iij'r’feM tirtjpi k* ; Professor STALKER’S WORKS. In Crown Svo, Large Type Edition, 3 s. 6 d.; Cheaper Edition , is. 6d. THE LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST. By Professor James Stalker, D.D. “No work since ‘ Ecce Homo ’ has at all approached this in succinct, clear-cut, and incisive criticism on Christ as He appeared to those who believed on Him.”— Literary World. “ Even with all our modern works on this exhaustless theme, from Neander to Farrar and Geikie, there is none which occupies the ground of Dr Stalker’s, whether any one popular work so im represents Jesus to the mind.”— / * *''' j Uniform with the Mm S\2> By Professor Jam THE LIFE “ Surpassingly excellent. ... Dr Stalker gives a masterly miniature, and thousands will see more of Paul in it than in the life-sized portraits. . . . We have not seen a hand¬ book more completely to our mind.”—C. H. Spurgeon in Sword and Trowel. “ A gem of sacred biography.”— Christian Leader. “ We cannot speak too highly of the way in which our author has handled his material. ... Dr Stalker, as in his ‘ Life of Christ,’ becomes thoroughly original in his treatment, and we have a feeling that what we are reading is not only new, but true.”— Ecclesiastical Gazette. Edinburgh : T. & T. CLARK, 38 George Street. B. H. BLACKWELL Ltd. Booksellers 48-51 BBOAD STREET Oxford, England Bible Class primers. EDITED BY PRINCIPAL SALMOND, D.D., ABERDEEN. THE KINGDOM OF GOD. A PLAN OF STUDY IN THREE PARTS, I.--The Kingdom in Israel. IL—The Kingdom in the Synoptic Sayings of Jesus III,—The Kingdom in Apostolic Times. BY F. HERBERT STEAD, M.A., AUTHOR OF “ A HANDBOOK ON YOUNG PEOPLE’S GUILDS ” $art I.—'THE KINGDOM IN ISRAEL. (BMnbttrglt: T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET. LONDON : SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & CO. (Ltd.) £03 PREFACE. Co-operative study on a concerted plan seems to me to be one of the best methods a Bible Class can follow. It secures the systematic exposition of the lecture, without its monotony. It possesses the dialectical interest of the debating society without its wordy combativeness. It adds the charm of comradeship to the joy of definite and progressive pursuit of knowledge. It stimulates the individuality of the learner while utilizing to the full the trained leadership of the teacher. It is the method therefore contemplated in the following pages. At the beginning of the Session, or at convenient stages in the course of study, a member should be appointed, for every day on which discussion takes place, to introduce the discussion by a short speech or paper. The programme thus arranged should be in the hands of every member in print or writing. At the close of each hour should be announced the section or sections, or portions of Scripture, to be considered at the next meeting, along with the subject for discussion. In preparation for the Class, members are re¬ quested— (i) Carefully to read the section or sections for the next meeting. 6 PREFACE. (2) To look up every passage of Scripture cited therein. (3) To get “ the key-text ” off by heart. (4) To think over “ the topic for discussion ”—the introducer will of course have to get his speech or paper ready, and (5) To keep in mind “ the request.” The order in Class will vary, as the course of study advances. For Part I. the following order may be employed :— Short Prayer by any member (in which the request is not forgotten). The Teacher explains and connects the Scripture referred to in the sections for the evening. Asks and answers questions thereon. Describes (when it occurs) the “ Focal Picture or Scene,” or where it has been sketched, exhibits the sketch. Then calls on the member appointed to introduce “the topic for discussion.” Discussion. Benediction. For other suggestions see my Handbook on Young People's Guilds (published by the Congregational Union of England and Wales, Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, London, E.C.), pages 40 ff. The Plan of Study falls naturally into three parts, as it traces the development of the Kingdom of God (1) in Israel, (2) in the Sayings and Doings of Jesus, and (3) in Apostolic times. Each of these parts is sufficient to occupy a winter’s session of the Class, and is therefore published separately. For PREFACE. 7 private study, permanent reference and other pur¬ poses, the three parts are also combined in one volume. I ought to mention that most of these outlines and suggestions have stood the test of practice. Sub¬ stantially the same methods were followed by my Bible Class at Gallowtree Gate Church, Leicester, in the years 1887-1889, when we studied together the main part of §§ 1-74. To the Young People who then worked with me, and whose co-operation forms one of my happiest memories, I gratefully inscribe this little book. F. HERBERT STEAD. CONTENTS. PaGS Preface : Method of Study ..... 5 Introduction : The Theme of the Gospel, §§ i» 2.13-15 aHrst: CHE KINGDOM OF GOD IN ISRAEL, §§ 3-20 . 16-49 Moses the Founder, § 3. The Judges or early Kings, §4. David the Typical King, § 5. The Prophets, § 6-20 : put a stop to empire, §§ 6, 7. The New (Literary) Prophecy, § 8. (1.) The Assyrian Period, §§ 9-13 .... 27-35 Amos, the Prophet of Justice, § 9. Hosea, the Prophet of Mercy, § 10. Isaiah, the Prophet of Faith, §§ 11, 12. The New-Found Law-Book, § 13 - (2.) The Chaldean Period, §§ 14-17 .... 38-43 Jeremiah, the Prophet of Individual Religion, §§ 14, 15. Ezekiel, the Prophet of Regeneration, § 16. The Problem of the Exile (“Job”), § 17 - (30 The Medo-Persian Period, §§ 18, 19 . . . 45-48 The Prophecy of Redemption (Isa. 40-66). The Prophecy of Resurrection (Isa. 24-27). Review of the Prophetic Ideal, § 20 49 10 CONTENTS. The Reign of the Written Law, §§ 21-29 • Principles of the Law, § 22. The Hymnals of the Jews, §§ 23, 24. The Greek Yoke Broken, § 25. The Vision of Humanity Regnant, § 26. The Rind and Pith of the Law, § 27. Deepen¬ ing Expectancy, § 28. Review of the Post-Prophetic Period, § 29 . , Closing Survey of Part First, § 30 . Ipart SecottD: THE KINGDOM IN THE SYNOPTIC SAYINGS of Jesus, §§ 31-74. . Sources and Method, § 31. The Gradual Unfold¬ ing, § 32. Collective Statement, §§ 33-73 Fulfilment and Repeal, § 33. A. The God whose is the Kingdom, §§ 34-39 . The Supreme Unity, § 34. The Creator and Disposer, § 35. The God of Revelation, § 36. The All-Perfect Father, § 37. The Father in His Family, § 38. The Dread Awarder, § 39. B . The Subjects of the Kingdom, §§ 40-44 Who may be Subjects, § 40. Relation of Subjects to God (Religion), § 41. Relation of Subjects to each other (Morality), § 42. The Law of the Brotherhood, § 43. Its Unity, § 44. C. The Christ, §§ 45-52. His Titles, § 45. “The Son of Man,” § 46. The Anointed Ruler, § 47. His General Relation to the Kingdom, § 48. His Relation to the Father, § 49. His Relation to the Subjects, § 50. The Death of the Christ, § 51. Summary of C , § 52. PAGE 52-75 75 77 7*63 13- 62 14- 19 19-29 30-47 CONTENTS. tt D. When and How the Kingdom Comes, §§ 53-57 . The Present Kingdom, § 53. The Future Kingdom, § 54. The Law of Growth (or Evolution), § 55. The Process of Growth, § 56. The Means of Growth, § 57. E. Where the Kingdom comes, §§ 58-66 . Here as yonder, § 58. In Nature, § 59. In Man: his Body, § 60. His worldly goods, § 61. The Home, § 62. The State, § 63. The Heart of Man, § 64. The Realm of “Saving Health,” § 65, Its various reception, § 66. F. The LAST THINGS, §§ 67-73. Death no bar to Life, § 67. The Life beyond Death, § 68. The Day of Judgment, § 69. Whom the Kingdom excludes, § 70. Whom it receives, § 71. The Doom, § 72. The Meed, § 73 - Summary of Synoptic Sayings : What is the Gospel as Jesus preached it? § 74 . Ipart abftD: THE KINGDOM IN APOSTOLIC TIMES, §§ 75-97 . The Kingdom as actual product, § 75. The Kingdom as Church, § 76. The Forty Years’ Transition, § 77. The Message of the First Heralds, § 78. On the Epistles, § 79. A. The Kingdom according to Paul, §§ 80-90 . The Vital Fact, § 80. The Social Organism, § 81. The Old Man and the New, § 82. The Death-Birth, § 83. Transcorporation, § 84. PAGE 48-50 51-57 58-62 63.78 7-66 21-47 12 CONTENTS. PAGE The Home of the Adopted, § 85. The Realm of the Justified, § 86. The Synoptic Idea in Paul, § 87. In whom all things consist, § 88. The Law of the Spirit of Life, § 89. The Several Spheres, § 90. B. The Kingdom according to other New Testament writers, §§ 91-96.47-65 The Epistle of Hope (1 Peter), § 91. The Epistle of Practical Wisdom (James), § 92. The Apology of the Transition (Hebrews), § 93. The Vision of the Kingdom Triumphant (Rev.), § 94. The Epistle of Love (1 John), § 95. The Last Memoirs of the Christ (John), § 96. Finale, § 97.. , . 65, 66 BppenMj 3v How Later Thinkers put it ... * , , 67 Bppenfctj 3$. The Witness of Imperial History to the Kingdom » 8c THE KINGDOM OF GOD INTRODUCTION. § 1. Its place in the Religion of Jesus. We believe in Jesus. He is our Master and Teacher. For us His word is decisive. From the systems of the schools and the traditions of the fathers and the fashion of the pulpit we turn to His teaching, believing it to be the very speech of God. We come with open hearts and frank eagerness to learn from Him. We have heard of His Gospel, and we wish to know from His lips what that Gospel is. We will abide by what He tells us. What is central to His thought shall be central to ours. What, then, in His own words, is His Gospel? Key-Text. Jesus came into Galilee , preaching the Gospel of God , and saying , The time is fulfilled\ and the Kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe in the Gospel .—Mark i. 14, 15. (Matt. iv. 17.) 14 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. The Kingdom of God is the theme of the Good Tidings (Gospel) which Jesus Himself preached. According to Mark, which is the shortest and probably the earliest of the Gospels we possess, the Kingdom is, from first (i. 15) to last (xiv. 25 ; cf. Acts i. 3), the burden of Jesus’ teaching. So Luke and Matthew (which latter prefers the phrase Kingdom of Heaven) passim. Express statements are Luke iv. 43 ; viii. 1 ; Matt. iv. 23 ; ix. 35 ; Luke ix. 11. The parables mostly set forth what “ the King¬ dom of God is like.” The Kingdom was also that which Jesus bade His disciples preach.—Luke ix. 2 ; Matt. ix. 7 : Luke ix. 60 ; x. 9, 11 ; Matt. xxiv. 14. After His departure, it was still the theme of the disciples’ preaching ; instance—Philip, Acts viii. 12, and Paul, Acts xiv. 22 ; xix. 8 ; xx. 25 ; xxviii. 23, 31. Thus, according to Jesus and His earliest followers, evangelical preaching is preaching the Kingdom of God. The Chief Quest, or Highest Good (which Greek sages had variously defined as know¬ ledge, or pleasure, or imperturbability) is de¬ clared by Jesus to be the Kingdom of God.— Luke xii. 31 ; Matt. vi. 33. TOPIC for discussion : Does the Kingdom of God hold the same place in ordinary Christian thought as it had in the preaching of Jesus ? Request : For a whole-hearted and reverent love of truth.—Psalm lxxxvi. n. ITS ROOTS IN THE PAST. 15 § 2. Its Roots in the Past. The Kingdom was spoken of by Jesus and His disciples as a theme not quite strange or new, but as something already familiar to the people’s thought. The idea was in some measure common to Him and to them. How had they come by it ? “ The time is fulfilled ” (Mark i. 15) implied an earlier period of preparation and expectation. This studied will prepare our minds to look for the true fulfilment. “ The Kingdom of God shall be taken away from you ” (Matt. xxi. 43) pointed to its having been in some way with the “nation ” of Israel. To understand Jesus’ thought we must therefore “dig down, the old unbury.” We cannot start off-hand with His sayings about the Kingdom. He loyally links His thought with what had gone before (Matt. v. 17). To slight or under¬ rate His past is to be untrue to Him. The story that led up to Him is part of His story. The way to come at His truth is to trace the way His truth, slowly through the ages, came at last to Him. 16 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. FIRST PART. THE KINGDOM OF GOD IN ISRAEL. The Social Ideal foreshadowed in the National State. § 3. Moses the Founder. Key-Text. He made known His ways unto Moses , His doings unto the children of Israel. _ Psalm ciii. 7. “The children of Israel” existed as tribes or clans before his time, but as a nation Israel began to be with Moses. He brought in a new idea of God, marked by the new name Yahweh (commonly, but incorrectly, Jehovah).—Exodus iii. 13, 15; vi. 3. He made the demand, said to be utterly unique, of monolatry (worship of One only)—that those who worshipped Yahweh should worship none beside.—Exodus xxxiv. 14 ; xx. 3. (Distinguish between Monolatry and Monotheism.) His own personality stands out, humble, humane (Numbers xii. 3 ; Exodus iii. 11 ; iv. jo), yet, to this day, powerful. By means of idea, demand, personality—all attested in the deed of deliverance from Egypt—the religion of Israel was established, and became the formative centre of the national life. This nation owns its God as its Lord or Over-lord, MOSES THE FOUNDER. 17 its King; like other Semites (cf Molech, Milcom = king, of the Ammonites, Malk = king, Melkart = city king, of the Phoenicians). And so the nation is the people of Jehovah. Moses is Jehovah’s deputy or vicegerent.—Exodus xviii. 15, 16. [Eminent Chiistian scholars dispute how much or how little of the story and of “ the Law of Moses,” as we now have them in the “books of Moses,” came im¬ mediately from him. We need not now try to join in the controversy. Without touching on the vexed ques¬ tion, When were the various laws written ? we may note their bearing on the Kingdom at the periods when, according to almost all critics, they were adopted or re-adopted by the people. Our chief con¬ cern with Moses is to notice that he was reformer of the faith, and so founder of the nation, of Israel. We hasten over his and following periods until we reach the reign of David, whence the historic idea of the Kingdom properly dates.] Thus we are reminded that from the first the life of the nation of Israel was the instrument of Divine revelation. Topic to be discussed : How far national life to¬ day is a means whereby God reveals Himself; or the true relation between religion and politics. Request : For an open mind in the study of Scripture.—Luke xxiv. 44, 45, I B i8 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. § 4. Ttie Judges, or Early Kings. Key-Text. The leaders took the lead in Israel; the people offered themselves willingly .—Judges v. 2. The clans of Israel, as they slowly crept over the the land of Canaan (Ex. xxiii. 29, 30), and as they gradually turned from merely keeping flocks and herds to growing also corn and fruit, were very loosely connected. The chief tie which bound them to one another was their religion. Yet the exclusive unity of worship (“ No other God/’ Ex. xxxiv. 14) tended to strengthen and organize the political unity. Often, indeed, this religious influence seemed to sink into abeyance, but ever and again its increasing might was thrust into view by the two-fold pressure of an enemy from without, and £ leader from within. (Compare and distinguish Hebrew judge and Roman dictator.) In this unifying process we mark three great steps ere we reach the climax. Deborah (in Issachar) summons the clans, in the name of Jehovah, to victorious revolt against the oppressive Sisera and his Canaanites (Judges v.). Gideon (of Manasseh) gathers the clans in the name of Jehovah, and beats back the invading Midianites (Judges vi.—viii.). The sway of his house ended with his usurping son, Abimelech (Judges ix.). DAVID , THE TYPICAL KING. 19 The advance of the Philistines from the South-West needed something more to check it than a sudden levy of the clans now and then, under a chance leader. Israel must not merely at times become one, but must abide one, under the same head. So Monolatry leads to Monarchy. In the name of Jehovah Samuel anoints Saul (of Benjamin) as King over Israel (1 Sam. x. 1). Saul was thus (1 Sam. xxiv. 6-10; xxvi. 9) Jehovah’s Anointed (Messiah) or the Lord’s CHRIST (for so the Hebrew words are trans¬ lated when they are turned into the Greek ol the Old and New Testaments). But by the house of Saul was not wrought the unity or even the liberty of Israel. Topic to be discussed : The place of woman in national life ( cf Deborah and Joan of Arc). Request : For a succession of religious leaders who shall unite the now loosely-linked peoples of the English tongue. § 5 . David, the Typical King. About 1000 b.c, Key-Text. David perceived that the Lord had established him King over Israel, and that He had exalted his Kingdom for His people Israel’s sake. —2 Sam. v. 12. On the death of Saul, David (then a vassal of the Philistines) became King ot Judah (2 Sam. ii. 4, over a district not larger than Cambridgeshire), and, on the death of Ish-baal, he was elected 20 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. King of Israel (2 Sam. v. 3, over a region of the size of Wales). All Israel is thus unified (2 Sam. viii. 15). Jerusalem, hitherto not Israelitish, he seized and made his capital (2 Sam. v. 6-9). He extended his sway over neighbouring nations until it reached from the Euphrates to Egypt (2 Sam. viii. ; 1 Kings iv. 21-24— a realm scarcely as big as England). This may fairly, in distinction from the petty kingdoms within it and without, be called the Empire of Israel. Those great deeds and a character of large compass and intensity, crowned by devoted piety, marked David a man after Jehovah’s own heart (1 Sam. xiii. 14), and made him the ideal King of the later literature of Israel. Thus was stamped upon history in rough and im¬ perfect miniature THE NATIONAL TYPE OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD ; for in David’s days we see The Kingdom of Jehovah, including all Israel and many other nations, centred in Jeru¬ salem and ruled by a King of the House of David, who is Jehovah’s Anointed (Messiah) or the Lord’s CHRIST (2 Sam. xix. 21). This is the outline of the later Social Ideal. Topic to be discussed : The character of David, as warrior,outlaw, statesman, judge,as bard, friend, foe, father, and as a man of God,—What is the secret of it all ? The prophets put a stop to empire. 21 Request : That our lives may be such as to raise the ideals of those who come after us. § 6. The Prophets put a Stop to Empire. Key-Text. I have hewed them by the prophets ; I have slam them by the words of My mouth .— Hosea vi. 5. The Hebrew word for prophet is of uncertain origin, but is generally used to mean God’s spokesman. Prophecy came much to the fore in the time of Samuel, and was at first a thing of visions, ecstasy, and tumult. (1 Sam. ix. 9 ; x. \off. ; xix. 20-24.) Prophets grew in boldness and in power, until Nathan dared to rebuke the king and lived. (2 Sam. xii. 7-15.) SOLOMON set up a gorgeous Imperialism. He parcelled out his empire heedless of tribal borders. (1 Kings iv. 7 Jf.) He centralized power and wealth and magnifi¬ cence in the new Capital. (1 Kings iv.—x.) He formed alliances, by marriage and other¬ wise, with many foreign peoples. (1 Kings iii. 1 ; ix. 27 ; x. 22-29; xi. I_ 3-) He exacted forced labour, not only from Canaan- ites (1 Kings ix. 21), but from Israelites (v. 13-18.) Solomon was also Imperialist in religion. He built a Temple of Phoenician art (vii. 13, 14), where he sought to centralize the national worship (v.—viii.). He set up high places for the gods of his allies and of subject peoples (xi. 1-8). His 22 THE KINGDOM OE GOD. was a heavy yoke (xii. 4). His policy threat¬ ened liberty and religion. Some scholars suppose that the code of laws found in Exodus xx. 22— xxiii., was put together about this time. In any case, the northern tribesmen would contrast with Solomon’s Phoenician temple the simple ways of their early religion, which are expressed in Exodus xx. 24-26. Ahijah, a prophet of Jehovah, roused Jeroboam to revolt (1 Kings xi. 29). Jehovah raised up other adversaries (xi. 14-25). Conquered peoples fell away (xi. 24, 25). The northern tribes flung off the Imperial yoke (xii. 1-20). Only Judah remained loyal. Thus the Davidic empire was destroyed, but the religion was saved. In Northern Israel, which was now the stronger kingdom, the same story was re-told. Omri, a minor David, fixed his capital in Samaria (xvi. 24), and extended his sway over Moab (Moabitish stone) and his fame to Assyria (Assyrian Inscriptions). - Ahab, a northern Solomon, was practical Suzerain of Judah (xxii. 4), and was in close alliance with Zidon (xvi. 31). This brilliant Imperialism threatened the exclusive purity of Jehovah’s worship (xvi. 32;xviii. 21), and, though supported by many prophets, speaking in the name of Jehovah (xxii. 6-24), was sternly opposed by THE PROPHE TS PUT A STOP TO EMPIRE. 23 Elijah (i Kings xviii., xix., xxi.; 2 Kings i.), Micaiah (1 Kings xxii.), Elisha (1 Kings xix. 16; 2 Kings ix. 3), the “ schools ” or “ guilds ” or “ sons” of the prophets (Ibid.), and their following (1 Kings xix. 18). It was finally, along with the Omri dynasty, extir¬ pated by Jehu (2 Kings ix., x.). Empire was a second time destroyed : the Kingdom must be, not Jehovah’s along with other gods— whether the Pantheon of Solomon or the Phoenician Baal of Ahab—but Jehovah’s alone. The history of Israel not seldom presents us with scenes which focus into a dramatic situation the significance of a century or of an epoch. These we may therefore call “Focal.” The rough jottings here supplied may be worked up by the Teacher into a graphic word-picture, or members of the class who possess artistic talent may develop a sketch in chalks or colours for exhibition to the Class. Focal Picture : The scene in Naboth’s vineyard (1 Kings xxi. 17-24 ; 2 Kings ix. 25). Elijah in his rough hair mantle (2 Kings i. 8) suddenly appearing before Ahab. The King in his chariot inspecting the estate he has stolen. Behind him in the same, or a closely following chariot, Jehu, son of Nimshi, with his captain, Bidkar,—the man destined to execute the doom uttered by the prophet. Here is the outline for a first-class historical painting. Little imagination is needed to fill in the details in a way suggestive of the significance of the occasion. E.g., A robe of Phoenician purple worn by Ahab would recall his dabbling in Phoenician idolatry. 24 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. Topic for discussion : “ The Divine right of insur¬ rection is there such a thing ? What light is thrown on the question by Ahijah and Elijah ? Request : That in doing God’s work we may fear “the Sovereign People” as little as Elijah feared the King. § 7. The Kingdom of the World, and the Kingdom of Jehovah. The conception of the known world as a single lealm is one of the greatest ideas of history. It had been cherished perhaps by the Hittites and by the Egyptians. Might it have fired the ambition of Solomon ? On the summit of the Davidic Empire, Israel (as Jesus afterwards, Matt. iv. 8 ff.) caught a glimpse of the possible possession of “ all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them ”; but re¬ fused to accept it at the price of parting with the purity of his religious ideal. The answer which repelled the temptation and renounced immediate empire, was, as later, (Key-Text.) Thou shalt wo?'ship Jehovah thy God ’ and Him only shalt thou serve .—Matt. iv. io. The world empire passed into other hands, Assyrian till 604 B.C., Chaldean till 538, Medo-Persian till 333, Grecian till 200 B.C., and then Roman. But Israel, ever faithful to his religion first, never gave up his Imperial hope. THE NEW {LITERARY) PROPHECY. 25 His later history is the working out of these two ideas. Topic for discussion : Empire and national holiness —how far compatible to-day ? Request : That we may ever give up might for right and look to right for might. § 8. The New (literary) Prophecy. Key-Text. Amos said\ I am no prophet , neither am I one of the sons of the prophets, but Jehovah said unto me, Go prophesy !—Amos vii. 14, 15. Under the dynasty of Jehu appeared some of the first prophetic writings that we possess. They marked the rise of a new kind of inspired statesman or agitator. The old prophets had opposed empire and foreign alliance; the new denounced ruin, more or less complete, to the home-State itself. The old kept together in guilds and companies ; the new were often unattached. The old were members of an official “order,” the new were unofficial and, save by Jehovah, unauthorized. The old spoke ; the new both spoke and wrote. Their placards (Isa. viii. 1 ; xxx. 8), broadsheets and pamphlets (Isa. viii. 16; Jer. xxxvi., &c.) may be said to mark the inspired beginning of Religious Journalism. Their writings form the best witness of their times, and are thus superior to records written at a later date. They are, therefore, the point from which to start 26 THE KINGDOM OF GOD . in any inquiry into the course of Old Testa¬ ment history and legislation. We learn their ideal of the Divine Commonwealth by noting The sins they denounced, The virtues they commended, and Their expectations of the future." The outward occasion of their prophecies was the approach of a world-empire which boded over¬ throw to the petty states of Palestine and neighbouring lands. They may be grouped according to the world- empire they heralded, Assyrian, Chaldean, Medo-Persian. The Assyrian period began for Israel in the ninth century, when the power centred in Nineveh was advancing Westward and weakening Syria. Topic for discussion : The true preacher or the true journalist,—which more nearly answers to the idea of prophet ? Request : That, whether through press or pulpit, men may speak from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit.—i Pet. iv. u ; 2 Pet. i. 21. * Provided with this clue, members of the Class may now be told off, each to read a certain prophet of the period and to report to the Class the gist of what the prophet unfolded of the Kingdom of God. This, with comments from the Teacher, may take the place of his usual connective and explanatory remarks. ^nu,] AMOS, THE PROPHET OF JUSTICE . 27 I.—The Assyrian Period. § 9. Amos, the Prophet of Justice. Eighth century b.c. Key-Text. Hate the evil and love the good , and establish judgment in the gate j it may be that Jehovah the God oj Hosts will be gracious unto the remna?it ojJoseph .—Amos v. 15. [In preparing for Class, first read this paragraph. Then read the Book of Amos through without a break. It contains only from three to four thousand words, or less than three columns of the London Times. Then go over this paragraph again, looking up every passage cited.] Amos, the champion of the down-trodden peasantry (vii. 14), denounces the prevalent perversion of public justice (ii. 6, 8 ; v. 7, 10, 12; vi. 12), the dis¬ honesty and extortion and oppression practised upon the poor (ii. 7 ; iii. 9; iv. 1 ; v. 11 ; viii. 4> 5> 6)> the luxury and selfishness of the rich (iii. 10-12; iv. 1 ; vi. 1-8), and the religiousness combined with those vices (v. 5, 18, 21-23). He demands justice, not sacrifice or pilgrimage or noisy adoration (v. 5, 14, 15, 21-25). He threatens “captivity beyond Damascus” (i.e., in Assyria, v. 27), and dooms “all the sinners ” to the sword (ix. 10). Thus we learn that— The Kingdom of God must be righteous, though the kingdom of Israel perish (iii. 1, 2). On the 28 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. return from captivity of a sifted “ remnant” that survive, the Kingdom of God will appear as The re-established “tabernacle of David” (Davidic Empire), comprising, as of old, a united Israel and subject nations (ix. 8-12), and ensuring for the people rural abundance with fixity of tenure (ix. 13-15). Cf Zech. xiii. 7-9. Focal Picture: The scene at Bethel (Amos vii. 12-17). The royal sanctuary (vii. 13), The sacred stone erected as a pillar (Gen. xxviii. 22). The altars (Amos iii. 14). The calves (symbols of Jehovah. Hos. x. 5). The pilgrims (Amos iv. 4 ; v. 5). The sacrifices (v. 22). “ The noise of songs/' “ the melody of viols” (v. 23). The sudden irruption of the herdmen of Tekoa (vii. 14). Amaziah, the priest of the royal sanctuary (vii. 10), lesenting the intrusion, sneeringly attributing it to commercial motives (vii. 12). The official Priest facing the unofficial Prophet. The one the royal favourite, the State-functionary ; the other, the poor champion of the poor and oppressed, the resolute Nonconformist. The scornful menace of the one met by indignant doom from the other. A perennially significant contrast, demanding the skill of a great historical painter. Topic for discussion : If Amos had come as a docker in the East-end of London, or a High- HOSE A, THE PROPHET OF MERCY. 29 land crofter, or an Irish cottier, what would be his message to us to-day ? Request : For a deadly hatred of wrong. —Mark ix. 42-49. § 10. Hosea, the Prophet of Mercy. Eighth century b.c. Key-Text. I desire mercy and not sacrificej and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. —Hosea vi. 6. The tragedy of Hosea’s home life (i., iii.) was, he believes, designed of God to show that Jehovah is loving husband to unfaithful Israel and father to the misguided children of Israel. This idea rules all his teaching. Hence comes his thought of Covenant or troth-plight (vi. 7 ; viii, 1), of Kindness (mercy, or grace, or piety,—the Hebrew Hesedh meaning the spirit of kinship — i.e., kindness between men or between God and man), and of Knowledge of God, or intimacy with Jehovah. So he most strongly denounces direct disloyalty to God (ii., iii.), as shown in estrangement from Him (iv. 6), forgetfulness (xiii. 6), fickleness (vi. 4; vii. 11), disobedience (viii. 1, 2), ingrati¬ tude (ii. 8 ; xi. 1-7 ; xii. 9-10 ; xiii. 4-7), image- worship (x. 12; viii. 4; xiii. 2; x. 5 ; viii. 5-6; iv. 12 ; xiv. 3 ; ii. 16), and treacherous desertion (ii. 5 ; v. 7). But he also warmly condemns offences against morality; murder and robbery (i. 4; iv. 2 ; 30 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. v. 2; vi. 9), cheating and falsehood (iv. 2 ; xii. 7 ; x. 4; vii. 1 ; iv. 1), and, as most pre¬ valent, drunkenness and impurity (iv. 2, 11, 12, 18, v. 4 ; vi. 9, 10 ; &c.). His chief plea is for a return to intimacy with God, for covenant-renewal, kindness, and knowledge of God (iii. 5 ; v. 15 ff. ; vi. 6 ; vii. 10 ; x. 12 ; xi. 11 ; xii. 6 ; xiv. 1 ff). So the Kingdom of God is one of kindness, of end less love to the guilty (xi. 1-9), of pardon to the penitent (xiv. 4). It shall appear after Exile (ix. 3, 17) as the Davidic kingdom (iii. 5) unit ing Israel and Judah (i. 11) in righteousnes. and kindness (ii. 19 ; x. 12), in peace (ii. 18, cj Zech. ix. 9, 10) and plenty (ii. 22) and knowledge of God (ii. 20). Topic for discussion : (1) The connection and con trast between Amos and Hosea ( cf. Amos ix. 10 Hosea xi. 9); or (2) The Home or the State, which better helps us to understand God’s dealings with us ? Request : For a deeper craving to know God.— Hos. vi. 3, cf. John xvii. 3. § 11. Isaian Prophecies in Order of Time. Upon Amos and Hosea in Israel, follows Isaiah in Judah. Since the prophecies contained in the Book of Isaiah are not found in chronological succession, scholars differ as to the time to which each should be assigned, Of the many proposed arrangements we ISA I A N PROPHECIES IN ORDER OP TIME. 31 here give one specimen. In his <£ Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament,” recently pub¬ lished, Prof. Driver, of Oxford, one of the chief English masters of the science, seems to approve some such order as this :— I .—Prophecies of Isaiah himself. vi. . . . . . Refers to Uzziah’s death, 740. ii.—v. . . . End of Jotham’s and beginning of Ahaz’s reign. xvii. I'll . • • Before Syria and Ephraim in- vade Judah. vii. 1—ix. 7 1 • During the Invasion. M • X 00 1 X i. Possibly after the Invasion. xxviii. . . . • Some time before the fall of Samaria in 722 B.C. xix . 0 Plausibly 720 B.C. xxi. 11 -17 • • • 720 or 711 B.C. xv.—xvi. . • With epilogue, 711 B.C. XX. • 711 B.C. xxii. 1-14 . . • 711 or 701 B.C. xxi. 1-10 . . • 710 B.C. xiv. 28-32 ■ • 705 B.C. xxix.— xxxii. • 702 B.C. xxii. 15-25 • Before 701 B.C. xxiii. . . « Before 701 B.C. x. 5—xii. 6 • xiv. 24-27 701 B.C., the year of Sen- xvii. 12-14 nacherib’s invasion of Judah, xviii. xxxiii. 32 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. II.— Messages of Later Prophets. xxxiv. xxxv. . Cir. 586 b.c., beginning of exile, xm. 1—xiv. 23 . Shortly after 549. lxvi. . . . After 549. xxiv. xxvii. . Soon after 539, “ early post exilic.” of^i°r th r; arie ' y , 0 , fa ?f n “ P r °P° sed > the teacher of the Guild or Bible-Class will, of course, select and recommend that which he believes to be the most pro- bable One evening will be well spent in explaining to the Class the general grounds on which such arrangement ■s approved. Members might be asked to turn old and disused copies of the Scriptures to good account by cutting out the Isa,an oracles or prophecies and gumming them mto a note-book in the order suggested. This with historical or expository remarks in the margin would enable members to trace the growth of the prophet’s message and to feel the life from which and to which it came. Isaiah did so much to pave the way to the evangelic idea of the Kingdom of God as to reward the closest study. His life-messages should be carefully read through before we come to the next paragraph. § 12. Isaiah, the Prophet of Faith. (740—701 b.c.) Key-Text. Therefore will Jehovah be exalted, that He may have mercy, uf on you : blessed are all they that wait for Him /—Isaiah xxx. 18. Isaiah’s root idea was of God the King, the alone exalted (vi. 1-5; ii. ri . I7 ). So he denounces, as an affront against the Divine majesty, the sins of rebellion (i. 2) pride (ii. 11 ; hi. g Q l6 ‘ ’. ’ y> ui, v. 21 , ix. g ; xxviii '4 22 ; X. 12), v Isaiah, the Prophet of faith. 33 idols (ii. 8, 18; xvii. 8 ; xxx. 22 ; cf. Micah v. 10-15), public injustice (Isa. v. 23; x. 1 ; i. 23; xxix. 21), oppression and expropriation of the poor (iii. J 4 > 15 > v. 7, 8 ; cf. Micah ii. 2 ; iii. 3 ; vi. 10-15), drunkenness (Isa. v. 11-22 ; xxviii. 1), religiousness without morality (i. 13^; xxix. 13). So he requires humility (ii.), meekness (xxix. 19), and faith, or humble expectant dependence on the Alone Exalted (vii. 9 ; xiv. 32 ; xxviii. 16 ; xxx. 15-18 ; x. 20), as also a general reform and return to justice (v. 7; i. 17, &c. ; cf. Micah vi. 8). Jerusalem’s steadfast resistance to Sennacherib’s threat )f siege and ruin was one of the greatest acts of faith in history, and was inspired by Isaiah. The transcendent Jehovah (ii.), or the Jehovah exalted above earth, who is also Immanu-EL (God with us, viii. 10 ; vii. 14; viii. 8) uses the hostile world-empire for His own ends (x. SIP-), to destroy the Northern kingdom (xvii. 3 ; vii. 8) and to punish Judah (vii. 1 7 1 cf Micah i. 6 ; iii. 12). He will spare only the remnant of Israel (Isa. vi. n-13 ; vii. 3 ; x. 20-23). From this remnant shall spring (xxxvii. 31/; cf. Micah iv. 6, 7 ; v. 7, 8). The true Kingdom of God, which is centred in the Temple at Jerusalem (Isa. ii. 2 ; xii. 6; cf. Micah iv. 7, 8), c I 34 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. constituted and administered by an ideal Davidic Prince (Isa. ix. 6, 7; xi. 1) on whom the Spirit of Jehovah shall rest (xi. 2-5), and realized in a reign of enlightenment (ii. 3), righteousness, peace, exuberant abund¬ ance, and knowledge of God, which shall be boundless and endless (ii. 2-4; xxx. 23^; ix. 1-7 ; xi. xii). Cf for the whole picture, Micah iv. 1-5 ; v. 2-15. Micah’s message is as a whole closely akin to Isaiah’s,as maybe gathered from citations above. Micah does not lay Isaiah’s stress on the sole and sovereign exaltation of Jehovah, but sees more clearly the deadly effect of sin {cf. Micah iii. 12, and Jer. xxvi. 18, with Isa. xxviii. 16 : xxxi. 4, 5, 9; xxxiii. 20). His deeper sense of sin makes his faith sadder and more patient (vii. 7-13) and his sense o i FORGIVENESS more explicit (vii. 18, 19) than Isaiah’s. Focal Picture : The scene at the conduit of the upper pool (Isa. vii.). Ahaz and his officers inspecting the city water- supply in anticipation of an early siege. The city of Jerusalem and the Temple in the background. The arrival of Isaiah, and his son with the prophetic name (“ A Remnant shall return ”). The daring confidence of the prophet expressed in every feature, posture, and gesture. The vacillation of the weak and irresolute King. THE NEW-FOUND LAW-BOOK. 35 The entire picture visualizing the message—the source of Luther’s and of every other Reforma¬ tion—“Except ye will believe, surely ye shall not be established ”: the great doctrine of Stability by faith. Topic for discussion : (i) Isaiah’s prophecy of an Ideal Prince, compared with Plato’s hope of a king’s son who is also philosopher, and Car¬ lyle’s doctrine of the Hero; or (2) how Amos, Hosea, and Isaiah added each a clause to Micah’s threefold message (Micah vi. 8). Request: For strength to obey the life-call which comes to our youth (Isa. vi.). § 13 . The New-Found Law-Book. (621 b.c.) Key-Texts. Jehovah , our God , is one Jehovah, and thou shalt love Jehovah thy God ,, and keep His charge , and His statutes , and His judg¬ ments^ and His commandments, alway . Deut. vi. 4, xi. 1. The approaching downfall of Assyria leads Nahum (c. 630) to break forth into a paean of vengeful joy. He is the first prophet to speak of one “ bringing good tidings ” (N.T. “ preach¬ ing the Gospel”). His “gospel” (i. 15) is, that Jehovah delivers Judah by overthrowing Nineveh (iii. 7, 18, i.e., the Kingdom of God shall be delivered from the kingdom of the world). Zephaniah (c. 626), probably in dread of the Scythian invasion, first foretells utter ruin to 36 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. Judah (i. 2-6), but in the end holds out the hope of an afflicted remnant coming to possess right¬ eousness, Divine favour, and world-wide re¬ nown (iii.). The Book of the Law was (621 b.c.) found in the Temple (2 Kings xxii.), adopted in solemn covenant as statute-book of the realm by King Josiah and the nation, and made the warrant of a sweeping reformation (xxiii.). There is general agreement that this book was Deuter¬ onomy. When it was written we need not here in¬ quire. Some scholars, as Principal Cave, hold that it was written in the days of Moses. Others, as Professor Driver, refer its composition to the age of Manasseh. In any case it was discovered in Josiah’s time, and fell upon the people as an awful surprise. Four great unities pervade the many and diverse laws of this code : One God (Deut. vi. 4), Master of heaven and earth (x. 14, 17), Maker of all nations (xiv. 2 ; xxvi. 19), invisible (iv. 12, 15), faithful (vii. 9), loving (vii. 8) to His people. One chosen people (vii. 6), peculiar, devoted (holy) to Jehovah (xiv. 2), His children (xiv. 1), bound to fear, love, obey Him (x. 12), to shun every¬ thing hateful to Him (xii. 1-3, 29-31 ; xiii., xiv., &c ), to show kindness to the widow, fatherless, Levite, stranger, debtor, poor (passim) ; but this devotedness (holiness) was to prove itself by scrupulous compliance with the terms of the written covenant, “ the words, commandments, statutes, judgments” entered in the code (v. 311 xii. 32 ; xvii. 18-20, etpassim) : THE NEW-FOUND LAW-BOOK. 37 One Sanctuary, or chosen place of worship (obvi¬ ously Jerusalem, xii. 5, etpassim ); and One chosen tribe of priests—the Levites (xviii.). Deuteronomy gives us the general principle, though in the terms of legalism, localism, and sacer¬ dotalism, that Devoted love to God, is the Law of His Kingdom, and is to be shown in scrupulous obedience to His manifested Will. Focal Picture : Adoption of the Solemn League and Covenant (2 Kings xxiii. 1-13). The Temple forms the background. fust in front of it a platform. The young King in robes of State stands on the platform. Around it his court, possibly also his bodyguard. 3efore it the National Convention : the elders: the priests : the prophets : members of upper and lower classes. The Law-Book has just been read. The King, possibly with upraised hand ( cf. Rev. x. 5), is repeating the words which pledge him and his nation to the Covenant. The people, standing too, indicate acquiescence, possibly by upraised hands. Topic for discussion : Can God’s Will for us be exhaustively set forth in a written code ? Request : That the law of God may fill us with a passion for national reform. 38 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. —The Chaldean Period. § 14. Order of Jeremiah’s Prophecies. Since the story of his times forms part of the Prophets message, and since Jeremiah’s per¬ sonality did more than his speech to unfold the evangelic secret of the kingdom of God, we must first carefully trace the course of his life. It was a life full of heroic adventure and hair¬ breadth ’scapes, beside which the lives of Luther and Knox seem even tame. The dates given in certain chapters show plainly that the prophecies of Jeremiah as now put to¬ gether do not stand in chronological sequence. As many of the prophecies give no date, scholars differ in their plans of re-arrangement. The following order may be submitted for discussion where another is not preferred bv the teacher :— vii.— IX. Jeremiah began to prophesy 626 b.c. i., ii.—vi. (in substance). The Law-Book was found 621. xi, 1-8 ; xxi. 11-14; xxii. 1-9; xvii. 19-27. Josiah was slain at Megiddo 608. xi. 18—xii. 6; xxii. 10-12, 13-19 x. 17-25 ; xxvi. ; xviii.—xx. ; xi. 9-17. The Chaldeans won the headship of the world at Carchemish, 604. XXV., xlvi.—-xlix. 33 ; xii. 7-17 ; xlv., XXXVi., XXXV., „ -i X1V r ™ 18 ; xiii '’ xxii - 2 °- 3 °; xxiii. 1-8. Exile of the best in Judah to Babylon, 597. XXIV., xxvii. xxix., xlix. 34-39; xx iii. g _ 4Q . PROPHET OF INDIVIDUAL RELIGION. 39 xxi. 1-10; xxxiv. 1-7, 8-22; xxxvii.—xxxviii., xxx.—xxxiii. Jerusalem fell : second exile to Babylon, 586. xxxix.—xliii., xliv. (in Egypt). § 15. The Prophet of Individual Religion. Key-Text. This is the Covenant that I will make vjith the house of Israel: I will put My law in their inward parts , and in their heart will I write it; and they shall all know Me: for I will forgive their iniquity . Jer. xxxi. 33, 34. Jeremiah’s mind is imbued witii the idea of Cove¬ nant. At first he is an itinerant preacher of the old Covenant just re-affirmed by Josiah (xi. 1-8) ; but afterwards, despairing of its fulfilment, he turns to the hope of a new Covenant (xxxi. 31 - 34 ). He laments that he cannot find one righteous man in Jerusalem (v. 1-9). Rich and poor (v. 4, 5), priest and prophet (v. 30, 31 ; xxiii. gfi), North and South (iii.) are wicked and impenitent. The chief sin he denounces is breach of covenant (xi. 10 ; xxii. 9 ; xxxiv. 18, &c.) shown in forsaking Jehovah for strange gods (i. 16 ; ii. 11 ; vi. 19 ; xi. 13, &c.). falsity, faithlessness and covetousness (vi. 13, viii. 10 f ; ix. 2-6 ; xxiii. 10, &c.) ; e.g., extorting unpaid labour (xxii. 13-17 ; cf Hab. ii. 9-12), and refusing to free the slave (Jer. xxxiv. 8-22). He requires faithfulness (cf Hab. ii. 4), justice and kindness from man to man and from man to 40 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. God (Jen v. I, 28 ; vii. 5^ ; ix. 23, 24 ; xxii. 3, &c.), but in vain (vii. 24-28). Therefore the Chaldeans shall seize the land and carry away the people (xx. 4-6 ; xxv. gff., &c.). Even Zion, fondly thought inviolable, shall be destroyed (vii. 14; xxvi. 6). Jehovah uses Nebuchadnezzar to execute His ven¬ geance upon the kingdoms, and gives him dominion over all nations (xxvii. 7-8). Religion no longer depends upon the Holy Land, for God accepts His people’s prayer in Babylon (xxix., contrast Hosea ix. 3, 4), nor upon the Temple at Jerusalem, for that shall be destroyed (vii., xxvi.), but upon the personal relation of the individual to God (xxxi. 34). The individual alone is responsible (xvii. 9, 10 ; xxxi. 30). This new truth, of the religious worth of the individual is Jeremiah’s chief contribution to the idea of the Kingdom. Thus he shows that The kingdom and capital of Judah may perish, but not the Kingdom of God ; for The people of Israel (xxxi. 1, 9) and Judah (xxiii 6) shall return from captivity to Zion (xxxi. 8-12), shall dwell in safety and plenty and glad¬ ness (xxxi. 12, 14, 27) under a just and wise Scion of the house of David “ Jehovah-our- righteousness ” (xxiii. 5, 6); and God will make a New Covenant with them, according to which He forgives their sin (xxxi. 34), writes His law in the heart of each (xxxi. 33 ) an d is personally known by every one of them (xxxi. 34, cf Hab. ii. 14). PROPHET OF INDIVIDUAL RELIGION. 41 Focal Scenes : (1) Jeremiah at the Gate of the Temple (vii. 1-15 ; xxvi.). The custom of reciting religious dialogues might be applied and expanded in the reproduction of this dramatic episode by members of the class. The Temple. Entering worshippers, pilgrims from other cities, admire the sacred buildings and exclaim, Jehovah’s Temple, Jehovah’s Temple, Jehovah’s Temple are these ! [eremiah enters, takes his stand in the court of the Temple, and speaks as in vii. 2-15. He is heard with increasing impatience by the increasing crowd. At last “ the priests ” first, then “ the prophets,” then the crowd behind them, rush on him, seize him, and say as in xxvi. 8 and 9. The princes, hearing of the disturbance, come up from the royal palace to the new Temnle gate, and sit to award justice (ver. 10). The trial begins: priests and prophets are the accusers (ver. 11). The people wait to hear the princes. Jeremiah speaks (vers. 12-15). The verdict of the princes echoed by the shout of the people : Not Guilty (ver. 16). Confirmatory precedent quoted by elders (vers. 18, 19). Jeremiah, safeguarded by Ahikam, departs un¬ molested by the mob (ver. 24). (2) The story of an African slave, who trusted in Jehovah, saved Jeremiah, and though a non- 42 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. Israelite, was accepted by Jehovah (xxxviii., xxxix. 15-18), may be told as a foregleam of the future universality of Israel’s religion. Topic for discussion: Jeremiah’s character as re¬ vealed by his writings, and as misconceived by vulgar ignorance. Request : That times of changing faith may make more clear the law of God within. § 16. Ezekiel, the Prophet of Regeneration. (A 592-570 b.c.). Key-Text. I work not for your sake, but for Mine holy name which ye have profaned; and the nations shall know that I am Jehovah. —Ezek. xxxvi. 22, 23. In the gloom of the Exile, he depicts Israel as totally depraved (ii. 3 ; v. 6, &c.), as a rebellious house (ii. 5, 6, 8, &c.), worse than Sodom (xvi. 48), and always evil (xx.). Idolatry is the very head and front of his offending. Israel is therefore the doomed object of Jehovah’s fury (viii. 18 ; xxi. 3M But Jehovah, while visiting the nations with His anger (xxv.—xxxii.), will, only for His own sake (xxxvi. 22, &c.), Breathe new life into the dry bones of the House of Israel, raise them from their grave (xxxvii.), re¬ place the heart of stone with a heart of flesh (xi. 19; xxxvi. 26), put His Spirit in them (xxxvi. 27 ; xxxvii. 14), make them obedient (xi. 20 ; xxxvi. 27); THE PROBLEM OF THE EXILE. 43 Will bring them back to their own land (xxxvii. 21), and Reunite north and south in everlasting security, plenty, and populousness (xxxiv. 12-16, 25-29; xxxvi. 9-11, 29-38 ; xxxvii. 15-28) under David, who shall be prince for ever (xxxiv. 23 ; xxxvii. 24, 25). The Kingdom of God shall be established on earth only for the ends of God and by the regenera¬ tive Spirit of God, animating people else de¬ serving utter condemnation. Topic for discussion : To earlier prophets (Isa. i. 21-26 ; Jer. ii. 1-3) Israel’s past seemed bright, but to Ezekiel wholly dark. How came this difference of view ? Request : That we may base our prospects, not on our deserts, but on God’s own purposes. § 17. The Problem of the Exile. Key-Text. Behold , God is great , and we know Him not. —Job xxxvi. 26. In the book of Job, which is the highest outcome of the Wisdom Literature of Israel, the story of Job (Ezek. xiv. 14) is worked out into a philo¬ sophic drama which argues the question, Why do the righteous suffer ? The time when the drama was written is not stated, and has hence been the theme of much controversy, but probably lay in the period of the Exile. The troubles of Job dramatically set forth the troubles of righteous Israel, 44 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. The orthodox opinion was that God, as righteous judge, always awarded woe to the wicked and weal to the righteous (e.g\, Isa. iii. io, n). Now Here is suffering. Why is it ? “ Because the sufferer has sinned ! ” say the “friends,” who stick to the old views (iv. 7, 8 ; xi. 14 ; xv. 15^; xviii. sj-)- So, for example, Ezekiel explained the calamities of Israel. “ But I have not sinned so as to deserve these woes,” replies the sufferer (x. 2-7 ; xii. 4 ; xiii. 18 ; xxiii. 10-12 ; xxix.—xxxi.); “ I will not belie my integrity in order to suit your theories (xxvii 5, 6). Your theories do not fit the facts (xiii 4-12, &c.). The righteous suffer (xxiv. &c.) the wicked prosper (xii. 6 ; xxi. 7 ff., The Israel to whom belonged faithful souls like Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Josiah, Jeremiah, and then following, was not, even though now in exile, wholly the “rebellious house ” which some prophet* pictured it ( cf. Ezek. ii. 3, et passim). Also the best had often suffered most, while the wicked flourished (Jer. xii. £-6). The better part of the nation was first to go into captivity (Jer. xxiv.). The Voice from the whirlwind declares that God is too great and His universe too vast for mortal man to understand His ways (Job xxxviii.—xii.). The traditional dogmatists are rebuked (xlii. 7-9) and the sufferer is awed into silent sub¬ mission to the Inscrutable Will (xl. 1-5 ; xlii. 2 - 6 ). GREAT PROPHECY OF REDEMPTION. 45 This is an answer, but only an answer in part, to the problem. It marks that widening of the mental horizon which at first seems to involve Agnosticism, but which is really the lifting of the mind from the old answer to the new. Job teaches us that The Kingdom of God is the realm of the Infinite and Eternal, and therefore includes purposes and processes which are beyond our power to explain. Topic for discussion : Satan among the sons of God (i. 6; ii. 1), or the function of Agnosticism in the extension of religious knowledge. Request : For a reverent sense of the mystery that enfolds all things. III.—The Medo-Persian Period. § 18. The Great Prophecy of Redemption. (Isa. xl.—Ixvi. For end of Exile.) Key-Text. He was woundedfor our transgressions , He was b?'uised for our iniquitiesj and with His stripes we are healed. —Isa. liii. 5. On all hands it is agreed that this prophecy was specially meant for the Jews towards the end of their captivity, when Cyrus, King of Medes and Persians, was be¬ ginning to dispute with Babylon the headship of the world. Many scholars hold that it was written by a prophet at this time. Others have supposed that Isaiah, son of Amos, was enabled, in Hezekiah’s or Manasseh’s time, to write just as though he lived in the time of the Exile. Either view justifies us in 46 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. treating it as though written at the later date. It teaches that— Jehovah, who is God alone (xliii. 10-12 ; xliv. 6 • xlv. 5, &c.), Eternal (xl. 28 ; lvii. 15), and In* finite (xl. 12-28) Creator (xl. 28 ; xlii. 5, &c.), has chosen out of the nations His Servant Israel (xli. 8, 9) to be the agent of revelation and salvation to all mankind (xlii. 4-7 j xlv. 22 ; xlix. 6; li. 4-6; lxi. 11 • lxvi. 23). Yet the Persian Cyrus is called Jehovah’s Anointed or the Lord’s Christ (xlv. 1). This elective purpose is not revoked in the calamities of the Exile (xl. 27 ; xlix. 14; li. 7, 8, 12-15), 01 by reason of the people’s unfaithfulness (xlii 24; xliii. 6—xliv. 6). For [here is an Israel within Israel (xlix. 3-6), one with Isiael, yet distinct from him (lii. 13—liii, 12) who shall accomplish Jehovah’s purpose (xlii i-7). 1 his is the ideal Israel within the real ( cf Romani ix. 6, 7), Israel according to the spirit as distinguished from Israel according to the flesh, the soul of good in the evil nation, the spiritual unity active in the line of the prophets (in the prophet himself, 1. 4 9 • lxi. 1-3) and typified perhaps in Jeremiah {cf. liii. 7 withjer. xi. 19). By this distinction the prophet is enabled to solve the problem of the Exile (§ 17). The nation, as a whole, has been no blameless sufferer like Job (xlii. 18-25 ; xliii. 24 ; liii. 6 ; lviii. 1 ; lix.), nor has it been wholly and solely a “rebellious house”; there is the inner Israel, represented by the faithful Israelites, GREAT PROPHECY OF REDEMPTION. 47 The righteous Servant of Jehovah (liii. 11) who suffers to the death, not for any fault of his own (liii. 9), but for the sins of the unfaithful Israelites (liii. 4-6); yet shall rise to new and victorious life (liii. 10-12), and shall give light and law to the world (xlii. 1 ff. ; xlix. iff; lxi. 3 ff). It is simple fact that the constancy of the true Jews, under the sufferings they endured in the Exile for the sins of the nation, saved the nation from being absorbed into heathendom, and restored it to a new and purer life. This Servant of Jehovah, as he is spoken of so grandly in Isaiah lii. 13— liii. 12, it should be explained, is taken by some to be the faith¬ ful or ideal Israel; by others to be the prophets or some particular prophet; by others still, to be the personal Messiah. .srael is forgiven (xliv. 22) and shall return from captivity (xliv. 26-28; li. n, &c.). The light and glory of God shall rest on Zion (lx.), which shall become the centre of world-wide rule (lx. 12) and worship (lxvi. 23). Gentiles shall be admitted to the priesthood (lvi. 7 ; lxvi. 20 /.). Righteousness, prosperity, and peace shall be universal and everlasting (lx. ; lxi. 11 ; lxv. 17 ff). Observe, “ My righteousness ” and “ My salvation ” are parallel terms (li. 5, 6, &c.). The Kingdom of God is to be realized on a sin¬ ful earth by the vicarious suffering of the righteous, and in particular by that of the Servant of Jehovah. 48 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. Topic for discussion : The Soul of social cohesion which suffers in the good for the bad—in Israel, in England, in mankind—what is It, or how shall we name It ? Request: For grace to help us to bear one another’s burdens (Gal. vi. 2). § 19. The Prophecy of Resurrection. (Isaiah xxiv.—xxvii.) Key-Text. He will destroy m this mountain the face of the covering that is cast over all peoples , and the veil that is spread over all nations. He hath swallowed up death for ever. —Isaiah xxv. 7, 8. These four chapters are, according to general critical opinion, not Isaiah’s. By the most eminent scholars they are assigned to the time of the Return from Babylon. The faith of the Exile (xxiv. 23), conflicting with the facts of the Return (xxiv. 1-20), results in a hope superior to death. Rather than that the promise of Jehovah should fail, The dead shall rise (xxvi. 19), and death itself shall be destroyed (xxv. 8 ; cf. Job xix. 25-27). Jehovah of Hosts Himself shall reign in Zion (xxiv. 2 3 )> shall there joyously entertain all peoples (xxv. 6). The consummation of the Kingdom of God implies the destruction of death. Two other prophets of the period less boldly portray the future. PLVIEfr OF THE PROPHETIC IDEAL. 49 Haggai (520 b.c.), concerned about the New Temple (i. 4, &c.), declares that after great international convulsions (ii. 6, 21 /), the desirable things of all nations shall be brought to it, and it shall surpass the Old Temple in glory (ii. 7, 9). Zecharjah (i.—viii., 520-518 b.c.) tells of the re¬ union oi Jehovah’s scattered people in Zion (viii. 7, 8) in peace and populousness (ii. 4, 5), and of many other nations who shall be joined to Jehovah in Zion (ii. 11 ; viii. 20-23). The Branch shall build the Temple and reign in glory (vi. 12, 13). TOPIC for discussion : Disappointment or satis¬ faction—which has most widened the world’s hope ? Request : For a holiness that shall not shut out the playfulness of boys and girls (Zech. viii. i-5). § 20. Review of the Prophetic Ideal. Key-Text. In many pants and in many ways God . . . spake of old time to the fathers in the prophets. —Heb. i. 1. As guides to the meaning of the Kingdom of God the prophets stand next in importance to the three great Apostles and the Master Himself. The prophetic unfold¬ ing of the Ideal must therefore be viewed in its entirety. The hints and glimpses given here may be expanded in Class. The period of the literary prophets (§§ 8-19) stretches in the main from about 760 to about 500 B.C. (Malachi wrote about sixty or seventy years THE KINGDOM OF GOD. later), or over two and a half centuries,—nearly as long as from Shakespeare to Browning. The out¬ ward history of Israel is tragic enough. In the eighth century Assyria destroys the northern, sub¬ dues and all but destroys the southern kingdom. In the seventh century, Judah, still subdued, hardly survives schism within and Scythians without. In the sixth century, Judah is taken captive to Babylon; but, enabled by Cyrus, a few Jews return to share a precarious lot. This time of outward humiliation was one of unique religious exaltation. In the thought of the prophets the Kingdom of God advances in extent from the ancient Davidic realm (Amos ix. 8-12) to all the world (Isa. xl.—lxvi.), from Israel and a few neighbouring peoples to man¬ kind ; but Israel ever abides the ruling nation, and the whole centres in Zion. The ideal of the Kingdom also deepens in content. God is set forth by Amos as just; by Hosea as merciful; by Isaiah as transcendent and yet im- manu-El ; by Jeremiah as alone righteous, freed from local or national limits, directly related to the individual; by Ezekiel as immeasurably remote, acting for His own ends, terrible ; by Isa. xl.—lxvi. as possessed by an eternal and universal purpose of righteousness which is salvation, the source of vicarious and saving grief, the God who comforts and revives; by Isa. xxiv.—xxvii. as the World- shaker and Destroyer of death. What is required in the subjects of the Kingdom is likewise progressively unfolded ; but the sense of the people’s failure to meet these requirements goes on deepening until Jeremiah declares that not a REVIEW OF THE PROPHETIC IDEAL. 51 single righteous man can be found, and Ezekiel sees only evil in the whole history of the people. Yet all the prophets agree that in and through this people, so sinful, God will realize His Kingdom on earth. But how ? Amos answers, By the death of every sinner. Hosea, By trouble leading the people to penitence. Isaiah, By a Davidic Scion dispensing the spirit of Jehovah. Micah, By an heir of David championing the punished and pardoned flock of God. Jeremiah, By a New Covenant, under which Jehovah comes into personal intimacy with every one, forgiving and directing all. Ezekiel, By the breathing of the Spirit of Jehovah into the dead nation. Isa. xl.—lxvi., By righteous Israel, or Jenovah’s Righteous Servant, suffering vicariously for the sins of the unrighteous. Isa. xxiv.—xxvii., By overturn of the existing world-order, by resurrec¬ tion and the annihilation of death. Of the Kingdom when realized, the features drawn by the various prophets may be thus blended : Peace . war unknown ^ the wealth once wasted in war now used to increase wealth : Plenty . starvation and poverty abolished j exceed¬ ing fruitfulness of soil; abundance of corn and wine and oil and flocks and herds and of all rural growths ; to these were added later : great material magnificence, a profusion of the most highly prized products of civilization. Health ; long life ; life beyond death ; annihilation of death. Populousness : extraordinary multiplication of life, countless hosts of human beings. 52 THE KINGDOM OF GOD . Liberty : intelligence ; Eternal security and stability. Righteousness universal : public justice; private rectitude ; faithfulness; Kindness ; gentleness, helpfulness ; Joy exultant, musical, festal : Worship of God, public, regular, universal, led by an unceasing line of priests ; Knowledge of God : loving personal intimacy be¬ tween Him and every soul in His Kingdom. Glory, an overspreading, pervading splendour; a brilliance above that of sun or moon ; an irradiation of the Divine life and glory. God everywhere glorified. The thought outlined by these rough jottings, is still tied to Zion, priestly caste, and Israel; but even thus re¬ stricted it comprises all the nations, and covers almost the whole range of human needs, physical, social, moral, and religious, even caring in a rudimentary way for art and science. Based on the solid earth it rises to the Heavens, and omits not the intermediate grades. Topic for discussion : What is the chief inspiration furnished by the prophets of Israel for modern Social reform ? Request : That the spirit of the Lord God may be upon us, anointing us to bring good tidings to the poor. (Isa. lxi.) § 21. The Reign of Written Law. Key-Texts. Ezra, the priest , brought the Law before the congregation j and they e 7 itered into a curse and an oath to walk in God's law which THE REIGN OF WRITTEN LA W. 53 was given by the hand of Moses. —Neh. viii. 2, and x. 29. The work in Jerusalem (from 458 B.C.) of ** Ezra, the priest, the scribe of the words of the commandments of Jehovah,” who is armed with full authority (Ezra vii. 11-26), establishes the undisputed reign of the written Law (Neh. x. 29). About this time prophecy expires with Malachi (perhaps ft. 433). The scribe takes the place of the prophet ; and the priest is a substitute for the king. This ascendancy of Law follows from the successive adoption of Codes, or the emergence (or re-emer¬ gence) into public acknowledgment of several layers of legislation. (Observe the distinction between “adoption” and “com¬ position,” or even “compilation.” The legislation in Exodus xx.—xxiii.—“ the Law of many Sanctuaries”—was accepted first; when, is a matter of controversy. Jehovah is to be worshipped in every place (xx. 24) where He has recorded His Name. Priests are not men¬ tioned. The feasts are three: Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Ingathering (xxiii. 14-17). Deuteronomy, u the Law of one Sanctuary,” was adopted by Josiah and the people in 621 B.C. (see § 13). Jehovah is to be worshipped only in one place (xii. 13, 14). The tribe of Levi are all to be priests, without distinction of order (xviii. 1-8). The feasts are three: Passover, Weeks, Tabernacles (xvi. 1-17). 54 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. Ezekiel’s law of priestly grades was announced in 574 B.c. Jehovah’s throne in one sanctuary (xliii. 7) is most minutely described. It speaks of two orders of priests : the sons of Zadok, and the other Levites (xl. 46; xliv. 10-16). There are sevej'al feasts, number not specified (xlv. 1 7 \ cf. 18-23 ; xlvi. 3, 6-11). The Aaronic Code, or the law of triple hierarchy, was adopted from Ezra by the people in 444 B.C. (Neh. viii.—x.). Its principal contents are found in the latter part of Exodus, in Leviticus, and in parts of Numbers. The one sanctuary is everywhere prominent. There are three orders of ecclesiastics: High priest, priests (Ex. xl.), and Levites (Num. iii. 3-4; iv. 9 ; viii. 19; xvi. 10-40; xviii.). The feasts are seven: Sabbath, Passover, First Fruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Tabernacles (Lev. xxiii.). As the Class by this time ought to know, some scholars hold that all these Codes (except Ezekiel’s) were written (perhaps by different hands) at the direction of Moses himself, and were long afterwards re-dis¬ covered and adopted by the people ; while others hold that the Law, which began with Moses, grew larger and fuller as the life of the nation advanced, and that the Codes—which were compiled not very long before their adoption—mark the several stages of its growth. Both positions are maintained by devout Christian thinkers. Topic for discussion : The prophet and the scribe compared and contrasted ; their modern coun¬ terparts, PRINCIPLES OF THE WRITTEN LAW. 55 Request : For an earnest desire to bring every part of our life, public and private, into accord with the will of God. § 22. Principles of the Written Law. Key-Text. Ye shall be holy , for /, Jehovah , your God , am holy. —Lev. xix. 2. This is the principle which governs all the codes (Ex. xxii. 31 ; Deut. xiv. 2 ; Lev. xx. 26), and so far makes them one. Jehovah stands to the people on all sides of their being as adorable Lord ; they must stand to Him on all sides of their being as worshipping subjects. Life must be entirely ruled by religion. Every phase of it, little or great, outward or inward, is to be in accord with the revealed Will of God. Hence are derived the other great principles of the Law ; as, for example, those regarding Land. —Jehovah is the only landowner (Lev. xxv. 23) ; holders are but lodgers and aliens {Ibid.) ; He specifies how the land shall be tilled (Deut. xxii. 9, &c.), when it shall lie fallow (Ex. xxiii. 11 ; Lev. xxv. 1-7), and how part, at least, of its produce shall be applied (Deut. xxiv. 19 ; Lev. xix. 10 ; xxiii. 22, &c.). The law' of Jubilee (Lev. xxv.), which requires all rural (not urban) pro¬ perty in land to revert every fifty years to the families originally possessing it, would per¬ petuate peasant proprietorship and make great landlords impossible. Labour. —Jehovah is Master-in-chief. All Israelites are His servants (Lev. xxv. 55). Wage-earners 56 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. must not be oppressed, but paid promptly (Deut. xxiv. 14 f ; Lev. xix. 13). Hebrew slaves are to be treated humanely, to have one day’s rest in seven (Ex. xx. 8-12), and to be freed after six years’ bondage (Ex. xxi. 2-6 ; Deut. xv. 12-18). Not so foreign labour (Lev.’ xxv. 43-46). Trade.— (Deut. xxv. 13 ff.). God is the giver o 1 wealth (Deut. viii. 17, 18), and regulates its use (passim). Loans must be freely granted to fellow-Israelites, but no interest exacted (Ex. xxii. 25 ; Deut. xv. 7-11 ; Lev. xxv. 35 ex¬ cept from foreigners (Deut. xxiii. 19). All debts (except foreigners’) cancelled every seven years (Deut. xv. 1-6). Spending.— There may be full and thankful enjoy¬ ment of all good things (Deut. viii. 7-10; xi. 13-15 ; xxvi. 10, n). Giving must be propor¬ tionate and regular, and besides, spontaneous (tithes, sacrifices, freewill offerings, vows, gifts to poor, Deut. xii. ; xv. 10, 11 ; xvi. 17 ; xxiii. 21. &c.). Poor-laws.— Tithes (Deut. xiv. 29), feasts (Deut. xvi. 11-147, gleanings (Deut. xxiv. 19; Lev. xix. 10), loans without interest and gifts (Deut. xv. 7-11), periodical restoration of liberty (Deut. xv 12), and patrimony (Lev. xxv.) are for the pre¬ servation of the poor (Deut. xv. 11), and the abolition of poverty (Deut. xv. 4). Health.— Cleanliness (passim), sanitation (Deut xxiii. 14), safely built houses (Deut. xxii. 8) notification and isolation of contagious disease (Lev. xiii.—xv.), rest on Sabbath and feast days PRINCIPLES OF THE WRITTEN LAW. 57 (Ex. xx. 8-12 ; Deut. xvi. 8), are enjoined. Though not on grounds of health, Diet (Deut. xiv- 3 # ; Lev. vii. 22-27 ; xi.) and Dress (Deut. xxii. 5, 11, 12 ; Num. xv. 37 ff.) are regulated. Topic for discussion : Selecting any one of the principles specified above (Land, Labour, &c.), how far may we adopt them as maxims of modern validity ? For example, are there not Divine laws of health discoverable, which should be religiously obeyed ? Or take the group of laws connected with the Fourth Commandment, and discuss the following state¬ ments :— Scholars tell us of a dark and heathen origin for the institution of the Sabbath, and only thereby fling into brighter relief the humanizing and hallowing influ¬ ence of Hebrew religion. But the Christian concep¬ tion of the Sabbath stands above the Jewish as the Jewish stands above the heathen. For, strip the Sabbatic idea of its historic rind, and what have you left? Is it not the essential need of re-creation to human life ? Relaxation must alternate with tension. The nature of man demands opportunity to recover exhausted energies and to revert to its norm. . He must have his moments of expansion—physical, mental, social, and therefore religious. For religion is the prime factor of integration. To be saved is literally to be made whole. It is no accident, but a deeply significant evolution which renders the Fourth Commandment in German school primers,—‘Thou shalt observe thy holy days,’ or which in English has turned holy days into holidays. “ The Saturday half-holiday, the Ten Hours’ Act, the Eight Hours’ Movement, are only so many phases 5 § THE KINGDOM OF GOD. of the Sabbatic development. They are so much commentary on the text, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.’ ... It should be ours to oppose every attempt for the secularization of Sunday, with a steady consecration to whole- human, and therefore religious, uses of the daily Sabbath and the yearly Sabbath, as well as of the weekly Sabbath. The annual holiday ought to be the Sabbath of the year.” Request : “ Hallow us in the truth ” (John xvii. 17). §22. Principles of the Written Law ( Continued ). The underlying principle set forth in the Key Text and already exemplified in the case of Land, Labour, Trade, Spending, Poor Laws, and Health, is further related to The Home, its purity (Ex. xx. 14, &c.), obedience (Ex. xx. 12, &c.), instruction (Deut. vi. 7) ; administration of justice, pure (Deut. xvi. 18-20, &c.), graded and devolved (Ex. xviii.); and the conduct of war (Deut. xx.). Worship, social (Deut. xii. 18, &c.), and national (Deut. xvi. 16), with its requirements (priests, sanctuary, dues, &c.), must be maintained {passim). The Feasts celebrate deeds of Jehovah in nature (Ex. xxiii. 14-17) and in national history (Deut. xvi., &c.), and bring the nation into one place (Deut. xvi. 16) and one act (Lev. xvi.). The thickening wall of priest¬ hood and of holy spaces between the people and Jehovah {passim) teaches the awful dis¬ tance of God from ordinary human life, and yet PRINCIPLES OF THE WRITTEN LA W. 59 His ultimate approachableness through appro¬ priate mediators. So the minute rules about architecture and upholstery of the Tabernacle, the vestments, anointings, and washings of priests. Sacrifice is an act of communion (meal, Num. xxviii. 2, &c.) with God, and must be the offering of the worshipper’s best {passim). Sacrifice for sin has in view the restoration of communion, and may be offered for the un¬ witting (Lev. iv. ; Num. xv. 22) and witting (Lev. v.) sinner, whether person or nation (Lev. xvi. 6-17), but not for the wilful and defiant (Num. xv. 30). Wrong done to a fellow- Israelite requires reparation to him and atone¬ ment before God (Lev. vi. 1-7). No exhaustive analysis of the Law is here attempted. A few hints only are given to suggest how a fuller analysis may be carried out. These laws are resolved into requiring towards God devoted love (Deut. x. 12 ; vi. 5) and scrupulous awe (Ex. xx. 5; xxxiv. 14; Deut iv. 24). The Law is an amalgam of priestly and prophetic ideas. Physical and moral purity or impurity are not yet pro¬ perly distinguished. There is one rule for dealing with Israelites, and another for dealing with foreigners. Penalties mercilessly severe, and institutions, like slavery and inferior status of woman, are still retained. But the root-peril of this written Law is the idea that God’s will can be exhaustively set forth in statutory form—in a series of rules and regulations—literal com¬ pliance with which is His only requirement. Yet with all its faults (Heb. viii. 7, 8), the reign of written 6o THE KINGDOM OF GOD. Law schooled the people (Gal. iii. 24) into the con¬ viction that every part of life, down to the minutest things, has its divinely appointed duties, and gradually induced a temper of devout conscientiousness. Its very externalities helped to keep the Jewish Church from immersion in heathendom, and to pre¬ serve its inner spirit until the fulness of the times had come. Topic for discussion : The value of external forms— for example, Are national religious assemblies (Deut. xvi. 16) a permanent national need ? How far are they kept up in our denominational Union Meetings, Assemblies, Synods, Convoca¬ tions, Congresses, International Councils? Request : That our love be made perfect to the casting out of fear.—1 John iv. 17. § 23. The Hymnals of the Jews. Key-Text. Thou art the Holy One , enthroned upon the praises of Israel .—Psalm xxii. 3. The Psalter is commonly thought of as one book by one author. But out of 150 psalms only seventy- three, or less than half, are ascribed to David, twenty-seven bear other names, and fifty, or one-third of the whole, are anonymous. The name prefixed to a Psalm does not necessarily indicate its real author. Scholars differ in opinion as to the number of Psalms that can be attributed to David himself. It is held by not a few that most of the Psalms were composed in and after the Exile. John Calvin thought that some were written in the time of the Maccabees (from 167 b.c.). THE HYMNALS OF THE JEWS. 6l The Psalter contains FIVE books or compilations (see R.V.) i.—xli.; xlii.—lxxii.; lxxiii.—lxxxix.; xc.—cvi.; cvii.—cl. It may have begun as one compilation, or more, to which other compila¬ tions were added. Sankey’s Hymn-Book, with its successive supplements, has been mentioned as an illustration of this method of growth, or the present division into five books may, it has been suggested, be attributed to one editorial act. A very conservative scholar like Hengstenberg fol¬ lows a tradition which refers the compilation of these books to the time of Nehemiah, after 444 B.C.; others, like Canon Cheyne, put the com¬ pilation of the last books (iv. and v.) soon after 142 B.c. We are safe in saying that the com¬ pilations reflect the devotional life of the Jews in the period stretching over the three hundred years from 444 to 140 B.C. Carefully distinguish between compilation and authorship. E.g.„ the “Congregational Hymnal” (1888) contains hymns ascribed to authors ranging from Moses to Tennyson. But as a compilation it reflects the life of the Churches using it to-day; just as the collection called the “New Congregational Hymn-Book” reflected the very different life of the same Churches thirty years ago. At whatever time the separate Psalms were written, The five books show how the Kingdom of God was understood by the Jews while the hymnals were being compiled — i.e., at least from 444 to 140 B.c. They reveal the spiritual life of the people who lived under the reign of the written law. 62 THE KINGDOM OF GOD . They are of value to us, not so much because they contain the praises of this or that poet, but because they show us “the praises of Israel” upon which the Lord of the Kingdom is en¬ throned. Topic for investigation: The growth of English spiritual life as reflected in the succession of the chief English hymn-books. Request : That our worship in song may be sin¬ cere, springing from the inmost life.—Eph. v. 19. § 24. The Hope of the Kingdom set to Music. Key Texts. Jehovah is Kingj . . let the earth rejoice : . . . for He shall judge the world with righteousness. —Psalm xcvi. 10, n, 13 ( cj. xcvii. 1). In the Psalms the Kingdom of God is spoken oJ as Already existing, ruling over all for ever (ciii. 19- xxii. 28 ; xcvii. ; xcix. ; cxlv. 13). But plaint is raised continually that much exists which is at variance with the Kingdom. Appeal is there¬ fore made to the reigning Jehovah to interpose as Judge, to put things right, to save His people, and vindicate Plis righteousness (lxvii.; lxxii. ; lxxxii. 8). This prayer rises through humble trust in God, and a chastened sense of intimacy with Him, to an exultant joy, and to the hope of a Good time coming, when Jehovah shall appear as Vindicator, and vanquish all that opposes His HOPE OF THE KINGDOM SET TO MUSIC . 63 Kingdom (ix. 7, 8 ; xxii. 27; lxv. 2; Ixvii. 7; lxxxii. 8 ; lxxxvi. 9 ; xcvi. 11-14 ; xcviii. 7-9); when all wrongs shall be redressed (Ixxii. 4, &c.), the Poor and Needy succoured and championed (Ixxii. 12 et passzm), mercy and truth and righteousness established (Ixxii. 2; Ixxxv. 10-13; xcvi. n-14; xcviii. 7-9, &c.), permanent peace secured (Ixxii. 7, &c.), and Nature subdued (viii. 6-8), sympathetic (xciii.; xcvi. 10 ff., &c.) and fruitful (Ixxxv. 12 ; Ixxii. 16). The prospect of this Day of Judgment only calls forth the most melodious gladness. We are further told of an Agent of Jehovah by whom it will be ushered in. Jehovah has set His King in Zion (ii. 6), His Anointed (2), calls him His Son (7), and pro¬ mises him universal dominion (8, cf. xx. 6; xlv. 6, 7). Jehovah sets at His right hand a Ruler (cx. 1), who is also Priest for ever (4), and subdues his enemies before him (5, 6). Prayer is offered (Ixxii.) for a Prince, a vicegerent of God (1), ruling a world-wide realm (8-12) in righteousness (2, 3) and chivalry (12-14), amid peace without end (3-7), profuse plenty (16) and unceasing piety (5). These hopes often hung round the line of David (lxxxix., &c.), and mostly centred in Zion (ii.; 1.; xlviii.; lxxvi.; cii.; cxxii., &c.). TOPIC for discussion : Poetry and music : their place in the Kingdom. Request : For inspired souls to-day to set forth in song the wrongs and the rights and the salva¬ tion of the poor. 64 THE KINGDOM OF GOD . § 25. The Greek Yoke Broken. Key-Text. Mattathias said, Though all the nations that dwell in the king's kingdom hearken to him , to depart every man from the service of his fathers and to make his commandments their choice , yet I and my sons ana my brethren shall walk in the Covenant of our fathers. —i Macc. ii. 19. The world-empire, which was Assyrian till 604 b.c., Chaldean till 53&> and then Medo-Persian, passed in 333 into the hands of Alexander the Great, who brought the East under the sway of Greek civilization (Daniel viii. 20, 21 ; 1 Macc. i.). The Jews became his subjects in 332. When he died (323) the empire was divided among his generals (Daniel viii. 22 ; xi. 4 )- Egypt fell to Ptolemy and hU une (“the King of the South,” xi. 5). The chief Asiatic portion fell in 321 to Seleucus, who called him¬ self in 306 King ol Syria (“ the King of the North,” xi. 6). Under his dynasty (the Seleu- CID^e) Syria became by far the greatest of the kingdoms sprung from Alexander’s empire. From 320 till a hundred years later, Judsea was under the rule of Egypt and the Ptolemies. I. and II. Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah were probably put together as one book by one author about 300 b.c. i Chron. iii. 17-24 refers to the sixth (or eleventh) generation after Zerub- babel, and Neh. xii. 11 mentions Jaddua (high priest 331 B.c.). 65 THE GREEK YOKE BROKEN. Chronicles shows a hierarchy more elaborate and more minutely graded than has before appeared (among Aaronites, i Chron.xxiv.4,5, and Levites, I Chron. xxiv. 31 ; xxv.; xxvi. 12, 13, 20, 26). Cf. § 21. It presents the earlier history of man¬ kind and of Israel as it was recounted by priests living about 300 B.c., and offers an instructive contrast to the Books of Kings, written three centuries earlier. Since the Return, the Jews became, though under Gentile supremacy, more and more a hierocracy (or State ruled by the priesthood), culminating in the high priest. The peoples under Greek rule began to adopt Greek speech, manners, and religion. This process of Hellenization affected the Jews also. The Dispersion, or settlement of the Jews among other nations, which dated from the Exile, brought the Jews in touch with the Greek princes and Greek culture ruling in the East ; and Judaea, since 320 part of the Greek King¬ dom of Egypt, came in 205 under the Greek Kingdom of Syria. Antiochus Epiphanes, King of Syria, 175, after putting his creatures into the high priest’s office, resolved on completely Hellenizing the Jews, and (168) prohibited, on pain of death, the practice of the old Jewish rites. He placed a small altar to Jupiter Capitolinus (“ the god of fortresses,” Dan. xi. 38) on the altar of burnt offering in the Temple (“abomination of deso¬ lation, Dan. xi. 31 j 1 Macc. i. 57)) and put a Syrian garrison in the citadel to carry out his I E 66 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. decrees (i Macc. i. 36 ; cf. Dan. vii. 20, 21, 25 ; viii. 23-25 ; ix. 26, 27). The powerful and wealthy and ambitious among the Jews, who had already aped Greek ways, obeyed the King (1 Macc. i. 45 ; Dan. xi. 32). Here was one of the supreme crises in the history of the Kingdom of God. Hellenism confronted Hebraism : the grandest civilization of the ancient world, backed by the power of the Syrian monarchy, set itself to destroy the re¬ ligion of the poor and humble among the Jews. At this dark hour Mattathias and his five sons (commonly called, from Judas Maccabeus, the Maccabees) rose in revolt, rallied around them the people, defeated army after army of the Syrian king, and won freedom (162) and security (141) for the Law-observing Jews. The Law had saved the religion of Jehovah. The stream of development which ran through # Moses and the Prophets was not to be absorbed by Hellenism ; later ages show that Hellenism was to be absorbed by it. The rising of the Maccabees, though only dimly referred to in the Bible, is an event of the first importance. 1 Maccabees should be carefully read and remembered. Focal Scene: The doings at Modein (1 Macc. ii. 14-28). The little country town of Modein, filled with fugi¬ tives from persecution. Mattathias and his sons in torn garments and sack¬ cloth, bewailing the plight of the Jews, VISION OF THE REIGN OF HUMANITY. 67 Entry of Hellenist officer and soldiers from Anti- ochus, with images of the Western Gods and implements of sacrifice. They erect an altar and command the people to sacrifice. Mattathias, commanded first, refuses (vers. 19-22). Then enters an apostate Jew, prepared to sacrifice. Mattathias falls upon him, slays him on the altar, slays the Hellenist officer, pulls down the altar, calls for followers, and escapes to the moun¬ tains. Modem thus becomes one of the pivot spots in the world’s history. The sword of Mattathias was in its way one of the mightiest implements of time. Topic for discussion : Compare, for decisive effect on the progress of the Kingdom of God, Sen- nacherib’s sudden retreat from Jerusalem, the victory of the Maccabees, and the defeat of the Armada. Request : That we may always set Conscience above Culture. § 26. Vision of the Reign of Humanity. Key-Text. There came with the clouds of Heaven one like unto a son of man , . . . and there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom , that all the peoples , nations , and languages should serve him ; his dominion is an everlast¬ ing dominion. —Dan. vii. 13, 14. The Book of Daniel is one of the very greatest of books. Its sublime ideas, though veiled in 68 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. weird riddles, make up a Divine philosophy of history ; and few parts of the Old Testament seem to have been more often present to the mind of Jesus. The time in Jewish history to which it points ap¬ pears in chap. xi. There are recounted the reigns of the Persian kings (v. 2), the victories of Alexander the Great (3), the division of his empire among his generals (4), the wars between the Kings of Egypt (“the South”) and Syria (“the North”), and then with greater detail the events leading up to, and marking the course of, the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes. including his profanation of the Temple {v. 31- B.C. 168), and his devotion to the Romar Jupiter (38/). Upon his death is expected tc ensue the winding up of the world’s history (xii.) The same story is more briefly told in viii. ; an/' comparison with xi. seems to show that here too, the seer’s vision of Eastern history does not go beyond Antiochus Epiphanes (viii. 23-25). Whence it follows that the range of time undei survey in this book, prior to the great consum¬ mation, stretches from N ebuchadnezzar to An¬ tiochus Epiphanes. Chaps, xi. and viii. thus give a key to the visions in ii. and vii., and it is inferred that Of the Colossus in ii., the golden head is the empire of Chaldaea ; the silver bust, of Media ; the brazen middle, of Persia ; the iron legs, of Alexander; the iron and clay feet, of his Suc¬ cessors ; the stone cut out without hands, the Kingdom of the God in Heaven : VISION OF THE REIGN OR HUMANITY. 69 Of the animal forms in vii., the beast like an eagle¬ winged lion is the Chaldaean ; the beast like a bear is the Median ; the beast like a leopard is the Persian ; the fourth beast is the Macedonian power; the ten horns are Alexander’s Suc¬ cessors or the Seleucidas; the little horn is Antiochus Epiphanes ; and the form like a son of man stands for “ the people of the saints of the Most High” (the faithful Jews), as is ex¬ plained in verse 27, Thus the Book was written for the time of the Mac- cabean rising, and its tales of heroic constancy would be then peculiarly helpful. A large number of scholars maintain that the Book was written not merely for , but at , that time, and that the great message came at the great crisis, and not 400 years before. It belonged to a kind of literature known as Apoc¬ alyptic. Later Apocalypses were written under assumed names (Enoch, Moses, Baruch, Ezra) and set forth in vision-form the course of history between the dates of professed and of actual authorship. Was this book an exception to the rule ? Its leading thoughts are— The Most High is sovereign disposer of human history (ii. 21); His Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom (iv. 3, &c.) ; He ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will (iv. 17, 35), to Nebuchadnezzar (v. 18), to the Medes and Persians (v. 26, 28), and to their successors, “ even to the lowest of men ” (iv. 17 ). After these brutal powers (vii.) have ruled, at a 70 THE KINGDOM OP GOD. time decreed beforehand (ix. 24-27), the judg¬ ment shall come (vii. 10), with resurrection and recompense (xii. 2, 3). The God of Heaven shall set up His Kingdom (ii. 44). It shall consume all other Kingdoms (ii. 44), and shall be given to the people of His saints (vii. 27). It is a dominion extending over all nations, and everlasting (vii. 14, 27). Its advent marks the close of sin and the reign of everlasting righteousness (ix. 24). In other words— Upon a Divinely controlled succession of sinful world-empires follows at last the universal and eternal Kingdom of the people of the Most High; a Kingdom which contrasts with all previous kinds of rule as Man contrasts with Beasts of prey; a Kingdom, that is, not of brutality but of humanity ; the manifest King¬ dom of God. The two ideas prominent in the Psalms, of a King' dom already come and of a Kingdom yet to come, are here reconciled. The promised Kingdom did not immediately succeed the Syrian monarchy : Rome came next. But, with all allowance for “foreshortening,” note the actual course of history: empires Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Macedonian, Roman ; then—Christendom. Topic for discussion : The progress of government from the brutal to the human, shown in (a) the successive maritime ascendencies of the Portu¬ guese, Spanish, Dutch, and English; (b) the transition from despotism to democracy ; and thought more of political status than religious purity, their power waned. Their alliance with Rome (160 b.c.) ended in Judaea being conquered by Rome (63 b.c.), and the people of Jehovah came under the yoke of the last and greatest world-empire. The caste of the chief priests, known as Sad- DUCEES ( = Zadokites, cf. Ezek. xliv. 10-16), be¬ came a sort of time-serving peerage, outside the main stream of religious development. Opposed to them, and standing for the most earnest life of Jewry, were The Pharisees (Separatists), heirs of the Asid- seans or Puritans, who had fought with the Maccabees against Hellenism. 72 THE KINGDOM OF GOD . As the power of the priests declined The power of the Scribes increased. They were the students, the interpreters, the teachers, and the judges of the law. Their work pro¬ moted the twin processes of the amplification and condensation of the Law. Cases not met by the written Law were decided by the Scribes. Fresh cases required fresh rules. So arose a great mass of case-law. Much of this was ascribed to Moses, from whom it was said to have been orally transmitted through the elders, and was known as “ the tradition of the elders.” I he pernicious idea which grew up under the Written Law, that the Will of God can be exhaustively set forth in a series of precise in¬ junctions, was developed by the Scribes to ? fatal extreme. Life was gradually covereG with a network of minute regulations. Reli* gion tended to become only a slavish learning and keeping of rules. (Give illustrations.; This amplification became an intolerable yoke of bondage. (Acts xv. io; Gal. v. i.) The rind of the Law grew thicker and thicker with a sort of fungus growth which threatened the inner life. At the same time, men sought to get at the pith of the Law, to ascertain its central or supreme principle. To a Gentile promising to become a proselyte if he could learn the entire Law whilst standing on one foot, Hillel said, “ What is hated by thee do not thou to thy neighbour. This is the DEEPENING EXPECTANCY. 73 whole Law : all the rest is commentary to it” (cf Matt. vii. 12). Scribes discussed, Which is the great com¬ mandment ? (Mark xii. 28.) The two greatest schools were those of Shammai, the stricter, and Hillel, the gentler exponent of the Law, who both flourished in the latter half of the first century B.C. Hillel s story and some of his sayings might be read to the Class to show his place in the ethical movement towards the Kingdom of God. Thus the Scribes drilled the people into a strict and scrupulous sense of duty. Topic for discussion : The perils of Casuistry, and young people’s weakness for it. * Request : That we may be filled with the know¬ ledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom (Col. i. 9). § 28. Deepening Expectancy. Key-Texts. A man . . . looking for the consola¬ tion of Israel. . . . All . . . that were looking for the redemption of ferusalem .—Luke ii. 25 > 38 Along with a closer study of the Law and of the Tradition of the Elders, prevailed a more earnest and expectant longing for the appear¬ ing of the Kingdom of God. Reference may be here made to books outside the Cano*; as follows ;— 74 THE KINGDOM OF GOD . The Book of Tobit, which belongs to the last two centuries B.C., foretells (xiv. 5-7) that, on the re¬ building of the Temple, all the nations shall turn in sincerity to the fear of Jehovah the Lord, and bury their idols and praise Jehovah. The Psalms of Solomon (said to be composed 63 48 B.C.) repudiate the usurping princes (Maccabean dynasty. Ps. Sol. xvii.), exult over Pompey’s death (ii.), and hope for a sinless King of David’s line, the Lord’s Anointed, whom Jehovah will make strong by the Holy Spirit. He will rule over Israel and the heathen nations. In His days there shall be no unrighteous¬ ness, for all shall be saints xvii.). The dispersed shall be gathered (xi.), and the just who have died shall be raised from the dead (xiv.). In the Book o*f Enoch, the allegories supposed to belong to the time of Herod the Great expect a “ Chosen One,” a “ Son of Man,” the Revealer, the Supremely Righteous One, to be manifested shortly, to judge the world, dethrone the kings, and set up His Kingdom. Then shall be resurrection and recom pense, sin shall be named no more for ever, and aD evil shall vanish. The chosen people shall abide with the Son of Man for ever and ever. The typical and impersonal figure in Daniel, “one like unto a son of man ’’—has now become personal. In the Assumption of Moses, Moses foretells to Joshua events up to about 4 B.C. Then God’s Kingdom will appear throughout His whole creation. The devil and sorrow shall have an end. The alone Eternal will destroy all idols, chastise the heathen, and exalt Israel. REVIEW OF POST-PROPHETIC PERIOD. 75 Topic for discussion : Compare these Jewish apoc¬ alypses with the modern apocalyptic novel (e.g, Bellamy’s “ Looking Backwards,”) as varying forms of Social Forecast. Request : Prophetic Spirit! that inspir’st The human Soul of universal earth, Dreaming on things to come . . . . . . upon me bestow A gift of genuine insight. (Cf. John xvi. 13.) § 29. Review of Post-prophetic Period. The period after the prophets may be divided into three sub-periods :— (i.) Medo-Persian till 332 B.C.; (ii.) Greek, 332-64 : (a) Egyptian to 205 ; ( b) Syrian to 64. Since 165 the Syrian sway over the Jews was largely nominal; (iii.) Roman, from 64 B.c. forward : (a) unsettled 64-37; (d) Herod the Great, 37-4 B.c. During this period the hope of the Kingdom of God had been diffused throughout the religious commonalty. It was no longer the rare intui¬ tion of a few souls. It had become the heritage of the multitude. Little was added to the contents of the hope as bequeathed by the prophets, to its beauty or ethical riches; but Greater stress was laid on certain elements in the hope, viz., ;6 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. (1) The universality and eternity of the King¬ dom. (Contrast Amos ix. and Dan. vii. 14, 27.) (2) Its transcendent (supernatural) character ; its accomplishment by means of sudden (miraculous) interposition from above. (3) Resurrection, judgment, recompense. (4) A single supernaturally-endowed super¬ human pre-existent Man looked to as Inaugu- rator of the New Order; no longer a Davidic line of Kings, but one Person; notably after the Apocalypse of Daniel. Carefully read over again § 20 Review of the Prophetic Ideal , and compare with the present review Combining in one view the hope and practice oi the Jews in this period, we observe from the standpoint of the New Testament :— I.—(Permanent elements.) The Kingdom of God is eternal and universal, is established on the earth at a time fixed in the all-ruling purpose of God, by a holy people, Israel having first repented, been atoned-for, and forgiven, by a line of Divinely-endowed Davidic rulers, or by one Divinely-endowed Person, most fre¬ quently called Messiah or Christ, also Son of God, Son of Man, Son of David, Chosen One of God. It is an order to which (what moderns call) Nature is absolutely subservient ; in which REVIEW OF POST-PROPHETIC PERIOD. 77 Death is repealed for the righteous if not for all ; and in which Recompense (judgment) is meted out to both righteous and unrighteous. It is pervaded by a Righteousness which brings the life of every member down to its minutest details into accord with a Divine Law, which, with all its infinite complexity and comprehensiveness, can yet be reduced to a single principle, variously stated as devoted love to God ( cf. Deut.), or negative sympathy with one’s neighbour. (Hillel : “ What you don’t like yourself, don’t do to your neigh¬ bour.”) /I. —(Temporary elements.) The foregoing concep¬ tion was wrapped in a husk of 1. Sacerdotalism, which, at the end of the period, was decaying, the Sadducean priests having profaned their office by political sel¬ fishness; 2. Legalism, which was very strong, the Scribes being then (at end of period) at the height of their power 3. Fanatical and exclusive Nationalism, which was, perhaps, the strongest of all . This regarded the emancipation of Israel and the establishment of his worldly power and glory, along with the overthrow and abasement of all his enemies as the most important and characteristic feature in the lining Kingdom of God ; and 4. a wild Supernaturalism {cf the Apocalypses). THE KINGDOM OF GOD. *8 § 30. Closing Survey of PART FIRST. Key-Text. So is the Kingdom of God \ as if a man should cast seed upon the earth. . . First the blade , then the ear , then the full corn in the ear. —Mark iv. 26, 28. In beginning our study, we found (§ 2), that the Kingdom of God was spoken of by Jesus as an idea already familiar to the people. To be in a position to understand His teaching about the Kingdom, it was thus necessary to know what the Jewish idea was, and to trace its growth, therefore, through the past “beginning from Moses.” We have watched the chief stages in the disclosure of the Kingdom of God in Israel; we have seen the Social Ideal foreshadowed with increasing clearness in the National State. Now that we have reached the close of PART FIRST, and before we go on to ask how Jesus took up or laid aside the thoughts of His countrymen concerning the Kingdom, it is advisable to glance back over the whole of the way we have come. The sections §§ 1-29 should all be read again ; but special attention should be fixed upon three : § 5. The National Type of the Kingdom as given under David. § 20. Summary view of the Prophetic Ideal ; and § 29. The post-Prophetic preparation. CLOSING SURVEY OF PART FIRST. 79 1 hese the teacher may readily combine into one expanding view of the pre-Christian develop¬ ment. In place ot the usual discussion, members of the Class may state in turn what has most impressed them in following this course of study through the Old Testament. 7 hanksgiving : For the Divine Life revealed to us through the Law and the Prophets. TURNBULL AND SPEARS, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH. I Kade^v orazin Qaba,ra M 1 . Carmel \Xebriloh. farw Kettyfhsm, r+yfa6 / - aw^j* /»#/« 38 ^, 43 f \ Mark iii. 35 5 Luke viii. 21 ; Matt. xii. 50; Mark vii. 15; Matt. xv. 11). Hence we have the important Rule : Whatsoever in the Old Testament pre¬ paration is in accord with the teachings or spirit of Jesus may abide as a permanent 14 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. element in the idea of the Kingdom of God : But whatsoever is at variance with the teach¬ ings or spirit of Jesus, though not expressly repealed by Him, must be given up. Examples of both kinds may be cited here and discussed. Request : That by loyally fulfilling the past we may bring in a better future. A.—The God Whose is the Kingdom. Jesus teaches § 34. The Supreme Unity. God is one (Mark xii. 29); the Highest (Luke vi. 35 ); He is omnipotent: all things are possible to Him (Mark x. 27; ‘Matt. xix. 26; Mark xiv. 36) ; He is prescient and presumably omniscient: He knows the else quite unknown future (Mark xiii. 32 ; Matt. xxiv. 36); the hearts of men (Luke xvi. 15) ; our wants before we tell Him (Matt. vi. 8 ; Luke xii. 30 ; Matt. vi. 32); He forgets not a single sparrow (Luke xii. 6); He seeth in secret (Matt. vi. 4) ; is in secret (Matt. vi. 6)— i.e., is no object of our senses. Wisdom is His (Luke xi. 49), and glory (Mark viii. 38). Request : For faith to believe always and intensely that God is (Heb. xi. 6). THE GOD OF REVELATION. 15 § 35. The Creator and Disposer. God created the creation (Mark xiii. 19). He is Lord of heaven and earth (Luke x. 21; Matt. xi. 25). Heaven is His throne and earth His footstool (Matt. v. 34 f y xxiii. 22). He is in Heaven {passim). Angels are His (Luke xii. 8) in untold numbers to do His bidding (Matt. xxvi. 53). He makes the sun to rise and the rain to fall (Matt. v. 45). He clothes the grass of the field and with more glory than Solomon’s (Luke xii. 28 ; Matt. vi. 30). He feeds the ravens (Luke xii. 24), the birds of the heaven (Matt. vi. 26 ); not a sparrow is for¬ gotten by Him (Luke xii. 6), or falls to the ground without Him (Matt. x. 29). He made man male and female, and created the unity of marriage (Mark x. 6 ff. ; Matt. xix. \ff). He gives us our daily bread (Luke xi. 3 ; Matt. vi. 11). He counts the hairs of our heads (Luke xii. 7 ; Matt. x. 30). He shortens the days— i.e., controls the course of history (Mark xiii. 20). Request : “ My times be in Thy hand ! ” § 36. The God of Revelation. He is Jehovah (LORD) (Mark xin 29 ; xiii. 20 ; v. 19), God of the living Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Mark xii. 26 f ; Luke xx. 37 f ; Matt, xxii. 32 /.). i6 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. He spoke to Moses (Mark xii. 26) ; the law of Moses was His commandment, His word (Mark vii. 9-13; Matt. xv. 4). His wisdom sent prophets and apostles (Luke xi. 49 )- Jerusalem is the city of the great King (Matt. v. 53). He is (obviously) the Lord of the (theocratic) vine¬ yard, who sent many servants to receive its fruit (Mark xii. 9 ; Luke xx. 13 ; Matt. xxi. 40). He sent Jesus (Mark ix. 37 ; Luke ix. 48; x. 16) His Son (Mark xii. 6; Luke xx. 13; Matt, xxi. 37). He is the Father of Jesus (passim). By His Spirit (called also His finger) Jesus casts out demons (Luke xi. 20; Matt. xii. 28 ; also Mark v. 19 ; Luke viii. 39). He alone knows the Son and has delivered all things into His hands (Luke x. 22 ; Matt. xi. 27) has appointed Him a Kingdom (Luke xxii. 29), and has prepared the next in honour to Him (Matt. xx. 23). He is alone known by the Son and by those to whom the Son wills to reveal Him (Luke x. 22 ; Matt. vi. 27). Request : For a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him (Eph. i. 17). Jesus accordingly reveals Him as § 37. The All Perfect Father. He is Father, Abba (Luke xi. 2, in Lord’s Prayer ; Mark xiv. 36, at Gethsemane). The instinctive and habitual cry of Jesus was not THE ALL-PERFECT FA TLIER. 17 “Our Father” ( Abhuna ), or “My Father” (Abbi), but, as carried over even into Gentile Churches, “ Father” (Abba), (Gal. iv. 6 ; Rom. viii. 15). He is “your Father” (to the disciples, Mark xi. 25, el passim). He is “ your Father,” as is no man on earth (to the multitudes, Matt, xxiii. 9). Whatever is good in earthly fathers is “ much more ” in Him (Luke xi. 13 ; Matt. vii. 11). “Your good works” cause men to glorify Him (Matt. v. 16). He is the alone good (Mark x. 18 ; Luke xviii. 19; Matt. xix. 17). He is seen (only) by the pure in heart (Matt. v. 8). He is merciful (Luke vi. 36). Peacemaking, love of one’s enemies, generosity without let or stint, when displayed by man, are only filial resemblances to the far exceeding benevolence of God (Luke vi. 27-36; Matt. v. 38-48 ; v. 9). He is perfect (Matt. v. 48). His will above all else ought to be done (Matt. vi. 10; vii. 21; Mark xiv. 36; Luke xxii. 42; Matt. xxvi. 39) : the doing of His will out¬ weighs in worth everything else (Matt. vii. 21; Mark iii. 35 ; Luke xi. 28 ; viii. 21 ; Matt, xii. 50). Instead of the usual Request, let the class unite in the Lord’s Prayer. 2 B THE KINGDOM OF GOD 18 § 38. The Father in His Family. He clothes the grass, feeds the ravens, forgets not a sparrow, but much more provides for “ you ” (Luke xii. 6 ff; Matt. vi. 26 ff.). He knows your wants (Luke xii. 30 ; Matt. vi. 32). He is kind to the unthankful and evil (Luke vi. 35). He sends sun and rain on the evil and the good (Matt. v. 45). He bestows forgiveness of sins (Luke xi. 4 ; Matt, vi. 12 ; Mark xi. 25 ; Luke xxiii. 34) only on those who forgive (Matt, xviii. 23^ ; vi. 14, 15). f He is the loving Father who welcomes the prodigal (Luke xv. 11 ff.). It is not His will that “one of these little ones” should perish (Matt, xviii. 14). He more justifies the penitent publican than the Pharisee (Luke xviii. 14). It is His good pleasure to hide “these things ” from the wise and to reveal them unto babes (Luke x. 21 ; Matt. xi. 25), also to give to “you little flock ” the Kingdom (Luke xii. 32). He has His elect whom He hath chosen (Mark xiii 20 \ Luke xviii. 7). He is the object of faith (Mark xi. 22). He is the hearer of prayer (Luke xi. iff. ; Matt. vi. 9 ff') i in answer to prayer gives the Holy Spirit (Luke xi. 13), good gifts (Matt. vii. 11), daily bread, forgiveness, guidance, deliverance from sin (Luke xi. 2 ff. ; Matt. vi. 9 ff), sends labourers into harvest (Luke x. 2 ; Matt. ix. 38), grants anything agreed on by “ two of you ” (Matt, xviii. 19). THE DREAD AWARDER. 19 His Spirit speaks in those who are brought to trial for Jesus’ sake (Matt. x. 20). He brings or does not bring into temptation (Luke xi, 4 ; Matt. vi. 13). Request : That we may be ever made to feel at home with God. § 39. The Dread Awarder. He will reward unobtrusive righteousness (Matt, vi. 1), almsgiving (vi. 4), prayer (vi. 6), and fasting (vi. 18). To deny the resurrection is to ignore His power (Mark xii. 24; Matt. xxii. 29). He blesses the heirs of the eternal Kingdom (Matt. xxv. 34). He punishes and forgives not those who do not forgive (Matt, xviii. 35). He will avenge His own elect (Luke xviii. 7). He will destroy the husbandmen (of Israel) who slay His Son (Mark xii. 9 ; Luke xx. 16). He has power to kill and cast into Gehenna (Luke xii. 5), to destroy therein both soul and body (Matt. x. 28). He is therefore to be feared {ibid.). Request : For a love that is reverence and awe (Heb. xii. 28 ; 1 John iv. 18). B.—The Subjects of the Kingdom. The words “ The Kingdom of God,” both in the Aramaic, which Jesus spoke, and in the Greek of the New Testament, mean literally “the Royal 20 THE KINGDOM OF GOD . Rule of God.” They are sometimes used (as we have seen, §§ 24, 26) in the Old Testament of the eternal sovereignty of God,—His govern¬ ment, throughout all time, of every part of His creation. But they are chiefly used, both in the Old and New Testaments, in a narrower though richer sense. The preparation in Israel has shown us that the Kingdom of God is not merely a Divine Reign or Government or Order or a spiritual condition ; but also the Royal Rule of God realized at least to some extent in the responsive attitude of subjects ; a common¬ wealth therefore, or society or fellowship of Souls (the people of Jehovah with or without subject races). As such it contains citizens or subjects who have a certain status or character, and stand in certain relations to God, to each other, and to the Christ. § 40. Who may be Subjects. Jesus, sent to proclaim the Kingdom of God (Luke iv. 43), came to call sinners (Mark ii. 17 ; Luke v. 32 ; Matt. ix. 13); came to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke xix. 10). Such persons, in order to enter the Kingdom, which is thus a Kingdom of Salvation, must Repent and believe in the good news of its advent (Mark i. 14, 15; Matt. iv. 17; so Luke xiii. [Carefully distinguish— repent (Greek meta-noein ), WHO MA Y BE SUBJECTS. 21 Wiclif, for-think, “change purpose,” from— regret , Greek meta-melesthai^ “rue.” Cf 2 Cor. vii. 8 -n, R.V.] Possess a righteousness exceeding that of the Scribes and Pharisees (Matt. v. 20), and do the Will of the Father (Matt. vii. 21). Turn and become as a little child (Matt, xviii. 3), receive the kingdom as a little child (Mark x. 15 ; Luke xviii. 16, 17 ; cf. John iii. 3, 5 ; Luke x. 21 ; Matt. xi. 25). Deny self, take up their cross and follow the Christ (Mark viii. 34; Lukeix.23; Matt.xvi.24); cut off offending hand or foot (Mark ix. 43 Matt, xviii. 8 ff .); renounce all that they have (Luke xiv. 33); Lose their life for Jesus’ sake, and so save it (Mark viii. 35; Luke ix. 24; Matt. xvi. 25; cf. John xii. 25.) When Jesus first said, Let a man “take up his cross,” His death had been foretold, but not a death on the cross. The phrase had thus no explicit reference to the form of Jesus’ death. To take up your cross meant simply to be on the point of going from the hall of judgment to the place of crucifixion (John xix. 17), to be prepared for in¬ stant execution—in modern parlance, to put the halter round your neck and begin your 7 narch to the gallows. But crucifixion was a much more ignominious death than hang¬ ing* Such utter preparedness for the worst of loss and dishonour was demanded by Jesus. Compare the corresponding members of the pairs of conditions:— Repent Believe in the Good News. Exceed conventional right- Do the Will of the Father, eousness 22 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. Turn Deny self Lose life for His sake Become as little children. Receive as a little child. Follow the Christ. Save it. Thus must they enter by the strait gate and narrow way (Luke xiii. 24 ; Matt. vii. 13 f). The Kingdom is already possessed by Children and the childlike (Mark x. 14 ; Luke xviii. 16 ; Matt. xix. 14); “Ye poor 7 ’ (Luke vi. 20 ; cf. Matt. v. 3 ; Mark x. 23, 25). Them that have been persecuted for righteousness 7 sake (Matt. v. 10). The Kingdom, while admitting Israelites, is not limited to Israel, for it shall entertain not only Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, but also Many from North, South, East, West (Luke xiii. 28 /.; Matt. viii. 11); and, taken away from the Jews, shall be given to a Nation bringing forth the fruits thereof (Matt. xxi. 43 )- It is meant to include all the nations (Luke xxiv. 47 ; Matt, xxviii. 19). For Whosoever shall do the will of Gcd is of the Christ’s kindred (Mark iii. 35 ; Luke viii. 2J ; Matt, xii. 50). Request : Turn Thou us unto Thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned (Lam. v. 21). RELATION OF SUBJECTS TO GOD. 23 § 41. Relation of Subjects to God. (RELIGION.) A. —Receptive. They are God’s children : He is their Father (Matt, xxiii. 9 ; see § 37.) By Him they are given the Kingdom (Luke xii. 32). By Him their sins are forgiven (Matt, xviii. 23 ff.\ vi. 14). By Him they are supplied with food and clothing (Luke xii. 22 ff.\ Matt. vi. 26 ff .); with guidance (Luke xi. 4 ; Matt. vi. 13); with good gifts (Matt. vii. n); with the Holy Spirit (Luke xi. 13). B. —Responsive. They are accordingly to cherish towards God Faith (Mark xi. 22) for the supply of their needs (Matt. vi. 8), for the removal of mountains (Mark xi. 23 ; Luke xvii. 6; Matt. xxi. 21), for answer to prayer (Mark xi. 24 ; Matt. xxi. 22). Fear (Luke xii. 5 ; Matt. x. 28) ; Obedience; doing His will (Matt. vi. 10; vii. 21; Mark iii. 35, &c.), being His servants (Luke xvii. 10), keeping His commandments (Matt. v. 19 ; xix. 17 ; Luke x. 28); all which relations are summed up in LOVE, supreme and complete (Mark xii. 28 ff.\ Luke x. Matt. xxii. 35^), and Imitation of His moral perfectness (Luke vi. 36 ; Matt. v. 48). So religion passes into morality. 24 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 0.—Reciprocal. These mutual relations are to find expression in Prayer (Luke xi. Matt. vii. 7 which is unostentatious and in secret (Matt. vi. 6), yet may be concerted (Matt, xviii. 19), no oft-repeated gabbling (Matt. vi. 7), trustful (Matt. vi. 8), believing (expectant) (Mark xi. 24 ; Matt. xxi. 22), weariless and persistent (Luke xviii. 1 ff.), and aftei the manner of the LORD'S FRA YER Shorter Version. Luke xi. 2 ff. Father, Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also for¬ give every one that is indebted to us. And bring us not into temptation. Longer. Matt. vi. 9 ff. Our Father which art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come : Thy Will be done, As in Heaven, so on earth. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we also have forgiven our debtors. And bring us not temptation, But deliver us from evil into The two versions are mutually explanatory. The additional clauses in Matthew are not so much new petitions'as expansions and explanations of the petitions found in both Luke and Matthew. RELA TION Of SUBJECTS TO EACH OTHER. 25 Thus Thy Kingdom Come involves Thy Will done ON EARTH as in Heaven —a fact too often for¬ gotten. A later section will treat of the relation of subjects to the Christ. Request : Lord, teach us to pray (Luke xi. 1). § 42. Relation of Subjects to each Other. (MORALITY.) They form one Brotherhood ; are all brethren, having one Father and one Teacher (Matt, xxiii. 8, 9), and being brethren of the Christ the King (Matt, xxv. 40, 45 ; Mark iii. 35 ; Luke viii. 21 ; Matt, xii. 50). Hence each one possesses dread worth and sanctity. though only “one of these little ones ” (Mark ix. 42 ; Matt. x. 42 ; xviii. 6, 10, 14), nay, even “one of the least of these” (Matt. xxv. 40, 45). Aught that men do or fail to do to “ one of these least,” is done or not done to the Christ the King and to His Father (Mark ix. 37 ; Luke ix. 48 ; Matt, xviii. 5 ; xxv. 31 ffi), and receives judgment accordingly (Mark. ix. 41, 42 ; Luke xvii. 2 ; Matt. x. 42 ; xxv. 46). Yet each soul, however great his worth, must set far less value on himself than on the Kingdom, and must be ready, if need be, to sacrifice him¬ self completely for it (Mark viii. 35 ; Luke ix. 24 ; Matt. xvi. 25 ; Luke xiv. 26 ; Matt. x. 38 f) —the law of self-sacrifice. 26 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. Contrast this self-sacrifice with a thing too often put in its place,—a self-effacement that springs out of weak or amiable compliance with the whims or wishes of others and that sacrifices along with oneself the Kingdom also. Request : “ Bind each to each and all to Thee.” § 43. The LAW of the Brotherhood. This Law touches not merely the outer act, but far more the inner spirit (Mark vii. 21 ff.\ Matt, xv. 19). It is not a statute-book, but a conscience. Its precepts are not a series of Divine Acts of Parliament; they are points marking the line taken spontaneously by the imperative of true life (by “the Inward Must”). Thus the sayings of Jesus set forth no exhaustive cata¬ logue of duties: they direct us to the inexhaustible spring of dutiful conduct which rises up within the filial subject of the Kingdom {cf. John iv. 14 ; 2 Cor. iii. 6 b.). These vital distinctions are involved in the contrast between the righteousness of the Kingdom and the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees (Matt. v. 20). They bred a legal, Jesus a loyal spirit. They taught men to seek life in law (John v. 39/); He taught men to find law in life ( see § 44). a. This Law forbids Murder (Mark x. 19; Luke xviii. 20; Matt. xix. 18) ; but also anger (Matt. v. 22), contempt (Matt. v. 22 ; xviii. 10; Mark vii. 22), harshness THE LAW OF THE BROTHERHOOD . 27 of speech or judgment (Matt. v. 22 ; vii. 1 ; Mark vii. 22); Adultery (Mark x. 19, &c.) ; but also lustful intent (Matt. v. 28 ; Mark vii. 22) ; Theft (Mark x. 19, &c.; vii. 21, &c.); but also covet¬ ousness (Mark vii. 22 ; Luke xii. 15) ; Perjury or false witness (Mark x. 19, &c.); but also swearing of any kind (Matt, v, 34 ff.) and deceit (Mark vii. 22) ; and in general Causing anyone to stumble (Mark ix. 42; Luke xvii. 2 ; Matt, xviii. 6). “ Thou shalt not cause anyone to stumble ” is as much a Christian Commandment as any found in the Deca¬ logue. Observe its comprehensiveness. b. This Law enjoins Purity of heart (Matt. v. 8); Sincerity ; accord of outer and inner life; no “ acting ” (hypocrisis, Matt. vi.—vii.; xxiii., &c.); Veracity of speech (Matt. v. 37). [Out of this Law of Sincerity—this fragment of Jesus’ ethics—Carlyle has made a great part of his gospel.] Forgiveness (Mark xi. 25) till seventy times seven (Matt, xviii. 22) from the heart (Matt, xviii. 35); on pain of awful doom (Matt. vi. 15; xviii. 35) ; Patience (Luke viii. 15 ; xxi. 19) ; Meekness (Matt. v. 5), conciliatoriness (Luke xii. 58 ; Matt. v. 25), peaceableness (Mark ix. 50), yielding (Luke vi. 29^; Matt. v. 39^); peace¬ making (Matt. v. 9) ; Charitableness (Luke vi. 37, 41 /; Matt. vii. 1-5); 28 THE KINGDOM OF GOD . Courtesy (Matt. v. 22, 47); obligingness (Matt, v. 42); broad sympathies (Mark ix. 39, 40 ; Luke ix. 50); love to enemies (Luke vi. 27 ; Matt. v. 44); Humility (Mark ix. 33 ff.\ Matt, xviii. 4; Luke xiv. 11); Unobtrusiveness (Matt, vi.); modest self-deprecia¬ tion (Luke xvii. 10) ; [“ The Gospel of Silence.”] Service : to minister and not to be ministered unto is to be great; servant of all is first of all (Mark x. 43 ff.\ Matt. xx. 26 ff.\ Luke xxii. 26 f); [“The Gospel of Work ” is a modern form of this Law of Service, which is also the Law of Mastery and the pathway of ambition. Show how it bears on the idler and the swaggerer. ] Generosity unstinted and undespairing (Luke vi. 30-35 ; Matt. v. 42; Luke xiv. 14), and especially Kindness (mercy, Hosea’s Hesedh , § 10); Matt. v. 7 ; Luke vi. 36) to all in want or distress (Luke x. 37); the poor (Luke xii. 33 ; Mark x. 21 ; Luke xviii. 22 ; Matt. xix. 21) ; the hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, prisoners (Matt. xxv. 35 #) 1 the sick (Matt. x. 8 ; cf. Mark vi. 13 ; Luke ix. 6 ; Matt. xxv. 36) ; the maimed, lame, blind (Luke xiv. J2 ff) ; children and the like (Mark ix. 37 ; Luke ix. 48 ; Matt, xviii. 5-10). [Philanthropy, social reform, “the Gospel of UNITY OF THE LA W OF THE KINGDOM. 29 Wealth,” are a few phases of this Law of Kindness. The stingy man is immoral.] C. This law not merely rules the conduct of brother to brother, but also the conduct of those within to those without the Kingdom, to enemies, persecutors and aliens (Luke vi. 27-36 ; Matt. v. 38-48). Request : Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this Law. 44. The Unity of the Law of the Kingdom. The whole law hangs from one principle ( cf. the Pith of the Law, § 27), which is (1) in terms of action— “Do to others as ye would that others do to you” (Luke vi. 31 ; Matt. vii. 12). (2) In terms of motive, and thus nearer the root— “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Mark xii. 31 ; Luke x. 28 ; Matt. xxii. 39/), even though he be as unpleasing to thee as Samaritan to Jew (Luke x. 29-37). (3) as ground or root in nature— “Ye shall be perfect as your Father is perfect” (Matt. v. 48 ; Luke vi. 36). So morality passes into religion. But, according to § 41, religion passes into morality. Strictly speaking, however, in the Kingdom of God morality is only one phase of religion. To be son of God is to be brother to every man. Request : For hourly touch with Him in whom Law and Life are Love. 30 THE KINGDOM OP GOD Wfc have collated the sayings concerning (a) The God whose is the Kingdom, and (fr) The Subjects of the Kingdom. We now study the sayings touching the cen¬ tral figure of G—'The Christ. § 45. His Titles. Jesus calls Himself all but invariably The Son of Man (fourteen times in Mark ; twenty-five in Luke; thirty in Matthew); never (directly) Son of God, though implying it (Mark xii. 6 ; Luke xx. 13 ; Matt. xxi. 37); on two occasions “The Son 55 as related to the Father (Luke x. 22 ; Matt. xi. 27 ; Mark xiii. 32 ); rarely, if at all, the Christ (Mark ix. 41 ; Luke xxiv. 26, 46 ; Matt, xxiii. 10 ; xxiv. 5) ; twice the King (Matt. xxv. 34, 40); questions the title of the Son of David (Mark xii 35 ^* ; Luke xx. 41^; Matt. xxii. 41 ff.). He accepts the confession of Peter (chief of the Apostles):— “Thou art The Christ” (Mark viii. 29); of God (Luke ix. 20); the Son of the Living God (Matt, xvi. 16) ; in answer to the adjuration of the High Priest (the religious chief of Israel), declares that He is the Christ the Son of God (Mark xiv. 62 ; Matt. xxvi. 64 ; Luke xxii. 66-70) ; and in answer to Pilate, Procurator of Imperial Rome, avows Himself King of the Jews (Mark xv. 2.; Luke xxiii. 3 ; Matt, xxvii. 11). “ THE SON OF MAN." 3i Request : “ Who art Thou, Lord ? ” (Acts ix. 5). “Tell me, I pray Thee, Thy Name” (Gen. xxxii. 29). (Even in the most sacred quest the rule holds:— Always obtain information from the highest author¬ ities. Get your facts first-hand.) § 46. “The Son of Man.” This being the title almost always used by Jesus when speaking of Himself, if we find out its meaning we get at His thought of Himself. “ The Kingdom of God ” and “ The Son of Man ” are Two Great Ideas of Jesus, which, under¬ stood in themselves and in their reciprocal relations, give us the essence of His Gospel. a —In Hebrew and Aramaic “son” denoted also member of species or class. “ Sons of man ” (in our version “ sons of men”) are members of the human race, human beings. The singular “ A son of man ” is thus simply “ a human being,” “ a man.” “ The Son of Man ” is “ the human being par excelle 7 ice , “the typical characteristic Man,” “the Man of men,” “The Man.” So far mere grammar guides us. But the phrase has a history. b —The seer in Daniel vii. 13 beheld as the recipient of the everlasting Kingdom (the faithful Jews under the figure of) one like a son of man (§ 26): Humanity regnant. 32 THE KINGDOM OF GOD, The seer in Enoch expected as personal in-bringer of the Kingdom of God a Son of Man (§ 28) : a regnant Man. c —The vision in Daniel was certainly present to Jesus’ mind (often and especially in Mark xiv. 62). He knew that He was bringing in the Kingdom of Humanity portrayed in Daniel. He was a Son of Man sent for that purpose. He was more. He embodied the reign of Humanity which he inaugurated. He was the Son of Man. At the outset, therefore, we may say that “ The Son of Man ” on Jesus’ lips means the typical, representative, or ideal Man—the personal pattern, model, or Standard of Humanity,— who receives from God, embodies, establishes, and governs the Kingdom of Humanity spoken of in Daniel which is destined to supersede all lower and brutal forms of rule. Or in fewer words The Son of Man is The Ideal Man, empowered of God to bring in and rule over the King¬ dom of Humanity, which is the Kingdom of God: the personal ideal Divinely equipped to realise the social ideal of Humanity. This is but a preliminary definition supplied by the phrase itself and its Apocalyptic usage. Yet even so the title indicates a character at once universal (Son of Man) and unique (The Son of Man); related to all men, and regulative of all men ; of man, yet above “ THE SON OF MAN" 33 man ; the soul of perfect sympathy and of absolute authority. What meaning we are to find in “ Man ” and “Humanity” we must learn not chiefly from verbal or prophetic sources, but from Jesus Himself. His life fills in the contents of the idea given above. Even His usage of the phrase shows how far His thought rose beyond the thought of men before Him or of His time. The seers in Daniel and Enoch employed the phrase in connection with events which the Synoptics associate with the later Advent. Jesus used it much more frequently in other connections. Out of thirty-six occasions on which the phrase is reported in the Synoptics as uttered by Jesus, only sixteen refer to the later Advent. In sayings attested by more than one Synoptic the proportion is still smaller. Thus with Jesus “the Son of Man” is only in a minor degree an eschatological idea. Even where He used it of the Later Advent, as in Matt. xxv. 31 ff., He gave it a present-day and perennial import. Whatsoever is done to one of the least of His brethren is done unto “ the Son of Man ” (ver. 31), as though to say He is ' now and always the central sensorium of mankind. From the twenty occasions on. which Jesus used the phrase apart from reference to His second coming, we learn that the Son of Man was in His thought one who came to seek and save the lost, came to minister and give His life a ransom for many, came eating and c 2 34 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. drinking [not like the ascetic Baptist], had not where to lay His head, sowed the good seed, was like Jonah a sign, had authority on earth to forgive sins (words spoken against Him would be forgiven), was Lord of the Sabbath, went as was written of Him ; must needs fulfil the Scriptures, suffer, die, rise again, and was betrayed with a kiss : blessed are those perse¬ cuted for His sake. Request : Luke xxi. 34-36. § 47. The Anointed Ruler. According to Jesus’ own usage, “ The Son of Man ” stands foremost among His titles. He also accepted from others the title of “The Christ,” though rarely using it Himself. “ Christ ” is commonly used as a personal name ; it is really an official title. It is the English form of the Greek Christos , which translates the Hebrew Mashiach —Anointed (Messiah). Mashiach occurs thirty-nine times in the Old Testa¬ ment. It is used Once of an oiled shield (2 Sam. i. 21); eleven times of Saul (1 Sam. xii. 5 j &c.) J [Saul was literally the Lord’s Christ.] twice certainly of David (2 Sam. xix. 21 ; xxiii. 1); five times vaguely of David and his seed (2 Sam. xxii. 57, &c.); twice perhaps of Solomon (2 Chron. vi. 42 ; Ps. cxxxii. 10 ); once probably of Zedekiah (Lam. iv. 20) ; eight times of a king undefined (e.g, Ps. ii. 2) ; once of Cyrus (Isa. xlv. 1) ; JCyrus was literally “ the Lord’s Christ.”J THE ANOINTED RULER . 35 four times certainly of a High Priest (Lev. iv. 3, 5, 16; vi. 22) ; twice probably of a High Priest (Dan. ix. 2% 26); twice (the same passage repeated) indirectly of Prophets of Jehovah (Psalm cv. 15; 1 C’nron. xvi. 22; cf. 1 Kings xix. 16). Thus “ Christ” denotes in the older Scriptures twice prophet, six times priest, thirty times king. To speak arithmetically we should think of The Christ as fifteen times more King than Prophet, and five times more King than Priest. The other Jewish writings outside the Canon con¬ firm the emphasis on “ King” in Christ. His¬ torically, therefore, “ The Christ ” is pre-eminently “ The Anointed King in the (actual or expected Israelitish) Kingdom of God.” People generally treat “Jesus ” and “ Christ ” as synony¬ mous words, quite forgetting that the statement “Jesus is the Christ” was held to prove a distinct revelation from God (Matt. xvi. 17), and formed the theme of the Apostolic Gospel (Acts xvii. 3). Cf. Gautama is the Buddha (The Enlightened One). Request : For the Anointing from God (1 John ii. 20, 27 ; 2 Cor. i. 21). 36 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. § 48. His general relation to the Kingdom. By the titles which He assumes or accepts (§§ 5, 12, 24, 26, 28, 46, 47) as well as by His refer¬ ences to the fulfilment of Scripture (§ 33), Jesus shows that He knows Himself to be The Coming One (Luke vii. 18^; Matt. xi. 2 the Agent of God to bring in the Kingdom, and the Vicegerent of God to rule in it. God appointed Him a Kingdom (Lukexxii. 29), and has delivered all things unto Him (Luke x. 22 ; Matt. xi. 27). He was sent to proclaim the Kingdom of God (Luke iv. 43 > When Lie first proclaims it, it is at hand (Mark i. 15, & c.). He plants the germ of the Kingdom (Matt. xiii. 24, 37). Then When He by the power of God casts out demons, the Kingdom is already “come upon you” (Luke xi. 20 ; Matt. xii. 28), “ The Kingdom of God is in the midst of you” (Luke xvii. 21). The Greek word here means within or among. As it could scarcely be said that the Kingdom of God was within the tempting Pharisees, we must translate ‘ ‘ in the midst of you.” The New Covenant (/. xvi. 28 ; Luke xxii. 30). Attitude to Him is in the Divine judgment abso¬ lutely decisive (Luke xii. 8 f ; Matt. x. 3 2 f 5 xxv. 40, 45, 46). And He must now be followed (Mark viii. 34 \ Luke ix. 23 ; Matt. xvi.'24 ; x. 38). Request : For help to hallow Christ in our hearts as Lord (1 Peter iii. 15). § 49. His relation to the Father. He is the Son of God, “ the Son” absolutely (§ 45 )- He is sent (of the Father, Luke x. 16 ; Matt, x. 40). To Him the Father delivered all things ; only He and His know the Father ; only the Father knows Him (Luke x. 22 ; Matt. xi. 27). The cures He wrought were performed by God 38 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. (Luke xi. 20 ; Matt. xii. 28 ; Mark v. 19 ; Luke viii. 39). To despise Him is to despise His Sender (Luke x. 16); to receive Him is to receive His Sender (Matt. x. 40). He sends the promise of the Father on His disciples (Luke xxiv. 49). Why call Him good ? since God alone is good (Mark x. 18; Luke xviii. 19). Not He, but the Father only knoweth of “ that hour ” (Mark xiii. 32). Not His will but the Father’s must be done (Mark xiv. 36 ; Luke xxii. 42 ; Matt. xxvi. 39). It is not His but the Father’s to give seats of honour next to Him (Mark x. 40 ; Matt. xx. 23). He prays to the Father (fiassim) ; for Simon’s faith (Luke xxii. 32) ; for His murderers’ forgiveness (Luke xxiii. 34). Before death He asks His God why He has forsaken Him (Mark xv. 34 ; Matt, xxvii. 46). At death He commends His spirit into the Father’s hands (Luke xxiii. 46). He has been appointed a Kingdom by His Father (Luke xxii. 29). All authority in heaven and earth has been given Him (by the Father) (Matt, xxviii. 18). He will come in the glory of Llis Father (Mark viii. 38; Luke ix. 26 ; Matt. xvi. 27), to confess or deny before His Father those who confess or deny Him before men (Matt. x. 32 /. • cf. Luke xii. 8 /.). Request : Show us the Father (John xiv. 8, 21, 23). HIS RELATIONS TO THE SUBJECTS . 39 § 50. His relations to the Subjects. He sowed the seed whence they sprang (Matt. xiii. 37 )- He came to minister (unto them, Mark x. 45 ; Matt. xx. 28 ; cf. Luke xxii. 27); to seek and save (them when) lost (Luke xix. 10) ; to make them whole from their sin (Mark ii. 17 ; Luke v. 32 ; Matt. ix. 12/). He gives His life as a ransom for them (Mark x. 45 ; Matt. xx. 28). His body is given for them (Luke xxii. 19). His blood of the (New) Covenant is shed for them (Mark xiv. 24; Luke xxii. 20) unto remission of sins (Matt. xxvi. 28). He has authority on earth to forgive (their) sins (Mark ii. 10; Luke v. 24; Matt. ix. 6; Luke vii. 48). He gives rest to their souls (Matt. xi. 28, 29). He is their Teacher (Matt. xxvi. 18) and prophet (Mark vi. 4 ; Luke iv. 24 ; Matt. xiii. 57 ; Luke xiii. 33); they believe on Him (Matt, xviii. 6); they are His disciples (Matt, xxviii. 19); they learn of Him (Matt. xi. 29). He is their Example (Mark x. 43-45, &c.). He is their Lord (Matt. xxv. 37); they obey Him. (Luke vi. 46 ff.\ Matt. vii. 21^.'); take His yoke upon them (Matt. xi. 29). He is their Leader (Matt, xxiii. 10) and Shepherd (Mark xiv. 27; Matt. xxvi. 31); they follow Him at all risks and costs (bearing the cross) (Mark viii. 34; Luke ix. 23 ; Matt. xvi. 24 ; Mark x. pi ; Luke xviii. 22; Matt. xix. 21 ; x. 38). 40 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. For His sake they suffer, or must be ready to suffer, persecution, the hatred of all men (Mark xiii. 9 ^; Luke xxi. 12 ff.\ Matt. xxiv. 9), loss of home and kindred, and friends, and wealth, and life (Mark x. 28 ff. ; Luke xviii. 28 ff. ; Matt. xix. 27 ff; Luke xiv. 25-33; Matt. x. 37 - 39 )- They are His elect (Matt. xxiv. 31). He calls them His friends (Luke xii. 4; cf. John xv. 14 , 15 )- They are His brethren (Mark iii. 35; Luke viii. 21 ; Matt. xii. 50; xxv. 40-45). Aught done to them is done to Him (Mark ix. 37 ; Luke ix. 48; Matt, xviii. 5 ; Luke x. 16; Matt, x. 40 ; xxv. 40-45). They confess Him before men (Luke xii. 8; Matt, x. 32). They take the Supper in remembrance of Him (Luke xxii. 19). They are to make all the nations His disciples, baptizing them in His name, teaching them His commandments (Matt, xxviii. 19-20). Where two or three meet in His name there is He (Matt, xviii. 20). He is with them always until the consummation of the age (Matt, xxviii. 20). They watch for His appearing (Mark xiii. 33-35 ; Luke xii. 40; xxi. 36; Matt. xxiv. 42). He confesses them before the angels of God (Luke xii. 8), before His Father (Matt. x. 32). He welcomes them to the Kingdom prepared for them (Matt. xxv. 34), for THE DEATH OF THE CHRIST. 4i He appoints them a Kingdom, that they may eat and drink at His table in His Kingdom (Luke xxii. 29 f ). REQUEST : That we be kept in the simplicity and purity that is towards Christ (2 Cor. xi. 3). § 51. The Death of the Christ. There are three chief stages in the teaching of Jesus concerning His Death. They begin respec¬ tively— a. When Peter first proclaimed Him the Christ. From that moment Jesus declares that the Son of Man must needs suffer rejection and death, and will rise again (Mark viii. 31; Luke ix. 22; Matt. xvi. 21 ; Mark ix. 31, &c.). He had uttered no whisper before of a violent end (not even in Mark ii. 20). Thus the Death appears to be connected with the calling of the Christ. Be¬ cause the Son of Man must needs suffer death, we know it is necessary to the bringing in of the King¬ dom. He finds His Death foretold in Scripture (Mark ix. 12). On this prediction of His Passion and Resurrection He announces new conditions of fellowship. The would-be disciple must deny self, take up his cross and follow the Christ. For, by following Him who is to die and rise again, a man in losing his life shall save it (Mark viii. 34; Luke ix. 23; Matt. xvi. 24). 42 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. Jesus next declares outright that the Death is a pur- pose of His coming. b. On the Request of the Sons of Zebedee. Jesus says they shall drink of His cup, and be baptized with His baptism (i.e., share in His sufferings, cf Mark xiv. 36). He tells them that in His fellowship men master by serving, “rule by obeying,” rise highest by stooping lowest ; for— in full accord with this law —The Son of Man also— the Regnant Man, the Christ caine not to be served but to serve , and , bend¬ ing to the last sacrifice involved in service, to give His life a ransom for (instead of) many (Mark x. 35-45 ; Matt. xx. 20-28). Thus the Death is an act of service to many (presum¬ ably the subjects of the Kingdom). His life given instead of many is a means of deliverance (presum¬ ably from that to which the life is given, viz., from Death). He dies that they may live. c. At the Last Supper. The following table will show at a glance the four (Synoptic and Pauline) accounts of the in¬ augural sentences, and the degree of attestation belonging to each word. ( See Mark xiv. 22-24; Matt. xxvi. 26-28 ; Luke xxii. 19, 20; 1 Cor. xi! 24 , 25). P 3 CD Cx* z 14 > O oO PP C_D s pp CZD m OO i-1 OO i-1 E — 1 H < fa " pp -=d E-* I-q PQ OO i—-1 o PP CJ> -=cj P 3 CQ PP PP Ph oO PP E-h q_ CD CD OO I < I- 1 -1 E — 1 oi o fa h fa o j j < w >* * z >—I Q WHWj «C< 22fafa j ss.j2 SSB§ SEfafa C^-( a Pcq ^T—j C/2 oQ E—' kC| P =3 t=- C=D P=P i—i—i i— 1 —i E — 1 MHWj 5$b&3 HH o Pi o fa o H z P WHWj faHfap SSfafa 44 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. The words over the Tread add little to what lie has said before. But very much fresh light falls from the words over the Wine. They are bright with the memory of great deeds and hopes in Israel’s past. (1) The words, “Blood” and “Covenant,” found togetner in all four sources, recall the words of Moses when the Covenant was made at Sinai, according to Ex. xxiv. 4-8. The people said, “ All that Jehovah has spoken will we do, and be obedient.” And Moses, having sprinkled first the altar then the people with the blood (of “ burnt-offerings ” and “ peace-offerings,” not of “ sin-offerings ” or “ guilt-offerings ”), said, “ Behold, the blood of the Covenant which Jehovah has made with you.” It is almost certain that Jesus was thinking of that scene at Sinai. As then Jehovah entered into cove¬ nant with the old Israelitish community, so now the Father entered into covenant with the members of the Evangelic Kingdom. “ My blood of the Cove¬ nant corresponded to the blood of the burnt-offering (symbol of homage, devotion, worship), and of the peace-offering (symbol of fellowship, friendship, com¬ munion). (2) Zechariah (ix. after bidding Jerusalem rejoice because her King was coming to her, “ lowly riding upon an ass,” added in the name of Jehovah, “Because of the blood of thy Cove¬ nant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.” Jesus had deliberately fulfilled the first part of this oracle by His triumphal entry into Jerusalem a few THE DEATH OF THE CHRIST. 45 days before. Was He now thinking of the second part? By “the blood of thy Covenant” Zechariah possibly meant the homage and communion sacri- ficially expressed, by which, from the time of Moses downwards, the Covenant with Israel had been rati¬ fied. Thus (2) refers us back to (1), with the added meaning that the blood of the Covenant was a reason for God’s delivering prisoners from a miserable dungeon. (3) Jeremiah (xxxi. 31-34) foretells a New Covenant with Israel: Jehovah will write His Law in their heart: they shall each and all know Him : for He will forgive their iniquity. Paul and Luke report “New Covenant,” and Matthew reports “unto forgiveness of sins” : * so three out of our four sources seem to refer to Jeremiah’s hope : which was certainly the origin of our phrase, New Covenant (New Testament); (cf. 2 Cor. iii. 3-6 ; Heb. viii. 8-13 ; ix. 15). If this prophetic word were present to the mind of Jesus, it would add the ideas of the inward law, of personal intimacy with God, and of the forgiveness of sins to the Covenant constitutive (1) and liberative (2). (4) The words follow the Passover meal, and Jesus has just spoken (Luke xxii. 16) of the Passover being fulfilled in the Kingdom of God. It is probable that Jesus connected in His own mind the deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage with the deliverance of His followers from some adverse power. There is nothing to show that Jesus thought of Him¬ self as the paschal Lamb (Ex. xii. 3-S). He used 46 THE KINGDOM. OF GOD. bread and not the lamb’s flesh as the emblem of His body. The paschal lamb was not a “sin-offering”: its blood was a protective token (Ex. xii. 13). The moment was one of swift, wide-ranging thought and intense emotion. Many reminiscences and images must have come thronging to His mind, to be blended into the indissoluble unity of the two historic sentences. The analogy of the Exodus and of the Sinaitic Cove¬ nant was probably uppermost, but with it may have been mingled elements from the whole sacrificial system and prophetic hope of Israel. We may perhaps interpret the words thus : The beginnings of the New Kingdom are likened to the beginnings of the Old “ Kingdom of priests.” (Ex. xix. 6). God is delivering the subjects of His Kingdom from miserable bondage to a hostile power typified by Egypt. He is forming with them a Covenant, or ratifying the relation in which He and they stand to each other, so making and marking them a distinct community. To the ratifying of this Covenant, the Death of Jesus, the Christ of the Kingdom, is necessary. Jesus offers Himself as a sacrifice to God (Ex. xxiv. 4 f). In this sacrifice the subjects of the King¬ dom, in some modified sense, participate (being sprinkled then, drinking the cup now). The- Covenant so ratified secures the forgiveness of sins. Instead of the Law-in-the-Book (Ex. xxiv. 7), it puts the Law-in-the Heart. In other words, The death of the Christ is necessary to the ratifying of the relation in which the Father stands to the subjects of His Kingdom. It is a sacrifice SUMMARY OF DIVISION C. 47 which is made by the Christ to the Father, and in which the subjects in some measure partici¬ pate. The relation it ratifies carries with it forgiveness of sins from God and inward obedi- ence from man. It marks the deliverance of the subjects from a power hostile to the King¬ dom, and the establishment of the Kingdom as a distinct and independent community. Thank's be to God for His unspeakable Gift (2 Cor. ix. 15). § 52. Summary of Division C. In relation to the Father, Jesus is the Ideal Subject (§ 49). In relation to His followers, He is the Ideal King (§ 50). Hence in His own person, He realizes the Ideal of the Kingdom: He is in personal form what the Kingdom of God is in social. Hence the quest after the Kingdom (Luke xii. 31; Matt. vi. 33), and all the great moral and religious laws of the Kingdom (§§ 41-44) are summed up in the command “ Follow Me ” (Mark viii. 34, &c.). 48 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. D.—When and How the Kingdom Comes. (The Time and Manner of its Appearing.) § 53. The Present Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is spoken of as present. It is at hand (Mark 1. 15; Matt. iv. 17 ; x. 7 ; Luke x. 9). It is “come upon you” (Luke xi. 20; Matt. xii. 28). It is “in the midst of you ” (Luke xvii. 21). It is being entered by men “from the days of John the Baptist” (Luke xvi. 16; Matt. xi. 12, 13). § 54. The Future Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is spoken of as still in the future. It shall have come with power before the death of bystanders (Mark ix. 1 ; Luke ix. 27 ; Matt, xvi. 28 ; cf. Mark xiii. 30 ; Luke xxi. 32 ; Matt, xxiv. 34). Until it shall come, Jesus will drink no more of the fruit of the vine (Luke xxii. 18). Those who expect it immediately to appear are reminded that the Lord must go hence to obtain the Kingdom and return (Luke xix. ”#)• The long tribulation, the signs in heaven, the com¬ ing of the Son of Man in clouds with glory and power (Mark xiii.; Luke xxi. ; Matt. xxiv.; THE LAW OF GROWTH. 49 cf. Luke xvii. 24^.), indicate that the Kingdom of God (in Matt, “consummation of the age”) is nigh (Luke xxi. 31). The twelve shall not have gone through the cities of Israel till the Son of Man be come (Matt. x. 23). This Gospel of the Kingdom shall first be preached in the whole world unto all the nations (Mark xiii. 10 ; Matt. xxiv. 14). Though, for the accomplishment of these things, no more than the duration of “ this generation ” is allowed, yet 'of that day knoweth no one, not even the Son, but the Father (Mark xiii. 30, 32 ; Luke xxi. 32 ; Matt. xxiv. 34, 36). § 55. The Law of Growth (or Evolution ). The present and the future Kingdom are one and the same {cf §§ 24 and 26), the Kingdom of God being a thing of growth or development •' (evolution is the modern word), like the seed-corn (Mark iv. 26 ff.\ Matt. xiii. mustard-seed (Mark iv. 30^; Luke xiii. 18 f; Matt. xiii. 31 f), leaven in meal (Luke xiii. 20 f; Matt. xiii. 33) \ and having like them a commencement (§ 53), and a consummation (§ 54). Request : “ Thy Kingdom Come.” 2 D 5° THE KINGDOM OF GOD. § 56. The Process of Growth. The growth of the Kingdom is “ not with observa¬ tion” (Luke xvii. 20), is gradual, passing through various stages (Mark iv. 26 f .); spontaneous or natural (“ of herself,” automate , Mark iv. 28) ; mysterious (he knoweth not how, Mark iv. 27); pervasive and assimilative, like leaven (Luke xiii. 20 f; Matt. xiii. 33) or salt (Matt. v. 13). § 57 . The Means of Growth. The Kingdom advances by the good heart of its subjects bringing forth good fruit (Luke vi. 45 ; Matt. xii. 35) in good works (Matt. v. 16), i.e., a life in accord with the Law of the Brotherhood (§ 50); more especially by healing (Luke x. 9 ; Matt. x. 8 ", cf. Mark iii. 15 ; vi. 7-13 ; Luke ix. 1, 2, 6), preaching (Mark vi. 7, 12 ; Luke ix. 2 ; x. 9 ; Matt. x. 7) : this gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached unto all the nations (Mark xiii. 10 ; Matt. xxiv. 14), and disciples made of them (Matt, xxviii. 19 ; cf. Luke xxiv. 47); prayer (Matt, xviii. 19; so Luke xviii. 7 and § 41 c.) ; “Pray...Thy Kingdom come” (Luke xi. 2 ; Matt. vi. 10); “power from on high” (Luke xxiv. 49), “ a mouth and wisdom” given by the Christ (Luke xxi. HERE AS YONDER. 5i 13-15); and the presence of the Christ with His people (Matt, xviii. 20; xxviii. 20); for God gives the Kingdom (Luke xii. 32). Request : For childlike hearts that we may rightly receive. E.— Where the Kingdom Comes. The Sphere of its Realization * \ § 58. Here as Yonder. The Kingdom is already realized in Heaven (“as in Heaven” Matt. vi. 10; xxv. 34; whence perhaps the phrase “ Kingdom of Heaven,” cf. § 30 - With Jesus it appeared on earth (§§ 48 and 50). On earth it is to be realized (“ as in Heaven so on earth,” Matt. vi. 10); diffusing itself as salt of the earth (Matt. v. 13); as light of the world (Matt. v. 14). “The meek shall inherit the earth” (Matt. v. 5). It comes therefore into relation with the existing world of Nature and of Man. Note that the word “Nature” expresses a modern abstraction foreign to Jesus’ thought, and is used here only as a convenient term for the world known to the senses and distinct from Man. Request : To be saved from “ other-worldliness.” * For “the Social Articulation of the Kingdom,” see my essay in “ Faith and Criticism” (Sampson, Low & Co., 1893), pp. 305-320. 52 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. § 59. In Nature. Nature is the creation of God'(Mark xiii. 19), is a continual expression of His beneficent Will (Matt. v. 45; Luke xii. 28; Matt. vi. 30, &c.; see §§35 an d 54 ): but is in its several parts of much less value than “you” (Luke xii. 7; Matt. x. 31; Luke xii. 24 ; Matt. vi. 26; Luke xii. 28 ; Matt. vi. 30); and even in its least pleasing phases (Luke x. 19), is subordinant and subservient to the Kingdom as operative in the faith, of its subjects (Mark ix. 23; xi. 23; Luke xvii. 6; Matt. xvii. 20; xxi. 21), or in the command of the Christ (Mark iv. 39; Luke viii. 24 ; Matt. viii. 26 ; Mark xi. 14; Matt. xxi. 19). So Mark xiii. Luke xxi. 25^; Matt. xxiv. 29. This and § 35 supply the Christian basis of modern natural science. Request : Luke xvii. 5. § 60. In Man : his body. Man is composed of body and soul which are separable (Matt. x. 28). The healing of diseases mostly goes along with the preaching of the Kingdom (e.g., Luke x. 9 ; Matt. x. 8 ; cf. Mark iii. 15 ; vi. 7-13 ; Luke ix. 1, 2, 6). The healing of demoniacs is a proof of the King¬ dom’s presence (Luke xi. 20 ; Matt. xii. 28). MAN’S WORLDLY GOODS. 53 Healing power goes forth from the Christ (Luke viii. 46 ; cf. Mark v. 30 ; Luke vi. 19). Healing deeds are credentials of The Coming One (Luke vii. 22 ; Matt. xi. 5). Faith is the condition of this healing (Mark vi. 5-6; ix. 23 ; v. 34 ; and often). The Kingdom of God operates to make man whole, free from every physical defect. The Christian Doctrine of Health. Request : 3 John 2. § 61. His Worldly Goods. A man’s life consistetli not in the abundance of his possessions (Luke xii. 15)- Riches are the mammon of unrighteousness (Luke xvi. 9, 11), and^re often a hindrance to enter¬ ing the Kingdom (Mark x. 23 5 Luke xviii. 24 j Matt. xix. 23), yet may be so used as to secure a friendly wel¬ come into eternal tabernacles (Luke xvi. 9). That the hungry shall be filled is a blessing of the Kingdom (Luke vi. 21), and a command of the Christ (Mark vi. 37 ; Luke ‘ ix. 13 ; Matt. xiv. 16 ; cf. Mark viii. 'iff .; Matt. xv. 32 ff). The poor are blessed ; for theirs is the Kingdom (Luke vi. 20). Giving to the poor must be practised on a large scale (e.g., Luke xii. 33; xiv. 13; Mark x. 21 ; Luke xviii. 22 ; Matt. xix. 21). 54 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. The Kingdom must be sought first, rather than food, raiment, and the like (Luke xii. 29-31 ; Matt. vi. 31-33)- Nevertheless, “all these things shall be added unto you ” {ibid). And there must be no anxiety, but a cheerful faith concerning these things (Luke xii. 22, 30). The Kingdom operates by kindness (humanity) and faith (anticipative insight), to remove the pain of poverty. The Christian Theory of Wealth, or Christian Economics. Request : For deliverance from the service of Mammon. g 62. The Home. The family being (§§ 10, 37, 38, 42) the model in miniature of the Kingdom of God, Jesus laid heavy stress on the laws which make and mark it. Married life is a (monogamous) unity created by God, and therefore not to be dissolved by man (Mark x. 6 ff. ; Matt. xix. 4 ff. ; Luke xvi. 18 ; Matt. v. 32). That one man and one woman are made by God into one personality is the sorely-needed, much- forgotten Christian idea of marriage. Children must honour father and mother (Mark vii. 10 ff. ; Matt. xv. /[ff.; Mark x. 19, &c.). Of such (children) is the Kingdom of God (Mark x. 14; Luke xviii. 16, Matt. xix. 14). THE STATE. $5 Yet the claims of home-life so divinely enfoiced must bend to (and if need arise be refused for) the claims of the Kingdom of God (Mark iii. 31^; Luke viii. 19 ff- \ Matt. xii. dfsf. ; xix. 12 ; Luke xiv. 26 ; Matt. x. 37 \ Luke xii. 5 2 /-> Matt. x. 35/)• Request : That our own fireside may be God’s hearth. § 63. The State. Existing forms of government are to be complied with, whether local (Jewish : Matt. xvii. 24^) or imperial (Roman : Mark xii. 17 > Luke xx. 25; Matt. xxii. 21), save where they clash with the supeiior claims of the Kingdom of God (Mark xiii. 9 ; Luke xxi. 12 ; Matt. x. 17)- In contrast with the domineering forms of Gentile sway (Mark x. 42-45 5 Luke xxii - 2 4 ‘ 3 ° 5 Matt, xx. 25-28) is set the brotherly service of the Kingdom of God. Jesus here develops by contrast His theory of State-life. The dispute which He was quelling was roused by political ambition j and over against the false He sets the true political ideal. Condemning ostentatious and domineer¬ ing authority He awards supremacy to service and masteiy to ministry. In the Christian State the first place belongs to the self-oblivious person who has most capacity and will for the service of all. As even the phrase itself, and still more its history in Israel, remind us, the Kingdom of God is 56 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. a political ideal, and in this aspect as in others is to be the prime object of striving (Luke xii. 31 ; Matt. vi. 33) and the ultimate form of rule (Mark xiii. ; Luke xxi.; Matt, xxiv. ; cf. Matt, xxviii. 18). The Christian Theory of the State, or Christian Politics. Request : 1 Tim. ii. 2. § 64. The Heart of Man. No one is good save God (Mark x. iS : Luke xviii. 19). Men are sinners (Mark ii. 17 ; Luke v. 32 ; Matt. i x * 13)? lost (Luke xix. 10), evil (Luke xi. 13 • Matt. vii. 11). Fiom the heait of man proceeds all manner of evil and defilement (Mark vii. 15-23 ; Matt. xv. 11-20). Yet men being evil know how to do good (Luke xi. J 3 ’ Matt* vii. 11), and can even of themselves judge that which is right (Luke xii. 57). Hence the Kingdom proclaims the forgiveness of sins (§ 38 and § 50), and demands repentance (self-denial) and faith in the good news (§ 40). Request : Ps. Ii. 2. ITS VARIOUS RECEPTION. 57 § 65. The Realm of “Saving Health.” Jesus uses the same word to denote healing, saving, making whole (Mark v. 34; x. 52; Luke vii. 50 ; viii. 50, &c.). The Kingdom of God comes to a humanity suffering under disease (§ 60), want (§ 6i), oppression (§ 63), and sin (§ 64); and chiefly by arousing faith is meant to make humanity whole, free from all ills, physical, economic, political, or spiritual; perfect (Matt. v. 48). Hence it is the Kingdom of Salvation (Mark x. 25-26, to enter it is to be saved) or Integra¬ tion, and stands first, before every other aim and claim (Luke xii. 31; Matt vi. 33; xiii. 44-46). Request : Ps. lxi. 2. § 66. Its various Reception. The Kingdom coming among the mixed elements of human nature (§ 64) meets with various reception ; The good seed falls on many kinds of soil (Mark iv. 1-20 ; Luke viii. 4-15 ; Matt. xiii. 1-23). Tares grow among the wheat (Matt. xiii. 24-30, 36 - 43 )- Bad fish as well as good come into the net (Matt, xiii. 47-50). 58 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. Virgins wise and foolish await the Bridegroom (Matt. xxv. i-13). The Christ finds servants faithful and slothful (Luke xix. 11-27; Matt. xxv. 14-30), and divides all the nations into the sheep and the goats (Matt, xxv. 32). So He brings division (Luke xii. 51) even into the homes of men (Luke xii. 52 f.; Matt. x. 35 ff) : He brings on earth fire (Luke xii. 49) and sword (Matt. x. 34). Request : For singleness of heart. F.—The Last Things. § 67. Death no bar to Life. Death is no limit to the Kingdom of God (cf § 19). The body may be killed and the soul be undestroyed (Matt. x. 28). The dead are raised: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were alive in Moses’ day (Mark xii. 26 ff .; Luke xx. 37 ff. ; Matt. xxii. 31 f); all live unto God (Luke xx. 38). Lazarus at death is carried into Abraham’s bosom (Luke xvi. 22). The dying thief was to be in Paradise the day he died (Luke xxiii. 43). The Son of Man was to die and rise again (Mark viii. 31 ; Luke ix. 22 ; Matt. xvi. 21 ; and often), was in Paradise the day He died (Luke xxiii. 43). Request : For freedom from all fear of death. THE DAY OF JUDGMENT. 59 § 68. The Life toeyond Death. When the dead arise they neither marry nor are given in marriage (Mark xii. 25 ; Luke xx. 35 ; Matt xxii. 30). They cannot die any more (Luke xx. 36). They are as (equal to) the angels {ibid). This likeness to angels is a source of fresh information. For Angels are in heaven {ibid) in the presence of God {cf. Luke xii. 8 and Matt. x. 32), are holy (Mark viii. 38, &c.). The angels of “these little ones” continually behold the Father’s face (Matt, xviii. 10). There is joy in their presence over one repenting sinner (Luke xv. 10). Angels carry Lazarus at death into Abraham’s bosom (Luke xvi. 22). More than twelve legions would be granted by the Father at the request of Jesus (Matt. xxvi. 53)- , . . Angels shall be attendants and mmistrants .of the Son of Man when He comes to judgment (Mark viii. 38, &c. ; Luke xii. 8, 9; Matt. xiii. 41, 49 i Mark xiii. 27, &c.). Request : For a sense of living kinship with souls beyond the veil. § 69 . Tire Day of Judgment. The consummation of the age will come (Matt, xiii. 40-49 ; xxiv. 3) when the Kingdom has 6o THE KINGDOM OF GOD. grown from seed-time to harvest (Matt. xiii. 39), at a time known only to the Father (Mark xiii. 32, &c.). See § 54. The Son of Man will come sudden and manifest as the lightning (Luke xvii. 24 ; Matt. xxiv. 27), in power and great glory, in the clouds and with the angels (Mark viii. 38 ; Luke ix. 26 ; Matt, xvi. 27 ; Mark xiii. 26 ; Luke xxi. 27 ; Matt, xxiv. 30 f). Then (presumably) heaven and earth shall pass away (Mark xiii. 31 ; Luke xxi. 33 ; Matt, xxiv. 35 ; cf. Isa. lxv. 17 ; lxvi. 22). There shall be brought before Him His servants (Luke xix. 15 ff.\ Matt. xxv. 19 ff.) and all the nations (Matt. xxv. 32) for Judgment (Luke x. 14 ; Matt. x. 15 ; xi. 22-24 ; Luke xi. 31, 32 ; Matt. xii. 41, 42). Request : That we have boldness in the day of judgment (1 John iv. 17). § 70. Whom the Kingdom excludes. The wicked (Matt. xiii. 49 ; Luke xix. 22), the sloth¬ ful (Matt. xxv. 26), the unforgiving (Matt, xviii. 35), those who cause stumbling (Matt, xiii. 41), workers of lawlessness (Matt. vii. 23), the unfaithful (Luke xii. 46), hypocrites (Mark xii. 40; Matt. xxiv. 51), the impenitent (Luke xi. 32 ; Matt. xii. 41), those who are ashamed of the Son of Man (Mark viii. 38 ; Luke ix. 26) or deny Him (Luke xii. 9 ; Matt. x. 33), or neglect Him in the least of His brethren (Matt. THE DOOM. 6l xxv. 46), or blaspheme against the Holy Spirit (Mark iii. 29 ; Luke xii. 10 ; Matt. xii. 32) ; or generally those who do not their Lord’s will (Luke xii. 47 , 48) or the will of God (Matt, vii. 21 ff.\ are condemned. § 71 . Whom the Kingdom receives. The righteous (Matt. xiii. 43 ; xxv - 46 ), the good and faithful servants (Luke xix. 17 ; Matt. xxv. 21-23 ; Luke xii. 4 2 5 Matt. xxiv. 45), those who make the poor a feast (Luke xiv. 14), who do service to the Son of Man in the least of His brethren (Matt. xxv. 4°), who confess Him before men (Luke xii. 8 ; Matt. x. 3 2 ), the elect (Mark xiii. 27 ; Matt. xxiv. 31), are approved. Request : For heavenly-minded service here. § 72. The Doom. Exclusion from the Kingdom and the Christ (Mark ix. 47, &c.; Matt. vii. 23; xxv. 41), a punish¬ ment (Matt. xxv. 46) set forth under the figures of gehenna (Mark ix. 43 # 5 MaU - xviii. 9), un¬ quenchable fire and undying worm (Mark ix. 48), eternal fire (Matt, xviii. 8), furnace of lire (Matt. xiii. 42, 5 °), outer darkness (Matt, viii. 12 ; xxii. 13 ; xxv. 30), weeping and gnash¬ ing of teeth (Luke xiii. 28 ; Matt. viii. 12 ; xxii. 62 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 13 ; xxiv. 51 ; xxv. 30), torments (Matt, xviii. 34 ) ; said in Matt. xxv. 46 to be eternal, but graduated according to desert (Luke xii. 47, 48). § 73. The Meed. Confession by the Son of Man before His Father (Matt. x. 32). Blessing of His Father (Matt. xxv. 34). Welcome by Him into the Kingdom prepared (Matt. xxv. 34). Welcome by friends into eternal tabernacles (Luke xvi. Cf). Sunlike radiance in the Father’s Kingdom (Matt, xiii. 43). Continued activity, but in more honourable service (Luke xii. 44 ; xix. 17-19 ; Matt. xxv. 21-23). Social festivity of the gladdest kind (Luke xiv. 16; Matt. xxii. 2xxv. 10) with patriarchs and all the prophets and many from north and south and east and west (Luke xiii. 2% Matt. viii. 11) ; and with the Christ (Mark xiv. 25 ; Luke xxii. 18, 30 ; Matt. xxvi. 29) prefigured by the Lord’s Supper {ibid). Joy (Matt. xxv. 21-23). Bliss (Luke vi. 20-22; Matt. v. 3-11), the mere prospect of which should cause exultant re¬ joicing (Luke vi. 23 ; Matt. v. 12). Life (Mark ix. 43/), even eternal life (Mark x. 30 ; Luke xviii. 30; Matt. xix. 29 ; xxv. 46), SUMMARY OF SYNOPTIC SA Y/NGS. 63 the meed common to all (Matt. xx. 1 but not excluding different grades (Luke xix. 17-19)* This is the Kingdom of God (Matt. xxv. 34 5 Mark ix. 45 , 47 5 x. 17, 23, 30, &c.; Luke xxii. 29). Thanksgiving. Col. i. 12. § 74. Summary of Synoptic Sayings. The Class will have now completed the parallel lines of study. The Kingdom has been traced in its Gradual Unfolding in the ministry of Jesus; and the Collective Statement has been bit by bit assimilated. We shall do well to look back over the way we have come. Of the kind of Review suggested a specimen is here given. With the retrospect it mingles glimpses of the coming Apostolic development, but this is quite in keeping with the close of one session which should not be without hint of the next. The Class might with advantage be thrown open to the public on the occasion ; or it might form the theme of address to one of the Sunday congregations. It might be announced under the heading WHAT IS THE GOSPEL as Jesus preached it? The Gospel of Jesus Christ is in the mind of millions to-day. There are millions of human beings busy every Sunday hearing or reading or talking about the Gospel. Yet how few there are who could tell you clearly and shortly what it is. Men know the power of it. Their hearts and lives have been renewed by it. But what it is they would be slow to say. Even those who try to tell you, 64 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. rarely derive their language from the Fountain Head. They will take it from almost every source except the words of Christ Himself. They will quote from sermon or catechism or creed. Or if they do go to the Bible, they will be sure to quote not from Jesus, but from Paul or John. You can generally see that they have not tried to get their notion of the Gospel from the sayings of our Lord. Or at least they do not seem to think His words best fitted to express it. You will miss some of His most characteristic phrases from their account of the Gospel. Tell them roundly, that the Kingdom of God is THE CENTRAL THEME OF THE GOSPEL, and they will probably look at you with surprise. Perhaps they will at first think that you are not sound in the faith. Then you get them to take up their New Testament. You show them verse after verse : nay, whole paragraphs of our Lord’s teaching. You point out that He is always using the phrase “ the Kingdom of God ” ; in public and private ; in parable and blessing and charge. You prove beyond all doubt or gainsaying that His Gospel is essen¬ tially “ the Gospel of the Kingdom ” (Matt. iv. 23 ; ix. 35 ; xxiv. 14). Then most likely they become puzzled. An air of perplexity creeps over them. Perhaps they thought they knew all about the Gospel. Yet of the King¬ dom which now they learn is the burden of the Gospel they have only the vaguest idea. They have come across the phrase almost every time they have turned the pages of the Evangelists. But how SUMMAR Y OF SYNOPTIC SA Y 1 NGS. 65 seldom they have asked, What is the Kingdom of God ? The Kingdom of Heaven is a term they are slightly more familiar with ; though it occurs only in Matthew and nowhere else in the New Testa¬ ment. They have very often supposed that that was only another name for Heaven itself. To say of the children that “of such is the Kingdom of Heaven ” is, they imagine, no more than saying that a great many children are in Heaven. Yet it is evident that the Kingdom of Heaven means just the same as the Kingdom of God. But of either they have at best very confused and uncertain ideas. What is the Kingdom of God ? This being so, shall we not try to get some clearer notions ? Let us inquire (I.) What we are to understand by that Kingdom of God which Jesus set in the forefront of His Gospel. (1) The words mean literally “the Royal Rule of God.” In some parts of the Bible they are used of the eternal sovereignty of God. God has always governed every part of the creation. So the psalmist said, “His Kingdom ruleth over all” (Ps. ciii. 19). But they cannot be used in that sense here. Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of God as a new thing coming into the world. He first (Mark i. 15) pio- claimed “It is at hand.” He said, “John the Baptist is greatest of woman-born, but he that is but little in the Kingdom is greater than he” (Luke vii. 28). The Baptist was evidently not in the Kingdom. At a later time He said, “ If I by the finger of God cast out evil spirits, then has the 2 E 66 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. Kingdom of God come upon you” (Luke xi. 20). No longer merely at hand, it has come. And to the Pharisees asking when it should come, He answered, “ Lo ! the Kingdom is in the midst of you” (Luke xvii. 21). It is plainly manifest that the Kingdom of God came into being on earth with and through Jesus. Here therefore it is not the eternal and universal sovereignty of God. It is rather the Royal Rule of God realized in the responsive atti¬ tude of subjects. It is the realm as well as the reign. It is a State therefore, a Community with Head and Members : a Commonwealth, a Society or Fellowship of Souls Divine and human. The coming of this Fellowship of Souls forms the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Mark i. 15). (2) But to know that the Kingdom is a Fellowship of souls Divine and human is to know very little. We go on to ask, what like is the fellowship ? What are its qualities ? Well, since God is a righteous Being, His King¬ dom is a reign and realm of Righteousness. But this righteousness is no narrow or legal correct¬ ness. It is something exceedingly broad and high. “ Except your righteousness exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees,” said the Master,—except you have a nobler idea of conduct than simply the punctilious discharge of external rules,—“ ye shall in nowise enter into the Kingdom” (Matt. v. 20). Only he shall enter that doeth the Will of My Fatherin Heaven (Matt. vii. 21). SUMMARY OF SYNOPTIC SAYINGS. 67 The righteousness to be striven after is obedience to a Law : a Law which covers the entire round of life down to the minutest detail. But this Law is no statute-book. It is a spirit of conduct. It is a conscience,—not a code. It cannot therefore .be fully written out in a string of regulations. But it can be Summed up in one word —LOVE. Thou shalt love thy God and thy neighbour. On this commandment hang all the Law and the pro¬ phets (Matt. xxii. 37-40). The Kingdom, then, is a fellowship of souls , divine and human , of which the Law and the Life are Love. (3) We may get at its meaning in another way. We may ask how we are to think, not of the Law, but of the Persons composing this august com¬ munity. How are we to think of the Sovereign,—of the God whose is the Kingdom? Jesus answers, As Father, My Father, Father of all men. Flow of the subjects or citizens of the Kingdom? Again Jesus answers, “Ye are all brothers: brothers because One is your Father” (Matt, xxiii. 8-10). The Kingdom, then, is the fellowship of Fatherhood and Brotherhood. (4) But Fatherhood, Brotherhood, Love, mean much or little according to the standard we conceive them by. To one who is the child of shame and 68 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. . the sport of cruelty from birth, the words are only hateful. Where shall we find our standard ? Where, save in Him who brought in the King¬ dom? If we ask, What like is the Fatherhood? Jesus replies, He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father also (John xiv. 9). If we want to know the kind of the brotherhood, Jesus tells us, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me (Matt. xxv. 40). Brotherhood is sympathy that rises toward Identity. If we inquire, What sort of love is meant, Jesus makes answer, Love as I have loved you (John xiii. 34). Thus Jesus fixes our thought of the Kingdom. To use the Hebrew phrase, Jesus is “the Christ.” That is a great affirmation. We rarely grasp its greatness. The Christ denotes the Anointed Ruler in the Kingdom of God. It was the title given to the King in ancient Israel. The realm of Israel was the type or rough draft in miniature of the Kingdom of God. David was in his day the Lord’s Anointed—that is to say, the Christ of God. When the type had gone, and the fulfilment had come, Peter declared Jesus to be the Christ,—the Anointed Plead of the Kingdom (Mark viii. 29). Every time you use the word Christ , you pronounce Jesus to be King in the sacred community of souls. As Christ, He is regulative and decisive of what we are to understand by the Kingdom. His obedience to the Father shows us the Ideal Subject. His authority over us reveals the Ideal Monarch. In His own SUMMA RY OF S YNOPTIC SA YINGS. 69 Person He realizes the Ideal of the Kingdom. He is in personal form what it is to be in social. All the laws of the Kingdom are gathered into the one command : Follow Me (Mark viii. 34, &c.). Perhaps we may now try to PACK INTO A SMALL BUNDLE of speech what Jesus has said about the inner life of the Kingdom. We shall describe later the relation in which the Kingdom stands to the actual world,— the conditions on which it is realized on earth. At present we simply state what, according to His sayings, it is in itself. The following working de¬ scription, which should be committed to memory, gathers up the most essential features :— The Kingdom of God is the fellowship of souls Divine and human, of which the law and the life are love, wherein the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man, as both are embodied in fesus the Christ, are recognised and realized. So in effect the Master describes it. So we learn the truth of Paul’s great definition, which we shall study more closely next session. The Apostle said, “ The Kingdom of God is righteousness and peace a 7 id joy in the Fdoly Spirit ” (Rom. xiv. 17). For the Holy Spirit is the Life pervading the Kingdom, inspiring its manifold activity, conserving its har¬ mony, and lifting the rhythm of its Dulses into the melody of gladness. (5) This is the Kingdom which Jesus announced, which came into the world through Him, which was 7 o THE KINGDOM OF GOD. established in His blood, and which has increasingly- existed on earth ever since. We cry with John of “ Him that loves us and loosed us from our sins in His own blood, He made us to be a Kingdom unto His God and Father !” (Rev. i. 5, 6). And the Kingdom which He made is open to every one. It is for all nations. It is freely offeree! to all men. Is not this Good News? A fellowship of Christ-like love which is to include every soul that is willing to enter ! A community which embraces every other true community of men, which contains and controls the Home, the State, the Economic system, the fellowships of Science, Letters, Art. A holy society already in the midst of men, already shedding its brightness over human life, yet shining more and more unto the perfect day ; a Kingdom progressively realized on earth, perfectly fulfilled in Heaven. A girdle of love destined to clasp into unity the whole of mankind, whatever the race, the colour, the culture, and to bind all to the throne and heart of the Universal Father! Is not the arrival of such a society a glorious piece of intelligence ? Is it not indeed good tidings of great joy? Among all the dreams of social per¬ fectness which the fertile mind of man has flung forth, you will not find one to equal this of the Kingdom of God : its breadth, its height, its com¬ pleteness. And it is no mere dream : it is a fact in process of growing fulfilment. Gladdest of glad tidings, it is open to all ! 5 UMMA RY OF S YNOP TIC SA YINGS. 7 * II. But there are CONDITIONS OF ENTRANCE. (1) The Kingdom comes among men whose lives are unfilial—they do not trust God as Father ; un- fraternal—they do not treat men as brothers; unloving—they are selfish and cold-hearted. Then ere men can enter they must Repent! (Mark i. 15). They must break away from the old life, the old purpose, the old disposition. That and not mere groaning over the past is what repentance means. And they must believe in the Good News (Mark i. 15). They must believe in God as Father, in man as brother, in love as the true law of life, in Jesus as the Christ, ere they can enter. Is there one of us who does not need continually afresh to repent and believe ? (2) The terms of admission Jesus put in a more striking way when He said to His ambitious disciples, “ Except ye turn and become as little children ye shall in nowise enter into the King¬ dom’' (Matt, xviii. 3). And at another time, as He was taking the children up into His arms, He said, “ Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child, shall in no wise enter therein ” (Mark x. 15). So He reminded us that the fellow¬ ship of Divine Fatherhood and human brotherhood is a gift, a boon, a largess. It cannot be earned by good conduct. It is not withheld even from those that have been evil doers. It is freely bestowed. It is a gift of grace. Hence it absolutely shuts out self-righteousness. It graciously forbids self¬ despair. It demands the attitude of the child—a fl THE KINGDOM OF GOD. spirit of receptive humility. In the phrase of Paul, as we shall see more clearly next session, the only justification it allows is JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. (3) The demand of the Christ assumes a more awful tone in the saying, “ If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whosoever would save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel’s shall save it ” (Mark viii. 34, 35). “ Deny your self ” : not “practise certain acts of self-denial,” but “ deny self utterly, renounce self as principle of life, dethrone self as lord of life.” “ d ake up your cross.” This does not merely mean “ submit to the trials petty or ponderous which life may bring,” but “ take your very life in your hands ; shoulder your cross like the condemned criminal when on his way from the hall of judgment to the place of execution ( cf John xix. 17) : be prepared for the worst of suffering and of shame for My sake : follow Me at all risks and at all costs ! Regard your life as lost for My sake,— Die to self.” Have you not found this condition to be essential? Can you trust God as Father,—can you love men as brothers,—can you follow Jesus as the Christ,— unless you do die to self? Of what worth are heart¬ piercing regrets or elaborate confessions of in¬ tellectual belief unless the repentance and the faith deepen into our being crucified with Christ and SUMMARY OF SYNOPTIC SAYINGS. 73 rising with Him into newness of life ? (Rom. vi. j-14). So Paul teaches us, as we shall see in our next session. These are stern conditions. But they are laid down by the Christ Himself. They are imposed by the very nature of the case. And who that has seen the Christ and known His Gospel, and won a glimpse of His glorious fellowship, but would for Jesus’ sake repent, turn, renounce, die to self? Apart from Him we can do nothing. But we can do all that He requires through Him strengthening us. “Fear not,” He cries to us still, “fear not, little flock ; it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom ” (Luke xii. 32). The Central and Creative Condition. III. But these conditions of entrance push on our inquiry a step further. We have seen what the Kingdom is in itself. We have seen how persons may pass into it ,—when it is already there for them to enter it. We are forced to ask, How did it get there? It is all very well to tell us how it may become a fact in each man’s life. But we want to know how it comes within reach, as it were, of becoming a fact in each man’s life. Let us look at it in this way. Into the Kingdom already in existence, each soul can only enter by a break with his sinful past, by a very real death to self. But the self to which he dies, the sinful past from which he breaks away, being found in each, is common to all. It goes to make up what Paul and others, as we shall see next session, call “ the world.” 74 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. As each person entering the Kingdom dies to the world, we may fitly call the Kingdom a collective death to the world. But how did this Kingdom get itself established among men ? By what rupture with the evil past of mankind did this organised rupture with evil come into existence? By what once-for-all decisive and original Death to the world, did the Kingdom get a sure foothold on earth ? Your answer is ready. It was by The Death of Jesus. We face here a great mystery. Jesus did not often speak about the meaning of His Death. It fell to His disciples, after they felt the effect of His death, to tell what they had felt and to find out its causes. As yet we can only speak vaguely, though, as always on this theme, with awe. Reverently let us try to piece together the little the Master has said on it. The links we put in will be forgiven us, if we only mean by them to make more clear His thought. Jesus was the Christ. As the Christ, He came to set up on earth the Kingdom of God. He said the Son of man must needs suffer a violent and shameful death (Mark viii. 31).* The death of the Christ was therefore a condition necessary to the establishment of the Kingdom of God. The life of Jesus, from the day when as a child He first knew the difference between right and wrong, was one * The sayings of Jesus concerning His Death which are here connected are given and examined in § 51. Comparison of the present review with that section may help to show much not mentioned in either place. SUMMAR Y OF SYNOPTIC SA YINGS. 75 long death to “the world.” Between the world of sin and the Kingdom of God the antagonism was mortal. But this antagonism could not remain hid in the heart of Jesus or of other men. It must come out in action. The world and the Kingdom were great historic movements, and when they dashed, great historic deeds must appear. The inward and spiritual death must in the case of the Christ become an outward and visible. His making the Kingdom an overt reality led inevitably to His making the death overt too. The metaphor must pass into literal fact. His perfect obedience to the Father cut asunder the continuity of human sinfulness and opened out a new departure for the race, but it could only do so by becoming an obedience even unto death (Phil. ii. 8). Thus He died unto sin once for all (Rom. vi. io). “A Ransom.” As the Kingdom of God is the Highest Good, the Death which is bound up with the bringing of it to men is a supreme act of service. Such was the way in which “The Son of man came to serve” (Mark x. 45). It was a service rendered to “many.” It broke the hitherto unbroken tradition and sequence of sin. It made a new beginning for men : which they could follow up, but could not create. As all service is vicarious action, so, and above all else, was this Death. It was “ instead of many.” In it One did for them what they ought to have done, but because of their sin could not do. One bore for them the task they could not bear, of confront¬ ing the onset of the organized and hereditary iniquity 76 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. of mankind and conquering it. “His life” was “a ransom.” It was “given” as the price of their deliverance from a doom they could not otherwise avoid. A Sacrifice. It was a sacrificial death. At the last Supper He implied that His Blood was like that of the burnt- offerings and peace-offerings which Moses offered at Sinai (Exodus xxiv. 4-8). He offered up His life to the Father. The Will of God was unchangeably fixed on setting up His Kingdom on earth, and therefore on requiring the Death which that made necessary. It was the cup which His Father had given Him to drink (John xviii. 11). And He drank it. The supreme act of service to men was the supreme act of devotion to God. “My Blood of the Covenant.” It ratified “the New Covenant” (Mark xiv. 22-24). It settled the new kind of relations which came in with the Kingdom. It certified the Father¬ hood, which would not refuse forgiveness to man’s crowning act of disobedience (Luke xxiii. 34). It attested a Sonship so perfect as to hold back nothing, not even life itself, from the Will of the Father. It sealed the Brotherhood which the worst of hate and spite could not tempt the Son of man to disavow. It maintained the Law of Love sovereign and unbroken to the end. It achieved a Fellowship of God and man which sin in all the range of its wickedness and in the climax of its audacity could not sunder or destroy. It utterly condemned sin. SUMMARY OF SYNOPTIC SA YINGS. 77 -- —— - — Complete devotion to the tie which binds the human child to the Divine Father meant infinite abhor¬ rence of the sin which sought to weaken and sever that tie. The broken heart of our Lord declared with what mortal revulsion He encountered the sin of the world, and with what self-consuming love He sorrowed over the souls that sinned. What has transpired so far. So He accomplished the work given Him to do. He established the Kingdom. The Divine Ideal was an achieved reality, fixed on foundations which nothing could shake. Of this transcendent deed there are many aspects which we cannot yet behold ; the later thought of the Apostles and the growing life of mankind will be needed to disclose them ; but even now we see that in the Death of the Christ there was an absolute negation of the world, an absolute affirmation of the Kingdom. So it marks the new Exodus. It delivers from a worse than Egyptian bondage (of which the Pass- over was a reminder). It releases prisoners from the pit of despair (Zech. ix. 9-11). To all who in in their measure share in it, who drink of this cup, who die to the world and live to the Kingdom, it ensures the blessings of the New Covenant (Jer. xxxi. 31-34), —forgiveness of sins, personal intimacy with God, and a conscience which ever bears en¬ graved upon it the Divine commands. It has inaugurated the Kingdom as a distinct and inde¬ pendent and indestructible reality. In this reminder of the way we have come, I may seem to have spoken most of that of which the 78 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. Master said least. But the central and creative condition was by Him accomplished rather than described. His brevity of speech must not lead us to misjudge the relative value of His deeds. Just because you might overlook this prime factor of the Divine Fellowship, I have laid much stress on it here. ' Bible Class primers. EDITED BY PRINCIPAL SALMOND, D.D., ABERDEEN THE KINGDOM OF GOD. A PLAN OF STUDY IN THREE PARTS, !•—The Kingdom in Israel. II.— The Kingdom in the Synoptic Sayings of Jesus. III. —The Kingdom in Apostolic Times. BY F. HERBERT STEAD, M.A., AUTHOR OF “ A HANDBOOK ON YOUNG PEOPLE’S GUILDS.” III.—'THE KINGDOM IN APOSTOLIC TIMES. €i>itttutrgh: T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET. LONDON : SIMPKIN. MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & CO., Ltd. . * • . CONTENTS. Part Gbirb: THE KINGDOM IN APOSTOLIC TIMES §§ 75-97 . • • • . T. he Kingdom as actual product, § 75. The Kingdom as Church, § 76. The Forty Years' 1 ransition, § 77. The Message of the First Heralds, § 78. On the Epistles, § 79. A. The Kingdom according to Paul, §§ 80-90 . The Vital Fact, § 80. The Social Organism, § 81. The Old Man and the New, § 82. The Death-Birth, § 83. Transcorporation, § 84. The Home of the Adopted, § 85. The Realm of the Justified, § 86. The Synoptic Idea in Paul, § 87. In whom all things consist, § 88. The Law of the Spirit of Life, § 89. The Several Spheres, § 90. B. The Kingdom according to other New Testament writers, §§ 9I - 9 6. The Epistle of Hope (t Peter), § 9I . The Epistle of Practical Wisdom (James), § 92. The PAGE 7-66 21-47 47-65 6 CONTENTS. Apology of the Transition (Hebrews), § 93. The Vision of the Kingdom Triumphant (Rev.), § 94. The Epistle of Love (1 John), § 95. The Last Memoirs of the Christ (John), § 96. Finale, § 97 .... BppenMj 5. How Later Thinkers put it. PAGE 65, 66 67 BppettMj 5$. The Witness of Imperial History to the Kingdom . 80 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. THIRD PART. THE KINGDOM OF GOD IN APOSTOLIC TIMES. After having studied together Parts I. and II., the Class may be expected to possess a measure of insight into the main drift of Scripture. General principles and broad outlines, rather than details, will now be in demand. The following order of procedure may be felt more helpful:— Frayer by any member (including Request). Teacher expounds the one or more sections chosen for the evening. Questioning and general discussion on what he has advanced. Benediction. In this Part, which deals with the experience pro¬ duced by Jesus, the discussions should as far as possible take an experimental turn, comparing and verifying the Christian consciousness of the first century and of the nineteenth. 8 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. § 75. The Kingdom as actual Product. Jesus, the Christ, crowning the divinely inspired development of Israel, gives us, as we have seen, the decisive idea of the Kingdom. Him¬ self and His word, standing out from the Old Testament background, are our supreme authority. Why, then (men may ask), trouble to study the Kingdom as the Apostles present it ? Why go beyond His sayings, since His speech is final ? Because to know a cause we must know its effects. Jesus on earth was much more than either His sayings or His life-story. He was a creative power. He was a vital cause. He is to be known, therefore, not merely in His biographies, but in the men whom He created anew, and in their confessed experience. He not merely stated and worked for the ideal of the King¬ dom : He brought it into actual existence : it was made real in the life of His disciples. To know what the Kingdom is, we look, there¬ fore, at the Kingdom which was the direct and immediate product of His activity. The doings and teachings of the Apostolic company may have thus great value for us. True, the effects of The Christ’s work are with us to-day. “We are His workmanship” (Eph. ii. io). The Kingdom which is now in the midst of us is His product. All Christian history and our own holiest experience are results of His action, which still go on revealing Him and His Kingdom. For this and other reasons THE KINGDOM AS CHURCH. 9 we shall not try to make an exhaustive analysis of the Apostolic writings. We shall only point out in general terms the way in which the Apostles felt, and thought, and practised the truths of the Kingdom. Members of the Class have already (§§ 31-74) got before them pretty fully what the Master said and did in bringing in the Kingdom : with such suggestions as are now to be given they may “ verify results ” for themselves in private study of the Epistles, as also in the observation and still more the experience of modern religious life. Nevertheless, Apostolic experience, because the first result, remains for ever fontal. It bears the immediate impress of Jesus’ historical person¬ ality and ministry. Criticism may eliminate from it effects due to other causes, but it none the less abides as an authoritative standard of true Christian experience. Key-Text. 2 Cor. iii. 3. Request : That God may lead us in triumph and diffuse through us the fragrance of His truth (2 Cor. ii. 14). § 76 . The Kingdom as Church. After Jesus’ ascension, the subjects of the Kingdom, as they came together to pray and to consult concerning the Kingdom, and to try to extend it, became intensely aware of possessing a common Life (Acts ii., &c.). They knew that It belonged to them only as members of the IO THE KINGDOM OF GOD. Kingdom and marked off theirs from other societies {cf. i Cor. xii. 3). This was the Life of God which forms, and fills, and spreads His Kingdom {cf. 1 Cor. vi. 17 ; Rom. xiv. 17; Acts i. 8). It was Power from on high (Luke xxiv. 49). It was the Holy Spirit. This intense consciousness of the Life, and Power, and Spirit of the Kingdom returned to the disciples as often as they met in the name of the Christ to enjoy and to extend communion with God and man (Acts ii. ; iv. 31 ff. ; x. 33 and 44, &c.). Viewed as a society assembling for these purposes (worship, edification, evangelism) they may be described as the Kingdom corporately and aggressively conscious of itself. But the members of the Israelitish State—the “ Kingdom of priests ” (Ex. xix. 6)—when re¬ garded as a worshipping (Numbers, Leviticus, Psalms, &c.), deliberative (Josh. ix. 19; Judg. xx. ; xxi. 13), militant (Num. xxvii. 17 ; Judg. xx., xxi.) assembly, were called Qahal. This Hebrew word, which is rendered in our A. V. congregation , was translated in the Greek Bible by Ekklesia. Ekklesia was the name given in the New Testament to the members of the evangelic Kingdom in an analogous capacity. The English for it in the New Testament is Church. “The Church,” then, is to the New Kingdom, broadly speaking, what “ the Congregation ” was to the Old Kingdom: it is the Kingdom in THE KINGDOM AS CHURCH. n one of its phases : it consists of all members of the Kingdom in a given capacity. The classical use of the word Ekklesia , as denoting the folk-mote or general assembly of the citizens of a Greek State, may have lent some shade of meaning to the New Testament idea. The Church is the Kingdom in its phase of cor¬ porate and aggressive self-consciousness .* The word “ Church ” occurs only thrice in the re¬ corded sayings of Jesus (Matt. xvi. 18 ; xviii. 17 a, 1 7 b). All three cases are found in only one source, Matthew, the Gospel for the Hebrews. But when Jesus appointed Twelve whom also He named Apostles, that they might be with Him and that He might send them forth to preach (Mark iii. 14), He actually founded the Church. This Key-Text describes the open fellowship with the Master and the organized propaganda which made of the Apostles a Church. It was already, in functions and persons, fundamentally one with the society which, after the ascension, was called the Church. Therefore, when Jesus was first confessed by His Apostles to be the Christ, He might well have spoken of “ His Church,” and have predicted for it, based on that confession, a stability secure against all hostile powers (Matt. xvi. 18). * For a more precise and detailed development of the dis¬ tinction, see my essay on ‘ ‘ The Kingdom and the Church in “Faith and Criticism” (Sampson, Low & Co., 1893), pp. 320-351. 12 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. After His ascension the idea of the Church came more and more to the fore. Request : Eph. i. 17-23. § 77. The Forty Years’ Transition. At the Crucifixion (a.d. 30), the Kingdom on earth was almost entirely made up of Jews. At the fall of Jerusalem (a.d. 70) it contained a majority of Gentiles. For more than a thousand years the Kingdom of God had been foreshadowed and prepared for in Israel. Its Founder and first subjects, its sacred writings, and most of its forms of thinking were Israelitish. Yet in forty years after its actual advent, the King¬ dom was chiefly a Gentile community loosed from the Law of Israel; and the national life of Israel, which had been the historical seat of the Kingdom, was finally shattered to pieces. In the expansion of the Kingdom beyond the con¬ fines of Israel, six principal stages may be noted. That the Kingdom of God should, when it came, include all nations, was a common-place of Hebrew prophecy. But most of the prophets and seers had expected that the Kingdom would centre in Zion, and would extend the forms of Israelitish life over the rest of the world as over subject races. On the other hand, there was nothing merely Jewish in the conditions which Jesus laid down for entrance into the Kingdom. Repentance and faith, self- THE FORTY YEARS' TRANSITION. 13 denial and devotion to the Christ do not touch differences of race or ritual. The question before the primitive Church was not whether the Gentiles could be admitted into the Kingdom, but whether, in order to be admitted, they had first to become Jews. The original Apostles seem to have made no spon¬ taneous effort to bring the Gentiles within the Kingdom on any terms. Pioneers arose outside their circle. a — Stephen the Pioneer. A.D. 34. The first effort to loose the Kingdom from its Jewish swaddling-bands appeared among the Hellenists (Greek-speaking Jews) and not among the Hebrews (Acts vi. 1-6). Stephen, one of the Seven, himself most probably a Hellenist, dis¬ puted in the synagogues of the Hellenists (vi. 8-10). He seems to have pointed to the King¬ dom becoming independent of the Temple and of the Law of Moses (vi. n-14). His defence (Acts vii.) went to prove that Israel, as a nation, persistently rejected the purpose of God, and his list of Israel’s apostasies ended by recounting the building of the Temple (vii. 47 f ). The persecution which began with his martyrdom helped to spread the kingdom (viii. 1-4). b — F 7 'om Jerusalem to Samaria. Philip (not the Apostle, see viii. 14) went outside the Jewish pale and brought many Samaritans into the Kingdom (viii. 5-13). 14 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. c — The First Gentile Church. The great and decisive step of bringing pure Gentiles into the Kingdom was taken at Antioch. Certain nameless men of Cyprus and Cyrene, driven from Jerusalem by the persecution in which Stephen fell, and arriving in Antioch, preached no longer to Jews merely, but to Greeks : of whom a great number believed (Acts xi. 19-21). Thus, At Antioch was formed the first (recorded) Gentile Church (xi. 26) ; At Antioch the subjects of the Kingdom first received their historic title of Christians. No longer a mere sect of the Jews, but an independent religious community, they obtained (possibly from the Roman authorities) a distinctive name. Antioch became for many years the capital 01 ex¬ panding Christendom. Thither came Barnabas, and thither he brought from Tarsus the man who, above all others, was to prove the Kingdom free from all Jewish bonds (Acts xi. 22-26),— Saul, a Pharisee of pure Jewish blood, a native of Hellenistic Tarsus, and a Roman citizen, formerly a persecutor of the Church, but con¬ verted (a.d. 35) by a late revelation of the Risen Christ (Gal. i. 16 ; 1 Cor. xv. 8). Peter’s visit to Cornelius (Acts x.) does not seem to have been followed up from Jerusalem by further evangelism among the Gentiles. The historic movement was in and from Antioch. THE FORTY YEARS’ TRANSITION. 15 d—Rapid Extension among the Gentiles. It was from the Church at Antioch that Christian Evangelists went forth on their first organized missionary tour among the Gentiles. Paul and Barnabas went through Cyprus, Pamphylia, Pisidia, and Lycaonia, achieving remarkable success in making converts and planting Churches of Gentiles (Acts xiii., xiv.). e—The Threatened Schism Averted. The inevitable controversy broke out. Must the Gentiles, who were now crowding into the Kingdom, become Jews in order to become Christians? Many Jewish Christians answered “ Yes,” and sought so to persuade the Gentile converts. Paul and Barnabas, as Apostles of the uncircumcision, answered “No.” The quarrel grew. To prevent schism, Paul and Barnabas went up to Jerusalem (a.d. 51) to confer with the earlier Apostles. As a result, “the gospel of the uncircumcision” and its Apostles were approved, and the freedom of the Gentiles from the Jewish law was ratified (Gal. ii.; Acts xv.). Note the way in which schism was averted (Gal. ii. 7-10). There was a frank statement and a frank recog¬ nition of differences (a gospel of the uncircumcision and a gospel of the circumcision): a perception of the fundamental unity (He that wrought for Peter wrought for me also); a division of the field of labour (we unto the Gentiles, they to the Jews) ; __ THE KINGDOM OF GOD. a mutual acknowledgment of fellowship; and co¬ operation in the service of the poor. Have we not here the secret of the reunion of Chris¬ tendom to-day ? This victory for the Gentiles was confirmed by Peter’s visit to Antioch (Gal. ii. \\ ff.). This Apostle of the circumcision himself lived “ as did the Gentiles,” and when, afraid of a deputa¬ tion from James, he acted an inconsistent part he received a scathing rebuke from Paul. Thus two decades after Jesus’ death had sufficed to make explicit the universal nature of His Kingdom. f—Tke Kingdom in Europe and the Gospel in Greek. The next decade (51-61) includes Paul’s second and third missionary tours (through most of what we now call Asia Minor, through Macedonia, llyricum, and Achaia), the writing of his chief epistles, and finally his lodgment as prisoner in Rome. The headquarters of the great Evan¬ gelist having moved from Antioch (Acts xi. 26- xv - 35 ) t0 Ephesus (Acts xix. 1 ; xx. 31), are now pitched in the capital of the world. The Gospel has assumed permanent literary form. g The Carcase to the Vziltures. Within the next decade the Christians in Rome are so numerous as to be made the objects of Im- penal, persecution (a.d. 65). The Apostle of the Circumcision and the Apostle ot the Un- circumcision are martyred : and Jerusalem falls before Titus. 17 THE M ESSAGE of the first heralds. The life of the Kingdom has passed from the Jewish nation. The corpse is given over to the Roman eagles (Matt. xxiv. 58 ). The great transition is prac¬ tically complete. Verily the Kingdom oi God has come with power (Mark ix. i). Key-Text : Gal. v. 6. Request : Eph. vi. 24. § 78. The Message of the First Heralds. The Kingdom of God is stated in Acts to have been the theme of the Gospel preached by Philip to the Samaritans (viii. 12), and by Paul in Lystra and Iconium (xiv. 22), during his three years ministry in and around Ephesus (xix. 8 ; xx. 25), and during his two years’ stay in Rome (xxviii 3i). It was also the subject of his testimony in his All- Day meeting with the chief Jews of Rome (xxviii. 23). The general idea of the Kingdom was involved and defined in the statement, “Jesus is the Christ.” This we find to have been the chief burden of the Apostles in addressing Jews who were familiar with the conceptions, Kingdom and Christ, but strangers or enemies to Jesus. So Peter at Pentecost (Acts ii. 36), and in Solo¬ mon’s Porch (iii. 20). So Paul to the Jews of Damascus (ix. 22), Thessa- 3 B i8 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. lonica (xvii. 3), and Corinth (xviii. 5) ( cf. “ Jesus is the Son of God,” Acts ix. 20 ; Psalm ii. 2, 7). So Apollos to the Jews in Achaia (Acts xviii. 28). This message of the Coming of the Kingdom and of the Christ-hood ot Jesus gave colour to the charge, “ These all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another King, one Jesus ” (xvii. 7). That Jesus as the Christ is ordained Judge of quick and dead was also a prominent part of the message. So Peter before Cornelius (x. 42), and Paul in the Areopagus (xvii. 31 ; cf. xxiv. 25). Key-Text : Luke x. 9. Request : For Apostolic heralds to-day. § 79. On the Epistles. Certain features common to the Writings of the Apostles and their next followers, which dis¬ tinguish them from the Sayings of Jesus, need to be noted. (a) In the Sayings the Kingdom of God is the theme always recurring, and the Church is barely mentioned. In the Writings the King¬ dom rarely occurs, while the Church is always present. This change is partly due to (1) the fact that the Epistles were written to Churches and about Churches. A deeper reason is (2) that the Church was the primary instrument for realizing and extending the Kingdom, and, the ON THE EPISTLES. 19 Kingdom having been already launched, the Church, next and necessarily, demanded special attention. But (3) it was like the Master to lay the chief stress on the Kingdom, it was like the disciple, in the changed circumstances, to lay the chief stress on the Church. The standard given us by the Master we must accept. The Kingdom is the larger, the more comprehen¬ sive, and the more fundamental idea. The Church is but one phase of the Kingdom’s life : and only exists as a means to the realization of the Kingdom. This distinction should be kept well in mind. The sin of ecclesiasticism results from identifying the King¬ dom with the Church. The Kingdom is not to be narrowed down to the Church, nor the Church evaporated into the Kingdom. We shall study the leading ideas of the Epistles, therefore, from the standpoint of Kingdom and not of Church. (b) Even where the Epistles mention the Kingdom, it is generally the future Kingdom (§ 54), which shall appear at the Second Advent of the Christ. The idea of the Kingdom as a thing already existing on earth is not indeed wholly absent, but is only seldom expressly cited. The reason of this distribution of emphasis is given in the universal expectation of the first Christian generation that the Christ would very speedily return to judge the world and establish His Kingdom in glory (1 Cor. xv. 50 ; Rev. 20 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. xxii. 20 ; Heb. x. 25 ; 1 Peter iv. 7 ; James v. 8, 9; 1 John ii. 18). The splendour of that eagerly awaited consum¬ mation naturally flung the existing Kingdom somewhat into shadow. (c) For mankind, as existing apart from the King¬ dom, either as prior to its first advent, or as now outside of it, a general term was soon felt to be needed. The term common to nearly all New Testament writers is “world” ( Kosmos ) or “this world.” “The world,” in this sense, often comes to mean the opposite and enemy of the Kingdom ; the rival power to be defied and vanquished (Gal. iv. 3 ; vi. 14 ; 1 Cor. i. 20 ; ii. 12, &c.; James iv. 4; i. 27 ; Rev. xi. 15; 1 John ii. 15-17 ; v. 4, 19); cf §§ 7, 26. A kindred contrast, similarly common, is that between light and darkness (1 Thess. v. 5 ; 2 Cor. vi. 14; Rom. xiii. 12 ; Col. i. 13 ; 1 Petei ii. 9 ; 1 John ii. 8, 11). (d) It is not essential to the purpose stated above (§ 75) t° go beyond the chief writings of the New Testament or to fix the dates of every writing we use. The approximate dates at which, according to pretty general agreement, Paul’s epistles were written may be given :—1 and 2 Thessalonians, 54 A.D.; Galatians, 55 ; 1 and 2 Corinthians, 57 ; Romans, 58 ; Philippians, Ephesians, Colos- sians, Philemon, during his first imprisonment in Rome, which began 61 ; 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus during a second imprisonment in Rome. Some think, however, that the epistles in which THE VITAL FACT. 21 Paul appears to write as a prisoner were written partly during his imprisonment at Caesarea and partly during his imprisonment in Rome ; and some judge differently of the date and authorship of the Pastoral Epistles. Key-Text : Matt. x. 24, 25a. Request : For grace to use all things as ours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, that we may be more fully Christ’s (1 Cor. iii. 22/). A.—The Kingdom According to Paul. § 80 . The Vital Fact. The secret of a man’s life gives the key to all his thinking. What Paul declares to be the inmost fact of his life fixes the point from which the concentric circles of his thought, can, one after another, be best seen and understood. (1) In this direct utterance of his deepest experience we have the truth at first hand. (2) When he throws the truth so gained into figures taken from animal or social life, or (3) when he puts it in such a form as to suit Jewish or Greek ways of thinking, he has done something to explain it, it is true ; but, as reflection has come in, we now stand at one or more removes from the original or vital fact. In other words, the experience is of more decisive value than the explana¬ tion of the experience. Now we find as the bed-rock of Paul’s religious consciousness a certain Ide?itity of Life between himself and the Christ. In an early epistle he writes, (Key-Text) “ It is no longer I that livej 22 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. but Christ liveth in me ” (Gal. ii. 20) ; and in one of the later epistles, “To me to live is Christ” (Phil. i. 21). He is emphatically “a man in Christ” (2 Cor. xii. 2). His conver¬ sion is the revealing of the Son of God in him (Gal. i. 16). To be found in Christ is the aim of his great self-renunciation (Phil. iii. 9). He speaks in Christ (2 Cor. ii. 17 ; xii. 19). Christ speaks in him (2 Cor. xiii. 3). This experience he does not regard as only his own. His intense social sympathy reveals, at the deepest point where he and other souls can meet, the same underlying Life. “Ye are in Christ Jesus,” he says (1 Cor. i. 30), “Jesus Christ is in you” (2 Cor. xiii. 5). He speaks of “fellow-workers in Christ Jesus” (Rom. xvi. 3). To be a subject of the Kingdom is, in his phrase, to “be in Christ” (2 Cor. v. 17). Christians are, when immature, “babes in Christ” (1 Cor. iii. 1). They are “saints in Christ Jesus” (Phil, i. 1), “sanctified in Him”(i Cor. i. 2). They were “baptized into Christ,” “ did put on Christ” (Gal. iii. 27). The Churches are to Paul “ Churches in Christ ” (1 Thess. ii. 14 ; Gal. i. 22). Their general Chris¬ tian activity is in Christ (Gal. v. 6, et passim). “ Christ is our life” (Col. iii. 4). Jew and Greek, bond and free, male and female, “ ye are all one man in Christ Jesus ” (Gal. iii. 28), “Christ is all and in all” (Col. iii. 11). Those who die fall asleep in Christ (1 Cor. xv. 18), they are “the dead in Christ” (1 Thess. iv. 16). According to Paul the subjects of the Kingdom are THE SOCIAL ORGANISM ,. 23 all, in some way, included in the personality of the Christ. Many people, faced with this fact, exclaim, “ That is Paul’s mysticism,” and think they have so disposed of it. It is not to be so easily dismissed. Here is Paul, one of the chief spiritual experts of the race, telling us the secret of his life. He is putting into speech the deepest and most abiding fact of his own experience and of the social experience which is also intensely his own. And the concurrent testimony of all his epistles, is that he and every other subject of the Evangelic Kingdom are “in Christ,” are en¬ veloped in the folds of His personality. This is the vital fact. This is the core of the Pauline universe. It is not to be merely dubbed ‘ ‘ mystical ” and then passed by. We have no right to empty Paul’s words of their riches in order to bring them down to the poverty of our experience. In thus identifying, after a certain manner, the King¬ dom with the inclusive personality of the Christ, Paul only gives vitality and substance to the truth suggested by the synoptic sayings as summarized in § 52 : Jesus embodies the ideal of the Kingdom. Request: Eph. iii. 17. §81. The Social Organism. Paul helps us to grasp the vital fact by setting forth the One Life which includes and pervades in¬ numerable lesser lives as an Organism. This image, which is all but present when he says, “Ye are all one man in Christ Jesus” (Gal. iii. 28), is drawn out at length in 1 Cor. xii. 12 ff. 24 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. The Key-Text is, “As the body is one, and all the members of the body being many are one body , so also is (not the Church, but) Christ .” So “ we who are many are one body (i Cor. x. 17) in Christ, and severally members one of another” (Rom. xii. 5). The figure which runs through these earlier epistles reappears in slightly changed but fuller outline in Colossians (i. 18, 24; ii. 17, 19 ; iii. 15), and in Ephesians (i. 22, 23; ii. 16; iii. 6; iv. 4, 12-16, 25; v. 23 - 32 ). According to Paul, the Christ and the subjects of the Kingdom constitute a Social Organism. The conception of the community as a social organism is not, like the experience from which it springs, dis¬ missed by modern men as “mystical,” but is hailed as having high scientific value. Mr Herbert Spencer, in his “Principles of Sociology,” vol. i. part ii., has sketched in detail the likenesses between the animal and social frame. Industries form the alimentary system of society; roads, canals, railroads, its blood¬ vessels ; telegraphs, its nerves ; the government, its brain, &c. But in his social organism Mr Spencer recognises no central sensorium, or personal self-consciousness; only a general sentiency and knowledge diffused by language. Whereas Paul’s fontal idea is that his social organism has a central sensorium—is one colossal personality. Request : Eph. iv. 14, 15. THE OLD MAN AND THE NEW. 25 § 82 . The Old Man and the New. Over against the Organism of the Christ and His members, or the New Man, which includes Greek and Jew, barbarian and Scythian, bond and free, male and female, in the all-pervading unity of Christ (Gal. iii. 28 ; Col. iii. 11), stands “The world” or “this world” (Gal. vi. 14; 1 Cor. i. 20; ii. 12; iii. 19; vii. 33; xi. 32), or in kindred contrast “the Old Man,” the old non- Christian humanity (Rom. vi. 6 and Gal. vi. 14 ; Col. iii. 9 ; cf. Eph. iv. 22). As the name and parallel suggest, This also is thought of as an Organism, “ the Body of Sin ” (Rom. vi. 6), “ the Body of the flesh ” (Col. ii. 11), with “members upon the earth” (Col. iii. 5). Hence there are two Social Organisms, the Old and the New Humanity (the world and the King¬ dom), which are thus opposed :— Of the Old. Of the New. The character is Sin, Righteousness, which resides in and is transmitted by the Flesh, the Spirit, the destiny being Death, Life, eternal life, and the historical origin being Adam, Christ. For the first, third, and fourth contrasts, see Rom. v. 12-21. As to the second, observe that by “ flesh ” Paul 26 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. means not our physical body, but the diseased principle of our moral and religious nature, the principle which is the hereditary and personal predisposition to sin ; or common human nature as it now is, not only weak but vitiated and sinful. See Gal. v. 16-24 > Rom. viii. 5-9, 12, 13. But the members of the New Humanity have been members of the Old Humanity, servants of sin (Rom. vi. 17), walking after the flesh (vii. 5), and under condemnation (iii. 19). How, then, has the new Social Organism supervened upon the old, or how has the transition from old to new been effected ? Key-Text : Eph. iv. 22/ Request : For daily deliverance from this body of death (Romans vii. 24). § 83. The Death-Birth. The New social organism had its “ rudiments ” (Gal. iv. 3, 9), foreshadowings (Col. ii. 17), and general preparation in the Old, as shown in the individual conscience (Rom. vii. 22), in the witness received from Nature (i. 19, 20 ; ii. I 4 ) !5)> an d in the promises and covenants of Revelation (Gal. iii., iv. ; Romans iii., iv. et passim). It first became actual in Jesus the Christ. By His unique obedience (Phil. ii. 8), He introduced the Reign of Righteousness : began the New Order: brought in the Kingdom (Rom. v. 12 ff.). THE DEATH-BIRTH . 27 But He was born of the Old social organism (Gal. iv. 4), of the people of Israel and of the seed ol David according to the flesh (Rom. ix. 5 ; i. 3), in the likeness of sinful flesh (viii. 3). In Him, therefore, the Old and the New meet —and part. Paul finds the historical point of transition in the Death of Christ. a. His sinlessness (2 Cor. v. 21) broke the continuity of human sinfulness, and His Death is the historical outcome of the rupture. The antagonism between His righteousness and the world’s sin was uncompro¬ mising and proved itself to be mortal. His life was one persistent “ death unto sin,” and this death became complete in the crucifixion (Rom. vi. 10, 11). The New social organism was once for all severed from the Old. New and Old were by the Cross crucified to each other (Gal. vi. 14). b> But the Death of Jesus was wholly undeserved. It was voluntarily incurred by Him as involved in the encounter of His New (perfect) Humanity with the Old sinful Humanity. But He undertook this en¬ counter only in order to establish the New amid the Old, that members of the Old might pass over into the New. Thus His Death was for their benefit. Christ died for the ungodly (Rom. v. 6, 8, &c.). c. But Paul regarded Death as the doom of Sin (Rom. v. 12) , and a death on the tree as incurring the curse of the Law (Gal. iii. 13). So Christ in His Death became a curse for us (Gal. ii. 13) . Him who knew no sin God made to be 28 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. sin on our behalf (2 Cor. v. 21). God sent Him as an offering for sin (Rom. viii. 3). God set Him forth a Mercy-seat sprinkled with His own blood (iii. 25). By showing that the Divine forgiveness, whether to saints of old or to subjects of the New Kingdom, sprang from no light estimate of sin, but from an atti¬ tude towards it of mortal antagonism and heart¬ breaking revulsion, the Death of Christ showed the righteousness of God in passing over sins done afore¬ time and in now receiving into the Realm of the justified sinners who believed in Jesus (Rom. iii. 21-26). Observe that righteousness is more than justice. What is right is a larger notion than what is just. Hebrew righteousness includes humanity as well as justice. The root-meaning of Righteousness in the Old Testa¬ ment, says Professor Cheyne, “is firmness or tight¬ ness . hence it is the quality which leads one to adhere to a fixed rule of conduct. God’s rule is His covenant : hence righteousness shows itself in all such acts as tend to the full realizing of the covenant with Israel. Righteousness and loving kindness are closely connected ideas.” So Kautsch declares the root idea of (Hebrew) right¬ eousness to be conformity to a norm (cf Isaiah xl.-lxvi., where righteousness = salvation). The righteousness of God is therefore the consistency and constancy with which He carries out His supreme purpose of love in founding and completing His Kingdom. As such it includes (but far transcends) the element of penal or retributive justice. The Death of Christ was, according to Paul, a setting forth of the righteousness of God in the largest sense. TRANSCORPORA TION. 29 Whatever was necessary to free the New Organism from the doom of guilt contracted by its members while in the Old Organism was effected in the crucifixion. The Divine vitality of the New Organism was historically attested by the Resurrection of the Christ (1 Cor. xv. ; Rom. i. 4 ; vi.). The crucifixion and resurrection thus form a Death-Birth. The New social organism parted from the Old, was severed from sin, flesh, and penal death. Key-Text : Rom. vi: 6. Thanks : Rev. v. 9/, 12. § 84. Transcorporation. The breach which Jesus made in the continuity of human sinfulness He made for all who avail themselves of it (Rom. v. 12-21). Those who cleave to Him keep up His line of cleavage with the world. By self-surrendering faith in Him they have entered into an identity of life with Him (Gal. ii. 20). One died for all ; therefore all died : and He died for all that they which live should no longer live unto themselves but unto Him, who for their sakes died and rose again (2 Cor. v. 14, 15). They have died to sin ; they have become alive unto God (Rom. vi.). They have been crucified to the world and the world to them (Gal. vi. 14). 30 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. They have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts (v. 24). They have been crucified with Christ (ii. 20). They have died with Him (Rom. vi. 8 ; Col. ii. 20). They have been raised with Christ (Col. iii. 1); they are “ alive from the dead ” (Rom. vi. 13). The old humanity was crucified with Him (Rom. vi. 6). The Body of Sin was initially done away {ibid.\ the Body of the Flesh was put away (Col. ii. 11). They have put off the Old Man : they have put on the New Man (Col. iii. 9, 10) ; they have put on Christ (Gal. iii. 27). They have become members of His Body (§ 81). They have, in a word, been cut away from the old social organism : they have been transplanted into the new. To alter slightly the Apostle’s use of the figure, they were cut out of the wild olive tree and were grafted into the good olive tree ( cf. Rom. xi. 24). Of this process of transcorporation Paul supplies a striking witness in his own experience (Gal. ii. 20 ; and Phil. iii.). It is identical with the detachment and attachment which Jesus demanded ; repentance and faith ; death to self and following Him ; “Die to Live.” But the vital change from one organism to another can only take place by the creative act of God. If any man is in Christ, there is a new creation ; the . old things are passed away ; they are become new. But all things are of God who reconciled us to Himself through Christ (2 Cor. v. 17, 18). THE HOME OF THE ADOPTED. 3i God fore-knows, fore-ordains, calls the members of the new organism (Rom. viii. 29/.). He delivered us out of the power of darkness and translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of His love (Col. i. 13). Key-Text : Rom. vi. 5. Request : Psalm li. 10. § 85 . The Home of the Adopted. The sayings of Jesus have made us think of the Kingdom chiefly as a family, wherein God is Father, and men and women are brothers and sisters in the Spirit of the Christ. Paul attests the new family experience which Jesus introduced. The fact which passages collated in previous sections have set forth under the image of an organism, is now set forth under the image of a family. Paul holds all men to be the offspring of God ( cf. Acts xvii. 29) ; but before they become Christ¬ ians he regards them as children in a state of nonage and servitude (Gal. iv. 1-3, 9). But by faith in Jesus they enter into the privileges of full sonship ; they receive the adoption of sons (Gal. iv. 5), the spirit of adoption (Rom. viii. 15), the Spirit of the Son of God, whereby they cry Father, Father! (Gal. iv. 6; Rom. viii. 15). In Christ Jesus (Gal. iii. 26), and led by the Spirit of God (Rom. viii. 14), they are all sons of God. So they form a household of faith (Gal. vi. 10 ; cf. Eph. ii. 19). 32 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. To explain Paul’s meaning by a Parable of his Master’s : The prodigal in Luke xv. was a son in the far country, but in his father’s welcome received “the adoption of sons.” The sonship and the brotherhood are modelled on those of Jesus. They began to be with Him. It is the prescient purpose of God to conform men to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren (Rom. viii. 29). Key-Text : Gal. iv. 3-5. Request : For the filial and fraternal Spirit of oui Lord (Luke xi. 13). § 86. The Realm of the Justified. The fact of vital union has been set forth in Paul’s figures of the Body and of the Family. It now remains to set it forth in his figure of the State with its courts of public justice. This is a figure much more external than the other two ; but owing to the intensely legal habit of mind which ruled the Jews of his time, and to which he himself had been trained, it receives great emphasis from Paul. The vital fact is that the believer, when by faith he finds himself “ in Christ Jesus,” finds also that his former sin no longer bars him from loving access to the Father. Living unity with the Christ precludes any Divine estrangement. That is to say, in Him we have the forgiveness of our sins (Col. i. 14). But there is consciousness THE REALM OF THE JUSTIFIED. 33 of much more than bare forgiveness. The be¬ liever is “ in Christ,” is included in His person¬ ality, shares in His life, is invested, therefore, with a positive worth before the Father. Now put this fact of experience into the forensic figure. It is not enough to say that the believer has been pardoned, let off from the penal con¬ sequences of his sin. He is treated as though he were acquitted, “ dismissed from court with¬ out a stain upon his character.” He is virtually, by deeds of grace more eloquent than words, pronounced righteous. He is justified. He is awarded full civil rights in the Kingdom of God. He is admitted to the public honour of close intimacy with his Judge and King. But how reconcile these forensic statements with the proved guilt of all men (Rom. iii. 19). How, save by a legal fiction, can God justify the ungodly ? We must turn once more to the central vital fact. The believer, however sinful his past, is “in Christ Jesus.” He has become incorporate with the supremely Righteous Personality. It is no longer he that lives, but Christ lives in him (Gal. ii. 20). The All-Holy Life is his. So incorporated and identified with Christ, he is righteous : and what he is, God declares him to be ; He justifies him. Faith in the Christ is life surrender, it is the condition on which God engrafts a man into the Christ. “Faith is reckoned for righteousness” (Rom. iv. 5), because it is the condition of inclusion in the Righteous Personality. 3 C THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 34 But what of the sinful past of the believer? Paul answers, He that hath died is justified from sin (Rom. vi. 7, R. V.). We died with Christ (ver. 8). Whatever penal consequences were due to us have been dis¬ charged. We are so vitally one with Him that His passion is ours. He died unto sin once for all (ver. io), and that death is ours : just as the engrafted branch shares in the permanent effects of the previous history of the tree (Rom. xi. 17). But what of the sinful nature which the believer brings with him ? God does not justify that. The old man, the body of sin, the body of the flesh, the members which are upon the earth, are not justified by God. They are not incorporate with the Christ. They do not belong to the true life of the believer. So far as they attach to him at all, they are to be made dead (Col. iii. 5). Every shred of tissue connecting him with them must be cut or cauterised away. God justifies the new true self, which is one with the Christ. To justify, to adopt, to incorporate or engraft are (relative to the individual believei) the same creative act of God whereby a man comes to be “ in Christ Jesus.” The three figures are various ways of describing the “ new creation ” (2 Cor. v. 17). Key-Text : Rom. viii. 1. Request : Eph. iii. 16. THE SYNOPTIC IDEA IN FACIE. 35 § 87. Tlie Synoptic Idea in Paul. Besides the foregoing figures, Paul uses also the original phrase—so continually on Jesus’ lips —of “ the Kingdom of God.” He uses it chiefly in reference to the future consummation (i Thess. ii. 12 ; 2 Thess. i. 5 ; Gal. v. 21 ; 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10 ; xv. 24, 50). But he also uses it of the present. The Kingdom of God is not in word but in power (1 Cor. iv. 20) : it is a movement not of human plausibilities, but of Divine dynamic. But the great passage is Rom. xiv. 17, where, touching on the vexed question of meats, Paul urges that the essence of Christian fellowship does not lie in eating and drinking, or any such external behaviour. No ; Key-Text. The Kingdom of God is righteous¬ ness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he that herein serveth the Christ is well pleasing to God and approved of men. Observe how strikingly this definition accords with the epitome of the Synoptic sayings in § 74. The three factors of fellowship given there appear here,—God, men, the Christ. Righteousness is “conformity to a norm ”—the norm being the Divine Law or Will of love. Righteousness is the conduct commanded by love. Peace is the harmony which love secures between the manifold varieties of righteous conduct. Joy is the spontaneous outflow of the love that com¬ mands and organizes conduct. But the Kingdom is more than a fellowship of in« THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 36 dividuals acting righteously, peaceably, joyously. It possesses a Common Life which is Divine (1 Cor. vi. 17 ). The fellowship of righteousness and peace and joy is in the Holy Spirit. He who exercises this Divine vitality serves the Christ: and, so serving the Christ, wins the Fatherly commendation of God and the brotherly approval of men. “ Fellow-workers unto the Kingdom of God ” (Col. iv. 11) may refer to either present or future Kingdom, or both ; in any case the Kingdom appears as a common task or work. Col. i. 13 has been noted in § 84. A kindred phrase occurs in Gal. vi. 16, “The Israel of God,” which is equivalent to the entire mass of subjects in the Kingdom. Of this Kingdom Paul finds the source and seat and me¬ tropolis in Heaven. The Jerusalem which is above is our mother (Gal. iv. 26). So also Our citizenship is in Heaven (Phil. iii. 20), which suggests “ the Kingdom of Heaven.” So he urges Behave as citizens worthily of the Gospel of the Christ (Phil. i. 27, R. V., marg.). But though the Kingdom is not often mentioned by Paul, he gives prominence to the (even verbally) kindred idea of The Reign of Grace (Rom. v. 21) with which is con¬ trasted the Reign of Sin (v. 21) or Reign of Death (v. 14, 17). The Reign of Sin began with the first man, bringing Death as its consequence, and extended from him IN WHOM ALL THINGS CONSIST. 37 over the entire race. The Law came in to deepen man’s consciousness of sin, and of his own inability to escape from it. The Reign of Grace (“the Kingdom of God ”) begins on earth with the One Man, Jesus Christ, and extends over all who are in Him. It is designed to be equally universal and more abundant (see whole pas¬ sage, Rom. v. 12-21). To recapitulate : Our present purpose is not to trace all the ins and outs of Paul’s doctrine, but to show the broad resemblance between his and the synoptic ideas. What Jesus meant by the Kingdom of God reap¬ pears substantially in Paul (1) under the same name, and also under the figures of (2) the Human Organism (the Body which is Christ), (3) the Home of the Adopted, (4) the Realm of the Justified, (5) the Reign of Grace, (6) the Heavenly Citizenship. Request : Rom. xv. 13. § 88. In Whom all things consist. In the Pauline epistles the Anointed Ruler in the Kingdom of God is called Christ 129 times ; Lord possibly * 98 times ; The Lord possibly 97 times ; The Christ 86 times ; CJtrist Jesus 87 *" Possibly,” because we cannot always say whether “ Lord ” refers to Jesus or to His Father. Cf my “ Pauline names for Jesus,” in The Expositor, May 1888, pp. 386-395. 38 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. times ; Jesus Christ 78 times ; Our Lord 54 times ; Jesus 47 times ; Son of God 17 times. Jesus’ own title, The Son of Man , never occurs. The Messianic name is becoming proper and personal ( Christ 129 times) rather than common and official ( The Christ 86 times). The official title with Paul is therefore chiefly Lord (in all forms certainly 129 times and possibly 249). The confession which marks a man a Christian is that “ Jesus is Lord ” (1 Cor. xii. 3 ; Rom. x. 9 ; Phil. ii. 11). This is the Apostolic echo of the Master’s demand, “Follow Me.” The idea common to both is, obviously, that of the decisive Authority of Jesus. But Paul, as we have seen (§ 80), does not conceive of this Authority as arbitrary or external, but as vital and pervasive. All that believe in Him are felt to be incorporate with Christ (§ 81). The Lord is the Spirit (2 Cor. iii. 17). a. This unique relation to believers in all lands and in all ages necessarily carries with it yet larger and more august attributes. Who must He be who gathers within the folds of His own personality the martyr Stephen, and all the rest who since have fallen asleep, as well as James in Jeru¬ salem, Barnabas in Antioch, Apollos in Ephesus, Paul in Rome, and every other Christian ? How shall He be described who is felt and known by each of these to be their Life ? He is to us as God is to Him, and as the man is to the woman ; the head of the woman is the man, IN WHOM ALL THINGS CONSIST. 39 the head of every man is Christ, and the head of Christ is God (i Cor. xi. 3 ; cf iii. 23). He must stand, therefore, in a b. Unique relation to God. He is the Son of God, “ His own Son ” (Rom. viii. 3, 32), the Son of His Love (Col. i. 13), the First-born (Rom. viii. 29 ; Col. i. 15), declared by His resurrection to be the Son of God according to the Spirit of holi¬ ness (Rom. i. 4). He is the Image of God (2 Cor. iv. 4; Col. i. 15). God was in Him (2 Cor. v. 19). He was God’s gift (Rom. viii. 32 ; v. 8), God’s sending (Gal. iv. 4 ; Rom. viii. 3). He is God’s agent in redeeming the world {passim). But this present and historical relation to God in¬ volves in Paul’s mind His pre-existence. Jesus was originally in the form of God, and counted it not a thing to be grasped at to be on an equality with God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of man (Phil. ii. 6, 7). In Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead in bodily form (Col. ii. 9). Having reigned until all things are subject to Him, the Son shall deliver up the Kingdom to the Father, and be subjected to Him that God may be all in all (1 Cor. xv. 24-28). But the relation which is disclosed in the Christian consciousness as existing between the Christ and the Divine and human members of the Kingdom sets Him in a 40 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. c. Unique relation to the universe. The Kingdom of God is the goal of creation. But the social organism of the Kingdom is found to be the very Body of the Christ. How, then, must this Unique Personality stand to the entire creation ? Already in i Cor. viii. 6, Paul declares to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things and we unto Him, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and we through Him. The one God and the one Lord are here two distinct transcendent persons; one the source, the other the medium of creation. He is the first-born of all creation : all things have been created in Him, and through Him, and unto Him ; and He is before all things, and in Him all things consist (Col. i. 15-17, Key-Text). He effects the creation, the continuance, the re¬ conciliation of the universe {ibid, and ver. 20). He is the personal goal and consummation of the universe (1 Cor. xv. 24/ ; Phil. ii. 10 f. ; Eph. i. 9, 10). Request: Eph. iii. 18, 19. § 89. The Law of the Spirit of Life. The conduct of subjects of the Kingdom springs, according to Paul, from the vital relation in which they stand to the Christ {cf. § 80). It is the way in which His life in them expresses itself (Rom. viii. 9, 10). Hence THE LA W OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE. 41 Its Law is not of the Letter but of the Spirit (2 Cor. iii. 6); is not an outer code, but an inner Life ; is the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus (Rom. viii. 2 ; cf. The Law of the Brotherhood, § 43). Thus appears The freedom for which we were called (Gal. v. 13) with which Christ set us free (ver. 1), the spon¬ taneous conformity to the Spirit of the Christ (2 Cor. iii. 17). By comparing Paul’s three statements of what is essential to the Christian life in Gal. vi. 155 v. 6 ; and 1 Cor. vii. 19, we learn the genesis of the New Morality : The “new creation” (2 Cor. v. 17) reveals itself as “ faith working through love,” and so results in “ the keeping of the commandments of God.” The order of sequence is : First, Faith ; second, Love ; third, Works: grasp of the Vital Fact arouses the vital emotion which impels to the vital activity. This is the true psychological order, knowledge stirs feeling which sets the will in motion. Only a gross misunderstanding of Paul’s teaching could make out of ** justification by faith a pretext for Solafidian indifference to morality. Vital union with the Christ, of which justification is God’s creative de¬ claration, involves a life-purpose which is at one with the Christ’s, and which must show itself in the corresponding conduct. Christian morality is “ the Fruit of the Spirit ” (Gal. v. 22 ). Similarly, Paul describes as the abiding principles 42 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. of the New Life, Faith, Hope, Love (i Cor. xiii. 1 3 )* This Trinity of Graces appears often in Paul’s epistles, both early and late (i Thess. i. 3 ; v. 8 ; cf. 2 Thess. i. 3-5 ; Gal. v. 5, 6 ; 1 Cor. xiii. ; Col. i. 4, 5). Faith is the act of vital adhesion to the Christ (Gal. ii. 20), continuous and progressive (2 Thess. i. 3; 1 Cor. xvi. 13; 2 Cor. x. 15; Rom. xi. 20; Phil. i. 25; Col. i. 23; ii. 7. See §§ 80, 81, 84). It carries with it the filial spirit (Gal. iii. 26) of trust in God (1 Thess. i. 8), in His Fatherly guid¬ ance (Rom. viii. 14) and control (Rom. viii. 28 ; Phil. iv. 6, 7), and expresses itself in con¬ stant prayer and thanksgiving (1 Thess. v. 1 7 , 18; Rom. xii. 12; Phil. iv. 6, 7; Col. iii. 17). Hence springs Love toward God (rarely mentioned : 1 Cor. ii. 9 ; viii. 3; Rom. viii. 28), but principally toward man. Paul repeats after Jesus that love is the universal motive of Christian morality, cf. § 44. Love is the fulfilment of the entire law (Gal. v. 14 ; Rom. xiii. 8-10) and a perpetual obligation (Rom. xiii. 8 et passim ), as regards not only fellow-members, but all men. Thus In his first extant Epistle (1 Thessalonians), Paul prays that his readers may “increase and abound in love one toward another and toward all men” (iii. 12), and bids them “follow after that which is good, one toward another and THE LA W OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE. 43 toward all” (v. 15 ; cf. Gal. vi. 8-10). For love constrains to Mutual Service (Gal. v. 13), mutual burden-bearing (Gal. vi. 2), mutual forbearance (Col. iii. 1 3 ; cf Eph. iv. 2), mutual deference (Phil. ii. 3), mutual edification (Rom. xv. 2 ; cf 1 Cor. viii. 1), Love is the only spirit befitting the reciprocity of service and life which makes up the social organism (1 Cor. xii., xiii. ; cf Eph. iv. 16). It is presumably “ The Law of the Christ ” (Gal. vi. 2 ; cf. v. 13). Hope is the vision of the eventual, the attitude of the soul “ when feeling out of sight for the ends of Being and ideal Grace.” It sights the un¬ seen goal (Rom. viii. 24). It contemplates the certain consummation of the Kingdom (salvation, 1 Thess. v. 8, 9 ; righteousness, Gal. v. 5 ; the glory of God, Rom. v. 2 ; the revealing of the Sons of God, the redemption of our body, viii. 19-24). If faith supplies the ground and love the motive , hope supplies the aim of action (viii. 25). It gives a future to present conviction and ’emotion. Prospect is essential to purpose. It is akin to that practical wisdom which discerns what are the ends and means approved by the Will of God (Col. i. 9). Hence it is the result of testing or probation (Rom. v. 4 ; xii. 2). It is the source of patience (1 Thess. i. 3 ; Rom. viii. 25) and of triumph (Rom. v. 5). The faith and hope and love which make the abid¬ ing life of the Kingdom (1 Cor. xiii.) are the factors of which righteousness and peace and 44 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. xiv. 17) are the product . The greatest of these is Love (1 Cor. xiii. 13), the bond of perfectness (Col. iii. 14). The entire life of subjects of the Kingdom is to be brought into obedience to this law of the Christ (2 Cor. x. 5). Let all that ye do be done in love (1 Cor. xvi. 14). Whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God (x. 31). Whatsoever ye do, in word or in deed, do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him (Col. iii. 17). The God of peace sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thess. v. 23). The sins which the Kingdom must consequently ex¬ clude are enumerated (Gal. v. 19-21 ; 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10 ; Rom. i. 18-32 ; Col. iii. 5-9). Rich clusters of Christian graces are described by Paul in Gal. v. 22 ; 1 Cor. xiii.; Rom. xii. ; Phil. ii. 1-25 ; Col. iii. 12-17. Key-Text : Rom. v. 10. Request : 1 Thess. v. 23. § 90. The Several Spheres. About the way in which the Kingdom is realized in the various cosmic and social spheres, Paul has written much ; of which no exhaustive statement THE SEVERAL SPHERES. 45 may be attempted in this Plan. What the Christ has said is put together in §§ 58-63. Here it is enough to mention under the several headings there enumerated the corresponding passages in Paul. Comparison with the writ¬ ings of the servant will help to make clearer the sayings of the Master. On (what moderns call) Nature, cf. § 59. Rom. xi. 36 {cf Eph. iii. 9) ; 1 Cor. viii. 4-6 ; Rom. i. 20, 25 ; 1 Cor. x. 26 ; Rom. xiv. 14 ; Col. i. 15-17 ; 1 Cor. iii. 21-23 ; Rom. viii. 20-22, 38, 39 ; Phil. iii. 21. On Man: his Body, cf. § 60. 1 Cor. xii. 18-26 {cf. Eph. v. 29) ; 1 Cor. vi. 13-20 ; ix. 27 j Rom. xii. 1 ; Phil. i. 20 ; 2 Cor. xii. 3 ; 1 Thess. v. 23 / ; 1 Cor. xv. 35-53 ; 2 Cor. v. 1-4 ; Rom. viii. 11, 23 J Phil. iii. 21. On Economic relations, cf. § 61. Against covetousness, 1 Thess. ii. 5 ; 1 Cor. v. 10 ; vi. 10 {cf. Eph. v. 5 ; 1 Tim. vi. 9, 10 ; iii. 8 ; Tit. i. 7, n). Dutiful discharge of daily calling, 1 Thess. iv. 11 ; 2 Thess. iii. 8-12; 1 Cor. vii. 20 (cf Eph. iv. 28 ; 1 Tim. v. 8 ; Tit. iii. 8, 14). Contentment, Phil. iv. 11, 12 (cf 1 Tim. iv. 8 , vi. 6, 8). Masters and servants, 1 Cor. vii. 22 ; Philemon ; Col. iii. 22-iv. 1 {cf. Eph. vi. 5-9 ; 1 Tim. vi. 1, 2). Giving, distribution, or communication to the poor, Gal. ii. 10; 1 Cor. ix. 7 5 3 y xvi. 1, 2 ; 2 Cor. viii. and ix. ; Rom. xii 8, 13 ; xv. 26 f. {cf. 1 Tim. vi. I 7 -I 9 )‘ 46 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. On the Home, cf § 62. Husband and wife, 1 Thess. iv. 4; 1 Cor. v.; vii. ; ix. 5 ; xi. 2-15 ; xiv. 35 {cf. 2 Cor. xi. 2) ; Rom. vii. 2, 3 ; Col. iii. 18/ {cf Eph. v. 22-33); parents and children, 1 Cor. vii. 14 ; 2 Cor. xii. 14 ; Col. iii. 20, 21 {cf. Eph. vi. 1-4). On the State, cf. § 63 ; its Divine origin and sanction, Rom. xiii. 1-7 ; xvi. 23 {cf 1 Tim. ii. 1-3 ; Tit. iii. 1). its evanescence, 1 Cor. ii. 6, 8 ; vi. 1-7 ; xv . 24. On the Church, cf § 76 ; its nature in general, 1 Cor. xii.; Col. i. 18, 24 {cf Eph. i. 22/; iii. 10; iv. 1-16; v. 25-32 ; and 1 and 2 Tim.; Tit.) ; its Officers, 1 Thess. v. 12/; Gal. vi. 6 ; 1 Cor. iv. 1 ; xii. 28 ; xvi. 15/; 2 Cor. i. 24; x. 8; xiii. 10; Rom. xvi. 1 ; Phil. i. 1 ; Col. iv. 17 {cf Eph. iv. 11 ; and 1 and 2 Tim. ; Tit.). Baptism, Gal. iii. 27 ; 1 Cor. i. 14-17 ; xii. 13 ; xv. 29 ; Rom. vi. 4 ; Col. ii. 12 {cf Eph! iv - 5 ); the Lord’s Supper, 1 Cor. x. 16-21 ; xi. 20-34. Worship, 1 Cor. xi. 1-19; xiv. ; Col. iii. 16; {cf Eph. v. 19) ; Gifts (charismata), 1 Cor. xii. ; Rom. xii. 6-8. Divisions: how caused, 1 Cor. i. 11 f; iii. 1-7 21-23; how obviated (secret of reunion)! Gal. ii. 7-10. Discipline, 2 Thess. iii. 14 /; ; Gal. vi. 1 ; 1 Cor. v. , vi. 5 ; 2 Cor. ii. 5-11 ; vii. 8-12. Finance : support of poor, Gal. ii. 10 ; 1 Cor. THE EPISTLE OF HOPE . 47 xvi. 1-4 ; 2 Cor. viii., ix. ; Rom. xii. 13 ; xv. 25-28 ( cf. 1 Tim.); support of ministry, 1 Thess. ii. 9 ; Gal. vi. 6; 1 Cor. ix. ; 2 Cor. xi. 8, 9 ; Phil. iv. 14-18 ( cf. 1 and 2 Tim.). Key-Text : Phil. iii. 21 b. The working whereby, &c. Request: Phil. i. 9-11. B.— The Kingdom according to other New Testament Writers. § 91. The Epistle of Hope. First Peter seems to conceive of Christians as the New Israel, delivered from bondage, but still on their march through the wilderness to the pro¬ mised land. They were going astray, but are now returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of their souls (ii. 25). They were redeemed from their vain hereditary and traditional manner of life by the precious blood of Christ (i. 18 ff.\ who carried up their sins in His own Body unto the tree (ii. 24), and suffered for sins once, the righteous for the un¬ righteous, that He might bring them to God (iii. 18), that they, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness (ii. 24). It is noteworthy that the description of the sufferings of Christ in ii. is to a large extent taken from the story of the suffering servant of Jehovah in Isa. liii., cf. § 18. 48 THE KINGDOM OF GOD, God foreknew them, chose them (i. i, 2), called them out of darkness into His marvellous light (ii. 9), begat them again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ (i. 3), through the Word of God preached to them (i. 23 25). They believe on Jesus and love Him (i. 7, 8), take Him as their Example (ii. 21). They are sprinkled with the blood of His (New Covenant) sacrifice (i. 2 ; cf. Ex. xxiv. 8), and so pledged to obedience (i. 2 ; cf Ex. xxiv. 7 ; i. 14, 22 ; iii. 1 ; iv. 17). They are thus an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession (ii. 9, 10 ; cf Ex. xix. 5, 6). They call on Him as Father (i. 17). They are pilgrims and sojourners (i. 1 ; ii. 11), and are to pass the time of their sojourning in fear (i. 17), joy (i. 8; iv. 13, 15), holiness (i. 2, 15), sobriety (i. 13 ; iv. 7 ; v. 8), patience (ii. 19, &c.), humility (v. 5, 6), and zeal for that which is good (iii. 13). They form a brotherhood (ii. 17 ; v. 9), and are to practise, “above all things,” unfeigned, hearty, fervent love toward one another (i. 22 ; iv. 8). They are stewards, spokesmen, agents of God (iv. 10, 11). For their behaviour in the Home, as husbands and wives, see iii. 1-7 ; as servants, ii. 18-25 5 in the State, ii. 13-17 ; and in the Church (iii. 21 ; v. 1-5). While thus on the march, they are by the power of God guarded through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (i. 5), —a THE EPISTLE OF PRACTICAL WISDOM. 49 salvation towards which they are growing (ii. 2), which they are even now receiving as the end of their faith (i. 9). This appears at the revelation of Jesus Christ (i. 7), the Chief Shep¬ herd (v. 4), and of His glory (iv. 13), at the end of all things which is near (iv. 7). Then will they enter the promised land, The inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, now reserved for them in Heaven (i. 4), the eternal glory of Godin Christ into which they were called (v. 10). This view of life involves Hope as its key-note (i. 3, 13, 21 ; iii. 15), a con¬ tinual looking forward to the anticipated in¬ heritance (as above, i. 4, 5, 7, 9 ; ii. 2 ; iv. 7, 13 ; v. 4, 10), ay, hope even for the spirits in prison (iii. 19), to whom when dead the gospel was preached (iv. 6). Key-Text : i. 13. Request : v. 10. § 92. The Epistle of Practical Wisdom. Against a barren faith (James ii. 20; i. 22-24), which consists with haughty censoriousness (i. 26; ii. 13 ; iii. 1-12 ; iv. 6-12 ; v. 9), truckling to the rich (ii. 1-9), injustice to the poor {ibid. v. 1-6), and general worldliness (iv. 1-4, 13-17), James vindicates the ethical soundness of the King¬ dom. God chose them that are poor as to the world to be 3 D 5 ° THE KINGDOM OF GOD . rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom (or crown of life, i. 12) promised to them that love Him (ii. 5). Of His own will He brought them forth by the word of truth (i. 18). This inborn word, when received and obeyed, is able to save their souls (i. 21). They possess faith (i. 3), the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ (ii. 1), but it is not a faith without works, barren and dead (ii. 17, 20). It is a faith shown by works (ii. 18), a faith that works with works and is perfected by works (ii. 22). They are justified, not only by faith (ii. 24), but by works (ii. 21, 24, 25). Works are the evidence of a living, saving faith ; and the verdict of justification is according to the evidence- This argument has no force against the faith of Paul with its life-and-death surrender to the Christ: only against the intellectualism which imagines that mere knowledge of the word (i. 22) and assent to certain theological propositions (ii. 19) is saving faith (cf Rom. vii. 16, 22, where mental assent to the law without conformity of life is the mark of the “ wretched man ”). This intellectualism which puts mental assent to propositions in place of life-sur¬ render to a Person is the common error of legal Tew and philosophic Greek, of dogmatic Orthodoxy, and of Rationalism. It is a “wisdom ” which breeds vain¬ glory, bitter jealousy, faction, confusion, and every vile deed ; it is earthly, sensuous, devilish (James iii. 14-16). In contrast to this Let him that is wise and understanding shew by his good life his works in gentleness of wisdom (iii. 13). For THE EPISTLE OF PRACTICAL WISDOM. 51 The wisdom which God gives (i. 5) is pure, peace¬ able, “ sweetly reasonable,” open to persuasion, full of kindness and good fruits, without doubt¬ fulness, without hypocrisy (iii. 17). The wisdom which the Bible, as a whole, commends, is not primarily speculative or intellectual ; it is practi¬ cal, ethical, religious to the core (see Proverbs). The Law (of the Kingdom) is perfect, is the law of liberty (i. 25 ; ii. 12), is the Royal Law, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (ii. 8). It excludes “respect of persons ” (ii. 1-9). Its sub¬ jects are “beloved brethren” (i. 2, 9, 16, 19 ; ii. L 5, &c.). Because the Law of Love, it enjoins Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. It is the charter of the proletarian and democrat. Religious worship,* pure and undefiled, before our God and Father consists, therefore, in looking after widows and orphans in their trouble, and in keeping oneself unstained from the world (i. 27). For friendship with the world is enmity with God (iv. 4.) Patience (i. 4, 12; v. 7-11), humility (iv. 6-10), simple veracity (v. 12), and the prayer of faith (v. 13-18), are also enjoined for the making up of a character as perfect as the law : “ that ye may be Perfect and entire, lacking in nothing ” (i. 4). The Kingdom of which they were heirs (ii. 5) is * This, and not religion in general, is the meaning of the Greek word threskeia. 52 THE KINGDOM OF GOD . with the coming of the Lord, the Judge, at hand, at the door (v. 7, 8, 9). Key-Text : iii. 17. Request : i. 5-8. § 93. The Apology of the Transition. “ A Kingdom which cannot be shaken ” is the Key NOTE of Hebrews (xii. 28) which was written (not by Paul) to convince sorely tried Jewish Christians that the New Covenant (viii. 8, &c.), mediated by Jesus is the perfect (x. 14-18) and eternal (xiii. 20) consummation (xi. 40) of the faulty (viii. 7, 8) and evanescent (ver. 13) Old Covenant. This Kingdom is practically identical with The City which hath the foundations whose designer and builder is God, for which Abraham looked (xi. 10), The better, the heavenly Fatherland which the be¬ lieving patriarchs sought after (xi. 14, 16), The City which God prepared for them (xi. 16), Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, the general assembly and Church of the first-born who are enrolled in Heaven (xii. 22 ff .); to which Christians are already come ; as they are already “receiving” the Kingdom unshakable (xii. 28). The Christ is the Son of God, the very Image of His substance, Creator, Upholder, Heir of all things (i. 1-3) ; and therefore superior to the angels (i. 4-ii. 5), to Moses (iii.-iv. 13), to the THE APOLOGY OF THE TRANSITION. 53 (Aaronic) High Priest (v., vi., vii.), and to the ancient sacrifices (ix., x.). He is the author and perfecter of faith (xii. 2). Himself at once High Priest and victim, He offered Himself through the Eternal Spirit unto God (ix. 14;, tasted death for every man (ii. 9), and having put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself (ix. 26), entered into Heaven (ix. 24), sitting down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (i. 3). For this cause He is the mediator of the New Covenant of which the prophet Jeremiah spake (xxxi. 31-34)—the New Covenant of forgiveness and the law within (ix. 15; viii. 8 ff ,; see § 15). His blood cleanses our conscience from dead works (ix. 14); our hearts are sprinkled from an evil conscience (x. 22). By this offering those whose life is based on repent¬ ance from dead works and faith toward God (vi. 1), and who obey Christ (v. 9), are ‘''sancti¬ fied ” (x. 10) or “ perfected ” (x. 14 ; ritual figures equivalent to Paul’s forensic “ justified ”). They are enlightened (vi. 4), have received the know¬ ledge of the truth (x. 26), have tasted of the heavenly gift and of the powers of the age to come, are partakers of the Holy Spirit (vi. 4, 5), and have become partakers of the Christ (iii. 14). He calls them brethren (ii. 11). Unshaken constancy (ii. 1, &c.), unwavering con¬ fession (iv. 14), persistent (x. 36; xii. 1) pro¬ gress (vi. 1) towards the practised insight (v. 14) and ethical completeness (xii. 14; xiii. 21) ot Christian maturity (v. 1 i-vi. 3) are specially required. 54 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. In a very little while (x. 25, 37), the Christ who is now in the Heavenly sanctuary (ix. 12) shall appear a second time to them that wait for Him unto Salvation (ix. 28). Then they will enter (iv. 3) the Kingdom now ap¬ proached and possessed only by faith (xi.), the world to come (ii. 5), the eternal inheritance (ix. 15), the Sabbath-rest which remains for the people of God (iv. 9), the City which is to come (xiii. 14). Request : xiii. 20, 21. § 94. Vision of the Kingdom triumphant. The Apocalypse of John is a Christian counterpart to the Apocalypse of Daniel (§ 26). The drama it unfolds is the conflict between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of the World (§ 7). When the curtain rises both Kingdoms are in actual existence on the earth. Of Jesus the Christ it is said He made us to be a Kingdom unto His God and Father (i. 6 ; so ver. 9); and Thou madest men of every tribe and tongue and people and nation to be unto our God a King¬ dom (v. 10). He is the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, the ruler of the Kings of the earth (i. 5), the first and the last, the Living One, once dead, alive for evermore (i. 17 f ), the beginning of the creation of God (iii. 14), the Lamb in the midst of the Throne (vii. 17), the Lamb slain VISION OF THE KINGDOM TRIUMPHANT. 55 from the foundation of the world (xiii. 8), the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (xvii. 14; xix. 16), the Word (Logos) of God (xix. 13). Subjects are loved by Jesus, loosed from their sins by His blood (i. 5), purchased unto God by His blood (v. 9), made priests unto God (i. 6 ; v. 10) and His Christ (xx. 6), conquerors (ii. 7, &c.), written in the Lamb’s book of life (xiii. 8) from the foundation of the world (xvii. 8), bidden to the marriage supper of the Lamb (xix. 9), destined to reign for ever (xxii. 5). To rede the riddle of the Book an attempt has been thus made :— The Kingdom of the world (xi. 15) has been given to the Beast (xvii. 17), which is the Roman Empire. The Harlot is the great city (of Rome) which has the Kingdom over the Kings of the earth (xvii. 18). The seven heads are the seven hills on which the city sits (xvii. 9), and are the seven emperors : of whom five have passed (xvii. 10), Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero ; one is, Galba (xvii. 10) ; one is not yet come. According to this explanation, the Apocalypse must have been written in 68 or 69 a.d. during the reign of Galba. Then Nero, one of the seven which was and is not, is to be the eighth (he was expected to return to life). He was the Evil World-Power _the Roman Empire—personified ; par ex¬ cellence, the Beast; Caesar Nero, spelled in Hebrew characters, makes up the number 666 56 _ THE KINGDOM OF GOD. (xiii. 18). The “other beast” with two lamb’s horns (xiii. 11 ff\ which seems to be identical with “the false prophet” {cf. xiii. 13; xvi. 13; xix. 20), is said to be Paganism as a religion which deified the Emperor. By the Beast and the ten Kings as yet without king¬ dom (xvii. 12) may be meant Nero and the Parthians, who were expected to come and destroy Rome (ver. 16, 17). The Christ, the Faithful and True, the Word of God (xix. 11-14), sprinkled with blood (ver. 13), followed by the armies of heaven on white hoises and in white linen (symbol of purity or “righteous acts,” ver. 8, 14), slew the forces of the Beast with the sword that came out of His mouth (ver. 21), and caused Beast and prophet to be cast into the lake of fire (ver. 20). The world, that is, is to be conquered by the word of the Crucified and the holy conduct of His followers. The Key-Text of the book is The Kingdom of the world has become the King¬ dom of our Lord and of His Christ (xi. 15). Then presumably comes the first resurrection (xx. ifF.y Then the reign of a thousand years (xx. 4-6). Then Satan, Gog, and Magog assemble and are defeated (xx. 7-10). Then the Last Judgment (xx. 11). Then the New Heaven and the New Earth (xxi., xxii.), in which there are still nations and kings of the earth (xxi. 24, 26); and the THE EPISTLE OF LOVE. 57 healing of the nations (xxii. 2) is still provided for. The Holy City, the New Jerusalem, descends out of heaven from God (xxi. 2, 10, &c.). Request : xxii. 20. § 95. The Epistle of Love. The Kingdom is not once mentioned in First John , but what elsewhere is called Kingdom here ap¬ pears in contrast to “The World” as Life, i. 2 ; Eternal Life, v. 11. to Death, iii. 14, 15. Light, ii. 8, 10 „ Darkness, i. 6; ii. 9, 11. Truth, iii. 19 ; cf. i. 8 ; ii. 4 ,, Lie, Error, ii. 21; iv. 6. Love, iv. 16, &c. ,, Hatred, passim. Children of God, iii. 10 ,, Children of the Devil, iii. 10. In Him, passim ,, In the Evil One, v. 19. Abiding for ever, ii. 17 ,, Passing away, ii. 17. The subjects of the Kingdom are of God (iv. 4, 6), begotten of God (iii. 9), now children of God (iii. 1) ; they believe that Jesus is the Christ (v. 1), confess that Jesus is the Son of God (iv. 15) ; they have the Father (ii. 23); they have the Son and have in Him eternal life from God (v. They have fellowship with the Father and with the Son (i. 3), and with one another (i. 7. This is almost explicitly the Synoptic idea of the King¬ dom, § 74). They are in Him (ii. 5): abide in Him (ii. 27), abide in the Son and in the Father (ii. 24), live through 58 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. the Son (iv. 9. This agrees with Paul’s idea of our being “in Christ Jesus,” § 80). They have received from the Holy One an Anoint¬ ing which abides in them, is true and teaches them concerning all things (ii. 20, 27). God gave them His Spirit (iii. 24 ; iv. 13). They by their faith overcome the world (v. 4) and the Evil One (ii. 13), and are kept by the Son from the Evil One (v. 18 ). Their sins are confessed and forgiven (i. 9; ii. 12). The blood of Jesus, whom God sent to be a propitiation for our sins and for the sins of the whole world (ii. 2 ; iv. 10) cleanses them from all sin (i. 7). They sin not (do not keep on sinning : present imperfect, iii. 6, 9). They are righteous as He is (iii. 7). They are in the world as He is (iv. 17); they walk as He walked (ii. 6), keep His commandments (word, ii- 3 ? 5 )» Purify themselves as He is pure (iii. 3), receive of Him what they ask (iii. 22 ; v. 14). They are, above all else, bidden to love one ANOTHER (ii. 10; iii. II, 14, 18,23; iv. 7, 11, 12, 16, 21 ; v. 1) with a sincere and practical intensity (iii. 18), which will give up worldly goods (iii. 17) and life itself for the brethren (iii. 16). Obviously they are prompt to pray for sinning brethren (v. 16). The reasons adduced for this great commandment bring us to the very heart of the Evangelic idea of the Kingdom. God is Love (iv. 8 , 16 ). He is the source of all love : we love because He first loved us (iv. 19). Herein is love that He loved us and sent His THE EPISTLE OF LOVE. 59 Son to be the propitiation of our sins (iv. io). In this act His love became manifest (iv. 9). Hereby know we love, because He laid down His life for us (iii. 16). The Father’s sending of the Son to save the world (iv. 14), and the Son’s laying down His life for us (iii. 16), has shown us what love is (iii. 16), what manner of love is bestowed by the Father (iii. 1), and that, according to this standard of love, God is love (iv. 8, 16). Therefore we must love one another (iv. 11). To love is to be begotten of God and to know God (iv. 7). If we love one another God abides in us and His love is perfected in us. He that abides in love abides in God and God abides in him. The Kingdom thus appears as essentially the Fellowship of love. Root, stem, branch, leaf, flower, fruit—all are Love, Life-bestowing, Life-pervading, Life-eter¬ nizing Love. This fellowship is meant to embrace the entire world. The Son was manifested to destroy the works of the Devil, sin, lawlessness, hatred (iii. 8-12). The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pretentiousness of life—all that is in the (evil) world—are passing away (ii. 16, 17). But the Father hath sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world (iv. 14). The darkness is passing away and the true light already shineth (ii. 8). The Coming of the Christ, His future manifestation (ii. 28; iii. 2), the day of judgment (iv. 17), is 6o THE KINGDOM OF GOD. looked forward to with boldness (ii. 28 ; iv. 17) and hope (iii. 3); for then we shall be like Him since we shall see Him even as He is (iii. 2). Key-Text : iv. 16A Request: 2John 3. § 96. The last Memoirs of the Christ. “The Gospel according to John” is the latest biography of Jesus which Scripture contains. It reports His sayings and doings in the light of nearly two generations of Christian experi¬ ence. The new elements bring out the vital unity of the Kingdom. The Kingdom of God everywhere present in the Synoptics occurs here only twice. Except a man be born from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God (iii. 3). Except a man be born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God (iii. 5). Entrance is a vital creative process. The Divine causality in the Christian life is much emphasised in John (v. 21, 25 ; xvii. 2). At His trial Jesus says : “My Kingdom is not of this world,” else “would my servants fight ” ; “ but now is My Kingdom not from hence ” (xviii. 36). As every one that enters is born from above, so is the Kingdom itself. It is not worldly in origin nor THE LAST MEMOIRS OF THE CHRIST. 61 in nature ; it does not rely on brute force for main¬ tenance or extension. Jesus adds : “ I am a King ” : bom and come into the world to witness to the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth My voice (ver. 37). He is King in The Kingdom of the Truth : of moral and spiritual authority therefore, not of physical coercion. Truth in John denotes truth of the practical reason, rather than of the speculative reason : the rightness of conduct as well as of conviction : that which is stedfast and trustworthy in character not less than in thought. “ To do the truth ” has as contrast “to do ill” (iii. 21). “The truth” makes free from the bondage of sin (viii. 32-34). Hence “truth” in John in some measure corresponds to “ righteousness ” in Paul. The favourite image for truth so conceived is light : it is “ the light of life ” (viii. 12). Jesu’s is the Kingdom of Light : His subjects are “ sons of light ” (xii. 36). But the identification of the Kingdom with the Christ which we saw proceeding in Paul (§ 80) goes beyond saying that His Kingdom is of the truth, or that Ilis subjects are “ the light of the world ” (Matt. v. 14). Jesus says : “ I am the Truth” (xiv. 6). “ I am the Light of the world” (viii. 12 ; ix. 5). Hence “follow Me” is (as in the Synoptics) the supreme duty (from first, i. 43, to last, xxi. 22 ; so viii. 12 ; x. 4, 27 ; xii. 26). 62 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. The image of the King and the Kingdom reappears in the closely kindred idea of The Good Shepherd and His Sheep (x. 10-30). Note the deepening vital relation : “ I am the good shepherd.” “ I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.” “ I lay down my life for the sheep, . . . that I may take it again.” “ I give unto them eternal life.” There may be different folds, but they shall become “ One flock, one shepherd.” In the Synoptics the Kingdom was set forth as equivalent to Life {cf Mark ix. 43, 45, 47), nay to eternal life ( cf. Mark x. 17, and 23, 25, 30). In John the latter idea is chiefly prominent. Eternal Life is already possessed by those who believe (v. 24 ; vi. 40, 47). It consists in know¬ ing the only true God and Jesus Christ (xvii. 3), —with the living spiritual and ethical know¬ ledge which “the truth” in John implies. To believe on the Son, to know Him, is an act of vital appropriation : “ Only he that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood hath eternal life ” (vi. 54). “ I am the bread of life,” which giveth life unto the world (vi. 33, 35 )- “ The bread which I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world” (vi. 51). “ He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in me and I in him ” (vi. 56). cf. Transcorporation, § 84. Paul’s experience of the believer being “in Christ Jesus” here appears on THE LAST MEMOIRS OF THE CHRIST. 63 the lips of Jesus Himself. So does the root-thought of Paul that “ Christ is our life ” (§ 8o). Jesus says : “ I am the life ” (xi. 25 ; xiv. 6). Believers are made alive by Him (v. 21, 25), and live because of Him (vi. 57 ; xiv. 19). The relation between the One Life and the many lives is set forth under the figure, not as in Paul of the human body, but of the Vine. “ I am the Vine : ye are the Branches ” (xv. 5). Not “ I am the Root or the Stem ” ; but “ The Vine,” which includes every branch and leaf and tendril. Hence, “ Abide in Me and I in you ” (xv. 4 ; xiv. 20, &c.). This vital relation introduces us to a Unity more intense, complex, transcendent. The Spirit of truth, of Whom the subjects are born (iii. 5, 8), is in them and abides with them for ever (xiv. 17). He guides them into all the truth, even knowledge of things to come(xvi. 13). He takes of what is Christ’s, and declares it unto them (ver. 14 /.) Jesus adds, All things that the Father hath are Mine (xvi. 15 ; xvii. 10). “ If a man love Me, . . . My Father will love him, and We will come unto him and make Our abode with him ” (xiv. 23). This is a reciprocity of knowledge :— u I know Mine own and Mine own know Me, even as the Father knoweth Me and I know the Father ” (x. 14 /.). 64 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. It is a reciprocity of life :— “ As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father ; so he that eateth Me shall live because of Me (vi. 57). It eventually becomes one with the Unity in¬ effable :— “ I and the Father are One” (x. 30). He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father (xiv. 9). “ I pray for them that believe on Me that they may all be one ; even as Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us. And the glory which thou hast given Mel have given unto them ; that they may be one, even as We are One : I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected into One (xvii. 20-23). Of this profound Unity, in its earlier as in its eventual state, Love is the ethical expression or law (xvii. 24, 26 ; xiv. 21 ; xv. 9, 13 ; xvi. 27 ; xv. 12, 17). As governing the mutual relation of the subjects, it is proclaimed the New Commandment (xiii. 34). The Kingdom, so conceived, is intended to include the whole of mankind. I, if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto Me (xii. 32). The perfected unity of all that believe with the Father and the Son is designed in order that the world too may believe (xvii. 21, 23). PlNALE. 65 So far we have kept to the sayings of Jesus reported in John, and mainly to such as are distinct from the sayings in the Synoptics. The fourth Evangelist himself adds a most im¬ portant idea. The consentient and ever clearer verdict of the ex¬ perience of believers during the first two Chris¬ tian generations has assigned to the Christ a position in the Kingdom transcendently unique. Vitally one with the Father and vitally one with each of the brethren, He must be uniquely re¬ lated also to human beings before they enter the Kingdom, and to the entire creation of which the Kingdom is the destined goal. This imperative inference has appeared in other writings, especially in the later Pauline letters. But in the prologue to John, it reaches its highest Biblical expression. The evangelist finds the ultimate explanation of the facts of Christian experience in the idea of the Logos (Reason in thought and expression) who is the only begotten Son (or God) in the bosom of the Father : Himself God, Creator, Light of every man, who became flesh and tabernacled among us full of grace and truth (i. 1-18). Key-Text and Request in one : xvii. 22^, 23. § 97. Finale. A general review of the course of study now completed might now be given by the Teacher, hew things could be rendered more fascinating than 3 E 66 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. a rapid glance over the progress of the Kingdom, from its beginnings under Moses, and its typical reali zation in the half-barbarous realm of David, on to the goal when all are enfolded in the unity of eternal love and life—in the Christ and the Father. Or the task of review might be distributed among, say, four members of the Class and the Teacher. Let one of the four devote a quarter of an hour to a picturesque summary of the progress in §§ 1-20 (to end of Exile); let another in equal time review §§ 21-30 : let a third similarly reproduce §§ 31-74 5 the fourth §§ 75*96; and let the Teacher conclude with a vivid survey of the entire course. APPENDIX. I. How Later Thinkers put it. The following series of descriptions of the King¬ dom by eminent thinkers, past and present, may be found helpful in many ways. It is not meant to be a complete rosary of historical definitions, nor has it been compiled with a view to “proportionate representation” of the various epochs of Christian theology. Its chief value lies in leading the learner to test the ideas he has been forming of the King¬ dom by a comparison with the conclusions of widely diverse religious teachers. The statements of Augustine, who brought to the fore in ancient theology the idea of the Divine Commonwealth, and of Kant, who restored it in a purer form to modern theology, have accordingly been given at some length. Augustine’s great work De Civitate Dei (ended A.D. 426), is, he says, a description of “ the city of God and the city of the World their origin, pro¬ gress, and destiny. “ These two cities are entangled together in this world and intermixed until the last judgement effect their separation.” “ This heavenly City, while it sojourns on earth, calls citizens out of all nations, and gathers together a society of pilgrims of all languages, not scrupling about diversities in the manners, laws, and institu¬ tions whereby earthly peace is secured and main- 68 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. tained, but recognising that however various these are, they all tend to one and the same end of earthly peace. It is therefore so far from rescinding or abolishing these diversities that it preserves and adopts them, so long as no hindrance to the wor¬ ship of the Supreme and Only God is thus induced.” “ The two cities have been formed by two loves— the earthly by the love of self, even to the contempt of God; the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self. The former glories in itself, the latter in the Lord. For the one seeks glory from men ; but the greatest glory of the other is God, the Witness of Conscience. ... In the one the princes and the nations it subdues are ruled by the love of ruling; in the other the princes and the subjects serve one another in love—the latter obeying, while the former take thought for all. The one delights in its own strength, represented in the persons of its rulers ; the other says to its God, ‘ I will love Thee, O Lord, my Strength’ (Ps. xviii. i). And therefore the wise men of the one city, living according to man, have sought for profit to their own bodies or souls, or both, and those who have known God 1 glorified Him not as God’ (Rom. i. 21-25). . . . They were either leaders or followers of the people in adoring images. . . . But in the other city there is no human wisdom, but only godliness, which offers due worship to the true God, and looks for its reward in the society of the saints, of holy angels as well as holy men, ‘ that God may be all in all.’ ” “ The peace of the heavenly City is the perfectly ordered and harmonious enjoyment of God, and of one another in God.” HOW LATER THINKERS PUT 77 . 69 “ The Church is even now the Kingdom of Christ, the Kingdom of Heaven ” Augustine also speaks “ of Christ and the Church, that is, of the King and that City which He founded. 5 ’ Observe that Civitas here translated “ city” has a much larger meaning than our English “city,” including also what is meant by “ the State,” and so comes near to our “ Kingdom.” Wiclif (died 1384): “The Kingdom of Christ, whether it be understood as the aggregate of creatures, or as the aggregate of the elect,” in¬ creases continually but not endlessly ; for when the number of spirits needed to make up the complete City of God or of the devil have been created, the consummation of this world is reached. By the Church Wiclif understands “ the congregation of all the elect.” Melanchthon (died 1560): “ The Kingdom of Christ is this : that the Son of God establishes and maintains a ministry of the Gospel, gathers a Church, and is truly effectual in them that believe ; quickens them with the voice of the Gospel, and sanctifies by the Holy Spirit to eternal life ; defends them against the tyranny of devils and instruments of devils, and thereafter raises up the saints to eternal life, and delivers up the Kingdom to the Father, that is, brings the eternal Church into the presence of the eternal Father, that the Divinity may thereafter reign in them openly, not by the ministry of the Gospel. For so long as hitherto the Church has been gathered by the ministry of the Gospel, this is called the Kingdom of Christ in this life, , . . and yet the 70 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. Kingdom of the Son is eternal because throughout eternity, along with the Father and the Holy Spirit, He reigns and abides Head of the Church.” “ The visible Church is the visible company of men holding the teaching of the Gospel uncor¬ rupted and rightly using the Sacraments, in which company the Son of God is operative through the ministry of the Gospel, and regenerates many to eternal life, although there are in that company also many others who are not saints, but yet agree in doctrine and outward profession.” Calvin (died 1564): “The Kingdom of God among men is nothing else than a restoration to the blessed life; or, in other words, it is true and ever¬ lasting happiness.” “The most important part of God’s Kingdom lies in His Will being done.” Again he defines the Kingdom as “ the newness of life by which God restores us to the hope of a blessed immortality,” as “the inner and spiritual renewal of the soul ” which will issue in “ the entire recovery of ourselves and of the whole world,” as “the spiritual life which is begun by faith in this world, and grows increasingly every day according to the persistent progress of faith.” “The begin¬ ning of this Kingdom is regeneration, the end and completion is a blessed immortality; the interven¬ ing progress lies in the ampler advance and increase of regeneration.” “ The perfection of the Kingdom of God ” is “ fellowship in the Divine Glory.” “ Thy Kingdom come ” is a prayer “ that God would with the light of His Word irradiate the world ; that He would with the breath of His Spirit mould men’s hearts into conformity with His righteousness \ that HOW LATER THINKERS PUT IT. 71 He would restore to order, under His auspices, whatever,had been scattered in the earth. But He makes a commencement of His reign by subjugating the lusts of our flesh. 53 The Westminster Confession (1648): “The visible Church, which is also catholic and universal under the Gospel (not confined to one nation as under the Law), consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion, together with. their children ; and is the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation. 55 Kant (died 1804): “Rational beings stand all under the law that every one of them shall treat himself and all others never merely as means but always as ends in themselves. [This is substantially Kant’s second form of the Categorical Imperative of the Moral Law.] “ But in this way originates a systematic association of rational beings by means of common objective laws, z’.£., a Kingdom, which because these laws have as their object the relation of these beings to one another as means and ends, can be called a Kingdom of Ends . 35 [“Act as members of such a Kingdom 53 is practically Kant’s third form of the Categorical Imperative.] “We must conceive 33 the Primal Cause of creation “ as not merely Intelligence and Lawgiver to Nature but also as lawgiving Sovereign in a moral Kingdom of Ends. 33 “ Christian Ethics 33 thus combines the two “ in¬ dispensable constituents of the Highest Good 33 — morality and happiness, or holiness and bliss ; it “represents the world in which rational beings 7 2 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. devote themselves with all their heart to the moral law as a Kingdom of God in which Nature and Morals come into a harmony ... by means of a Holy Creator, who makes possible the (from Him) derived Highest Good.” “The supremacy of the Good Principle ... is . . . only attainable by the erection and extension of a Society in pursuance and furtherance of the laws of virtue, and to bring the entire human race within the compass of this Society is laid down by the Reason as appointed task and duty.” “A union of men under laws of Virtue simply . . . may be called an ethical community.” “An ethical com¬ munity can only be conceived as a people under Divine commands, z.e., as a people of God.” “ Such a community, as a Kingdom of God, can be under¬ taken by men only through religion.” “The idea of a people of God is (under human management) to be developed in no other way than in the form of a Church.” “The Invisible Church is the union of all the righteous under the Divine immediate but moral government of the world.” “ The Visible Church is the actual union of men in a whole which accords with that ideal.” “ The true (visible) Church is that which represents the (moral) Kingdom of God on earth so far as it come to pass through men.” Schleiermacher (died 1834): “Whatever in Chris¬ tianity becomes consciousness of God is also related to the sum total of actions in the idea of a Kingdom of God. . . That figure of a Kingdom of God, which in Christianity is so important, which even HOW LATER THINKERS PUT IT. 73 includes in itself everything, is only the general expression of the truth that in Christianity all pain and all joy are pious only in so far as they are related to action in the Kingdom of God, and that every pious emotion which proceeds from a passive state ends in the consciousness of a transition to action.” Olshausen (died 1839): “The Kingdom of God is the community of life which Christ has brought in and founded, conceived in the widest sense both as outward and inward.” Rothe (died 1867): “On the basis of an idea already built and developed through the whole economy of the Old Testament, Christianity de¬ scribes the Highest Good as the Kingdom of God, which it represents as successively realizing itself under the concrete determinateness of the Kingdom of Christ, i.e., of the Redeemer.” “ Moral Good is essentially at the same time religious Good. . . . Considered in its completion, it is the absolute com¬ munity, i.e., the actual unity of man, i.e., of humanity, with God, and, by means of this unity, the absolute appropriation of the entire earthly creation to God,—the absolute Rule of God, His absolute Kingdom on earth. This is the highest religious Good.” The moral com¬ munity develops through the stages of the Family, the Tribe, Peoples and States, and the Church, into “ the universal Organism of States,” which “ must be conceived as at the same time the King¬ dom of God in its uttermost completeness, as the absolute Theocracy or Rule of God.” F. D. Maurice (died 1872) translates Jesus’ 74 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. words, Yours is the Kingdom of Heaven,” thus :— You have a Father in Heaven who is seeking after you, watching over you, whom you may trust entirely. He ruled over your forefathers. He promised that He would show forth His Dominion fully and perfectly in the generations to come. I am come to tell you of Him : to tell you how He rules over you, and how you may be in very deed His subjects. I am come that you and your child¬ ren may be citizens in God’s own city : that the Lord God Himself may reign over you.” Strauss (died 1874) says that by the Kingdom of God Jesus meant “that spiritual and moral eleva¬ tion, that new and no longer servile but child-like relation to God ” in which men “ would find a happiness which, besides being at once desirable in itself, should at the same time include in itself the natural germs of all outward improvement ” (Matt. vi - 33 )- Tholuck (died 1877): The Kingdom of God is an organized community which has the principle of its life in the will of the personal God.” Keim (died 1878): The religious universe of Jesus may be thus described : “The Fatherhood of God for men ; the Sonship of man for God ; and the eternal spiritual possession of the Kingdom of Heaven will be this Fatherhood and Sonship.” “ The Kingdom of God is intrinsically righteousness.” Van Oosterzee (died 1882;.- “The Kingdom . . . is a religious moral institution which, bound¬ less in extent and everlasting in duration, in its design to unite, sanctify, and save humanity, em¬ braces heaven and earth.” how later thinkers put it. 75 Dorner (died 1884): “The Highest Good, which exists originally in the Triune God revealed in Christ and derivatively in the individual personality, reaches full development as a power in the world in the various moral communities which are organic¬ ally connected with each other in the same way as the Divine attributes of which they are copies. The unity or total organism formed by these communi¬ ties is the Kingdom of God (Civitas Dei).” One of these—the “Absolute or Religious”—is the Church, which he describes as “ certainly a narrower idea than that of the Kingdom of God.” “ The Church is the animating, hallowing, glorifying centre of all moral communities.” “ The Church is the innermost power of consummation to all spheres through the eternal life having its seat in it.” Dorner more briefly speaks of the Kingdom of God as “ an organized life of love in the world.” Martensen (died 1884): “The universal concept of the Kingdom of God which comes through his¬ tory, is the concept of a community and an invisible order of things,—a total organization of created personalities, of powers, influences, and gifts, in which God reigns and rules, not merely by His power, but also by His world-redeeming and soul- redeeming love and mercy, in which, whilst ransom¬ ing His creatures, He makes them partakers not merely in His holiness, but also in the fulness of His love.” Matthew Arnold (died 1888): “The Kingdom of God is the reign of righteousness, God’s will done by all mankind.” Ritschl (died 1889) defines the Kingdom of God 76 THE KINGDOM OF GOD . as “ the reciprocal relation between God and men which, in the Christian religion, is the Highest Good and, at the same time, the appointed task of life ” : again, as “ the organization of humanity by means of conduct prompted by love.” “ The com¬ munity of believers as subject of the worship of God and of the juristic institutions and organs which minister to that worship, is Church : as subject of the reciprocal action of its members [springing] from the motive of love, it is Kingdom of God.” Renan (died 1892): The Kingdom of God “ap¬ pears to have been understood by Jesus in very different senses. At times He might be taken for a democratic leader desiring only the reign of the poor and the disinherited. At other times the King¬ dom of God is the literal accomplishment of the apocalyptic visions of Daniel and Enoch. Finally, the Kingdom of God is often a spiritual Kingdom, and the near deliverance is a deliverance of the spirit. ... All these thoughts seemed to have co¬ existed in the mind of Jesus.” “ It was . . . pro¬ bably above all, the Kingdom of the soul founded on liberty and on the filial sentiment which the virtuous man feels when resting on the bosom of his Father” “Even in our own days. . . . the dreams of an ideal organization of society ... are only, in one sense, the blossoming of the same idea of which the Kingdom of God will be eternally the root and stem. All the social revolutions of human¬ ity will be grafted on that phrase.” A. B. Bruce speaks of the Kingdom of God as from the first expected to be “ a holy State in which HOW LATER THINKERS PUT IT. 77 ideally perfect relations between God and man should be realized,” and as by Jesus further defined to possess the distinctive marks of “spirituality,” “universality,” and “grace.” This Kingdom He declared to be “a chief end for God as well as for man.” “ The Kingdom of God, in one view of it, is an ideal hovering in heavenly purity above all earthly realities, and not to be sought or found in any exist¬ ing society, civil or ecclesiastical. It is an inspira¬ tion rather than an institution. . . . But all ideals crave embodiment.” And the Church of which Jesus spoke to Peter He meant to be “practically identi¬ cal with the Kingdom of God He had hitherto preached.” A. M. Fairbairn: “What [Jesus] founded was a society to realize His own ideal—a Kingdom of Heaven, spiritual, internal, which came without observation ; a realm where the Will of God is law, and the law is love, and the citizens are the loving and the obedient, whose type is the reverent and tender and trustful child.” “ The Kingdom is the Church viewed from above ; the Church is the Kingdom seen from below.” “The Kingdom is the immanent Church, and the Church is the explicated Kingdom. The Kingdom is the Church expressed in the terms and mind and person of its Founder; the Church is the King¬ dom done into living souls and the society they constitute.” Newman Smyth: “The Kingdom of Heaven among men is a temper of mind, a spiritual dis¬ position, a state of heart.” “The Kingdom is to 78 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. be built of persons having Christ-like characters.” “ It is a kingdom or society of men.” Stuckenberg : “ The Kingdom which Jesus came to establish is a perfect union of believers. God is the Founder of this Kingdom, and it is a real theo- ciacy. Jesus is the King, andTIis followers are the subjects. God’s will is the law of the realm. Love is the controlling spirit of the citizens. Life and death are the reward and punishment in this Divine State.” Tolstoi : d he Kingdom of God on earth con¬ sists in this that all men should be at peace with one another. It was thus that the Hebrew prophets conceived of the rule of God.” “The [five] com¬ mandments for peace given by Jesus proclaimed the Kingdom of God on earth.” Weiss: The Kingdom of God is “a Kingdom in which the Will of God is fulfilled as perfectly upon earth as by the angels in heaven.” Wendt: “The general idea of the Kingdom of God is the idea of a Divine dispensation under which God would bestow His full salvation upon a society of men, who, on their part, should fulfil His Will in true righteousness.” Westcott : 1 The Kingdom of God is at once spiritual and historical; eternal and temporal; out¬ ward and inward ; visible and invisible ; a system and an energy. It is an order of things in which heavenly laws are recognized and obeyed. It de¬ pends both for its origin and for its support upon forces which are not of the earth. It is inspired by the principles and powers of a higher sphere. It implies a harmonious relation between men and HOW LATER THINKERS PUT IT. 79 beings of the unseen universe. It places its members in a social and personal relationship to a Divine Head, as citizens to a King, as children to a Father.” Edwin Arnold: “ The Kingdom . . . ... a new established State, Greater than States and governing all States : Which should not have for boundaries the seas, Mountains or streams, nor any border line By bloody swordpoint traced ; and should not have Armies nor tributes, treasuries nor crowns, But, overleaping races, realms and tongues, Thrones, zones and dominations, lands and seas, Should clasp in one mild confine all those hearts Which seek and love the Light and had the Light Shining from secret Heaven, by Him revealed First-born of Heaven, first Soul of Human Souls That touched the top of Manhood and—from height Of godlike, pure Humanity—reached God. To this end was He sent, for this made known Life beyond death, Love manifest through Law, And God no name, no angry judge, no “ Jah” But Spirit, worshipped in the spirit : One With His sweet Spirit, and with ours, through His ; Unseen, unspeakable, not to be known By searching; being beyond all sight, speech, search ; But Lord and Lover of all living things, King of the Kingdom ! n APPENDIX II. THE WITNESS OF IMPERIAL HISTORY to the Kingdom of God. Young men and women as well as older people are greatly helped in their faith if they can be made to feel that the Kingdom of God not merely concerns the inner life of the heart, but governs also the obvious and palpable drift of universal history. And in these democratic days, when every one is bound to take more or less interest in things governmental, the witness afforded by the succession of the great world empires, with their modern continuators, may be found especially helpful. At a time, too, when men’s notions of the relations between prediction and fulfilment are being readjusted, it is well to show that, in the light of modern knowledge, the great “Argument from prophecy” has lost none of its cogency. To many, indeed, it has seemed only to gain by the change it has undergone. The correspondence between the hope of Israel and the broad sweep of human history is more impressive than any number of coincidences in minor details. It is also desirable that this study of the evangelic idea of the Kingdom of God should not close without giving members of the Class a sort of pocket-survey of that imperial progress which is to issue in the Christianising of the whole world. §§ 7 > 2 6, 46, 55 > 63, and 94 should first be read once more. The Key Text of the last section, as the Christian formula of the entire course of imperial history, supplies us with our theme. The Kingdom of the world is become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ , and He shall reign for ever and ever. —Rev. xi. 15. THE WITNESS OF IMPERIAL HISTORY. 81 The Kingdom of the world. Not, as you have it in the Authorized Version, the Kingdoms of the world. Not a scattered multiplicity, but a compact unity. Think for a moment of the grandeur of that con¬ ception—the Kingdom of the world. The world one Kingdom. The world in its immensity and diversity ; its “ ocean-sundered continents,” its wide waste of waters,” its islands, its rivers, its heights, and its depths—all gathered into one empire, all shelteied beneath one flag. The world, with its variety of race and colour and tongue, with its differing grades of civilization, with its myriad forms of government, with its multitude of religions,— reduced to the unity of a single realm, united under one head, maae obedient to one law, compacted so as to embody one will,—few sublimer ideas than this have emerged within the horizon of the human mind. Who first conceived it ? What soul was it, in the dim, grey dawn of human history, which first caught the germ of the idea ? What chieftain, flushed with victory, rallying round him his booty-laden warriors, cried, smitten with the sudden thought, “ Shall I not go forth from conquering to conquer, and to conquer without end? Shall I not, with the help of the gods, beat down the tubes in the next valley also—and in the next_ and in the next until there be no more left to plunder or to kill ? And my word shall be law as far as foot of farthest traveller has trod ! ” We cannot tell when this idea of World-Empire was born. Straining our eyes backward toward 3 F 82 THE KINGDOM OF GOD . the mists that cover the borders of the historic and prehistoric periods, we can dimly discern the great conception already established, con¬ sciously or unconsciously ruling the minds of kings and nations. True, the world known to them was small and narrow ; but it was their world : and the ambition to bring it under one sway was the same in essence as the latest and widest imperialism. Yet see how the idea has grown and asserted itself in ever broader and grander reality ! The first known seats of world-empire are found in the first known centres of civilization. The story of civilized man is traced back with more or less certainty to the peoples that dwelt in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates on the east, and in the valley of the Nile on the west. From these valleys sprang the powers which contended through many ages for the mastery of the world. Even if Egypt did derive from the land of the Two Rivers the rudi¬ ments of her massive civilization, yet to Egypt has been ascribed the historic commencement of the quest after universal sovereignty. But the researches and discoveries of Oriental scholars seem every year to carry the light of science further back into those once shadowy regions of the past ; and the new knowledge, not less than the old ignorance, bids us beware of attempting to fix precisely historic starting-points. Nevertheless, the facts laid bare touching a period some fifteen centuries B.c. show us the Pharaoh at that distant date already grasping after the Kingdom of the world. The sombre magnificence of colossal masonry attests to this day the splendour of his imperial capital. The THE WITNESS OF IMPERIAL HISTORY. 83 might of his arms had extended Egyptian supremacy as far as the river Euphrates and the borders of Mesopotamia, and had extorted from the powers beyond proffers of friendship that were eloquent of fear. “ For a time all Western Asia did homage to the Egyptian monarch.” But only for a time. Out from the obscure horizon which encircles this tract of ancient history has loomed forth in recent years the outline of a great yet still mysterious people. From the hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt, from the cuneiform characters of disinterred Nineveh, from stone inscriptions scattered over the vast area enclosed between the ^Egean and the Tigris, there are gathered hints of a great empire of the Hittites. In the wonderland of their as yet undiscovered arts and appliances, some theorists claim to find the springs of all later civilization. Their capital on the Euphrates ; their home on the country to the north¬ east of Lebanon ; they are alleged to have won a military supremacy over the infant peoples of Asia Minor and Mesopotamia. Their rise involved the relative decline of Egypt. At a period some fourteen centuries before Christ —about the time generally assigned to Moses—the imperial rivals are said to have met in fierce conflict to the north of Palestine. The power of Egypt was for the time shattered. Pharaoh was glad to contract an offensive and defensive alliance with the northern empire; and for a hundred years the Hittites may be said, in a sense, to have held the Kingdom of the world. But away to the east, on the banks of the 84 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. Tigris, another Power was rising 10 eminence. A race of hardy hillmen, descending to the plain, had built themsrlves into cities, which formed the cradle of the next world-empire, as they had, generations earlier, been a source of nascent civilization. The same century which saw Hittite and Egyptian jointly supreme saw the more marked beginnings of that career of conquest which, continued through seven centuries, at last made Assyria mistress of the ancient world. First the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates were overrun. Two centuries later, the Assyrian arms were victorious from the Medi¬ terranean on the west to the Caspian, and to the Persian Gulf on the east. Four hundred years afterwards, in the century of Hosea and Isaiah, a yet vaster territory owned the sway of Asshur. But here we mark a change in the career of empire. It ceased to be a mere series of victorious expedi¬ tions, without permanent and secured results ; it became the systematic incorporation of provinces into an organized realm. It is true, the wars of even the greatest kings were still little else than marauding enterprises : the record of conquest on the Assyrian cylinders is chiefly an inventory of plunder ; but Tiglath-pileser, of Biblical fame, has the credit of consolidating empire, and organizing his amorphous realm into regular satrapies or pro¬ vinces, with Assyrian governors. King after king pushed ever farther the confines of empire, until, in the middle of the seventh century before Christ, Assyria stood at the height of her glory, with a dominion hitherto unrivalled, alike for extent and power. On the east the troops of Nineveh had THE WITNESS OF IMPERIAL HISTORY. 85 penetrated as far as the Indus. Northward, she had extended her sway up to the trackless Cau¬ casus, and from its stubborn mountaineers had extorted homage. The desert could not stay her southward march ; Arabia owned her supremacy. Syria, Phenicia, Palestine fell before her an easy prey. And at last her great rival, Egypt, was sub¬ dued and broken up into a group of Assyrian pro¬ vinces. Assyria might justly claim to have gained the Kingdom of the then world. But the power, which it had taken ages to build, crumbled to ruin in less than seventy years. To the south, on the plain of Shinar, lay a kindred people ; one of the most ancient of peoples ; yet a people of far higher culture than their Assyrian brethren ; a people of libraries and schools, de¬ lighting in painting and horticulture, from whose astronomical records the proud modern world of science is glad to learn. Babylon is a name greater in the world’s story than Nineveh. Her great king, Nebuchadnezzar, has well been called the Napoleon of the ancient world. By a succession of swift and brilliant campaigns he brought over most of what had been Assyrian territory to Chal- daean sway, made yet further conquests, and in less than forty years gave Babylon the proud right to call herself mistress of the world ! The size ot the city may bring home to our minds some con¬ ception of her greatness. Ancient Greek historians tell us that Babylon measured 55 or 56 miles in circumference. But the sceptre of the East was quickly changing hands. Within a score of years after Nebuchad- 86 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. nezzar’s death, Cyrus, the Persian, had taken Babylon, and the Medes and Persians entered on the growing heritage of empire. For two hundred years these worshippers of light and purity main¬ tained and extended the old supremacy. They first brought the impact of world-empire on European soil. The Persian despots ruled from the Balkans to the Hindoo Koosh, from the Libyan deserts to the Caucasus. Thus the Kingdom of the world was growing alike in extent and in the worth of its civilization. It was now to be transferred from Asia to Europe. It was soon to contain the highest civilization of antiquity. There was a small group of cities, peopled by freemen, which beat back the tide of Persian conquest, even when it was running at full flood. The Spartans at Thermopylae, the Athenians at Salamis, as they withstood the onset of the bar¬ baric millions, were saving for sovereignty in a later age the laws, the literature, the institutions of Greece. From Nineveh and Egypt, from Babylon and Phoenicia, the quick-witted Greek had learned and copied their best in art, in letters, and in science, and had developed these into the noblest growths of the ancient world. Alexander the Great was no more than the military genius who gave imperial scope to the intellectual ascendancy of Greece. The Macedonian phalanx, as it rolled irresistible over the ruins of Persian greatness, from the Danube to the Himalayas, macadamized a highway, along which Greek letters and Greek thought could travel to the farthest confines of the known world. Alexandria, the capital of later THE WITNESS OF IMPERIAL HISTORY. 87 classic culture was a fit monument of him who handed over to Greek civilization the Kingdom of the world. The next halting stage in the march of empire bears on it the name of Rome. Her claim to world- empire is supreme. The glories of Egypt and Assyria, of Babylon, of Persia, and of Macedon, pale before her imperial splendours. The Mediter¬ ranean—the Great Sea of wondering Eastern nations —became a Roman lake. Think of the area of territory which lay submissive at the Caesar’s feet. It stretched from the Irish Sea to the Persian Gulf, from the Straits of Gibraltar to the sands of Arabia, from the impenetrable Sahara to the scarcely more penetrable forests of Germany. And over that vast region the system of government which prevailed was the noblest known to antiquity. Greek letters were superior to Latin ; but nought could vie with Roman Law. To the codes of Roman jurists the modern world owes the impulse and the model of some of its best legislation. The bestowal of the Roman franchise was a permanent addition to the dignity of mankind. Under the strong and peaceful protection of the legionary, the treasures of ancient culture, its arts, its letters, its philosophies and sciences, were carried to the remotest provinces. To Rome in unprecedented measure and merit belonged the Kingdom of the world. At the time when her imperial greatness was about its height there was a lone exile in a small and rocky island of the ^Egean. He had been driven into banishment because of his persistent attach- 88 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. ment to what one of the proudest Roman historians called a deadly superstition. He was the member of a despised sect, originated by a crucified male¬ factor. The land from which he and his sect had sprung, had been the battle-ground and sport of each of the world’s powers in turn, was even now being ruthlessly subdued by Roman soldiery ; the rebel race was an object of universal loathing. This poor convict, driven in upon himself, tries to console himself by writing. He writes very bad Greek, broken and ungrammatical; such as would excite the scorn of any British Grammar-school boy. He goes on spelling out his dreaming fancies ; for he is a visionary in his poor superstitious way. So his gaolers might have thought and spoken. But mark that sentence he has written ! You can scarcely credit the audacity which could pen such words. “The Kingdom of the world”—that belongs to Rome, you say ;—“ The world was made for Caesar.” But no, the writing goes on, “The Kingdom of the world is become the King¬ dom of our Lord and of His Christ ; and He shall reign for ever and ever !” “ What! your Lord ?” we can imagine the Roman onlooker crying, “ your Hebrew Adonai ? Why, we are now ravaging His Holy Land; and in a year or two we shall destroy His chosen city and burn down His temple. And His Christ? Him whom our procurator condemned to the cross ? They reign for ever ? Surely this is the last extravagance of fanaticism !” Marvellous indeed is the assurance of this apoca¬ lyptic seer ; only more marvellous is the way history has verified it. What has come to pass since he THE WITNESS OF IMPERIAL HISTOR Y. 89 wrote only supplies the first terms in the series which these words sum up. For the Kingdom of the world, as we all know, did not finally rest with Rome. She, too, succumbed to the fate which had overtaken all her predecessors. She perished by luxury within and the sword with¬ out. Who was her successor in the line of empire ? At first indeed there seems no possibility of answer. All seems without form and void. The great deep of Northern Barbarism is broken up \ and the ancient world disappears under the deluge of invasion. But at last a semblance of unity emerges from the flood of war and dissension. It slowly stiffens into shape and power, until it becomes the great reality of the Middle Ages. We find most of the historic lands of Europe acknowledging one head, one jurisdiction, one vast and graded system of government. There are still the fierce diversities of a dynastic and national kind ; but crowns and liberties are withheld and bestowed at the dis¬ cretion of the central power. This power summons to its banner the combined armies of Europe and visits disobedient nations with terror more dreaded than pestilence or war. Even the throne which claims to inherit the traditions of Roman Empire must own the supremacy of Caesar’s mightier suc¬ cessor ; and Europe’s strongest monarch is igno- miniously defeated when he seeks to claim an equal lace. We find in short the Kingdom of the world set up anew. It has belonged successively, in higher, 90 THE KINGDOM OF GOD . broader form, to Egypt, to Assyria, to Babylon, to Persia, to Macedon, to Rome ; what is this latest imperial unity ? It is Christendom, i.e. y the Kingdom of the Christ. This is no theorizing. It is fact. After the Roman Empire, the next organic combination of what are called the world-historic peoples is Christendom. The Middle Ages present an imposing outward fulfilment of the seer’s vision. The Church, with its tight grip on every form of life, individual and social, bound Europe together in a far closer unity and more genuine subjection than many of the pre¬ ceding empires knew. The Kingdom of the world did become in a pictorial political way the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. Only outwardly however. The Pope was no true Vicar of Christ. That fair seeming picture was destroyed by the Great Schism and the Reformation. But the outward unity was broken only that the inward might grow. Christendom to-day is a greater fact than ever before; a greater unity in manners, laws, life. This illustrates itself pictorially still. You may see our Queen, head of the empire on which the sun never sets, kneel in lowly obeisance in the shrine of the crucified Nazarene, whom she recognises as her King supreme. Or glance within the village church and see the statesman, who directs the destinies of our world-embracing dominion, humbly bend the head as he prays in the name of Jesus. See the young German Kaiser as he acts chap¬ lain to his crew and avows his loyalty to the THE WITNESS OF IMPERIAL HISTOR Y. 91 Evangelical religion which is the creation of the Christ ; or amid the gorgeous Oriental display of Moscow see the Tzar of all the Russias receive his crown from the hands of a priest of Christ; see him thereby acknowledge himself a vassal of the Son of Man. Or in forms of worship more simple and severe, see President after President of the vast Western Republic avow his fealty to our Lord. The rulers of America, of the British, German, Russian empires, proclaim themselves viceroys of the Christ. Do their territories not constitute a realm beside which the grandest empires of an¬ tiquity sink into insignificance ? Look away from these showy externals to the more serious facts. The earth is more and more passing into the possession of the nations of Christendom. Christendom includes all Europe—except one rapidly vanishing nation. Christendom practically includes all North and South America. Christen¬ dom is appropriating, colonizing, developing the Australian continent, the islands of the sea, the vast mainland of Africa. Christendom rules the immensely greater part of Asia. The Chinese Em¬ pire is the only great power which is not at least professedly Christian. Extensively Christendom soon promises to ab¬ sorb the globe. The means of absorption are often most unchristian ; but the fact remains : the dominant, imperial civilization is the civilization of those peoples who have been most imbued with Christian influences. Intensively I will venture to say Christendom is becoming more and more the dominion of Christ, 92 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. When we compare our modern life and all its un¬ told horrors with the pure ideal of the Son of Man, we may shrink in pain from the thought of calling the civilization of to-day Christian. But when we compare the present with the past, we note the humane tendencies of things, and venture once more to call ourselves Christian. For mark ! in these Christian countries, the standard of morals, the ideal of perfection, is, how¬ ever glaringly unobserved, borrowed from the New Testament. Children are taught at school, and in the home, the stories of Christ’s love ; and imbibe as regulative the principles of the Gospel. Modern life is ever more and more imbued with the moral teaching of the Son of Man. Even the best ideals of social life, which have in them most propul¬ sive force, are copies, more or less imperfect, of the Kingdom of God which Jesus came to proclaim. His principles, however inadequately recognised, are in the ascendant. They are slowly realizing themselves in all spheres where they are known. Alike in extent and in intensity the Kingdom of the world is and is becoming the Kingdom of our Christ. There is no realm that can vie with it one moment. If Kingdom of the world there be, even now that Kingdom is Christ’s. The Vision of Daniel was a true glimpse of the future. The brutal kingdoms of rapine and violence have sunk one after the other before the rising King¬ dom of a Son of Man which has no bounds nor end. There is a poetic significance in the fact that the last relic of imperial Rome—the Holy Roman Empire— was put an end to by the French Revolution. Then THE WITNESS OF IMPERIAL HISTORY. 93 Humanity, as opposed to royalty or nobility or clergy, claimed to come to its political rights. The Kingdom of Humanity, which is the Kingdom of the Son of Man, in a sense succeeded im¬ mediately on the demise of the last empire of viol¬ ence. Man as man now sways the sceptre of political power : man as man obedient to the Son of Man realizes the Apocalyptic Vision. The voices of heaven are being echoed in the events of earth. The Kingdom of the world is become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. This review of facts ought to induce in every Christian something of an imperial consciousness. We ought not to work as men timorously applying a dying faith to the unsatisfied needs of living men, tremulously hoping the light may not go quite out before our work is done. We ought to fight as men absolutely certain of victory, as heirs to an imperial destiny. The Kingdom of God is coming, coming certainly, ever nearer its inevitable realization. The stream of human affairs flows with ever fuller flood in that direction. We have watched the suc¬ cession of empires. We have seen one follow the other, each as a rule containing a broader, nobler, humaner life. Then we have seen proclaimed the empire of the Son of Man, the kingdom of humanity, of liberty, justice, purity, love. We have seen it very imperfectly expressed in Christendom : yet even that imperfect expression we have watched expand into the noblest and strongest civilization the world has known. We have seen the hidden leaven of the Christ-Spirit working to bring about sweeter manners, purer laws, to promote brother- 94 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. hood and unity, to subject to itself the varied departments of our modern life. Whither does all this tend ? Is there no purpose in it, or is history a lie springing from chance and ending in vacuity ? Nay, that we cannot believe. The voice of history repeats the voice of prophecy : “ Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. Of the increase of his government there shall be no end.” “ There came one like unto a Son of Man, ind there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him : his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” “ The Kingdom of the World is become the King¬ dom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever.” Let us then, with the proud consciousness that the drift of the ages is with us, seek to realize the Will of Christ our King in every sphere of the world’s life. Let us maintain His supremacy in our own hearts, in the home, in the Church, in the State : let us make every interest, social, economic, political, subordinate to His sway. But let us never forget the words of our Master, wherein He the King of kings and Lord of lords taught us the secret of true sovereignty :— Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. TURNBULL AND SPEARS, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH. Third Edition, in Grown 8uo, Price 8s. 6d. BEYOND THE STARS; OB, Its Inhabitants, Occupations, and Life. By THOMAS HAMILTON, D.D., Belfast, Author of “History of the Irish Presbyterian Church.” CONTENTS.— Chap. I. Some Introductory Words. II. A Settling of Localities. III. The King of the Country. IV. The King’s Ministers. V. The King’s Messengers. VI. The King’s Sub- jects. VII. The Little Ones in Heaven. VIII. Do they know one another in Heaven ? IX. Common Objections to the Doctrine of Recognition in Heaven. X. Between Death and the Resurrection. XI. Howto get there. “ It is the work of a man of strong sense and great power, of lucid thought and expression. ... He puts himself in touch with his audience, and arranges what he has to say in the clearest manner.’’ British Weekly. “ Dr Hamilton accepts the clear revelations of Scripture, gathers together its limits, and endeavours to point out their indisputable teaching. He has produced a wise, consolatory, and altogether help¬ ful volume .—Baptist Magazine. In cloth binding , red edges , price Is. SO GREAT SALVATION. Bv the late Rev. G. H. C. MACGREGOR, M.A., WITH Introduction by the BISHOP OF DURHAM. “ If I have read it aright, there is indeed reason why I should be glad. It is one of those books, never too common, in which, by the grace of God, the message of a full gospel is presented not only clearly, but sympathetically ; not only tenderly, but searcliingly; and above all, so as to bring out proportions and connections in the ‘ things which accompany salvation,’ as they are revealed in the Holy Word.” —Bishop of Durham. T. & T. CLARK, 38 George Street, EDINBURGH.