ly^idviov. One object of John was, to state a contrast between the bap- tism which he administered and that which should afterwards be administered by him whom he preceded. It is implied also, that his baptism would be ineffectual to secure their national repentance. They — that is the nation — needed, and at some time afterwards should receive, a baptism of divine power, which should be effectual. Acts v. 31. The last clause is there- fore prophetical and as yet unfulfilled. The nation has never yet been baptized with the Holy Ghost. A long interval had been laid in the divine plan between John's day and the fulfil- ment of this prophecy or promise, during which many mo- mentous events were to occur ; — The appearance and public ministry of the Lord Jesus — his rejection and death — the open- ing of a new dispensation for the gathering and upbuilding of the Church — the destruction of the temple — the dispersion of the people among all nations during the times of the Church militant — the final restoration of Israel to their own land — the mission of Elijah to them in their restored condition at the time of the proximate approach of the restitution of all things. Acts iii. 21, and see note on that verse. Not until all these things shall have come to pass will this prediction of John the Baptist be fulfilled. But then it will be ; for observe the prediction is absolute. "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." The prediction is concurrent or parallel with Mai. iv. 5, 6. See Ezek. xxxix. 28, 29. John's baptism of the nation with water, was simply em- blematical of this future baptism of the nation with the Holy Ghost. Neither has respect to the Church. John's baptism preceded the times of the Church — the baptism of which he prophesied will follow those times. The baptism which our Lord appointed after his resurrection, Matt, xxviii. 19, on the other hand, had respect to the Church which is to be taken out of all nations, Acts xv. 14. It looks forward to the end of the BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY GHOST. 57 dispensation of the gospel among all nations, and the comple- tion of the elect body of Christ. There it terminates. In this respect it is like the Lord's supper, which was appointed to show forth the Lord's death till he come, 1 Cor. xi. 2tj. The second coming of Christ and the gathering of the Church unto him, will supersede both, as his first coming superseded the institution of the passover. So the baptism with the Holy Ghost, which our Lord promised to the apostles on the day of his final ascension. Acts i. 4, had the Church in view. See notes on Acts i. 5, and Mark xvi. 15, 16, Acts. ii. 2 — 4. The baptism which John promised to the whole nation, the Lord actually bestowed on a few who received him, John i. 12, but withheld it at that time from the masses, who rejected him, though he will yet fulfil the promise on all Israel it its amplest sense, Rom. xi. 29, when the times appointed to the Gentiles shall have been fulfilled, Rom. xi. 25, 27. The fall of Israel gave occasion to the dispensation of the gospel to the Gentiles, Rom. xi. 11, to the dispersion of the Jews among the Gentiles, and the consequent postponement of the restitution of all things, and the baptism of Israel as a nation by the Holy Ghost : so that the present dispensation for the building of the Church is intercalated, if we may so express it, between the baptism of the nation by John with water, and the promised baptism of the nation by Christ with the Holy Ghost. Besides this difference in, the times and persons to which the baptism of John and that appointed by our Lord relate, there is another, too important to be passed without notice. The baptism of John was ineffectual, because it was not attended by the Holy Spirit's influence. Indeed, the promise of a future baptism with the Holy Ghost implied a negative of his present influence. But the baptism with water appointed by Christ after his resurrection will be made effectual upon the elect by the accompanying energies of the Holy Spirit. So that although the baptism of John was ineffectual to prepare Israel for the first coming of Christ, the latter will be effectual to prepare the elect church for his second coming. This great object, the completion of the church, having been accomplished through the Lord's death, resurrection, and ascension, he will, at his second coming, baptize the bodies of his elect, both the living and the dead, with the Holy Ghost, thereby transforming them into bodies of glory like his own, Philip, iii. 20, 21 — their souls having already been baptized with the renewing influences of the Spirit. He Avill, at the same time, also baptize the souls of his restored people Israel with the Holy Ghost, as he did the twelve apostles on the Pentecost after his 58 NOTES ON SCRIPTURE. ascension, thereby converting tliem universally into an emi- nently holy people. And the Spirit will also, at the same epoch, to complete the restitution of all things, move, as he did at the beginning, over the face of physical nature. Gen. i. 2, delivering [top xoff/wu) the earth itself and its furniture of creatures from the bondage to which the Creator subjected them by reason of sin, Rom. viii. 20, 21. Vast, and very various then, will be the work of the Holy Spirit in bringing about this mighty change of the Divine administration, dependent upon the second coming of the Lord to fulfil this prediction of John the Baptist. It is worthy of observation, that our Lord promised the apostles at his last interview. Acts i. 5, "that they should be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence." By these words he alluded by way of contrast, as we suppose, to the more distant fulfilment of the prediction made by John. As if he had said, "God's promise by the mouth of John the Baptist to all Israel shall be fulfilled to you who have received me, not many days hence, however long it may be deferred to those who rejected me." John i. 12. If this suggestion is well founded, all the apostles might have applied to themselves the expression of Paul, 1 Cor. xv. 8, regarding himself as having been born of God before the due time ; — i. e. the time appointed for all Israel. See Joseph 3Iede's note on this text. We observe again : Our Lord did not promise the apostles baptism "with fire," although the fact of such a promise as he made has inclined many to suppose the whole of the prediction of John was actually fulfilled at that time. It is by no means necessary, however, to suppose that the cloven tongues "Z/A-e as of fire," resting upon the twelve apostles, were the baptism with fire which John the Baptist predicted. They may be regarded as emblems or visible signs of the Holy Spirit's presence, designed to convince the apostles, and those who saw them, of the fulfilment of the Saviour's promise to send the Comforter to them, John xvi. 7. In the case of Cornelius and his kinsmen. Acts x. 24, the Holy Spirit also descended visibly: the object of the visible demonstration being to teach the apostles God's purpose to admit Gentiles into the church, and so Peter considered it, Acts x. 47. In the case of the apostles, they were tokens or badges of authority which none could dispute, and as such were important means in laying the foundation of the church. We do not read that the apostles, except Paul, Acts ix. 18, were baptized with Avater (unless with the baptism of John,) either before or after the day of Pentecost — the symbol of water in baptism having been design- BAPTISM WITH FIRE. 59 edly supplied, it may be, by more impressive emblems of the Spirit's presence on the day of Pentecost. Matt. hi. 12 : " Whose fan (is) in his hand, and he will thor oughly purge his floor and gather the wheat into his garner, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." Luke iii. IT. This verse, if not exegetical of the preceding, should be interpreted in connection with its last clause. It is predictive of God's dealings with Israel after their restoration, prepara- tory to their baptism with the Holy Ghost, or, it may be, in connection with it. Ezekiel, chap. xx. 38, foretells that God will purge out from among the house of Israel rebels and trans- gressors, see vs. 33 — 40, and there are other similar prophe- cies. See Deut. xviii. 15 — 19, Acts iii. 23, and note on that verse. The language is figurative, taken from husbandry. The same figure is made the groundwork of the parable of the tares. Matt. xiii. 30, 40, 41, although the parable has a wider scope than this verse. It is implied in the language of John, that the acts of purging of the floor and the separating of the wheat from the chaff, are to be performed at the time of the harvest, which, in the parable of the tares, is declared to be the end of the world, Matt. xiii. 39, that is [too auovoq) of this dispensation of the gospel among the Gentiles, and no reason is perceived why the same symbol, " harvest," should be used to denote different, even remote epochs. Some of the arguments under the last verse might here be repeated, but we add under this head only that both Mark and John omit this verse, and the last two words, "with fire," of the preceding verse. The reason may be that the matter exclusively concerned Israel, and was not of so much importance to Gentile Christians, for whom chiefly they wrote. These observations suggest our next remark: The words "with fire," or baptism with fire, denote punishment. The meaning may be thus expressed: "He," the Messiah, at his second appearing to you, 0 house of Israel, after your final restoration, Ezek. xx. 33 et seq., shall baptize (consume) and utterly destroy* those of you who still continue to be rebels and transgressors against him with fire, see note on Acts iii. 22, 23; while those who repent and are inclined to obey his voice he will baptize with the Holy Ghost. This interpretation is borne out by the last clause of the twelfth verse. The chaff denotes those whom the Lord will reject and cut off from the people, and the burning of the chaff with * The expression is elliptical; we supply the word "baptize" from the pre- ceding phrase. If the expression, "baptize with fire," in the sense of con- sume, seems unusual, the reader may adopt the word "consume" or destroy, which is the sense as it appears to the writer. 60 NOTES ON SCRIPTURE. unquenchable fire denotes their sudden and utter destruction. To this extent, at least, the twelfth appears to be exegetical of the eleventh verse. Upon the whole, then, it is submitted that these two verses relate exclusively to Israel as a nation — that they are predic- tive of events, not only still future, but events which cannot occur, until the winding up of the present dispensation; nor until the eve of, or after, the restoration of that people to their land — that then God will try that people, and separate those who remain obdurate and rebellious from the rest, and destroy them utterly; while he will baptize the saved ones with the Holy Ghost as he did the twelve apostles on the day of Pente- cost, only in a larger measure, in order to fit them for the higher and holier dispensation of the kingdom of God to come, Matt. vi. 10. See note on Acts iii. 22, 23, in which even the least of them shall be greater than the apostles were during their earthly ministry. The common interpretation of these verses is liable to several objections beside those implied in the foregoing remarks. The apostles Avere not baptized with fire on the "day of Pen- tecost, Acts ii. 3. The parted tongues which sat upon them were not fire, though they had the appearance of fire. Nor was any considerable part of the nation baptized with the Holy Ghost. The great body not only remained obdurate and rebel- lious, but became worse and worse, till they were destroyed as a nation. Yet dreadful as were the divine judgments, there was mercy mingled with them. The people were scattered, yet preserved as a race. They are probably now, and for ages past have been, as numerous as they were then. These events do not come up to, or correspond with the language of the 1 2th verse. The thorough purging of the floor, the gathering of the wheat into the store-house, and the burning of the chaft' (the wicked) with unquenchable fire, denote decisive and final action, not corrective punishments (to be followed by another trial) such as the prophets predict. Ezek. xx, 35 — 38, xxxviii., Mai. iv., Zech. xiii. 8, 9, xiv., iii. 9, Jerem. xxxiii. 8, Isa. iv. 3, 4, Joel ii. iii. The interpolation of the word is, by the translators, has pro- bably given occasion to the common interpretation. Retaining this word, however, the language is parabolical; and in para- bles, the time of the action represented, docs not depend upon the grammatical tenses employed in their consti'uction.* * Tlie phrase (sj to ^t^/sv h m ^itfu airw) is an example of the noniinativo absolute. The noun has no finite verb in tJie original, and should have none in the translation. The writer or speaker appears to have cut short the construc- tion first intended, and adopted another. Many examples of this sort occur ia BAPTISM OF CHRIST. 61 Matt. hi. 14. "But John forbade him saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?" or, "I have need to be baptized of thee, and thou comest to me!" When we consider that John was filled with the Holy Ghost from his birth, Luke i. 15, that his mind and affections were renewed, and his whole spiritual nature fitted for the eminent services for which he had been raised up, we naturally inquire in what sense he needed baptism. A holier man than he had never lived, for holiness in the divine regard, is an indispensable element of greatness. Matt. xi. 11. Even the apostles after the day of Pentecost, it is probable, were not so fully nor so con- stantly possessed by the Holy Ghost as was John. What further need then had John to be baptized of any? Are these words anything more than an expression of the humble sense this eminently holy man entertained of himself in comparison with the august Being who stood before him? We apprehend they are. The words [iyco j^psiav ^%(o) "I have need," denote a real necessity; and if they were uttered by the promptings of the Holy Spirit within him, we must interpret them in a sense com- mensurate with the Spirit's work. Accordingly, we understand them not only of something which John then had not, but of something which he could only receive through the baptism of Jesus. Now it may safely be afiirmed, that John had all which the Holy Ghost has ever done or ever will do for any man in this life in the way of sanctifiation, except for those of the Lord's elect, who shall be alive at his second coming. Philip, iii. 21 ; 1 Thess. iv. 17. All that remained for John to desire, or for the Spirit to do, was the regeneration or glorification of his body ; the Spirit's crowning work in man's redemption, which could not precede, but must follow the sacrificial work of Christ, and his ascension to glory. The reply of the Lord Jesus tacitly concedes what John had said of himself, and by joining John as, in some sense, a co-worker with him, he virtually promised John the baptism he desired. As if he had said, "True, thou hast need to be baptized by me; and hereafter — not now — I will baptize thee with my baptism." What he added, revealed to John, it is probable, a purpose which he did not understand before. We paraphrase it thus, "Yet baptize thou me with water now, for the appointed way to my baptism is through thine. I must the New Testament. They are characteristic of impassioned discourse. The connection and the sense may be expressed thus: " I indeed baptize you with water, but the days are coming when Messiah shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and fire. At that time going forth, with his fan in hand, as the husband- man does, in the time of harvest, he will thoroughly purge his floor," etc. 62 NOTES ON SCRIPTURE. first be baptized with water to prefigure my death and burial, and then again be baptized with the Spirit for ray glorification. Luke xii. 50, and see the introductory note on Acts, chap. ii. Afterwards I will baptize thee. In this manner it is appointed unto us to fulfil all righteousness." IMatt, III. 15. "Suffer it to be so now" — rather {dTo rorcf "from that time," in the 17th verse, there- * The whole sense of this verse is changed by supplying the word it. Neither the Syriac nor the Vulgate version supplies the omission at all. Hy this inter- polation the word n-ceive {Se^^arbn) is nnule to signify bclicrc, or give credit to the declaration, which to sny tlie least is an unusual sense. See Matt. x. 14, 40, 41; xviii. 5, and Schmidt's Greek Concordance, hx^fji^i. f These words are employed several times where the e.xact time of an event is meant to be denoted, Matt. xvi. 21; xxvi. 10; Luke xvi. 1(1, audit is im- portant to notice the particuhirity, in order to apprehend clearly and fully the sense of the writer. Thus, from Matt. xvi. 21, we learn that tlie Lord did iii>t speak to his disciples of his approaching sufferiugs and death until the uiysteiy COMMENCEMENT OF CHRIST's MINISTRY. 73 fore denote with precision, the commencement of the Lord's ministry and the termination of John's. The Lord did not begin to preach before, because the times appointed for the baptism of the people had not elapsed. He did not delay after, because John's imprisonment marked the completion of the times appointed for the national baptism. Hence, according to Mark i. 15, the Lord commenced his pub- lic preaching by saying: The time is fulfilled for the coming of the kingdom, and the evidence of the fact he proceeds imme^ diately to exhibit to the people by his miraculous works. See John ii. 3, 4; x. 41. Matt. iv. 17. From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven" — the heavens — "is at hand" — hath come nigh. Our Lord's personal ministry among the Jews may be con- sidered under three heads or functions. We may regard him (1) either as a preacher of the kingdom, or (2) as a preacher of the law, or (3) in the domestic or private relation of a teacher of his disciples. The first two of these functions were public, and he exercised them in harmony with the economy of law, which still continued in force. Matt. v. 17; and see note on Matt, xxvii. 51 — 53; Luke xxiii. 45. His instructions to his disciples, apart from the multitudes, were frequently propheti- cal, and suited to the dispensation of grace which was to follow. To these he alluded, especially in his last discourse with them. John xiv. 26. This distinction is marked and very important, Matt. xiii. 11; xvi. 20; Luke x. 23, if not indispensable to the clear comprehension of the gospels.* The text under consideration, it is unnecessary to say, be- longs to our Lord's function or oflBce of preaching the kingdom. The import of the proclamation is explained in the note on Matt. iii. 2; xix. 28; and see note on Acts iii, 21. To the same function we refer (1) the act of calling and commissioning the apostles to preach the kingdom, and conferring upon them the power to perform miracles, in proof of the proclamation. of the incarnation was revealed to Peter. But [uto tote) from that time forth Le began to show uuto his disciples the mystery of his death and resurrection, which were next in order. Matt. xvii. 22, 23; xx. 17 — 19. From Matt. xxvi. 16, we learn, that from the time Judas covenanted secretly with the priests to betray his Master, he was continually watching for an opportunity to fulfil his part of the agreement, and earn the promised bribe. Luke xvi. 16 proves, that the commencement of John's ministry, in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Cassar, was an epoch in the history of the nation. A new order of things then com- menced, and new responsibilities attached. Matt. iii. 10. * The reader will iind great advantage in assorting and arranging the mat- ter of the four Gospels according to this plan of distribution. It may be done in parallel columns, in the order of time, blending, however, the four Evan- gelists. 10 74 NOTES ON SCRIPTURE. Matt. iv. 18—22; x. 1—8; Luke ix. 1, 2; x. 1—17. (2) The public mii-acles of our Lord, Matt. iv. 23 — 25, and the miracles performed bj the apostles under their first commission. (3) The parables or similitudes of the kingdom Avhich Avere publicly de- livered. Matt. xiii. 24 — 34; xxi. 33 — 44; xxii. 1 — 14; Luke xix. 11 — 27. These the reader will regard as examples. He ■will find other passages which belong to the same category. Matt. iv. 23, 24. " And Jesus went about all Galilee teach- ing in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the king- dom, and healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease among the people; and his fame went throughout all Syria, and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those that were possessed with devils, and those that were lunatic, and those that had the palsy, and he healed them." The miracles of our Lord which have been circumstantially recorded, are about forty in number, but he performed many more which are referred to, as in these verses, only in general terms. John xx. 30; xxi. 25; xii. 37. They maybe distri- buted into several kinds or classes, according to their nature ; such as (1) miracles of healing, (2) of raising the dead, (3) of casting out devils, (4) of multiplying food, (5) miracles of power in suspending or controlling the laws and powers of nature, (6) miracles of power over the fish of the sea, (7) the transfiguration of his person, (8) the miracle of conferring upon his apostles the power to work miracles, (9) the miraculous exertion of power over the officers, soldiers, priests, and others who apprehended him, (10) to these may be added the miracles which attended his death and resurrection. Those of the Lord's miracles which were publicly wrought in proof of the proclamation of the kingdom, John v. 36, for the most part belonged to the first, second, third, and fourth classes before mentioned. They are alluded to, except the fourth, in general terms, in the answer which he sent to John the Baptist. Matt. xi. 4, 5. These were part of his public instruction to the people. They were such works as the prophets foretold the Messiah should perform, Isa. xxix. 18, 19; xxxv. 5, 6, and consequently notes or marks by which the people might learn his claim to that character. John x. 25; xv. 24. The miracles of the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth classes were performed in the presence of the disciples, or some of them only. These, therefore, may be considered as a part of the private discipline of the apostles, and designed to qualify them for the offices they were to fulfil in the approaching dispensation. Sec 2 Peter i. 17, 18 ; John i. 14. The others were performed with some special design. SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 75 A few of the miracles mentioned by John, (ii. iii. 2 ; iv. 50,) were performed before the imprisonment of John the Baptist, and of course before the Lord entered publicly upon his minis- try. These, therefore, belong to the category of private instruc- tion, rather than his public functions. Many of our Lord's miracles appear to have been wrought spontaneously on his part, that is, without the prayer or request of those who received the benefit of them, or the exercise of faith on their part; see Luke vii. 11 — 15, John v. 1 — 9; while others were wrought in answer to the request or entrea- ties of those who sought the benefit. In these instances fai^h was the indispensable prerequisite or condition of the gift ; see note on Acts iii. 16. The miracles which the Lord wrought through the apostles under their first commission, Matt. x. 8, prove this distinction. They were not commissioned to teach the people, Matt. x. 7, nor were they capable of doing so ; nor were they required to make any distinction between those upon whom they were to exert their miraculous powers, but to give to all as freely as they had received. Matt. x. 8. The miracles mentioned in the verses under consideration, appear to have been performed without solicitation. In the eighth and subsequent chapters of this Gospel the Evangelist gives instances of miracles wrought through the faith of those who were healed or of others. These distinctions are important, and they are stated in this place with a view to particular remarks hereafter. Matt. v. vi. vir. These chapters are to be referred to our Lord's functions as a preacher of the law. Taken in connec- tion with the preceding chapters, they form a complete proof of his Messiahship, and for that purpose they are introduced in this place, according to the method of the Evangelist, explained in the note on Matt. i. 1. It is purely a legal discourse, adapted to the economy of law then in force, without a single allusion to the way of salvation by grace, through faith in Christ, but characterized by a Divine elevation and purity, which has commanded the admiration even of Deistical writers. It is in fact the perfect law of the kingdom he preached, verse 48, applied to men in the state of apostasy, as most of the particular precepts prove. Verses 11, 12, 21, 22, 23, 31, 32, 39, 40, &c. It is remarkable too, that although the Lord did not assume the title or character of Christ, he represented himself as having come to fulfil the law, verse 17, and as one who would be addressed, Lord, Lord, in the day of judgment, having power to receive into, and exclude from, the kingdom of heaven, vii. 21, 23. The miracles he had performed proved his right to the 76 NOTES ON SCRIPTURE. character he claimed, Avhich was confirmed by the sublimity and excellence of his doctrine. The people were astonished at the majesty of his demeanor and the authority with which he delivered his precepts. The particulars of this discourse we ' do not propose to comment upon, except a few which cast light upon some topics which will be brought to the notice of the reader hereafter. Matt. v. 17. "Think not that I am come to destroy" (dis- solve the obligations of) "the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy but to fulfil" the law and the prophets. The burden of the prophets, we are taught by St. Peter, is the restitution of all things. Acts iii. 21, 24; see note. Their predictions extend to the whole futurity of the earth, and of man as the inhabitant thereof, Ps. cxv. 16; xxxvii. 11; Matt. V. 5. The law was ordained as a means to that end, Ileb. x. 1 ; Col. ii. 17 ; Gal. iii. 19 ; and for that reason, the whole of it, not excepting its minutest requirements, must be fulfilled. Hence our Lord added with a solemn asseveration — Verse 18. " Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled." These verses, therefore are very comprehensive, and to understand their meaning fully, we must be able to compre- hend not only all that the prophets have foretold, but all that the law, in all its parts, moral, ceremonial, and typical, fore- shadows or requires. For the law is not only preceptive but predictive; and its preceptive parts, as before observed, are subordinate to the predictive, that is, in the sense of a means to an end. Hence they are often spoken of conjunctively, as in this place. See Matt. xi. 13; Luke xvi. 16. Hence, too, the sufferings of Christ, which were typically shoAvn by the sacrifices appointed by the law, are joined with the universal glory that should follow, which the prophets so much delight to dwell upon, 1 Pet. i. 11. The institution of the Sabbath and of the sabbatical year, Lev. xxv., Deut. xv., and the duties connected therewith, is another example. The separation of the seventh year as a rest, and the blessing of God on the sixth year, typically set forth good things to come, which were more explicitly announced by the prophets, Heb. iv. 4, 9. For these reasons, we do not regard these words of the Saviour as intended to intimate merely a change of the Jewish ritual, or tlie abolition of ordinances and the institution of a more spiritual worship, John iv. 23, although these were included, but as having respect to his perfected work, when he shall have fulfilled all things written in the law and in the prophets and the Psalms concerning himself, Luke xxiv. 44; see 1 Cor. XV. 24 — 28. Yet as the fulfilling of the law and the PROHIBITION OP OATHS. 77 prophets was to be accomplished through the sufferings and death of Christ, these words concealed a mystery, which could be understood only by subsequent events and the teachings of the Holy Spirit, through the apostles, after the ascension and glorification of the Lord Jesus. According to the foregoing interpretation of these verses, the prophecies concerning the restoration and conversion of Israel, and the establishment of Messiah's kingdom in outward and visible glory over the whole earth, were within the Saviour's meaning. See notes on Matt. ii. 18, citing Jer. xxxi. 15; Luke xxiv. 25, 26; Acts iii. 19, 21 — 23. For these were among the great things which the prophets had foretold. We add, that even now, he is as really and truly fulfilling, from his mediatorial throne, the prophecies concerning himself as when he was a man of sorrows on the earth. In explaining the words of the Saviour, especially those which respect his office and work, the largest sense we can con- ceive of falls immeasurably below the fulness of his own con- ception. By not attending to this consideration, (which may be safely assumed as a rule of interpretation,) we fail of much of the instruction we might otherwise receive. Against error arising from defective views of Divine truth, we should ever be upon our guard; because from such often spring errors of perversion, and the denial of other important if not essential truths which are plainly revealed. Matt. v. 34. " But I say unto you. Swear not at all ; neither by heaven, for it is God's throne ; nor by the earth, for it is his footstool; neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King." Ps. xlviii. 2. The institution of the oath is a proof and a consequence of man's apostasy from God. If all men were perfectly holy, and the will of God done universally by all on earth, as it is in heaven, no purpose or occasion to be served by an oath could arise. A man's word would be as sure a warrant for belief as his oath. Can we suppose that the holy beings who surround the throne of God confirm their communications to each other by an oath, or need to do so ? The necessity of an oath for confirmation, Heb. vi. 16, Cometh from the evil, or deceitfulness, of men's natures, and this appears to be the meaning of the Saviour in the thirty- seventh verse. But the law of the kingdom, of which this pre- cept is a part, requires of men that they should be perfect in their natures and conduct, even as God himself is perfect, Matt. V. 48. If they were such, we repeat, they could have no occa- sion to swear at all. But because men do not and cannot fulfil the law of God's kingdom, by reason of their sinful natures, 78 NOTES ON SCRIPTURE. the solemn oath, as well as other departures from the strict requirements of this law, Matt. xix. 8, see Acts xvii. 30, were permitted to them in their fallen condition, until the time of the reformation or restitution of all things in the kingdom come. Even God himself, in condescension to the weakness of men and the hahitual mistrust of their natures, which springs from their fallen condition, has confirmed his own word with an oath, though it is impossible for him to deceive, Heb. vii. 20 — 28; Luke i. 73; Acts ii. 30. We shall not apprehend the force or application of this pre- cept and of some others contained in this sublime discourse, unless we regard our Lord as preaching or declaring the law of the holy, heavenly kingdom, which he taught his disciples to pray for, as jet to come. As a rule of duty it is now and ever will be binding, because men are even now and ever will be bound to be perfect. But as a rule of practice it was not enforced during the Levitical economy, nor was it designed to be under the present Christian dispensation, as some have sup- posed. According to this distinction we explain James v. 12. Judicial oaths are necessary to the well-being and orderly government of mankind in their present fallen and imperfect state. But even these, not less than all profane oaths, Avill not be allowed when the kingdom of God shall be established on earth. The judicial affirmation appears to be as much within the spirit of this precept as the oath. Matt. VI. 9. "Our Father which art in heaven," (rar£|0 :fj/jicou 6 iu TOi^ o\)f>avoc^. In the original Greek, as well as in the Latin Vulgate, we find the plural heavens, which our critics, with general, if not one consent, consider a Hebraism. It is suggested, however, that the plural is here used with the design to convey an allusion to the omnipresence of the Father. By heavens we are to understand the whole creation. Gen. i. 1, the universal system of suns and planets established in their orders, in illimitable space; and we address the Father as filling them all by his presence, and, of course, as present with us. These form the Father's {ocxca John xiv. 2,) house or dwelling place. See Qamerarius and TheophyJact on John xiv. 2. The same allusion is conveyed in Heb. iii. 4, " Every house is builded by some one, but he that built all things" — all worlds, as a house or dwelling place for himself — "is God." The same designation or description of the Father, occurs frequently in the Gospel of Matthew, see v. IG, 45, 48; vi. 1, 9; vii. 11, 21; x. 32, 33; xii. 50; xviii. 10, and always with evident allusion to the same Divine attribute. The word is also used by him in the singular, see vi. 10, 20, when no such reference is intended, or where the limited nature of the" subject forbids the plural THE EARTH AS A DWELLING-PLACE. 79 sense. To call such expressions Hebraisms does not signify much. The Jew might with equal propriety call our form (in the singular) a Gentilism. The question is, which form of expression is best adapted to the nature of the subject, and most accurately sets forth the idea intended to be signified? If it should be said that the ancient Hebrews had no adequate or correct idea of astronomy, it may be conceded. But the words of Scripture were all dictated by the Holy Spirit, and the words under consideration were uttered by him who made all things, and certainly had no need of the teachings of human wisdom or science. Matt. VI. 10. "Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." These petitions are very comprehensive. They imply much more than most who repeat them suppose. At the time they were dictated they implied the sufferings and death of Christ, his resurrection and ascension to glory: for these were the divinely appointed means for restoring the kingdom of God to this earth. They still imply the filling up and completion of his elect church and the second coming of the Lord to de- stroy the man of sin and purge the earth of its abominations. But, what we wish especially to remark, they are conclusive evidence of God's determinate purpose and counsel. The Saviour certainly would not not have dictated petitions for things which the Father had not designed to accomplish, or rather had designed never to accomplish. See Acts xv. 18. We conclude then, from this prayer, that the curse of God shall be removed from the earth. The creature — physical nature, all the irrational tribes, as well as man — shall be delivered from the bondage of the curse, the kingdom of Satan be destroyed, and mankind, as inhabitants of this earth, will be restored to perfect holiness and communion with God. Less than these cannot give reality to these petitions. We learn from them also the largeness, the perfection, and the glory of the Saviour's work. What orb in the universe will be more glorious than this, when these petitions shall be fully granted? Will He then, afterwards, annihilate or utterly destroy it with another curse? Mai. iv. 6. Why this, rather than any other, in which his will is done as perfectly as in heaven, where his throne is? This petition, then, proves also the perpetuity of the earth as a dwelling-place for man. Matt, v. 5, Ps. cxv. 16. Matt. viii. 2, 3. "And behold a leper came and worshipped him, saying. Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand and touched him, saying, I will: Be thou clean." 80 NOTES ON SCRIPTURE. The miracles mentioned in chap. iv. 23, appear to have been •wrought by the Saviour of his own accord, without having been asked to perform them. See John v. 7, 13, 14, The imme- diate and necessary effect of them was, to spread his fame, and induce others from far and near to bring their sick to him for cure, iv. 24. No mention, however, is made of the faith of those whom he healed, nor do we suppose it was demanded in all cases as a prerequisite. They were the appointed proofs of the presence (jiapooaca) of the kingdom which the Lord preached, see Matt. xi. 4, 5, John xv. 24, and they are mentioned in almost immediate connection with his proclama- tion. It was necessary that the proofs should be exhibited, irrespectively of the faith or worthiness of those who received the benefit of them, John ii. 3; v. 4 — 8, Luke vii. 11 — 15, and in many instances, no doubt, were so. It was with this view, as we suppose, the Evangelist mentioned, in general terms, the miracles of the Lord, in the place just referred to. In this chapter he resumes the subject of miracles, not merely as a proof of the presence of the kingdom, but for the further purpose of proving the power of faith in the scheme of redemp- tion. The observation is also important, as showing the method or plan of the Evangelist. See note on Matt. i. 1. The miracle recorded in these verses was not publicly per- formed, nor was it intended as a inihlic proof to the people ; for the leper was commanded not to tell it to any man. The motive of it was mercy to the leper, and the means or medium of it was the leper's faith. See ix. 23 — 29. This is a new topic, and it is proper in this place to suggest some consider- ations, which are applicable to all such cases. The effects of faith, in the theological sense, are wholly of a spiritual nature. They are to be sought for in the soul of him who exercises it. This limitation of the power of faith is a natural consequence of the cessation of miracles; for the out- ward visible, or rather physical effects of faith, are no longer, or at most very seldom, seen. Yet this is a very imperfect repre- sentation of the power of faith, and of the ends which it is designed to serve in the world of redemption. The miracles of healing wrought through faith, are so many examples of its jyhysieal or outward effects upon the bodies of men, and the Lord repeatedly ascribes to faith a power over material nature, Matt. xvii. 20; xxi. 21; Mark xi. 22, 23; Luke xvii. 6; see 1 Cor. xiii. 2; Heb. xi. 20, 30. It is in fact the power, or, what amounts to the same thing, the established medium for the transmission of Divine power, in the renovation of the whole nature of man, of his body, as well as of his soul. By faith Enoch was translated, that he should not see death, Ileb. xi. 5, THE OFFICE OF FAITH IN MIRACLES. 81 and by their faith the bodies of those of the Lord's people who shall be alive at his coming, will be changed into conformity with his glorious body, and be caught up to meet him. 1 Cor. XV. 51; Philip, iii. 21; 1 Thess. iv. 17. By faith (we mean by the term, an abiding and implicit confidence in, and reliance upon the Saviour) will the souls of departed saints be invested with bodies of glory and power by the Holy Spirit in their completed regeneration at the day of the Lord's coming; (see foot-note on Acts ii. 47 ;) and by the same means will their union to him, as their Head, be for ever maintained. Thus considered, faith, or that principle (affectio animce) which has been described, (call it confidence, reliance upon, or trust in Christ, for all the soul hopes for or desires, as the reader pleases,) is a principle or law, or an established medium for the transmission or action of Divine power in the work and world of redemption, as really so as what we call gravitation is an estab- lished law, or rule of action in the universe of material nature; and one lesson these miracles of healing were designed to incul- cate is, that as the bodily infirmities and sicknesses of men were cured through their faith in Jesus, so by the same means their bodies of sin and death will be transformed into bodies of life and immortal glory at the Lord's coming. It is not an objection to this view of the uses and eifects of faith that its first operation is upon the soul, in which the work of regeneration begins. In its source, faith is a grace, or a gift of God — a medium of connection between the soul and God, through Christ, and a means of spiritual benefit in this life, even although no other should be received. These, how- ever, are its elementary uses or benefits. Its "full power, as a law, will be developed only in the world of redemption, when the glorified saint, having been made one with Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit working through this medium or means, will find that not one jot or tittle shall fail, of all the Lord has said concerning the power of faith. Matt. xvii. 20; xxi. 21 ; Mark xi. 22, 23. Erasmus regarded this miracle as teaching, 5y a figure, from whence, and by what faith, those diseased with the leprosy of soul should seek a remedy.* But the typical import, as we conceive, respects the body, and that perfect cure or relief from mortality and sin which it shall receive from the Lord, through faith at his coming. It yields the lesson Erasmus derived from it, but its typical import is prophetical of other and greater things. * Typo quodam docturus eos, qui lepra, laborarent animorum, unde et qua fide deberent remedium petere." Parapbrasis in loco. 11 82 NOTES ON SCRIPTURE. Matt. viii. 5 — 13. "And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, and saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus said unto him, I Avill come and heal him. The centurion answered and said. Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof; but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, andhegoeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Yerily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto you. That many shall come from the east and west and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven : but the children of the kincjdom shall be cast into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way ; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the self-same hour." See Luke vii. 1—10. The miracle we have just considered was performed on a Jewish leper, in answer to his own prayer of faith. That which the Evangelist has recorded in these verses, was wrought through the faith of a Gentile, not upon himself but upon another person. The reason for introducing the account of it in this place, probably was to show a diversity of the operation of faith, and to furnish another illustration of its power. It was a favour shown to the centurion, though a stranger to Israel, in answer to his faith. This is expressly taught. "As thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee," verse 13. We are not told that the servant exercised faith, or was even conscious of what his Master was doing in his behalf. In this particular, it is like that wrought upon the daughter of the Syrophenician woman. Matt. xv. 22—28; Mark vii. 24—30. These ex- amples teach, that in the economy of the kingdom, the faith of one person may be made the means of conveying blessings to another, who may not be capable of exercising the faith ne- cessary to receive them. The raising of Jairus's daughter, Matt. ix. 18; Mark v. 35, 36; Luke viii. 41, 50, is an eminent example of this power or operation of faith, and of the diffusiveness of its benefits. James v. 15. This principle is fully understood and recognized by the Church, in respect to sj^in'tual blessings. But the typical import of these bodily cures, as intimated at the end of the last note, suggests another lesson. In the day of the Lord's coming to receive his living elect, 1 Thess. iv. 17, who can say what numbers will not receive Christ's BEARiNa our infirmities. 83 eternal blessings tlirough the faith of others ? Pious parents, surrounded by groups of children, see Mark v. 42, whom they have dedicated to God by baptism, and for whom they daily and hourly offer the prayer of faith — will these be separated ? the parents taken and their little ones left? Rather will not the prayer of faith, like that of the centurion, the Syro- phenician woman, and Jairus, be heard and answered? Heb. xi. 7. The faith of the centurion gave our Lord occasion to refer in general terms to coming events. His public allusions to the rejection of the Jews and the calling of the Gentiles, were comparatively few and indistinct, especially towards the begin- ning of his ministry. As he was about to close it, some of his parables very significantly set them forth. See Matt. xxii. 1—10; xxi. 33—44. Matt. viii. 17. "That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." This is a quotation from Isa. liii, 4. The word translated infirmities is rendered {6.fj.o.()rcaz) sins by the LXX. and it appears to have been taken in that sense in 1 Pet. ii. 24. In the authorized English version of the Old Testament it is rendered griefs. Grotius was of the opinion that the word admits both senses. The Evangelist quotes the prophecy in connection with the miracles of healing which the Saviour performed upon the sick, and persons possessed with devils, which he says fulfilled it. If we regard these miracles as typical of the completed regeneration of man in his body as well as spiritual nature (see note on verses 2, 3,) we shall have no difficulty in reconciling either the Septuagint with the Gospel, or the Evangelist with the apostle. The cause or the origin of the infirmities, griefs, and sicknesses, of which the prophet speaks, is sin. Without bearing the latter, the Saviour could not, consistently with the Divine plan, bear the former. Hence he bore both. In the full and perfect sense he bore them on the cross, as the apostle Peter expressly alleges, and by bearing them, he wrought out the work of redemption of man from sin and all its consequences, moral and physical. But these miracles of healing were not that perfect work. They were examples, in a comparatively small way, of that perfect, thorough work which the Lord will perform upon all his redeemed ones when he will come to receive them to him- self, and inaugurate his kingdom on earth.* * The remark of Grotius, though not quite correct, is worthy of being quoted : Sicut veterum res gestse rerum, Christi tiguram habuerunt, ita et ipsius Christi actiones alias aliis denotandis inservierunt. Nam beneficium 84 . NOTES ON SCRIPTURE. It is worthy of observation that St. Matthew makes more quotations from the Ohl Testament Scriptures than either of the other Evangelists — a proof, as it is supposed, that he wrote his Gospel especially for the Jews. The number of quotations which he makes is thirty-five. Matt. viii. 20. "And Jesus saith to him, the foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests, [rather shelters, Trench^ 148,] but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head." The denomination, or title, "Son of Man," which our Lord here assumes and applies to himself, is taken from Psalm viii. 4. That this Psalm has respect to the Lord Jesus Christ is proved by Heb. ii. 8, 9, where it is quoted, and so applied. The expression occurs very frequently in the Gospels, and frequently in connection with words which denote also his Divine nature. See Matt. xxvi. 45 and chap. xxiv. In that divine sense he was understood by the high priest when questioned as to his Messiahship. Matt. xxvi. 64, 65. In his answer he had allusion, it is probable, to Dan. vii. 13, which may be regarded as a visionary representation of the future fulfilment of the eighth Psalm. The frequent use of this description or desig- nation of our blessed Lord, is designed to inculcate, among other things, the truth that he was really and truly a man. This was essential to his priestly, as well as kingly ofiice. Heb. iv. 14, 15. He says of himself, that the Father hath given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man, John v. 27; as if his manhood were an indispensable qualification for the ofiice of a judge over men ; and Paul, in his address to the Athenians, Acts xvii. 31, refers pointedly to the manhood of Christ when he says, "God will judge, or rule, the world in righteousness by that man, (that is, by the Adam, ben Adam,) whom he hath ordained." See 1 Cor. xv. 45—47. "What our Lord here says of himself, shows the extreme poverty of his condition as a man; being less provided for than the irrational animals. The declaration was well calculated to discourage the Scribe, if he cherished hopes, as perhaps he corporibusredditffi sanitatis quia figuram remissionis peccatorum et sanatarum mentium tulerit, dubitari noii potest. Bis ergo iinpletum est vaticiiuuni,' &c. We do not adopt tlie notion, that this prophecy was twice fulfilled, as Grotius here supposes, nor that the cures performed on the diseased bodies of the sick, were figurative of a work wrought, or to be wrought on the souls of men merely, as both Erasmus and Grotius appear to have regarded them. The figure or tlie type has respect to the completed work of man's redemption, viz. to what St. Paul calls the adoption, to irit, the redemption of the body. Rom. viii. 23; Luke xxi. 28. Compare Luke xxi. 28 with Rom. viii. ](» and 23 in the original: sTs/iatT* Txt Kiif:i^a{=u.viiuifuiiK(u\ — u.7rcKu'ri>CDa-ts C/auv^zthv CiTrcKvTfcta'iv tilt ffcey.A'ro^ C/uctv, CHRIST'S TITLE, SON OP MAN. 85 did, of wealth or worldly greatness, from becoming a follower of the Lord. It does not appear from the narrative that he actually joined the company of the disciples. Matt. viii. 23—27. See Mark iv. 39; Luke viii. 22—25. The miracle recorded in these verses belongs to the fifth class mentioned in the note to Matt. iv. 23, 24. It was not performed in the presence of the multitudes, but only before the disciples who were then with him. It was not therefore intended as a public proof of his Messiahship, or of the presence of the kingdom which he preached, but for some end or purpose, in Avhich at that time his disciples only were concerned. The same observations may be applied to the miracles recorded in Luke V. 4—9 ; Matt. xiv. 25—33 ; xvii. 27 ; Mark vi. 47—51 ; John vi. 17 — 21 ; xxi. 6. This distinction is important. Indeed, all the miracles of this class belong to our Lord's Adamic, rather than to his Messianic character and relations. Notice the connection. In the 20th verse the Evangelist records for the first time our Lord's assumption of the title or character, "Son of Man." He then proceeds almost imme- diately to the relation of this miracle, leaving us to infer that it was performed by him in that character. The title is taken from Psalm viii., and was assumed, no doubt, with reference to the exalted condition and attributes there ascribed to him. This conclusion is justified by the application which Paul makes of this Psalm in Heb. ii. 5 — 7. If we would get a proper apprehension of the majesty of the character thus denoted, we must ponder such passages as Dan. vii. 18 ; Rev. i. 13 ; xiv. 14; 1 Cor. xv. 45; Matt. xxvi. 64; xii. 8; ix. 6; John iii. 13. Yet in assuming the title, the Lord declared his extreme des- titution at that time of worldly possessions. 2 Cor. viii. 9. The miracle removes the apparent discrepancy between what he said of himself and the universal absolute dominion over creatures and the works of God, which the Psalmist ascribes to him in that character. It was a partial unfolding of the profound mystery of his person; and the recording of the miracle in this place, is a sort of commentary upon his words, and we may add (digressively) upon what he afterwards said to Pilate, John xviii. 36, "My kingdom is not of this world." See notes on John xviii. 36. The connection thus developed, is logical, although the con- necting thought is latent, and must be supplied from the Psalm from which the title itself is taken. But why, it may be inquired, were only the disciples permitted to witness miracles of this kind, while the nation at large had no knowledge of them, or at least had no ocular evidence of their performance ? 86 NOTES ON SCRIPTURE. The reader -will Le instructed by pursuing this inquiry for himself. The following suggestions may aid him in the investigation, if they do not resolve the inquiry. ",Son of Man," (Ben Adam) as a title of the Lord Jesus, denotes his Headship over the world of redemption, and his federal relations to the innu- merable hosts of his redeemed people. As Son of Man, he has a kingdom in which he Avill hereafter come, of which his transfiguration was a. type or figure, Matt. xvi. 28 to xvii. 9 ; Mark ix. 1—10; Luke ix. 26—36; Matt. xxvi. 64. It is more comprehensive than his title of Messiah, which has respect especially to the throne of David, and his reign over the house of Jacob, Luke i. 32, 33. Both titles, indeed, concurred in his person, and the glory of both will be simultaneously manifested in the same great consummation; yet this specific appellation, if we may say so, is diiferent, and the evidence of his claim to each was not only distinct and different, but exhibited to difi'erent witnesses. The nation was concerned to receive him as the Messiah — the promised son of David ; and to the nation he exhibited such notes or marks of his Messiahship, as the prophets foretold of him in that character. See Matt. xi. 4 — 6. His disciples, i. e. his apostles, were to be his heralds in a new dispensation, the consummation of which was to be the resti- tution of all things at his coming, as the second Adam, in his kingdom. It was to qualify them for this service, which Avas their real vocation, that they were taught by miracles, by parables, and in plain language, many things which the multi- tudes were not permitted to know, see Matt. xiii. 11 ; the meaning of which was mysterious at the time, but afterwards unfolded to them by the Holy Spirit. Such instruction as he thus privately gave them was emi- nently adapted to qualify them for their office, and inspire them with resolution to endure the sufferings to Avhich it would subject them. Matt. xvi. 24 — 28 ; see Heb. xii. 2. In our Lord's last discourse with his apostles before he suffered, he assured them, with manifest allusion to these miracles of his (Adamic) power over physical nature, as well as to those he publicly performed, that all who believed in him should do greater works than any he had done before them, John xiv. 12. And why should he give them such a promise, except for their conviction and encouragement? To be gifted with such powers to be employed in his service, is in itself an inconceivably great and glorious reward. See Luke xix. 17, 19. For wonderful as these miracles may seem to us, they were but faint and transient exercises of the power which, as Son of Man, he really possessed; and although quite sufficient MYSTERIES OF CHRIST'S NATURE. 87 as proofs of the character he clamied, they were far below the works which his redeemed people will be enabled to perform in his service, through faith in him, in the world of redemption. In the plainest language he declared that nothing should be impossible unto them, Matt. xvii. 20 ; xxi. 20, 21 ; Luke xvii. 6. All such promises, however, had respect to the futurity of their being — to their glorified, and not to their fallen and imperfect state; for they enjoyed none of them during their earthly career. 1 Cor. xiii. 2. These considerations may suflSce to show, in general, the use and intent of this miracle, and the character or relation in which our Lord performed it. We add a few observations on some of the particulars. Matt. viii. 23. "And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him." Who these disciples w^ere we are not informed. Probably they were few in number, and those, or ainong those, who were afterwards commissioned as apostles. Matt. viii. 24. "And behold there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves." The word [(uecajjiOQ) translated tempest, is frequently, if not usually employed to signify an earthquake. Matt. xxiv. 7, xxvii. 54, xxviii. 2; Mark xiii. 8; Luke xxi. 11; Acts xvi. 26; Rev. vi. 12, viii. 5, xi. 13, 19, xvi. 18. The word was chosen, per- haps, to indicate the suddenness of the peril. The sea is about eighteen miles in length and five or six in breadth. It is sub- ject to Avhirlwinds and sudden gusts from the hollows of the mountains, of short duration but great violence. On this occa- sion, the gust was so violent that the vessel or boat [xaluTizeadac) was hidden under the waves, and, as we may infer, would have been submerged, had not Jesus been on board. See John ix. 3. "But he was asleep," (sleeping.) We take these words in their literal import, as we would if they had been said of one of his disciples, xxvi. 43. In his fleshly nature, therefore, he was unconscious of the tempest. How could this be, seeing his human nature was united to the Divine? We cannot tell. There was, however, an impenetra- ble mystery about his human person, distinct from the union of it with the Divine nature. This appears by what he said of himself to Nicodemus, John iii. 13, "No one hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven;" by which we are to understand (1) that he had ascended to heaven, and (2) that afterwards he had locally descended, and was at that time come down from heaven, and yet (3) that he was at that moment also in heaven, and all as the Son of Man. The distinction of natures does not 00 NOTES ON SCRIPTURE. help us here. As man, he ate and drank, Matt. xi. 19, and slept, as truly as the first man did. Gen. ii. 16, 21. He was at the same time on earth and in heaven, into "which he had ascended, see Prov. xxx. 4; John vi. 62, and from which he had come down, and yet he was still there. He was the man of whom Adam in his unfallen state was only a type. Rom. v. 1-4. Matt. viii. 25. " And his disciples came to him and awoke him, saying, Lord save us: we perish," (we are lost.) They aroused him (y^yeipau) out of sleep to consciousness, hoping that his extraordinary powers might, in some way, avail to their deliverance, though their ship or boat should he lost. Matt. viii. 26. "And he saith to them, Why are ye fearful, 0 ye of little faith!" The narrative allows us to suppose that the Saviour uttered these words while yet in his recumbent posture, and while the danger appeared as imminent as ever. "Why fear ye these winds and these waves ?_^ know ye not, have I not told you, that 1 am the Son of Man, to whom the Father hath given absolute dominion over all the works of his hands, 0 ye of little faith?" Our Lord in his human nature was susceptible of sorrow, trouble, weariness, and other sinless human infirmities, Matt. xxvi. 37, 38, John iv. 6, xi. 83, 35, xiii. 21, but not of fear. Even before Pilate, when accused by infuriated priests, and when bearing his cross to Calvary, he felt no fear. As the Son of Man, all creatures and all the powers of nature were subject to him as his servants, while he was subject only to God the Father, 1 Cor. xv. 24 — 27, with whom, in his divine nature by sonship, he was one. John x. 30. Sorrow, suffering, pain, death, he assumed as inseparably incident to his redemptive work, but not fear. His confidence or faith, as man, in God was perfect. He was always heard, John xi. 42; and his hold (if we may so express it) upon Omnipotence, placed him, as a man, above all created natures and powers. See Matt. xxvi. 63. If the disciples had exercised the same confidence or faith in him, they would have shared in his exemption from fear, as well as all causes of fear. John xiv. 1. But they did not, and hence the rebuke. We infer that the redeemed, being made perfect by faith, will, like their adorable H^pd, know no fear, Ps. xlvi. 2, 3; llom. viii. 38, 39; and the only reason why such an exemption is not attainable in this life, is the imperfection of faith. See 1 John iv. 17, 18; Heb. ii. 15. " Then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm." The power he put forth resided, as we suppose, in his human will, though it was derived from his Divine nature, to which it was mysteriously united. For there is no power or authority CHRIST'S POWER OVER NATURE. 89 but of God. Rom. xiii. 1. So will it be with the elect people of Christ in their glorified state. The wonderful powers with which they will be invested, will truly reside in their wills, so far as powers can be supposed to belong to creatures ; yet they will be derived through their union to Christ from the infinite fulness of God in Christ. John xvi. 23; xiv. 12; Matt. xvii. 20; xxi. 21. The words of rebuke the Saviour addressed to the winds and the sea were interpretative of the act he performed, or intended merely as external evidence to the disciples of the power he exerted. In this light we are to regard his words to the leper. Matt. viii. 3, and whatever other external acts accompanied any of his miracles. See Matt. ix. 6. Matt. viii. 27. "But the men marvelled, saying, what man- ner of man is this, that even the winds and the seas obey him!" This exclamation may remind the reader of the words of David in 1 Chron. xvii. 17; 2 Sam. vii. 19. See Dr. Kennicott's and Bishop Horsley's remarks on these verses. The Lord Jesus, in his human nature, was a style of manhood of which they had no conception, although the Psalmist had in general terms described it. Ps. viii. Adam was invested with much larger powers than any of his descendants ever possessed, but the world was not then what it became afterwards, when by transgression he lost those powers. It would be mere specula- tion to inquire whether Adam could, in his state of innocency, control at his will the physical energies of material nature ; but from the dominion given him it is reasonable to infer that he had all the powers necessary to his condition as Lord of the world. Gen. i. 26. However this may be, such powers as the disciples had just witnessed, exerted by a man at his will, were essentially a new thing, at which they might well marvel, even if they had fully understood the import of the title "Son of Man." The word (uTiaxouooacv) obey, we need not say, is properly predicable only of intelligent beings, but in the sense intended by the disciples it was neither poetical nor figurative. For the Lord had addressed the winds and the waves as conscious of his presence and will. The conception was new to them, and this Avord was suited (if not the only one they could employ) to express it. Matt. viii. 28 — 32. We regard the miracle related in these verses as belonging to the same class as the last. It was per- formed in the absence of the multitudes. The keepers of the swine, the Evangelist is careful to say, were [fjiaxpav) a good way off, verse 30, and the demoniacs were so fierce that no man could pass that way, verse 26. Jesus and his disciples, who just 12 90 NOTES ON SCRIPTURE. before had -witnessetl the stilling of the tempest, only were pre- sent. Yet miracles of this kind were often publicly performed by our Lord, and he imparted to his disciples afterwards the power publicly to perform them. Matt. x. 8 ; Mark vi. 7 ; Luke ix. 1. Still it was an exercise of the Lord's power as Son of Man. The miracles, which appropriately belonged to his office as Messiah, are those enumerated in his answer to the inquiry of John : " Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?" Matt. xi. 3. This form of inquiry plainly referred to the expected Messiah. The answer virtually referred John to what Moses and the prophets had written concerning the Messiah. As if he had said : Go tell John those things which ye do hear and see. The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. By these things he may know whether 1 am he that should come (6 kp-^oixe\yOz) or whether this people should look for an- other. If such be the import of the answer we may infer that the miracles enumerated were those which properly be- longed to the office of Messiah, as foretold and described by the prophets. It may seem to the reader remarkable, that our Lord should answer John in this indirect w'ay, and not by a simple affirma- tive. But a careful perusal of the Gospels will show that he did not publicly assume the title of Christ during his public ministry. Matt. xvi. 20; John x. 24, although he did very fre- quently the title "Son of Man."* The reason will be explained hereafter. But there is another argument or reason for assign- ing miracles of this kind to our Lord's Adamic office or charac- ter, which may be thus stated: As Son of Man, he was the Man of whom the first Adam was but a type, Rom. v. 14 ; 1 Cor. xv. 45 — 47, and in this charac- ter or relation he was the Lord of this world. The conditional dominion given to the typical Adam w'as made sure and per- petual to him, and in this sense we are to undei-stand the Psalm (viii.) already so often referred to. The poAver of Satan, who is often called the god or the prince of this world, John xii. 31, xiv. 30; Luke xxii. 53; Eph. ii. 2, vi. 12; see Matt, xii. 29, Luke x. 18, is therefore a usurpation of his rights as Son of Man ; and though as ancient as the first Adam, it exists only by his sufferance as the rightful Lord and Ruler. Bearing this in mind, we perceive that our Lord's incarnation, * Tliis title occurs 32 times in Matthew, 14 times in Mark, 20 times in Luke, 11 times in John, and only 4 times in the other parts of the New Testa- ment, viz. Acts vii. 56, Heb. ii. 0, and Rev. i. 13, xiv. 14. See Schmidt's Gr. Concordance. Christ's power over evil spirits. 91 and assumption of this title, was the assumption of his rightful power as the Adam of promise or covenant, over all the power of the usurping enemy, Luke x. 19, to be exercised to a greater or less extent at that time, according to the Divine purposes. John xii. 31 — 33. Upon this fundamental idea the Lord an- swered the calumny of the Pharisees, when they ascribed his power over devils to the prince of the devils. Matt. xii. 24 — 29 ; Luke xi. 15 — 22. By the strong man armed, he denoted the usurping power of Satan over this world, permitted in conse- quence of the fall of Adam. By the stronger man, whose energies needed not to be enforced by arms, he denoted him- self as the rightful Lord and Proprietor of the world, by Divine right in his character of Son of Man. Luke xi. 21, 22. This miracle, then, taken in connection with the one last mentioned, exemplifies the Saviour's power and authority, as Son of Man, in two distinct yet equally vast departments of his government, viz. the physical or material world, and the world of spirits. The next miracle will furnish an example of his governmental power as Son of Man over the human race, Matt, ix. 2 — 6, thus making up the complement of evidence of his universal and absolute government over the world itself. The grouping or combining these miracles in such order* is an admirable illustration of the method of the Evangelist, and con- futes the notion of some, that the parts of this Gospel have been disarranged. We add an observation on Matt. viii. 29 : " And behold they cried out, saying; what have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? Art thou come to torment us before the time?" (xacpou, the appointed time.) Mark and Luke add "Most High," and they represent the demons as adjuring Jesus not to torment them. It is evident they knew his person and his name, and their absolute subjec- tion to his power. Yet it cannot be inferred from their words, if interpreted according to the idiom of the language, that they understood his personality in the Godhead.- Adam was a son of God, and Luke so calls him, Luke iii. 38, comp. with verse 23. Dominion, glory, and bliss had been given him. In the pos- session of these he resembled God, and in this sense, as well as that of creation, he might be called a son of God. From the expression, " Art thou come to torment us before the time?" we infer that they took him to be that mysterious man, or seed promised at the fall, by whose power they had understood from * It is important to notice that the Evangelist introduces this miracle in this place by anticipation — departing from the order of time; and for no other reason that we can perceive, than argumentative effect, as above suggested. But this was a sufficient motive. See Mark v. 1 — 13; Luke viii. 26 — 34. 92 NOTES ON SCRIPTURE. the beginning, the dominion of Satan, their leader and prince, ■was at some time to be crushed. It was before the time ap- pointed for this purpose, as the event has shown : for the world is still subject, in some measure at least, to Satan's power. Rom. xvi. 20; 1 Pet. v. 8. But how they knew, or whether they knew the precise time or season of the event they so earnestly deprecated, is a question about which we need not inquire. See Mark xiii. 32. They can no more penetrate the secrets of the Divine mind, than the most ignorant of God's creatures. Yet they may be permitted to know what men may not, and cannot know in this life; and God may withhold from Satan and his hosts the knowledge of things which he makes known to holy angels, or even to men. The word "deep" {dj3u(T as excerpts or selections from large materials. See note on John xx. 19. The Evangelist's motive for alluding to this tour is suggested by the next verse. Matt. ix. 36. "But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd." The Lord was attended on this tour by his disciples. It dis- closed to them the condition of the people, although they were not sensible of their extreme destitution. He called their attention to it, as a subject in which they ought to feel a deep concern, and employ the means best suited to remove it. Matt. ix. 37, 38. "Then saith he unto his disciples, the harvest," as you see, "truly is plenteous, but the labourers few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will (would) send labourers into his harvest." A congeries of sublime ideas, if interpreted, as the verse should be, according to the parable of the tares of the field, Matt. xiii. 24, 38, 39, 41. The harvest-field is the world; the harvest the countless myriads of the human race; the time of the harvest is the end of the world, and the Lord of the harvest is the Son of Man. The idea contained in the word {def)ea/jto^) harvest, includes the whole work of preparation for it — all the means which enter into the Divine plan for producing the grand THE HARVEST FIELD. 99 result — the sowing of the seed, the culture of the plants, and finally the gathering of the products. The Saviour, on a later occasion, John xii. 24, represented even his own body under the emblem of a corn of w heat, which must fall into the ground and die, in order that it might be quickened into fructifying life. Portions of this vast field were to be occupied in succession by successive labourers. The first portion in order, was that upon which the Saviour himself had entered. It was a little angle in the vast demesnes of the Lord of the harvest. The multi- tudes, among whom he moved, which excited his compassion, were comparatively but a handful. On an earlier occasion, he applied a similar remark to the Samaritans, John iv. 35, show- ing, that his views embraced other interests than those of Israel. See- John x. 16. We understand these words, then, in the- large sense in which the Saviour interpreted the parable of the tares of the field. Matt. xiii. 37 — 43. They embrace all nations, and all times, till the Son of Man, the Lord of the harvest, shall come. But what we desire particularly to notice, is the majesty of the character of the Lord of the harvest. He is the Lord of the field, and the field is the world. He is the absolute proprietor of whatever may be gathered from it. He calls it His harvest. He superintends the whole work, and sends forth whom he will to perform it. The word [ixj^ahj) translated send forth, implies a compelling force. The same word is translated, in Mark i. 12, driveth. The connection shows that force from the hand of the Lord of the harvest is intended. This interpretation suggests that the Saviour had respect especially to the day of Pentecost, when the apostles entered upon their labours under the inspiration and impulse of the Holy Spirit, and preached the word as they were moved by him. It may be added, that the word {epjaTYjZ) labourer, is used by the apostle Paul to denote a prophetic or inspired minister. This interpretation agrees with the fact: For the Lord Jesus, as Lord of the harvest, sent the Holy Spirit upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost, and thus qualified them as labourers for him, John xvi. 7 ; Acts ii. 33, and constrained them to enter zealously on their work, 1 Cor. ix. 16. In a subordinate sense, however, the mission of the Twelve apostles to the cities of Israel, recorded in the tenth chapter, and the mission of the Seventy disciples soon after, Luke x., may be regarded as the sending forth of labourers into the harvest. It was a field of labour, though not of success. Matt. x. 1. " And when he had called unto him his twelve 100 NOTES ON SCRIPTURE. disciples he gave them power over unclean spirits to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease." Mark hi. 13, 14, and Luke vi. 12, 13, relate the call and ordination of the twelve apostles, which Matthew omits. These acts belonged to the Lord's function or office of preacher of the kingdom ; the design of them being to spread more widely the proclamation of the kingdom, which John the Baptist first began to preach. The conferring of such powers upon the apostles, preparatory to their mission, for the confirmation of it, was itself a miracle of the highest order, which for reasons already suggested, see notes on Matt. viii. 28 — 32; ix. 2, we assign to his Adamic character or relations. The power con- ferred was limited to two kinds of miracles, see note Matt. iv. 23, 24, healing diseases and casting out unclean spirits or devils;* and even in respect to these, it is not necessary to sup- pose he gave them power equal to his own. See Matt. viii. 29, note, and xvii. 16. The gift appears to have been annexed to their office as preachers of the kingdom, and in the case of Judas, if not of the others, to have been bestowed irrespectively of personal holiness. They were not required to impose the condition of faith upon those who sought relief at their hands, nor are we told that they did so. Mark vi. 13 ; Luke ix. 6. How they exercised their power we are not particularly informed. Mark, vi. 13, says they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them. Luke says, ix. 6, they went through the towns preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. It is probable they cast out devils in the name of Jesus. Luke x. 17; see Mark ix. 39; Matt. vii. 22. This was necessary in order to connect him with the kingdom which they preached; and it is probable our Lord refers in his question to the Pharisees, to the invocation of his name by his disciples over the demoniacs they relieved. Matt. xii. 27; see Acts xix. 13 — 15. The power of his name produced these wonderful efiects, while they were unconscious of any power transmitted to, or proceeding from them. It is worthy of observation that not a miracle they performed during our Lord's personal ministry is circumstantially recorded, * By the 8th verse it would seem, power was also given them to raise the dead. But these words (vtupwc lytifiiTt) raise the dead are not contained in some ancient MSS., and are thought by some commentators to be an addition to the genuine text (see Mill and Beza.) Only three miracles of restoring the dead to life were wrought by the Saviour himself, viz. the raising of tlie widow's son, Luke vii. 11 — 10, of Jairus' daughter, Matt, ix ; Mark v.; Luke viii., and of Lazarus, John xi. ; at least, none others are recorded. COMMISSION OF THE APOSTLES AND CARE OVER THEM. 101 nor a sermon or an address which they made to the people. We are not told that they were followed by multitudes, nor that they were sought for by individuals for healing, except in one case in which they were unable to effect a cure, Matt. xvii. 16, and this was after their return from their mission — an impor- tant fact, which will hereafter be particularly noticed. It may be added, the discourse contained in this chapter, x., belongs to the category of private instruction, see note on Matt. iv. 17. Matt. x. 5 — 7. " Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into a city of the Samaritans enter ye not. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel; and as ye go preach, saying. The kingdom of heaven is at hand." Such was their commission. It was restricted to the procla- mation of the kingdom (come nigh) to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The restriction was removed after our Lord's resurrection. Matt, xxviii. 19. Thenceforward they were to teach all nations. The difference is so remarkable that some have regarded the last as a new and distinct commission, but it seems proper to regard it rather as the same commission, with enlarged powers, and a wider scope. We observe, they were not commissioned to preach repentance, as John the Baptist did. Matt. iii. 2. They were sent out to proclaim a single fact, and prove the proclamation by miracles. We have no reason to suppose that even Judas, the traitor, did not share equally with the others in the commission, the due execution of which did not require the gift of inspiration. Yet, according to Mark, vi. 12, they did preach that men should repent, which they would naturally and might properly do, in imitation of John the Baptist and the Saviour. The point of the observation is, that they were not authorized expounders of the laiv, nor were they at that time capable of exercising that function, which proves their inferiority to John the Baptist, in spiritual gifts. See Matt, xxiii. 2, 3, and note on iii. 1, 2. Matt. x. 9, 10. "Provide neither gold nor silver, nor brass in your purses, nor scrip for your journey; neither two coats, neither shoes nor yet staves." The Saviour, during his personal ministry, exercised a spe- cial care over the apostles. It was not until his public ministry was ended, and he was about to surrender himself to his ene- mies, that he revoked the order contained in these verses. Luke xxii. 35, 36. In this sense, as well as in that of spiritual guardianship, we understand John xvii. 12, " While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name." Even at the moment of their greatest peril, he exercised his power signally for their protection. "If ye seek me, let these go their way." These were words of power, spoken "that the saying might be 102 NOTES ON SCRIPTURE. fulfilled; of tliem thou gavcst me have I lost none." John xviii. 8, 0. We observe, again, that the Saviour's providence ex- tended to the smallest and most necessary things. This appears, by the particulars, enumerated in these verses, and yet more clearly by his assurance, verse 30, "that the very hairs of their heads were all numbered." Accordingly, the Gospels contain no account of any injuries done to them. Their lives, their health were spared. We read of no sickness, or hurtful accident, or persecution happening to any of them. Peter was safe, notwithstanding his fears and want of faith, wdien sinking in the midst of the sea. Matt. xiv. 24, 30. The power, if not the hand of Jesus, the King of the kingdom the apostles were sent forth to preach, was ever pre- sent, to ward off the most threatening dangers. The shepherd must be smitten before the sheep could be harmed or scattered. Matt. xxvi. 31 ; Mark xiv. 27 ; Zech. xiii. 7. Matt. x. 12, 13. " And when ye come into an house, salute it, and if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it." Some ancient MSS. add to the 12tli verse a form of saluta- tion, (/s^ovrsc, elpYjVfj iu no oixco toutm,) "Saying: Peace be in this house." Beza. This formula accords well with the Jewish custom ; but the emphasis of the precept lies on the word your — Let your peace come upon it. The peace of the apostles, as we have just seen, verses 9 and 10, consisted in the covenanted care and providence of the Saviour. It was an assured and special protection against all enemies, and all harm. No Jew or Jewish household besides had any share in it. Hence, the Saviour added, " If it be not worthy, let your peace return to you," that is, let that house be like others which have no part in the protection I have especially promised to you, and to those who shall receive you. Matt. x. 14. "And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off tlie dust of your feet." In order to understand some of the directions contained in this chapter, we must bear in mind that our Lord's ministry to the Jews was a national visitation under the legal economy, and that his sending of the twelve apostles to the cities of Israel, or to the lost sheep of the House of Israel, verses 6, 23, accorded in its purposes with his own. Hence cities were held responsible as communities. The preaching of John the Bap- tist was addressed not simply to individuals, but to the nation as such. The baptism he administered was appointed for the nation, as the elect people, see note on Matt. iii. 11, as well as for the individuals composing it. So our Lord preached the kingdom to the nation; and John the Evangelist, xii. 37 — 41, NATIONAL JUDGMENTS. 103 recording the rejection of him, quoted the prophecy of Isaiah, liii. 1 ; vi. 1, 9, 10, as fulfilled by the national unbelief. There were some who believed, yet for the national sin of rejecting the kingdom, a national judgment was inflicted, in which all were involved, while those who did not consent to the nation's sin, received power to become the sons of God, John i. 12, and be manifested as such, when the kingdom shall be brought nigh again, and the Son of Man shall appear the second time. Matt. x. 15. " Verily, I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city." This verse confirms the view taken of the last. The Lord pronounces this doom against the cities who would not receive his messengers, nor hear their words as communities ; and he likens it to the judgments which were so inflicted upon those cities of the plain of Jordan. They suffered as social and political organizations, and so did the Jewish nation, in con- sequence of their rejection of Christ and the kingdom he preached. Under the present dispensation the gospel is preached to men as individuals. It was appointed to take out of all nations, and the cities and smaller communities com- posing them, an elect people, Acts xv. 14; Matt, xxviii. 19; and the apostles, after the ascension of Christ, were not authorized to enforce their preaching, in any of the places to which they were sent, by the denunciation of national judg- ments. The distinction is important, as it results from the essential difference between the economy of law established over Israel as a nation, and the economy of grace which is extended to all nations — between the gospel as preached to the Jews under the economy of law, and the gospel of grace preached to all nations. Matt. x. 18. "And ye shall be brought before governors and kings, for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles." The apostles received only one commission from the Saviour, but under it they received two missions. See note on verses 5 — 7. The first was restricted to the cities of Israel, and it fell within the period of our Lord's personal ministry, verse 6. The second was to all nations. Matt, xxviii. 19; to the utter- most part of the earth, Acts i. 8 ; to every creature, Mark xvi. 15. At the time of their first mission, they had no idea of a second, so different in point of extent from the first. They had no conception of the new dispensation about to be estab- lished, nor of the events which were to precede and introduce it. Nor was it our Lord's purpose to instruct them at that time, on these subjects. Previously to this time, he had not 104 NOTES ON SCRIPTURE. even spoken of his rejection by the nation, nor of his death and resurrection. Had any of these particulars been mentioned, or plainly alluded to, they would not have understood what he intended, Luke xix. 31—34 ; Matt. xvi. 21, 23 ; xvii. 9. But as the whole of the approaching dispensation was vividly present to his mind, as well as the events which were to introduce it, our Lord expressed himself in general terms, some of Avhich were exclusively applicable to their first, others to their second mission, and some to both, which they Avould afterwards be taught to apply, according to his meaning, by the Holy Spirit. The passage under consideration seems to have respect prima- rily, if not exclusively, to their second mission. The Gentiles and their governors and kings are expressly mentioned, among whom the apostles at first were forbidden to go. In the pre- ceding verse, 17th, councils and synagogues are mentioned, and that verse forewarns them of the treatment they should receive from the Jewish people. Yet it does not appear that even that prediction was fulfilled during our Lord's personal ministry, although it was, in the case of some of them, soon after his resurrection. Acts iv. 3 — 7. And when he commands them not to meditate how or what they shall speak, verses 19, 20, assuring them, at the same time, that it shall be given them what they shall speak ; so that it shall not be they who speak, but the Spirit of the Father, he plainly refers to the inspiration they should receive on the day of Pentecost, and consequently to the time of their second mission. The apostles, however, would very naturally apply all that he then said, to the service upon which they were about to enter, as they were ignorant of the extent to which their service would ultimately be required. But the instruction was sufficient for both, and the events which the Saviour foresaw would attend their service, would, under the teaching of the Holy Spirit, show them its application. It is worthy of being noticed that our Lord, on this occasion, first promised the apostles the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to guide and instruct them, though it was only by implication, verse 20. Afterwards, when about to leave them, he repeated the promise in the most explicit terms. John xvi. 7, 13, 14 ; XV. 26; xiv. 16, 26; Luke xxiv. 49. Matt. x. 23 : " But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye to another ; for verily I say unto you, ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man be come." This precept is very plain, but the reason by which it is enforced, has been the subject of much discussion. We may paraphrase the verse thus : " When you are persecuted, (as you will be) in one city, (stay not to endure it, but) flee from it to another, and if persecuted there also, flee to a third, and so on ; COMING OF THE SON OF MAN. 105 for proceeding thus from city to city, you will not have gone over all the cities of Israel until the Son of Man {i?^d'^j) may come and supersede your service." The difficulty is to deter- mine what Ave are to understand by the coming of the Son of Man, (Iwc OLU iXdjj b uloz zoo dvdpcorcoo.) If we understand these words of his coming to put an end to the dispensation for which he had commissioned them, and to establish his kingdom in outward glory over the Avhole earth; the meaning is that the apostles might never fully accomplish the service for which he had commissioned them, even if they should live to the end of time. Lightfoot understands the expression to mean "till the Son of Man rise from the dead." To this interpretation Whitby objects, for several reasons, but chiefly because in their first mission (from which they presently returned,) they met with no persecution, and because the phrase " the coming of the Son of Man," never signifies our Lord's coming at his resurrection, but only his coming to destroy the Jewish nation, or to the final judgment. Hence he adds that "seeing the apostles were none of them to live till the day of judgment, it seems necessary to understand this of his coming to avenge his quarrel on the Jewish nation." Dr. AVhitby's objections to liightfoot's interpretation seem to be unanswerable. The ob- jections to Dr. Whitby's interpretation are, that the sense he puts upon these words is not supported by the texts which he cites, viz. Matt. xxiv. 27, 30, 37, 44; xxv. 13; Mark xiii. 26; Luke xviii. 8 ; xxi. 27 ; all of which refer to our Lord's coming to the final judgment. His interpretation is equivalent to the sense just before expressed, that the apostles might never be able to accomplish fully, even in the method which he pre- scribed, the service on which he sent them, because the cities of Israel would be destroyed and their population be dispersed by the Romans, before they could go over them. Our Lord ap- pears to have referred in this expression, "till the Son of Man be come," to the time of the' death of John the Baptist, when his mission to that people as the Messiah was ended, and he was about to go forth to them in the character of Son of Man and Saviour of all who would come to him, whether the nation and the communities composing it would receive him as the Christ or not. According to the distinction stated by John i. 11, 12, He came to his own as the Christ and his own people received him not, but as many as afterwards received him as the Son of Man and Saviour of the world, to them gave he power to be- come the sons of God, &c. See the original Greek. This will be more fully explained hereafter. Matt. xi. 1. "And it came to pass that when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, (and had sent 14 106 NOTES ON SCRIPTURE. them forth Ly t^vo and tAvo, Mark vi. 7,) lie (also) departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities." Until this time, the apostles had followed the Lord Jesus as learners, witnessing the miracles he performed, but without possessing any miraculous powers themselves. Now they were to be more or less separated from him, at least for a time.* They were to preach or proclaim the presence of the king- dom. This was the great fact — the great event of the times — the greatest event which has occurred in this world since the fall of man. Their mission, then, was of the most important nature, even with the restriction before mentioned, that they were not commissioned to expound the law or call the nation to repentance, as John the Baptist did. Luke iii. 7 — 14. The powers they were invested with, and which they exercised in the name of Jesus, sufficiently authenticated their proclama- tion. Matt. xi. 2 — 15. "But John (the Baptist) having heard in prison of the (miraculous) works of Christ, sending two of his disciples, said to him, Art thou he that should come (6 k^j-^ofxe- foc) or should we look for another," &c.t John had been in prison, according to Dr. Lightfoot, about seven or eight months, see note on Luke iii. 20, 21, when he sent this question to Jesus, and various are the motives which commentators have ascribed to him in sending it. See Whitby's note, for some of them ; also Scott and Henry on this verse. With Dr. Whitby, we cannot believe that the Baptist could make this inquiry on his own behalf, or doubt whether Jesus were the Messiah or not; for he was sent to bear witness of him, and received from heaven a sign by which he should certainly know him. John i. 6 — 8, 33; iii. 28 — 30. Nor can we believe that John sent his disciples for their own satisfac- tion in the matter, but as suggested in the note just referred to, was moved to do so by the Holy Spirit, for a most important end. If we consider what transpired at our Lord's baptism. Matt. iii. 14; John i. 33, 34, the question seems a very remarkable one for John to put. It was sent publicly, and put to Jesus when he was surrounded by multitudes. The people knew by this act that Jesus was that mighty One of whom John had previously testified in general terms. * There are reasons for supposing that after the death of John the Baptist, they dill not separate from him for the purpose of preaching the kingdom, as will appear hereafter. f The first verse of this chapter should have been included in the last chap- ter. It is probable the true reading is "when John heard of the works of Jems," &c. See Mill. Naebe, Ilarwood. But as the word is used historically, the question is not important to our purpose. Christ's testimony to john's character and office, 107 It was an official and public act, the last and most explicit tes- timony of John to the Messiahship of the Lord Jesus. The chief intention of the transaction was, however, as we appre- hend, that the Lord might publicly testify in the most unquali- fied and strongest terms to the character and office of John, and formally tender him to the people for their acceptance, as the divinely appointed Elias of the economy of law under which they were placed. See note on Luke iii. 20, 21. His testimony was not only of the strongest kind, but most explicit. He declared that John was a prophet and more than a prophet — a prophet whose mission had been foretold ; having authority to preach a new dispensation. Virtually he declared that neither Enoch, nor Noah, nor Abraham, nor Moses, nor David, nor Elijah, was greater than John the Baptist. See notes on Matthew iii. 1, 2; and John x. 41. Having thus attested the character of John, he added, what we paraphrase thus : " If ye will receive" not it but him, " he shall be to you," now under this economy of law, the same as Elias; that is, the same that Elias shall hereafter be to you under the economy of grace. This offer was made as a test or trial, in a way suited to the popular apprehension, in order to show by their neglect or rejection of it, the insuffi<;iency of the highest motives, backed by all the evidence the nation had of John's authority, enhanced by the express testimony of the Lord Jesus, and the evidence of his miracles, to prevail with them to accept John in the spirit of his mission; for it should be remembered that the coming of Elias was universally and justly regarded by the nation as the sure harbinger of Israel's greatest national glory and happiness. The Lord knew full well what the result would be, yet it seemed to the Divine wisdom not the less proper that the test should be applied; for the Jews were then the subjects of law, and the law assumed that they were capable of performing its requirements. Exodus xix. 5, 6. Yet, had they been really holy, and, therefore, really capable of fulfilling the law, Elijah would have been sent to them at that time, as we may believe, and not John. But because salvation by law was not possible, and because a dispensation of grace could not be introduced except through the failure of the law, and the rejection and death of Christ, and consequently of his forerunner, Rom. viii. 3; Acts xiii. 39; Rom. iii. 20; Heb. vii. 18, 19, John was raised up and sent to them in the place of Elias, with the spirit and power of Elias, to perform the office of Elias under the law, in order that it might be possible for God, consistently with his own holiness, through the rejection and sufferings of Christ, to give them the grace to receive the true Elias when 108 NOTES ON SCRIPTURE. he should be sent to them ; and so become prepared to receive their Mesiah at his second coming. In dealing with Israel, God re//V.'/y assume or claim. Matt. xvi. 20; xxvi. 63; Luke xxii. 67; EXPLANATION OF JOHN'S QUESTION. 109 John X. 24. In tins character only, was there any occasion for the inquiry. Why, then, it may be inquired, did not John put the question to him, plainly as the people did, John x. 24, Art thou the Christ? The reason is suggested by the form of the answer our Lord returned to John, which consisted in an appeal to his works, "Go show John the things that ye do hear and see," &c. ; that is to say, let John collect from this evidence, whether I am he who Moses and the prophets did say should come. See John i. 45. And in the same way he answered the people, John x. 24, 25; v. 36, after the death of John. And if we reflect upon the exalted nature of the office of Messiah, we shall perceive a reason for the form of both the question and the answer. The attributes and the office of Messiah are of so high a nature, that the right to it could not be established or proved to human or finite judgment, by the mere claim or assertion of man; nor indeed by any merely human or natural testimony or proof. So far from it, the assertion of a claim to it upon such grounds confutes itself, and so in effect our Lord declared. John v. 43; Matt. xxiv. 5. Hence the Divine wisdom appointed as the necessary proof of our Lord's Messiahship a dispensation of miraculous evidence, from which the people were to determine whether he were the Christ or not. This explains our Lord's saying to his disci- ples after the close of his public ministry — "If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin," John xv. 24, and also his saying to the people: "If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not, but if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works," John x. 37, 38, thus appealing, if we may so say, from his own word to his works. These considerations explain also the form of John's question. He did not fall into the error of the Jews, John x. 24, nor of the High Priest, Luke xxii. 67, who had no ade- quate or proper conception of the mystery of the throne of David, or of the Messiah, but being filled with the Holy Ghost, and moved by him to send the question, he put it in the only form consistent with the Divine plan. Matt. xi. 10. "For this is he of whom it is written. Behold I send my messenger before thy face which shall prepare the way before thee." This quotation was made from Mai. iii. 1. If the prophecy of the same prophet, Mai. iv. 5, 6, concerning Elijah, was applicable to John the Baptist, and was fulfilled by his mission, we cannot account for our Lord's omission to quote it. His object was to set forth in the most impressive manner, the dignity and excellence of John's character and ministry, as 110 NOTES ON SCRIPTURE. is evident by the next (the 11th) verse. Elijah was the prophet whom the nation expected, as the forerunner of Mes- siah. Matt. xvii. 10; Mark ix. 11. It was the common doctrine of the Scribes. Our Lord, however, did not say, "For this is he of whom it is Avritten, Behold I Avill send Elijah the prophet," &c., although the quotation of this prophecy, fallin' v/jLttt not merely iiyyiKt has draivn nigh, but is actually come to you, and (ivToc Cfjiuii ta-'ri, Luke xvii. lil) is actually in the midst of you as a nation. The words are expressive of the actual (Traf.uru) presence of the kingdom, which the Lord's presence proved. SINS AGAINST THE SON OF MAN AND THE HOLY SPIRIT. 121 of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blas- phemy against the Spirit ; that shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man it shall be forgiven him. But whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him ; neither in this world nor in the world to come." These verses have been the subject of much discussion, and of anxious inquiry into their meaning. Perhaps we do not commonly consider them from the proper point of view. The following suggestions are submitted for consideration. A con- trast is stated between sins against the Holy Spirit, and sins against himself as Son of Man. As Son of Man he came into the world to lay down his life as a ransom for many. Matt. xx. 28; Mark x, 45; Luke ix. 56. Hence, although he was and is the Lord of the world, and of all men as Son of Man, and entitled to their allegiance and love, the sins of men against him in that character, i. e. as Son of Man, might be forgiven, because they were within the scope and purposes of his advent at that time. He knew from the beginning that he would be contumeliously rejected, and the sacrifice he was about to make of his body was ample to atone for all the sins they could pos- sibly commit against him in that character. Hence he prayed to the Father from his cross that he would forgive the last and most atrocious of their sins against him as the Son of Man. But the Holy Spirit who dwelt in him, and acted through him and by him, came not for such a purpose. The demonstrations of his presence and power, through the Lord Jesus, were designed to authenticate and prove beyond all reasonable doubt, his divine mission as Son of Man. They challenged obedience and submission to him as God's messenger, and the hearty reception and belief of all that he taught. To ascribe these demonstrations of the Holy Spirit's presence and power, there- fore, to the power and presence of Satan, was to do what they could to frustrate the Divine purposes, and prevent for ever the world's redemption. It was in effect calling the Holy Spirit, who dwelt in Jesus, an unclean spirit, Mark iii. 30, and there- fore a blasphemy against God. It was taking part with Satan in God's controversy with him ; it was complicity in Satan's sin, which, in its very nature, is unpardonable. In this consideration lies the force of the verse preceding these: "He that is not with me" — on my side in this contro- versy, " is against me, and he that gathereth not with me, scat- tereth abroad" with Satan, and shall have part in his irreversi- ble doom. Matt. xii. 33. "Either make the tree good, and his (its) 16 122 NOTES OX SCRIPTURE. fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his (its) fruit corrupt ; for the tree is known by its fruit." A proverbial expression. By the tree he means himself, and by the fruits of the tree, his miraculous works; w^hich were undeniably good and beneficent in their nature and effects. The sense, as we conceive, is expressed in the following para- phrase : InsteiKl of calumniating me inconsistently as you do, either confess that I am a good man, and that I perform these mira- cles of mercy by the power and according to the will of God, or if you persist in saying that I am a wicked man, and do these miracles by the power and according to the will of Satan, deny that the works I do are beneficent and good, and such as become the power and the goodness of God to perform. Nay, more: to be consistent, you should affirm that my works are evil, and such as it becomes Satan, the father of lies and the author of misery, to accomplish: for in God's kingdom of nature, the tree is known, and infallibly judged of, by the fruit it produces. Matt. xii. 38. " Then certain- of the Scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying: Master, w^e would see a sign from thee." A similar passage occurs in Matt. xvi. 1 — 4. We may take them together, as the proper exposition of both is the same. This question was put after our Lord had publicly performed many miracles, the reality of which could not be denied. But they were such miracles as he enumerated in his answer to John the Baptist. Matt. xi. 5. He had restored to life the son of the widow at Nain, healed many persons of their diseases and infirmities, and cast out many devils. These miracles did not satisfy the Scribes and Pharisees. They demanded a miracle of another nature — a sign from heaven. Luke xi. 16. Erasmus supposed that there was an allusion in this demand to our Lord's claim to a Divine nature, and the aid of the Holy Spirit. We know not how this may be, and it is not important to inquire. Our Lord's answer to the demand contains the instruction which deserves chiefly to be noticed. It may be paraphrased thus: "In the common affairs of this life you are contented with probable grounds of judgment. You judge of the approaching weather by the appearance of the sky, and regulate your conduct in your most important worldly concerns accordingly. In so doing you act wisely ; for this is the kind of evidence God in his providence gives in such matters. Just BO in respect to the times of the kingdom, which I preach unto you. God has given you in the Scriptures the signs, by which you may judge of its near approach, and that, too, with much THE PHARISEES' DEMAND FOR SIGNS. 123 greater certainty than you can of the events of his common providence. In my life, my doctrine, and my daily works, per- formed in the presence of you all, you have the divinely ap- pointed signs of the coming kingdom. Yet not content with these, you demand signs of another nature, and such signs as the Scriptures do not authorize you to expect; which, if given, would not he so sure grounds of belief as these signs which you already have.* Therefore God will not give you the signs you demand, nor other than such as you now have, except one, which will come too late to prevent your guilty rejection of me and the kingdom I preach, namely, the sign of Jonas the prophet, whose history typically sets forth my burial and my resurrection," This answer proceeds upon the assumption, that the Jewish people were the subjects of law, and bound by its requirements — that in dealing with them, God had given them sufficient evi- dence of his will, and the very evidence which he had told them beforehand, he would give them, and that he would hold them responsible and guilty if they rejected it. The Saviour exhibited to his disciples in private, it is true, evidence of his Divine character which he withheld from the nation at large. See note on Matt. viii. 23 — 27. But this evidence, so to speak, was outside of the Messianic prophecies, and therefore not the kind of evidence upon which the nation at large was to be tried. Had he been transfigured in the temple before the multitudes, or cast himself unharmed from its pinnacle ; or had he walked upon the waters in a tempest, or hushed the whirlwinds by his word in the presence of the Pharisees the the rulers and the people, no doubt the minds of his fiercest enemies and revilers would have been overpowered and awed into submission; but their hearts would have remained selfish and corrupt, and themselves as unfit subjects of the kingdom * A popular commentator remarks, on Matt. viii. 33 : " That the purpose of the Saviour's miracles was to confirm his Divine mission." Upon this we have nothing to say; but he goes on to remark, "that it might as well have been done by splitting rocks or removing mountains, or causing water to run up steep hills, as by any other display of Divine power." Upon this remark, we observe, that if the Scriptures had predicted that Messiah should perform such works as these, then they would have been the appropriate marks or signs of his character. But such manifestations of power would not have been in accord- ance with the Scriptures as we have them, and therefore if the Saviour had made them, they would not have proven that he was the Messiah whom Moses and the prophets did say should come. See note on Matt. xi. 3 — 4. The force of the evidence which our Lord's miracles furnished consisted in this, that while it fully and accurately corresponded with the prophecies of the Messiah, his works were such as no other man ever did, and therefore left no room for a reasonable doubt, that he was the M-essiah whose mission was foretold. John V. 39; XV. 24. 12-4 NOTES ON SCRIPTURE. as before. See notes on Luke xxiii. 35; Matt, xxvii. 39 — 43; Mark XV. 29—32. Matt. xii. 43 — 45. " "When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he -svalkcth through dry places seeking rest and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return to my house, whence I came out. And when he is come he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then he goeth and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there, and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this ivieked generation.'' A prophetical allegory, especially applicable to the Jews, which shadows forth their future character and moral condition, as the last clause shows. During our Lord's personal ministry among that people a new order of things existed. The king- dom of heaven had come nigh. The Son of Man, the rightful Lord of the world, had come to take possession of his own, and expel the enemy and usurper, or, in the words of the Psalmist, to still the enemy and the avenger. Ps. viii. 2. During that period Satan was disarmed. He had fallen from the heaven of his power. Luke x. 18. His kingdom was disturbed by adverse influences. He was liable to be banished, with his hosts, by the word of Jesus, the true Melchisedec, to the abyss of dark- ness, and would have been at that time, had the Jews, as a nation, received him with the obedience of faith : but they received him not. John i. 11. Even the whole world felt the presence of its rightful king, through the restraint which his presence had put upon the powers of darkness. Wars in a great measure had ceased throughout the earth ; and according to some histories of those times, the oracles of heathenism were silent. We see nothing incredible in these accounts given us by early Christian writers, because Satan, the author of them, was, as it were, cast out of his house and respited from the abyss, only until the Lord should be received by his people, if they would receive him. This was the period represented in the allegory, of his walking through dry places in search of rest, but not finding it. At the close of our Lord's ministry this condition was changed. The kingdom was withdrawn, and the Son of Man ascended up where he was before. The hour (or season) of the power of darkness returned. Satan, the prince of darkness, resumed his possessions, and reinstated himself in his former sway, with intenser energies than ever before. He found his house prepared to receive him. The fulfihncnt of this allegori- cal prophecy may be read, in its beginning, in the history of the crucifixion, and, in its sequel, in the history of the Jewish war by Josephus. According to his description of the enormi- THE JEWS AT THE CLOSE OF OUR LORD'S MINISTRY. 125 ties of sin and cruelty practised by the leaders of the factions and their adherents, the nation, during the remaining short period of its existence, may be regarded as the impersonation of Satan — a demoniac of gigantic proportions and energies, saved from self-destruction only by the destroying sword of Rome.* The allegory thus interpreted, is in part parallel with the Saviour's explicit prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, as recorded in Matt, xxiv., Mark xiii., and Luke xxi., but with this difference that the prophecy foretells the outward facts which were to be developed in providence and recorded in history, whereas the stress of the allegory lies upon the Satanic influence working flnderneath the surface of things — in fact, in the very heart of the nation, which resulted in its destruction. It should be observed, however, that the mercy of God res- trained their madness, and postponed their calamity until the Gospel had been universally preached to the nation, under the administration of the Holy Spirit. See note on Acts iii. 19 — 21. Matt. xii. 46 — 50. "While he yet talked to the people, behold his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him. Then one said unto him. Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. But he answered and said unto him that told him. Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother." The force of this remark of the Saviour lies in the contrast tacitly drawn by him, between mankind as fallen and man as redeemed; between the Adam of Eden and himself as the second Adam, and their respective races. Augustine strikingly repre- sents the whole human race as, in a certain sense, only two men — the first and the second Adam, the race of each being sum- * Joseplius, Pref. 4, says, " It appears to me that the misfortunes of all men, from the beginning of the world, if they be compared to those of the Jews, are not so considerable as they were; while the authors of them were not foreigners neither,'" {kai Towrm ctirici ouSu; a\Kc