l;... ^ 
 
3r^~ 6 
 
 I THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, | 
 % Princeton, N. J. f 
 
 BS A13 .B58 V.22 
 Krummacher, Frederic 
 Adolphus, 1767-1845. 
 Cornelius the centurion 
 
 A 
 
^ 
 
 THE 
 
 BIBLICAL CABINET; 
 
 OR 
 
 HERMENEUTICAL, EXEGETICAL, 
 
 AND 
 
 PHILOLOGICAL LIBRARY. 
 
 VOL. XXIL 
 
 KRUMMACHER'S CORNELIUS THE CENTURION, AND 
 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ST. JOHN. 
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 
 THOMAS CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET 
 
 J. G. & F. RIVINGTON, LONDON ; 
 AND W. CURRY, JUN. & CO. DUBLIN. 
 
 MDCCCXL. 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION, 
 
 AND 
 
 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF 
 
 ST. JOHI^, 
 
 THE EVANGELIST AND APOSTLE, 
 
 BY 
 
 F. A. KRUMMACHER, D.D. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN. 
 
 WITH 
 
 A BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF THE AUTHOR, 
 
 AND A PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION ON GERMAN THEOLOGY, 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. JOHN W. FERGUSON, A.M. 
 
 MINISTRR OF ST. PETER'S EPISCOPAL CHAPBl, ESINBUROK. 
 
 EDINBURGH : 
 
 THOMAS CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET. 
 
 M D C C C X L. 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION 
 
 F. A. KRUMMACHER, D.D. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN, 
 
 WITH NOTES AND A BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 
 THE AUTHOR, 
 
 By the 
 REV. JOHN W. FERGUSON, A. M. 
 
 MINISTER OF ST. PETEr's EPISCOPAL CHAPEL, 
 EDINBURGH. 
 
 Second 3Stiitiott. 
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 THOMAS CLARK, 38. GEORGE STREET 
 
 J. G. AND F. RIVINGTON, LONDON ; 
 AND W. CURRY, JUN. AND CO. DUBLIN. 
 
 MDCCCXXXIX. 
 
V PEIH(j£a'OS 
 
 THEOLOGICAL /^ 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF THE AUTHOR . V 
 
 I. THE CHARACTER OF CORNELIUS . . 1 
 
 IL THE VISION OF CORNELIUS ... 12 
 
 HL THE VISION OF PETER .... 25 
 IV. THE ARRIVAL OF THE MESSENGERS OF CORNELIUS 
 
 AT JOPPA 39 
 
 V. THE MEETING OF PETER AND CORNELIUS . 52 
 
 VI xii. Peter's sermon. 
 
 VI. God, no respectei' of Persons _ _ - - 66 
 
 VII. Jesus Christ the Lord of all, the Author of Peace 78 
 
 VIII. Christ Anointed with the Holy Ghost - - Ö0 
 
 IX. The Apostles, the Witnesses of Christ - - 102 
 
 X. Christ Crucified and Risen again _ _ _ 116 
 
 XI. Christ Ordained to be the Judge of the Quick and Dead 133 
 
 XII. Remission of Sins through Faith in Christ - - 146 
 
 xiil the holy ghost falls upon the gentiles 157 
 
 xiv. the gentiles baptized ... 174 
 
 xv. peter tarries with cornelius certain days 187 
 
 Notes 205 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 OF 
 
 THE AUTHOR 
 
 The following brief account of Frederick Adolph 
 Krummacher will probably prove not uninteresting 
 to those who appreciate the Christian sentiment and 
 cultivated mind displayed in " Cornelius the Cen- 
 turion," the production of one who has long been 
 eminently distinguished among his countrymen, both 
 as a clergyman and as an author, in the higher de- 
 partments of literature. 
 
 F. A. Krumraacher was born at Tecklenburgh, in 
 Westphalia, on the 13th July 1768. After having 
 been employed as Professor of Theology in the Uni- 
 versity of Duisburg, he became a minister in the 
 Reformed Church at Krefeld in 1807, where he 
 undertook the cure of souls, as more congenial to his 
 feelings. This situation he exchanged for a country 
 parish at Kettwick, in Westphalia, from which he re- 
 moved to a wider sphere of usefulness in Bemburg ; 
 
VI BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 here he continued till 1824, his labours being abun- 
 dantly blessed by the Great Head of the Church. 
 Since that period he has been a clergyman in Bre- 
 men, where he still continues, respected for the con- 
 sistency of his character and the apostolic simplicity 
 of his life. 
 
 From an early period, he has been intimately ac- 
 quainted with ancient and modern poetry ; this, along 
 with his profound knowledge of the language and 
 customs of the Eastern world, and his diligent study 
 of the Scriptures, has given that peculiar bent to his 
 mind which beams through all his writings. His 
 various compositions abound with images and com- 
 parisons ; and he generally endeavours to convey 
 knowledge, and to express his sentiments, through 
 the medium of poetry. 
 
 He was early accustomed to trace the development 
 of the human spirit through all the gradations of life ; 
 and, being gifted with a keen sense of the beauties of 
 nature, and having a mind alive to the language 
 in which nature speaks, he saw everywhere similitudes 
 and allegories which were symbolical of hidden truths, 
 — these he endeavoured to express in the simplest lan- 
 guage, so as to be intelligible even to a child. He 
 saw that the kingdom of nature and the kingdom of 
 grace bore the impress of one Intinite mind, and the 
 exhibitions of that mind in the works of creation and 
 
OF THE AUTHOR. Vll 
 
 in the inspired volume, he found to be in perfect 
 harmony with each other ; and these analogies it was 
 his peculiar delight to trace. 
 
 He appears to be thoroughly imbued with a strik- 
 ing feature of the German character — a delight in 
 children ; and the great beauty and simplicity of his 
 style have eminently qualified him for being the suc- 
 cessful writer for their instruction, which he has 
 proved himself to be in his own land. To use the 
 words of a foreign critic, " It was the delight of his 
 heart to find enjoyment in every thing, — in playing 
 with a child, in looking on a blooming rose, in con- 
 templating the variegated colours of the evening sky, 
 in confidential friendship, and in the quiet hours of 
 study." 
 
 By his countrymen he is regarded as a poet of no 
 ordinary rank ; in his poem entitled " The Child's 
 World," there is, according to a German reviewer, 
 no display of creative genius, but that spirit which 
 delights in the words, " Suffer little children to come 
 unto me." 
 
 In portraying the character of Cornelius, he evinces 
 a mind actuated by the same purity of motives, by 
 the same desire for truth, and is evidently in posses- 
 sion of the key which open? up to him every step in 
 the progress of the Centurion, from the first dawning 
 of divine light on his soul, until blessed with the full 
 
 vii 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 blaze of it in the ministrations of the Apostle of the 
 Jews. It was a saying of one of the early fathers of 
 the church, " If you wish to apprehend the meaning 
 of St. Paul's writings, you must first imbibe his spirit." 
 This remark may be applied with much truth to the 
 author of Cornelius, — it is impossible to read bis 
 analysis of this New Testament Abraham's mind and 
 feelings, without being convinced that his own path 
 has been that of the just, which, like the shining light, 
 shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The 
 following extract from the Author's Preface, will shew 
 the circumstances in which the work was composed : 
 — *' The meditations on the conversion of the heathen 
 Centurion and his household, were originally preached 
 as sermons in Bremen. They are now divested of 
 that form, some are enlarged, and some curtailed. 
 The style is historical, as being suited to the subject, 
 and my own views of Scripture. It appears to me 
 that the numerous divine manifestations related in 
 the Old and New Testaments, may be regarded as 
 one continued history of God in his relation to man. 
 Luther calls it " the History of all histories," for it is 
 an account of the stupendous miracles of the divine 
 majesty and grace, from the beginning even unto 
 eternity. The sermon of the Apostle Peter is the 
 simplest, and at the same time, the most comprehen- 
 sive of all narrations. 
 
OF THE AUTHOR. IX 
 
 " In the same spirit, our Lord Jesus compares the 
 history of the kingdom of heaven, to the development 
 of a little seed of corn, or a grain of mustard seed ; 
 for the operations and the secret influence of God are 
 every where the same, in the kingdom of nature, and 
 in the kingdom of grace, as well as in the kingdom 
 of glory. 
 
 '* The life of the Centurion Cornelius is a flower 
 plucked from the garden of Jehovah ; I hope I have 
 written it with that simplicity and candour, which is 
 essential to history, if we wish it to resemble a mirror, 
 in faithfully depicting incidents as they occur.' 
 

 vv WWW - " 
 
 CORNELIUS/' 
 
 The history of the Centurion Cornelius, which the 
 Evangelist Luke has preserved in his Acts of the 
 Apostles, is well worthy of our devout and attentive 
 consideration ; for it is a renewal of the holy feast 
 of Pentecost among the heathen, and in a heathen 
 house. In Cornelius we see a remarkable example 
 of the power of the Holy Spirit, when He calls, en- 
 lightens, sanctifies, and blesses men ; and we also be- 
 hold the saving mercy of our great God and Re- 
 deemer, in letting himself down to those that seek 
 him, so that " they may feel after him and find him," 
 Acts xvii, 27. It would, indeed, be diflicult to 
 get another history in which the mysterious connec- 
 tion between the visible and the invisible world lies 
 more clearly open to our view. What an inestimable 
 blessing the word of God has bestowed on us in 
 describing so simply and circumstantially, the inmost 
 character of this soldier, thirsting after truth, search- 
 ing, longing for, and at last joyfully finding peace ! 
 Are not his wants our wants ? Do not our hearts, if 
 we rightly understood them, sigh for the peace and the 
 B 1 
 
2 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 happiness which he sought for and found ? Let us, 
 therefore, turn our attention to this Simeon among 
 the heathen, who earnestly sought for the consolalion 
 of Israel and the light of the Gentiles ; and who was 
 esteemed worthy to behold the Saviour, and in him 
 to find peace. 
 
 '* We praise thee, O Lord our God, that Thou, in 
 thy precious word, hast preserved to us the inmost 
 history of thy chosen ones, and thy manifestations of 
 grace unto them. This Thou hast done that we may 
 have our hearts quickened, by looking on them, and 
 learn how to direct our feet in the paths of peace. 
 Enlighten our eyes, that we, by the guidance of thy 
 Holy Spirit, may rightly apprehend thy grace and 
 truth ; and that, following the example of our Saviour, 
 we may more and more be partakers of thy light and 
 peace. Amen." 
 
 " Thei'e was a certain man in Caesarea, called Cornelius, a 
 Centurion of the band called the Italian band, a devout 
 man, and one that feared God with all his house, which 
 gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway." 
 Acts X. 1 , 2. 
 
 With these simple words the Evangelist opens the 
 history of the mighty acts of God among the Gen- 
 tiles; his subject hitherto had been the announce- 
 ment of the gospel to the Jews and Samaritans only ; 
 but here he describes the dwelling place and rank, 
 the person and character of the man in whom the 
 Lord's mercy and truth were to be manifested. 
 2 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 3 
 
 " There was a certain man in CcesareaJ'* — 
 Caesarea, or, in other words, Ctesar's town, was a 
 city of considerable importance, on the Mediterranean 
 Sea, which Herod had greatly embellished, and 
 though it had formerly borne another name, called it 
 Caesarea, in honour of the Roman emperor. 
 
 It was at present the capital of Judea and the ad- 
 joining province of Syria, as well as the residence of 
 the Roman governor. A garrison was stationed here, 
 which consisted partly of native Syrians, and partly 
 of Italian or Roman troops. Cornelius was Captain 
 of an Italian company, a man remarkable, as being 
 the first among the Gentiles who, by t^e preaching 
 of the Apostle, was led to believe in the name of Je- 
 sus, and to make an open profession of the gospel. 
 
 Cornelius is, besides, the first mentioned among 
 those " who were afar off, but whom it was promised 
 that God should call," Acts ii. 39 ; and also the first 
 among the millions of Gentiles, who were to be 
 turned from darkness to light, and from the power 
 of Satan unto God. But he concerns us more near- 
 ly, in being our New Testament Abraham ; for in 
 him began Gods work of mercy, whereby our Gen- 
 tile forefathers were admitted into the flock of the 
 Great Shepherd. 
 
 «Cornelius was a Roman Captain. His rank and 
 profession were not the most likely to lead him to 
 the investigation and acknowledgment of the truth ; 
 on the contrary, it was more probable they would 
 lead him away from it. 
 
 The gospel is not confined to any station or call- 
 ing ; all who have eyes to see, and ears to hear, may 
 
 3 
 
4 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 be benefitted by it, whether clad in warlike accoutre- 
 ments, in purple, or in the garments of poverty. It 
 is the light of God, which shines not less on the 
 blade of grass than on the tall cedar, illuminating the 
 cottage as well as the palace. Here there is neither 
 Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female, but 
 all are cme in Christ, Gal. iii. 28. 
 
 Cornelius is the fourth Centurion commended in 
 the New Testament on account of his faith. The 
 first of whom we read is the one at Capernaum, who 
 intreated our Lord, with great humility, to heal his 
 servant, and on whom our Saviour pronounced this 
 high encomium — " Verily I have not found so great 
 faith, no, not in Israel" — at the same time prophe- 
 sying of those who should come from the east and 
 the west, and should sit down with Abraham, Isaac, 
 and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. The second* 
 is the other Centurion at Capernaum, who asked and 
 obtained from our Lord the healing of his sick child, 
 after the physicians had been employed in vain. 
 Next comes the one who kept watch at the cross of 
 Christ, at whose death, being seized by an over- 
 whelming conviction of the truth, he cried out, 
 " Truly this was the Son of God !" Lastly, there is 
 our Cornelius, who, in mind and character, humility 
 and faith, bears a strong resemblance to the first at 
 Capernaum. St. Paul says that God has chosen 
 " not many wise men after the flesh, not many 
 mighty, not many noble ;'f yet he has always chosen 
 some of them. Yes, even now, there are not a few 
 who, high in worldly rank and honour, engage with 
 
 ' See Note A. f See Note B. 
 
 4 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 5 
 
 apostolic zeal, and a child-like, humble, scripture 
 faith, in spreading the word of God, and the light of 
 the gospel amongst the heathen. 
 
 Our Cornelius was by birth and education a pagan 
 and not a proselyte. Of the latter there were two 
 kinds : those who, renouncing heatlienism, embraced 
 Judaism, and underwent circumcision, conforming to 
 the whole Levitical law, caWed prose/i/tes of justice , 
 or proselytes of the house, because they were incor- 
 porated with the house or people of Israel, and 
 those who, renouncing heathenism and the worship 
 of idols, merely professed their belief in one God, 
 and pledged themselves to obey the moral law, but 
 without undergoing circumcision, or observing the 
 Levitical law and service. These were called prose- 
 lytes of the gate, being, as it were, excluded from 
 the interior of the house. But Cornelius was nei- 
 ther.* Had he been a proselyte of justice, or of the 
 gate, Peter would not have been unwilling to receive 
 him into the community of Christians, when so many 
 proselytes of all nations were to be found among 
 those baptized after his preaching on the day of 
 Pentecost. Nor would '* they of the circumcision 
 which believed," who accompanied Peter, have been 
 astonished, " because that on the Gentiles also was 
 poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost." Cornelius 
 was a Gentile by birth, — but certainly no Gentile in 
 mind or character, no worshipper of idols, for he ac- 
 knowledged and feared the one true God, the God 
 of Israel. 
 
 * See Note C. 
 
6 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 How could he have attained such a clever under- 
 standing ? In no other way than by the word, and 
 the grace of God : for the Holy Scriptures had even 
 then made their silent secret way through a great 
 part of the world. Such is their nature and destin- 
 ation, so it is in the present day, and so it shall be 
 unceasingly. The knowledge of the one living God 
 had been spread among the Gentiles, through the 
 scattering of the Jewish people, during the Assyrian 
 and Babylonian captivities. Besides, in Egypt, two 
 hundred years before the birth of Christ, the written 
 word of God had been made accessible to the great 
 mass of the people, being translated into Greek, the 
 language of the civilized world. In this manner, 
 probably, the word of truth had reached the Gentile 
 Cornelius, and through its means, he had arrived at 
 the knowledge of God. Without doubt, he had 
 heard also of the mighty deeds of the Lord which 
 were done in Judea, and of the messengers of God, 
 who, like Philip, in Syria, and even in Ceesarea and 
 its environs, were announcing the Gospel of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 Yet man is not saved by the mere acknowledg- 
 ment of this all-important truth, for it may be only 
 a barren conviction. Indeed, the falling away of all 
 nations, in the early ages, from this simple belief, 
 their loss of the knowledge of the one true God, and 
 the consequent strictness with which He maintained 
 his worship amongst his chosen people, is a fearful 
 proof of the deep deterioration and delusion of men. 
 The acknowledgment of one God and an Almighty 
 6 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 Creator, is but the commencement of a Christian's 
 life ; the devils know that there is a God, but while 
 they believe, they tremble. The prodigal son knew 
 well that he had a father, but of what service was 
 this to him, until his wounded heart was awakened 
 to long for this father, and for a reconciliation with 
 him ! In our Cornelius, it was not a barren convic- 
 tion ; on the contrary, it was a heart-felt desire for 
 the living God, and for his revelation. 
 
 " For he was a devout mail, and one that feared 
 God, with all his house.'' 
 
 Devout is a beautiful word, and is here full of 
 signification — that Cornelius, after he had learned 
 to know the true and living God, made meditation 
 on him, and seeking after his fellowship, his highest 
 and most earnest occupation, the guiding principle 
 of his thoughts and life, fie ^hofiared God; the 
 one cannot be separated from the other, for the fear 
 of God is an humble holy veneration of the Most 
 High, and is grounded on a lively conviction of His 
 glory and omnipotence, who is King of kings and 
 Lord of lords, who dwelleth in a light which no man 
 can approach unto. Whosoever knows God aright, 
 cannot be otherwise than penetrated with a holy awe. 
 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom ; 
 therefore, saith the law, (Deuteronomy x. 12.) " And 
 now Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of 
 thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his 
 ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy 
 God with all thy heart and with all thy soul." 
 
 This fear of God shows itself in a holy detesta- 
 
8 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 tion of thinking, wishing, or doing, anything that 
 displeases him. 
 
 Such was Cornelius, and such was his whole house- 
 hold, his wife, children, and servants ; we find two of 
 the latter mentioned in the 7th verse, besides the de- 
 vout soldier who waited on him continually. The 
 words of Joshua, " 1 and my house will serve the 
 Lord," were also in the heart of our Ceuturion — his 
 light shown brightly, that all his house might fear and 
 seek the Lord along with him. Though Cornelius, 
 as a Gentile, might not enter the Synagogue of the 
 •Jews, yet, what was far better, he could transform his 
 house into a temple of God ! Blessed is that house 
 where they fear the Lord thus, and walk in his ways! 
 
 If his house were a temple, offerings of love were 
 the sacrifices which he brought thither ; " he gave 
 much alms to the people," and fulfilled the law, — " Is 
 it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou 
 bring the poor that are cast out to thy house ? When 
 thou seest the naked, that thou cover him ; and that 
 thou hide not thyself fi:om thine own flesh ?" Isaiah 
 Iviii. 7. 
 
 '^ He gave much a/;w5 /"---plenteously, and with 
 kindness, he dispensed his gifts, and was not weary 
 of well doing. 
 
 ** He gave to the people,'' — that is to say, to the 
 poor of the Jewish nation — to the people of God, 
 whose debtor he was, in order to show his gratitude 
 for being partaker of their spiritual things. Corne- 
 lius proved his devotion and fear of God in his com- 
 passionate and benevolent love towards his neigh - 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 9 
 
 bour : on which account he was of good report 
 among all the nation of the Jews, verse 22(3. And, 
 what is much more, in him was fulfilled the promise 
 made by Isaiah, in the name of the Lord, to those 
 who exhibited love, out of a pure heart and faith un- 
 feigned — " Then shall thy light break forth as the 
 morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily ; 
 and thy righteousness shall go before thee ; the glory 
 of the Lord shall be thy rereward.'' 
 
 The sacred history, after it has, in a few words, 
 depicted his mind and habits, leads us now into his 
 chamber, " He prayed to God alway.'' Here we see 
 the sacrifice of his lips, which was well pleasing unto 
 his heavenly Father. 
 
 Not merely in his chamber, but in every place, 
 and at all times, his heart was, in thought and prayer, 
 directed upwards to the source of all light. He 
 praised and thanked God for the work of grace which 
 He had begun in him, and for the Hgbt with which 
 He had blessed him. 
 
 But, at the same time, in the immediate presence 
 of such a holy and good God, he perceived the more 
 clearly his distance from Him — his own poverty and 
 deficiency — his sinfulness, and the darkness of his 
 mind ; and so much the more ardent became his 
 desire for enlightenment, for purification and for holi- 
 ness. He besought, therefore, farther grace, and 
 more abundant gifts from God, and prayed to Him 
 continually. 
 
 In this manner does the word of God, " that dis- 
 
 9 
 
10 CORNELIUS THE CENTUKIOX. 
 
 cerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart," 
 portray Cornelius the Gentile. Most lovely pic- 
 ture ! But does it not put to shame many whom the 
 Lord has called from the beginning to the inheritance 
 of his holy ones in light ? 
 
 What with this Gentile was but the commence- 
 ment — his devotion and fear of God, his love of his 
 neighbour, his aspirations and prayers — should much 
 more be the daily occupation of the children of light ! 
 the blossoms and fruils of their lives ! Is not the path 
 of Cornelius the only right path to life, to freedom 
 and happiness for the children of God ! Cornelius, 
 as yet, bad not this joy ; his eyes had not yet seen 
 his Saviour ; but, even then, he longed with his 
 whole heart, and we may put in his mouth the words 
 of the 42d Psalm, " As the hart panteth after the 
 water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. 
 My soul thirsteth for God ; when shall I come and 
 appear before God!" But, if the Lord make a 
 refreshing fountain spring np in the thickets of the 
 wood, for the hart panting with thirst, how much 
 more shall he open the fountain of life to those who 
 seek him ! Here may we use the concluding words 
 of the Psalm, " Why art thou cast down, my soul ? 
 why art thou disquieted within me ^ hope thou in 
 God : for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of 
 my countenance and ray God." 
 
 So it happened to our Cornelius. He longed for 
 the salvation of Israel, for the kingdom of God, 
 which is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy 
 Ghost, and it was given to him in full measure. 
 
 10 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. II 
 
 In him was fulfilled the divine promise : " The 
 Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all 
 that call upon him in truth. He will fulfil the desire 
 of them that fear him, he also will hear their cry and 
 will save them," Psalm cxlv. 18, 19. 
 
 O Lord ! draw us unto thee ! for thou hast made 
 us, and our heart is ever disquieted until it find peace 
 in resting" upon thee ! 
 
 11 
 
II. 
 
 The history of the Centurion Cornehus is written 
 minutely and circumstantially, not merely because 
 he was the first Gentile whom the Apostle converted 
 and baptized ; but that in him we might see how 
 very precious each individual is in the eyes of God. 
 In the external world, man is but a cipher : " As 
 for man, his days are as grass, as a flower of the field, 
 so he flourisheth ; for the wind passeth over it, and 
 it is gone ; and the place thereof shall know it no 
 more." Psalm ciii. 15, 16. 
 
 So it is with all the generations of men, they 
 wither and fall away like the leaves of the trees in 
 autumn ; their memory and even their name disap- 
 pears from the earth, as if they had never been. 
 How transitory and uncertain is the life of man, who 
 yet dwells here so securely ! We cannot think of 
 ourselves too humbly or too insignificantly ; nor yet 
 can we regard ourselves too highly, when we look 
 up to God, to the living God, who, before the foun- 
 dations of the world were laid, chose and ordained 
 us to be his children through Christ. 
 
 Therefore the royal Psalmist, after comparing 
 man to the grass and the flower of the field, con- 
 tinues, in the 103d Psalm : " But the mercy of the 
 Lord is from everlasting to everlasting, upon them 
 that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's 
 12 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 13 
 
 children ; to such as keep his covenant, and to those 
 that remember his commandments to do them." 
 
 And thus speaks the prophet in these moving 
 words : " Can a woman forget her sucking child, 
 that she should not have compassion on the son of 
 her womb ? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not 
 forget thee. Behold I have graven thee upon the 
 p.ilms of my hands." Isaiah xlix. 15, 16. 
 
 The gospel shews us the value of even one human 
 being in the eyes of God, when Jesus made the 
 children come to him, so little esteemed by his dis- 
 ciples, took them in his arms one after another, 
 and blessed them, saying, " Of these are the king- 
 dom of heaven ; and when he described himself as 
 the faithful shepherd, who left the ninety and nine 
 sheep in the wilderness, to go after the one which 
 was lost: and again, when he saith, " There shall 
 be joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth," In 
 our history we may well wonder at the great in- 
 struments employed, and at heaven and earth set 
 in motion, so to speak, for the sake of one individual. 
 
 But has not God the Lord, by means of one man, 
 blessed all the dwellers upon earth ? Has he not 
 presented to us one Abraham for an example of 
 righteousness by faith, and did he not by one Moses 
 ratify the old covenant ? And above all, " As by the 
 offence of owe, judgment came upon all men to con- 
 demnation, even so by the righteousness of one, the 
 free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.' 
 Every man, therefore, in the confidence of faith, 
 may look beyond the sun and stars of heaven and 
 
 13 
 
14 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 say, " Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being 
 imperfect, and in thy book all my members were 
 written, which in continuance were fashioned when 
 as yet there was none of them." — Ps. cxxxix. 16. 
 
 ** He saw in a vision evidently, about the ninth hour of the 
 day, an angel of God coming unto him, and saying unto 
 him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he was 
 afraid, and said, "What is it Lord ? And he said unto him. 
 Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial 
 before God. And now send men to Joppa, and call for one 
 Simon, whose surname is Peter ; he lodgeth with one Simon 
 a tanner, whose house is by the sea-side ; he shall tell thee 
 what thou oughtest to do. And when the angel which 
 spake unto Cornelius was departed, he called two of his 
 household servants, and a devout soldier of them that wait- 
 ed on him continually ; and when he had declared all these 
 things unto them, he sent them to Joppa." — Acts x. 3 — 8. 
 
 The history here begins to show how God drew 
 nigh unto Cornelius, when striving diligently to find 
 him, according to his promise, that he would mani- 
 fest himself to those that seek him. This happened 
 gradually, and by a revelation from the invisible 
 world. 
 
 The devout, child-like believer, was not without 
 hope that his desire for the light and countenance of 
 God would be gratified ; this was probably increased 
 by the intelligence he had received, of the announce- 
 ment of the gospel in the neighbourhood of Caesarea, 
 particularly in Samaria, by Philip and those Chris- 
 tians who were exiled from Jerusalem. How often 
 14 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 15 
 
 must he have sighed, " Oh ! that one of these mes- 
 sengers of God would come unto me, to point out 
 the path of salvation and peace !" He continued 
 in prayer and fasting, from the morning until the 
 ninth hour, in order to become free from all that is 
 earthly, and more susceptible of the much longed 
 for grace and revelation. He strove to fulfil all the 
 demands of the lavi^, in order to attain a higher life 
 and peace than the law could give ; he hungered and 
 thirsted after that righteousness, of which he had only 
 a faint idea. 
 
 According to his custom, he had now fasted and 
 prayed until the ninth hour ; it was the time of the 
 evening sacrifice, when the Jews, went to the temple 
 to pray ; and the wish of David was in his heart, 
 *' Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense, 
 and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sa- 
 crifice." — Psalm cxH. 2. 
 
 " Then had he a vision.'' — that is to say, a most 
 wonderful power of sight was imparted to him. 
 What our natural sight is, we know from daily ex- 
 perience, and yet we never think how wonderful 
 such a gift is. Place yourself in thought for one 
 moment in the situation of the man born blind, 
 whom our Lord sent to wash in the pool of Siloam, 
 and who, when he raised his head, had received 
 sight. How must he have felt, when he beheld, for 
 the first time. Mount Sion with its temple, the city 
 of Jerusalem, the blue heavens, and the sun with its 
 glorious light ! All this, streamed into his eye, was 
 
16 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 formed and dwelt there. How wonderful it is, that 
 through the small aperture of the eye, the great, the 
 vast starry firmament enters in ! He who form- 
 ed the eye, shall he not see ! He who has given 
 us our ordinary sight, in its nature and properties so 
 inexplicable, has he not another, a higher, and deeper 
 vision in store for us ! 
 
 In our history a vision is described, in which He 
 who formed the eye, now made it discern spiritual 
 objects. He had promised it, when he said in Num- 
 bers xii. 6, " If there be a prophet among you, I the 
 Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision." 
 And in Joel, and by the Apostle Peter, " Your 
 sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your 
 young men shall dream dreams !" He has often ful- 
 filled it, in different ways, to his chosen ones, during 
 both the old and new covenants. Jacob saw the 
 heavenly ladder in a dream, while his bodily eyes 
 were closed ; and the angel of the Lord appeared to 
 Joseph, the supposed father of Christ, in a dream ; 
 Peter (verse 10th) was entranced, in order to receive 
 the counsel of God ; and Paul was carried into the 
 third heaven, to hear words which no man could 
 utter. Others, like the shepherds at Bethlehem, the 
 women at the tomb, and the disciples after our Lords 
 ascension, saw with their bodily eyes heavenly 
 beings. Cornelius also had a vision in the day-time, 
 while fully awake, and conscious of what was passing 
 around him. 
 
 " He saw an angel of God coming unto him.'^ — The 
 16 
 
CORNELIUS THE CEKTURION. 17 
 
 whole of Scripture teaches us, that God, in his all- 
 encircling- government of the world, makes use every 
 where of means and instruments ; he does not cir- 
 cumscribe, thereby, his own power or glory, but, on 
 the contrary, makes them appear more evident to 
 man. 
 
 After God had said, " Let there be light — and 
 there was light," he had no need lo place the sun in 
 the heavens, that through it light might be trans- 
 mitted ; but he has done it, and thus we have a sign 
 and a token of his almighty power and love, and, at 
 the same time, a visible picture before our eyes of 
 him who is love itself. He, the Almighty, needed 
 not the help of angels to accomplish his purpose ; 
 but his love ivilled the existence of such beings, who, 
 near himself, participating in his glory, and acting in 
 his service, might enjoy his God-like nature in a 
 higher degree than man. 
 
 Like the earth, heaven also has its apostles, — 
 " Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, 
 that do his commandments." Psalm ciii. 20. They 
 are beings, not like us, poor children of men, tied to 
 this earth — not like us, burdened with an earthly and 
 corruptible body — not dust and ashes — but children 
 of light, who ever behold the face of their father in 
 heaven. Such as they are, blessed, free, and joyful 
 beings, clear as the light, and rich in every virtue, 
 we shall one day become, as is promised in Luke xx. 
 36. 
 
 They know this, and wish for it ; and to help for- 
 ward this great work is their occupation and their 
 happiness. They rejoice over each sinner that re- 
 c 17 
 
38 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 pentetli, and delight in watching over those little 
 ones whom they hope to have for their future com- 
 panions in the kingdom of heaven. " Are they not 
 all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to them 
 who shall be heirs of salvation ?" Heb. i. 14. There- 
 fore are they called angels, that is to say, messengers, 
 or servants of God. The word of God, with fatherly 
 wisdom, has disclosed as much as is necessary for our 
 good, of those inhabitants of the invisible world, the 
 blessed as well as the fallen. 
 
 The scripture is given as a light unto our feet, 
 which stand here, on earthly ground, and as a lamp 
 unto our path, which leads towards heaven. If we 
 receive the word of God in humility, and use it in 
 faith, we shall esteem ourselves happy in the posses- 
 sion of those heavenly secrets which have been al- 
 ready imparted to us ; content with godliness, we 
 shall not desire to know and understand like God 
 himself. We walk not by sight, but by faith, and by 
 this way we shall attain the same understanding as 
 the angels of God who surround and watch over 
 us. 
 
 The angel of God, whom Cornelius saw coming to 
 him, spoke and said — Cornelius J He addressed him 
 by that name, which his parents had given him at 
 his birth, and by which afterwards, in a more exten- 
 sive circle, friends, relations, and acquaintances, had 
 distinguished him. 
 
 In like manner the Lord called the youth Samuel 
 three times by his name, in order to declare his de- 
 termination regarding Israel and the house of Eh, 
 and the revelation was made after Samuel had 
 18 
 
CUilXEl>lL& THE CENTURION. 19 
 
 answered, " Speak, Lord, thy servant heareth." To 
 call by name is a familiar mode of approaching any 
 one, to whom we have something to disclose ; and, 
 in the mouth of the Most Holy, is a condescension 
 to the lowly children of men, and a particular mark- 
 ing of his personality. 
 
 " 3Iary," said he who rose from the dead to the 
 weeping woman, and she recognised him, and fell at 
 his feet, exclaiming, '* Rabboni !' " Simon, son of 
 Jonas 1" said the Lord to Peter, three times, with the 
 deepest meaning, when he saw him, for the first time, 
 after his resurrection, and when the sun of the new 
 life was about to arise from the tears of the fallen dis- 
 ciple. What a high honour for a mortal, to be ad- 
 dressed as a friend by an inhabitant of the heavens ! 
 Blessed is he who knows that his name is written in 
 the book of life, and uttered with joy by heavenly 
 beings ! 
 
 " Cornelius looked on him.'' — The angel stood be- 
 fore him, clad in a bright garment — he looked on 
 him and was afraid. It always happens thus with 
 the men, to whom the inhabitants of heaven visibly 
 appear : Moses, Gideon, the shepherds in the fields, 
 and John, all felt in the same manner when they be- 
 held their visions. 
 
 Why such terror for those beings, who never come 
 to injure, but always to bless, and whose forms, 
 bright as the day, can have nothing to excite fear r 
 
 Alas ! It is the childish terror of our first parents, 
 when, conscious of their fall, they tried to hide them- 
 selves from the sight of God, and which is entailed 
 
 19 
 
20 CORNELIUS THE CENTUIIION. 
 
 upon US along- with their sinfuhiess, and arises from 
 the conviction that we have lost the image of God, 
 and our original fellowship with him. When the 
 divinity of our Lord Jesus suddenly became appa- 
 rent to Peter, at the miraculous draught of fishes, he 
 fell at his feet, and said, " Depart from me ; for 1 am 
 a sinful man, O Lord !" And Abraham, when the 
 Lord came nigh unto him, acknowledged himself 
 " to be but dust and ashes !" This fear of God and 
 of holy beings is always entwined with sinfulness ; 
 and much more with the love of sin. 
 
 It has been the source of the wide spreading ido- 
 latry of the whole human race, who, in order to es- 
 cape from it, sought to " change the glory of the 
 incorruptible God into an image made like to cor- 
 ruptible man," as we read in Romans i. 23. " The 
 sinners in Zion are afraid, fearfulness hath sur- 
 prised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell 
 with the devouring fire ? who among us shall dwell 
 with everlasting burnings?" — Is. xxxiii. 14. It is 
 only in love that there is no fear ; " perfect love 
 casteth out fear." Whosoever experiences fear does 
 not yet love fully ; — yet the path towards faith and 
 love is certainly through fear. 
 
 It is thus with Cornelius — trembling, and with a 
 secret awe, he inquired, " What is it. Lord ?" 
 
 The answer of the angel contains two things ; the 
 assurance of God's mercy, and a command, telling 
 what Cornelius -was to do. — " Thy prayers and thine 
 alms are come up for a memorial before God." What 
 a condescending speech to man ! — the prayers and 
 20 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 21 
 
 the alms of the Gentile Centurion are here spoken of as 
 a sacriüce, of which the Scriptures often say, " It has 
 ascended up unto God." It was a special mercy of 
 God to appoint sacrifices for sinful men placed under 
 the law, before he received them as his children ; for 
 they were a seal and token to the apostate race, that 
 the bond between them and God was not entirely 
 broken, and at the same time they were a symbolical 
 promise of a future and a perfect reconciliation. 
 
 They were a mutual giving- and receiving — on the 
 part of man, a free acknowledgment of guilt and se- 
 paration from God — on that of God, a visible sign 
 of his grace and compassion, without which the 
 men of the old covenant might well have despaired. 
 Therefore, the word of God says, speaking of sacri- 
 fices, " the smoke ascended up unto God like a sweet 
 smelling savour." 
 
 This can only be when they are offered with a believ- 
 ing heart, desirous of salvation, and when the smoke 
 and flames of the sacrifice are an emblem of a soul, 
 consecrated to God by the fire of his Spirit. Then 
 the blessing of the sacrifice returns back on him 
 that offers it, as we read in Hosea vi. 6. " For 
 I desired mercy, and not sacrifice ; and the know- 
 ledge of God more than burnt-offerings." The sa- 
 crifices which the Centurion offered with his lips and 
 hands, from a devout and godly heart, were alms 
 and prayers. 
 
 Such gifts and offerings are well-pleasing unto 
 God, they ascend up to him, and are preserved in 
 his remembrance : for ^' the prayers of the humble," 
 
 21 
 
22 COR^ELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 says Jesus the son of Sirach, very beaulifully, '* picr- 
 ceth the clouds — and will not depart, till the Most 
 High shall behold to judge righteously, and exe- 
 cute judgment." And again, " The Lord preserves 
 the good deeds of men as a signet ring, and their 
 good words as the apple of an eye." 
 
 The Apostle says also, Heb. vi. 10, " God is not 
 unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, 
 which ye have shown toward his name, in that ye 
 have ministered to the saints, and do minister." 
 
 What honour for us mortals ! The Lord of hea- 
 ven and earth not only hears our petitions and pray- 
 ers — not only allows us to tell him every thing, and 
 to lay open our hearts to him, but permits us also to 
 give unto him — preserves our words and our gifts 
 in his remembrance, and they become the common 
 property and bond of union between the fatherly 
 heart of our God, and the praying, loving, child-like 
 hearts of his chosen ones ! 
 
 Cornelius had, until now, sought his salvation in 
 the path of the old covenant, of the law and the pro- 
 mises, by means of fasting, prayers, and alms ; the 
 way of the new covenant of mercy and truth is now 
 to be laid open to him. After the heavenly messen- 
 ger had comforted and rejoiced the terrified Cen- 
 turion by his gracious words, he continued, " Now 
 send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose 
 surname is Peter ; he lodgeth with one Simon a tan- 
 ner, whose house is by the sea-side ; he shall tell 
 thee what thou oughtest to do." Here we see again 
 the friendly character of the inhabitants of heaven, 
 22 
 
CORNELIUS THE CEKTÜUION. 23 
 
 and their sympathizing love towards men. Their 
 manner is ever the same. The shepherds of Beth- 
 lehem were afraid at the coming of the angels during 
 the night when the glory of the Lord shone round 
 about them ; but their fear was soon removed by the 
 words of the messenger of God, " Fear not ; for be- 
 hold ! I bring yon good tidings of great joy, which 
 shall be to all people." 
 
 Not only Simon the Apostle was described to 
 Cornelius, but the house where he dwelt, which be- 
 longed to Simon the tanner, and was situated near 
 the sea. It is worthy of remark that the Holy 
 Scriptures often avoid the minute description of out- 
 ward circumstances ; for instance, with regard to the 
 place where the apostles were assembled at the pour- 
 ing out of the Holy Ghost ; and also that they, else- 
 where, observe the greatest exactness, as in the pre- 
 sent history. 
 
 Here v/e cannot fail to know how the occurrence 
 happened, for we have the speech of the angel given 
 word for word by the Evangelist, and again by Cor- 
 nelius (verse 30th.) Is not this another proof of the 
 friendly interest taken by heavenly beings in each 
 individual ? Every one acquainted with the gospel 
 knows that Simon the tanner was named by the an- 
 gel along with the Apostle Peter. We may here 
 say, " As it is with God, so it is with his servants." 
 The Lord takes pleasure in the children of men, and 
 in every child of man, whether his station and call- 
 ing be that of an artizan and tanner, or of an apostle 
 and messenger of light. " Have we not all one fa- 
 
 23 
 
24 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 ther, and hath not one God created us ? *' are the 
 words of the prophet Malachi, showing thereby the 
 dignity of men, through their descent from the one 
 whom God created in his own image. But how 
 highly is our humanity exalted through the new 
 covenant, in which the Son of God became a man, — 
 in his glory is still the Son of Man, — and as the Son 
 of Man will come again to judgment ! As each one 
 becomes sanctified by the washing of regeneration, 
 and is received into his covenant by the triune God, 
 as each partakes of the body and blood of Jesus 
 Christ in the Lord's Supper, the seal and token of 
 this covenant, and as each soul is saved from death, 
 there is rejoicing in heaven ! 
 
 O comforting and blessed covenant, which unites 
 so closely our poor earthly Bethlehem, and its sinful 
 inhabitants, with the heavenly Jerusalem and its an- 
 gels ! Blessed are they whose names are inscribed 
 above ! Amen. 
 
 24 
 
III. 
 
 " A MAN can receive nothing except it be given 
 him from heaven." John iii. 27. These are the 
 words of John the Baptist, in speaking of his di- 
 vine calling, and the power with which God had 
 invested him to announce the kingdom of Christ. 
 " Every good gift and every perfect gift is from 
 above, and cometh down from the Father of lights." 
 James i. 1 7, This truth is so palpable that it ap- 
 pears almost unnecessary to state it, were it not that, 
 from its very obviousness, we are inclined to over- 
 look it. As a single seed of corn cannot unfold it- 
 self into the stalk and ear without the quickening in- 
 fluence and care of God, so the immortal seed, 
 through which we become " the first fruits of his crea- 
 tures," must be vivified by the Almighty ! 
 
 We do not see this influence descend from above ; 
 we cannot distinguish it in the gradual development 
 of the stalk and flower, even though, with the rapidi- 
 ty of Jonah's gourd, it spring up in a single night, — 
 we only observe the unfolding after it is completed. 
 We see the rose blown, but not the act of blossom- 
 ing ; it almost appears to make and to form itself; 
 but how can we doubt the care of an Almighty 
 hand, or the wafting around it of an invisible breath ? 
 We do not doubt it, for the natural language of every 
 
 25 
 
26 CORNELIUS THE CENTUKIOJf. 
 
 heart is, " All depends on God's blessing," thus ut- 
 terin«;' a truth implanted in every mind, but espe- 
 cially with regard to our spiritual life, which may be 
 compared to the field that God cultivates. All de- 
 pends on his influence and blessing, without which 
 we can do nothing. " Not that we are sufficient of 
 ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves, but our 
 sufficiency is of God," 2 Cor. iii. 5. How could 
 we come to God if God had not first come to us, 
 and enlightened us by his presence ! He must bless 
 our labour, and work in us both to will and to do. 
 This work of God in us is a mystery, yet not alto- 
 gether incomprehensible; it is like the visible and 
 palpable influence of the sun upon us and our earth ; 
 for the truth of the one can as little be doubted by a 
 reasonable being as the existence of the other ; in 
 both cases experience is an infallible teacher. 
 
 In order to exhibit this truth to our faith, the 
 Holy Scriptures set before us a visible example of 
 the invisible influence of God, and of the descent of 
 his Holy Spirit upon our spirits. We may also be 
 assured from our history, that if we seek the king- 
 dom of God and his righteousness, all things that we 
 need shall be added unto us. 
 
 " On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew 
 nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the house-top to 
 pray about the sixth hour. And he became very hungry, 
 and would have eaten ; but, while they made ready, he fell 
 into a trance, and saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel 
 descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at 
 
 26 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 27 
 
 the four corners, and let down to the earth ; wherein were 
 all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, 
 and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And there came 
 a voice to him. Rise, Peter ; kill, and eat. But Peter said, 
 Not so. Lord ; for I have never eaten any thing that is com- 
 mon or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the 
 second time. What God hath cleansed, that call not thou 
 common. This was done thrice ; and the vessel was re- 
 ceived up again into heaven." — Acts x. 9 — 16. 
 
 This section of the chapter appears at first sight 
 dark, difficult, and not well adapted to general edifi- 
 cation ; but on examining it more minutely, we per- 
 ceive in it the commencement of an unspeakable 
 blessing to the human race. Like the rest of the 
 Scriptures, it should be profitable " for doctrine, for 
 reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteous- 
 ness," 2 Tim. iii. 16. 
 
 We see here also a manifestation from the invisi- 
 ble world, — the beginning of a new creation and a 
 great work of God ; and if enlightened by his Holy 
 Spirit, we shall observe in it another instance of his 
 grace, his glory, and his truth. 
 
 The history has hitherto made us acquainted with 
 the disposition and character of the Centurion Cor- 
 nelius. After he had been led by heavenly guid- 
 ance to the knowledge of the one true God, and of 
 his own sinfulness, he was filled with the desire of a 
 nearer fellowship with Him, and sought after the 
 kingdom of God and his righteousness. Although 
 a Gentile according to the flesh, and thereby shut 
 out from the house of Israel, " to whom pertain- 
 
 27 
 
28 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 eth the adoption, and the g-lory, and the covenants, 
 and the giving- of the law, and the service of God, 
 and the promises,'* Rom. ix. 4, yet he was a 
 true Israelite without guile, according to the spi- 
 rit ; — and in fasting, praying, and giving alms, 
 had acted hke one, as far as a Gentile could. The 
 grace of God now came nigh unto him, and for 
 the strengthening of his faith and hope, the Al- 
 mighty informed him by a heavenly messenger, 
 what he was next to do, — human means were to be 
 employed ; — he must send to Joppa, to invite the 
 Apostle Peter to come unto him ; he it was that 
 should tell him what he ought to do. The merciful 
 God deals humanly with the children of men ; how 
 should it be otherwise, since he created man, and 
 constituted human nature as it is. A gardener ac- 
 quaints himself with the nature and character of the 
 plants which he wishes to cultivate, and suits his care 
 to its necessities ; so God, in his grace, adapts himself 
 to the peculiar habits and wants of men, and deals 
 humanly with human nature. To keep up this com- 
 parison, the natural root of the spiritual life of man 
 lies already in his seeing and hearing. " Blessed are 
 the eyes which see what ye see." The heavenly 
 gardener descends upon the root of the souls life, 
 and tends and nourishes it, in order that it may grow 
 up into a heavenly plant. 
 
 The shepherds at Bethlehem received the an- 
 nouncement of the birth of our Lord, by means of 
 their bodily sight and hearing ; so did Simeon and the 
 wise men of the East. " Come and see," said Philip 
 28 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 29 
 
 also to Nalhanael. — He who had not seen the Lord, 
 could not be an Apostle, — his resurrection and his 
 ascension into heaven, happened visibly ; and John, in 
 the commencement of his Epistle, lays great weight 
 upon the fact, that he and the other disciples had 
 seen with their eyes, looked upon, and with their 
 hands had handled the Word of Life. This behold- 
 ing through the external senses, on the part of those 
 disciples whom the Lord had chosen, was the be- 
 ginning and germ of a spiritual acquaintance ; on 
 which account, those alone who had at an early pe- 
 riod believed upon him, were esteemed worthy of 
 seeing and conversing with him after his resurrection. 
 The grace of God always influences us by degrees ; 
 every thing upon earth unfolds itself in the same 
 manner, and even the formation of the world, and 
 fining it with plants, animals, and men, took place 
 gradually, and step by step. As the kingdom of 
 heaven upon earth grew up like a plant, and like a 
 seed of corn, brought forth first the blade, then the 
 stalk, and then the ear — so must it be gradually 
 formed in the heart of man. That which is divine, 
 is transfused into man, and God makes use of him as 
 a fellow worker with himself, to spread abroad his 
 truth. As Cornelius sent his servants to Joppa, so 
 the Lord sent his servant Peter to Caesarea, in order 
 to open the eyes of Cornelius, and lead him to the 
 kingdom of heaven. How gracious is our God and 
 Saviour in his treatment of the human race, and how 
 dear unto the Lord are his people. An extraordinary 
 preparation was required, and it was necessary that 
 
 29 
 
30 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 Peter should be instructed in a peculiar manner. 
 Though God employs men in the execution of his 
 commands and decrees, he never uses them like mere 
 machines, nor does he, by force, drive his people 
 along the right path ; on the contrary, they must act 
 and work along with Him of their own free will, and 
 from their own knowledge and conviction. 
 
 The nearer man stands to God, the more spon- 
 taneous is his service, and the further he is removed 
 from him, the more must he, like Pharaoh, Nebu- 
 chadnezzar, and Joseph's brethren, be used by his hea- 
 venly Father, as a mere instrument, held in the bonds 
 of darkness. " If the Son, therefore, shall make you 
 free, ye shall be free indeed." John viii. 36. Simon 
 Peter was chosen to open the door of the Great Shep- 
 herd's fold to the first Gentile and his household, 
 and to lead them into it. Why was it Peter r Why 
 was it not John or James ? or Philip, who had 
 already preached the gospel, and converted many in 
 the neighbouring Samaria, and of whom Cornelius 
 had probably heard ? Why was it not delayed till 
 the conversion of Paul, the peculiar Apostle of the 
 Gentiles ? The answer is contained in our history. 
 Peter was chosen to begin the work of converting 
 the Gentiles, because he was the most opposed to 
 God's universal grace, in willing the conversion of 
 the Gentiles ; it was therefore the more clearly proved 
 to be the design and the work of God. The bond- 
 age of Israel in Egypt was loosed by Moses, and 
 the kingdom of God was spread farthest by the per- 
 secuting Saul, both of them by nature and education 
 30 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 31 
 
 the most unlikely to perform such glorious works. 
 "Base things of the world, and things that are de- 
 spised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are 
 not, to bring to nought things that are ; that no flesh 
 should glory in his presence." — 1 Cor. i. 28, 29. 
 
 The gospel history has depicted with peculiar 
 -truth and openness, the natural disposition and cha- 
 racter of the Apostle Simon Peter. The Lord had 
 given him the significant surname of Cephas, or 
 Peter, that is to say, a rock, or a man of rock, not 
 merely in reference to what he should become, but 
 also to that which he was by nature. As the na- 
 tural talents and dispositions of men are very diffe- 
 rent, one excelling or falling short of another in un- 
 derstanding, imagination, or memory, so Simon Peter 
 was distinguished from the rest of our Lord's fol- 
 lowers, by an impetuosity of temper which seems to 
 have been born with him. This, like the other 
 powers of the soul weakened by sin, as long as man 
 is not regenerated by the Holy Spirit, is apt to de- 
 generate into caprice, conceit, or self-will ; and 
 shows itself by obstinately holding fast any opinion 
 which the mind has once embraced. 
 
 None of the disciples gainsaid our Lord so often 
 as Simon Peter. When Jesus told them of his ap- 
 proaching sufferings, he was the person who drew 
 him aside and said, " Be it far from thee, Lord ; this 
 shall not be unto thee" — on which he received the 
 answer, " Get thee behind me Satan : thou art an 
 offence unto me, for thou savourest not the things 
 that be of God, but those that be of men," When 
 
 31 
 
3a CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 Jesus washed the disciples' feet, Peter withstood 
 him, from a false humility and mistaken respect, 
 until our Lord said to him, " If I wash thee not, 
 thou hast no part with me." And how strongly did 
 his self-confidence contrast with the words of our 
 Lord, warning- him of his future denial ! In his fall 
 also, in spite of his better judgment and conviction, 
 he showed a stubborn obstinacy, which rose even to 
 curses and imprecations. This rebellious, yet de- 
 sponding heart of rock, became softened under the 
 guidance, and through the influence of its gentle and 
 lowly Master, and the confidence in its own strength 
 disappeared before the power of the Highest. The 
 Holy Spirit did not change the Apostles so much 
 as to destroy, or take away, the peculiarities of their 
 dispositions and character, or their human weakness 
 and prejudice, — they certainly received through his 
 agency, the full mercy and grace of God, but His 
 gifts and his Spirit must daily increase, and ever 
 more and more consume the innate dross of their 
 minds. They must strive to approach perfection, 
 and strain every nerve to lay hold on Christ, to 
 fight the good fight, and run along the appointed 
 path, in order to obtain the crown. St. Peter, who 
 was dear unto our Lord, did this during his whole 
 life, in order to come forth as victor in the conflict 
 with the powers of darkness, and with his own innate 
 corruption. 
 
 This struggle ended only with his crucifixion, of 
 which our Lord prophesied to him, when he said, 
 " Thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another 
 32 
 
CORNELIUS THE CEJ^TURION. 3^3 
 
 shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou uouldest 
 not." — John xxi. 18. He also subjected himself in 
 Antioch to the severe and righteous reproof of the 
 Apostle Paul, because he dissembled with the Jews, 
 when, to please them, he once more came under the 
 bondage of the Levitical law, to the offence of the 
 Gentile church. Thus, his natural man, and human 
 will, came into collision with the new-born spiritual 
 man, and with the will of the Lord. The Bible has 
 never been silent with regard to the human weakness 
 and errors of its heroes, that we might see how diffi- 
 cult it is to extinguish entirely the old man, which is 
 always returning ; and also to show us that we should 
 not despair of attaining that object, by a persevering 
 conflict, and through the assistance of the Holy Spirit, 
 
 It appears to have been particularly difficult for the 
 Apostle to comprehend the counsel of God, with re- 
 gard to the calling and blessing of the Gentiles. The 
 prejudice in favour of his own nation, as the peculiar 
 people of Jehovah, which he had imbibed with his 
 mother's milk, still clung fast to his soul ; though he 
 had announced, at the feast of Pentecost, that the 
 Lord was about to call into his fold, those who were 
 still afar off, yet he did not say this from himself, but 
 from the Spirit of the Lord- 
 
 The time and the hour, the grand moment of the 
 second birth of the world, was now come. Our 
 Lord had often alluded to it before, and once dis- 
 tinctly said, " Other sheep I have which are not of 
 this fold ; them also I must bring, and they shall hear 
 my voice ; and there shall be one fold and one shep- 
 D 33 
 
34 COKXELIUS THE CENTUßlOX. 
 
 herd.' ' On another occasion, he praised and rewarded 
 the faith both of a Canaantish woman and a Gentile- 
 Centurion. 
 
 He has also commanded his Apostles, in the most 
 decided^and definite manner, to go to all nations and 
 preach the Gospel to every creature. God had. 
 willed that his kingdom, as one not of this world, 
 should be spread abroad, not by force or constraint, 
 but through knowledge of the truth, and internal 
 conviction, both by those who announced it and 
 those who received it. The Gospel, as a power from 
 God, should be not merely a precept, but a living 
 principle to all who receive it — to form in them a. 
 new life, which, through the light and grace of God,, 
 may unfold and increase like a plant in a good soil, 
 ** until they all come, in Üie unity of the Father, and 
 of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect 
 man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness 
 ofCbrist." Eph. iv. 13. 
 
 Peter, who found it so difficult to wean himself 
 from the old covenant and conform to the new, and. 
 to whom our Lord had promised, that he should give 
 him the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and that on 
 him he should build his church ; he it was who 
 should begin the great work of God among the 
 Gentiles. The beginning, however, must first be 
 made in himself — for how can one be what he is not, 
 or give what he has not ? A reformation must take 
 place, which was done by means of a manifestation 
 from heaven, and through a vision. 
 
 Peter went up, about the sixth hour, or, according 
 34 
 
COR^'ELlUS TUE CEXTUKION. 35 
 
 to our reckoning-, at mid-day, to pray, on the house- 
 top, or flat roof of the house. The Jews were fond 
 of praying on the house-lop, under the open heaven, 
 because they were here undisturbed, and could turn 
 their face during prayer, towards the Temple and 
 the holy city of Jerusalem. In this circumstance, we 
 may perceive how Peter continued faithfully to ob- 
 serve the rules and customs of Judaism ; Utile aware 
 that they were soon to cease, and give place to the 
 worshipping of God in spirit and in truth.* After he 
 had finished his prayer, " he became very hungry, and 
 would have eaten," — but he must now be fed vvitii 
 other food — there was opened to him, as before to our 
 Lord, while his disciples were bringing him food in 
 Samaria,- — a wide field, ripe for the harvest, and he, 
 as the first reaper, began the work. 
 
 He was entranced, that is to say, transported out 
 of his natural state into a higher and supernatural 
 one ; his outward senses were closed, but the eyes of 
 his inner man were opened, that he might behold 
 heavenly things.f "He saw heaven opened, and a 
 certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a 
 great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to 
 the earth, wherein were all manner of four-footed 
 beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping 
 things, and fowls of the air. And there came a 
 vx)ice to him, — Rise Peter, kill and eat. But Pater 
 said, not so Lord, for I have never eaten anything 
 that is common or unclean. And the voice spake 
 unto him again, the second time, — What God hath 
 
 * See Note D. f See Xute E. 
 
 35 
 
30 CORNELIUS THE CEXTURION. 
 
 cleansed, that call not thou common." This wag 
 done thrice, to strengthen the impression of the 
 divine testimony ; and the vessel was then received 
 up again into heaven, to shew that it was a divine 
 manifestation. In this vision we behold the conde- 
 scension of our Lord to his beloved Apostle, in now 
 making known to him the secrets of God, in the 
 same manner as he used to do to his disciples, 
 by means of parables and allegories. The whole 
 of revelation is a letting down, and, if we may 
 so call it, a hum'anization of the invisible God; 
 through it alone can man come to his heavenly 
 Father and become His child. Almost all the 
 Old Testament consists of types and similitudes. 
 The sacrifices and ceremonies, the tabernacle and 
 the temple, the people of Israel and their history, 
 Canaan with its warriors and its very names, were 
 all images and pictures of what was to come, — glim- 
 merings of a yet concealed hght and future blessing, 
 the elements of the true life which is in Christ Jesus. 
 We may well admire it. Even in this day of light, 
 since the coming of the Son of God, we see through 
 a glass darkly the secrets of the future and perfect- 
 ed kingdom of heaven ; yet the time shall come 
 when we shall see them face to face, and know even 
 as also we are known. Thus the Apostle Peter, 
 like all the prophets who were before him, was 
 led to a higher knowledge gradually, and step by step. 
 We see also in this vision, that something entirely 
 new was about to begin in the kingdom of God upon 
 earth. The prophets had, for ages, foretold it ; and 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 37 
 
 our Lord himself had ordained and predicted it ; but 
 the contracted view of the disciples could not distin- 
 guish it; therefore the thing- itself was done, and they 
 were led to comprehend it slowly and gradually, 
 The lightening's flash destroys the aged tree ; but the 
 gentle day-light developes a new life out of what 
 seems past away and decayed. This new light re- 
 moved the old economy and covenant which God 
 had established during more than fifteen hundred 
 years, by laws and precepts, priests and prophets : — 
 it was also the declaration of a new covenant, by 
 which all the Gentiles, without the law, were led 
 into the path of grace. This decree of God, the 
 fulfilment of which Peter was to begin, was disclosed 
 to the Apostle visibly, though mysteriously. God 
 has always connected the visible world with the in- 
 visible, in his manifestations to men, — and even in 
 the pouring out of the Holy Ghost. He had com- 
 manded, through Moses, the distinction of animals 
 into the clean and the unclean ; into those which 
 might be eaten and sacrificed, and those which might 
 not. By this law He had typified the separation of 
 the people of Israel from those nations who were 
 stained with idolatry ; the 80th Psalm thus compares 
 the heathen to the wild beast of the field. 
 
 The time of distinction and separation was now 
 to cease. Paul says in Ephesians ii. 13, 14, 15, 16, 
 " Ye who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by 
 the blood of Christ, for he is our peace, who hath 
 made both one, and hath broken down the middle 
 wall of partition between us. Having abolished, in 
 
 37 
 
33 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 iiis flesh, the enmity, evenihe law of commandinerits 
 contained in ordinances ; for to make in himself of 
 twain one new man, so making peace. And that he 
 might reconcile both unto God., in one body by the 
 cross, having slain the enmity thereby." Through 
 him both Jew and Greek have access, by one spirit, 
 unto the Father. 
 
 " Kill and eat,'' said the voice ; the same which 
 commanded Isaiah to write, " They shall bring an 
 offering unto the Lord out of all nations," chap, 
 Ixvi. — the same which inspired Paul to say in Ro- 
 mans, chap. XV. "That the offering up of the Gentiles 
 might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy 
 Ghost." The sanctification of the Gentiles has been 
 going on, even to the present day, and will continue 
 to go on until all be fulfilled which God has promis- 
 ed through the mouth of His holy prophets. The 
 beginning of this great work of God has been 
 made ; it now becomes us, as brethren in the truth, to 
 forward its progress by our labours and prayers, that 
 His kingdom may come, ever more and more, and 
 His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We 
 have visions and words from heaven no longer ; we 
 have both in our Bible ; nor is there evpi awanting 
 a manifestation of the mind of God in the daily oc- 
 currences around us, in the providential events of 
 life : and, above all, in the secret history of our 
 souls ; thus beholding God in every thing, what is 
 in itself common and unclean becomes purified and 
 sanctified ; and in this way is the grace of God re- 
 vealed to all men. 
 38 
 
IV. 
 
 It is a remark of Luther, the father of our church, 
 that the history of the people of God differs as much 
 from the histories and biographies of men, as heaven 
 does from earth. In profane history one may see 
 the greatness or littleness of the work ; but in this 
 narration there is only one thing- to admire and 
 honour, namely, the word of God, through whose 
 will and guidance all things are accomplished. 
 The histories of the Bible are, with justice, call- 
 ed holy, not only because they are written by 
 holy men, but because they are the words of 
 God, and we must observe this particularly in 
 order to understand what a great treasure the Evan- 
 gelist Luke has left us, in his Acts of the Apostles. 
 They are not so much histories by the Apostle, as 
 the very words of God, telling how the Gospel, by 
 means of those whom he had sent, began to make its 
 way through the whole world, and through faith on 
 the part of mankind, justified and blessed them with- 
 out the law. In this book we find the doctrine and 
 the example of faith side by side, and we see at the 
 same time the human sympathy and xjondescension 
 of God our Saviour, awakening a new life in the 
 hearts of men. How gently and tenderly did he re- 
 ceive into his fold those who sought admittance, 
 
 39 
 
40 CORNELIUS THE CEXTüRlON. 
 
 sending to them his faithful servants and messengers I 
 fulfilling to his chosen ones the gracious promise : 
 " Even to your old age I am He ; and even to 
 hoar hairs will I carry you ; I have made and I 
 will bear ; even I will carry and will deliver you." 
 Isaiah xlvi. 4. 
 
 " Now while Peter doubted in himself what this vision 
 which he had seen should mean, behold, the men which 
 were sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon's 
 house, and stood before the gate, and called, and asked 
 whether Simon, which was sur named Peter, were lodged 
 there. While Peter thought on the \iision» the Spirit said 
 unto him, behold, three men seek thee ; arise, therefore, 
 and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing, 
 for I have sent them. Then Peter went down to the men 
 which were sent unto him from Cornelius, and said, behold 
 I am he whom ye seek ; what is the cause wherefore ye are 
 come ? And they said, Cornelius the Centurion, a just 
 man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among 
 all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God, by an 
 holy angel, to send for thee into his house, and to hear 
 words of thee. Then called ke them in and lodged them. 
 ^Acts \. 1 7—23. 
 
 fn the last section of our history, we saw how the 
 decrees and secret counsels of God, for calling in the 
 Gentiles, and blessing the whole human race, by the 
 Gospel, were revealed to the Apostle Peter in a 
 vision from above, and how this work of mercy, this 
 new creation, like the creation of the first man, when 
 it was said, " Let us make man in our image," be- 
 gan in heaven above, in order to be perfected in 
 earth among the children of men. 
 40 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 41 
 
 We have uow to consider this beginning and pro- 
 gress of the divine work upon earth. 
 
 " Peter doubted in himself what this vision tchich 
 he hid seen should mean,'' — He found himself in 
 uncertainty with regard to its signification, it was a 
 visible and allegorical representation or type of a 
 change about to take place through the instrumen- 
 tality of Peter. The time that is. to come is present 
 before God as well as that which is past. With him 
 there is neither yesterday, to-day, nor to-morrow ; a 
 thousand years, whether past or future, are but as one 
 day before him. " Surely the Lord will do nothing," 
 saith Amos, " but he revealeth his secret unto his ser- 
 vants the prophets." And it is on this account they 
 were named Seers, or those that see, because they 
 came forth as the prophets or speakers of God. 
 
 He let them see that which was hidden from the 
 eyes of men, and concealed in his tabernacle. Yet 
 the glory of God seldom manifests itself without 
 some obscurity along with it — it cannot be otherwise, 
 when we consider our weak nature, unable to com- 
 prehend the things that are of the Spirit of God, or 
 contemplate the depth of the thoughts and the mys- 
 teries of our Creator ! " Lord, how great are thy 
 works 1 and thy thoughts are very deep 1" " They 
 are high as heaven," and " deeper than hell,' — deep 
 and encircling every thing like the sea. How sim- 
 ple and great, and at the same time how deep and 
 comprehensive, is Jacob's vision of the heavenly lad- 
 der, which reach from earth up to heaven, and on 
 beholding which the Patriarch cried out, " How 
 
 41 
 
42 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 dreadful is this place ! this is none other but the 
 house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." It 
 was the earthly Canaan, and the temporal Zion, the 
 road to the heavenly Jerusalem. Here was the place 
 where the Son of God, the Light and Life of the world, 
 came down upon earth, " when the angels of God 
 were ascending and descending upon him." John i. 
 51. How glorious, yet how simple was the mani- 
 festation which took place to Elias on Mount Horeb, 
 when first the storm which tore the rocks asunder, 
 then the earthquake and the fiery flames passed be- 
 fore the Lord, and when He himself came at last in 
 the soft breeze, making known to the zealous pro- 
 phet in this manner the mode of his own govern- 
 ment of the world, and the way in which his servant 
 was to act. The visions by which God, in the time 
 of the new covenant, disclosed his counsels, are more 
 simple and less veiled, than those of the old ; they 
 resemble in clearness and simplicity the parables of 
 Jesus Christ. The vision of Peter reminds us of 
 the net full of every kind of fishes, to which our 
 Lord compared his kingdom upon earth ; and the 
 sheet let down from heaven filled with every kind of 
 beasts, indicated the miglity preparation making by 
 "God, '^ that he might gather together in one, all things 
 in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are 
 on earth, even in him." Eph. i. 10. 
 
 " Peter doubted in himself, what this vision which 
 he had seen, should mean.^' He certainly recognised 
 it as a revelation from God ; but he did not discover 
 its sigaification. There was something within him 
 42 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 43 
 
 which obscured the light of God, and withstood his 
 full acknowledgment of the truth, exactly in the same 
 manner as formerly, at the washing of the disciples' 
 feet. He displayed in this his prejudices as an indi- 
 vidual Jew, and his zeal for the pre-eminence of his 
 nation, which had been nourished in him from his 
 childhood. He held fast his human views of the mer- 
 cy of God, which were still narrowed and contracted 
 by his regard for the law. But we must on no ac- 
 count compare the doubting and deliberating Apos- 
 tle with those rationalists, who, blinded by pride and 
 selfishness, oppose human wisdom to divine revela- 
 tion, as if they were of equal authority, while their true 
 reason is an unwillingness to obey the commands of 
 God, and embrace the only belief which unravels the 
 stupendous mystery of the human mind. No ! Peter 
 did not think here on what is human — but the divine 
 manifestations and the law of the old covenant, rose 
 in ail their majesty before his soul, so that he could 
 not discern in its full clearness, Gods comprehensive 
 mercy and blessing for all men. Indeed, this would 
 have been nothing less than to understand the length 
 and the breadth, the depth and the height, of the un- 
 searchable riches of Christ, whereby all things were 
 to be made new. 
 
 The prophets had foretold this new dispensation, 
 and Peter himself, moved by the Holy Ghost, had 
 spoken of it on the day of Pentecost ; but, Hke the 
 disciples of our Lord, who, notwithstanding his pre- 
 diction, would not believe in his resurrection until it 
 had happened, Peter could not comprehend until 
 
 43 
 
44 CORNELIUS TUE CENTURION. 
 
 now, that he was to become light and life unto the 
 Gentiles. Even the Apostles in themselves bear tes- 
 timony to our frail humanity I Peter was a regenera- 
 ted child of the Spirit, and a true disciple of our Lord ; 
 but the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ 
 was not yet perfected in him. Elernal life, or the 
 knowledge of the one true God, and of Jesus Christ 
 whom he has sent, cm only unfold itself by degrees, 
 and by continued repentance and faith. It was so 
 with Peter ; the veil of Moses was not quite taken 
 away from his eyes, and it must not be torn forcibly 
 away because he was a faithful disciple of the Lord, 
 and a true child of God. A dazzling and blinding 
 beam of light from heaven, was not necessary for him, 
 as it was for the rebellious and threatening Saul, the 
 scholar of the Pharisees ; all that was required was a 
 parable from above, in which the light should be en- 
 veloped. As the germinating seed of corn penetrates 
 the hard soil, in order to come at the light which 
 animates it ; so there was in Peter a feehng of anx- 
 iety, a doubt and a desire to know, what the vision 
 meant that he had seen. 
 
 While he was revolving in his mind what had taken 
 place, " behold the men ivhich were sent from Corne- 
 lius had made inquiry for Simon's house, and stood 
 before the gate ; and called, and a^ked tchether Simon, 
 which was sur named Peter, lodged there.'' 
 
 In the Scriptures, but particularly in the simple 
 narratives of the Evangelists, there is not even one 
 little word like " Behold" put in vain ; on the con- 
 trary all is important. These men, the two servants 
 44 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 45 
 
 and the soldier, without their own will or knowledg^e, 
 were the instruments in the hÄid of God, to lead the 
 Apostle to a higher step in faith, and to a higher life. 
 They came and asked for Peter at a most appropriate 
 time, for he was troubled, and his mind was tossed 
 to and fro ; in the common language of life we would 
 say, they arrived then by chance. But this expres- 
 sion has a very different meaning in the mouth of our 
 Lord, when he says, that not even a sparrow shall 
 fall to the ground, without the knowledge of our Fa- 
 ther which is in heaven, for the very hairs of our 
 head are numbered. " By chance," either signi- 
 fies having no connection w4th any thing else, 
 and then the word expresses nothing ; or else 
 it means, having an invisible connection with that 
 which is above, from whence comes down every 
 good and perfect gift — grass and foliage, rain and 
 drought, fruitful and unfruitful years, health and sick- 
 ness, — not by chance, but from the hand of our Father. 
 Christians know no other chance than this ! 
 
 The three men came. — The Lord has many diffe- 
 rent kinds of servants and messengers in his king- 
 dom ; but he generally makes use of the meanest, 
 the most natural, and the least conspicuous : for ex- 
 ample, Abraham, Joseph in Egypt, and David, whom 
 he called from amongst the sheep. He chose most 
 of his Apostles out of Galilee, from amidst the fish- 
 ing nets, and transformed them into fishers of men, 
 and angels to his people ; and the conversion of Sa- 
 maria began with a woman, by means of a pitcher of 
 water at Jacob's well. 
 
 4Ö 
 
46 GOR1SEL1US THE CENTURION. 
 
 Why should we, in the foolish manner of men,, 
 place in opposition to*eacb other those words, but 
 imperfectly understood, natural and supernatural^? 
 They both mean the same thing- in the kingdom of 
 God — that He, from whom, to whom, and by whom 
 all things are, sends rain and snow, as well as the 
 word which issues forth out of his mouth — makes his 
 angels, winds, and his ministers, a flaming fire ; and 
 transforms fiery flames into his servants, and storms- 
 into his messengers. 
 
 Here are two Gentile servants, and a Roman sol- 
 dier, sent to an enlightened Apostle to solve his 
 doubts, and disclose to him the path in which he 
 should walk ; God in this acting simply and employ- 
 ing no extraordinary person. It has often happened 
 tlius in the life of believers ; the smallest circumstance, 
 or what in the language of men would be called a 
 mere accident, first opens their eyes and their hearts 
 to a new light and life. In the same manner, many 
 of the actions of the Son of God upon earth, such as 
 his first interviews with those who in him were to find 
 salvation, and even the choice of most of his Apostles, 
 appear to us like a work of chance. Why should 
 the blind Bartimeus sit by the way-side, and Matthew 
 at the receipt of custom, while the Lord passed 
 by ? and why should the Samaritan woman come 
 to Jacob's well while Jesus was sitting there wait- 
 ing for his disciples ? Alas ! heathenism slill lurks 
 in our language, and since the manifestation of the 
 grace of God, the world continues to act on its own 
 principles. 
 46 
 
CORNELIUS TH2 CENTURION. 47 
 
 The arrival of the three men soon put an end to 
 the doubts and deliberations of the Apostle: they 
 called his name ; he saw them from the roof of the 
 house ; they seemed almost a continuation of the 
 vision he had seen. Then spake the Spirit unto him. 
 What Spirit ? The Spirit which our Lord had 
 promised to his disciples should come to them in 
 his place, the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in 
 the knowledge of God ; the invisible representa- 
 tlve of our Lord, who now guided the Apostles, 
 as Christ had formerly guided them ; the same 
 said unto Peter, '* Behold three men seek thee. 
 Arise, therefore, and get thee down, and go with 
 them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them." 
 This was a repetition of Christ's command, after 
 his resurrection ! " Feed my lambs ! Feed ray 
 sheep." What an important and what a solemn 
 charge, to become the messenger of the Gospel — to 
 announce the words of peace and joy to souls de- 
 sirous of salvation ! "How beautiful are the feet 
 of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring 
 glad tidings of good things !" Romans x. 15. God 
 has appointed this office of preaching reconcilia- 
 tion with himself ; and the Holy Spirit which bears 
 witness in our spirit, can alone qualify men for it. 
 Id the simple words which the Apostle hears, there 
 is implied the whole use and object of this office. 
 
 *' Behold three men seek thee ;'' — they long for thee, 
 and to hear thy words, as being a chosen witness of 
 the truth. Thou art appointed to help the afflicted, 
 and calm the troubled hearts of those who seek after 
 
 47 
 
48 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 the freedom of the children of God. " Arise, there- 
 fore /' Now that thou art ready to spread the 
 Gospel, arise for the service of God ; Christ will en- 
 lighten thee, that thou mayest enlighten others, and 
 deliver them from the bondage of darkness. " Get thee 
 down'^ unto them ; and make known the light of 
 truth, and the word of life, unto the weary and heavy 
 laden ; the crushed and bruised heart, the glimmer- 
 ing taper, and the broken reed. Now must thou, 
 with the balm of Gilead with which thou hast been 
 entrusted, alleviate pain, help and soothe, bind up 
 and heal. " Go with them /" use for them the 
 gifts which thou hast already received ; offer them 
 thy life and all that thou hast, as thy Lord and 
 Master has done for thee. Go with them, like 
 Moses formerly with the Israelites, through the 
 wastes of sin and of death, towards the heavenly 
 Canaan, to the treasure which is preserved for us 
 through Jesus Christ in the heavenly Jerusalem. 
 Go with them through the straight gate, on the nar- 
 row path, which leads to the crown of life and to 
 immortality. " Doubting nothing.'" A doubter is 
 unsteady in his character, " Hke a wave of the sea, 
 driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that 
 man think that he shall receive any thing of the 
 Lord." James i. 6, 7. Doubt nothing, fear nothing, 
 but believe only. Doubt nothing, although they 
 mock thee, and laugh at thy words, and drive thee 
 from city to city. Doubt nothing, even though thou 
 seemest to work in vain, and though not even one 
 little seed of corn spring up into the green stalk. 
 48 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 49 
 
 Doubt nothing, only believe. It is faith which over- 
 comelh the world. 
 
 Thus, in those words, which told the Apostle what 
 he ought to do, there is contained the whole duty of 
 a preacher of the gospel. How great and important 
 is the aim and labour of that man who is called to be 
 a messenger of God, to prepare the way before him 
 in the hearts of those for whom he suffered death on 
 the cross. That Spirit alone which called and sent 
 him, can give him strength and ability for his voca- 
 tion. 
 
 How comforting then is the promise, " If ye 
 then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto 
 your children, how much more shall your Father 
 which is in heaven give good things to them tfiat ask 
 him 1" Matth. vii. 11. 
 
 " Then Peter went down to the men which were sent 
 unto him from Cornelius, and said. Behold I am he 
 whom ye seek : what is the cause wherefore ye are 
 come? And they said, Cornelius the Centurion, a just 
 man, and one that fear et h God, and of good report 
 among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from 
 God by an holy Angel to send for thee into his 
 house, and to hear words of thee, '^ — Words, says the 
 Apostle himself in the next chapter, " whereby 
 thou and all thy house shall be saved." After 
 Peter had heard the request of the men, " he called 
 them in and lodged themJ" They had executed their 
 commission before entering the house of Simon the 
 tanner. Probably they had remained without from 
 E 49 
 
50 CORNELIUS THE CENTUHION. 
 
 modesty ; for it was a Jewish house, and they were 
 Gentiles, whom the Jews at that timedisUked to come 
 into their dwellings, lest they should defile them. 
 
 Thus the Jews, from whom was to come salvation 
 unto all, in their proud dream that they were the 
 noble among men, raised higher than ever the wall 
 of partition as the times of the Gentiles approached, 
 
 " Peter called t/icm in and lodged them,"" ready to 
 gratify their wish, and journey with them the next 
 day. Thus was the compact concluded, and a desire 
 to know the word of God united those men, who, un- 
 til now, had stood far apart. 
 
 The great object of the Gospel, is the gather- 
 ing together of all men into one congregation of 
 the Lord, under one head, Jesus Christ, and into 
 one great family and household of God the Father, 
 — in one Spirit, through the bond of peace and love, 
 — a union of all that dwell upon earth, so that every 
 knee should bow to the name of Jesus, and every 
 tongue acknowledge that God the Lord is the only 
 true God ! 
 
 It was for this purpose Jesus Christ, the Word, 
 which was from the beginning, came down from hea- 
 ven, divested himself of the form of God, became 
 flesh, and dwelt among us ; for this purpose he was 
 exalted, and a name given unto him, which is above 
 every name. Therefore did the Holy Spirit fill the 
 Apostles with power from the Highest, and all the 
 fulness of God, and is ever labouring that the time 
 of rest may come. Therefore, the heavenly messen- 
 gers of God minister unto those who shall be heirs 
 50 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 51 
 
 of salvation. Therefore shall the Gospel be preached, 
 even unto the ends of the earth, and the word of God 
 make its way round the world, so that there shall be 
 no speech nor language, where its sound shall not be 
 heard. To this great union also do Baptism and the 
 Lord's Supper, those visible seals of the eternal co- 
 venant, direct our eyes ; and, highest of all honours, 
 it is the duty of all Christians, as brethren in one 
 faith, to labour and pray that the name of God may 
 be sanctified, his kingdom come, and his will be done 
 in earth, as it is in heaven. 
 
 51 
 
*' The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the 
 Sabbath." — As the Gospel is more glorious than the 
 law, the festival of the new covenant is more so than 
 the Sabbath of the old. The Sabbath of the law con- 
 cluded the week, and followed the days of labour ; 
 it was a ray of mercy from above upon sinful men, 
 after the six week-days of pain and toil — and a con- 
 soling promise, " that there remained a rest for the 
 people of God. Our Gospel day of rest precedes 
 our week-days, as the day of reconciliation and of 
 the righteousness and peace purchased for us. It is 
 the resurrection day of our Lord and Saviour, the 
 pledge of our own resurrection ; and the seal of our 
 perfect redemption. In it we solemnize a weekly 
 feast of Easter, a heavenly family-day, and assemble 
 in the house of God, not as " strangers and foreign- 
 ers, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the 
 household of God." This day teaches us our inti- 
 mate connection with each other, and our fellow- 
 ship with the saints above, being all members of one 
 body, of which Christ is the head, who is the way, the 
 truth, and the life, through whom alone we come to 
 the Father. Therefore, we offer up prayer unto the 
 Lord, and praise him with spiritual songs. He is in 
 the midst of us, and causes us to receive his Gospel. 
 52 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION 53 
 
 God made the Sabbath for man, whom he created in 
 his own image ; and through his Gospel he has ex- 
 alted it into a Sun-day, or day of Suns, on which the 
 Sun of Righteousness shines upon all with healing in 
 his wings. 
 
 The following verses set before us a picture of 
 such an assemblage, the first that met together in a 
 Gentile house. 
 
 And on the morrow Peter went away with them, and certain 
 brethren from Joppa accompanied him. And the morrow 
 after they entered into Caesarea. And Cornelius waited for 
 them, and had called together his kinsmen and near friends. 
 And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell 
 down at his feet, and worshipped him. But Peter took him 
 up, saying, stand up : I myself also am a man. And as he 
 talked with him, he went in, and found many that were come 
 together. And he said unto them. Ye know how that it is 
 an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, 
 or come unto one of another nation ; but God hath shewed 
 me that I should not call any man common or unclean. 
 Therefore came I unto you without gainsaying, so soon as I 
 was sent for ; I ask therefore for what intent ye have sent 
 for me ? And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting 
 until this hour ; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, 
 and, behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing, and 
 said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had 
 in remembrance in the sight of God. Send therefore to 
 Joppa, and call hither Simon, whose surname is Peter ; he 
 is lodged in the house of one Simon a tanner, by the sea- 
 side, who, when he cometh, shall speak unto thee. Imme- 
 diately therefore I sent to thee ; and thou hast well done 
 that thou art come. Now therefore are we all here present 
 before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of 
 God."— Acts X. 23—33. 
 
 53 
 
54 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 Here we. have the much desired arnval of the 
 Apostle Peter in the house of Cornelius at Caesarea, 
 on the fourth day af+er the latter had received the 
 command of the angel to send to Joppa. The mes- 
 sengers had arrived there on the first day ; Peter 
 lodged them all night, and set out with them on the 
 morrow, accompanied by six other brethren, beHe- 
 vers of the Jewish nation. They arrived on the 
 fourth day, and were received with great joy. The 
 history of this reception merits our attention. We 
 see in the Centurion, and those who were assembled 
 for a similar purpose as himself, a little community 
 seeking peace and truth. Gentiles by nature, they 
 may well serve as examples to us. 
 
 The two principal persons in our history now meet 
 together, — the Roman Centurion and the Apostle of 
 our Lord. In the first, we see a picture of human 
 nature, longing for the freedom of the children of God ; 
 in the second, the ambassador of Christ, the Word 
 and Life that came down from heaven, through whom* 
 alone that freedom can be attained. 
 
 Let us direct our attention to Cornelius, and to 
 his desire for peace and truth. 
 
 We are acquainted with the Centurion already, 
 and know that the solicitude of his heart was to come 
 to the knowledge and possession of the truth. He 
 was devout, and feared God ; the aspirations of 
 his soul were directed upwards, and his own desire, 
 as well as that of his whole house, was to be at 
 peace with God and in fellowship with his heavenly 
 Father. 
 54 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTUKION. 55 
 
 The small seed of the everlasting word, although 
 it may be crushed and concealed, lies hid in the in- 
 most heart of every one, and in the very depth of his 
 being. The most erring and the most fallen can 
 never entirely divest himself of it ; — it is this which 
 constitutes him man, and is the indestructible witness 
 that God the Lord made him in his own image. Even 
 though the interior light be greatly darkened by 
 the power of Satan, and man's own grovelling de- 
 sires, yet, beneath this very darkness, there is a con- 
 cealed light ; and the most abject superstition which 
 bows the knee to a piece of wood or metal, bears 
 witness to a lost faith, long past away, and shows 
 an unconscious desire ever seeking after truth. As 
 there is no one without a conscience, and no mother's 
 heart without love for her child, so there is no man 
 without some kind of religion. The Lord Jesus 
 made the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the dumb 
 to speak, and even recalled dead bodies into life ; 
 so the influence of divine light, and the power of the 
 Highest, awakens and enlivens the dead word of 
 eternal life, and frees it from the bonds of darkness. 
 
 When man becomes conscious of the Word, con- 
 cealed in the depths of his soul, and desires help 
 and light from heaven, it is the germinating of the 
 hidden seed. 
 
 If man love darkness more than light, he can de- 
 stroy this seed in two ways ; either by forsaking 
 spiritual, and giving himself up to wordly pleasures, 
 or by dreaming that he is partaking of God's grace, 
 while wandering in a path chosen by himself. The 
 
 55 
 
56 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 heathen did the first, when, giving themselves up to 
 the world, they materialized the glory of the incor- 
 ruptible God ; and, falling into deeper and deeper 
 darkness, at last sunk into brutishness, and the most 
 grovelling idolatry. For this reason Paul began 
 his sermon to the Athenians with the announcement 
 of " the unknown God." The second was the man- 
 ner of the Pharisees, who, wedded to Judaism, and 
 blinded by their own selfish dreams, imagined that 
 through the works of the law, they could render 
 themselves acceptable to God, and procure their own 
 salvation. From this proceeded their self-righteous- 
 ness, which opposed the Gospel, and considered all 
 those in darkness who differed from themselves. 
 
 Heathenism had long ceased to obscure the men- 
 tal vision of Cornelius, for light from above had found 
 its way into the depths of his heart. He acknow- 
 ledged and reverenced the one true God, and faithfully 
 used every means which his acquaintance with the 
 Jews and their sacred writings afforded, in order to 
 increase his knowledge. Though he and his house- 
 hold were Gentiles outwardly, yet in spirit and faith 
 they were Jews ; and the more they knew God and 
 his revelation, the stronger became their desire for 
 His grace and fellowship. It was not through means 
 chosen by himself that he sought to obtain them ; 
 but it was according to the law of God, and the cus- 
 tom of Israel, through fasting, alms, and prayers. 
 
 This, howevef, was of no avail, so long as the ap- 
 probation and grace of God were awanting. Through 
 the law, there is no man righteous before him, " for 
 56 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTIJRION. 
 
 by the law is the knowledge of sin ;" and the greater 
 man's effort to fulfil it, the more vividly he perceives 
 his distance from the true light, in which there is 
 neither shadow nor darkness. " For by grace are 
 ye saved through faith ; and that not of yourselves ; 
 it is the gift of God : Not of works, lest any man 
 should boast." Eph. ii. 8, 9. 
 
 Cornelius felt this when he longed for the grace 
 and the gifts of God ; like the publican in the temple, 
 he stood at a distance, under the burden and yoke of 
 the law, weary and heavy laden, hungering and 
 thirsting for that righteousness which is of great 
 value in the sight of God, and sighing for the free- 
 dom of the children of hght. 
 
 His prayers, and his works of mercy, came in re- 
 membrance before God, who now opened the way to 
 his grace and fellowship, and commanded Peter to 
 lead this stranger into the kingdom of heaven. 
 
 " And Cornelius waited for tliem, and had called 
 together his kinsmen and near friends J" — Like another 
 Simeon, he waited for the consolation of Israel. The 
 Holy Spirit had filled Cornelius with confidence that 
 his most secret wishes should be gratified, and a 
 faint dawn of the light of our Lord had already ap- 
 peared, promising a speedy sunrise. He now as- 
 sembled in his house all those relations and friends 
 who lived in a similar hope with himself. Hope and 
 joy are sympathetic, and are always shedding a 
 bright effulgence around them, but much more when 
 they are of divine origin ; Gospel happiness is the 
 
 57 
 
58 COK^El^IUS THE CEISTUKIOX. 
 
 joy of the heavenly family, and cannot be confined to 
 one person. 
 
 The friends of Cornelius must not only sympa- 
 thize in his joy, but they must participate in his spi- 
 ritual blessings and heavenly gifts, and be saved by 
 the same salvation. We can imagine them watching 
 on the house-top, to try if they could discover, in 
 the distance, those messengers who were to announce 
 to them peace and happiness ! 
 
 " As Peter icas coming in, Cornelius met /dm, and 
 Jell down at his feet and worshipped himJ" — The 
 latter expression, " worshipped him,''' signifies merely 
 — bowed his face to the ground, as Joseph's brethren 
 did before Joseph, and David did before Saul. It 
 was the most lowly salutation, and the deepest ex- 
 pression of reverence ; the princes of the East re- 
 garded it as their right, and required it even from 
 foreign ambassadors ; but it was no more worship 
 than our habit of uncovering the head as a mark of 
 respect. 
 
 That Cornelius, a Roman, should have followed 
 this eastern custom, was a token of his deep venera- 
 tion for the Apostle. Who can condemn him for this ? 
 He did what his heart prompted, and threw himself 
 on his face, for, in the Apostle, he beheld the servant 
 and disciple of the Lord, who was to bring him sal- 
 vation and peace, joy and eternal life. It would not 
 have been wonderful though he had been unable to 
 distinguish between the ambassador and the Lord 
 who had sent him, for when he prostrated himself in 
 58 
 
CORNELIUS THE CETsTUFilON. 59 
 
 the dust, his soul was overwhelmed with the pleni- 
 tude of his blessings. 
 
 We must allow that he did rightly, when he threw 
 himself at the Apostle's feet with the deepest 
 veneration. But Peter, as a servant of God, fulfilled 
 all righteousness, when he raised Cornelius with the 
 words, " Stand up, I myself also am a man.'' Paul 
 and Barnabas acted thus, when the people and 
 priests at Lystra wished to sacrifice to them as gods ; 
 they tore their clothes, and said, " We also are men 
 of like passions icith you, and preach unto you,'' 
 Acts. xiv. 15. The Angel of God, before whom John 
 prostrated himself in the island of Patmos, declared 
 that this honour should be shown to God only, " For 
 I am thy fellow -servant ." Peter followed the exam- 
 ple of his Lord, in not seeking his own honour, but 
 that of him who had sent him ; the nearer we stand 
 to God, and the more we experience His grace, the 
 more lowly we become, for how can a man be any- 
 thing, or wish to appear any thing in His light, or in 
 His presence ? 
 
 Where there is self-ignorance, there is also pride 
 and haughtiness, and wherever there is the pride 
 of knowledge, of wisdom, or of fancied virtue, the 
 Spirit of the Lord cannot dwell. 
 
 After the Apostle had spoken with the Centurion, 
 he entered with him into the hall of reception. 
 Many Gentiles were assembled here, and the six 
 Jewish brethren who accompanied the Apostle from 
 Joppa, joining themselves with them, formed together 
 a little community desirous of salvation. 
 
 59 
 
60 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 It was a lovely union, which had never taken place 
 until now, a picture of the great and holy covenant, 
 which was henceforward to extend over the whole 
 earth, embracing all nations, colours, and languages, 
 and uniting all into one household of God, in the 
 bond of faith through the Spirit. 
 
 With reverential silence they received the Apostle, 
 but confidence was soon restored when he began to 
 speak : '* Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing 
 for a man that is a Jew to keep company ^ or come unto 
 one of another nation ; but God hath showed me that 
 I should not call any man common or unclean. 
 Therefore came I unto you without gainsaying, so 
 soon as I was sent for : I ask, therefore, for what in- 
 tent ye have sent for me f Cornelius and his friends 
 knew very well that it was an unusual thing for a 
 Jew to be in company with Gentiles. The doctors 
 of the law had carried to the very utmost the 
 divine command, to bold no fellowship with the 
 godless Canaanites ; and, at that time, it was even 
 considered a polution to enter the house of a Gen- 
 tile. 
 
 This delusion was about to disappear before the 
 word of peace. The Lord Jesus had begun to de- 
 stroy this prejudice, both by word and example, in 
 converting Samaritans and Gentiles, and receiving 
 them into his fold. Peter, however, justified him- 
 self, by appealing to the command of God, made 
 known to him by the vision at Joppa ; Cornelius 
 also gave an account of the vision, in which the 
 angel commanded him to call the Apostle. *' Thou 
 60 
 
CORNELIUS THE CEKTURION. 61 
 
 hast done well that thou art come.'^ He concludes, 
 " Now, therefore, are we all here present before God, 
 to hear all things that are commanded thee of God,'^ 
 
 How simply and truly does the Centurion describe 
 the object for which he and his friends had assem- 
 bled in his house. We stand before God, to hear 
 from thee all the things which God has commanded. 
 These are the words of a soldier, who stands before 
 his general, to receive from him the commands of his 
 king. Instead of saying befoj^e God, he might have 
 said before thee, as being the ambassador of God ; 
 but the expression, before God, is more reveren- 
 tial. The Apostle Paul uses similar language, when 
 he says, " Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, 
 as though God did beseech you by us : we pray you 
 in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." — 2 Cor. 
 V. 20. 
 
 In these strong words Cornelius showed what 
 should be the object and character of every solemn 
 assembly. We are always present before God, our 
 heavenly Father, when we join together to worship 
 Him in spirit and in truth. Since the grace of God 
 appeared to all men, and God reconciled the world 
 to himself through Christ, the common worship of 
 our Creator has assumed an entirely new form. It 
 no longer requires the magnificent temple, the 
 palace of the Eternal, but merely a house of God, 
 where his glory may dwell, whether that house be 
 great or small ;— the village church is not inferior to 
 the most magnificent edifice. In the new dispensa- 
 tion there is no veil to conceal the mercy seat — no 
 
 61 
 
62 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 Holy of Holies, which the anointed high priest alone 
 is permitted to enter, — no outer court, where the 
 Gentiles must stand at a distance. No, the veil is 
 torn, and the barrier taken away ; a living path into 
 the holy place which is above, stands always open. 
 We have a High Priest at the right hand of the 
 Father, even Jesus Christ, who hath purchased us 
 with His blood, and washed us pure from our sins. 
 We are His children and His property, a priestly 
 royal people, called from darkness to His wonderful 
 light. Where two or three are assembled together, 
 there is He in the midst of them. We appear before 
 Him in public worship, not as guests and strangers, 
 but as fellow -citizens with the saints above, as chil- 
 dren of the household of God; still on the road to 
 our Father's house, but joyful in good hope, and 
 certain of our heavenly inheritance. " Behold what 
 manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, 
 that we should be called the sons of God." 1 John 
 iii. 1. 
 
 We are ready to hear all, says Cornelius, which 
 God hath commanded thee. — In the Holy Scriptures 
 we have all which Cornehus desired to hear from the 
 Apostle ; for God has richly disclosed to us, in them, 
 his hidden wisdom. 
 
 It is a characteristic of the word of God, to shine 
 as a light, and illuminate the whole world, that every 
 man may be blessed. By it are we reconciled 
 to God our heavenly Father, and joined together as 
 his children in one holy fellowship. This is the ob- 
 ject of the announcement of the Gospel, the ordinance 
 62 
 
COBNE1.IÜS THE CE]SITURIO>-. 63 
 
 of God himself, and belongs to its very nature, as its 
 name implies. When we assemble in the house of 
 God, we are visibly reminded that we have one Father, 
 from whom all things are, and we in him ; and one 
 Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and 
 we through him ; at the same time we acknowledge 
 ourselves to be children of one Father, members of 
 one body, of which Christ is the head, and fellow 
 citizens of the heavenly kingdom. 
 
 We have much greater cause than David, who saw 
 the future salvation only from afar, to love the service 
 of God, and say, " A day in thy courts is better 
 than a thousand 1" ** Come ye," to use the words of 
 Isaiah, that Evangelist among the prophets, " Come 
 ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to 
 the house of the God of Jacob ; and he will teach us 
 of his ways, and we will walk in his paths," as true 
 worshippers, such as the Father wishes us to be. 
 
 The assembly in the house of Cornelius sets be- 
 fore our eyes a beautiful picture of such unions as 
 were soon to be common among the Gentiles. They 
 were penetrated with a fervent desire for the light 
 which comes from above, with a lowly feeling of no- 
 thingness before God, with a pious veneration for the 
 word of eternal life, and the messengers of God who 
 announced it, and with child-like simplicity they 
 hung upon the Hps of the Apostle. They now re- 
 ceived with singleness of heart the words of truth 
 from his mouth, and there grew up in them a living 
 faith, while peace and joy filled their souls. 
 
 63 
 
64 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 In this we behold the fulfilment of the words of 
 our Lord, "Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine 
 and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man 
 which built his house upon a rock ; and the rain de- 
 scended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, 
 and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was 
 founded upon a rock." beautiful sight ! this first 
 house founded on a rock, which the Lord built for 
 himself in the midst of heathenism, formed of living 
 stones, of hearts seeking for peace and truth ! " Bless- 
 ed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it/* 
 
 €4 
 
VI. 
 
 " For I will give you a mouth and wisdom," Luke 
 xxi. 15. — This is the promise which our Lord made 
 his disciples, and he has faithfully and abundantly 
 fulfilled it. How could the timid ignorant Galileans, 
 and the persecuting Paul, have proclaimed the good- 
 ness of God in our redemption to the whole world, if 
 the Lord had not given them a mouth and wisdom ? 
 In them, and in all those whom, in latter times, the 
 Lord chose to be the heralds of his grace and truth, 
 the words were fulfilled which Paul says of himself, 
 <* When I am weak, then am I stron* — I can do all 
 things through Christ which strengtheneth me." 
 
 In humility, there is true courage, and in simpli- 
 city, real power and wisdom. The Lord fiUeth the 
 hungry with good things ; and the rich he hath sent 
 empty away ! Thus sung Mary, the mother of Jesus. 
 And Paul writes, " We have this treasure in earthen 
 vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of 
 God, and not of us,"' 2 Cor. iv. 7. Man can only be- 
 come the receptacle of divine power and wisdom, 
 when self-wisdom and self-righteousness are taken 
 away. Peter the Apostle required to be purified 
 from the first, before he was called to announce the 
 Gospel to the Gentiles — and Cornelius to be freed 
 from the second, before he could lift up his voice in 
 the praise and glory of God. We can only expe- 
 
 F 65 
 
66 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 rience the truth and power of the Gospel, when we 
 cast away our own wisdom and righteousness, and in 
 all humility seek the righteousness which cometh from 
 God. Then will the Lord give us a mouth and wis- 
 dom, enable us to know more and more his grace and 
 truth, to proclaim his goodness, and to glorify and 
 praise him. He satisfieth our mouths with good 
 things ; so that our youth is renewed like the eagles. 
 
 *' Then Peter opened his moath, and said, Of a truth I per- 
 ceive that God is no respecter of persons ; but in every 
 nation, he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is 
 accepted with him." — Acts x. 34, 35. 
 
 * 
 
 '* Peter opened his mouth and said,"" — This ex- 
 pression is applied to our Lord, when on the moun- 
 tain, surrounded by his disciples and a multitude of 
 people, he began to teach them : also to Philip, 
 when he explained the Scriptures to the treasurer 
 from Ethiopia, and preached to him the Gospel of 
 Jesus. The Holy Scriptures frequently make use of 
 this simple mode of speech, sometimes to point out 
 more vividly the person speaking, and the importance 
 of what he says, and sometimes to mark the begin- 
 ning of some great work. In like manner, our Lord 
 Jesus, when he wishes to arouse the different classes 
 of people to whom he is speaking, frequently says, 
 " Who hath ears to hear, let him hear 1" As the ear 
 is the door which conducts into the inner life of our 
 souls, so the mouth is the key which unlocks it. 
 66 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 07 
 
 Our Apostle had already spoken to the Centurion 
 — he told him he had willingly come to Caesarea, 
 because God had shown him there was no man com- 
 mon or unclean ; he then asked why Cornelius had 
 summoned him. When he heard the humble reply 
 of Cornelius, and saw before him the assemblage of 
 Gentiles, all desirous of salvation, his heart became 
 full, and he hastened to speak. We have here the 
 introduction of the Apostle's sermon, and seem to be 
 present at the joyful opening of his mouth. 
 
 " Of a truth I perceive^'' — he now exclaims, with 
 rejoicing admiration and astonishment. We can only 
 comprehend and sympathize with these feelings, if 
 we transport ourselves to the time of the old cove- 
 nant, and place ourselves in the situation of the pre- 
 judiced Israelites. From the time of Abraham, 
 Israel had been the only people which the all-wise 
 God had chosen. He had separated them from 
 other nations, brought them up in a peculiar manner, 
 and disclosed to them his righteous decree, that 
 from them should proceed the Saviour of men. To 
 them was intrusted the oracles of God, and to them 
 was promised a king, and kingdom of grace and 
 truth. The law was to proceed from Zion, and the 
 word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Is it to be won- 
 dered at that the Israelites should believe themselves 
 to be, as indeed they were, the nobility of the hu- 
 man race; and that they never could divest them- 
 selves of the idea, that the future heavenly kingdom 
 was to be Jewish, and that the Gentiles were only 
 to be happy servants, and not children of that king- 
 
 67 
 
68 CORNELIUS THE CEXTURIO:!?. 
 
 dorn ? Hence it was very difficult for the Apostle 
 of the Lord to raise himself above the common pre- 
 judice of his people. He required not only to be 
 instructed by a vision from above, but also to re- 
 ceive an especial command to go to the Gentile fa- 
 mily that sought after him. Now, for the first time, 
 in consequence of the divine injunction, and also 
 from the sight of Cornelius, his family and friends, 
 he acknowledged the decree of God with joyful ad- 
 miration. The Apostle required to see a practical 
 illustration of this truth, which he already knew in 
 theory ; for he had often heard it from the mouth of 
 Jesus Christ, and he himself had distinctly preached 
 it at the day of Pentecost, when he said, " All that 
 are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall 
 call." It is thus with the decrees of God, in respect 
 of our future beatitude ; the day of our own experi- 
 ence can alone make them clear to us, and we can 
 only understand the whole truth, when we ourselves 
 have seen, tasted, and felt the goodness and glory of 
 our Lord. 
 
 What did the Apostle now perceive, " That God 
 is no respecter of personsS^ — That is to say, God, the 
 searcher of the heart, does not judge from appearance 
 and outward talent, whether to impart or withhold his 
 blessing unto men, for his love is impartial. When 
 Samuel was sent to Bethlehem to anoint one of Jesse's 
 seven sons, as King of Israel, he wished to choose 
 Eliab, the first-born and most majestic looking ; — but 
 the Lord said, " Look not on his countenance, or on 
 the height of his stature ; because I have refused him ; 
 68 
 
CORJ^ELirS THE CENTURION. 69 
 
 for the Lord seeth not as man seeth ; for man looketh 
 on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on 
 the heart." 1 Sam. xvi. 7. God also commands in 
 the law, " Ye shall not respect persons in judgment, 
 but ye shall hear the small as well as the great ; ye 
 shall not be afraid of the face of man ; for the judg- 
 ment is God's." Deut. i. 17. Jehovah is no respecter 
 of persons, either in his blessings or in his judgments. 
 Job says, speaking of him, " nor regardeth the rich 
 more than the poor, for they all are the work of his 
 hands." In his sight, the poor widow's mite is of as 
 much value as the gold thrown in to the treasury by 
 the rich. Both give him of their substance, and he 
 seeth their hearts. 
 
 But particularly in his kingdom of grace, he has 
 shown that he regards not the person. " Not many 
 wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many 
 noble, are called.* But God hath chosen the foolish 
 things of the world to confound the wise ; and God 
 hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound 
 the things which are mighty ; and base things of the 
 world, and things which are despised, hath God cho- 
 sen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought 
 things that are ; that no flesh should glory in His 
 presence." 1 Cor. i. 26—29. 
 
 He chose the people of Israel, to use the words of 
 Moses, the fewest of all people, to be the nation of 
 his covenant, and the depository of his wonderful 
 light. He drew Moses out of the water, and made 
 him, though slow of speech, become his oracle, the 
 leader of his hosts, and his trusted one, with whom 
 ' See Note B, 
 
 69 
 
70 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 he spoke as one friend speaks to another. He took 
 a shepherd boy, the descendant of a Moabitess, from 
 amongst the sheep, and anointed him to be king 
 and prophet in Israel. And the Son of God himself 
 called his Apostles, not out of Jerusalem, not out of 
 the schools of the Pharisees, and those learned in the 
 law, but from amidst the fishing--nets, and out of 
 obscure and despised Galilee. But the highest ex- 
 ample of God's impartiality, which astonished even 
 Peter the Apostle, was, that he now directed his 
 mercy and grace towards the Gentiles, thereby call- 
 ing all men to his kingdom and fellowship without 
 distinction of family or descent. Oh ! it is a most 
 precious truth that God is no respecter of persons ! 
 Had he been so, then, surrounded by myriads of 
 angels and perfect intelligencies, he would never have 
 regarded us poor children of the earth. But it is well 
 for us ! " He knoweth our frame ; He remembereth 
 that we are dust." He has looked even upon us, 
 given us the light of his countenance, and become 
 man for our sakes. O wonderful condescension of 
 our God and Saviour ! Unspeakably great is the 
 divine mystery, God manifested in the flesh ! God 
 was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself! 
 
 In every nation he that feareth him, and worketh 
 righteousness, is accepted with him. — These words 
 have sometimes been explained thus : " It matters 
 not of what faith or creed thou art, whether Jew, 
 Heathen, or Mahomedan, if thou only honour and 
 fear God, or whatever thou regardest as thy God — 
 do nothing unjust towards thy neighbour — and lead 
 70 
 
CORNELIUS THE CEXTURION. 71 
 
 a blameless life before the world — then thou re- 
 quirest nothing more for thy salvation !' To the dishon- 
 our of the Gospel, this expression has often been thus 
 interpreted. How miserably foolish ! The Apostle 
 Peter would then have contradicted his own words, 
 for he said, in Acts iv. 12, speaking of the name of 
 Jesus Christ of Nazareth, *' Neither is there salva- 
 tion in any other ; for there is none other name under 
 heaven given among men, whereby we must be 
 saved." In this case also, the devout and charitable 
 Cornelius would not have needed to call the Apostle, 
 to hear from him what he must do to be saved, — he 
 might have remained in heathenism. The continua- 
 tion of the history, and the just interpretation of the 
 Apostle's words, however, will show this truth more 
 clearly. 
 
 Out of every nation God will certainly collect his 
 flock and his people ; He has the heathen for his 
 inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for 
 his possession. God wills that all men should be 
 saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth. 
 The grace of God has appeared to all men, and he 
 has redeemed us by his blood " out of every kin- 
 dred, and tongue, and people, and nation." Rev. v. 
 9. But all is done according to his holy and gra- 
 cious ordinance. Man must first feel and confess 
 himself to be in need of help, before he will receive 
 it from above ; he must desire and strive to become 
 blessed, and then all things shall be given unto him. 
 Our Apostle says, he that feareth God and worketh 
 righteousness is accepted with him. 
 
 71 
 
72 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 " He thatfeareth Gof^."— The fear of God is the 
 beginning of wisdom, the wisdom from above. It is 
 also the root and commencement of repentance, faith, 
 and sanctification, in a word, of the new and divine 
 life. It is not the servile fear which seizes the un- 
 godly, when the judgement of God, having arrested 
 him in the midst of his profligate course, he sees the 
 hand-writing on the wall, the joints of his loins are 
 loosened, and his knees smite one against another ; 
 such a fear only prompts men to fly from the face of 
 God. Nor is it the fear of an idolater, which, ground- 
 ed upon a false idea of the divinity, is but the terror 
 of a superior power, and is without consolation and 
 without hope. No, the fear alluded to by the Holy 
 Scriptures and our Apostle, is very different. It de- 
 pends as much upon a right understanding of the 
 holiness and omnipresence of the living God, as on 
 a knowledge of ourselves and our dependence on 
 him. Its very essence is the humble conviction of 
 our distance from him who is the spring of light and 
 life, of our unholiness before the Holy One, and our 
 unworthiness of his mercy and love, as well as the 
 desire of possessing a pure heart, and of enjoying the 
 light of his countenance. The true fear of God is 
 already an approach to him. The publican, who, in 
 the fear of God, entered the temple, and would not 
 lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, but smote upon 
 his breast, saying, " God be merciful to me a sinner," 
 went down justified to his house ; not so the phari- 
 see, in whom no trace of the fear of God could be 
 discovered. 
 72 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 73 
 
 Cornelius feared God: he had learned to know him 
 through divine revelation, and by its light he had 
 also become aware of his own unworthiness ; for he 
 was contrite and pure in spirit. Humility was the 
 root and foundation of his spiritual life : he feared 
 God. When this is the case with man, there can 
 never be awanting a desire for the grace and fellow- 
 ship of God. 
 
 Peter added this other characteristic : " And 
 worketh righteousness,'' that is to say, whoever desires 
 and strives to perfect his spiritual life. Our Lord 
 says, " Labour for that meat which endureth unto 
 everlasting life," or in other words, seek to obtain 
 everlasting food. In Matthew, he also says, " Seek 
 ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness," 
 — the righteousness which is esteemed in the sight of 
 God, and which he hath commanded. 
 
 Cornelius did seek, but in a natural manner, and 
 according to the light and knowledge he had already 
 obtained. He endeavoured, as far as he could, 
 to do what was right, to fulfil the law and the com- 
 mands of God. He was charitable to the poor, 
 kind and friendly to his family and servants, fast- 
 ed often, prayed continually, and was reported 
 among the Jews to be a righteous man. But 
 the more he tried to fulfil the law, to lead a godly 
 life in thought and deed, and to secure the di- 
 vine approbation, the more he perceived the de- 
 ficiency of his own righteousness, the poverty of his 
 works, and the sinfulness of his character. It is 
 impossible, by outward actions, to change the nature 
 
 73 
 
74 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 of the heart, as long as the foundation of all good- 
 ness is awanting, the animating and quickening love 
 of God. Through the works of the law a man can 
 become a servant but not a child of God. Cornelius 
 was the servant ; and certainly his soul, in offering 
 the sacrifices of faith and obedience, longed to be the 
 child. But the stronger this desire became, and the 
 more he tried to love and serve the Lord with his 
 heart and soul, the more he felt his own incapacity, 
 and perceived his distance from that righteousness 
 of which God approves, and which could only be 
 imparted to him by means of the Gospel and the 
 Holy Spirit. His soul hungered and thirsted for 
 this, with the most heart-felt humility ; like the Uttle 
 seed of corn beginning to open, which languishes for 
 the dew and the sunshine. 
 
 Whosoever humbly feareth God, and doeth right- 
 eously, and earnestly desires his fellowship, is ac- 
 cepted with him ; God regards him graciously, 
 receives and adopts him. " The Lord taketh plea- 
 sure in them that fear him, — in those that hope 
 in his mercy," and the works which they do are 
 sacrifices of righteousness, which are well pleasing in 
 his sight. So were the prayers and alms of Corne- 
 lius in the eye of God — he was esteemed worthy of 
 a revelation from the invisible world ; and an Apostle 
 of the Lord was sent to preach the Gospel to his 
 household, and lead them in to the kingdom of God, 
 which is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy 
 Ghost. He who, by the reading of the Scriptures, 
 had awakened holy desires in his mind, would now, 
 74 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTUllIOX. 75 
 
 through the gracious influence of his Spirit, enable 
 him to brinor forth the fruits of rig^hteousness. 
 
 We see, from the words of the Apostle, the way 
 in which Cornelius attained righteousness and happi- 
 ness, and became accepted with God. In this man- 
 ner, and in no other, can we become partakers of 
 this treasure. Before we can desire the salvation of 
 God, we must feel our need of it. The whole need 
 not a physician, but they that are sick. The work 
 of regeneration must begin in our hearts, with the 
 fear of the Lord, a knowledge of his commands, and 
 a lively conviction of our own sinfulness and separa- 
 tion from him ; — in other words, it must begin with 
 humiliation and repentance. 
 
 Conscience already, if we listen to its voice, shows 
 us that we have departed from the living spring, and 
 lost the paradise of the divine fellowship. " Thou 
 hast made us, Lord," says a father of the 
 church, " therefore our heart is always disquieted 
 until it finds rest in Thee !" Conscience is in 
 reality, a dim feeling, a sort of misty conviction 
 of the original innocence which we have lost,— of 
 the image of God which is now distorted by sin. 
 Hence man, having lost the original equipoise of 
 his faculties, feels from his birth a restlessness and 
 disquietude from which he seeks to escape by means 
 of levity, dissipation, and too frequently by means of 
 vice. Thus Adam and Eve hid themselves from 
 the Lord, and Cain, prompted by the envious feel- 
 ing of his ungodly nature, became his brother's 
 murderer. 
 
 75 
 
76 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 The word of God is the avvakener of the con- 
 science, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the 
 soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is 
 a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 
 Then man becomes alarmed for himself, and asks, 
 " What must I do to be saved ?" This internal 
 disquietude, the consequence of our fall, is that 
 which leads the sinner back to the living spring 
 which he has forsaken. Happy is he who, feeling 
 this, and perceiving its real origin, instead of seeking 
 to escape from it, or to calm it by worldly means, 
 permits it to lead him into the presence of God. 
 This is the true fear of the Almighty, which is the 
 beginning of wisdom ! And more and more vividly 
 does that man feel his own poverty and insignifi- 
 cance ; and more and more humble and lowly does 
 he become ! 
 
 Happy is it for us that God is greater than our 
 hearts. " Thus saith the Lord, the heaven is my 
 throne, and the earth is my footstool : — but to this 
 man will I look, even to him that is poor, and 
 of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.*' 
 Isaiah Ixvi. 1, 2. " If God be for us, who can 
 be against us ? He that spared not his own Son, 
 but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not, 
 with him also, freely give us all things ?" Rom. 
 viii. 31, 32. Let us, therefore, repair to his mercy- 
 seat, though we be of the same class of people as the 
 pubhcans and sinners ! Even though our sins be as 
 scarlet they shall be made white as snow. 
 
 If we, like Cornelius, hunger and thirst after right- 
 76 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 77 
 
 eousness, or, if we feel an earnest desire to forsake 
 an ungodly life and obtain peace ; and if we, like 
 him, seek the Lord in fasting and prayer, and with 
 faith and patience long for eternal life, then will the 
 Lord draw nigh unto us ; we shall more and more 
 experience his grace and love ; he will purify us 
 from all unrighteousness, and, by his word and Spirit, 
 give us that peace which passeth understanding, 
 which the world can neither give nor take away, 
 and which will remain through all eternity, for he is 
 faithful that promised. 
 
VII. 
 
 " God, who at sundry times, and in divers manners, 
 spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 
 hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son." 
 
 This is the commencement of Paul's Epistle to the 
 Hebrews ; what infinite grace and mercy, on the 
 part of our heavenly Father, do these simple words 
 imply ! God has spoken to man, to the sinful and 
 fallen human race. He has descended among them 
 after they had broken his covenant and lost his light 
 and fellowship ! He has given them his word, after 
 they could no longer behold his countenance, and has 
 made a new covenant with them, rebellious and apos- 
 tate though they be. The Word, or, to express the 
 idea differently, the wonderful gift of speech,* is the 
 means of connecting the minds of men with each 
 other, and is the instrument of all human improve- 
 ment and development. Without the Word, or hu- 
 man speech, there would be neither faith nor hope, 
 friendship nor love, sympathy in suffering, nor uni- 
 versal joy ; we should not have the reciprocal cares 
 and affections of parents and children, nor, indeed, 
 any other permanent human connection ; we should 
 be like the dumb beasts of the field, but, the longings 
 of our superior intellect being ungratified, we should 
 be without consolation and without happiness. How 
 
 * See Note F. 
 78 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 79 
 
 wonderful is the arrangement of God, whereby he 
 has connected all the prerogatives of man, even his 
 intellect and reason, with the breath which proceeds 
 from his mouth. As the word is the connecting 
 link between man and man, which brings their hearts 
 and souls, their thoughts and feelings into contact ; 
 so God sent his Word to the sinful human race, to 
 bring them into contact with himself, that they 
 might no longer doubt his grace and mercy, and 
 that they, his erring children, might be enabled to 
 find their Father once more. This is the reason 
 why he has given us his word, and spoken to us in 
 former times by his prophets, and in the latter days 
 by his Son ; this is the object of the law, the pro- 
 mises, and the Gospel. 
 
 Let us admire the grace of God, when, having 
 spoken to us by the prophets, by his only Son, and 
 by his messengers, who were filled with the Holy 
 Spirit, should continue to intrust the announcement 
 of the word to men, in order to bind them more 
 closely to God, and unite them more firmly amongst 
 each other, as being fellow citizens of one kingdom, 
 and members of one household. 
 
 «* The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, 
 preaching peace by Jesus Christ ; he is Lord of all." — 
 Acts X. 36. 
 
 The Apostle now begins his own sermon — it is 
 short and simple, but rich in meaning, and compre- 
 hensive in its very brevity and simplicity ! Thesub- 
 
 79 
 
80 CORNBLIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 ject is Jesus Christ, His work of peace, His word of 
 peace, and his kingdom of peace. For the first time 
 Peter begins to understand that the expression, 
 " Christ the Lord of all," signifies that he is the 
 Messiah both of Jew and Gentile. He now men- 
 tions what had already reached the ears of Cor- 
 nelius, — the word of promise which God had sent 
 to the children of Israel, preaching peace unto them 
 by Jesus Christ. 
 
 The expression sent is often used in the Holy 
 Scriptures, in speaking of the word of God, and the 
 preaching of it. The Lord uses it himself in Lsaiah, 
 when comparing it to the rain and snow which fall 
 from heaven and fertilize the earth, — " So shall my 
 word be that goeth forth out of my mouth : it shall 
 not return unto me void ; but it shall accomplish 
 that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing 
 whereto I sent it," Iv. 11. After men had sinned 
 and lost the divine image, God sent them his word, 
 the word of promise, that during the struggle with 
 the serpent he might be near them, and enable them 
 to obtain the victory. 
 
 As the word or human speech, is the wonderful 
 instrument which links men together, so the word of 
 God imparted to them is the only thing which can 
 unite them again to God, and is the object of every 
 divine revelation to the fallen race. During the 
 first ages God held frequent intercourse with man, 
 and his word came down directly unto them, for 
 example to Adam, Seth, Enoch, Noah, and the other 
 patriarchs ; the Lord also spoke with Moses, the 
 HO 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 81 
 
 mediator of the old covenant, as one friend does to 
 another. But as the human race removed farther 
 and farther from the living God, the word of pro- 
 mise was entrusted to the children of Israel only, 
 partly veiled in allegories, symbols, and shadows, 
 partly sent to them by the prophets, until the eternal 
 ** Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of 
 grace and truth,*' John i. 14. The word of the old 
 covenant was fulfilled to the children of Israel by the 
 sending of the Son of God; and when the new 
 covenant was concluded by the sacrifice of himself, 
 the word of reconciliation was extended to us also. 
 This is the word which is now preached among us, 
 and which Cornelius longed to hear. 
 
 The Apostle clearly shows the meaning and ob- 
 ject of this word, by the expression, preaching peace 
 by Jesus Christ. Peace ! What a beautiful word ! 
 It signifies the assembling together of all that is 
 true, and good, and joyful. For this reason, Israel 
 in ancient times, and in the present day their de- 
 scendants, make use of the expression, " Peace be 
 unto you 1" when they salute each other, or wish 
 each other joy. But what is peace ? Since sin and 
 death have entered the world, and every where spread 
 their direful dominion, so that no man escapes, 
 peace has disappeared from the earth, and in its 
 place disquietude has entered. In the circumstances 
 of our first parents when they fell, we behold a pic- 
 ture of the restless and disquieted state of the whole 
 human race. Instead of looking joyfully towards the 
 God of love, who had created them in his own image, 
 G 81 
 
82 CORNELIUS THE CENTIJBION. 
 
 and now like a father drew near to them ; — fear and 
 terror, as for a consuming fire, overpowered them, 
 and they sought to escape and to hide themselves 
 from his presence. Instead of the child-like inno- 
 cence with w^hich they formerly acknowledged and 
 loved their Creator, living in blessed fellowship with 
 him, they now experienced the condemnation of 
 their own hearts ; — the original simplicity and har- 
 mony of their natures were destroyed, and discord 
 arose between body and soul, so that they warred 
 against each other. On looking back after their 
 expulsion from Paradise, they beheld the cherubim, 
 with the flaming sword, instead of their lost Eden ; 
 — before them was death and decay ; and a pro- 
 phetic spirit could discern, in the midst of the plains 
 covered with thorns and thistles, labour and toil, 
 sickness and pain, groaning and suffering. 
 
 Internal disquietude cannot fail to show itself out- 
 wardly, hence arose discord and hatred to each other, 
 selfishness, envy, hatred and malice. Abel's blood 
 cried for vengeance against the restless and fugitive 
 murderer of his brother. 
 
 What a melancholy picture ! Alas ! It is the con- 
 dition of the sinful human race, the picture of earth, 
 and of its histories. How can peace exist where sin, 
 the progeny of darkness, has its dwelling, and where 
 man, having broken his connection with God, the 
 spring of all light and life, has changed his origi- 
 nal nature, and is at variance both with his Creator 
 and himself. When we look above us, to the eternal 
 dwelling place of light, and then to our own insigni- 
 82 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 83 
 
 ficant existence, or observe the vain objects and pur- 
 suits, the sighs and longings of men, and then direct 
 our gaze to the future — to death and the grave — 
 judgment and eternity ! — what terrible testimony 
 have we that Adam has broken the covenant and lost 
 the peace of God ! 
 
 Happily for us, we both can and shall regain this 
 peace — ^for he, the God of peace, and the Father of 
 all grace, has promised it to all, through Jesus 
 Christ, whether they be Jews or Gentiles. The Old 
 Testament contains the preliminaries and prepara- 
 tions for this bond of peace. Noah saw its sure 
 testimony in the dove's olive branch, and after- 
 wards, in the rainbow stretching peacefully a- 
 midst the clouds of heaven over the lately convulsed 
 and deluged world. Abraham longed to see the 
 day of the Lord, and did see it and rejoiced, and 
 the salvation that was to come illuminated also the 
 dying bed of the aged Israel. In what beautiful 
 colours do the prophets paint the promised joyful 
 future, particularly Isaiah, the Evangelist of the old 
 covenant ! In order to ratify this bond of peace, 
 a mighty manifestation of grace, on the part of God, 
 was necessary, which should so far surpass the ideas 
 and comprehension of men, as heaven is higher than 
 the earth ; namely, the incarnation of the living 
 God, the sending of the only Son of the Father. 
 God was, in Christ, reconciling the world to himself ! 
 He sent his Son that we might become his children, 
 for so hath he loved the world ! In speaking of this 
 word of God, Peter writes, " Of which salvation the 
 
 83 
 
84 CORNELIUS THE CEXTUßlOIf. 
 
 propliets have inquired and searched diligently, who 
 prophesied of the grace that should come unto you ;" 
 the angels also desired to look into those things ; 
 and when they appeared to the sons of Adam, they 
 celebrated them with their songs of praise, " Glory 
 to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will 
 toward men." 
 
 In what does this peace consist ? The Apostle 
 Paul answers this question very beautifully, when he 
 says, " Therefore being justified by faith, we have 
 73eace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ ; by 
 whom also we have access by faith into this grace 
 wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory 
 of God." God is the author of the covenant of peace, 
 the God that makes his sun to rise on the evil and on 
 the good, on the just and on the unjust ; and the 
 mediator of this covenant is Jesus Christ, who came 
 into the world to save sinners. 
 
 It is as plain and obvious as the sun in the heavens, 
 and shines upon us in the same manner without any 
 agency on our part. As we enjoy light and warmth 
 by means of the sun-beams which connect us with the 
 luminous orb above ; so we receive the grace and 
 favour of our God and Saviour by means of faith, 
 the heart-felt and spiritual link between us and our 
 Creator. 
 
 Through faith vve enter into an entirely new rela- 
 tion with the world, with the law, and with God ; 
 and a godly life dawns in our souls, by the efficacy 
 of the Holy Spirit. While we become more and 
 more conscious of our innate depravity, we receive 
 84 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 85 
 
 at the same time, the certainty of the forgiveness of 
 our sins, the pledge and seal of our divine inheritance, 
 and the confident assurance that we are the children 
 of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. " Things 
 present, or things to come ; all are yours ; and ye are 
 Christ's ; and Christ is God's." As this peace of 
 God is far above our comprehension, and passeth all 
 understanding, so it transcends all human language, 
 is the root and spring of all happiness, for peace of 
 conscience is indissolubly connected with it ; our heart 
 no longer condemns us, and we have the blessed as- 
 surance that whatsoever we ask from God, we shall 
 obtain. We have perpetual access to his mercy-seat, 
 and when, through our own weakness, guilt, or faith- 
 lessness, our spiritual alliance with him is disturbed, 
 we have only to approach him with confidence, ac- 
 knowledging our sin, to receive anew from him mercy 
 and forgiveness. He is greater than our hearts, and 
 if we sin, " we have an advocate with the Father, 
 Jesus Christ the righteous ; and he is the propitia- 
 tion for our sins." He only says to us, " lovest thou 
 me ?*' and is ready to unite us to himself more closely 
 than ever, in the covenant that we have broken. 
 
 This peace includes peace with all men ; for how 
 could envy and hatred, anger and bitterness, dwell 
 in a heart which knows how much has been given it, 
 and how much has been pardoned ? In reference to 
 this, our Lord says, *' Love your enemies, bless them 
 that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and 
 pray for them which despitefully use you and per- 
 secute you," Matt. v. 44. Stephen obeyed this in- 
 
 85 
 
86 CORNELIUS THE CENTUKION. 
 
 junction ; when his enemies gnashing their teeth, ran 
 upon him with one accord and stoned him, he said, 
 " Lord lay not this sin to their charge." They could 
 not disturb the heaven which was within him, for he 
 who is in peace with God, is in peace with all his 
 creatures. 
 
 We no longer enjoy the garden of Eden upon 
 earth, we must remain pilgrims and strangers during 
 our whole life, hve in perpetual conflict, and pass our 
 days like those of a hired servant. Though Adam and 
 Eve mourned among the thorns and thistles of the 
 barren earth, for the loss of their beautiful Eden 
 which lay behind them, yet there is consolation for us ; 
 in looking upwards to the heavenly Adam, we be- 
 hold many signs and tokens of a far more glorious 
 Eden. Therefore the Apostles, and all those into 
 whose hearts the love and peace of God had been 
 poured through the Holy Spirit, rejoiced in affliction ; 
 and death itself appeared to them no longer as the 
 terrible executioner of the divine judgment, but as a 
 heavenly messenger of peace, and a guide into the 
 eternal Eden, where all strife and warfare are at an 
 end. 
 
 On what does this peace and covenant of peace 
 giound itself ? On the glory and dominion of Jesus 
 Christ our Saviour. Therefore the Apostle says, 
 "He is Lord of all" — that is to say, of all things, 
 animate and inanimate. After he had finished the 
 work of redemption, he ascended into his glory, and 
 unto him was given all power in heaven and on 
 earth. " For to this end Christ both died, and rose, 
 86 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 87 
 
 and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead 
 and living." Rom. xiv. 9. God hath " set him at 
 his own right hand, in the heavenly places, far above 
 all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, 
 and every name that is named, not only in this world, 
 but also in that which is to come." Eph. i. 20, 21. 
 This Lord of all glory whom God has exalted, is 
 our Redeemer and Saviour — our Prince of Peace, and 
 oor King ! " To us there is but one God, the Father, 
 of whom are all things, and we in him ; and one 
 Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we 
 by him." 1 Cor. viii. 6. He gave himself as a medi- 
 ator between God and man, and having accomplished 
 the work of atonement, he labours unceasingly by 
 his word and Spirit, that his kingdom may be en- 
 larged, and that of his peace there may be no end. 
 
 When Peter announced this Gospel of peace to the 
 first assembly of Gentiles at Caesarea, they heard it 
 in faith, and received it with joy, and were immedi- 
 ately admitted into the fellowship of Christians upon 
 earth, and into the community of holy ones above. 
 
 That which happened to Cornelius and his house- 
 hold, is a picture of what took place with regard to 
 our heathen ancestors. The greatest blessing our 
 father-land ever experienced, was the arrival of those 
 messengers who announced the Gospel of peace, 
 proclaiming, " Thy God is king 1" and who scattered 
 in our soil the imperishable seed of the word of truth, 
 that we might thereby become the first fruits of his 
 creatures. Since that time, the Gospel has dwelt in 
 our land, and the Prince of Peace has sojourned 
 
 87 
 
88 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 among us, and proclaims to us, " Come unto me, and 
 ye shall find rest unto your souls !" 
 
 " How shall we escape, if we neglect so great 
 salvation ; which, at the first, began to be spoken by 
 the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that 
 heard him." Heb. ii. 3. Seek ye peace and truth, 
 are the words of the prophet, thereby giving us to 
 understand what we have lost. We have fallen away 
 from God, and each one, according to his peculiar cir- 
 cumstances, finds himself in a state of perpetual de- 
 clension. All men have a feeling, though rt may 
 be an obscure one, that it is so with them ; they all 
 seek for some resting place. In this way self-delusion 
 easily arises, for a drowning man grasps at every 
 straw. The Apostle John warns us of the danger of 
 this, when he concludes his first epistle with the words, 
 " Little children keep yourselves from idols." He 
 does not mean the idolatrous images of the heathen, 
 but a far more dangerous species of idolatry, against 
 which the children of light have also to struggle — 
 the worshipping of self, and of the world, — the lust 
 of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. 
 These more refined idolatries are not less sinful, 
 though less easily detected, than the grossest idolatry 
 of the heathen ; and they lead the heart of man as 
 far, if not farther astray, from the living God. It 
 is much more dangerous to have an idol in ourselves, 
 or in our own hearts, than to have it outwardly before 
 our eyes. When we regard the character and pur- 
 suits of the greater part of men, we discover how 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 89 
 
 eagerly they all seek for peace — but, alas ! they seek 
 it only in the world, and in its perishable wealth, 
 where it is not to be found. If at times the feeling 
 of their restless unhappy state arises strongly in their 
 souls, they strive to banish it by what is falsely 
 named pleasure, and there, in voluntary self-delu- 
 sion and blindness, they remain in their fallen, miser- 
 able state, until at last, when too late, they become 
 aware of the deceitfulness of sin, and without peace 
 sink into the grave ! 
 
 Oh ! be ye reconciled to God, while there is 
 yet time, and see that ye receive not the grace of 
 God in vain ! Now is the appointed time, now is the 
 day of salvation ! Follow the example of the Gentile 
 family at Caesarea, who rested not until they had 
 found peace through him who is the Prince of Peace ! 
 The peace of God which passeth all understanding, 
 keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ. 
 Amen. 
 
 89 
 
VIII. 
 
 " This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all ac- 
 ceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to 
 save sinners, of whom I am chief." The Apostle Paul 
 writes thus to his beloved Timothy, full of joy be- 
 cause the glorious Gospel of the blessed God was 
 committed to his trust — and thanking Jesus Christ, 
 his Lord, for counting him faithful, and committing 
 to him the ministry of reconciliation. The Apostle 
 then compares his former state, as " a blasphemer, 
 a persecutor, and injurious," with his present renewed 
 and holy life; and shows us the ground of that 
 peace which he had enjoyed since he knew the Lord 
 Jesus, and believed on him. The Apostle could not 
 have given a stronger example than his own, of the 
 grace of God, and the renewing and converting power 
 of the Gospel ! He who formerly had breathed out 
 threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of 
 the Lord, had now become a messenger of peace, 
 from whom the divine brightness was reflected, and, 
 in the strength of the Holy Spirit, was about to re- 
 new, by the words of his mouth, the image of God in 
 the long estranged world. What he had received, he 
 was to impart to others ; and those whose hearts the 
 Lord should open, were, through his means, to become 
 that which he now was. We behold in Paul an ex- 
 90 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTUllION. 91 
 
 ample of a believer, whose life was hid with Christ 
 in God. He therefore adds, " For this cause I 
 obtained mercy, that in me first, Jesus Christ 
 might show forth all long sufferings, for a pattern to 
 them which should hereafter believe on him to life 
 everlasting" — and the ground of this faith and peace 
 is contained in the true and precious words, " that 
 Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." 
 
 If we wish to attain the peace of God, and become 
 heirs of everlasting life, we must first firmly believe 
 the words of reconciliation and atonement, and then 
 love and prize them with our whole hearts and souls, 
 for this is life eternal, " to know Thee, the only true 
 God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." And 
 this life we shall enjoy, if we, like the Gentile Cor- 
 nelius, in all humility, hunger and thirst after right- 
 eousness and salvation. As the blind, the lame, and 
 the unclean, came unto Christ while he walked upon 
 earth, and were healed by him ; so we must first ap- 
 proach, and by faith lay hold of our incarnate Re- 
 deemer, who came into this world and dwelt among 
 us. For this reason the New Testament commences 
 with the four-fold history of our Saviour ; and the 
 Apostle Peter begins his sermon to Cornelius, with 
 an account of the earthly pilgrimage of our Lord Je- 
 sus Christ. Let us also contemplate it. 
 
 That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout 
 all Judea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which 
 John preached ; how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with 
 the Holy Ghost, and with power ; who went about doing 
 
 91 
 
92 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil ; for 
 God was with him." — Acts x. 37, 38. 
 
 In order to understand the commencement of our 
 text, " That word, which was published throughout all 
 Judea," we must observe that it is a peculiar property 
 of the language in which the divine revelations were 
 written, to express ivord and thing by the same com- 
 bination of letters. The well-known sentence in Luke 
 i. 37, " For with God nothing shall be impossible," 
 might also be translated " no word* shall be impos- 
 sible." In the same way the shepherds at Bethlehem 
 say, " Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and 
 see this word which is come to pass," or as it is in 
 our translation, " this thing which is come to pass." 
 That which we express by the term thing, signifies 
 also, in the language of the people of God, word or 
 words, and with great reason. Without God's 
 word and will, nothing can be done ; a sparrow can- 
 not fall to the ground without his permission. When 
 He speaks, it is done, when He commands, it stands 
 fast. Everything before it takes place, is but a word 
 in the mind of God ; and afterwards, when it has hap- 
 pened, and become a fact, it again becomes a word 
 in being related to another. The flood happened 
 long ago, but in words it stands written as if still hap- 
 pening, forming a living picture before our eyes. 
 The incarnation of the Son of God was from all eter- 
 nity a word and counsel of the Almighty ; and it was 
 
 * In the original ro p'/ifiu, literally *' the word," which, like 
 the Hebrew ^im, signifies in the sacred writings, either word 
 or thing. 
 30 
 
COENELIUS THE CEKTURION. 93 
 
 aiso a word in the mouths of his prophets. At his 
 birth in Bethlehem it became a fact, or a thing done ; 
 afterwards it again became a word, a preaching an 
 announcement, and a Gospel. The great subject to 
 which Peter alludes, is the history of Jesus Christ, 
 his actions and his earthly pilgrimage. This is what 
 we must now consider. 
 
 " That word, I sat/f ye know, which was published 
 throughout all Judea.^^ — Cornelius had already heard 
 of Jesus and his miracles ; the report of them had 
 spread through all Judea, through Syria, and the 
 neighbouring countries. The Apostles, but particu- 
 larly Philip, had preached the Gospel in Samaria ; 
 and, at a later period, it had even reached Caesarea. 
 Certainly Cornelius would receive Peter's intelli- 
 gence with far more eagerness, and it would arrest 
 his soul far more powerfully, because he had all 
 along expected that salvation should come from this 
 Jesus of Nazareth. For the same reason, the Apostle, 
 taking for granted that Cornelius and his friends, 
 were already acquainted with Jesus and his miracles, 
 thus addressed them, " That word ] say, ye know, 
 which was published throughout all Judea." Judea, 
 that is to say, Canaan, was, according to the pro- 
 phecy of Isaiah, to be the land of Emmanuel ; and 
 Micah also says, " But thou Bethlehem Ephratah, 
 though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, 
 yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is 
 to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been 
 from of old, from everlasting." 
 
 ^^ And began from Galilee, after the baptism which 
 
 93 
 
94 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 John preached,'' — Jesus lived in Galilee, in the little 
 town of Nazareth, in perfect seclusion, until his 
 thirtieth year. It was out of Galilee he came when 
 he began his office of teaching ; here he called his 
 first disciples ; and here he performed the first and 
 also the greater part of his miracles. Out of the 
 obscure and despised Nazareth arose the light and 
 salvation of the world, according to the words of the 
 prophet, " The people that walked in darkness have 
 seen a great light ; they that dwell in the land of the 
 shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined,' 
 Isaiah ix. 2. The ways of God upon earth have al- 
 ways been different from the ways of men — as he, at 
 the creation, called forth light out of darkness ; so he 
 now made the work of redemption arise out of ob- 
 scurity and insignificance. 
 
 This great work commenced with the baptism of 
 John ; when this man of God, in the spirit of Elias, 
 preached repentance for the remission of sins, an- 
 nouncing the approach of the kingdom of heaven, 
 and the dawn of the Sun of Righteousness — and when 
 Jesus came to him desiring to be baptized. Then 
 that word, which had been concealed in the bosom 
 of the Father from the beginning of the world, 
 assumed a form in which it could be seen and heard ; 
 and that was done after the manner of men, which 
 had never entered the imagination of man to con- 
 ceive. The Lord of light and glory, in a form of 
 deep humiliation, as though he had required the bap- 
 tism of repentance, in order to fulfil all righteousness, 
 permitted himself to be baptized by a man, who, ac- 
 94 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTUKION. 95 
 
 cording (o his own confession, was unworthy to un- 
 loose the latchet of his shoes. 
 
 Thus the divine work, which was to remove for 
 ever the separation between heaven and earth, be- 
 tween the Holy God, and the sinful human race, was 
 begun in the deepest humility, and the divine nature 
 must become human, before the human could become 
 divine. 
 
 The Apostle now describes our Lord himself and 
 his life upon earth. He calls him simply Jesus of 
 Nazareth, as shortly before he had proclaimed him 
 to be " Lord of all." He makes use of that human 
 name which the angel had given him at his birth, 
 and which had been a very common one among the 
 Israelites since the time of Joshua. — " Jesus, with 
 the addition, of Nazareth.'' As the Lord himself, 
 through the depths of humiliation, must perfect his 
 work of righteousness before re-ascending to that 
 glory and splendour which were his from the be- 
 ginning ; so must also his name, in the same path 
 of obedience, shame and humiliation, become a 
 name above all names, to which every knee should 
 bow, and which every tongue should praise. Jesus, 
 our Saviour and Redeemer, " is able also to save 
 them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, 
 seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." 
 Heb. vii. 25 ; it was he, this high and holy one, of 
 whom the Apostle speaks. But Cornelius and his 
 friends must learn to know him as the Son of Man, 
 and the Messiah, who came into the world to save 
 
 95 
 
96 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 sinners, — be is therefore called the Man of Naza- 
 reth. 
 
 Ye know, continued Peter, " how God anointed 
 him with the Holy Ghost, and with power,"" — This 
 expression is symbolical. Anointing with oil was an 
 Eastern custom, meant to denote a peculiar honour, 
 — it was principally used when kings were crowned, 
 and was a token, that as they were ordained by 
 God, they should also receive his gifts. The 
 anointed ones of ancient times, however, were only 
 pictures and shadows of a greater Anointed One, 
 the Messias, or the Christ. In Jesus of Nazareth 
 the prophecy was fulfilled, " The Spirit gf the 
 Lord God is upon me ; because the Lord hath 
 anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek : 
 he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to 
 proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of 
 the prison to them that are bound ; to proclaim the 
 acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of ven- 
 geance of our God ; to comfort all that mourn." Is. 
 Ixi. 1 , 2. This anointing took place visibly, when 
 heaven was opened after he was baptized by John, 
 when " the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape, 
 like a dove, upon him ; and a voice came from hea- 
 ven, which said, thou art my beloved Son ; in thee I 
 am well pleased." Most wonderful mercy of God ! 
 The only Son of the Father came down among us 
 in a simple and lowly form, as a man among the 
 children of men, anointed with the Holy Spirit, and 
 with power from above, in order that he, as the 
 96 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 97 
 
 mediator between God and man, might fulfil that 
 work of redemption for which his Father had sent 
 him ; and that we also might be anointed through 
 bim who is infinite in holiness. 
 
 Who went about doing good, and healing all that 
 were oppressed of the devil ; for God was with him, — 
 In these iew words, the Apostle gives us a sketch of 
 the wbole life of our Lord. The last three years of 
 his life were spent in perpetually going about from 
 one place to another, in Judea, Galilee, and Samaria. 
 The good shepherd, who sought first the lost sheep 
 of the house of Israel, here revealed himself as the 
 promised one, through whom the sinful world should 
 again receive the hght and life which it had lost, — 
 and here, for the space of three years, he preached to 
 all, the Gospel of the kingdom of God ; but in the life 
 of our Lord one day was as a year, so rich was it in 
 manifestations of grace and truth, in word and deed. 
 Doing g-ooc/.— In these two words the Apostle de- 
 scribes the object of that life which was a source of so 
 many blessings. The greater the thing, the more 
 simple are the words required to express it. We 
 say of the sun, as well as of the smallest satellite 
 that twinkles in the firmament, " it rises J" — We 
 use the same expression, " it shines,^\ in speaking of 
 an insignificant little taper, as when describing our 
 great luminary which showers down so many benefits, 
 John expresses the highest and most glorious thing 
 which can be said of God, in those most simple words, 
 " God is love 1" 
 
 H 97 
 
98 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 The words in our text, " doing good,'^ although 
 common, and not remarkable, are most glorious and 
 comprehensive in sense and signification. Benefi- 
 cence, compassion, and love, constituted the character 
 of our Lord ; and were the beams which issued from 
 him unceasingly, for he was the Son of Righteousness, 
 and the Light of the world, imparting life, joy, and 
 energy to all who approached him. Pefer adds, 
 " Healing all those that were oppressed of the devil ; 
 and these certainly were the greatest and most re- 
 markable cures which our Lord performed. Jesus 
 Christ healed innumerable sick people, of whom the 
 Evangelist has only described a few, all that was 
 necessary, was to be in his neighbourhood, to behold 
 his countenance, to utter a few petitioning words or 
 to teuch his garment, and the blind saw, the deaf 
 heard, the lepers were made clean, and the sick be- 
 came whole. Wicked spirits, and every kind of 
 disease, must equally give way before the power with 
 which God had anointed him. 
 
 Sickness, and every kind of malady, are, in their 
 character and origin, merely the fruits and conse- 
 quence of that power which the devil has obtained 
 over man by sin. The root of the evil lies in the 
 kingdom of darkness, for in heaven above there shall 
 be no more sickness. Thus, every cure which our 
 Lord performed was a victory over the kingdom of 
 darkness — of life over death — and a sure proof that 
 he was the light and life of the world. In the ex- 
 pression, " healing all that were oppressed of the 
 Ö8 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 99 
 
 devil," the Apostle includes all who were diseased, 
 or afflicted in any way ; but, certainly, those who 
 were inhabited by evil spirits, whose souls were 
 bound by Satan, the demoniacal and the possessed 
 had especial cause to praise and glorify the loving 
 mercy of their deliverer. There were many such 
 unfortunates at the time when the Son of God was 
 upon earth — at the dawn of the kingdom of light, 
 the power of Satan had stepped visibly forward on 
 the arena — and, it must have been by divine permis- 
 sion, in order to show more clearly the fearful do- 
 minion of sin and of death, and thereby to prove the 
 power of that victorious prince of peace, who came 
 to destroy them. The Lord healed those miserable 
 beings, as a proof that Satan, who had the power of 
 death, was now overthrown, along with the whole 
 kingdom of darkness; and that Jesus of Nazareth was 
 in reality " the Saviour of the world,'" who should 
 deliver the men of all ages and all nations from the 
 power of evil, and make them, through the Holy 
 Spirit, able to receive salvation, and be partakers of 
 the fellowship of God. His innumerable deeds of 
 almighty power and love, were performed and writ- 
 ten, as John says in his Gospel, " that ye might be- 
 lieve that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; and 
 that believing ye might have life through his name," 
 chap. XX. 31. 
 
 " For God was with him.'^ — What great and glo- 
 rious things the Aposde expresses in these few words, 
 which at first sight appear too simple, because they 
 are frequently used in the Holy Scriptures with re- 
 
 99 
 
100 CORNELIUS THE CE>'TURION. 
 
 g-ard to other men. Abimelech said to Abraham, 
 *'God is with thee in all that thou doest ;" of Joseph, 
 it is said, "the Lord was with him," meaning, that 
 God " made all he did to prosper in his hand." 
 Nicodemus said to Jesus, " No man can do these 
 miracles that thou doest, except God be with him." 
 God was with Joshua and also with Elias, when " the 
 Lord hearkened to the voice of a man." But these 
 words, when used of the Son of God, have a much 
 higher sense, and a deeper meaning. He alone could 
 say of himself, " I and the Father are one, he that 
 hath seen me hath seen the Father ; I am in the Fa- 
 ther, and the Father in me." These are the precious 
 words which our Lord Jesus speaks of himself, there- 
 by disclosing his nature and character, — and to which 
 his own miracles, and afterwards those of his disciples, 
 bore testimony. 
 
 Our Apostle, in reference to the promise in the old 
 covenant, with which Cornelius was acquainted, uses 
 the expression, " God was with him,'' with which his 
 prophetical name, Immanuel, or " God with us," beau- 
 tifully corresponds. Jesus of Nazareth has appeared 
 as the Immanuel of the human race, in order that the 
 whole earth might become a land of Immanuels. 
 We behold in the human form of the Son of God, and 
 in his earthly pilgrimage, our own human nature ex- 
 alted, and, in looking towards him, we may exclaim, 
 " God is also with us 1" The Lord of heaven, who 
 in all things became like his brethren, and was not 
 ashamed to call himself brother, is our new and our 
 true Adam. No luan cometh to the Father but by 
 1 00 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURIO?». 101 
 
 him ; He is the way, the truth, and the life — He in 
 us and we in him ; He is the vine, we are the bran- 
 ches ; He is the shepherd, and we are the sheep. 
 This is the signification of his name, Immanuel ! 
 Hosanna be to him who has come, and who will 
 come again ! Amen. 
 
 101 
 
IX. 
 
 " Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, 
 and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the utter- 
 most part of the earth," Acts i. 8. Thus spake the 
 Lord Jesus to his disciples, when, after his work on 
 earth was accomplished, he led them up the Mount 
 of Olives, and ascended from thence into heaven. 
 After they had received the promised gift of the 
 Holy Spirit, the Apostle fulfilled gloriously and 
 wonderfully the commission of their ascended Lord, 
 converting nations to the Gospel, by the testimony 
 of their mouths and by their written words. 
 
 How simple and deep, how natural, and yet how 
 divine, are their narrations, both of the actions and 
 words of Jesus Christ ! That disciple whom the Lord 
 loved in his Gospel, his first Epistle and his Revela- 
 tion, gives us a glimpse both of his own spirit and 
 that of all the Apostles. The words with which the 
 first Epistle begins are particularly worthy of re- 
 mark. It was composed in his old age as bishop of 
 Ephesus, and in reference to his then nearly con- 
 cluded ministry ; but both in it and in the com- 
 mencement of his gospel, his heart seems to expand, 
 and we can clearly perceive, in the midst of his 
 fatherly earnestness, the same spirit of love which 
 prompted him to lie on the bosom of his much loved 
 102 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 103 
 
 and now glorified Master. " That which was from the 
 beginning," he writes, " which we have heard, which 
 we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked 
 upon, and our hands have handled of the word of 
 life ; that which we have seen and heard declare we 
 unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us ; 
 and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with 
 his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we 
 unto you, that our joy may be full." 
 
 With what depth of feeling does the Apostle 
 speak here of his ministry, and of his bearing wit- 
 ness to Jesus Christ, and the truth of his Gospel ! 
 His language struggles with his thoughts and sensa- 
 tions, and he strives to express the dignity of his 
 office, and the glory of his heavenly Master. The 
 Word which was from the beginning, — that life 
 which is eternal, had appeared to them who were to 
 be his messengers, — they had seen it with their 
 eyes, had looked upon it and touched it with their 
 hands, — that which they had seen and heard they 
 now announced, in order that all who heard and re- 
 ceived it might have fellowship with the Apostles, — 
 that they might become Apostles also, be made par- 
 takers of the same happiness, and enjoy the same 
 fellowship with the Father and the Son. 
 
 How could the high object and dignity of the 
 Gospel testimony be more simply and strongly laid 
 before us, than in these words ? All the Apostles 
 thought and felt as John here expresses himself, — 
 they even ventured to offer themselves as examples 
 to the faithful in their knowledge of the Lord Jesus 
 
 103 
 
104 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 Christ, and in their conformity to him, as in 1 Cor. 
 xi. 1. "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am 
 of Christ," and in Phil. iii. 17, " Brethren, be fol- 
 lowers together of me, and mark them which walk 
 so, as ye have us for an ensample." 
 
 May the Lord awaken in our souls the lively wish 
 to be in simplicity of heart and love, like those men 
 who first bore testimony to '* the faithful and true 
 witness, the beginning of the creation of God," and 
 may he enable us to do this by the power of the 
 Holy Spirit ! 
 
 " And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the 
 land of the Jews, and in Jerusalenn." — Acts. x. 39. 
 
 With these words the Apostle Peter interrupts his 
 narration of the actions and character of the Lord 
 Jesus. We, he says, his disciples and Apostles, 
 were eye and ear witnesses of the great and wonder- 
 ful manifestation of God, in his Son Jesus of Naza- 
 reth. John says, " we beheld his glory, the glory as 
 of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and 
 truth." We, the witnesses chosen of God, " did eat 
 and drink with him," says our Apostle in the 41st 
 verse, laying great stress on his own testimony, and 
 that of his fellow-apostles, for the greater a thing is 
 in itself, the more testimony does it require, and so 
 much the more important is the office of a witness. 
 
 For this first testimony, we must thank the word 
 of reconciliation, which has reached us, and, by the 
 104 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 105 
 
 power of the Holy Spirit, has inspired the world as 
 with a new life : this word lives, and will ever live 
 among- us, for it is a spring of life proceeding- from 
 God himself, which cannot be dried up, and which 
 flows for ever. 
 
 When the Apostle says, " We are witnesses of all 
 things which he did," he speaks of the actions of 
 Jesus. These actions were ample proof and testi- 
 mony that the Father has sent the Son, that the 
 Father is in him, and he in the Father, and that both 
 He and the Father are one. Jesus said, " If I do 
 not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if 
 1 do, though ye believe not me, believe the works." 
 When the disciples of John came to him and asked, 
 " Art thou he that should come ? or look we for 
 another ?" Jesus referred them to his mriacles as a 
 proof that he was Jesus the Lord. In what other 
 manner, or by what other means could Jesus of Na- 
 zareth, in his humble human form, have shown forth 
 his glory, than by those deeds of almighty power and 
 love ? Is it not the peculiar property of the mani- 
 festations of the invisible God, that the lowly should 
 yield to the highest one, and that external nature 
 should quail before him, who was to regenerate the 
 world ? How could Jesus have proved more fully, 
 that " in him was life ; and that the life was the 
 light of men," than when he restored the eye and the 
 ear to their proper functions, which, to their posses- 
 sors, were as though they had been dead, and when 
 he summoned the buried body of a Lazarus again to 
 life ? In what can we more clearly perceive his 
 
 105 
 
106 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 power over the mysterious world of sin and dark- 
 ness, and be convinced that he is the Son of God, 
 who came to destroy the works of Satan, than 
 when we look upon those whom he healed, who were 
 possessed of the devil, and whom he delivered from 
 the bonds of sin and of death ? 
 
 Nicodemus said, " no man can do these miracles 
 that thou doest, except God be with him ;" it neither 
 occurred to him, nor to any one among the nations 
 of antiquity, to doubt the connection of godlike deeds 
 with divine power, the one being the characteristic 
 of the other. 
 
 The miracles of Jesus prove his close, though in- 
 explicable, relation to God his heavenly Father, and 
 are divine credentials of the unspeakable dignity of 
 his person. The actions of men show us their mind 
 and disposition ; they, in like manner, represent to 
 us the mingling of the divine and human in the cha- 
 racter of Jesus ; they make the picture perfect, and, 
 at the same time, prove his power to deliver the 
 world from sin and from death. " All these are 
 written," says John, in the conclusion of his Gospel, 
 " that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the 
 Son of God ; and that believing ye might have life 
 through his name." 
 
 These miracles of the Lord were performed in the 
 land of Immanuel, in Judea and Jerusalem — before 
 the eyes of that people, among whom, for ages past, 
 the God of Israel had performed so many mighty 
 deeds, and to whom he had manifested his strong 
 hand, and stretched out arm, in such a variety of 
 106 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 107 
 
 ways, — before a people from whom light and life, 
 truth and justice, were to come forth, and spread over 
 the whole world, but who also had always proved 
 themselves to be a rebellious and perverse genera- 
 tion, and of whom the Lord himself had said, " If 
 the mighty works which were done in you, had been 
 done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented 
 long ago in sackcloth and ashes. If the chosen peo- 
 ple had not gazed listlessly on the miracles of Jesus, 
 with which the whole land was resounding, but had 
 they, on the contrary, recognised, and in faith re- 
 ceived him, as the promised and long-expected one, 
 as the way, the truth, and the life ; then Israel would 
 have become a nation of evangelists, an apostolic 
 people, the salt and light of the earth, and through 
 them the Canaanitish kingdom of the world would 
 have been annihilated. 
 
 Alas ! Jesus came to his own kingdom and his 
 own people, but they received him not, and rejected 
 his testimony. This appears incomprehensible — but 
 this people, so wonderfully singled out from other 
 nations, had become accustomed to the mighty ac- 
 tions of God, performed in the days of their fathers, 
 and which, being described in the Holy Scriptures, 
 they had read from their youth upwards — their hearts 
 had become hardened, and their minds callous, both to 
 miracles, and to the law and the prophets; all of 
 which seemed to them, merely every day things. 
 
 For this reason, they gazed without wonder on the 
 miracles of Jesus, as they would have done at any tran- 
 
 107 
 
108 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 sient illusion, while, at the same time, they despised 
 his doctrines, and were displeased with his person. 
 Therefore the curse of Moses, instead of Abraham's 
 blessing, rested on them, and continues even to the 
 present day, — a melancholy proof of the estrange- 
 ment of man from his heavenly Father, and of the 
 difficulty he finds, after having quitted the right path, 
 to return to his proper existence, a life in accordance 
 with the will of God. In the obstinacy and rebellion 
 of the house of Israel, we have a manifestation of the 
 depravity of the heart of man. In the miracles of 
 Jesus, which the rulers and princes of the people 
 could not deny, without contradicting the testimony 
 of their senses, they rather chose to behold the power 
 of Satan, than the finger of the living God, The 
 explanation of such delusion is given in the words 
 of our God, " If, therefore, the light that is in thee 
 be darkness, how great is that darkness !" Matt. vi. 
 23. 
 
 The Lord Jesus knew well that it would happen thus, 
 and that only a few of the lost sheep of the house of 
 Israel would acknowledge him as the good Shepherd. 
 
 He therefore chose twelve men to be his Apostles, and 
 his own peculiar witnesses, according to the number of 
 the unbelieving tribes of Israel — and he also chose se- 
 venty believing disciples, to go two and two and prepare 
 his way before him ; they corresponded to the seven- 
 ty elders of the supreme counsel,* who rejected him, 
 
 * The Sanhedrim or Council, who determined the most im- 
 portant affairs of the nation ; they had the power of life and 
 108 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 109 
 
 and on whom the Holy Spirit no longer rested, (Nurr. 
 xi. 25.) To them he said, " Ye shall be witnesses 
 unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in 
 Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth," 
 Acts i. 8. — " And ye also shall bear witness, because 
 ye have been with me from the beginning-," John 
 XV. 27. The grace and the dignity of that office 
 with which the Lord invested them, was unspeakably 
 great. — " Blessed," he says, "are the eyes which see 
 the things that ye see, for I tell you, that many pro- 
 phets and kings have desired to see those things 
 which ye see, and have not seen them ; and to hear 
 those things which ye hear, and have not heard 
 them." Luke x. 23, 24. They were to sea and 
 hear the greatest of all the manifestations of God, 
 into which the prophets, who had foretold it, had 
 wished to search, and which even the angels desired 
 to look upon ; they were also, as being eye and ear 
 witnesses, to announce it to the world. That which 
 John the Baptist says of his own divine calling, " A 
 man can receive nothing except it be given him 
 from heaven," applies in a still greater degree to the 
 disciples and apostles of the Lord. He himself 
 says unto them, " Ye have not chosen me, but I 
 have chosen you." John xv. 16. 
 
 How did Jesus choose his disciples ? Certainly 
 not from caprice, nor in order to try them ; but as 
 he " needed not that any should testify of man ; for 
 he knew what was in man, he chose them accord- 
 ing to his divine wisdom and rectitude. He acted 
 
 death, and even the king, the high priest, and the prophets, 
 were under their jurisdiction, Luke xxii. 66. 
 
 109 
 
110 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 in this as he had formerly done in his choice of 
 David to be king of Israel ; for he looked not on the 
 outward appearance but on the heart. He did not 
 choose his witnesses out of the schools of the learned 
 and acute scribes and pharisees, nor yet out of the 
 great and far-famed Jerusalem, but out of the ob- 
 scure and much contemned Galilee. Here he found, 
 and chose for his own, Peter, John, and James — 
 sinful and weak like other men, but of simple hearts 
 and minds, and uncorrupted by the destructive luxury 
 of the capital, and the dry and self-righteous wisdom 
 of the schools. Withdrawn from the privileges of 
 their people, their souls were like empty vessels, 
 which afforded room for the truth, and more easily 
 received and preserved it ; the eyes of their under- 
 standing were simple and unsophisticated, so that at 
 the first glance, they perceived something of the 
 hidden glory of the Lord Jesus, and joyfully received 
 him. Therefore he needed only to say the truly 
 simple and paternal words, " Follow me and I will 
 make you fishers of men ;" and the word found a 
 place in their child-like hearts, " they straightway 
 left their nets and followed him. 
 
 Jesus of Nazareth appeared, at first sight, to them, 
 merely a beloved master and teacher; soon, however, 
 he became a prophet mighty in word and deed, — 
 afterwards, they acknowledged him as the long pro- 
 mised Lord and Saviour ; — and at last they worship- 
 ed him as the only begotten Son of the eternal God ! 
 The Son of Righteousness illuminated their minds 
 only by degrees ; they must live three years with 
 110 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. Ill 
 
 their Lord, and behold all that took place during 
 that blessed and gracious period ; they were defec- 
 tive, and erred in many ways ; when the first hour 
 of their Master's suffering had arrived, their feeble 
 light seemed to darken ; their first love, however, 
 was not utterly quenched, excepting in that child of 
 Satan who betrayed him ; — in the other disciples, the 
 glimmering light soon burned again brightly, never 
 more to be extinguished. During forty days they 
 beheld him who had risen from the dead ; they were 
 witnesses of his visible ascension into heaven, and 
 received, from his own mouth, the promise, " Lo 1 
 am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." 
 Mat. xxviii. 20. In this manner, those first witnesses 
 and heralds of the kingdom of God, gradually in- 
 creased in love and in piety, until they were pre- 
 pared to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit in full 
 measure, and to dispense to others, that living water 
 which shall flow on for ever, and fertilize the garden 
 of the new Eden. 
 
 They must now say to the whole world — we are 
 messengers of Christ, witnesses of one who came 
 into the world to save sinners, to whom all power is 
 given in heaven and in earth ! Like the Lord him- 
 self, who went with them through Judea, Samaria, 
 and Galilee, every where manifesting his glory, and 
 inviting the weary and heavy-laden to come unto 
 him — his messengers now spread themselves over 
 the whole world, preaching Jesus Christ their cruci- 
 fied and now risen Lord, and calUng upon all, high 
 and low, rich and poor, to turn from darkness to 
 
 HI 
 
112 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 light, and from the power of Satan unto God ! The 
 word grew and prevailed, in order that the earth 
 might become full of the knowledge of the Lord, as 
 the waters cover the sea. All this was done through 
 the instrumentality of the untutored men of Galilee, 
 and by means of the Apostle Paul, whose self-right- 
 eousness and wisdom the Lord having taken away, 
 transformed him from a fierce and cruel enemy into 
 a faithful servant and friend ; so that he now deter- 
 mined to know nothing *' save Jesus Christ and him 
 crucified." — Most wonderful efficacy of the word, 
 which to the Jew was as a stumblingblock, and to the 
 Greeks foolishness, which was every where spoken 
 against, and which was as much at variance with the 
 nature of man, as the cross on which it is grounded, 
 by the very mention of which a Roman fancied him- 
 self dishonoured. But the Lord, whose name is 
 " Wonderful, the Counsellor, the Mighty God," was 
 with his servants who bore witness unto him, — their 
 watchword was, " whether we live, we live unto the 
 Lord ; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord ; 
 whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's 1" 
 They rejoiced in their sufferings, and at last had the 
 honour of sealing their testimony with their blood, in 
 their deaths to become Uke their great Shepherd, and 
 then to receive out of his own hand the crown of 
 glory ! 
 
 These simple men, who came out of an obscure 
 corner of the world, but who were anointed by the 
 Spirit and power of God, preached among us the 
 112 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 113 
 
 divine work of redemption, " the hidden wisdom 
 which God ordained before the world unto our 
 glory." — As the cross was raised upon Calvary — they 
 raised up the word of atonement in our miserable 
 world, the dwelling place of sin and of death, and 
 poured forth every where a new life. We must have 
 lost the power of appreciating what is great and di- 
 vine, if we are not penetrated with astonishment and 
 admiration, when we look on the unpretending aspect 
 of those witnesses of the truth, and on the simple 
 means by which they affected such glorious results , 
 in short, on their human insignificance and lowliness, 
 and yet their heroic courage. Are not our schools 
 and churches, baptism and the eucharist, our Bibles 
 and songs of praise, our hospitals and orphan-houses, 
 all monuments of those witnesses who preached the 
 Gospel in our land, and testified here of that faithful 
 and true witness who is called Amen. 
 
 We must not content ourselves with a mere tran- 
 sient admiration of those instruments in the hands of 
 the Lord, who were so weak, and yet so strong — but 
 we must receive the intelligence they utter as the 
 oracles of God. " If we receive the witness of men," 
 says John in his first Epistle v. 9, 10, " the witness 
 of God is greater : for this is the witness of God, 
 which he hath testified of his Son. He that believ- 
 eth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself," — 
 and in the twelfth verse, " He that hath the Son hath 
 life." Another Apostle says, " How shall we escape 
 if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first be- 
 gan to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed 
 I 113 
 
114 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 unto US by them that heard him ; God also bear- 
 ing- them witness, both with signs and wonders, and 
 with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, 
 according to his own will." Heb. ii. 3, 4. We 
 need no longer the testimony of signs and miracles ; 
 of them the Bible presents us with sufficient, and, 
 indeed, the Holy Scriptures, in their origin and 
 comprehensiveness, are as great a miracle of God as 
 any thing related in them. Those messengers, to 
 whom the Lord gave a mouth and wisdom, still walk 
 among us, and pray and admonish us thus continu- 
 ally, " Be ye reconciled to God !" and when we 
 receive their word, there rises up in our own hearts 
 a witness, which transports us above all that is ex- 
 ternal and earthly. It happens to us as it did to the 
 man lame from his mother's womb, at the gate of the 
 temple called Beautiful, when Peter took hold of 
 his right hand, and raised him up, in the name of 
 Jesus Christ of Nazareth, " immediately his feet and 
 ankle bones received streng-th, and he, leaping up, 
 stood and walked, and entered with them into the 
 temple, walking and leaping, and praising God," 
 Acts iii. 7, 8. " If ye continue in my word," says 
 our Lord, John viii. 31, 32, " then are ye my dis- 
 ciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and the 
 truth shall make you free." 
 
 The whole of the Gospel is God's testimony to 
 his Son ; it is like the gift of speech bestowed on 
 man, that he might preserve it, impart it, and extend 
 it. It is therefore called gospel, that is to say, " good 
 news," and a joyful announcement of the Word be- 
 114 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 1 15 
 
 come flesh ; it is spread from mouth to month like 
 human language, and like the treasures of speech, de- 
 scends from one man to another ; if the eye and ear 
 of every one were to close, then human speech, and, 
 along with it, human thoughts and emotions would 
 perish ; it is the same with the word of God, it 
 would be extinct likewise. 
 
 It is entrusted to every Christian, that he should 
 labour and work diligently for its preservation and 
 extension, as a servant of God. All who have re- 
 ceived salvation are to preach the Gospel, though, 
 like Cornelius, it should only be in the circle of their 
 family and friends. In the first little assembly of 
 witnesses who devoted themselves to the Lord, and 
 first testified of Him in Judea, and then through all 
 the world, we see an example for each Christian, and 
 for every Christian community, to imitate. 
 
 For this reason our Lord set the greatest value on 
 the public acknowledgement of him, " Whosoever, 
 therefore, shall confess me before men, him will I 
 confess also before my Father which is in heaven ;' 
 and Paul says, "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth 
 the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that 
 God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be 
 saved, Rom. x. 9. " Ye are," says Peter in his first 
 Epistle, ii. 9, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, 
 an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should 
 shoiv forth the praises of him who hath called you out 
 of darkness into his marvellous light." 
 
 115 
 
X. 
 
 " The hour is come that the Son of Man should be 
 glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a 
 corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth 
 alone ; but, if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit," 
 John xii. 23, 24. This was said by the Lord Jesus, 
 a short time before his sufferings, to Philip and 
 Andrew, when they informed him that the Greeks, 
 who had come up to the feast at Jerusalem, 
 desired to see him. Our Lord here speaks of 
 his own glorification, and of his approaching death, 
 the path which led to it ; the comparison he makes 
 use of is very simple, a daily occurrence in the 
 kingdom of nature, which every one knows, but 
 which no one comprehends. The corn of wheat 
 falls into the ground, dies and decays ; and by this 
 means only does it bring forth fruit ; if we had not 
 known and seen it from childhood, it would appear 
 almost impossible that out of death a new life should 
 arise ; but it is the universal law of this earth, and is 
 of daily occurrence. 
 
 The simplicity of the image must not surprise us ; 
 für,^in reality, the growth of the plant from the seed 
 is as great a proof of the mysterious influence and 
 power of God, as the formation of the human eye, 
 or the guiding of the planets through the heavens. 
 The humility of the comparison shows the hmni-» 
 116 
 
CORNELIUS THE CEKTUßlON. H7 
 
 lity of him who uttered it — the only Son of the 
 Father, the first-born of every creature, who, if 
 he had so willed it, might have remained alone in 
 that glory which he had from the beginning ; but he 
 divested himself of the form of God, and appeared 
 in our sinful mortal body, in order to save us from 
 sin and from death, and obtain for us the freedom of 
 the children of God. The whole life of our Lord, 
 and the silent though stupendous act of the re- 
 demption of the world, resembles the history of a 
 little seed of corn. 
 
 In the year that had been predicted, God sent his 
 Son, born of a woman ; — a manger at Bethlehem was 
 the only cradle of the child ; and his birth was made 
 known to few, besides the shepherds in the fields, 
 Simeon and Hannah in the temple, and the wise 
 men of the East. A question of the latter drew 
 down the first storm on the head of our Redeemer, 
 which caused the murder of the children of Beth- 
 lehem and the flight into Egypt. The report of the 
 Messiah's birth now became extinct ; though, when 
 Jesus taught in the temple, at the age of twelve, his 
 youthful glory dawned for a moment in the pre- 
 sence of a few. Many years passed over, and still 
 nothing remarkable took place — at length stepped 
 forward Jesus of Nazareth, in the humblest of human 
 forms, and announced himself as the long promised 
 anointed one of God ; and proved himself to be a 
 prophet, mighty in word and deed. The people 
 were astonished and wondered at his miracles, but 
 few believed on him, — the high priests and rulers, the 
 
 117 
 
I 18 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 mighty and the learned, hated, slandered, and per- 
 secuted him; and then turned the hearts of the 
 people against him ; only a small number of faithful 
 disciples, both men and women, remained attached 
 to him. His enemies triumphed, he fell into their 
 hands ; they condemned, crucified, and murdered 
 him. In this manner ended the public history of 
 Jesus of Nazareth. 
 
 All this took place in the narrow circle of 
 Judea ; a land subdued by the Romans, and de- 
 spised by the whole world. Romans crucified him 
 whom the Jews had delivered into their hands — he 
 died and was buried — but, lo ! his death became the 
 means of his glorification. The mightiest of all 
 events was now finished, the divine work, sealed 
 by the hand of God, spread through every land, 
 and the word from the cross penetrated through 
 the world, introducing along with it a new form of 
 things, and a new life, which are as inseparably 
 connected with him that was crucified as the dew 
 with the morning dawn. 
 
 Whom they slew, and hanged on a tree : him God raised 
 up the third day, and shewed him openly ; not to all the 
 people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to 
 us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the 
 dead." — Acts x. 39 — 41. 
 
 After the Apostle Peter had interrupted his ser- 
 on 
 118 
 
 mon on the sending and anointing of Jesus Christ and 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 119 
 
 his life and miracles, by referring to himself and his 
 fellow -apostles as eye-witnesses, he comes to the 
 greatest and holiest, the most wonderful and the 
 most mysterious of all manifestations, the ground, 
 the resting point, the very corner stone of the 
 Gospel — the crucifixion of our Lord, and his resur- 
 rection. 
 
 " Whom thei/slew, and hanged on a ireeJ' — There 
 is great simplicity in those words, which describe so 
 briefly that all-important event, which the four Evan- 
 gelists have fully and circumstantially related. They 
 certainly describe it as a thing which took place on 
 earth and among men; but the Apostles generally 
 speak of it as a thing done, finished, and perfected 
 in heaven. The four Evangelists, after having de- 
 scribed the mighty deeds of the Lord, and the various 
 manifestations of his glory as the Son of God, give a 
 minute account of his shame and ignominy, his suf- 
 ferings and his death — as the darkest night will 
 sometimes follow the brightest day ! The historians 
 of our Lord resemble a mirror, which gives a faithful 
 picture of the surrounding objects — the heart of John, 
 however, does sometimes interrupt his recital ; when 
 he is moved by his own description of that glory 
 which perpetually hovered over our Lord even in the 
 midst of his sufferings. 
 
 In the beginning of his sermon Peter follows the 
 example of the EvangeHsts — his words may be ren- 
 dered thus : Jesus of Nazareth is he, concerning 
 whom God sent his word, from age to age, to the 
 children of Israel ; preaching peace through him as 
 
 119 
 
120 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 Lord of all. The fulfilment of the word of pro- 
 phecy began from Galilee, after the baptism which 
 John preached and published through the whole 
 land of Judea, — anointed by the Holy Ghost and 
 with power, our Lord went about doing good, and 
 healing all that were oppressed of the devil ; and 
 in this manner he proved himself, by his actions 
 and doctrine, by his word and miracles, to be the 
 holy one of God. Our Apostle comprehends all in 
 that most significant sentence : " For God was with 
 him, and we are witnesses of all things which he did 
 both in the land of the Jews and at Jerusalem ; 
 whom they slew, and hanged on a tree.'* 
 
 Who did this ? The children of Israel, to whom 
 he had been promised, whose fathers had looked 
 for him with the most ardent and longing desire, 
 —the men who had seen and admired his divine 
 power and miracles, who had beheld his wisdom and 
 his holiness, his gentleness and humility, his love and 
 benevolence — whose salvation and redemption he had 
 so earnestly desired, and on whom he had heaped 
 his blessings — Him they accused as a blasphemer 
 of God ; and, as a rebel and a murderer, they crucified 
 and slew him ! And who was he whom they slew ? 
 The same Jesus who testified of himself that he is 
 the Son of God, the light of the world, the resur- 
 rection and the life, one with the Father, and sent by 
 him for the salvation of the world, the truth of whose 
 words were proved by innumerable deeds of almighty 
 power and love — whom the storm and the waves 
 obeyed, — who made the blind to see, and who re- 
 120 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION 121 
 
 called the dead to life. He, the holy and righteous 
 One, in whose mouth deceit was never found, whom 
 no man could accuse of sin, he was slain and hanged 
 on a treo. What a difference there is between the 
 words of our Apostle, " For God was tvith liim^^ 
 and the cry of our crucified Lord himself, " My God, 
 my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" 
 
 How astonishing and incomprehensible, nay even 
 impossible, all this would appear if we had not heard 
 it from our youth upwards, and were as familiar with 
 the cross of Jesus of Nazareth as with the sun in the 
 heavens ! But we know that it thus huppened, for 
 Peter loudly and openly proclaimed it at Jerusalem, 
 in the very face of his enemies and murderers. 
 " Whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the pre- 
 sence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him 
 go. But ye denied the Holy One and the just, and 
 desired a murderer to be granted unto you ; and 
 killed the Prince of Life." Acts iii. 13—15. 
 
 This is the simple recital of that which took place 
 in Jerusalem and on Golgotha about eighteen hun- 
 dred years ago ; this is the circumstance from which 
 all the Apostles and Evangelists, in their discourses, 
 proceed, and to which they are perpetually recurring. 
 Of this Paul says, in 1 Cor. ii. 2, " For 1 determin- 
 ed not to know any thing among you, save Jesus 
 Christ, and him crucified." The crucifixion of our 
 Lord is still crying unto heaven ; it is the most ruth- 
 less act ever committed by men, and the most terrible 
 proof of the natural guilt of the human heart, as 
 well as the darkest and most mysterious veiling 
 
 121 
 
122 CORNELIUS THE CENTIJRION. 
 
 of the hand of God in his government of the world, 
 " Him, being- delivered b}» the determinate counsel 
 and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by 
 wicked hands have crucified and slain ;" Acts. ii. 23, 
 — it is the deepest humiliation and forbearance of 
 that being who had, in himself, the power of life and 
 of death, but who yet permitted himself to be led as 
 a lamb to the slaughter ! Yes, even to death on the 
 cross. Is it wonderful that when this happened, even 
 those disciples who had seen his glory should be 
 seized with fear and trembling, should flee away and 
 forsake him, or that, even to the present hour, the 
 word of the cross has been to so many a cause of of- 
 fence and a stumbling block ? But, in the very cir- 
 cumstance, that the crucifixion of our Lord is utterly 
 at variance with human feelings, thoughts, and expec- 
 tations, lies the proof that it is divine, and that Jesus, 
 the crucified One, is the Christ, the Saviour of man- 
 kind, the Son of God, who came into the world to 
 save sinners. 
 
 With the death of our Lord on the cross his earthly 
 history was closed, and that work was perfected for 
 which he appeared in the flesh. He himself cried 
 out, " It is finished !" before he bowed his head and 
 gave up the ghost, — the words spoken at the gates 
 of Eden were now fulfilled, — the old serpent had 
 bruised his heel, but he had crushed its head ; — the 
 consoling prophecies of ancient times, in which God had 
 promised to the fathers a Mediator, a Redeemer, and 
 an everlasting King, were now accomplished. That 
 one true sacrifice, of which all the former sacrifices 
 122 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 123 
 
 in the world had been symbols, was now perfected, 
 and had ascended up to God as a sweet smelling 
 savour. He who came forth from the beginning-, and 
 who has lived through all eternity ; he, the only be- 
 gotten of the Father, the brightness of God's glory, 
 and the express image of his person, who upholds all 
 things by the word of his power ; who, when he had 
 by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right 
 hand of the Majesty on high, to whom has been given 
 all power on earth and in heaven. He has procured, 
 by the one sacrifice of himself, that all have it in their 
 power to be saved 1 In order to accomplish this, he 
 divested himself of the divine glory, and appeared 
 in the form of our sinful flesh. He became the 
 lamb that bore the sins of the world ; and, through 
 his blood and the veil of his flesh, he has procured 
 for us a new path and entrance into the heavenly 
 kingdom ; — " He hath borne our griefs, and carried 
 our sorrows, — he was wounded for our transgres- 
 sions, — he was bruised for our iniquities ; the chas- 
 tisement of our peace was upon him ; and with his 
 stripes we are healed." Isaiah liii. 4, 5. 
 
 This is the wonderful and mysterious history of 
 the sufferings which Christ experienced, and of that 
 glory into which he afterwards entered, which the 
 prophets longed to behold, and the angels desired to 
 know ! The ways of God are as much higher than 
 human thoughts and conceptions, as heaven is higher 
 than the earth ! the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is the 
 deepest humiliation, and the most perfect condescen- 
 sion of God to men; and for this reason it is the 
 
 123 
 
124 CORJiELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 most difficult for the natural man to comprehend or 
 believe. In the present day, men fancy themselves 
 able to judge of the acts and counsels of God, by 
 their reason ; and contemplate the sufferings and 
 death of our Lord as they would a mere human his- 
 tory or event. Others are moved and affected by 
 the recital ; like the daughters of Jerusalem they 
 weep over him, but afterwards, because they have 
 heard from their youth upwards that all this was 
 done for them, they apply it to suit themselves, and 
 for their own peculiar advantage. This is not the 
 method of the Apostles, nor yet of the faithful be- 
 lievers in all ages, — ihey did not look merely at Gol- 
 gotha, they did not think only of themselves, but, en- 
 lightened by the Spirit of the Lord, and filled with 
 humility on account of the deep corruption of their 
 hearts, they looked upwards with living faith to the 
 exceeding richness of the grace and love of God, 
 who " spared not his own Son, but delivered him up 
 for us all." Rom. viii. 32. The crucifixion of our 
 Lord is the most striking proof of the enmity of man 
 towards God, of the complete deterioration of his 
 nature, and his utter estrangement from his heavenly 
 Father. 
 
 In the third chapter of the Acts, Peter says, 
 "through ignorance, ye have slain the Prince of Life," 
 — that is to say, blinded by their own prejudices, they 
 put to death the incarnate God, prompted by the 
 same spirit which led them in former days, to resist 
 Jehovah, and bow to those idols which the rest 
 of mankind had long revered, and they now re- 
 124 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 125 
 
 joiced because they had succeeded in crucifying 
 Jesus, mocking him while hanging on the tree. In 
 this the depravity of man was manifested in its 
 darkest and most odious aspect ; but at the same 
 time, the love of God was exemplified in its clearest 
 and most brilliant light. Alas ! we must all, with- 
 out exception, confess, that we have nailed the Lord 
 of Glory to the cross, and that for our sakes he was 
 crucified and slain ! 
 
 On a tree — are the words of Peter in his sermon. 
 He who knew so well from his own bitter experi- 
 ence, both the corruption of the human heart, and 
 the temptations of Satan, now looked back to that 
 tree, where the virtue of man was first overpowered 
 by his desire to be as a god. The garden of Eden and 
 the garden of Gethsemane, the pleasant tree of the 
 knowledge of good and evil, and the wood of the 
 cross on Mount Calvary, certainly stand in most 
 intimate connection. Oh ! man look into thyself ! 
 Thou who wast created in the image of God, and 
 animated by his breath ! How much dost thou still 
 preserve the likeness of thy Creator, who is love 
 itself? Is love towards him who alone is worthy 
 the foundation and groundwork of thy character ? 
 Compare thyself for one moment with the Son of 
 Man who died on the cross, and ask thyself, how 
 much of his faith and obedience, his humility, pa- 
 tience and long suffering, his purity, benevolence, 
 and love, thou preservest in thy heart ? Compare 
 the immortality engraved in imperishable characters 
 on thy soul with the short and insecure duration of 
 
 125 
 
126 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 thy earthly pilgrimage. Place thyself in spirit on 
 the bed of death, behold the struggle which awaits 
 thee, and listen to those sighs and groans, the power- 
 less expression of the sufferings thou must inevit- 
 ably undergo ! Watch thyself gradually sinking on 
 the dark bosom of all-ingulfing chaos, and follow 
 thy soul flying to the hghtning splendour of the 
 throne of God, and the terribleness of an eternity of 
 judgment ! Canst thou then say, '* I am pure in my 
 heart, and free from sin," thereby giving the lie both 
 to thine own conscience and the word of God, which 
 sets before thee thy sinfulness and the loss of thy 
 primeval excellence ? 
 
 If thou art thus utterly fallen in the abyss of thy 
 alienation from God, and the depth of thy sin and 
 misery ; then, like one who, in a deep pit at mid-day, 
 does not behold the sun shining, but only the stars 
 glimmering in the heavens ; so shalt thou, by the 
 eye of faith, discern the cross of the Son of God 
 through the midst of his heavenly splendour ; and 
 in the Lamb which was slain, recognise thy Lord and 
 the pledge of thy salvation. For God " hath made 
 him to be sin for us, who knew no sin ; that we 
 might be made the righteousness of God in him." 
 2 Cor. v. 21. — and " Christ hath redeemed us from 
 the curse of the law, being made a curse for us," 
 Gal. iii. 13. Who can comprehend the length and 
 the breadth, the depth and the height of the love of 
 God, which passeth all understanding, in that he sent 
 his only Son to die for sinners ! God is manifested 
 here, and Christ also, who died for us ; and, what is 
 126 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 127 
 
 of far more importance to us, who was raised up 
 again from the dead ! 
 
 " Him God reused up the third day, and shewed 
 him openly ;" — for it was impossible, our Apostle says, 
 in his sermon at the feast of Pentecost, that he 
 should be held by the bonds of death. 
 
 After he had finished the work which was given 
 him by the Father, perfected it, and glorified the 
 Father before the world, but more visibly before 
 those who had eaten and drunken with him, and 
 were afterwards to preach the gospel to all men, 
 on the third day, as he had prophesied, he arose 
 from the dead, *' declared to be the Son of God 
 with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by 
 the resurrection from the dead," Rom. i. 4. He 
 died for our sins, but rose again for our justification. 
 Our death the wages of sin, has become the death 
 of the Prince of Peace, who knew no sin ; by his 
 means the power of death has been taken from the 
 devil, and our dissolution is no longer the recom- 
 pence of our sins, but the means of freeing ourselves 
 from them, and entering into eternal life. The re- 
 surrection of the Son of Man from the dead, is the 
 visible pledge of the future resurrection of all the 
 children of men ; and shows the new and incorrupti- 
 ble form in which the human body, after experi- 
 encing the usual course of decay, shall rise again 
 and be glorified. " For, as in Adam all die, even so 
 in Christ shall all be made alive," this corruptible 
 shall become incorruptible, and this mortal shall put 
 on immortality. The indestructible germ of a spi- 
 
 127 
 
128 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 ritual body lies concealed in our natural one, and, 
 though opposed by our earthly nature, it is never 
 destroyed, for it is of divine origin. " Howbeit," 
 Paul says, " that was not first, which is spiritual, 
 but that which is natural, and afterward that which is 
 spiritual," 1 Cor. xv. 46. 
 
 As we are now born in the likeness of the earthly 
 Adam, so we shall afterwards be formed in the 
 image of the heavenly Son of Man. He will glorify 
 our worthless body, the body of humiliation, that 
 it may become like unto his body — the Prince of 
 Peace, who was slain and is now alive, shall do this 
 — the author and finisher of our faith, who has the 
 keys of hell and of death. Then shall the trium- 
 phant song of the blessed resound through heaven, 
 death is destroyed for ever, " death where is thy 
 sting ? grave where is thy victory ? But thanks be 
 to God which giveth us the victory, through our Lord 
 Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. xv. 55, 57. What a glorious 
 Gospel ! and what a joyful intelligence, full of grace 
 and truth ! O that one were inspired, in order to 
 express it adequately ! 
 
 The mighty act of God in the resurrection of 
 the Lord Jesus, was visibly manifested to his be- 
 lieving disciples^ and to them alone. God showed 
 him openly, " not to all the people, but unto wit- 
 nesses chosen before of God, even to us who did 
 eat and drink with him, after he rose from the dead." 
 41st verse. " To whom also he shewed himself 
 alive after his passion, by many infallible proofs, be- 
 ing seen of them forty days, and speaking of the 
 128 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 129 
 
 things pertaining to the kingdom of God." Acts i. 
 3. But this grace and blessing were only vouchsafed 
 to his disciples and those who had believed on him ; 
 not to the rest of the people who had refused to re- 
 ceive him. They who had rejected him, were neither 
 worthy nor capable of beholding the glory of his re- 
 surrection ; they were unworthy, because their eyes 
 were closed, and their hearts were hardened, so that 
 they could not comprehend the truth, especially those 
 whom he had approached as a friend, but who had 
 rejected him as an enemy. It would, besides, have 
 been useless for our Lord to show himself unto 
 them ; they would have refused his testimony no 
 less than before, and only have increased the measure 
 of their guilt and sinfulness. They were also in- 
 capable of beholding Jesus risen from the dead ; 
 their deceitful eyes and impure hearts could neither 
 discern what was heavenly nor recognise the glory of 
 God. Can a dog admire the beautiful lilies in the 
 fields, or enjoy the song of the nightingale ? Before 
 men can appreciate what is spiritual and divine, the 
 scales must be removed from their eyes, by means 
 of repentance and faith. The great work of the 
 resurrection of Christ did not take place merely that 
 mankind might admire it ; all the mighty acts of 
 God have been done in silence, for the Lord dwells 
 in the thick clouds, and cometh forth in the soft 
 breeze. It was impossible to behold the resurrection 
 and glorification of our Lord, without having pre- 
 viously believed in him as the Son of God, from 
 having witnessed his incarnation and the sacrifice he 
 K 129 
 
130 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 offered on the cross ; and it was as a reward for hav- 
 ing- followed him during his humiliation that the 
 disciples now beheld his exaltation. Here we 
 may quote the words of Jesus himself: " I am the 
 light of the world ; he that followeth me shall 
 not walk in darkness, but shall have the hght of life," 
 John viii. 12 ; and again, " He that believeth on the 
 Son hath everlasting life ; and he that believeth not 
 the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God 
 abideth on him," Johniii. 36. And Paul says, " No 
 man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy 
 Ghost," 1 Cor. xii. 3. 
 
 Why was it that the disciples only, who had lived 
 in intimate fellowship with our Lord during his three 
 years' ministry, and who had loved him as children 
 love a father — why was it that they alone were esteem- 
 ed worthy to behold his resurrection and glory ? 
 Why was this inestimable privilege vouchsafed to 
 ihem ? Were they already those Princes in the king- 
 dom of heaven which it was promised they should 
 afterwards become ? Were they no longer, spiritually 
 speaking, babes and children, but men and fathers 
 in faith and in truth ? Not so, they were awanting, 
 and fell short in many respects ; they were not free 
 from disquietude, fear, and doubt ; and they had no 
 hope of the resurrection from the dead of their Lord 
 and Master. But they were simple in heart and 
 mind, and uncorrupted by the false wisdom of the 
 Scribes and Pharisees, for they had been almost all 
 born and educated in Galilee ; and they were pure 
 vessels, in whom the desire for the promised redemp- 
 130 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 131 
 
 tion had never become extinct. Therefore, the 
 grace of God, which feeds the young ravens when 
 they cry, led those unsophisticated souls to the path 
 of salvation ; they found Jesus of Nazareth again 
 after he had been dead and was buried ; they came 
 and saw him, they bound themselves to him more 
 closely, if possible, than before, so that they never 
 should forsake him ; and the Lord, who could see 
 their inmost hearts, revealed those things unto them 
 which he had concealed from the wise and prudent ; 
 told them that their names were written in heaven, 
 and bade them rojoice in these words, " Blessed are 
 the eyes which see the things that ye see ; for I tell 
 you, that many prophets and kings have desired to 
 see those things which ye see, and have not seen 
 them ; and to hear those things which ye hear, and 
 have not heard them.'' — Luke x. 23, 24. 
 
 After the Sun of Righteousness had risen upon 
 them, through its influence the little seed of corn 
 grew up silently, but gradually, in their hearts, until 
 they became plants of God, and trees of righteous- 
 ness, well-pleasing unto the Lord. They, whom 
 Jesus had chosen, were esteemed worthy of behold- 
 ing the glory of God, manifested in the glorification 
 of his Son, and to bear their testimony to the truth 
 of his death and resurrection. 
 
 This they did in the fullest manner, — they preach- 
 ed Christ the crucified and risen again, to every 
 creature, with unutterable joy, boldness and self-de- 
 nial ; and became instruments in the hands of the 
 Holy Spirit, to give the world a new form, and to im- 
 
 131 
 
132 CORNELIUS THE CENTUßlON. 
 
 part to the faithful of all nations a new life. By their 
 means, that cross which, on Golgotha, had witness- 
 ed the sufferings of the Son of Man, and which was 
 the very disgrace of humanity, was now raised up 
 before the whole world as the victorious banner 
 of light and truth, the tree of eternal life ; and 
 spread out its arms to give peace and joy to the 
 weary and heavy laden, to console the afflicted, and 
 to point out to every pilgrim the path toward his 
 heavenly home ! That word of salvation which pro- 
 ceeded from God, and which was first announced by 
 the witnesses and messengers of Christ, has since 
 spread farther and farther through the whole world, 
 and calls to every one, "Be reconciled to God!" 
 ^* He that hath ears to hear, let him hear !" 
 
 132 
 
XI. 
 
 " It is appointed unto men once to die, but after 
 this the judgment." Heb. ix. 27. In our own souls 
 there is a secret and mysterious voice, which is con- 
 stantly judging us — it is " the law written in our hearts ; 
 our conscience bearing witness ; our thoughts the 
 meanwhile accusing, or else excusing one another," 
 Rom. ii. 15. Our own heart condemns us, and we 
 can as little repress this action of the spiritual heart, 
 as we can, by an effort of the will, control the motion 
 of the corporeal one. This law written within us, or 
 this conscience, is in reality the Eternal Word, which 
 is even now concealed in the depths of our soul, and 
 which, though we can at times lull it to silence, we 
 can never altogether destroy ; for it is destined to be 
 the origin of repentance in sinful man, and to awaken 
 in him a sense of what is holy and divine ; but it has 
 a duty to perform still more terrible, for it begins in 
 man the eternal judgment, even while he is an inha- 
 bitant of earth. Our first parents, after their fall, 
 judged themselves before the sentence of God was 
 passed over them. The divine and everlasting Word 
 is unspeakably near to man. Oh ! that he would lis- 
 ten to it now " while it is called to-day !" 
 
 133 
 
134 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 After death comes the other judgment, as certain- 
 ly as man must die he must be judged ; then shall 
 that word which was concealed upon earth, stand 
 forth openly, and pronounce its verdict on his past 
 life of trial, which now lies clearly displayed before 
 him ; the counsel of God shall now be manifested ; 
 that which was hidden shall be brought to light, and 
 the Lord shall appoint to every one his future con- 
 dition and place of abode. But the Holy Scriptures 
 inform us of another judgment, in which that Christ, 
 who was once offered to bear the sins of many, shall 
 appear the second time unto them that look for him, 
 without sin unto salvation. Happy are all they who 
 belong to this number ! 
 
 "' And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to 
 testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the 
 judge of quick and dead." — Acts x. 32. 
 
 Hitherto the Apostle had spoken of the sending 
 and anointing of Jesus of Nazareth, of his public 
 teaching, his actions and his miracles, of his suffer- 
 ings, death and resurrection ; and of those signs and 
 tokens of the kingdom of heaven, by which Jesus had 
 manifested himself as the Son of God and the Saviour 
 of the world. 
 
 The Apostle now speaks of a future manifestation 
 of the Son of Man, as the judge appointed by God to 
 pronounce sentence both on the quick and the dead. 
 This must indeed be a most important truth, since 
 134 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 135 
 
 Peter so expressly states that the Apostles were ap- 
 pointed to preach and testify it to all people. In all 
 their writings they bear witness to the appearance of 
 the Son of God in the flesh, and foretell his return to 
 judgment and the manifestation of his glory. Paul 
 himself, while preaching to the people at Athens, 
 concludes his sermon with the announcement of the 
 day of judgment, when all the world should be judg- 
 ed in righteousness by one man, Jesus Christ, " or- 
 dained of God to be the judge of quick and dead." 
 Let this be the subject of our contemplation at pre- 
 sent. 
 
 God the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth, 
 the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is, as the Bible 
 teaches us, " Judge of all," Heb. xii. 23 ; but he him- 
 self says, that " the Father judgeth no man, but hath 
 committed all judgment unto the Son. And hath 
 given him authority to execute judgment also, be- 
 cause he is the Son of Man." John v. 22, 27. And 
 Paul says, " He hath appointed a day, in the which 
 he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man 
 whom he hath ordained." Acts xvii. 31. 
 
 Our Apostle also refers to this universal judgment, 
 which is to take place after the resurrection of the 
 dead at the last day, which the Scripture calls " the 
 day of Christ," or " the day of the Lord." This 
 judgment shall be the visible ending or completion 
 of God's mighty work of salvation ; and, at the same 
 time, the highest and most stupendous manifestation 
 of the exaltation and glory of the Son of Man. He 
 is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, 
 
 135 
 
136 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 — as certainly as he has already come, he shall come 
 again — for how should he to whom the kingdom has 
 been given, and who has existed from all eternity, 
 begin and not conclude, commence and not accom- 
 plish ? The last judgment shall finish the great 
 work of salvation, for it is the third and last scene 
 in God's government of the world. 
 
 The first scene took place in lowliness and abase- 
 ment. As a man casts seed into the ground, then 
 goes away and leaves it for many long days and 
 nights, until it begin to spring up — so the word of 
 salvation lay for more than a thousand years of 
 night and twilight, concealed in mysterious promises, 
 symbols, images, and prophecies, in which the great 
 and the little, the earthly and the heavenly, the 
 mean and the glorious, were most wonderfully blend- 
 ed. After the fulness of time had arrived, the word 
 became dead, and the images and shadows took form 
 and substance at Bethlehem, the least among the 
 thousands of Judah. The day dawned, God sent 
 his Son, born of a woman ; the Word which was from 
 the beginning, by whom all things were made, and 
 without whom nothing was made that was made, 
 became man — divested himself of the form of God 
 and assumed our human body — went about the land 
 of Israel, not that others might serve him, but in or- 
 der to serve others — gave his life as a ransom for 
 the sins of the whole world, — and by his humiliation, 
 even to death on the cross, became the perfect way, 
 the fulness of truth, and the everlasting Ufe. When 
 Jesus, at the moment of his dissolution, cried out, " It 
 136 
 
CORNELIUS THE CEKTURION. 137 
 
 is finished ! then that took place which had been 
 willed by God through all eternity, and the hither- 
 to mysterious and inexplicable counsel of Jehovah 
 now took the form of a simple human history, for it 
 was accomplished. " Jesus Christ, the same yester- 
 day, and to day, and for eyer," Heb. xiii. 8. — The 
 first four thousand years of the world's history are 
 " the yesterday which is past." The to-day began 
 with the exaltation of him who had abased himself. 
 After he had risen from the dead on the third day, he 
 continued on earth during the period of forty days, 
 and then returned into that glory which he had from 
 the beginning, ascending into heaven before the eyes 
 of his disciples. Thus the word which had begun 
 in silence, and before a few witnesses, now returned 
 to the place whence it had sprung, to heaven and to 
 eternity. The gospel of reconciliation had been 
 preached among the children of men, and the re- 
 generation of the world now began, in Jerusalem, at 
 the feast of Pentecost. — The Holy Spirit descended 
 upon the Apostles, with a sound from heaven as of a 
 rushing mighty wind, and this in the presence of de- 
 vout men out of every nation under heaven. The 
 disciples were filled with the Holy Ghost, and began 
 to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them 
 utterance, and the listeners were astonished, because 
 they heard them speak in their own tongues, the 
 wonderful works of God. These miracles were the 
 continuation of the history of Jesus of Nazareth, the 
 crucified but now risen Lord. When they heard 
 this, three thousand were touched in their hearts and 
 
 137 
 
138 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 believed ; they gladly received the word, and were 
 baptised, — and now the gospel is spreading through 
 every land, and penetrating to every quarter of the 
 world, and its ministers are praying and admonishing 
 all : " Be ye reconciled to God 1" 
 
 The present time is the to-day, the second period 
 of God's government. Is it yet at an end ? Does 
 every knee bow at the name of the crucified One ? 
 Does every tongue acknowledge that he is Lord ? 
 No ! another day of God is before us : " This same 
 Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall 
 so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into 
 heaven," were the words of the two men in white 
 apparel : "Behold he cometh with clouds, and every 
 eye shall see him," surrounded by his saints, and 
 wonderful in his glory. And Paul says, " For to 
 this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that 
 he might be Lord both of the dead and the living," 
 Rom. xiv. 9. This is the day of judgment, the har- 
 vest time of the Lord, when he shall send forth his 
 reapers. 
 
 Then shall Jesus the Mediator, appear, as the one 
 appointed of God to judge both the quick and the 
 dead. All those men who have lived and died upon 
 earth ; all those who are living at present and shall 
 die, as well as those whom the great day of the Lord 
 finds in existence, shall appear before the judgment 
 seat of Christ, The general resurrection must take 
 place, and they who are in their graves, whose bodies 
 have mouldered into dust, shall, like Lazarus, hear 
 his voice and come forth. 
 138 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 139 
 
 As it was impossible that the sinless body of Jesus 
 Christ should remain in the grave longer than three 
 days, or that the Holy One should see corruption — 
 so it is impossible that our bodies, which had been 
 made corruptible by sin, should remain for ever in 
 the grave — the hour must come when they will arise 
 from the dead, and assume a new and an incorrupti- 
 ble form. In that day, the voice of the Son of Man 
 shall change those who are still alive, and awaken 
 from its sleep, and bring to light that portion of the 
 divine nature, which God implanted, when he breath- 
 ed into man's nostrils the breath of life ; and which, 
 though long crushed and repressed, could never be 
 annihilated. There shall also be summoned forth 
 in a new and incorruptible form, those bodies that 
 are asleep, which God at the beginning created im- 
 mortal, and which had only undergone the usual 
 course of decay, because they were under the power 
 of sin. All this shall be done " according to the 
 working, whereby he is able even to subdue all 
 things unto himself." Phil. iii. 21. Were this not 
 to be the case, for what purpose should the Son of 
 Man have clothed himself with our sinful and mor- 
 tal flesh ? And since he has won back for us all that 
 we have lost through sin, must he not also restore to 
 US our immortal bodies ? Unless he do so, he can- 
 not be the heavenly Adam, or the Lord of life, — 
 unless he do so, he cannot have freed us entirely 
 from the fruits of sin, death, and corruption. There- 
 fore shall all the dead be clothed with a new body, 
 and they which are alive at that day shall be changed : 
 
 139 
 
140 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 " For this corruptible must put on incorruption, 
 and this mortal must put on immortality." 1 Cor. 
 XV. 53. 
 
 Thus shall the great day of the Lord commence — 
 and as, after the creation of our earth, the first day 
 began with the separation of light from darkness, — 
 so shall the last day, the end of earthly time, conclude 
 in the same manner, with the separation of light from 
 darkness — of the good from the bad ! Human lan- 
 guage can only give a faint idea of this fearful 
 reality, and is like a dew-drop reflecting the image 
 of the sun. Our Lord no where condescends more 
 to our human weakness, than when speaking of that 
 which is great and incomprehensible — but particu- 
 larly in alluding to the future day of judgment. He, 
 the judge of all, in speaking of his return to judge 
 the world, when he shall sit upon the throne of his 
 glory, calls himself " the Son of Man," his name du- 
 ring his humiliation, and by which his disciples had 
 known him during his pilgrimage on earth. He 
 compares himself also, at the beginning of his magni- 
 ficent description of the judgment of the world, to 
 a shepherd dividing the sheep from the goats ; and it 
 is not until he pronounces the final sentence that he 
 calls himself a King ! 
 
 He also honours the assembled children of men, 
 by making known to them the grounds of their ac- 
 ceptance or condemnation — and also deigns to listen 
 to their reply, as he did when a sojourner here below. 
 He thus recognises, even in those condemned to eter- 
 nal punishment, their lost but once God-like nature. 
 140 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 141 
 
 What shall be the measure and rule by which he 
 shall judge mankind ? It shall be love, which is the 
 fulfilment of the law ; but why should it not be 
 faith ? Most needless separation ; is not love the 
 fruit of faith ? and does not our life animate the dif- 
 ferent parts of the same tree, whether it be the root, 
 the stem, or the fruit ? When the grape is full, is it 
 not a proof that the vine has been full of sap ? And 
 when the reaper cuts the harvest, does he not leave the 
 roots in the earth, and carry the ears of corn into his 
 granary ? Therefore man shall be judged by his 
 fruits. Faith, hope, and love, these three are one ; 
 they remain together, and shall be glorified together ; 
 but love is the greatest among them. Yes, he, the 
 Son of Man, shall then be our judge ; but love shall 
 be the standard, according to which he shall pro- 
 nounce judgment. I have been hungry, thirsty, a 
 stranger, naked, sick, and in prison, in order to save, 
 redeem and console you, who were hungry, thirsty, 
 poor and miserable ! And he who has loved, saved, 
 or comforted the least of my brethren, has acknow^ 
 ledged me and experienced my love 1 All the child- 
 ren of men, they who, with humble joy, shall stand 
 at his right hand, and they who, in fear and tremb- 
 ling, are placed at his left, shall recognise in him, the 
 man whom God hath ordained to judge the world in 
 righteousness. 
 
 All " shall come forth ; they that have done good 
 unto the resurrection of life ; and they that have 
 done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation," John 
 V. 29. " For we must all appear before the judg- 
 
 141 
 
142 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 ment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the 
 things done in his body, according to that he hath 
 done, whether it be good or bad," 2 Cor. v. 10. 
 The Apostle Paul says, in speaking of the resurrec- 
 tion of the dead, *' and that which thou sowest, thou 
 sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it 
 may chance of wheat, or of some other grain : but 
 God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to 
 every seed his own body. So also is the resurrec- 
 tion of the dead : it is sown in corruption, it is raised 
 in incorruption : it is sown a natural body, it is 
 raised a spiritual body," 1 Cor. xv. 37, 38, 42, 44. 
 
 The Creator has everywhere shadowed forth in 
 the outward form of inanimate nature, a secret and 
 mysterious meaning ; and we may in many respects 
 consider the appearances around us, as images and 
 symbols of a future and invisible world. Thus, 
 there are certain creatures, whose very aspects fill 
 us with terror, as if they were the living pictures of 
 sin and condemnation. That which man was, while 
 he walked in his earthly body, shall be shown by the 
 form he assumes at his resurrection. The just shall 
 become like the angels, and shine like the sun, — the 
 unjust, on the contrary, shall not have the beautiful 
 and radiant angelic form ; but their countenances 
 which, like Cain's, during their residence on earth, 
 depicted envy, malice, and uncharitableness, shall 
 much more now bear the mark of Cain on the fore- 
 head. 
 
 The resurrection of the dead to judgment is the 
 great truth, which the Lord Jesus commanded his 
 142 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 143 
 
 disciples to preach and testify to all people ; after lie 
 had himself announced it, even in the very presence 
 of those judges who condemned him to death. They 
 have faithfully fulfilled this command, and preached 
 the gospel of judgment as well as of reconciliation, 
 from the house tops and in the market places ; in the 
 schools and before the people ; in the halls of the 
 great, and in the cottages of the poor ; it has been 
 proclaimed to the whole world, and is even now 
 spreading through every land. If this Gospel, in the 
 more serious hours of our life, and above all, at the 
 hour of death, appear great and terrible, how much 
 more shall it appear so, when it shall be announced 
 by the heavenly trumpet at the great day of the Lord ! 
 Then shall the truth, the holiness and righteousness 
 of the great God towards the children of men, be 
 clearly manifested in the presence of the assembled 
 hosts of heaven. As the sun touches with its rays 
 and illuminates the most insignificant blade of grass, 
 so the light which proceeds from the throne of God, 
 and the all-piercing eye of the eternal judge, shall 
 shine upon and penetrate the inmost character of every 
 one, and disclose the secrets of every heart ! Who 
 shall stand in that day before the Son of Man ! 
 
 Oh ! how consoling is it for those that have loved 
 him, to think that our Redeemer, the now glorified 
 Son of Man, shall be our judge ! He who has dwelt 
 upon earth, and who became like us in all things, 
 with the exception of our sinfulness ; who was tempt- 
 ed in all respects as we are, and who, as a merciful 
 
 143 
 
144 COBKELIUS THE CEXTÜRIOX. 
 
 High Priest, ' hath compassion on our infirmities ; 
 who was well pleased when the widow cast her two 
 mites into the treasury, and took pity on the neces- 
 sity of the Canaanitish woman, and praised her hum- 
 ble faith, who promised he would not forget, even a 
 cup of cold water given to one of his disciples, if it were 
 done from love toward himself. He is ordained by 
 God to be the judge, both of the quick and the dead ! 
 The unalterable compassion and fatherly tenderness 
 of God, whereby he chose us through Christ, and 
 loved us before the foundations of the world were laid, 
 still continues and shall continue unchanged until the 
 end of the world, and the commencement of the great 
 Sabbath of eternity ! He who was once our brother 
 shall become our judge ; the author and the finisher 
 of our faith, and of our happiness. 
 
 The now glorified Jesusshall appear in the majes- 
 ty of his power, to judge all the earth in righteous- 
 ness. No more shall he come as the supplicating 
 and beseeching shepherd, but he shall appear as a 
 king, as the crown and perfection of humanity, to 
 judge both the quick and the dead ! He shall be 
 seen by all the races of men ; and the counsels and 
 decrees of God shall be visibly displayed before 
 every eye. " For if we s'm wilfully, after that we 
 have received the knowledge of the truth, there re- 
 maineth no more sacrifice for sin, but a certain fear- 
 ful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, 
 which shall devour the adversaries," Heb. x. 26, 27. 
 The Lord shall ask us then, as he once asked Peter 
 144 
 
COBXXLIÜS THE CENTÜBIOX. 145 
 
 " Lowest thou me ?*' and happy shall it be for those 
 who can answer him joyfully and confidently, " Lord, 
 thou knowest all thing^s, thou koowest that I love 
 thee.*' Blessed are all those who shall then be found 
 worthy to stand before the Son of Man ! 
 
 145 
 
XII. 
 
 " If we say that we have no sin, we deceive our- 
 selves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our 
 sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and 
 to cleanse us from all unrighteousness," 1 John i. 8, 
 9. The Apostle describes the knowledge and the 
 confession of our sins, as the tree and its fruits ; the 
 first and necessary condition, by which we obtain 
 from God forgiveness of sin. If a man wish to de- 
 stroy a weed, he must first pull the root out of 
 the earth and bring it to the light. " When I kept 
 silence," says David, " my bones waxed old, through 
 my roaring all the day long. For day and night 
 thy hand was heavy upon me ; my moisture is turn- 
 ed into the drought of summer. I acknowledge my 
 sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid ; I 
 said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord ; 
 and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin," Psalm 
 xxxii. 3, 4, 5. How can a child that has grieved his 
 father and mother remove the oppression and sorrow 
 from his own heart, unless he confess his error to those 
 beloved parents ? And how should a sick man apply 
 to a physician, if he does not know that he is sick ? 
 In that case he will feel no need of the physician, 
 despise the art of medicine, and take no measures 
 for being healed- Here we may quote the words, 
 146 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 147 
 
 " Because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with 
 goods, and have need of nothing : and knowest not 
 that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and 
 blind, and naked." 
 
 It is a fearful error to make God himself a liar ! 
 It was not thus Cornelius acted ; truth was in him, 
 and he knew that he was a sinful man, and that in- 
 ternal peace was awanting. He sought this peace 
 by fasting and prayer, by giving alms and by good 
 works. The people in Caesarea said, "the Centurion 
 Cornelius is a good, a noble, a pious, and an excellent 
 man !" But he himself said, " I am a poor sinful man ! 
 God be merciful unto me." Then the Lord sent him 
 his faithful servant Peter, and Cornelius received 
 that which he had sought for with his whole heart, 
 forgiveness of sins, righteousness, and the grace and 
 peace of God through Jesus Christ. Happy are they 
 who are poor in spirit, for the riches of the kingdom 
 of heaven shall be theirs. Cornelius stands before 
 us as a picture of mankind, sighing and longing for 
 the peace of the children of God ; he is also a picture 
 of those who, having earnestly sought, have at last ob- 
 tained this costly treasure. 
 
 ** To him give all the prophets witness, that through his 
 name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission 
 of sins." — Acts x. 43. 
 
 With these words the Apostle concludes his ser- 
 mon and testimony of Jesus Christ. The Apostolic 
 
 147 
 
148 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 style consists of using few words, but those few hav- 
 ing a most comprehensive meaning. Thus Peter in- 
 cludes in this simple sentence the substance of all 
 he has hitherto spoken, of the Lord and his appear- 
 ance on earth — of the object and aim of his gospel and 
 preaching. This expression of our Apostle contains 
 three different heads or ideas : — First, by Jesus 
 Christ alone can sinful man receive salvation, peace 
 with God, and eternal happiness : — Second, the world 
 had for ages longed for salvation and for a Saviour, 
 and prophecy had promised him and testified of him : 
 — Lastly, he has now appeared, and all who believe 
 on him shall receive through him forgiveness of sins 
 and eternal life. Let us first consider salvation 
 through Jesus Christ, then the promise, the expecta- 
 tion, and the appearance of this salvation ; and, last- 
 ly, all that is obtained by means of faith. 
 
 Forgiveness of sins, — is the only thing named by 
 the Apostle, because it expresses all that salvation 
 which we have obtained through the sending of the 
 Son of God. Certainly the forgiveness of sins is, 
 properly speaking, only the commencement or dawn- 
 ing of the divine work of regeneration within us; 
 but if man does not resist, this beginning is most as- 
 suredly followed by the full and perfect accomplish- 
 ment of it. 
 
 The new birth begins on the part of man, with the 
 acknowledgment of sin ; and forgiveness of sin is the 
 ground and foundation of salvation and eternal life. 
 If a sick man wish to recover health, he must first 
 get that morbid matter removed which is the cause 
 148 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 149 
 
 of his disease. After the good father, mentioned in 
 the Gospel, had clasped in his arms his erring, but 
 now repentant son, and had pressed him to his heart, 
 all the rest followed of itself; he received shoes on 
 his feet, the handsomest raiment, and a ring on his 
 finger ; the fatted calf was slain, and there was sing- 
 ing and dancing in honour of his return ; in short, he 
 enjoyed all a son's privileges and blessings. His 
 past sins and errors were annihilated both in the 
 eyes of his father and in his own penitent and grate- 
 ful heart. When the Lord Jesus said to the man 
 sick of the palsy, " My son, thy sins are forgiven 
 thee," the man then became the son of our Saviour, 
 he took up his bed and walked. " Therefore, being 
 justified by faith," that is to say, freed from the 
 power of sin, " we have peace with God through our 
 Lord Jesus Christ ; by whom also we have access by 
 faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in 
 hope of the glory of God," Rom. v. 1. Forgiveness 
 of sins is followed by the rooting out of all sinfulness, 
 by the hand of the merciful God, and is the com- 
 mencement of a new life. 
 
 What is sin ? — Sin, says the Apostle John, with 
 great simplicity, is " the transgression of the law." 
 It is also falling away, erring, and separating from, 
 the one right path, — where there is once unholiness 
 there is increasing unholiness, always a greater dis- 
 tance from the true aim and resting place of the 
 soul ; and, unless stopped by a higher power, there is 
 a deep and progressive fall. Let it be granted, that 
 our earth had an understanding and a will of its 
 
 149 
 
150 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 own, and that it desired to leave the path appointed 
 by its Creator round the sun, and to wander through 
 the immensity of space, left to its own darkness, — 
 what would be the consequence ? It must infallibly 
 fall into great mischief and danger, and soon be- 
 come again, as it was at first, without form and void, 
 and covered with darkness ; but if it should at last 
 perceive its own evil condition, its first question 
 would be, " What must I do to regain my former 
 path?" We mortals are like such a planet which 
 has left its right course ; we have departed from the 
 only source of light and life, and are no longer form- 
 ed in the image of God ; we are sinners, and at 
 the same time desirous of the glory and dignity of 
 God, which we ought to have, but which we have 
 lost. 
 
 Sin is "an ungodly state," the very opposite of 
 that which is divine ; just as lying, darkness, and 
 death, are the opposite of truth, light, and life ; and 
 in this opposition to the character of God lies the 
 most mysterious and terrible part of its serpent like 
 nature. It is also a perfect contrast to the true and 
 original human character, — man was not created to 
 imagine that which is ungodly ; but, as a strange and 
 unnatural thing it has crept into his character. The 
 human mind would indeed be a contradiction and an 
 inexplicable riddle, did not the Scriptures give us as 
 clear an explanation of it as we either require or can 
 comprehend. Along with the image of God, which, 
 in faith and love, ought freely to develop itself in 
 the heart of man, we have lost the fellowship of 
 150 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 151 
 
 our heavenly Father ; we have lost happiness, life, and 
 peace, the original property of our souls, and are 
 fallen into the power of sin and of death. Thus we 
 must all acknowledge that sin, in its origin, character, 
 and consequence, is a work of darkness, and the only 
 real evil. 
 
 Our salvation can only begin with the feeling 
 and acknowledgment of our sinful condition. It is 
 strange it should not commence at the present 
 moment with every one, since the disunion of their 
 external and internal nature lies directly before their 
 eyes, and must strike them at once. James says in 
 his Epistle, " For what is your life ? it is even a va- 
 pour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanish- 
 eth away," And yet, in the very self-consciousness 
 of man, there lies an unanswerable argument of an 
 immortal existence and an endless futurity. No- 
 thing is more certain or natural to man than death ; 
 and yet he does not believe this, for he fears it as 
 though it were unnatural. The pleasures, recrea- 
 tions, and embelUshments of life, which we call en- 
 joyment and diversion, are, if viewed in a proper 
 light, merely a flight from death, — and an arduous ex- 
 ertion to drown the thoughts of the transitory nature 
 of our existence. Our life is but a helpless hover- 
 ing between time, which is always escaping through 
 our fingers, and eternity, which surrounds us on 
 every side. — We possess neither the one nor the 
 other. The vault above us consists of a heaven of 
 infinitude; but the clouds of death and corruption 
 are perpetually poised over our heads. We may de- 
 
 151 
 
152 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 scribe our existence here as a perpetual struggle be- 
 tween life and death ; and a prophet amongst the 
 Gentiles calls it, " the dream of a shadow !" 
 
 Does not the character of our internal life also 
 bear witness to the opposing circumstances in which 
 we are placed, and to the corruption and misery of 
 man ? Who is there that will not acknowledge, that 
 innocence and purity of heart, holiness and peace of 
 soul, the light and the fellowship of God, are the high- 
 est and most desirable blessings ? Why then do those 
 heavenly flowers and fruits not unfold themselves, 
 undisturbed and unhindered, in our characters ? 
 Why is there so much disquietude in the short life 
 of man, born of a woman ? Why does the flesh lust 
 against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh ? 
 And though bound together, why are they at vari- 
 ance, so that the good which they will they cannot 
 do, but the evil which they will not that they do ? 
 Why is there a law in our members warring with 
 the law in our spirits ? And why are we subjected 
 to the law of sin ? 
 
 The more clearly we perceive our own unhappy 
 condition, the more deeply shall we be able to look 
 into the simple law of God, which is love, and prove 
 and judge our own characters by it. The law, which 
 is the manifestation of the holy will of God, has 
 stepped into the place of his lost fellowship ; it is the 
 divine image, now expressed in words, because it had 
 visibly disappeared ; it is a justification of God to de- 
 generate man, and is hke a mirror in which he may 
 behold both what he has lost, and what he might have 
 152 
 
COENELIUS THE CENTURION. 153 
 
 been had he remained in the image of God ! That 
 law which is love, demands love only ! Thus sin 
 appears what it really is, enmity and rebellion against 
 God ; consequently, the circumstances of the human 
 race would be utterly miserable and comfortless, 
 were it not that, in the law itself, as well as in the 
 conscience of man, there is a sure testimony and 
 pledge that he, the Lord who created us in his image, 
 shall renew that image, and shall free us from all 
 sin and nnholiness. But we must first say from our 
 hearts, " O wretched man that I am ! who shall de- 
 liver me from the body of this death !" 
 
 The sentiment which gives rise to this expression, 
 although it may be deeply buried and concealed, is 
 to be found in the bosom of every human being ; 
 on which account Paul says, " For we know that 
 the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain 
 together until now," Rom. viii. 22. The idolatry 
 farthest removed from God and the truth, still ex- 
 presses, although it may be darkly and obscurely, 
 the reminiscence of the lost paradise and state of 
 blessedness ; and a certain consciousness of sinful- 
 ness is the ground and foundation of every religion, 
 even though it may have degenerated into the w^or- 
 ship of the devil. However grovelling it be, its very 
 name implies that it is a seeking and a longing for a 
 lost peace and salvation. That condemning, yet 
 consolatory word of God, which was uttered after the 
 fall to our first parents, with regard to the serpent 
 and the seed of the woman, was inherited by all the 
 descendants of Adam, along with their human form, 
 
 153 
 
154 COR?fEilUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 and although it may be misunderstood, is engraved 
 in the heart of all humanity. 
 
 Even their idols and images, temples, altars and 
 bloody sacrifices, express their conviction of sinful- 
 ness and misery ; their searching for a remedy amidst 
 the outward objects which surround them, and their 
 desire for the Saviour and Redeemer that should 
 come from above to restore to the miserable human 
 race the happiness which they had lost. 
 
 Even the heathens had their prophets, who uncon- 
 sciously and against their own will, prophesied like 
 Balaam of old, of the one that should come.* It is 
 so difficult to destroy entirely the image of God, that 
 we may have hopes of the amendment and repentance 
 of even the most sinful creature in existence ; from 
 the thickest darkness he may be turned to light, and 
 from the power of Satan unto God. 
 
 That which, in the portion of the world estranged 
 from God, was but a groaning on account of their 
 miserable condition, and a vague desire of amend- 
 ment, showed itself in the people of God, the race 
 from which the second Adam was to proceed, as a 
 joyful sound, which all that had ears to hear might 
 hear. He who is called " the Wonderful, and the 
 Prince of Peace," was to appear in the land of the 
 East, among the descendants of Abraham, " Of 
 which salvation the prophets," during four thousand 
 years, " have enquired and searched diligently, who 
 prophesied of the grace that should come unto you ; 
 searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of 
 
 * See Note G. 
 154 
 
CORlSfELIUS THE CENTURION. 155 
 
 Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified 
 before hand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory 
 that should follow," 1 Peter i. 10, 11. 
 
 It is unnecessary to enumerate all the prophecies 
 in which the voice of God was heard notifying the 
 day which Abraham desired to behold, — of the day 
 which was " to make an end of sins, and to make 
 reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlast- 
 ing righteousness, and to seal up the vision and pro- 
 phecy, and to anoint the Most Holy," Dan. ix. 24. 
 And what has been the result of this testimony ? 
 He, the Lord our strength and righteousness, who 
 rested on the bosom of God, and beheld the counte- 
 nance of our heavenly Father, — He, whom the pro- 
 phets foretold should come as our Redeemer and 
 Saviour, has come into the world to save sinners ! 
 
 According to promise, the love and grace of God 
 were manifested in his Son, " that through his name, 
 whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission 
 of sins,* ^ and in these words Peter has expressed the 
 most joyful truth that sinful man could have heard. 
 This work of God's compassion is called redemptimi. 
 because by its means both the guilt and punishment 
 of sin are removed, and man is no longer under the 
 servile fear of his Creator ; it is called justification, 
 because with faith in the name of Jesus, the certainty 
 of pardon is closely connected ; it is also called recon- 
 ciliation, because the wall of separation between God 
 and man is now taken away, and sinners have free 
 access to the grace and fellowship of God, and can 
 now be received as his children. 
 
 155 
 
156 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 Jesus Christ the only Mediator between God and 
 man, has accomplished this mighty and gracious 
 work; for, although one with God, he became a 
 man, like unto us in all things, yet without sin ; he 
 subjected himself to the law, yielding to it the most 
 perfect obedience ; was tempted in all points like as 
 we are ; and, in his own person, as the second Adam, 
 has sanctified human nature ; in short, he has borne 
 our guilt, and, out of free love to our race, has offer- 
 ed up himself a sacrifice for us upon the cross. By 
 this means only, decreed by God from all eternity, 
 could his justice be satisfied and his mercy be mani- 
 fested in the forgiveness of sins. God was, in Christ, 
 reconciling the world unto himself; he no longer im- 
 putes unto them their sins, but vouchsafes unto them 
 the word of reconciliation. 
 
 Jesus is the only ground of our salvation and 
 happiness. As Peter formerly preached in Jerusa- 
 lem, that no other name is given among men where- 
 by they might be saved, so he now declares the name 
 of Jesus to be the origin and source of the remis- 
 sion of sins. The name of Jesus does not betoken 
 his nature and character, but his relation to our sin- 
 ful world : it is also the name by which he desires 
 to be acknowledged in spirit and in truth. It was 
 given to him at his birth, because ** he shall save his 
 people from their sins." The dying Stephen ex- 
 claimed, " Lord, Jesus, receive my spirit !" And the 
 Scriptures inform us, that at the name of Jesus every 
 knee shall bow. The name of Jesus comprehends 
 the great work and office of the Son of God in the 
 156 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 157 
 
 redemption and salvation of mankind, his incarna- 
 tion, his suffering, and his glory ; while the name of 
 Christ signifies " the Anointed One" promised and 
 sent by God. Peter, in speaking of him to Cor- 
 nelius, calls him by his human name, " Jesus of 
 Nazareth." 
 
 Oh ! what an unspeakable blessing is compre- 
 hended in this name ! but only to him who wears it 
 in his heart, — to whom it has become the watch- 
 word of his soul, and who can utter it as a pious 
 child would utter the name of his father ! 
 
 The Apostle says, " All that believe on him," or, 
 literally, for the sake of the Gentile Centurion and 
 his friends, ^^ whosoever hQX\e\Q\h. in him shall receive 
 remission of sins!" Forgiveness is there; the 
 banner of the cross, with mercy inscribed upon it, 
 has been unfurled in the presence of the whole 
 world ; the mercy seat is accessible to every one ; 
 and the Son of Man has been raised up before the 
 eyes of all the human race, like the brazen serpent 
 before the erring Israelites, in order that every one 
 may be saved who will approach and look upon him 
 with the eyes of faith. As soon as the gracious 
 work of God, for the remission of sins, has taken 
 place in thee, and the word reconciliation become 
 the property of thy heart ; then thy sinfulness is 
 done away with through repentance and faith, thy 
 misery is cured, thy corruption rooted out, and the 
 former dark aspect of life and death is illuminated 
 by a light from heaven. Thou art born again into a 
 new life, and a new creation is at work in thy sou], 
 
 1Ö7 
 
158 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 — a new creation, similar to that first change which 
 took place in the hitherto void and barren earth, 
 when the Spirit of God descended upon its chaos, — 
 when light was separated from darkness, and the fir- 
 mament from the waters, — when our planet was 
 placed in connection with the sun and the stars of 
 heaven, — when the earth and the waters brought 
 forth living creatures abundantly, — and when man 
 was created in the image of God, to rule over all. 
 
 The new life which begins in thee, as soon as thou 
 believest in him whom God has sent, is in no way 
 inferior to the first creation, for it is also the work of 
 God. It begins by the divine word and light de- 
 scending into the depths of thy soul's darkness, in 
 order to manifest the waste and desert aspect of thy 
 ungodly character, and the confusion in which both 
 soul and body are plunged, as well as make thee ca- 
 pable and worthy of receiving the blessings of thy 
 heavenly Father. But thou resistest the light and 
 the word, because they are sharper than a two- 
 edged sword ; and because thou must be tried in the 
 furnace before thy regeneration from above can be 
 accomplished. 
 
 Ye who, like Nicodemus, though desiring the light, 
 are still walking in night and darkness, must first go 
 out into the wilderness to the first preacher of repent- 
 ance, that through his baptism the old man may be 
 destroyed ; and then come, consoled and joyful, unto 
 him who is the way, the truth, and the life ; for he 
 will not reject you, but baptize you with the Holy 
 Spirit, and with *the pure fire of heaven ! 
 158 ' 
 
XIII. 
 
 God is light ! and God is love ! says the Holy 
 Scripture, — thereby expressing, in the simplest man- 
 ner, the highest and most joyful intelligence which 
 could be conveyed to man, of the nature and cha- 
 racter of God. Light and love cannot exist without 
 manifesting themselves, without enlivening, illumi- 
 nating, and creating new light and love ; and this 
 is the very essence of their character. But what 
 benefit do we derive from knowing the nature of God, 
 if we do not feel and acknowledge both our depen- 
 dence upon him, and the mighty influence he is con- 
 stantly exerting upon us ? The word of truth has 
 assisted us in this, by disclosing, in the mysterious 
 name of Trinity, the three persons of the Godhead — 
 Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. This revelation of 
 three persons in one God, comprehends the whole of 
 Christian doctrine, and is both the foundation and 
 the distinguishing characteristic of our faith. Our 
 Lord Jesus himself, after his work on earth was per- 
 fected, and before he re-ascended to his glory, ex- 
 pressly declared it in the following words, *' Go ye, 
 therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in 
 the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
 Holy Ghost," Matt, xxviii. 19. 
 
 And John says, " There are three that bear record 
 
 159 
 
160 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy 
 Ghost ; and these three are one," 1 John v. 7 ; and, 
 indeed, all the Apostles bear witness to the same 
 truth. 
 
 This truth, which it is impossible for human lan- 
 guage clearly to express, is a mystery which, in its 
 depth of meaning, is as far beyond human compre- 
 hension as heaven is higher than the earth. It is a 
 secret which has been in part disclosed to us ; and 
 has two aspects, one in relation to God, and the 
 other to man. The divine aspect can as little be un- 
 derstood as the character of God can be compre- 
 hended ; and happily for us, it is not necessary for 
 our salvation. We do not require to know the na- 
 ture and structure of the sun in order to enjoy its 
 light ; nor to understand the connection between 
 soul and body, in order to believe in their existence. 
 The three divine names, " Father, Son, and Holy 
 Ghost," make known to us the whole history of 
 God among the children of men ; they comprehend 
 the mighty deed and manifestations of the love of 
 God, which he decreed from the beginning for our 
 salvation ; which he has begun in time, but which 
 shall be accomplished in eternity. 
 
 In the one living God, we must acknowledge the 
 Father, who chose us from all eternity, pre-or- 
 dained us to be his children, and created us in his own 
 image ; — the Son, who became man for our sakes, 
 and, by his sufferings and crucifixion, redeemed us 
 from sin and death ; and the Holy Spirit, who, as 
 the pledge of our redemption, sanctifies and renews 
 us in the image of God ; in short, one God in three 
 160 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 161 
 
 persons, to whom we owe three inestimable blessings, 
 election, redemption, and sanctification. The Apostle 
 Paul comprehends all in his benediction at the end 
 of 2 Corinthians " The grace of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of 
 the Holy Ghost, be with you all 1 Amen." 
 
 God's great work of love, in the manifestation of 
 himself in the flesh, and in the visible appearance of 
 his grace, was accomplised in the pouring out of the 
 Holy Spirit ; and it is only the power of that Spirit 
 which can perfect the heart-felt union of the faithful 
 with the Father through the Son. No man can call 
 Jesus, Lord, without the Holy Spirit ; and this Spirit 
 bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children 
 of God. This testimony the believing Cornelius was 
 jiow to receive. 
 
 ** While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on 
 all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision 
 which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, 
 because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of 
 the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, 
 and magnify God." — Acts x. 44 — 46 
 
 This section describes the operation and conse- 
 quences, both of the sermon of the Apostle Peter, 
 and of the faithful reception of the Gospel by Cor- 
 nelius, his relations and friends. In this simple pic- 
 ture we behold a regenerated life in Christ, awakened 
 by the gift of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 M 161 
 
162 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 When Peter had uttered these words, and, pro- 
 bably, would have continued his sermon, he was in- 
 terrupted, — it was enough. He had preached the 
 Gospel, and the jiian through whom God had an- 
 nounced peace in Jesus, the crucified and risen 
 again ; and in his name he had promised to all that 
 believe on him forgiveness of sins. 
 
 His own commission was fulfilled ; and the wish 
 of Cornelius, " to hear words of thee," was gratified, 
 Cornelius and his friends had been deeply moved ; 
 they had listened to the words of the holy Apostle 
 with increasing solemnity and devotion ; and the 
 Lord now opened the hearts of the little assembly, 
 who, like Lydia the purple-seller, were seeking after 
 peace and truth. The Word, the beginning and the 
 instrument of every act of God, had, like an immor- 
 tal seed, taken root in their hearts, and now needed 
 only a blessing from above to be rendered fruitful by 
 the Holy Spirit. 
 
 We behold here a new feast of Pentecost among 
 the heathen, for why should not they also be baptised 
 with fire ^ The time was come when the word of re- 
 conciliation was to spread through the whole world ; 
 when the wall of partition was to be broken down, the 
 enmity abolished, and the Gospel of peace preached 
 " to you which were afar off, and to them that were 
 nigh.'' This was the purpose for which our Lord 
 came, and for the accomplishment of which, he pro- 
 mised his disciples to send them the Comforter, the 
 invisible representative of himself. He was to lead 
 them in the way of truth, manifest to them still more 
 162 
 
CORNELIUS THE CEXTUUION. 163 
 
 clearly the Lord Jesus, and give them power and 
 wisdom in the offices to which God had called them. 
 In Jerusalem, at the feast of Pentecost, this promise 
 was gloriously fulfilled. The Apostles, filled with 
 the Holy Spirit, in the neighbourhood of Golgotha, 
 and in the presence of the supreme council, preached 
 Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified and risen one, as the 
 Lord to whom all power is given, both in heaven and 
 in earth. And the consequence of this wonderful 
 act of the power of God was, that in one day about 
 three thousand, and soon afterwards five thousand, 
 souls believed and were baptized. In this manner 
 the new birth of the world began, by the power of 
 the Holy Spirit manifested in the Apostles. The 
 Lord was the Spirit, and the Spirit was the Lord. 
 
 The promise of the Holy Ghost was made, not 
 only to the disciples who had followed the person of 
 Jesus Christ, but to all, far and near, who should re- 
 pent and believe in his name. When Peter and John 
 prayed, and laid their hands on those who had re- 
 ceived the word of God in Samaria, they each re- 
 ceived the gift of the Holy Spirit ; but our Centu- 
 rion and his household were deemed worthy of a 
 peculiar privilege ; for without prayer, or the laying 
 on of the Apostles' hands, they received the Holy 
 Ghost. Peter himself, when blamed by the Jews 
 for preaching to the Gentiles, relates it in the follow- 
 ing words : "As I began to speak, the Holy Ghost 
 fell on them, as on us, at the beginning," chap. ii. 15. 
 
 And this beginning, namely, that which took place 
 among the disciples at the feast of Pentecost, was 
 
 163 
 
164 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 the same which Cornelius and his friends expe- 
 rienced. 
 
 Here we must take the shoes from oflf our feet ; 
 for the place whereon we stand is holy ground, and 
 we are surrounded by the mysteries of the house of 
 God. 
 
 It appears to us that we must not pass over, with- 
 out consideration, the expression, " in the beginning," 
 which the Apostle uses in relating the history of 
 Cornelius. We find in our Bible, those words used 
 three times over, on different occasions of the deep- 
 est interest. They commence the Holy Scriptures, 
 " In the beginning God created the heaven and the 
 earth.'* The disciple whom Jesus loved, uses them to 
 commence his Gospel. And, thirdly, the Apostle 
 who preached the first sermon, and led the first sheep 
 into his Lord's fold from amongst the Gentiles, re- 
 fers to the great work of God— the pouring out of 
 his Holy Spirit upon men. These are the beginnings 
 of the three manifestations of God's eternal counsel, 
 — creation, redemption, and sanctification. 
 
 Every beginning, even those which take place 
 yearly, in the steadily revolving course of nature, is 
 completely withdrawn from our gaze — even the first 
 development of a little seed of corn is concealed 
 both from our eyes and our understanding, and if 
 we try to discover it, we are lost in the maze of that 
 invisible world from which the seed derives its life. 
 We know nothing of the relation of cause and effect, 
 except by our own experience, and the outward ap- 
 164 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 165 
 
 pearance of objects. God alone knoweth all his 
 works, from the beginning of the world. 
 
 In nothing does the sinfulness and folly of man, 
 and his proud, yet childish character, disclose itself 
 more, than in the wish to be, and to know as God ; 
 this is the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, which 
 is not of the Father, but of the world. If our minds 
 were not bounded and confined by the deceptions of 
 the visible world — and if our characters were com- 
 posed of the love of God, and of a true child-like 
 humility — we would no longer divide nature and 
 miracle, soul and body, the ordinary from the extra- 
 ordinary gifts and manifestations of God. The sin- 
 gle eye turned towards God, would recognize his 
 power and grace as clearlj in the customary way in 
 which he sends bread to the earth, as if it pleased 
 him to feed five thousand men once more with five 
 loaves. We must acknowledge, in both cases, that 
 man receives life from heaven, and that the power 
 from above manifests itself always in signs and won- 
 ders, though we are often too blind to appreciate 
 them. 
 
 While the Son of God was an inhabitant of this 
 earth, that which he had foretold to Nathanael hap- 
 pened : " Hereafter thou shalt see heaven open, 
 and the angels of God ascending and descending 
 upon the Son of Man." The disciples, as well as 
 all the inhabitants of Judea, witnessed his miracles, 
 and beheld the proofs of his glory with their own 
 eyes. Heavenly signs and manifestations belonged 
 
 165 
 
166 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 as necessarily and naturally to that period, as the 
 blossoms of the trees and plants, and the song of the 
 lark and nightingale belong to the joyous spring, the 
 season when God renews the outward form of the 
 earth. 
 
 The greatest work of the love of God, which far 
 surpasses human understanding, and which was to be- 
 come the possession and everlasting blessing of all 
 the races of men, had taken place in Judea, a narrow 
 and obscure corner of the world ; the Apostle Peter 
 now related it, briefly and simply, and Cornelius and 
 his household received it as a Gospel, or, in other 
 words, as good tidings. For this reason the men who 
 proclaimed it among the nations, were called Apos- 
 tles, that is to say, messengers, or those sent. The 
 Lord, whose words and miracles they were to preach, 
 strengthened them by his Spirit, so that they were en- 
 abled to accomplish that divine work which he had 
 begun ; and, by the power of that Spirit, they per- 
 formed as great, or, according to the promise of their 
 Lord, greater works than he himself had done. The 
 cause of God and its progress through the world, now 
 demanded spiritual miracles. 
 
 As the Lord Jesus, in the days of his flesh, had 
 principally and almost exclusively shown his power 
 and glory on external objects, and by curing the dis- 
 eased bodies of men. So he, or his Spirit, now mani- 
 fested himself in the interior world, and in the spi- 
 ritual and holy lives of those who believed in him. 
 The scales were removed from the spiritual eyes of 
 the Jews and Gentiles that were born blind ; and that 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTUKION. 167 
 
 which our Lord had said to the disciples of John, 
 Matt. ii. 5, now took place, but in an inverse order. 
 When the poor had the Gospel preached unto them, 
 the Jewish and Gentile world first awoke from their 
 sleep of death into a new life ; the deaf heard the 
 word of truth — the impure were purified from their 
 sins, and walked joyfully in a new path — and last of 
 all, the blind received their sight, being illuminated 
 by the perfect light of faith. Those disciples and 
 Apostles to whom power had been given to work the 
 same miracles as their Lord, and to whom even spirits 
 were subject, were the first to experience visibly, at 
 Jerusalem, during the feast of Pentecost, the manifes- 
 tations and wonders of the Holy Spirit. These show- 
 ed themselves by many outward signs, but principally 
 in the descent of the cloven tongues, and the gift of 
 languages. What they were to give to others, they 
 must first themselves receive — and what they had re- 
 ceived they must then impart. This happened also 
 at Caesarea. 
 
 " The Holy Ghost fell on all them ivhich heard the 
 luord.'— Here the Evangelist, and afterwards Peter, 
 makes use of a very simple word, borrowed from ma- 
 terial nature, in order to express that spiritual thing 
 which happened to Cornelius, — the Holy Ghost fell 
 on all. The Scriptures often use comparisons of the 
 same nature ; as for instance, " He shall come down 
 Uke rain upon the mown grass ; as showers that wa- 
 ter the earth," Psalm Ixxii. 6. The Bible is not like 
 the human understanding, for it does not separate the 
 outward and temporal, from the invisible and ever- 
 
 167 
 
168 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 lasting- Word ; but, on the contrary, regards both as 
 the one work of God. When the Word which was from 
 the beginning became flesh, why should not also the 
 coming of the Spirit from above be described by a 
 human word ? The natural man receiveth not the 
 things of the Spirit of God, but he that is spiritual 
 judgeth all things. That work of God, which took 
 place bodily in the man sick of the palsy, when Jesus 
 commanded him to take up his bed and walk ; and 
 also in the lame man, at the gate of the temple, who 
 at the words of Peter and John, suddenly rose up, 
 leaped, walked, and praised God ; the same now took 
 place spiritually in those who listened to the Apos- 
 tle's sermon. As a new bodily life commenced in 
 those that were healed, so a new life in Christ, of 
 which the former was the symbol, took place spiritu- 
 ally in Cornelius and his friends. 
 
 The Apostle who leaned on the bosom of our Lord, 
 calls him the Life, and thus describes the person of 
 Jesus : " That which was from the beginning, which 
 we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, 
 which we have looked upon, and our hands have 
 handled, of the word of life." The old covenant was 
 only the preparation and promise of the word of life 
 which was to come. In the new covenant, the word 
 became flesh, and the life appeared which was to be- 
 come the life of the world. A third manifestation 
 must now take place, namely, the pouring out of life 
 upon all flesh, and this is the history of God among 
 men. Cornelius and his friends became the first 
 fruits among the Gentiles when they received the 
 168 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 169 
 
 Holy Spirit ; it was indeed a most important moment, 
 and a most important advance, which the kingdom 
 of God now made upon earth ; it was the entrance 
 of the Gentile world upon a new life. That which 
 had happened to the Apostles at Jerusalem, now took 
 place in this Uttle community, their characters, so weak 
 and lowly before, were now exalted to the heavenly ; 
 and their hearts and lips were inspired, so that they 
 overflowed with the praises of the glory of God. All 
 this took place in Caesarea, while the earth was still 
 warm from the rays of the Sun of Righteousness, 
 which had descended upon it, and while the footsteps 
 of the anointed One were still visible. 
 
 " And they of the circumcision which believed were 
 astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that 
 on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the 
 Holy Ghost.'*' — It happened here, as at the feast of 
 Pentecost, the people were confounded and astonish- 
 ed at what had passed. 
 
 It was not so much the circumstance itself which 
 excited the wonder of those weak Christians, so lately 
 converted from Judaism ; as the fact, that the Gen- 
 tiles also, who had never conformed to the law or the 
 ordinance of circumcision, were esteemed worthy of the 
 same privileges as the people of God. Although they 
 had both heard from the mouth of the Apostle, and 
 learned by their own experience, " 1 hat God is no 
 respecter of persons ; but in every nation, he that 
 feareth him ; and worketh righteousness, is accepted 
 with him ;*' yet their old prejudice, in all its power, 
 rose up once more to darken their minds. Our his- 
 
 169 
 
170 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 tory here shows us two things, the condescending 
 mercy of God to weak unbelieving- man, and the 
 visible manifestation of his hand which was necessary 
 to open a path for the entrance of the Word into the 
 world. Sinful man is by nature inclined to worship 
 the understanding, which certainly is an error quite 
 as bad as the idolatry that seeks to confine the Lord, 
 who fills heaven and earth, to a temple made with 
 hands, or to an image made of iron or marble. This 
 worship of the understanding seeks to limit the power 
 of the living God, by the laws which govern nature, 
 and by the ordinary course of history and events ; thus 
 lowering the glory of the unchangeable God to the 
 level of a thing created by their own imaginations. 
 The first describes the method of the infidel worldly 
 wisdom of our own era ; the second was the ground 
 and foundation of the hatred with which the Jews 
 rejected the Gospel, and refused it even to the pre- 
 sent day. The astonishment of the believers who 
 accompanied Peter, shows that a similar prejudice 
 existed in their hearts. Let us hope that it was the 
 last, and that, by Gods grace, the pouring out of his 
 Holy Spirit on this occasion, became the means of 
 completing their change. Oh ! folly and blindness 
 of man, which would persuade him that there is no 
 other light than that which proceeds from the sun, 
 moon, and stars, and no other history than the world's 
 history, in which the Gospel can find no place ! 
 Where would they place our history of Cornelius ? 
 Would not the half converted Christians be astonish- 
 170 
 
CORNELIUS THE CEKTURION. 171 
 
 ed, and the unbeliever think that we spoke as if filled 
 with new wine ? 
 
 Let us now return to our Centurion. — The day had 
 now dawned in his house ; Christ, the morning star, 
 had arisen in every heart ; and the place where dark- 
 ness had formerly prevailed, was now illuminated by 
 the light of the Lord. This day of salvation suc- 
 ceeded a long night of sighs and groans, and longing 
 for the presence of the living God ; during it, the 
 Lord had led this Abraham, out of the idolatrous 
 land of his fathers, towards Canaan ; the faint twi- 
 light bad illuminated his path, which had only in- 
 creased without satisfying his desire for the full blaze 
 of light. His fasting, prayers, and alms, his humble 
 and prostrate reception of the man for whom he had 
 sent, his earnest attention to the words of the Apostle, 
 and the surrounding circle of his friends, servants, 
 and soldiers, filled with the same aspirations as him- 
 self, — all bore witness to the righteous longing of 
 these souls, for the good and perfect gifts which 
 come from above. Could a father give his child a 
 stone, when he asked him for bread ? And could 
 he, who clothed the lilies in the field more beauti- 
 fully than Solomon in all his glory, refuse the water 
 from the living fountain to the thirsty soul ! 
 
 For this reason, the day of anointing and baptis- 
 ing with the Holy Spirit, must as certainly come to 
 Cornelius, as the morning light follows darkness and 
 twihght. And as the Creator ornaments the beauti- 
 ful spring-time, the silent commencement of a new 
 life in the kingdom of nature, with many lovely 
 
 171 
 
172 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 sounds, odours, and colours, — so must the beginning 
 of the kingdom of God in the heathen world, be glori- 
 fied by signs and wonders, songs and praises. Cer- 
 tainly those miracles soon ceased, like the angelic 
 radiance on the countenance of Stephen, which was 
 beheld by those who put him to death : but they 
 were both the testimony of an internal, joyful, and 
 peaceful life, which grew and increased in faith, 
 hope, and love ; brought forth the fruits of the Spirit, 
 and was in the hearts of the regenerated ; a living 
 fountain of salvation and peace in life and in death, 
 through time and through eternity. 
 
 Happy are all those on whom the Spirit has de- 
 scended : they are the children of God, and bear the 
 testimony of it in their hearts, as they utter Abba 
 with their Hps. Regeneration, or a new creation 
 within us, can only be accomplished by the Spirit of 
 God, from whom our spirit proceeds. The Holy 
 Ghost must assist us in the struggle between the flesh 
 and the spirit, and arm us with power from on high, 
 that we may gain the victory, and be glorified from 
 one glory into another. 
 
 There is no other way to attain this spirit of 
 power, wisdom, and revelation, than the path in 
 which Cornelius walked. We have naturally a feel- 
 ing of disquietude, and a longing for the peace of 
 God ; the world cannot give it, and still less can we 
 attain it by our own exertions, for it must come to us 
 from above. Cornelius did not find it by his own 
 merits, by fasting or prayer, penitence or alms ; but, 
 through the instrumentality of Peter's sermon, he 
 172 
 
CORISELIUS THE CENTURION. 173 
 
 found peace in believing on Jesus Christ for the re- 
 mission of sins. As sight was restored to the be- 
 lieving blind man at the word of the Lord, and as 
 the man sick of the palsy took up his bed and walked, 
 when our Lord said, " thy faith hath cured thee," 
 so the word of the Apostle became light and life in 
 the heart of the Gentile by means of his faith ; and 
 the Gospel became in him the power of God unto 
 salvation. But in order to obtain the gift of the Holy 
 Spirit, there is a nearer path for us than for Corne- 
 lius; we do not need to send, like him, to Joppa. 
 The word spoken by our Lord, and evangelized by 
 his Apostles, is close at hand and in our very dwell- 
 ings ; and as soon as we desire it, we can hear the 
 voices of Peter and John, Paul and James. 
 
 If this wish is lively and ardent, and if we receive 
 the word joyfully as the first of blessings, then the 
 giver himself, the Holy Spirit, will come unto us, and 
 we shall enjoy the fellowship of God. If we grasp 
 it firmly, as the better portion ; then more and more 
 shall be given to us ; if we are only willing to learn, 
 the Spirit of God will teach us ; if we will follow, 
 he will guide us ; if we open to him our troubled 
 hearts, he will console us ; if we remain faithful, he 
 will strengthen and perfect us. Then shall we speak 
 with tongues, and with thanks and praises, by word 
 and deed, shew forth the goodness of him who has 
 called us from darkness into his wonderful light. 
 To him be honour and glory, for ever and ever. 
 Amen ! 
 
 173 
 
XIV. 
 
 If, following the example of the Holy Scriptures, 
 we call them a covenant, and then divide it into the 
 Old and New, we indicate thereby the divine origin, 
 the character, aim and history of the revelations of 
 God. The Bible is the glorious word, profound and 
 true, which, rightly understood, reveals to us the 
 mystery of the dependance of man on his heavenly 
 Father, and the connection of God with man. The 
 words of the prophet, ** men have transgressed the 
 covenant," lind their confirmation both in human 
 feeling and in human history. Slavish fear, striving 
 to reconcile the offended Godhead by self-chosen 
 mediators, or by its own art to appease the divine 
 anger, and quiet its own terror, has been the basis 
 of idolatry in all ages, and in all nations. Every 
 religion not grounded on revelation, is false, being a 
 proof of sin and of apostacy from God, — tending, 
 besides, to a perpetually increasing separation from 
 Jehovah and his salvation. Man could only be re- 
 conciled to God, by means of a divine mediator ; but 
 this was beyond the power of man to conceive till 
 God himself revealed it. 
 
 The history of that nation, which God chose from 
 t amidst the idolatrous world, to be his own peculiar 
 people, amply proves how difficult it is for the na- 
 174 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 175 
 
 tural man to raise his faith, so as to comprehend the 
 covenant of God with the human race ; simphcity 
 and humility alone can do it. Therefore the Lord 
 says, by the mouth of his prophets, " Thou hast 
 made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied 
 me with thine iniquities. 1, even I, am he that 
 blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and 
 will not remember thy sins," Is. xliii. 24, 25. '* I 
 have loved thee with an everlasting love ; therefore 
 with loving kindness have I drawn thee." J er. xxxi. 
 3. These words paint with striking reality, both the 
 unwearied mercy of God, and the unceasing rebellion 
 of men. The next step which the Jewish nation 
 shall take, is deeply interesting to all mankind ; 
 though God is also the God of the Gentiles, yet 
 Israel is his first-born son. 
 
 It is unspeakably touching to observe how he, 
 *' which giveth the sun for a Hght by day, and the 
 ordhaances of the moon and of the stars for a light 
 by night," how the Lord of Sabaoth condescends to 
 draw men unto himself, and if they will humbly 
 believe on him, covers their transgressions, showering 
 blessings upon them. As the Lord, after the first 
 judgment had been passed over the miserable earth, 
 extended his bow in the clouds, as a pledge to 
 Noah that he would keep his covenant and his pro- 
 mises ; so all the exterior forms and observances of 
 the Old Testament had no other object than the 
 visible ratification of his gracious words, " For the 
 mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed ; 
 but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither 
 shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the 
 
 175 
 
176 CORNELIUS THE CEKTURION. 
 
 Lord that hath mercy on thee," Is. liv. 10. And the 
 Apostle Paul says, " Israelites, to whom pertaineth 
 the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and 
 the giving of the law, and the service of God and the 
 promises ; whose are the fathers, and of whom, as 
 concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, 
 God blessed for ever !" Rom. ix. 4, 5. 
 
 After the kindness and love of God our Saviour 
 toward man had appeared, when the promises were 
 fulfilled, and the eternal covenant was concluded, 
 not by works of righteousness which we have done, 
 " but according to his mercy he saved us, by the 
 washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy 
 Ghost." Baptism stands among the ordinances of 
 Christianity, in wonderful simplicity, as the seal of 
 the covenant of God, as a visible pledge of the grace 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the love of God, and of 
 the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Oh ! that all 
 would regard it as the glad token of a new covenant, 
 like the bright testimony God stretched among the 
 clouds, the footstool of him whose thrc^e is in 
 heaven ! Oh ! that Sion would hear his voice ; lo, 
 I shall be with thee, even unto the end of the world I 
 " I have graven thee on the palms of my hands," 
 
 '* Then answered Peter, can any man forbid water that these 
 should not be baptized, which have I'eceived the Holy Ghost 
 as well as we ? And he commanded them to be baptized in 
 the name of the Lord." — Acts x. 46 — 48. 
 
 Peter had preached the Gospel to Cornelius and 
 his friends ; they had received the word of truth joy- 
 176 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 177 
 
 fully, and had believed. A new life had commenced 
 in their souls, and they were filled with the Holy 
 Spirit, like the Apostles at the feast of Pentecost, so 
 that they spake with tongues and magnified God. 
 And now Peter asks, in the joy of his heart, " Can 
 any man forbid water, that these should not be bap- 
 tized ? " One may well inquire how they that were 
 born again by the Spirit of God, should require the 
 ceremonial of baptism ? Certainly not, if baptism 
 were a mere outward form ! But it must have been 
 much more, or the Apostle would not have used it to 
 conclude that work of salvation and blessing, for 
 which he had been sent to the house of the Centurion ; 
 making it, as it were, the very crown of God's first 
 manifestation to the Gentiles ! Those young be- 
 lievers were to receive a blessing through the ordi- 
 nance of baptism, the last good and perfect gift of 
 which they stood in need. 
 
 Baptism seems, at the first glance, a mere outward 
 ceremony. The person to be baptized must either 
 be plunged into water, as was the custom in the 
 East, or else, as among European Christians, be 
 merely sprinkled with it, while the clergyman is pro- 
 nouncing the name of the Holy Trinity. Nothing 
 can be simpler than this, yet it is the seal of the 
 greatest of God's gifts and blessings. God acts with 
 simplicity ; it is man alone that employs art. What 
 can be simpler than the manner in which, for so 
 many thousand years, he has poured out his light 
 upon the earth, and has sent rain and dew from 
 above ? When the Almighty created man in his own 
 
178 COBNEIilUS THE CEKTUßlON. 
 
 imag-e, he formed his body out of the dust of (he 
 ground, breathed into his nostrils the breath of hfe, 
 and man became a hving soul. Sin, however, has 
 transformed us, making" that manifold which was for- 
 merly simple, and causing flesh and spirit to strive 
 against one another. 
 
 But what is more, the Lord Jesus himself has 
 appointed and ordained this sacrament. He who 
 walked upon earth in the simplest and most obscure 
 form of man, in order to seek them which were lost, 
 and to save them from sin , he who, by his simple 
 Gospel, has done away with the unnecessary forms 
 of the law, and enjoined the worship of God in 
 Spirit and in truth, he it is who has solemnly or- 
 dained baptism to be used by the church. His words 
 are, " Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, bap- 
 tizing them in the name of the Father, and of the 
 Son, and of the Holy Ghost." 
 
 Baptism is the symbol of Christianity, of belief in 
 the Gospel, and of reception into the community of 
 saints. The Apostles, wherever they went, enjoin- 
 ed this command of the Lord, and baptized all 
 who, renouncing either Judaism or Heathenism, pro- 
 fessed their behef in the name of Jesus. " Repent 
 and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of 
 Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins," are the words 
 of Peter on the day of Pentecost. Cornelius and 
 his companions must also be baptized, in order to be 
 withdrawn from the dark regions of gentilisra, and 
 received into the congregation of the Lord. As a 
 little infant, at its entrance into this world of tears^ 
 170 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 179^^ 
 
 Stands in need of the swaddling clothes which are 
 given to it, without its own co-operation ; so the 
 new-born heavenly child requires baptism, the cover- 
 ing given to it from heaven for its spiritual man. 
 Regarding it merely as an outward ceremony, it is 
 honourable, for it resembles the anointing with oil, 
 when kings and priests were consecrated. 
 
 As we beheld the fulness of the Godhead dwelling 
 in the simple human form of Jesus of Nazareth, so, 
 in like manner, baptism comprehends within itself a 
 Spirit and life, a divine truth and promise. We 
 shall see this, if we only consider its institution, [t 
 was practised in Israel by divine authority before 
 Christ appeared; but only as preparatory, in the 
 same manner as the Gospel, before it was preach- 
 ed, was contained in the Old Testament. John bap- 
 tized for them that was to come, and his disciples 
 did the same. The Lord himself was baptized, com- 
 plying with this ordinance as well as with the law of 
 Moses ; after his resurrection also, when he had 
 finished his work upon earth, and was about to re- 
 ascend to his glory, he enjoined it in the most solemn 
 manner on his disciples. It was then he uttered the 
 glorious words, " All power is given unto me in 
 heaven and earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all 
 nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, 
 and of the Sod, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching 
 them to observe all things whatsoever I have com- 
 manded you ; and, lo, I am with you alway, even un- 
 to the end of the world. Amen." In this manner 
 the Lord of heaven and earth made baptism the 
 
 179 
 
180 CORNELIUS THE CENTIJRION. 
 
 visible seal of his glory and power, and the token of 
 his invisible presence unto all that believe in his 
 name. 
 
 Our history shows us that the sermon of the 
 Apostle had found in the hearts of Cornelius and his 
 friends a good soil, which willingly received the 
 indestructible seed of the word, and quickly brought 
 forth fruit. Through the preaching of Peter, they 
 had become believers in Christ, and partakers of 
 the kingdom of God. There was only one thing 
 more to be desired, namely, the sealing of this new 
 life and covenant by the Lord himself, through 
 whose servants they had come to the knowledge of 
 the truth. Baptism was to be the seal and confir- 
 mation. Peter himself did not baptize, but probably 
 commanded the brethren who accompanied him from 
 Joppa to admit the believing Gentiles by this ordi- 
 nance into the Christian church. 
 
 They had hitherto received the word and the 
 Spirit in common ; but now the pledge of the 
 grace and fellowship of Jesus Christ was imparted 
 to each individual, as the touching and laying on of 
 hands was formerly done by our Lord. In like man- 
 ner, the baptism of those children whom we bring to 
 Jesus, is a repetition of the same condescending love 
 which prompted him to say, " Suffer the little chil- 
 dren to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of 
 such is the kingdom of God," — and which induced 
 him to take them up in his arms, put his hands upon 
 them, and bless them. Paul also compares baptism 
 to the cloud which led the Israelites through the wil« 
 
 lao 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 181 
 
 derness, and manifested the presence of Jehovah. 
 He says, our fathers " were all baptized unto Moses, 
 in the cloud and in the sea" — meaning by Moses, 
 the covenant of the law, of which he was the 
 mediator. 
 
 The Lord chose water for the seal and visible sign 
 of those blessings which his presence imparts. He 
 chose that common element, which is found even in 
 the most desert parts of the world ; which, at the be- 
 ginning, until the Creator appointed its proper 
 bounds, covered the whole surface of the ground like 
 one immense grave, and by which also he executed 
 his first judgment on the corrupt earth. 
 
 " Can any one forhid water f^ said the Apostle. 
 He lets us know, by many comparisons and allusions, 
 whenever he speaks of baptism, how important we 
 must consider it, as a token appointed by our Lord. 
 In his first Epistle, he compares the water of baptism 
 to the waters of the flood, whereby only eight souls 
 were saved, but the whole unbelieving world was 
 destroyed ; Paul also compares it to the Red Sea, 
 in which Pharaoh and his whole host were drowned, 
 but Israel passed through dry-shod. Water can be 
 deadly and destroying, but it is also purifying and 
 enlivening. On account of its destructive properties, 
 the raging sea is held within its proper bounds by 
 the power of God ; but he also sends it down in the 
 form of rain and dew, which, after descending into 
 the ground, spring up again in the gushing rivu- 
 lets, and quicken and enliven every living thing upon 
 earth. 
 
 181 
 
182 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 The water of baptism was to show itself in both 
 ways on Cornelius and his house He was by birth 
 a Gentile, a child of wrath, without faith and hope, 
 and utterly estranged from the character of God ; in 
 this respect he resembled mankind at the time of the 
 flood, as well as the unbelieving Pharaoh and his 
 host ; but, in another, he differed from them, being 
 aware of his sin and misery, and longing, from his 
 heart, for grace and truth. He felt that he was un- 
 der the bondage of death, and wished to become a 
 partaker in eternal life and holiness. The Gospel, 
 that word of peace and truth, was now sent, and 
 opened to him a new world, the kingdom of God. 
 He believed it with his whole heart, and desired to 
 become a member of this heavenly kingdom — and, 
 lo ! he was solemnly received into it, body, soul, and 
 spirit, through the baptism of regeneration. His 
 old and natural man was, in the sight of God, anni- 
 hilated and destroyed in the water of baptism ; — he 
 arose out of the dark flood, the symbol of darkness, 
 as a new man, the child of light and truth ; the 
 freedom of the children of God, and a new and 
 glorious life, far beyond the influence of time and of 
 death, was now secured to him by the divine letter 
 and seal. Cornelius, with his whole house, may be 
 compared to Noah and his family, who entered into 
 the ark, and, by its means, floated on the surface of 
 the waters ; or to the children of Israel, over whom 
 the waves of the sea had no power. Baptism was 
 to him a seal and token, that neither death nor life, 
 nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things 
 182 
 
CORNEJLIUS THE CENTURION. 183 
 
 present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, 
 nor any other creature, should be able to separate 
 him from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus 
 our Lord. It is likewise a pledge of the same to us 
 and our children. 
 
 Cornelius and his friends required a pledge of 
 that forgiveness of sins which Peter had spoken of 
 in the conclusion of his sermon, and also a perfect 
 assurance of peace and happiness. This was secured 
 to them by baptism, which is a cleansing from sin 
 by the blood of the Son of God, and the answer of 
 a good conscience toward God, by the resurrection 
 of Jesus Christ. ^* Know ye not," saith the Scrip- 
 ture, " that so many of us as were baptized into 
 Jesus Christ were baptized into his death ? There- 
 fore we are buried with him by baptism into death, 
 that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by 
 the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk 
 in newness of life," Rom. vi. 3, 4. These Gentile 
 believers were appointed to receive all the blessings 
 of the Gospel by means of baptism. They came 
 out of the water washed from their sins, by the blood 
 of Jesus Christ, clad in the garments of his righteous- 
 ness, and made by him kings and priests unto God 
 and his Father. 
 
 " They were baptized in the name^qfthe Ijord,^^ — 
 That is to say, in the name of the Father, the Son, 
 and the Holy Ghost. Oh ! the depth and simplicity 
 of those three holy baptismal words ! They com- 
 prehend all the promises and revelations of God for 
 our salvation, and, by their connection with the rite of 
 
 18S 
 
184 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 baptism, are humanized, or, in other words, are God 
 in his relation to man. 
 
 As the word preached by the Apostles in the name 
 of the Lord, so the miracles similar to his own which 
 they performed, are and were his, in the fullest extent 
 of the word ; so when we contemplate baptism in the 
 name of the Lord, we may regard it as done by God 
 himself through the instrumentality of men. God's 
 name is the Deity himself in relation to man ; and 
 he has disclosed it to us in order that we may name 
 him " ours." In the rite of baptism, all that Jehovah 
 is to man, is comprehended and imparted. The three 
 works of the mercy of God ; the adoption of man by 
 the Father ; his reconciliation and redemption by the 
 Son ; and his regeneration and sanctificatiou by the 
 Spirit — all combining to re-establish the divine image 
 in his soul and body, are solemnly expressed, and di- 
 vinely sealed and confirmed by the names of the 
 trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The sacra- 
 ment of baptism contains a mysterious treasure, great- 
 er and higher than either earth or heaven, for it con- 
 tains the name of God and the whole of the Gospel, 
 In its essence, it is a second incarnation ofthat Word 
 which was from the beginning with God, and by 
 whom all things were made. It is the sacrament, 
 that is, the visible yet mysterious testimony of the 
 covenant which the omnipotent God has entered into 
 with man, in order to assure him of bis adoption and 
 blessing ; and it is also the entrance of his name into 
 the book of life. Therefore must baptism, in this 
 instance, perfect and conclude God's work of mercy 
 184 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 185 
 
 to the believing Gentiles at Caesarea, and be a testi- 
 mony that their names were written in heaven. 
 
 What joy and happiness must Cornelius and his 
 friends have experienced, and how must their souls 
 have praised the Lord and his holy name, after they 
 had been received by baptism into his church, for the 
 living fountain was opened out of which they were 
 to receive grace ? We obtain no more by baptism, 
 however, than what we can grasp by faith, for it is 
 written, " He that believeth and is baptized, shall be 
 saved." What advantage would it be to a man, to 
 have a deed in his hands proving his possession of a 
 large property, as long as he refused to assert his 
 claim ? What good would it do to an orphan child, 
 though a rich and benevolent man said to him, " 1 
 will be thy Father, thou shalt be my child, and that 
 which is mine shall belong to thee," if the child would 
 not believe his words, that is to say, if he would not 
 accept his blessings ! The faith which we have in 
 our hearts is the power of receiving, and as soon as 
 we have received, it becomes a possession ; but bap- 
 tism is, and remains a gift, to which we may always 
 have recourse, as to the mercy-seat, which is Christ 
 Jesus. 
 
 " He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.'' 
 — The ground of thfeir salvation was laid, and a new 
 life had begun in them ; " buried with Christ in 
 baptism," wherein they had risen with him, through 
 the faith of the operation of God, who had raised 
 him from the dead ; they henceforward contemplat- 
 ed the things which are from above, and no longer 
 
 185 
 
186 CORNEIilüS THE CENTURION. 
 
 that which is earthly. Their souls, clad with salva- 
 tion, and covered with the garments of righteousness, 
 now became joyful in the Lord, and magnified God. 
 Having been baptized into Christ, they had put on 
 Christ, and full of thankful love towards their glori- 
 fied Redeemer, they sought, by the joyful confession 
 of his name, and a faithful imitation of his example, 
 to dedicate to him their whole life, body, soul, and 
 spirit, and to become more and more worthy of his 
 kingdom of grace, and his future glory. Baptism in 
 the name of the Lord, which he himself had ap- 
 pointed immediately before his ascension, was a sym- 
 bol, a seal, and a pledge of the glorious future, when 
 they should be freed from the prison of their mortal 
 body, and the imperfections of their earthly life, and 
 when they should behold him whom their soul loved, 
 face to face, through all the ages of eternity. In 
 order to renew and quicken this eternal covenant, 
 and to strengthen their relation with God and Christ, 
 they were now permitted access to the Lord's Supper, 
 that by receiving his body and blood into their souls, 
 they might become partakers of eternal life. For 
 whosoever hath, to him shall be given, that he may 
 have more abundantly. 
 
 186 
 
XV. 
 
 We are now at the conclusion of the beautiful 
 and remarkable history of the Centurion Cornelius. 
 When the narration of any occurrence causes it to 
 be vividly depicted in our minds, we may be said to 
 live it over again ; in this manner we have expe- 
 rienced in our own persons much of what is described 
 by the Evangelists, and beheld Cornelius and his 
 friends as in a mirror. It was for this reason that 
 the conversion of the first Gentile family was trans- 
 mitted to us in writing, as a most important part of 
 that Christian belief into which we are baptized. 
 We see in the history of Cornelius, that he was ac- 
 quainted with the existence of the one true God, and 
 Almighty Creator of heaven and earth, by means of 
 the manifestation of the old covenant, in the sacred 
 writings of the Jews ; and also that it was not a mere 
 cold conviction, but an ardent belief, and a heart-felt 
 longing after the fellowship of the only source of 
 salvation and happiness. We behold also in our 
 history, the path which God takes, in order that all 
 may come to the knowledge of the truth, and that he 
 may be found by those that seek him. We hear the 
 Apostle describing the person and character of the 
 Mediator and Saviour Jesus Christ, the incarnation 
 of the Son of God, and his wanderings upon earth, 
 
 187 
 
188 CORNELIUS THE CEXTURION. 
 
 his death on the cross, his resurrection and ascen- 
 sion, his glorification, and return again to judgment. 
 
 We then see and understand how Cornelius and 
 his household heard the word preached unto them 
 with humility and child-like faith, how they received 
 forgiveness of sins, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, 
 and then, as a seal and testimony of the fellowship 
 and grace of God, were renewed by baptism into 
 the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, and into the 
 community of his saints. 
 
 The history now concludes, and we might perhaps 
 expect it to relate something more ; for instance, the 
 progress of the new life in those so lately awakened 
 from sleep and risen from the dead, and the manner 
 in which Christ continued to illuminate their minds ! 
 Presumptuous idea ! The Holy Scriptures are even 
 silent with regard to the remaining history of the 
 young man at Nain, and Lazarus of Bethany, both 
 of whom our Saviour recalled to life. After Nicode- 
 mus' visit by night and conversation with our Lord, 
 his history is lost, like a rivulet amidst the sand ; we 
 do not ever behold him rise up and depart, and 
 scarcely are told how long he hearkened to the Mas- 
 ter in Israel. 
 
 He came, but, unfortunately for himself, he also 
 departed before that flower had opened, the germ 
 of which was in his soul ; yet the Evangelist twice 
 alludes afterwards to the nightly visit of this Pharisee 
 and ruler among the Jews. It is otherwise, however, 
 in our history. The rays of the rising sun had sud- 
 denly opened the hearts of the little household at 
 188 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 189 
 
 Caesarea, and in their joy they could now say, " Lo the 
 winter is past, the rain is over and gone ; the flow- 
 ers appear on the earth ; the time of the singing of 
 birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in 
 our land ; the fig-tree puttetb forth her green figs, 
 and the vines with the tender grape give a good 
 smell." Song of Soloman, ii. 11. 
 
 '* Then prayed they him to tarry certain days." — 
 Acts X. 48. 
 
 These concluding words of our history do not 
 seem intended for our particular consideration ; in- 
 deed, similar expressions may be found in any letter 
 or narrative of a journey ; nevertheless they are 
 hallowed by the connection in which they stand. 
 On this account, we must observe who made this 
 request ; to whom it was made ; and what was ob- 
 tained by it. It is true that the narrative might well 
 have concluded with the words which we have already 
 considered, " And he commanded them to be baptized 
 in the name of the Lord ;" but we should have re- 
 gretted this abrupt termination, in as far as we had 
 sympathized in the joy of this converted household at 
 receiving the new life through the grace of God. 
 
 We should have asked, almost with grief, why 
 Peter and his companions, after fulfilling their office 
 and divine commission, had left the grateful Gentiles 
 so speedily ? Ought not the messengers and ser- 
 vants of the Lord to show themselves as friends and 
 brethren to Cornelius and his household, by passing 
 
 189 
 
190 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 a short time of confidential fellowship with them ? 
 And is then the life of faith as different and distinct 
 from the customary and social life of man as the act 
 of going" to church is from week-day occupations ; 
 
 Our history answers these questions, when it thus 
 concludes : " Then prayed they him to tarry certain 
 days.'^ The Evangelist is silent ; nevertheless it is 
 understood that their request was granted. Our 
 Lord himself, though uninvited, entered the house 
 of the tax-gatherer Zaccheus, because the latter 
 earnestly and from his heart desired him to do so. 
 Peter and his companions tarried certain days. 
 Golden days, are the words of a pious commentator 
 now deceased ; golden, in the same manner that the 
 morning's dawn and the rising sun are termed golden. 
 Here the day was breaking, here the Sun of Right- 
 eousness was shining with healing on its wings, 
 and here the Lord was descending like the soft dew, 
 and refreshing the hearts of bis children. 
 
 We behold in the house of Cornelius a holy 
 family, who are " fellow citizens with the saints 
 and of the household of God, and are built upon the 
 foundation of the Apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ 
 himself being the chief corner-stone ; in whom all 
 the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto 
 an holy temple in the Lord," Eph. ii. 19. 
 
 Our Evangelist relates nothing farther concerning 
 what took place during these days, in the house of 
 the Centurion at Caesarea. We do not require it, 
 however. He has already circumstantially de- 
 scribed, in the Acts of the Apostles, the appearance 
 190 
 
COKNELIUS THE CEKTURlsON. 191 
 
 and character of the first assemblage of Christians, 
 after they had received the gift of the Holy Spirit. 
 It must have been an occurrence somewhat similar at 
 Csesarea, for both bad the same origin ; the faith of 
 the converts was founded on the same grounds, and 
 they both rejoiced in the same grace and heavenly 
 blessing. In both cases there were a number of be- 
 lievers, and, although very different from each other 
 in outward circumstances, the character and form of 
 their minds were similar, and their hearts and souls 
 were closely knit together. 
 
 Let us now enter the house of the noble Roman. 
 We here behold a company consisting of men of dif- 
 ferent station and country, different education and 
 calling. The two principal people are Simon Peter, 
 the guest, and Cornelius, the host and proprietor of 
 the house ; the first is by birth a Galilean, his early 
 occupation was that of a fisherman at Bethsaida, but 
 now he is an Apostle of Jesus of Nazareth ; the 
 second is a soldier, by birth and education a Roman 
 and a Gentile. With the Apostle Peter there are 
 classed the believing brethren who accompanied him 
 from Joppa to Csesarea, who had received the Gospel, 
 but who had not laid aside all their Jewish prejudices, 
 and were astonished when they beheld " that on the 
 Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy 
 Ghost." With the Centurion we may rank his family, 
 relations, and friends, his servants and the devout 
 soldier, along with " many that were come together." 
 They were probably all Gentiles ; no doubt women 
 and children would be among them, and participate 
 in the divine blessing ; although, according to the 
 
 191 
 
192 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 custom of the Scriptures, they are not mentioned, 
 because it was unnecessary. Thus we behold an as- 
 semblage of men of the most distinct races, manners, 
 and customs. 
 
 All those walls of separation are taken away. Ac- 
 cording to the words of the Apostle Paul, here 
 " there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither 
 bond nor free, there is neither male nor female ; 
 but ye are all one in Christ Jesus." " All children 
 of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of 
 you as have been baptized unto Christ have put on 
 Christ," Gal. iii. 28, 26, 27. We see here an assem- 
 blage and household of our heavenly Father, joined 
 together in the closest manner by one spirit, through 
 Jesus Christ, the only mediator between God and 
 man, who offered himself up a sacrifice for the re- 
 demption of all. Baptism, the washing of regenera- 
 tion, and the renewal of the Holy Spirit, has taken 
 away the walls of separation. What a glorious siglit 
 it must be, and what joy and pleasure it must cause 
 the angels of God, when in such a spirit the behoving 
 sons of Shem, Ham, and Japhet, though outwardly 
 divided by variety of colour, language, time, educa- 
 tion and country, join together in brotherly love over 
 the word of God, and under the cross, the victorious 
 banner of our Lord ! This can only be effected by 
 the power of the Gospel, the word of peace and love. 
 It neither destroys human relations, nor those out- 
 ward observances which keep a right distance be- 
 tween the different classes of society ; the Centurion 
 remained not only a Centurion, and his servants and 
 192 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 193 
 
 soldiers were subject to him as formerly ; but the 
 light which now illuminated all, established more 
 strongly and closely human ties and relationships. 
 In this manner it afterwards joined more intimately 
 than ever, both in the flesh and in the Lord, Phile- 
 mon and his run-away servant Onesimus, whom 
 Paul had converted, and sent back to his master. As 
 the hand and foot serve the eye, and the eye serves 
 the hand and foot, so the Gospel joins many together 
 in one body in Christ, which is the head ; " From 
 whom the whole body fitly joined together and com- 
 pacted by that which every joint supplieth, according 
 to the effectual working in the measure of every part, 
 makelh increase of the body, unto the edifying of 
 itself in love," Eph. iv. 16. 
 
 Our assemblage at Caesarea, in prayer and praise, 
 and reception of the divine word, are the picture of 
 the first Christians who met together on the day of 
 Pentecost, and here also there is in the sight of the 
 Lord neither rich nor poor, great nor mean, master 
 nor servant ; but love, which is the bond and tie, con- 
 necting all together. A similar mind and spirit 
 should accompany us, both in our churches and in 
 our social and domestic life, and transform our work- 
 ing days into days of the Lord. 
 
 On what was this heart-felt bond of union ground- 
 ed, which joined together in one spirit, such different 
 men ? Our history replies, "On Jesus Christ the 
 Lord." Here also we may quote the words of the 
 Apostle, *' For other foundation can no man lay than 
 o 193 
 
194 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 that is laid, which is Jesus Christ,*' 1 Cor. iii. 11, 
 Peter had preached to those Gentiles Jesus Christ, the 
 Lord over all, whom God anointed with the Holy 
 Ghost and with power, who went about doing good ; 
 who had been crucified and slain, but whom God rais- 
 ed up the third day, and ordained to be the Judge of 
 quick and dead, and to whom all the prophets bear 
 witness, that through his name, whosoever believeth 
 in him, shall receive remission of sins. This Jesus 
 of Nazareth was the one theme of the Apostle's ser- 
 mon ; and Cornelius, and all they who heard it, be- 
 lieved the word, and this faith became the invisible 
 bond which united their hearts and souls into one fa- 
 mily of God, and, as his children, joined them toge- 
 ther with the ties of brotherly and sisterly affection. 
 They all had received the Lord Jesus Christ, faith 
 had taken firm root in their hearts, their house was 
 built upon a firm rock, and they were all penetrated 
 with gratitude, reverence, and love towards their 
 heavenly Father ; they had all been baptized in the 
 name of Jesus, and through him received forgiveness 
 of sins, and access to the Father, through the Holy 
 Spirit ; by him they had also received the pledge of 
 their adoption to be children of God, and the lively 
 assurance of a future perfection in eternal happiness 
 and glory. Thus we see the fulfilment of what the 
 Apostle writes, " One body and one Spirit, even as 
 ye are called in one hope of your calling ; one Lord, 
 one faith, one baptism ; one God and Father of all, 
 who is above all, and through all, and in you all." 
 194 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 195 
 
 Eph. iv. 4 — 6. As by the word of salvation which 
 God has presented to us through Christ, men are re- 
 conciled to their heavenly Father, so they are joined 
 together in the bonds of affection one to another, in 
 the same manner as the angelic inhabitants of heaven. 
 A union with God in faith, is at the same time, a 
 union of men amongst each other in love ; for the 
 one is the natural and necessary consequence of the 
 other. For this reason, our Lord makes use of the 
 strongest expressions and the most striking parables, 
 to show that gentleness, forgiveness of sin, love to 
 our neighbour and even lo our enemy, are the signs 
 and tokens by which we may know his disciples and 
 followers. In the Lord's prayer, he says, " Forgive 
 us our debts, as we forgive our debtors," and afterwards 
 in the same chapter, adds, " For if ye forgive men their 
 trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you ; 
 but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither 
 will your Father forgive your trespasses." This 
 is the spirit of the new covenant, the spirit of 
 peace and of love, which the prophet alludes to 
 when he prophecies of the time when the wolf shall 
 dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down 
 with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and 
 the fatling together ; when, instead of the thorn shall 
 come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier shall 
 come up the myrtle tree ; when God will put a new 
 spirit into man, take away the stony heart out of his 
 flesh, and give him a heart of flesh. As the sun en- 
 livens and quickens the animal and vegetable pro- 
 ductions of nature, so Jesus Christ, the Lord over 
 
 195 
 
196 CORNriilUS TUE CEKT URION. 
 
 all, perfects that love which is the highest species of 
 life, both in mankind as a whole, and in each indi- 
 vidual. '* For he is our peace who hath made both 
 one, r.nd hath broken down the middle wall of par- 
 tition between us ; having abolished in his flesh 
 the enmity, even the law of commandments contain- 
 ed in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain, 
 one new man, so making peace," Eph. ii. 14, 15. In 
 every one, into whose heart he enters and dwells, 
 he creates a new man, and removes every partition 
 and separation, of discord, selfishness, envy, and 
 wickedness, planting instead, unity, peace, joy, and 
 love. 
 
 Among all who receive Jesus as the one Media- 
 tor between God and man, there arises a new cove- 
 nant in the Lord, like that of David and Jonathan ; 
 the multitude that believe are of one heart and soul, 
 like the first assembly of Christians at Jerusalem, 
 and the little community at Caesarea ; — most beautiful 
 union, grounded on the one rock and corner-stone, 
 on which we are built together in one household of 
 God through the Spirit. The brotherly love and 
 fellowship of the members of our church is also 
 grounded on the faith in the ohe man, by whom, 
 God having loved the world, reconciled it to himself, 
 and by whom all mankind shall be judged at the last 
 day. By Jesus alone can the church be united to 
 the Lord, and become a community of saints, over 
 whom the gates of hell shall have no power. 
 
 When we look upon the little household at Caesarea, 
 we are inclined to ask the question, " How did they 
 196 
 
CORNELIUS THE CE?>TURION. 197 
 
 employ those days which the Apostle passed in the 
 midst of them ?"' Certainly the grateful Centurion 
 would strive to entertain the Apostle and his other 
 guests in the most hospitable manner ; and they, in 
 return, as was afterwards made a matter of reproach 
 to Peter by those of the circumcision at Jerusalem, 
 would sit in the same circle, and eat at the same table 
 with the believing Gentiles, eat their bread with joy- 
 fulness, secure in the approbation of God, and sanc- 
 tify his gift by praise and thanksgiving. The first 
 Christians, as long as their communities were so 
 small as to bear the character of social life, used to 
 hold Agapae, or love feasts, in which the rich a'e 
 along with the poor, and partook of the same food ; 
 but this was the first time when Jews and Gentiles 
 ate of one bread and drunk out of one cup. Peter 
 certainly would now call to mind the parable con- 
 tained in the vision of the linen cloth let down from 
 heaven, as well as our Lord's parable of the marriage 
 supper, to which the lame and the cripple were in- 
 vited ; he would also remember the words of Jesus, 
 ^' Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord, when 
 he cometh, shall find watching ; verily I say unto 
 you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit 
 down to meat, and will come forth and serve them,*' 
 Luke xii, 37. 
 
 The Apostle stands here in the place of his Lord 
 and Master, and, as the steward of the spiritual gifts 
 of God, administers the heavenly food which con- 
 ducts to eternal life unto those friends with whom he 
 is residing. Without doubt, in this family of God, 
 
 197 
 
198 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 there were, as in the present day, gradations in 
 knowledge and faith, — fathers, young men, children, 
 and infants ; it would be the Apostle's care to 
 strengthen the weak and lead them on to higher 
 steps in spiritual life, and to feed them with milk or 
 stronger food, according to the necessity of each. He 
 would now more fully relate what he had only 
 cursorily mentioned in his sermon, the incarnation 
 and character, the works and miracles, the sufferings 
 and glory of our Lord, and would impart to them, 
 by the words of his mouth, the Gospel of Jesus 
 Christ, the Son of God, for as yet it had not been 
 written. If Cornelius, and his friends also, brought 
 any children to him, the Apostle would not fail to 
 caress them, lay his hands upon them and bless 
 them. We can imagine the new-born believers at 
 Csesarea, like Mary of Bethany, sitting listening at 
 the feet of Peter, and receiving from his lips the 
 words of eternal life ; and we can also imagine them, 
 because they believed in the same God, and were 
 grateful for the same blessing, praising and glorify- 
 ing, along with him, the immeasurable grace and 
 goodness of their heavenly Father. They would 
 most certainly communicate to each other their joy- 
 ful hopes and feelings, — strengthen each other in 
 their most blessed and holy faith, — raise their hearts 
 together in prayer, intercession, supplication, and 
 thanksgiving unto the Lord, and praise him with 
 psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Before the 
 Apostle left them, they would, most assuredly, as a 
 seal and perfecting of their covenant with God, par- 
 198 
 
CORNELIUS THE CEXTURIOX. 199 
 
 take of that holy supper which commemorates the 
 love and the death of their Lord and Master ; and, 
 having spiritually eaten and drunken his glorified 
 body and blood, pledge themselves to unchangeable 
 fidelity towards their great Shepherd, and constant 
 brotherly love towards each other. O golden hours 
 and golden days, in which the love of God was pour- 
 ed into their hearts by the Holy Spirit, and the 
 heavenly dawn which proceeded from the light of the 
 world, illuminated every soul ! 
 
 These descriptions and traits are by no means 
 created by the imagination ; on the contrary, they 
 are taken from the Holy Scriptures, and even from 
 the testimony of those persecutors and enemies of 
 the name of Jesus, who lived in the primitive ages 
 of the church. The nearer the first communities of 
 Christians stood in point of time to the manifestation 
 of the Lord, and the more closely they were bound 
 in spirit to the author and finisher of their new life, 
 the more did their fellowship with one another re- 
 semble a silent though joyful family-circle, filled with 
 faith, hope, and love, as the house at Bethany was 
 with the sweet smelling savour of the precious oint- 
 ment. We, however, whom the Lord called while 
 we were afar off, ought now to contemplate this 
 spiritual Eden, untarnished by the world, acknow- 
 ledge our distance from the original simplicity of 
 " the elect of God holy and beloved," and strive to 
 regain it, that it may be developed both in our do- 
 mestic and social life. 
 
 The little flock at Caesarea was the first which the 
 
 199 
 
200 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 good Shepherd had gathered together from among 
 the Gentiles. They were all children of God, clad 
 with the righteousness of Christ, a temple of the 
 Holy Spirit, a source of joy to the angels, a light 
 amidst darkness, a rose amongst thorns ; one heart 
 and one soul was in them of the highest, noblest, and 
 most glorious description, and though their charac- 
 ters were as various as the flowers in the field, yet 
 they were all bound together in the closest manner, 
 never to be disunited throug-h time or throug^h eter- 
 nity. The friendship of David and Jonathan is 
 beautiful and great, but it is still more beautiful 
 and still more glorious to lie with John on the bosom 
 of our Lord ; friendship and love are imperfect, if 
 this resting on the heart of Jesus is not connected 
 with them, and if the brightness of his countenance 
 does not illuminate them. 
 
 O blessed covenant, whereby all who hearken unto 
 his Gospel are made one with him, as he and the Fa- 
 ther are one 1 He who has the Son has the Father also. 
 
 Can we imagine any thing more joyful or more ex- 
 alting than the consciousness that we are the children 
 of God, through faith in Jesus Christ ? Even in 
 this world it is a highly delightful thing to be the 
 children of pious and dearly beloved parents ; but 
 how much more delightful must it be to be called 
 both in heaven and earth the children of that right- 
 eous Father who is above all ; to be permitted to ad- 
 dress him by the sacred name of Abba, to be named 
 as the brethren of Jesus, the glorified one who sits 
 at the right hand of God. To share this grace and 
 200 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 201 
 
 blessing with our brethren, and mutually to strength- 
 en and confirm each other in faith ! How beautiful, 
 consoling, and joyful is the fellowship in heart and 
 soul of those who, whether near or afar off, are bound 
 together with us in faith, hope, and love, who walk 
 in the same steep and difficult path towards the same 
 goal, who struggle and fight, suffer and hope, sing 
 praises of joy and thankfulness, pray and beseech 
 along with us ; no more as guests and strangers, but 
 as citizens with the saints and of the household of 
 God ! 
 
 The little community at Caesarea experienced in 
 the highest degree, during those days which the 
 Apostle passed in the midst of them, the joy of this 
 blessed fellowship ; it resembled the day of the 
 marriage feast at Cana, when the Lord first mani- 
 fested his glury. 
 
 Their lives henceforward, however, were not to 
 pass so smoothly ; after they had received the word 
 of the cross, they must, like the Apostles and faith- 
 ful confessors of our Lord of every ago and country, 
 bear his cross and suffer much for his sake. Then 
 must the consciousness that their brethren who are 
 in this world are exposed to the same temptations 
 and afflictions with themselves, strengthen them in 
 faith, truth, and love. Peter's words are, in speak- 
 ing of the devil, " Whom resist stedfast in the faith, 
 knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished 
 in your brethren that are in the world/' 1 Peter, 
 V. 9. 
 
 The community of the faithful upon earth, stands 
 
 201 
 
202 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 in the closest relation, not only to Jesus Christ, their 
 now glorified head, but to the inhabitants of " the 
 heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company 
 of angels, to the general assembly and church of the 
 first born which are written in heaven, and to God 
 the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made 
 perfect," Heb. xii. 22, 23. To this community be- 
 long all who in ages past, having believed in the 
 Lord, and having fallen asleep in Jesus, have become 
 through him, partakers of eternal life ; whether they 
 lived during the time of the old covenant, or after 
 the incarnation of their Lord, whether they had with 
 the eyes of faith, joyfully looked forward to him as 
 the promised one, or had seen and loved him as the 
 manifested Saviour. — All those multitudes belong to 
 the community which is above. As we now walk by 
 faith and not by sight, let us regard them with the 
 most joyful love ; for much more do they, who having 
 conquered, and are now become hke the angels, take 
 part in our daily conflict, and in the course which it 
 behoves us to run. We whose mental vision is ob- 
 scured by the walls of flesh which surround it, can 
 have no conception how near they may be to us in 
 spirit. What a blissful thought that we belong to 
 the heavenly host of glorified spirits, who at this 
 present moment are full of love towards us, and anxi- 
 ously looking forward to our speedy re- union ! 
 And what a joyful thought for us, that we shall soon 
 be with them through all eternity ! Behold what 
 manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, 
 that we should be called the sons of God ! 
 202 
 
CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 203 
 
 "It doth not yet appear what we shall be." As 
 we ourselves live here below in a mortal and imper- 
 fect body, and as our knowledge, even that which 
 we derive from prophecy, is but imperfect ; so also 
 is the church of our Lord upon earth. Although as 
 an everlasting covenant of peace, it is grounded upon 
 the unchangeable grace and mercy of God our Sa- 
 viour, and preserves this truth as its most valued 
 treasure, yet while here it is only the beginning, and 
 not the fulfilment, although it looks forward to eter- 
 nal life, yet outwardly, it is subjected to all the chan- 
 ges and chances of this mortal life ; although secure 
 of victory, yet it must always be struggling to attain 
 it. The saints are commanded to perfect themselves 
 here, till they " all come in the unity of the faith, 
 and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a per- 
 fect man, unto the measure of the stature of the ful- 
 ness of Christ," Eph. iv. 13. He that has com- 
 menced this work is able to accomplish it, for " we 
 know that when he shall appear, the believers out of 
 every nation shall become like unto him, for they 
 shall see him as he is." If the Lord, according to 
 his promise, " shall change our vile body, that it may 
 be fashioned Hke unto his glorious body," how much 
 more shall he change and glorify his church, which 
 is his own body ! Then shall it become the church 
 triumphant, the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the 
 living God illuminated by the glory of the heavenly 
 Father. " He that overcometh shall inherit all things ; 
 and I will be his God, and he shall be my Son," Rev. 
 xxi. 7. ' 
 
 203 
 
204 CORNELIUS THE CENTURION. 
 
 We behold in the house at Caesarea which was 
 blessed with such grace and peace, a beautiful pic- 
 ture of the community of the Lord, which he has 
 gathered together upon earth, and built upon an eter- 
 nal foundation, as well as of that future church, which 
 the Lord by means of his messengers, shall gather 
 out of every nation, and tongue, and people, to praise 
 him in heaven with unspeakable joy and happiness, 
 for ever and ever. And we may well apply to this 
 first congregation of God amongst the Gentiles, the 
 words which Paul uses in comparing the law with 
 the Gospel : " For if that which was done away was 
 glorious, much more that which remaineth is glo- 
 rious," 2 Cor. iii. 11. 
 
 204 
 
NOTES. 
 
 Note A p. 4. 
 
 Augustine and Theophylact, with most of the modern com- 
 mentators, think these to be the same person; and, accordingly, 
 the word o ^ai;, Matt. viii. 6 ; which Krummacher supposes 
 to mean child, is rendered, in our authorised version, servant, 
 a signification which it frequently bears in classical Greek ; 
 from the great similarity between the attendant circumstances, 
 there is every reason to believe the miracle as related in Matt, 
 viii. 5-13, and Luke vii. 1-10, to be the same ; on the part of 
 the author there seems to be some slight confusion beween the 
 two narratives, which, however, can only be discovered by re- 
 ferring to the original. 
 
 Note B — pp. 4 and 69. 
 
 Another translation of this passage (1 Cor. i. 26,) has been 
 proposed, which makes it much more consistent with the 
 Apostle's argument, by merely substituting the active for the 
 passive voice in the case of the words in Italics, (are called), 
 which are not in the original, and which must, therefore, be 
 supplied according to the translator's view of the context. St. 
 Paul had been speaking of the sin of the Corinthian Christians 
 in causing divisions by following «♦ Paul, and Apollos and 
 
 203 
 
206 NOTES. 
 
 Cephas," as leaders of parties, and affirms that there was nothing 
 to recommend the Gospel either in the mode in which it was 
 preached, as not being '* with wisdom of words;" nor yet in 
 the preachers of it, such as the fishermen of Galilee," and he 
 adds, '* for ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many 
 wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, 
 call you; but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to 
 confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the 
 world to confound the things which are mighty," &c. 
 
 Note C. — p. 5. 
 
 British Theologians are divided in opinion as to Cornelius 
 being a proselyte or only a devout Gentile ; in Townsend's Ar- 
 rangement of the New Testament, there is a very learned dis- 
 sertation appended to Acts x. to prove that the Gospel was 
 preached first to the Jews in Palestine j secondly, to the 
 proselytes; and lastly, to the Gentiles: — to the second of which 
 classes he supposes Cornelius to have belonged. Krummacher, 
 however, thinks differently, and the reasons advanced by him 
 are not without weight. Had he been a proselyte, Peter would 
 not have hesitated to receive him into the community of 
 Christians by baptism, nor would he have been called in ques- 
 tion by his Jewish brethren for so doing, as the multitude said 
 of those filled with the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, 
 *• We \\Q^Y proselytes speak in our own tongues the wonder- 
 ful works of God," Acts ii. 10, 11. 
 
 Note D— p. 35. 
 
 •' In this circumstance, we may perceive, how Peter continued 
 faithfully to observe the rules and customs of Judaism ; little 
 aware that they were soon to cease and give place to the wor- 
 206 
 
NOTES. 207 
 
 shipping of God in spirit and in truth." Many of the rites 
 of Judaism doubtless terminated with the destruction of Jeru- 
 salem, but it is manifest from Scripture, that God does not 
 intend that the national distinction between Jew and Gentile 
 should ever cease, nor is it the case that the observance of Jewish 
 customs is inconsistent with worshipping Him in spirit and in 
 truth. St. Paul, although the Apostle of the Gentiles, made 
 great exertions to keep the Jewish feasts at Jerusalem. In the 
 latter part of Ezekiel's prophecy there is a minute account 
 of the Temple yet to be rebuilt; its situation and ornaments 
 are described, and its priethood appointed. In their present 
 dispersion the Jews, as suffering under the judgments of God, 
 are for " a sign and a wonder," Deut. xxviii. 46, and in their 
 restoration they will be a miracle of mercy, but in neither 
 case could God's purpose be accomplished, unless by their 
 being preserved a distinct people. 
 
 Note E. — p. 35. 
 
 This was the highest and most excellent way of all other, 
 of revelations, when a man was rapt even from himself into 
 heaven, and was wholly in the spirit; being for the time, as it 
 were, out of the body, and in the very next degree to souls de- 
 parted, enjoying God. Seven manner of extraordinary ways 
 did God use to reveal himself and his will to his people in an- 
 cient times; 1. By dreams ; 2. By apparitions, when they 
 were awake ; 3. By visions, when they were asleep ; 4. By a 
 voice from heaven ; 5. By Ui*im ; 6. By inspiration or reveal- 
 ing of the ear ; 7. By rapture or ecstacy ; and this last the 
 most excellent as to him that did enjoy it. 
 
 LiGHTFOOT on Acts, eh. ix. 
 
 207 
 
208 NOTES. 
 
 Note F p. 78. 
 
 In the original there is a Paronomasia or play upon the ex- 
 pression, " the word or the wonderful gift of speech," which 
 runs through several passages — a practice very common with 
 German writers : to this it is impossible to do justice in a 
 translation. At one time the author seems to refer to the 
 Logos, or Eternal Word, (John i. 1.) at another to human 
 speech ; and sometimes both ideas seems involved in the same 
 expression. The thoughts which appear to have been present 
 to the mind of Krummacher, while writing this passage re- 
 garding the value of language, have been very elegantly ex- 
 pressed by Dr. Blair, in his Introduction to his Lectures on 
 Rhetoric : — 
 
 *' One of the most distinguished privileges which Provi- 
 dence has conferred upon mankind is the power of communi- 
 cating their thoughts to one another. Destitute of this power, 
 reason would be a solitary, and in some measure an unavailing 
 principle. Speech is the great instrument by which man be- 
 comes beneficial to man ; and it is to the intercourse and 
 transmission of thought, by means of speech, that we are chiefly 
 indebted for the improvement of thought itself. Small are the 
 advances which a single unassisted individual can make to- 
 wards perfecting any of his powers. What we call human 
 reason, is not the effort or ability of one, so much as it is the 
 result of the reason of many, arising from lights mutually com- 
 municated, in consequence of discourse and writing." 
 
 Note G. — p. 154. 
 
 " Even the heathens had their prophets, who unconsciously, 
 and against their own will, prophesied, like Balaam of old, of 
 the One that should come." 
 
 The same sentiments have been expressed by Bishop Hor- 
 sley, in a vei*y elaborate Dissertation " On the Prophecies of 
 the Messiah dispersed among the Heathen," from which the 
 following extracts are taken : — 
 208 
 
NOTES. 209 
 
 '' For the more perspicuous arrangement of my argument, 
 1 shall divide it into two parts. 
 
 '* First, I shall prove the fact from historical evidence, that 
 the Gentile world, in the darkest ages, was in possession not of 
 vague and traditional, but of explicit written prophecies of 
 Christ. When I have established the fact, and by that means 
 shewn the immediate cause of the expectation which so gene- 
 rally prevailed, I shall then produce the more remote and 
 higher cause, and prove that these written prophecies were 
 the remains of divine oracles of the earliest ages. 
 
 " First, for the fact that the Gentile world, in the darkest 
 ages, was possessed of explicit written prophecies of Christ, 
 I shall found the proof of it on the contents of a very extraor- 
 dinary book, which was preserved at Rome, under the name 
 of the Oracles of the Cumaean Sibyl, which was held in such 
 veneration, that it was deposited in a stone chest in the tem- 
 ple of Jupiter in the Capitol, and committed to the care of 
 two persons expressly appointed to that office. I shall take 
 my idea of the contents of these books entirely from the tes- 
 timony of heathen writers," &c. &c. 
 
 ** From the extreme depravity of the times, and from the 
 wickedness of Balaam's own character, it has been doubted 
 whether he was properly a prophet. The difficulty of con- 
 ceiving that true prophets should be found in an idolatrous 
 nation, if I mistake not, I have already removed by the ana- 
 logy which I have shewn to subsist between ancient and mo- 
 dern corruptions. The difficulty of conceiving that the gift 
 of prophecy should be imparted to a wicked character, will be 
 much softened, if not entirely removed, if we recollect the 
 confessed ci'imes of some of the Jewish Prophets, and the 
 confessed indiscretions of some persons who shared in the 
 miraculous gifts of the Spii'it in the primitive Churches. 
 
 •' Balaam's impiety at last ran to the length of open rebellion 
 against God ; for he suggested to the king of Moab, as the only 
 means by which the fortunes of the Israelites could be in- 
 jured, the infernal stratagem of enticing them to take a part 
 p 209 
 
210 t NOTES. 
 
 in that idolatry for which, by the tenor of his own predictions, 
 the Moabites were destined to destruction. But this apostacy 
 of Balaam was subsequent to the prophecies that he delivered 
 to Balak, and was the effect of the temptation which the occa- 
 sion presented, the offer of riches and preferment in Balak 's 
 Court. 
 
 '* In this Balaam set the sun of prophecy in the horizon of 
 the Gentile world, and yet a total night came not. For some 
 ages a twilight glimmered in the sky, which gradually de- 
 cayed, and became at last almost insensible, but began to 
 brighten again during the captivity of the Jews under the 
 Babylonian monarchs, and from that period continued to 
 gather strength, till at length the morning star took its station 
 over the stable at Bethlehem." 
 
 THE END. 
 
 K. MARSHALL, I'RISTER, EAST ROSE STREET. 
 
 210 
 
THE 
 
 LIFE AND CHARACTER 
 
 OF 
 
 ST. JOHN, 
 
 THE EVANGELIST AND APOSTLE, 
 
 BV 
 
 F. A. KRUMMACHER, D. D. 
 
 A. WORK CHIEFLY INTENDED FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 
 TRANSLATKD FROM THE GERMAN. 
 
 A PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION ON GERMAN THEOLOGY, 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. JOHN W. FERGUSON, A.M. 
 
 MINISTER OF ST. PETER'S EPISCOPAL CHAPEL, EDINBURGH. 
 
 EDINBURGH— THOMAS CLARK ; 
 
 LONDON— HAMILTON, ADAMS & CO. ; 
 DUBLIN— CURRY & CO. 
 
 MDCCCXXXIX. 
 
Jam£s Burnet, Priiifrr, East Thistle Stiett Lane. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 PilELIMIN'ARY DISSERTATION ..... T 
 
 Dedication ........ xxiii 
 
 John's Form and Appearance ..... 1 
 
 John's Childhood ....... 3 
 
 John's Youth 7 
 
 John with the Baptist 10 
 
 John with Jesus . . . . . . . 11 
 
 John called to be a Disciple of the Lord . . . 17 
 
 Disciples described ....... 23 
 
 The Apostles chosen ...... 25 
 
 Boanerges, or the Sons of Thunder .... 29 
 
 John, the Disciple whom the Lord loved ... 35 
 
 John in his Intercourse with Jesus .... 38 
 
 John the confidential Friend of our Lord . . 41 
 The Three Apostles chosen by our Lord to witness his Glory 43 
 
 John a witness of the Sufferings of Jesus ... 48 
 
 John in Gethsemane, and on Golgotha . , . 51 
 
 John at the Death and Burial of Jesus ... 55 
 
 John at the Resurrection 5S 
 
 John in Jerusalem after the Ascension of our Lord . 69 
 John undergoing Persecution in Jerusalem along with the 
 
 other Apostles 74 
 
 John leaves Jerusalem 79 
 
 John in Ephesus 82 
 
 John in Banishment y5 
 
 The latter Time John passed in Ephesus ... 89 
 
 John and the Erring but Repentant Young Man . . 94 
 
 The Miracles which John performed ... 97 
 
 John's Disciples and Friends • . . . . 100 
 
 John on his Death-Bed ...... 104 
 
PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION 
 
 ON 
 
 GERMAN THEOLOGY. 
 
 In the history of Christianity, it is deeply interest- 
 ing to observe, how human nature has presented the 
 same obstacles to its doctrines and its precepts, at 
 every period of time, while the character of its oppo- 
 sition has varied according to the circumstances of the 
 age or country. It is with nations and communities, 
 as it is with individuals ; they have a youth, a man- 
 hood, and an old age which steals on apace : — besides, 
 whatever error may be mingled, either with the creed 
 or the discipline of a church, although at first it may 
 appear of little moment, it is, as it were, evil seed sown, 
 which in process of time produces a luxuriant crop of 
 poisonous fruit, and terminates in consequences from 
 
vi PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION 
 
 which the original authors would start back with hor- 
 ror and surprise. 
 
 At the period immediately preceding the Reforma- 
 tion, even on the admission of the Roman Catholic 
 priesthood, the corruption of manners was extreme. 
 The lofty requisitions of Christianity were disregarded, 
 while its doctrines were so interpreted as not to dis- 
 turb the peace of its professors ; and what men anxi- 
 ously wished to believe, they had little difficulty in 
 proving, at least, to their own satisfaction. It was 
 then, v/hen the intellect of Europe was comparatively 
 dormant, that several master-minds arose ; enlight- 
 ened by the Spirit of God, they saw through the sur- 
 rounding evil ; emancipating themselves from a state 
 of thraldom and corruption, they leavened much of the 
 mass of society with their own principles ; and while 
 they purified the church, they prevented it from pass- 
 ing to the opposite extreme of lawlessness and insu- 
 bordination. 
 
 More than two centuries later, a very different spec- 
 tacle was exhibited in revolutionary France : during 
 the intervening period, the principle of freedom of in- 
 quiry, which arose at the Reformation, had communi- 
 cated itself to that kingdom, and, at an early stage, a 
 portion of the people had thrown off the Romish yoke, 
 but the greater number continued attached to the 
 
ON GERMAN THEOLOGY, Vll 
 
 Church of Rome. Their mmds, however, being in a 
 state of great activity, both in science and politics, 
 they, when led to investigate the claims of Christianity, 
 were unable to admit them in the only form in which 
 it was presented to the great majority of the nation, 
 and, by one bold measure, they declared the whole to 
 be a fiction, and rejected Revelation altogether. 
 
 In Gemiany again, the cradle of the Reformation, a 
 very dijQferent course was pursued. A host of writers 
 appeared in the IGth century, who, being exposed to 
 severe sufferings for the truths they taught, partook 
 deeply of the genuine spirit of Christianity, and were 
 thus enabled to perceive the meaning of the inspired 
 penmen, and to speak with authority to the conscien- 
 ces of men. The primitive Christians, in contending 
 with Pagans, appealed to the broad features and fun- 
 damental principles of Christianity. On the other 
 hand, the Reformers were involved in endless contro- 
 versies v/ithin the church, and were occupied in de- 
 termining wiiat was truth among the conflicting opi- 
 nions of opposite parties. Such a position was a peril- 
 ous one for a church to hold, in so far as vital godli- 
 ness was concerned : occupied with minute points of 
 difference, they were apt to forget the weightier mat- 
 ters of the law ; and being daily called upon to fight 
 for the truth, they were in danger of fostering the 
 
Vlll PRELIMIXARY DISSERTATION 
 
 spirit of contention rather than love. That generation 
 passed away, and was succeeded hy one that was dis- 
 tinguished for the same disputations about the ortho- 
 doxy of their abstract creed, but not for the same at- 
 tainments in spiritual vigour : the Church, accordingly, 
 made an idol of the letter of Scripture, in many in- 
 stances drew unwarrantable inferences from insulated 
 passages,* introduced a forced system of interpretation, 
 and thereby paved the way for rejecting the idea of 
 its inspiration, and bringing it down to the level of a 
 mere human composition. 
 
 The Reformation gave an impulse to the German 
 mind, which it has never lost ; their speculations on 
 this, as on all other subjects, partake of a degree of 
 boldness not to be met with in any other nation. 
 France discarded the Scriptures altogether ; the Ger- 
 mans, on the other hand, continued to study them, 
 but denied that there w^as any thing supernatural" in 
 their composition, and maintained, wherever miracles 
 are related, that they could be explained by natural 
 causes. This is what has been long known under the 
 name of Rationalism. It is generally admitted that 
 such opinions have been long and widely prevalent 
 
 * For examples of these, see Pusey's learned Historical Inquiry 
 into the causes of the Rationalist Character, lately predominant 
 in the Theology of Germany. Part II. pp. 55, 56. 
 
ON GERMAN THEOLOGY. IX 
 
 among the theologians of Germany, but not, as some 
 would maintain, universal. Here, as elsewhere, God 
 has never left himself without a witness : there never 
 have been awanting defenders of the truth equal in 
 learning to their opponents, though inferior in num- 
 bers : they have in this, as in many previous portions 
 of the history of the Church, been a little flock ; but 
 it is to this very circumstance we are indebted for 
 many an able defence of the truth, that would other- 
 wise never have existed. It was the attacks of the 
 heathen philosophers that led to the composition of 
 the ablest Apologies for Christianity in the primitive 
 ages : it was the erroneous view of the Church of 
 Rome on the fundamental doctrine of justification by 
 faith alone, that led Luther to set forth this precious 
 truth in all its fulness. In like manner, the objections 
 of infidels in Great Britain to Christianity have given 
 rise to many of the best defences which the Church 
 possesses. 
 
 The same analogy holds in German Rationalism. 
 Tossed amid a sea of perplexities, many were compel- 
 led to turn inwardly on their own spirits ; and finding 
 how exactly Christianity was suited to their fallen 
 nature, they hailed it as the gift of God, and thus 
 were enabled to stand firm upon a rock from which no 
 sophistry could dislodge them. 
 
X PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION 
 
 G od has been pleased to reveal himself in a great 
 variety of forms, — in creation, in providence, in his 
 written word, in miracles, and frequently to the 
 minds of men directly. The mode of manifestation is in 
 these cases diflPerent ; the result is the same. The man 
 who listens to a voice proceeding from one of these 
 sources, will doubtless know some portion of truth ; he 
 who is favoured with more, or with all of them, will 
 know it in greater fulness. It is thus that while there 
 may be much sj)eculative error in some one depart- 
 ment, God's voice may be heard through some other 
 channel, and preserve the mind from total ignorance 
 of himself. 
 
 The following extract from a work by Drechster, 
 published at Leipsic in 1837, will shew the justice of 
 these remarks : — 
 
 " It has pleased God to suffer the kingdom of 
 darkness to reveal itself in all forms and degrees, but 
 at the same time to follow it step by step, and always 
 to oppose and conquer it. In our day, it is under the 
 form of knowledge that the kingdom of error and 
 wickedness contends against the light. It is there- 
 fore the armour of knoAvledge by which that dark un- 
 dertaking must be exhibited in its utter worthless- 
 ness. We are apt to cultivate the field on which we 
 are placed, not lightly and superficially, but with 
 
ON GERMAN THEOLOGY. XI 
 
 probity and earnestness. Were we then to give to 
 the world discussions which we do not, in our inmost 
 conscience, consider as true and satisfactory, we 
 should not be faithful householders of our Lord. 
 That our Lord himself triumphs is his ov/n care, for 
 which He will best provide. That we be found true, 
 let that be our care." 
 
 The same writer afterwards observes, that the in- 
 quiries and labours of the Rationalists are nothing but 
 the onward movement of a prejudice against miracles 
 and prophecy, which is the basis of their procedure, 
 and has for some time past usurped the name of cri- 
 ticism. Of the effects of this prejudice, in leading to 
 absurd interpretations of Scripture utterly inconsistent 
 in themselves, he gives several striking illustrations 
 from the works of his countrymen. 
 
 In the Rev. Hugh Rose's very able account of " the 
 State of Protestantism in Germany," there are several 
 remarks confirmatory of the views just stated. That 
 learned author observes, " Latterly a more healthy 
 spirit of religion has grown up in Germany. The 
 reign of that voluptuous mysticism which expended 
 itself in the mere passive indulgence of the affections 
 is passing away, and a true and genuine Christianity 
 is, I trust, beginning to take root in Germany, which, 
 although, like the mystical system, it addresses itself 
 
Xll PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION 
 
 to the affections and feelings, does not stop there, but 
 seeks to confirm and establish the dominion of vital 
 and practical religion by an intimate knowledge of 
 the system of the Gospel, and a bold and unhesitating 
 assertion of the truths it proclaims We may dis- 
 cern everywhere strong marks of improvement. In 
 the first place, I would mention the difi'erent and im - 
 proved character of the theological works w^hich have 
 latterly appeared, — a fact well known to all readers of 
 German divinity. Nor is there a less favourable change 
 in other quarters. The aspect of science and of his- 
 torical inquiry, is no longer hostile but friendly to 
 Christianity. I believe, indeed, that there is scarce 
 an University in Germany which has not one, or more, 
 professors of really Christian views. But one of the 
 most direct, though perhaps at first sight not very co- 
 gent proofs of improvement, is the fact that the ortho- 
 dox party are so far advanced in strength, that they 
 have recently established more than one Journal on 
 their own principles. 
 
 " There is likewise, in one respect, a great imj)rove- 
 in the philological labours of even the Rationalist di- 
 vines. I cannot indeed say that they are become 
 Christians, but some of them are become, what they 
 
 were not before, scholars Some, I trust, though 
 
 still in intellectual error, have feelingly perceived that 
 
ON GERMAN THEOLOGY. xiÜ 
 
 their path was not the path of peace for themselves, 
 or of godliness for their people : some are ashamed of 
 their absurdities : some find that the assertion of 
 their opinions does not obtain the same applause 
 which it did a few years ago : and finally, some find 
 that the hand of power is against them." 
 
 There cannot be a stronger proof that a better state 
 of things has commenced in some parts of Germany, 
 than the fact, that in 1828 the Synod of Elberfeld de- 
 posed a pastor from his office for denying the doc- 
 trines of Original Sin and the Atonement. But it 
 may be asked, in what way has this been brought 
 about ? to which we reply, that the very magnitude 
 of the evil has itself led to the cure. It was the rejec- 
 tion of the external evidence of Christianity that led 
 the Germans to examine more narrovvly its internal 
 character and its sanctifying influence ; a department of 
 investigation to which the German mind is peculiarly 
 adapted. It is to this, doubtless, that many of their 
 writings are indebted for that spirit of deep piety 
 that is so completely interwoven with them ; and, as 
 has been forcibly observed by a Reviewer of Jung 
 Stilling, * " we state it as a notorious fact, of which 
 no student of German literature can be ignorant, that 
 
 • Foreign Quart. Rev. July, 1838. 
 
xiv PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION 
 
 tliere is infinitely more of a deep, earnest, searching 
 spirit of true piety in that literature than in our own ; 
 that though it may sometimes be difiicult to state in 
 so many words wherein the exact creed of each Ger- 
 man man consists, still his piety is there, feeling and 
 felt, colouring, interpenetrating, informing all things ; 
 you cannot touch it, but you feel sensibly that there 
 is a soul present, that you are not far from the influ- 
 ence of God and good things." 
 
 These remarks may be applied w^th great truth to 
 many religious publications, besides biographies, which 
 have been lately translated from the German. Where, 
 however, there is such a conflict between truth and 
 error, between intellectual light and darkness, as in 
 Germany, and especially where the imagination is 
 allowed such free scope, and many are able to clothe 
 their speculations in such glowing and captivating- 
 imagery, it is impossible to watch with too jealous an 
 eye every professedly religious work which comes 
 from such a quarter. It cannot be expected that 
 every individual, in searching after a system of truth 
 for himself, should at first discover what has been the 
 
 creed of the church from the earliest aores. In soarino- 
 
 o o 
 
 to the great Fountain of light, he will doubtless fre- 
 quently deviate from the straight course, and follow 
 some earthly meteor, and not improbably lead others 
 
ON GERMAN THEOLOGY. XV 
 
 astray after him. The danger is, lest men imagine 
 that because an author is orthodox in his views of 
 one truth, and has been an able expositor of it, that 
 therefore his opinion may be adopted in others : but 
 as no one can take the conscience of another for his 
 own guide, nor walk in the light of another, so must 
 he, in the consideration of every article of faith, bring 
 it to the bar of Scripture, and there, as in the sight of 
 God, judge of it for himself. In like manner, to judge 
 correctly of any work, the same course must be 
 adopted ; each must stand or fall by its own merits ; 
 and, however much the name of an author, who has 
 written according to what is regarded as orthodox 
 views on some single point, may afford presumptive 
 evidence that he has done so on another, it cannot be 
 taken as an infallible guide, and least of all in Ger- 
 man theology. 
 
 In the writings of Dr. F. A. Krummacher, there 
 are everywhere traces of a creed in exact conformity 
 with that of the Reformed Church of the British Em- 
 pire, on all the fundamental doctrines of Christianity ; 
 and, what is of equal importance, there is also the in- 
 dication of a soul imbued with vital godliness, and 
 a mind richly endowed with spiritual discernment. 
 It is this which enables him, in " Cornelius the Cen- 
 turion," and in his " Life and Character of St. John 
 
Xvi PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION 
 
 the Evangelist and Apostle," to poiirtray in vivid co- 
 lours the peculiar character of each. No man can 
 accurately describe the character of another, and trace 
 it in his life, unless in some measure his own resemble 
 it. The Author of these works is evidently possessed 
 of the singleness of eye, and of the desire for truth, 
 which characterised the Gentile centurion, and of 
 much of the simplicity and love for which St. John 
 was distinguished. Such, indeed, is the reputation he 
 bears in his own country, and this is fully evidenced 
 by his writings. 
 
 In following the progress of the mind of Cornelius 
 through all its windings, until blessed \\4th the full 
 blaze of Christian light, he has presented an invalu- 
 able gift to the Church. A truth stated abstractly, is an 
 idea of what may be ; the same exhibited in the life, 
 is the reality of w^hat hath been, — a thing w^hicli hu- 
 man nature has performed, and which human nature 
 may perform again. The one is the seed of godliness, 
 which has yet to stand the proof of the world's unge- 
 nial climate ; the other is the harvest which has stood 
 all weathers, and proved the capacities of the soil. 
 And when any frail mortal has been enabled, by the 
 light of God's word and his Holy Spirit, to witness 
 a good confession for truth, and, in the midst of trial 
 and difficulty, to maintain his fidelity to Him, he has 
 
ON GERMAN THEOLOGY. XVll 
 
 presented the most acceptable offering to the Author 
 of his being, and one which the Avorld should ever keep 
 in remembrance. It is on this principle that the Epis- 
 copal Church, in her Liturgy, directs the attention of 
 her members on the various Saints' Days, to those 
 graces for which they were distinguished, as what 
 may and ought still to be attained by those who fol- 
 low in their footsteps ; and in her Communion Ser- 
 vice, " blesses God's holy name for all his servants 
 vvdio have departed this life in his faith and fear ; 
 beseeching Him to give us grace so to follow their 
 good examples, that with them we may be partakers 
 of his heavenly kingdom." The church gives God 
 thanks for these, as being victories gained over the 
 powers of evil, as trophies reared in the land of a 
 common enemy, and as examples held up for present 
 imitation. 
 
 In Cornelius we behold a man placed in the most 
 unfavourable circumstances in human estimation, ob- 
 taining a faint glimmering of divine light, and acting 
 so faithfully in following wherever it directed him, 
 that he is at length honoured by God to be an Abra- 
 ham among the Gentiles. " The path of the just is 
 as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto 
 the perfect day." Prov. iv. 18. " If any man will 
 do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether 
 
 h 
 
XVIU PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION 
 
 it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." John vii. 
 17« Kmmmacher has a very clear perception of the 
 character of God, as a God of light and of know- 
 ledge, and as desiring to impart it to his creatures> 
 so that he may cease to be an unknown God ; at the 
 same time he is deeply impressed with the responsi- 
 bility of man in using the means God has put within 
 his reach, as implied in the passages just quoted ; his 
 favourite illustration on this point, both in the case of 
 St. John and of Cornelius, is that of a seed of corn de- 
 posited in the ground, which, although it has within 
 it a living principle and is acted upon by the solar 
 heat and the rain from heaven, still requires the cul- 
 ture of man to make it bring forth fruit. He states 
 very forcibly how valueless is a mere barren convic- 
 tion or speculative notion of the truth of Christianity, 
 where that is not accompanied with a corresponding 
 practice ; and traces, with much clearness, to its true 
 source, the Rationalism of some of his countrymen, as 
 the following extracts will show : 
 
 " * We must on no account compare the doubting 
 and deliberating Apostle with those Rationalists w^ho, 
 blinded by pride and selfishness, oppose human wis- 
 dom to divine revelation, as if they were of equal 
 
 * Cornelius the Centurion, p. 43. 
 
ON GERMAN THEOLOGY. XI 
 
 authority ; while their true reason is an unwilling- 
 ness to obey the commands of God, and embrace the 
 only belief which unravels the stupendous mystery 
 
 of the human mind * Sinful man is by nature 
 
 inclined to worship the understanding, which certain- 
 ly is an error quite as bad as the idolatry w^hich seeks 
 to confine the Lord, who fills heaven and earth, to a 
 temple made with hands, or an image made of iron 
 or marble. This worship of the understanding seeks 
 to limit the power of the living God by the laws 
 which govern nature, and by the ordinary course of 
 history and events ; thus lowering the glory of the 
 unchangeable God to the level of a thing created by 
 their own imaginations. The first describes the me- 
 thod of the infidel worldly wisdom of our own 
 era," &c. 
 
 He evidently considers hare, that Rationalism has its 
 root in the will^ not in the intellect ; and that the only 
 cure for it is, that a man should be made willing to be 
 taught of God ; — and, as he observes with much truth,"!" 
 " Why should we, in the foolish manner of men, place 
 in opposition to each other those words, but imperfect- 
 ly understood, natural and supernatural ? They both 
 mean the same thing in the kingdom of God, — that 
 
 • Cornelius, p. 170. f P. 46. 
 
XX PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION 
 
 He from whom, to whom, and by whom, all things 
 are, sends rain and snov^r as well as the word which is- 
 sues forth out of his mouth, makes his angels winds, 
 and his ministers a flaming fire ; and transforms fiery- 
 flames into his servants, and storms into his messen- 
 gers." Nothing could be more explicit for vindicat- 
 ing him from any tendency to Rationalism, or to re- 
 ject any manifestation of the power of God, merely 
 because he could not comprehend how it was ef- 
 fected. 
 
 On the essential doctrines of the corruption of hu- 
 man nature, the necessity of regeneration by the Holy 
 Spirit, the love of God to man lost and ruined, the 
 forgiveness of sin through the atoning blood of Christ 
 alone, and the Trinity of Persons in the Godhead, his 
 views are perfectly orthodox. " This revelation of 
 three persons in one God," as he beautifully observes, 
 " comprehends the whole of Christian doctrine, and 
 is both the foundation and the distinguishing character- 
 istic of our faith. The three divine names, Father, 
 Son, and Holy Ghost, make known to us the whole 
 history of God among the children of men ; they com- 
 prehend the mighty deeds and manifestations of the 
 love of God, which He decreed from the beginning for 
 our salvation ; which He has begun in time, but 
 which shall be accomplished in eternity." He speaks 
 
ON GERMAN THEOLOGY. XXI 
 
 here, and elsewhere, of this doctrine of the divine na- 
 ture in connection with corresponding blessings in re- 
 demption, — a circumstance which makes a great and 
 important diiFerence between the Scriptural state- 
 ments of the Trinity, and those frequently found 
 among human writers, who rather represent it as an 
 abstract subject for discussion, than a delightful and 
 edifying truth, which contains all that is dear to the 
 heart of a sinner in the revelation of mercy, and with- 
 out which indeed Christianity becomes but an empty 
 name. From the manner in which the various truths 
 are stated by him in these works, it is evident that they 
 have become the source of divine life to his own soul ; 
 from a conviction of their tendency to promote the same 
 in others, and with the humble hope and prayer that 
 they may thus be blessed by the great Head of the 
 church, they are now submitted in their present form 
 to the public. 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 I WRITE this little Book for you, beloved Christians, 
 whom I, during six-and-twenty years in Kettwig, 
 Beniburg, and Bremen, led to the table of our Lord 
 and Saviour. I dedicate it to you, to remind you of 
 the time when we beheld each other face to face, when 
 we prayed together, and sought with one accord to 
 establish our faith on the eternal Word of Truth ; 
 trusting that it may remind you of that holy covenant 
 to which we belong, and which, I earnestly hope, when 
 earthly things have passed away, may unite us all in 
 heaven above. 
 
 That God may grant this both to you and me, ia 
 the prayer of your fondly attached pastor, 
 
 F. A. Krummacher. 
 
LIFE OF ST. JOHN. 
 
 JOHN'S FORM AND APPEARANCE. 
 
 No biography could have been more interesting than 
 a minute history of John the Evangelist and Apostle, 
 from his childhood until his death. We are anxious 
 to hear particulars concerning his youthful years, 
 his behaviour towards his parents and under the pa- 
 ternal roof, his outward deportment, character, and 
 appearance. This, however, has neither been given us 
 by himself, nor by the other Evangelists. They have 
 not even described to us the human form of their 
 Lord and Master, the fairest among the children of 
 men. If it is asked, wherefore ? I should answer, Of 
 themselves they spoke nothing, because they thought 
 nothing of themselves ; and they were silent con- 
 cerning their Lord's outward appearance, out of 
 reverence for that glory which they were deemed 
 worthy of beholding. Have we not enough, when 
 we see the splendour of the sun when he goes forth as 
 
2 JOHN S FORM AND APPEARANCE. 
 
 a bridegroom from his chamber, and as a strong man 
 to run a race, — or do we require more ? The Evange- 
 lists do not write a worldly history, confined within 
 the mere bounds of outward circumstances. 
 
 For this reason we cannot have a true representa- 
 tion of the Apostle John : although painters have often 
 delineated, and sculptors moulded his form, they must 
 all have been far from the truth, as they had no other 
 guide than the peculiar bent of their own character 
 and imagination. Whatever we particularly admire 
 and love, our soul imperceptibly blends with all the 
 creations of our genius. 
 
 We can, however, form a picture of the Apostle in 
 our minds, if we observe him wherever he appears in 
 the Gospel; but particularly if we study those writings 
 which he himself has left behind. We can recognise 
 the singing bird everywhere by its beautiful tones. 
 The picture which is taken from occasional glimpses 
 and detached circumstances, must certainly be im- 
 perfect, and far from comprehending the whole cha- 
 racter of the holy Apostle. Nevertheless, a single 
 glance, a single word, or action of such a man, is a 
 testimony of his internal life ; for the purer the heart's 
 simplicity, the more do trifles express what is passing 
 within it. And in all cases, the representation, imper- 
 fect though it be, of that which stands high above us, 
 tends both to humiliate and exalt us. 
 
 Our AjDOstle also has his history. He, like other 
 men, did not become what he was instantaneously ; 
 but by degrees, in the society of his Lord and Master, 
 and afterwards by the assistance of his Holy Spirit, 
 
JOHN S CHILDHOOD. Ö 
 
 he came to " the measure of the stature of the fulness 
 of Christ." He walked in the same path which is ap- 
 pointed for us, the path of contrition and self-denial, 
 and fought the same fight of faith and patience. 
 
 The holy Apostle John thus stands before us, show- 
 ing us an example how to imitate the Lord Jesus, and 
 seems to say in the words of Paul, " Those things 
 which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, 
 and seen in me, do : and the God of peace shall be 
 with you. " Philip, iv. 9. 
 
 JOHN'S CHILDHOOD. 
 
 The gospel history has told us little of the childhood 
 and domestic character of John. This is the custom 
 of the Evangelists — what is merely human they gene- 
 rally pass over, if it does not stand in intimate con- 
 nection w^th the kingdom of God. Their biographies 
 seldom begin with the natural birth of the individual, 
 unless where it has been glorified by peculiar and di- 
 vine manifestations ; on the contrary, they generally 
 commence with his regeneration. 
 
 We do not even know with certainty w^iere John 
 was bom, and can only conjecture, with some appear- 
 ance of probability, that it was in the little town of 
 Bethsaida, situated in Galilee, on the banks of the sea 
 of Gennesareth ; the birth-place also of Peter, Andrew, 
 
4 JOHN S CHILDHOOD. 
 
 and Philip. AYho would have thought, that out of 
 this unimportant fishing-town, so many and such dis- 
 tinguished men of God should arise ? But in the king- 
 dom of God, every thing, like the work of redemption 
 itself, begins obscurely and insignificantly, and may be 
 compared to the seed of corn resting in the dark bo- 
 som of the earth. 
 
 The father of John was called Zebedee, and his 
 mother Salome. Of the former we know little more 
 than the name, and that he was a fisherman in the 
 lake of Gennesareth, or sea of Galilee. The latter, 
 Salome, was one of the women who afterwards accom- 
 panied Jesus during his wanderings, and ministered to 
 him and his disciples. The parents of John were not 
 poor, for they earned enough by the labour of their 
 hands to supply their necessities. Zebedee had men 
 to assist him in his occupation ; and John possessed 
 a house in Jerusalem, in which he received the mother 
 of Jesus, when our Lord on the cross recommended her 
 to his care. John was not the only son ; there was 
 another, named James, who afterwards became an 
 Apostle of the Lord, and ten years after his Blaster's 
 ascension, at the instigation of the Jews, was behead- 
 ed with the sword by king Agrippa. Happy pa- 
 rents, to whom God had given two such sons ! Their 
 youngest was named John. The Israelitish nation, as 
 the people from whom the Saviour of the world was 
 to proceed, were always looking joyfully towards the 
 future; and on this account attached great importance 
 to the names which their children received. No na- 
 tion of the ancient world regarded the blessing of 
 
JOHN S CHILDHOOD. Ö 
 
 children so much as the Jews ; and none valued, like 
 them, a numerous posterity, as the best gift God could 
 bestow. In the 128th Psalm, amongst the blessings 
 promised to him that feareth the Lord and walketh 
 in his ways, it is said that his children shall be like 
 olive plants round about his table, and that he shall 
 see his children's children. The ground of this lay in 
 the mysterious hope of that joyful future, to be brought 
 about by one of the descendants of Abraham, of whom 
 all the prophets had prophesied. The Israelites were 
 most peculiarly an expectant people; and as they 
 were at present sighing under the law, the birth of a 
 child reminded them of the blessed future, and was a 
 joyful circumstance closely linked with the hope of a 
 new and a better time. Eve had that idea; for, when 
 her first-born son came into the world, she believed 
 that he was the Saviour, and on that account named 
 him Cain, that is to say, " the desired one." 
 
 The pious parents of John did not fail to look up to 
 God in faith and hope, when they gave their child his 
 name ; and in doing so, were no doubt influenced by 
 the Holy Spirit. They called him John, that is to 
 say, " blessed, or favoured by God ;" and this name 
 beautifully expresses the character and life of the 
 Apostle, as well as his relation to his God and Master, 
 for he was the disciple whom Jesus loved. 
 
 Of his youthful life, we know nothing more than 
 that he was brought up under the eyes of his parents, 
 in a simple and pious fisherman's family, far removed 
 from the luxury and corruption of the capital. His 
 father destined him to the same occupation by which 
 
6 John's childhood. 
 
 he supported himself and his household ; for he seems 
 to have rented, along with others, the fishery on the 
 sea of Gennesareth. Both parents belonged to that 
 class who, like Simeon, waited for the Anointed of the 
 Lord and the consolation of Israel ; and it is certain, 
 that Salome, like the mother and grandmother of 
 Timotheus, instructed her son from his childhood 
 in the Holy Scriptures. As a mother speaks the 
 first words to her child, first draws out his affec- 
 tions, and first teaches him human speech ; so it is her 
 duty, also, to sow the first imperishable seed of the 
 divine word in his heart. O what a blessing can 
 such a mother extend even to her most distant pos- 
 terity, who, as Peter writes, being endued with "the 
 ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the 
 sight of God of great price," early directs the waters 
 of the word of life into the soft heart of her child, and 
 instructs him in the way of salvation ! Thus the 
 mother's blessing provides for her children houses, not 
 merely upon earth, but a house of God, eternal in the 
 heavens. John, whom the Lord loved, had such a 
 mother. And the only book which was read in Israel, 
 out of which pious women instructed their children, 
 and to which all the valleys and mountains of the 
 holy land bore testimony, was — the Book of books, 
 the book of the covenant and the promises. 
 
JOHN'S YOUTH. 
 
 We are unable to describe particularly the youth- 
 ful years of our Apostle, for the Evangelists have re- 
 lated but ^ew circumstances concerning them. Like 
 David, he was probably of a beautiful countenance, 
 and goodly to look upon ; and, without doubt, he was 
 modest and gentle, earnest, contemplative, and of a 
 generous disposition. 
 
 He pursued the same occupation as his father, that 
 of fishing ; for it is possible to serve God in every la- 
 bour and calling, and no rank is so low that men 
 ought to despise it. The bee is one of the least of 
 winged creatures, and yet its labours produce the 
 sweetest fruit. Each useful employment is ordained 
 by God, and none is incompatible with the highest 
 of all, which is seeking after the kingdom of God and 
 his righteousness. Yet some occupations conduce 
 more than others to serious contemplation on the aim 
 and destination of human life, — on time and on eter- 
 nity ; for this, the employment of a fisherman seems 
 particularly suitable. 
 
 We must now endeavour to depict to our minds 
 John, as a fisherman upon the Galilean sea. The 
 fishery was generally carried on during the night; and 
 how often must he in lonely silence have gazed upon 
 the midnight sea, bounded on all sides by picturesque 
 mountains 1 Above him, the blue eastern sky with 
 
8 John's youth. 
 
 its sparkling host of stars ; under him, the clear wa- 
 tery mirror, in which the starry heaven appeared at 
 his feet, the glittering constellations seemed to trem- 
 ble on the moving billows, and the near though dusky 
 mountain ridges were reflected in its bosom. Around , 
 him the deepest silence, only interrupted by the noise 
 of the rudder and the rippling of those waters, which, 
 at times agitated by the wind, roared louder than the 
 storm ; — an emblem of the vicissitudes of human life. 
 
 AFould not the nights, passed in this manner, raise 
 the soul of the highly gifted youth to the most exalt- 
 ed thoughts and feelings, hopes and wishes ? — but 
 particularly during that important time when all the 
 faithful in Judea, and indeed the whole people, await- 
 ed the fulfilment of the predictions of the prophets, 
 and the advent of the promised heavenly King and 
 Saviour ? 
 
 John the Baptist had now appeared, in the form of 
 Elias, on the banks of the Jordan ; and the fame of 
 him resounded through the whole land, as the preacher 
 of repentance, wdio chastised the sins of the people, 
 and announced the near approach of the kingdom of 
 God. The name of the Baptist, the same as his own, 
 would probably touch the heart of the youth. Might 
 not, also, the fame of that which had been done in Na- 
 zareth, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem, have penetrated 
 even into Galilee and Bethsaida, and opened the 
 hearts of those who had understanding to behold the 
 twilight or dawn of a new day ? JMust not John 
 have imparted his holy feelings and hopes to his brother 
 James, his friends Simon and Andrew, the sons of 
 
John's youth. 9 
 
 Jonas, and to the other youths who were his com- 
 panions ? And, in the quiet circle of pious household 
 life, would not the subject of conversation often be 
 the consolation of Israel, and the precious promises of 
 the divine word ? 
 
 Nothing is unimportant in the youthful life of any 
 man, but particularly in that of one like John, whom 
 the Lord had chosen for such a high destiny. Let us 
 remember, for example, that coat of many colours 
 which Jacob presented to his beloved Joseph, which 
 exercised such an influence on his future career ; and 
 also the life which David, the shepherd boy, passed 
 amidst his flocks, when he played upon his harp, and 
 overcame bears and lions. 
 
 The occupation of a shepherd shines with splendour 
 from the writings of the prophet Amos, who in his 
 youth was a herdsman ; and the circumstance that 
 Martin Luther's father was a miner, had probably a 
 powerful influence on his temper, spirit, and charac- 
 ter. The birds of the air, and the flowers of the 
 field, the gentle dove, and the wise serpent, all minis- 
 ter to our instruction in that school wherein we are 
 placed ; and why should not the sea also, that mirror 
 of the starry heavens, do the same ? 
 
10 
 
 JOHN WITH THE BAPTIST. 
 
 Now that the light had dawned in the soul of 
 John, he could no longer remain in Bethsaida. He 
 left his father's dwelling, his ship, and his nets, and 
 betook himself to the river Jordan, where his name- 
 sake was preaching and baptizing. The desire to at- 
 tain that kingdom of heaven, whose near approach the 
 Baptist was announcing, had grown stronger than 
 ever in his soul, and now urged him onwards. He 
 therefore joined himself to this new Elias, and became 
 his disciple. Our history is silent, however, with re- 
 gard to the manner in which this took place, and the 
 time durino- which he remained with him. The 
 
 o 
 
 smaller light fades and becomes imperceptible in the 
 si:>lendour of the greater, as the morning star grows 
 dim when the sun arises. 
 
 John thus describes the Baptist in the first pages of 
 his Gospel. " There was a man sent from God, whose 
 name was John. The same came for a witness, to 
 bear witness of the Light, that all men through him 
 might believe. He was not that Light, but" was sent 
 to bear witness of that Light. That was the true 
 Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the 
 world." John i. 6, 7, 8, 9. Wherever the Baptist is 
 mentioned in the Gospel of John, it is done in such a 
 manner that one can perceive how highly the Apostle 
 esteemed and loved his first master. We see that he 
 
JOHX WITH JESUS. 11 
 
 was connected with Jesus in the most intimate man- 
 ner, though yielding and giving place to him in deep 
 humility. " I saw and bare record that this is the 
 Son of God, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to 
 unloose," is the sum and substance of the testimony 
 which John bore to our Lord. " He that hath the 
 bride is the bridegroom ; but the friend of the bride- 
 groom which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth 
 greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This my 
 joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I 
 must decrease." The Apostle John repeats this as 
 the Baptist's own words ; and by thus depicting the 
 joyful character of his first master's humility, it is 
 evident that he both loved him as a teacher, and knew 
 his heart intimately. It is a testimony that the two 
 Johns were friends and confidants ; for love only has 
 those clear-sighted eyes which can discern the secret 
 character of the beloved object. 
 
 JOHN WITH JESUS. 
 
 After John the Baptist had baptized Jesus in the 
 waters of the Jordan, and had acknowledged him to be 
 the only Son of the Father, from seeing the Spirit des- 
 cend upon him like a dove ; he continued to preach him 
 as the greatest of all, the Messiah and the Son of God, 
 
12 JOHN WITH JESUS. 
 
 the light and Saviour of the world. AVith mighty 
 power and joy, though in deep humility, he spoke 
 from day to day of Jesus the Christ, and referred his 
 disciples to Him, as the great and the only Saviour. 
 
 It happened one day that Jesus passed by while 
 John was baptizing and preaching repentance at Be- 
 thabara on the Jordan, and when his two disciples, 
 John, and Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, were 
 standing by his side and listening to his words. The 
 Baptist, looking upon Jesus as he walked, saith, '* Be- 
 hold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the ein of 
 the world!" What must have been the feelings of 
 the two youths, when those mysterious words were 
 uttered, when they beheld the promised Saviour face 
 to face ! Our Apostle adds, " And the two disciples 
 heard him speak, and they followed Jesus." They did 
 so with reverential awe; for they desired, like Zac- 
 cheus afterwards, to behold the face of one, of whom 
 they had heard from their teacher such great and 
 glorious things. The two humble and youthful di;?- 
 ciples must have regarded the Lord Jesus with still 
 more veneration, because their master had called him 
 greater than himself, and told them he was unworthy 
 even to unloose the latchet of His shoes. 
 
 They, therefore, followed him with reverence and 
 awe. But, lo ! " Jesus turned, and saw them follov/- 
 iug, and saith unto them, what seek ye ? " "Was the 
 question strange ? Oh, no. It was an answer to that 
 which was passing in their hearts, but which they had 
 not ventured to utter. " They said unto him. Rabbi, 
 (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where 
 
JOHN WITH JESUS. 13 
 
 dwellest tliou ? " His reply is but a proof of their 
 childish confusion and timidity. 
 
 According to Jewish reckoning, it was about the 
 tenth hour, that is with us, four in the afternoon ; so 
 the day Avas beginning to decline. The modesty of 
 the two youths would not permit them to rob our 
 Lord of the remaining part of the day ; and their ques- 
 tion, " Where dwellest thou ?" might be interpreted, 
 " Is it lawful for us to accompany thee to thy abode?" 
 or else, " We desire to speak with thee — do thou ap- 
 point the time and place where we may visit thee." 
 How beautiful and appropriate is modesty to the young ! 
 Wehere this flow^er is awanting, there can be no good 
 soil. 
 
 The Lord Jesus saith unto them, " Come and see. 
 Come to my habitation — accompany me now." They 
 came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with Him 
 that day. 
 
 Yf hat benignant kindness on the part of Jesus ! He 
 knew well what they sought, — He penetrated their 
 hearts, and saw what was in them. Therefore, he 
 turned and spoke with them, took them with him, and 
 entertained them many hours before He let them go. 
 And what Avas the fruit of all this ? A new life be- 
 gan in the two disciples, the morning star arose in 
 their breasts, and they expressed it in the simple 
 words, "^ We have found the Messias !" 
 
 Let us now look back once more to the early life of 
 John. His own words are, " We have found the 3IeS' 
 sias ! " Truly the Apostle had been all along search- 
 ing for Him, though without being aware of it. And 
 
14 JOHN WITH JESUS. 
 
 why was this ? Was he not satisfied with the distin- 
 guished teacher sent from God, of whom our Lord 
 himself said that he was greater than the prophets 
 who had come before him ? No. The Baptist could 
 not, and ought not to satisfy his soul. He was only, as 
 he himself confessed, the voice of one crying in the 
 wilderness, the servant and forerunner of Him who 
 should come, whose path he was commanded to pre- 
 pare. In his own person he represented Moses and 
 the proj^hets ; and that salvation which John sought 
 could not come from them, but oidy from Him of 
 whom all the prophets did testify. 
 
 But *' no man can come unto Him, except the Fa- 
 ther draw him." John had been from infancy a child 
 of grace ; for Jesus had loved him, even before he be- 
 held him. Our Lord's training and discipline were 
 silent and gentle, like the beloved disciple's own cha- 
 racter. The imperishable seed of truth had unfolded 
 itself by degrees under the eyes of his pious parents, 
 as well as in the solitude and simplicity of the fisher- 
 man s life. Even the silent nights passed on the sea 
 of Gennesareth, whenhis heart, moved by admiration of 
 the works of nature, adored their God — all would tend 
 to turn his mind inwards on himself, and prompt him 
 to solve each inexplicable mystery by the study of the 
 Holy Scriptures. 
 
 As soon as he heard of the second and long-pro- 
 mised Elias, who had announced the descent of the 
 Christ from heaven, and the approach of the king- 
 dom of God, he left his father's house, and became a 
 disciple of the holy man. But the Baptist, as stand- 
 
JOHN WITH JESUS. 15 
 
 ing on the boundary between the old and new cove- 
 nants, chastised the sins of the people, and preached 
 the law and repentance; for his baptism signified merely 
 the death of the old man, and not the resurrection of the 
 new ; it was not regeneration, or " the answer of a good 
 conscience towards God." " This new life," said the 
 Baptist, " I cannot give you ; I only baptize with 
 water, but He that cometh after me, and is greater 
 than I, He shall baptize you with fire, and with the 
 Holy Spirit." 
 
 Our Apostle had also been baptized with this bap- 
 tism of repentance ; but he had not found in it that 
 peace which he sought. The law and repentance, the 
 Baptist and his baptism, could not impart it; for 
 He alone can give it who is called " Wonderful " and 
 " the Prince of Peace." 
 
 And, lo ! He to whom John had referred his disci- 
 ples, and to whom he bore testimony as the Anointed 
 of God, and the light of the world — He had appear- 
 ed, and a voice from Heaven had declared him to be 
 the Son of God ; and the two young men, Andrew 
 and John, sought Him and found Him. 
 
 " What seek ye ?" are the words with which Je- 
 sus accosted them. He that had come to look for 
 those sheep which were lost, knew better than they 
 did themselves that which they sought. All men are 
 seeking ; they seek the lost Eden, that is to say, the 
 salvation and peace of God, the good and perfect gifts 
 which come down from above. Few, however, clearly 
 understand what they seek, and what they have lost; 
 and the number is still smaller, of those who seek 
 
16 JOHN WITH JESUS. 
 
 wliere they ought. Instead of turning towards the 
 Creator and fountain of all salvation, they lower them- 
 selves to his creatures. Some, notwithstanding their 
 own corrupt nature, seek for salvation in themselves, as 
 if they by their own power, will and understanding, 
 could perfect and create themselves anew ; others seek 
 for it in the acquisition, possession, and enjoyment of 
 tii8 perishable wealth and pleasures of this world ; 
 others in fame, lionour, and the approbation of men. 
 
 They all find themselves in error and delusion ; for 
 they resemble the thirsty wanderers in the deserts of 
 Arabia, who fancy they espy water in the distance ; 
 eagerly they hasten towards it, but they soon become 
 aware of their error ; for what they imagined a clear 
 streamlet, proves to be only the glitter of the sunbeams 
 on the glowing sand. The search after peace and hap- 
 piness in the world and its pleasure, is but a species 
 of idolatry, whicli never can obtain the kingdom of 
 heaven. 
 
 David describes the true search, in the most power- 
 ful language, in the 42d Psalm. " As the hart panl- 
 eth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after 
 thee, God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the 
 living God; when shall I come and appear before 
 God ? " Or, in other words, " When shall I see his 
 face ? " Jesus, the only Son of the Father, who, as the 
 Son of man, dwelt among us full of grace and truth, 
 may be described as the face of God turaed towards 
 man. It is only in Him, and through Him, that we 
 can see God, and become partakers of that peace which 
 endureth for ever. 
 
JOHN CALLED TO BE A DLSCIPLE OF THE LORD. 17 
 
 David and the pious fathers of the old covenant 
 longed for this ; and Simeon and Hanna praised 
 God in the temple at Jerusalem, because their desire 
 had been fulfilled. This desire, also, was fulfilled in 
 the hearts of the disciples. " If any man thirst," saith 
 our Lord, " let him come unto me, and drink." Then 
 were the words of the holy Psalmist realized, " Your 
 heart shall live that seek God." 
 
 JOHN CALLED TO BE A DISCIPLE OF THE LOED. 
 
 We are all desirous of knowing what Jesus said to 
 the two disciples, during those evening hours spent in 
 confidential intercourse. John most probably repeated 
 it to his parents, but he has said nothing of it in his 
 Gospel. He wrote the latter, inspired by the Holy 
 Spirit, at a late period of his life, and after he had 
 known and beheld the glory of Jesus, as the only Son 
 of the Father. .This glory he has faithfully depicted 
 in his Gospel ; and why should he not also have de- 
 scribed the beginning, or, in other words, the infancy 
 of his knowledge, faith, and love tovv'ards his Master? 
 The Gospel of John, however, has this peculiarity, 
 that his name and person are invariably concealed, 
 whenever it is possible to do so. Perhaps, also, after 
 he became a man, he might, like the Apostle Paul, 
 consider his first search after truth among the 
 thoughts and incidents of his childhood, 
 c 
 
18 JOHN CALLED TO BE A DISCIPLE OF THE LORD. 
 
 On the part of Jesus, the first conversation with the 
 two disciples was, without doubt, full of the same 
 condescending grace and love which He always mani- 
 fested to those who sought Him. The fruit of this 
 personal acquaintance with our Lord was, that they 
 both joyfully exclaimed, " We have found the Mes- 
 sias !" And the new disciples, namely, Simon Peter, 
 Philip, and Nathanael, joined the followers of Jesus. 
 
 Did our Lord, at this first meeting, take John and 
 Andrew from henceforth into the number of his 
 disciples ? No. He permitted them to depart, after 
 they had remained one night with Him. This was 
 most peculiarly the custom of Jesus. He would not 
 open the fruit until it was ripened : it was enough 
 that the imperishable seed of truth had been sown in 
 their hearts, and He now awaited its development. 
 He acted in the same manner with Nicodemus, that 
 Pharisee full of his own wisdom — with the rich young 
 man, who imagined he had fulfilled the whole of the 
 law — in short, with all who came asking Him ques- 
 tions. In the heart of Nicodemus the word of truth, 
 which our Lord had sown, did not penetrate the hard 
 soil until Jesus had expired on the cross, — and in many 
 others it first became quickened on the day of Pente- 
 cost, when the gospel was preached by the Apostles. 
 
 Thus our Lord did not wish that John should 
 separate himself from the Baptist, although the latter 
 declared Jesus to be greater than he, and referred his 
 followers to Him. In this, the Son of man did not act 
 like those human teachers who wish to see the fruit 
 immediately after it is sown ; but, according to His 
 
JOHN CALLED TO BE A DISCIPLE OF THE LORD. 19 
 
 own comparison, He desired first the blade, then the 
 stalk, and afterwards the full ear. He did not seek 
 His own glory, but the glory of His Father, and the 
 salvation of those who believed on Him. 
 
 Months elapsed probably between John's first con- 
 versation with Jesus, and his being enrolled in the 
 number of his disciples. After Simon Peter, Philip 
 and Nathanael had acknov/ledged Jesus as the Mes- 
 siah, our Lord left Bethabara and went to Galilee, 
 where he was present at the marriage in Cana, and 
 there manifested his glory by the performance of his 
 first miracle. Thence He travelled by way of Caper- 
 naum towards Nazareth, the place where He had liv- 
 ed, in silence and obscurity, from his twelfth until his 
 thirteenth year ; but from this place he was driven 
 out by its inhabitants. He then went to Jerusalem 
 to keep the feast of the passover, and it was at this 
 time He cast the money-changers out of the temple, 
 and had the interview with Nicodemus by night. He 
 afterwards returned throuoh Samaria and Galilee. Se- 
 veral disciples who had acknowledged the Lord as. 
 the Messiah, accompanied him on this his first jour- 
 ney. History is silent on the subject, yet John proba- 
 bly belonged to this number ; and thus had an oppor- 
 tunity of becoming more and more acquainted with 
 the character and the glory of his Master, although, 
 properly speaking, he was not as yet one of those dis- 
 ciples who had received a peculiar call. 
 
 This call to be a disciple, and at the same time to 
 the future office of Apostle, did not take place until 
 
20 JOHN CALLED TO BE A DlßCIPLE OF THE LORD. 
 
 John the Baptist had been thrown into prison by He- 
 rod, at the instigation of his wife Herodias. Matthew 
 relates the circumstances in the fourth chapter of hi» 
 Gospel. Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee saw two 
 brethren, Simon Peter and Andrew, casting a net ; 
 as they had toiled all night and taken nothing. He 
 commanded them to cast their nets once more into 
 the sea. They did so, and inclosed such a multitude 
 of fishes that their net brake. " When Simon Peter 
 saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart 
 from me ; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.' Luke v. 
 8. Jesus now chose the two brothers to be his disci- 
 ples, addressing them in the words, " Follow me, and 
 I will make you fishers of men." Our Lord now came 
 to another part of the sea, where Zebedee and hi:* 
 two sons, John and James, were in a ship mending 
 their nets. He called to them also, and they imme- 
 diately left their father in the ship, and followed Him. 
 11) cy ccntinucd henceforth to be his disciples, and 
 afterwards became his Apostles and his witnesses 
 over the whole earth. 
 
 The disciples chosen first by our Lord were fisher- 
 men, — of the simplest habits of life, — and employed in 
 a trade which is one of the natural occupations of unci- 
 vilized man. The words of Jesus are symbolical ; — 
 from henceforward they were to cast their nets into 
 the great sea of the world, struggle with the stormy 
 waves, and catch men for the kingdom of God. The 
 choice of the Lord was simple, like his own words; and 
 equally simple were the hearts of those who were 
 chosen. Truth and sublimity lie in simplicity ; and 
 
JOHN CALLED TO BE A DISCIPLE OF THE LORD. 21 
 
 tlms began the greatest and most blessed work of 
 God, for the salvation of the world. 
 
 Vie must now look back once more to the first ac- 
 quaintance of our Apostle with the Lord Jesus, and 
 to the commencement of his spiritual discipleship. 
 This may be dated from the time when the Baptist, 
 seeing Jesus coming to him, uttered the words, '' Be- 
 hold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of 
 the world!" Great and mighty, wonderful and mys- 
 terious sentence ! 
 
 Were John and Andrew able to understand it ? 
 Yes, they understood it, that is to say, in their hearts 
 they felt and acknov/ledged its height and depth, its 
 consolation and blessing, — in the same manner as a 
 childish, though pious mind, feels and comprehends the 
 words, " Love, Heaven and Happiness," perhaps al- 
 most without the aid of reason. Thus the two youths 
 understood, or we should rather say, felt the import- 
 ance and the blessed signification of the Baptist's 
 words. Their minds also had been prepared for it by 
 his preaching. " Repent ye ; for the kingdom of hea- 
 ven is at hand !" Repentance is the earnest acknow- 
 ledgment and deep conviction of the sinfulness and un- 
 worthiness of man in the presence of a holy and just 
 God; and this v.'as the substance of his preaching, — this 
 was the voice in the wilderness. In this path only, 
 the path of self-knowledge, sorrow for sin, contrition, 
 and desire of salvation, can man attain the blessed 
 fellowship of his Redeemer. For this reason Jesus 
 himself, as well as his Apostles, invariably began their 
 preaching by exhorting mankind to repentance. 
 
22 JOHN CALLED TO BE A DISCIPLE OF THE LORD. 
 
 John also must walk in this path ; from his youth 
 upwards he had been instructed in it by his pious 
 parents, who waited for the consolation of Israel. For 
 this reason he did not require the same mode of treat- 
 ment as Peter and Nathanael, and still less the same 
 as the self-righteous Nicodemus, and the rich young 
 man, proud of his virtue and fond of this world ; nor 
 yet that which was experienced by the pharisaical 
 and haughty Paul. Nevertheless, the plough must 
 pass through his soul in order to bring to light the 
 roots of the weeds ; for it is only by this means they 
 can be extirpated. The Baptist was to the Apostle 
 that living law, that burning and shining light, which, 
 consuming all that is selfish, illuminated his inmost 
 soul. The first of Apostolic epistles, written at a more 
 advanced age, corroborates this idea ; for he declares 
 the knowledge and confession of our sins to be the 
 first condition of our entrance into the kingdom of 
 God. " If we say that we have no sin, we deceive 
 ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our 
 sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and 
 to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that 
 we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word 
 is not in us." Thus far, and no farther, could John the 
 Baptist lead him, — to poverty of spirit, grief for his 
 sins, and hunger and thirst after righteousness. 
 
 When he had guided him so far on his path — at 
 the proper hour Jesus passed by, when the Baptist 
 exclaimed, " Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh 
 away the sin of the world !" — that taketh away thy 
 sin ! These were the most glorious and the most consol- 
 
THE DISCIPLES. 23 
 
 ing words which our Apostle had ever heard from the 
 mouth of the great preacher of repentance. When they 
 were uttered, John prohably remembered the predic- 
 tion of the prophet, which describes the great Shep- 
 herd of the human race as the lamb to be oflPered up a 
 sacrifice for their sins. 
 
 Thus his path was opened, the course of his life was 
 decided ; he found what he sought, and publicly ac- 
 knowledged what he believed. John as the Apostle, 
 was but the completion of that work which the Bap- 
 tist had beg-un. 
 
 THE DISCIPLES. 
 
 After John had beheld the Lord, and heard his 
 voice, he became his disciple, and a sheep in his fold. 
 The word disciple is a beautiful word ; it signifies 
 nearly the same as scholar or pupil, but it has also a 
 tender and a more comprehensive meaning ; — it implies 
 a spiritual and almost a childish connection. As a 
 child grows, and gradually unfolds into manhood 
 under the eyes and guardianship of his parents, so 
 also did the disciples of Jesus. When he said, " Ye 
 have not chosen me, but I have chosen you," he step- 
 ped at once into the relation of their parents, in order 
 to lead them towards the kingdom of heaven. As 
 every development takes place by degrees in visible 
 
24 TBE DISCIPLES. 
 
 nature ; and as tha earth itself, being at first without 
 form and void, was gradually prepared by the Crea- 
 tor for the residence of man, — so Jesus in the same 
 manner prepared his disciples for the kingdom of 
 heaven. 
 
 A disciple, however, was not an apostle ; and even 
 in discipleship there were various grades. Sometimes 
 those are called disciples who, without being express- 
 ly called by our Lord, accompanied Him in hi» 
 wanderings; who heard his words, and saw his mira- 
 cles, though without believing on Him as the Anoint- 
 ed of God ; and who, after a time, as is mentioned 
 in John vi. 66, " went back and walked no more with 
 Him." Others, on the contrary, more and more openly 
 acknowledged that he possessed the words of eternal 
 life ; they joined themselves to Him more closely, 
 and were the same as his chosen disciples, to whom 
 He, their benevolent Master, manifested his glory by 
 word and deed, sign and miracle. 
 
 Our Lord afterwards separated seventy from the 
 rest of his disciples, who should go before Him, two 
 by two, to the towns and villages, in order to prepare 
 the inhabitants to receive his doctrine, and perhaps 
 also, to exercise themselves in the preaching of the 
 gospel. These were named " the seventy," to distin- 
 guish them from the others. The family of Jacob consist- 
 ed of seventy souls, when they took up their abode in 
 Egypt ; seventy elders were appointed, by God's com- 
 mand, to assist Moses in the arduous duties of his 
 office ; and seventy men formed, along with the high 
 priest, the supreme council in Jerusalem. It was a 
 
THE APOSTLES CIIOSKN. 25 
 
 consecrated number, employed by God in the guidance 
 and government of his people. Thus, when the time 
 of the seventy weeks of Daniel was fulfilled, a new 
 government took the place of the old, though under a 
 very different form. The seventy did not stand by 
 the side of our Lord as counsellors, nor yet did they 
 sit round Him as beinof the true Hi oh Priest ; but 
 by two and two they prepared his way before Him, 
 in every town and village of the Jewish land ; and 
 afterwards, as His messengers to every creature, 
 preached Him in all countries, as " He that hath come 
 and shall come." So these disciples labouring in Ju- 
 dea, and during this peculiar condition of the people 
 of Israel, were the type and picture of those mission- 
 aries who, in countless multiti^des, should go forth to 
 evangelize the world. And most wonderfully has 
 that eternal w- nk of God spread and increased, which 
 began then in such simplicity. 
 
 THE APOSTLES CHOSEN. 
 
 In the third chapter of the Gospel of St. Mark, the 
 choice of the Apostles is related in the following man- 
 ner : *•' And He" (Jesus) " goeth up into a mountain, 
 and calleth unto Him whom He would, and they 
 came unto Him. And He ordained twelve, that they 
 should be with Him, and that He might send them 
 
26 THE APOSTLES CHOSEN. 
 
 forth to preach ; and to have power to heal sick- 
 nesses, and to cast out devils." The Evangelist re- 
 peats the names of the twelve, and adds that Jesus 
 gave Simon the surname of Peter, and James and John 
 the name of Boanerges, that is to say, the sons of 
 thunder. 
 
 This solemn consecration to the Apostleship took 
 place upon the mountain to which Jesus had conduct- 
 ed them. It is worthy of remark, that God through 
 every age had chosen the mountains and high places 
 of the earth from which to manifest his grace and 
 truth unto men. On mount Ararat, in Armenia, He 
 renewed his covenant with Noah; Abraham must 
 make a two days' journey, in order to undergo upon 
 mount Moriah the severe trial of his faith ; on Sinai, 
 Moses, the mediator of the old covenant, received the 
 law; from mount Ebal he uttered the curse, and from 
 mount Gerizim the blessing upon Israel. For a 
 thousand years the tabernacle of God rested upon 
 mount Zion, the only place upon earth where, dur- 
 ing that time, the only true God was worshipped; 
 and on mount Horeb, Jehovah manifested to the per- 
 secuted prophet the mysteries of His grace and truth 
 in the government of the world. It happened, in like 
 manner, during the time of the new covenant. It 
 was on a mountain that the Lord Jesus first preach- 
 ed his heavenly doctrine, and expounded the law to 
 his disciples and the assembled people ; on the holy 
 mountain He was glorified before the eyes of his 
 three most faithful disciples ; Golgotha was the 
 mountain on which the Lamb of God that taketh 
 
THE APOSTLES CHOSEN. 27 
 
 away the sin of the world was ojßfered up a sacrifice 
 ^ for us ; and it was from the Mount of Olives that our 
 eternal Prophet, High Priest, and King ascended into 
 heaven. 
 
 Thus the mountains and high places of the Holy- 
 Land are of great importance in the history of the 
 kingdom of God, and are, like geographical charts, 
 closely connected with it. This is another sign of the 
 condescending grace and love of God towards men. 
 Do we not all feel a secret instinct impelling us, a 
 mysterious attraction drawing us tow^ards our home 
 above ? And when we are on the summit of a high 
 mountain, it seems as tliough we were nearer heaven, 
 and more susceptible of divine influences ; for the earth- 
 ly heights are a type and symbol of the glorious hea- 
 venly mountains. It is for this reason altars were usual- 
 ly erected upon high places ; and our churches, with 
 their towers, are symbolical of the elevation of our 
 hearts, eyes, and hands towards Him who dwelleth in 
 the highest. 
 
 Thus the Lord led his disciples to that mountain 
 where he had passed the night in prayer and com- 
 munion wäth his heavenly Father. Elevated far above 
 the noise and tumult of the world, they stood near the 
 clouds, with the earth at their feet ; for silence and 
 solitude were most appropriate to the holy work which 
 was about to be performed. It is interesting to ob- 
 serve how the Son of Man condescended to employ the 
 aid of outward circumstance, in order to impress more 
 vividly that which is holy on the minds of his fol- 
 lowers. AVell might the Apostles henceforward say, 
 
28 TUE APOSTLES CHOSEN. 
 
 " On this rnouiitain hath He chosen us ;" and Peter 
 writes also in his second Epistle, " This voice which 
 came from heaven we heard, v/hen we were with him 
 in the holy mount." 
 
 The words of the Gospel are, " And calleth unto him 
 whom he would," that is to say, those He had chosen 
 from the number of disciples to be his apostles. 
 " And they came unto Him, and he ordained twelve," 
 or, in other words, solemnly set them apart as his Apos- 
 tles, " that they should be with Him," and be connect- 
 ed with Him in the closest manner, never to forsake 
 Him. He now sent them forth to preach ; and, as 
 witnesses of his glory, gave them power to heal sick- 
 nesses, and to cast out devils. 
 
 Here we behold the works and signs by which we 
 may recognise the apostolic office. They must be 
 called and chosen by the Lord himself, — they must 
 have seen and heard Him, — be joined with Him in 
 the closest fellowship, — preach the gospel to all the 
 v/orld, wherever their Master should appoint, — and 
 lastly, they must have received the gift of miracles. 
 
 Our Lord first chose the eldest of his disciples. Si-, 
 mon Peter ; then the two sons of Zebedee, John and 
 James ; the three before whom He was afterwards 
 transfigured, and of whom St. Paul says, in his 
 Epistle to the Galatians, ii. 9, " who seemed to be 
 pillars." The others were " Andrew, and Philip, and 
 Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James 
 the son of Alpheus, and Thaddeus, and Simon the Ca- 
 naanite, and Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed 
 Him." 
 
29 
 
 BOANERGES, OR THE SONS OF THUNDER, 
 
 Our Lord distinginsliGcl his three favourite dis- 
 ciples in a peculiar manner, when he gave them their 
 surnames. The name of a man betokens his character 
 and personality. As each person has his own pe- 
 culiar appearance, so each has his peculiar name, which 
 distinguishes him from other men, and shows his 
 personality as a human being, endued vv^ith reason 
 and freedom of will. In every nation, and in every 
 age, it has been customary to give a child a name, on 
 its entrance into the world, whereby its parents and 
 relations, and afterwards the wider circle of its fellow- 
 citizens, may distinguish it. Among Christians the 
 name is given at the same time as the rite of baptism 
 is administered ; and thus our name is calculated to 
 remind us, not only of our value in the eyes of men, 
 but of our moral dignity, as beings renewed and rege- 
 nerated in this holy sacrament. 
 
 There are innumerable examples in the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, of parents giving tlieir children significant 
 nam.es, sometimes on account of the divine promises, 
 or the peculiar circumstances under which they were 
 born, sometimes on account of the hopes and expecta- 
 tions which they entertained regarding them. Thus 
 the names which Eve gave her children had their pe- 
 culiar m.eanine ; the name of Moses, also, has its sig- 
 
30 BOANERGES, OR THE SONS OF THUNDER. 
 
 nification, "taken out of the water;" and Rachel, when 
 she was on the point of death, called her son Benoni, 
 that is to say, " son of my sorrow." But how much 
 more important must it be, when God himself gives 
 new names to those whom He has chosen to be the in- 
 struments of his grace. Thus God changed the name of 
 Abram, which signifies great-father or arch-father, in- 
 to Abraham, that is to say, father of a multitude or 
 of many people, — a symbol of the promise, that through 
 him the blessing should come unto all men. Joshua 
 had formerly been called Hoshea ; but when he was 
 chosen to be the representative and successor of Mo- 
 ses, to lead the people into the promised land, he re- 
 ceived the symbolical name of Joshua, which signifies 
 hero or saviour, (the Greek of which is Jesus.) The 
 patriarch Jacob received from God the additional 
 name of Israel, by which also his descendants are de- 
 signated to the present day. The name of the fore- 
 runner of our Lord, as well as that of the Messiah, to 
 whom he bore testimony, was made known to their 
 parents by a heavenly manifestation. 
 
 Jesus also gave some of his disciples appropriate 
 names, when he constituted them his Apostles. Si- 
 mon he named Peter, or, as in the Hebrew, Cephas, 
 which signifies a rock, or a man of rock. It did not 
 imply that he had been that already, but that, by the 
 power of the Holy Spirit, he was to become the rock 
 on which the Lord should build his church. The two 
 sons of Zebedee also received a most expressive and 
 powerful name; He called them Boanerges, that is to 
 say, the sons of thunder. A mystery lies hid in this 
 
BOANERGES, OR THE SONS OF THUNDER. 31 
 
 appellation, of which there have been various inter- 
 pretations. 
 
 Our Lord had certainly some far-seeing view, in 
 giving the two brothers a name so full of meaning ; it 
 probably referred to nothing external, but to the spi- 
 ritual and internal character, the peculiar disposition 
 and future usefulness of the t.wo disciples. In the 
 same manner, the name of Peter betokened the bold and 
 strong character of Simon, and signified not what he 
 was, but what he should afterwards become. The name 
 of Boanerges, or sons of thunder, had a similar signifi- 
 cation ; that the natural ardour and concealed fire in 
 the hearts of the sons of Zebedee, unless it were puri- 
 fied and directed by the Spirit of God, might become 
 like the destroying tempest ; whereas, if it were sanc- 
 tified by the power of God, it would resemble the fruc- 
 tifying r-ain. Thus, in the Holy Scriptures, the word 
 of God is frequently compared to thunder, its power to 
 lightning, and its efficacy to rain and dew. 
 
 The gospel merely destroys sin and sinfulness in 
 the heart of believers, and not the peculiarities of their 
 mind and character, although it certainly purifies them 
 from all that is bad and wicked. It does not, however, 
 do this by constraint; but gently, and by the co- 
 operation of their own powers and talents. For this 
 reason, we find in the Gospel that the minds and tem- 
 pers of the disciples are variously represented, and their 
 dispositions well contrasted. Can any characters be 
 more unlike than those of Peter, John, and Paul ? 
 Their writings also bear each their peculiar stamp ; 
 for God gives one Spirit, but various talents and graces. 
 
32 BOANERGES, OR THE SONS OF THUNDER. 
 
 John and James were truly sons of thunder ; their 
 souls were filled with a fire and power, w^hich render- 
 ed them equally capable of a deep and silent love, and 
 of a fierce and burning anger, raging like a storm be- 
 tween heaven and earth ; Peter, on the contrary, resem- 
 bled a rock, firm and steadily fixed to the ground on 
 which it stands. To prove this trait in the character 
 of John, we shall select three of the most remarkable 
 anecdotes regarding him, which the Evangelists have 
 preserved to us. 
 
 The disciples having disputed among themselves 
 which should be the greatest in the kingdom of hea- 
 ven, " Jesus called a little child unto Him, and set 
 him in the midst of them, and said, Yerily I say unto 
 unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little 
 children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of hea- 
 ven. Whosoever, therefore, shall humble himself as 
 this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom 
 of heaven." Upon this John seems to have been 
 touched in his heart, for he confessed, " Master, we 
 saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he fol- 
 Joweth not us ; and we forbade him, because he fol- 
 loweth not us." John and the other disciples manifested 
 here an untimely zeal, harshness, jealousy and envy 
 towards a man who, being probably a follower of 
 John, performed miracles through faith in the Lord 
 and by the power of his name, and whose only dif- 
 ference from themselves consisted in not being one of 
 the disciples. John himself appears to have been 
 the originator of this action ; but it is beautiful to ob- 
 serve, hov»' he now candidly confesses it to his Mas- 
 
BOANERGES, OR THE SONS OF THUNDER. 33 
 
 ter, — certainly impelled by a feeling of repentance, 
 awakened in his bosom by the words of the Lord 
 with regard to the child. 
 
 The next example we shall cite, is where our Lord 
 was refused admittance into the Samaritan village, 
 while journeying towards Jerusalem to keep the pass- 
 over. " When his disciples, James and John, saw 
 this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command 
 fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, 
 even as Elias did ? But He turned and rebuked them, 
 and said, ye know not what manner of spirit ye are 
 of ; for the Son of man is not come to destroy men's 
 lives, but to save them." 
 
 What fiery zeal, on the part of the sons of thunder ! 
 To destroy a village, with every one of its inhabitants, 
 on account of its refusing to receive them ! Yet love 
 towards their Master can be discerned, even in the 
 nntin^ely ardour of the tw^o disciples; although it was 
 not a proper love, nor were they moved on this occa- 
 sion by the spirit of the gentle and lowly Jesus. 
 The two brothers, probably, never afterwards forgot 
 the mild yet earnest reproof of their Lord ; yet we 
 perceive symptoms of a holy indignation against the 
 contemners of Jesus and his truth, in John's second 
 Epistle, " Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not 
 in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God ; he that 
 ptbideth in tlie doctrine of Christ, he hath both the 
 Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, 
 and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your 
 house, neither bid him God-speed : for he that bid- 
 deth him God-speed, is partaker of his evil deeds," 
 
 D 
 
34 BOANERGES, OR THE SONS OF THUNDER. 
 
 The third instance we shall mention, is when James 
 and John, with their mother Salome, entreated our 
 Lord to exalt them above the other disciples, and 
 permit them to sit in his future kingdom, the one at 
 his right hand, the other at his left. Jesus, with fa- 
 therly wisdom and gentleness, showed them the folly 
 of their wishes, and disclosed to them the mysterious 
 future ; that He had not come in order to serve him- 
 self, but in order to serve, and give his life a ransom 
 for many. 
 
 It is not to be denied, that the bold request of the 
 sons of Zebedee and of their mother Salome, disclosed 
 an ambition most inconsistent with the character of 
 disciples of that lowly Jesus, who sought not his own 
 glory, but the glory of hira that sent him. Yet 
 this petition proves them to have been possessed of a 
 soul which, contemning earthly things, strove after 
 the highest and best gifts, and was ready and willing 
 to sacrifice all in order to attain them. "When Jesus 
 said, " Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to 
 drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be bap- 
 tized with the baptism that I am baptized with ? 
 They say unto him. We are able." 
 
 This narrative proves in what a kind and benevo- 
 lent relation our Lord stood towards his disciples ; 
 although shining in the midst of them, as the sun 
 amidst the planets, yet condescending to converse 
 with them graciously and parentally. They, on the 
 other hand, full of the deepest veneration, seeing and 
 admiring his glory, yet with child-like confidence 
 opening their hearts to him, enjoying the light of 
 
JOHN, THE DISCIPLE WHOM THE LORD LOVED. 35 
 
 liis countenance, and concealing nothing from him, 
 like sons without guile in the presence of a strict 
 though tender Father. Well might our Lord address 
 them in the words, " Ye are clean through the v*ord 
 which I have spoken unto you." 
 
 JOHN, THE DISCIPLE WHOM THE LORD LOVED. 
 
 John, as we have seen, was by no means free from 
 human faults and errors. And, why should we ex- 
 pect him to be so ? The Son of man came to seek 
 that which was lost, and to save sinners ; and as his 
 disciples stood in the nearest relation to him, they 
 first experienced his saving power, as they were also 
 the principal witnesses of his glory. Though our 
 Lord called John to be his disciple, he had been 
 born and conceived in sin like other men ; and was 
 far removed from that perfection of character which 
 the disciples, after the ascension of Jesus Christ, were 
 enabled to attain by means of the Holy Spirit. Cer- 
 tainly he does not except himself when he writes in 
 his first Epistle, " If we say that we have no sin, we 
 deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." And 
 again, " If we say that we have not sinned, v/e make 
 him a liar, and his word is not in us." History 
 proves that, like Peter, though perhaps in a different 
 
36 JOHN, THE DISCIPLE WHOM THE LORD LOVED. 
 
 manner, he had to strive against his own flesh and 
 blood. 
 
 But whatever might be his errors and imperfec- 
 tions, there was a principle in his soul which was 
 destined, in time, to overcome all human weakness ; 
 and like the breath of life, penetrating through body, 
 soul, and spirit, to purify and sanctify all. This 
 principle was his heart-felt love for his Master, the 
 leading spring of his existence. In reference to this 
 love, and looking back to the period when Jesus 
 walked amongst them, and they beheld his glory, 
 John styles himself in his Gospel, "the disciple whom 
 the Lord loved." 
 
 By this designation John did not wish to raise 
 himself above the other disciples, nor to assume a su- 
 periority over them, as if Jesus had either loved them 
 less or preferred him before them. Such an intention 
 could not possibly have entered his soul, when he 
 wrote such a glorious Gospel. No, it was only a 
 child-like and humble, though joyful and thankful 
 spirit, which led him to do so ; the same which 
 prompted him to rest on the bosom of Jesus while 
 they sat at meat, and to listen earnestly to his words. 
 And, does not the latter circumstance imply a sort 
 of child-like relation betw^een the youngest of the 
 Apostles and that beloved Master, of whom John alone, 
 in describing his communion with the Father, uses 
 the expression, "which is in the bosom of the Father?'* 
 John i. 18. 
 
 Some have also supposed, that his calling himself 
 " the disciple whom the Lord loved," is in reality a 
 
JOHN, THE DISCIPLE WHOM THE LORD LOVED. 37 
 
 paraphrase of the name John, which literally signi- 
 fies one favoured by the Lord. But, in short, had not 
 John a right to call himself so, when he was the dis- 
 ciple who remained with Jesus on the cross till the 
 last, and received from him the charge of his mother, 
 as the dearest possession he could bestow ? Was not 
 this indeed a proof that He loved him ? 
 
 The love which he felt towards his Master, and 
 which his Master's love towards him had created 
 and cherished, empowered and gave him courage to 
 appropriate to himself this glorious title. And the 
 more this love unfolded itself, the more was the soul 
 of the beloved disciple purified by the rays of the Sun 
 of Righteousness, and the more did it shine with a 
 lustre like that of his heavenly Master. 
 
 Let us " love him, because He first loved us," is 
 the spirit and soul which pervades all the writings of 
 our Apostle. But far be it from us to characterise 
 this love as a mere human attachment, formed to our 
 Lord as a man full of gentleness, simplicity, and kind- 
 ness. This was not the love felt by John, for it was 
 manly, sincere, and ardent, nay, even upon some oc- 
 casions fiery ; as a flame of the Lord consuming that 
 which is unholy ; stronger than death, and faster 
 than the grave ; " which many waters cannot quench, 
 neither can the floods drown it ; and if a man would 
 give all the substance of his house for this love, it 
 would utterly be contemned." Our disciple proved 
 it to be thus, while our Lord hung bleeding in shame 
 and in agony upon the cross. 
 
38 
 
 JOHN IN HIS INTERCOURSE WITH JESUS. 
 
 " That whicli was from the beginning, which we have 
 lieard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we 
 have looked upon, and our hands have bandied of the 
 Word of life ; for the life was manifested, and we have 
 seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that 
 eternal life which was with the Father and was mani- 
 fested unto us. That which we have seen and heard, 
 
 declare we unto you And these things write we 
 
 unto you, that your joy may be full." 
 
 With these words our Apostle commences his first 
 Epistle to the Christians ; and we may well wonder at 
 his strange style and frequent repetitions. But when 
 the heart is full the mouth overfloweth, and the style 
 becomes exuberant. The moment he begins to write, he 
 seems to behold the form of him whom his soul loved ; 
 and he is overpowered by the remembrance of his three 
 years' intercourse with the Messiah, wdien he was 
 deemed worthy of beholding " his glory, the glory as 
 of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and 
 truth." All this rises once more in vivid reality 1 be- 
 fore the soul of the disciple whom Jesus loved ; and 
 he seems to renew his youth while he describes what 
 he lias heard, seen, and his hands have handled of the 
 Word of life. How inexpressibly blessed must this 
 period have been to a heart and spirit like that of 
 
JOHN IN HIS INTERCOURSE WITH JESUS. 39 
 
 John ! — when, along with the other disciples, he con- 
 stantly accompanied Jesus during his wanderings ; 
 when he was a witness of his preaching and miracles ; 
 and when the glory and majesty of his Lord and Mas- 
 ter were daily unfolded to his wondering eyes. With 
 noble simplicity he expresses himself in the words, "He 
 dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory." 
 
 Yes, what a glorious time must this have been for 
 our Apostle ! Three years passed in the society of the 
 incarnate Redeemer, of the Son of God walking upon 
 earth in a human form. Each day seemed a year, so 
 rich in word and miracle, such as ear had never heard 
 and eye had never seen ! 
 
 Although John in his Gospel describes but few of 
 the actions of our Lord, in comparison of the other 
 Evangelists ; yet, it is generally supposed, he was pre- 
 sent at most, if not at all the miracles performed by 
 Jesus, — from the marriage at Cana of Galilee, do\yn to 
 the resurrection of Lazarus. For is it improbable that 
 the disciple who was present at his beloved Master's 
 seizure, and who remained with him even to the end, 
 should have left him even for a short period, and not 
 accompanied him everywhere ? The other Evangelists 
 also seldom make mention in their writings of their 
 fellow-disciples ; quite as seldom as John names and 
 speaks of himself in his own Gospel. Little even of 
 that which he said on various occasions is recorded ; 
 and in this we see his character and disposition ; for 
 we take it for granted that he spoke but little, and that 
 seldom. " Out of the abundance of the heart the 
 mouth speaketh ;" but there is also a fulness of the 
 
40 JOHN IX HIS INTERCOURSE WITH JESUS. 
 
 heart in which the mouth is silent. Thus it might 
 be with John ; deep, silent admiration and love filled 
 his soul in the contemplation of him on whom his 
 whole existence depended. For the more calmly 
 a rivulet flows, the more clearly are the heavens 
 and the flowers on its brink depicted in its watery 
 mirror ; — so it was with the soul of the disciple. It 
 was otherwise with Simon Peter, who had always 
 words and the boldest language at command, some- 
 times even at improper times. At Capernaum, when 
 many of the disciples went back, and walked no more 
 with Jesus ; and when He turned to the twelve, and 
 said, " Will ye also go away ? Then Simon Peter an- 
 swered him. Lord, to whom shall we go ? Thou hast 
 the words of eternal life." John, however, was silent, 
 but preserved in his heart those precious words which 
 Peter had spoken, and afterwards wrote them down 
 in h:s Gospel. 
 
 It is interesting to observe how the sacred history 
 delineates each individual, according to his peculiar 
 fashion and character, describing him exactly as he 
 lived and acted. By its very simplicity, it attains the 
 highest object of history, namely, that of resembling 
 a faithful mirror. 
 
41 
 
 JOHN, THE CONFIDENTIAL FRIEND OF OUR LORD. 
 
 The Gospel history shows us the various human re- 
 lations in which the Lord Jesus manifested himself, 
 or as Paul writes in the Epistle to the Philippians, 
 that He was " found in fashion as a man," '• and was 
 made in the likeness of men." Thus He took delight 
 in the varied forms of nature, in plants and trees, in 
 the ears of corn, and the fruitful seed, in the birds of 
 the air, and the lilies of the field ; and employed them 
 all, by means of parables, to bear witness to his truth, 
 and to illustrate the mysteries of his glory. He also 
 showed peculiar love for little children, took them in 
 his arms and blessed them, and made use of them 
 in his sermons as living examples to explain his doc- 
 trine. At the marriage in Cana of Galilee, He re- 
 joiced with the joyful guests, and increased their 
 pleasure, while He manifested his glory. In the hos- 
 pitable house at Bethany, He participated in the hap- 
 piness of the family circle : and He disdained no 
 more to enter the dwelling of a despised publican, 
 than to sit as an invited guest at the feasts of the 
 chief of the Pharisees. But particularly in the cir- 
 cle of his disciples. He seemed the father of a family 
 surrounded by his children ; and attending to the pe- 
 culiarities in the character of each, and bringing them 
 all up in wisdom and love. The Evangelists have 
 described this in pious simplicity ; and the union of 
 
42 JOHN, THE CONFIDENTIAL FRIEND OF OUR LORD. 
 
 the divine and the human in the character of our Sa- 
 \aour, shines forth as distinctly from their writings 
 as though it were reflected in a calm lake. 
 
 Our Lord now chose from amongst the twelve 
 three confidential disciples, namely, Simon Peter, and 
 the two brothers, James and John. They were here- 
 by rendered superior to the others ; perhaps on ac- 
 count of their riper understandings, or of some pecu- 
 liarity in their very different characters, which might 
 distinguish them from the remaining nine ; at all 
 events, our Saviour in electing them must have had 
 far-seeing views into the future. Peter was the eld- 
 est of the apostles, and had often been addressed by 
 our Lord as their representative ; he generally took 
 the lead, and at the feast of Pentecost preached to 
 the multitude. John, the youngest of all, was distin- 
 guished by the fervour and silent depth of his cha- 
 racter. James seems to have been something between 
 the two, resembling Peter in zeal and fire of disposi- 
 tion, and his brother in devotedness and fervour. He 
 was the first among the apostles who sealed the truth 
 with his blood ; for Herod Agrippa caused him to be 
 beheaded in Jerusalem, at the instigation of the Jews. 
 
 These three stood in the closest relation to our 
 Lord, during his pilgrimage on earth. All the disci- 
 ples regarded him as their illuminating Sun ; but 
 these three, in particular, seemed to be influenced by 
 the light which proceeded from him, and in their 
 lives reflected the image of their Master. For this 
 reason He chose them to be his confidential friends ; 
 probably, also, with reference to the government of 
 
THE THREE APOSTLES, &C. 43 
 
 the future Christian community; which the disciples, 
 
 as planets revolving round the sun, at that moment 
 represented. 
 
 THE THREE APOSTLES CHOSEN BY OUR LORD TO 
 WITNESS HIS GLORY. 
 
 There are three instances mentioned in the Gospels 
 in which Jesus chose Peter, James, and John to be 
 the witnesses of His glory. The first was the raising 
 the daughter of Jairus from the dead. Although the 
 miracles of our Lord, taken merely as proofs of his di- 
 vine power and character, are all equal, and no one is 
 greater than another ; yet in the eyes of men they are 
 not so : and curing the blind, or those sick of the palsy, 
 is not so remarkable as raising a man from the dead. 
 Perhaps because death is in itself so mysterious and 
 terrible, being utter annihilation in appearance, against 
 which no human power can avail ; and because such 
 an action, on the part of our Lord, proved him to be 
 the conqueror of what is termed in Corinthians " the 
 last enemy." Perhaps, also, because the awakening 
 from their sleep of those who are in their graves is 
 closely connected with that great judgment which is 
 to be the last action of God in his government of the 
 world. Taking it in this view, we may say, that 
 
44 THE THREE APOSTLES CHOSEN BY OUR LORD 
 
 raising from the dead is a greater and more important 
 miracle than any other performed by our Lord Jesus. 
 He who can overcome death must, according to hu- 
 man ideas, be able to overcome all things. 
 
 The daughter of Jairus being restored to life, was 
 the first miracle of the kind performed by Jesus 
 Christ ; it was afterwards followed by two others, 
 that of the young man at Nain, and of Lazarus of 
 Bethany. After the sorrowful Jairus had petitioned 
 our Lord to come to the help of his sick daughter, 
 they received the intelligence when on the road towards 
 his house, that the maiden was dead. Jesus then 
 turned to him, and said, " Be not afraid, only believe." 
 On their arrival at the mansion, sufferino- no one to 
 follow him save the three favoured disciples, Peter, 
 James, and John, and the father and mother of the 
 damsel ; He said unto the mourners, " Why make ye 
 this ado and weep ? the damsel is not dead, but 
 sleepeth." He then stepped towards the corpse, and in 
 heavenly accents uttered the words, " Tabitha cumi, 
 which is, being interpreted. Damsel, I say unto thee, 
 arise." And immediately the damsel arose, and walk- 
 ed, and He gave her back to her parents. 
 
 John, wdio was present along with Peter and James, 
 does not relate this occurrence in his Gospel ; but, on 
 the other hand, he has narrated in the most circum- 
 stantial manner the resurrection of Lazarus, which is 
 not to be found in the writings of the other Evange- 
 lists. If it should be asked, why the latter do not 
 mention it, when all the four have related together 
 many facts far less important. I should answer, that 
 
TO WITNESS HIS GLORY. 45 
 
 a feeling of propriety probably induced them to leave 
 the description of this miracle, and the words of Jesus 
 connected with it, to that disciple whom the Lord 
 loved, and who probably on this occasion stood near- 
 est him. The narration of this miracle distinguishes 
 John from the other Evangelists, for it is a bright 
 testimony of the glory of the only Son of the Father, 
 who is the resurrection and the life ; it preceded 
 the deep humiliation and suffering of Jesus, imbittered 
 against him the tools of hell, and hastened the exe- 
 cution of their projects ; in short, it was the deed, 
 above all others, which, before this night of darkness 
 commenced, manifested the glory of the Prince of 
 Life. 
 
 Another occasion on which the three chosen disci- 
 ples only were present, was the glorification of our 
 Lord upon the holy mountain ; — when " He was 
 transfigured before them ; and his face did shine as 
 the sun, and his raiment was white as the light ;" 
 when Moses and Elias came and conversed with him ; 
 when a voice was heard out of the bright cloud which 
 overshadowed them, saying, "This is my beloved Son,, 
 in whom I am well pleased ; hear ye him." It is 
 almost to be wondered at, that John does not allude 
 in his Gospel, by a single w^ord, to this glorious mani- 
 fegtation. I am of opinion, however, that this pecu- 
 liar silence on the part of our Apostle proceeded from 
 a degree of delicacy, wiiich induced him merely to 
 relate those occurrences in the life of Jesus w^hich 
 are historical and circumstantial, and leave the rest to 
 be mentioned by the other sacred writers ; particularly 
 
46 THE THREE APOSTLES CHOSEN BY OUR LORD 
 
 those events in which our Lord appears more as a 
 passive agent than speaking and acting. To this 
 class belong the transfiguration ; the history of our 
 Lord's baptism, which John repeats from the mouth 
 of the Baptist ; the temptation; and that which most 
 nearly resembles the transfiguration, namely, the as- 
 cent of Jesus into heaven. The transfiguration upon 
 the holy mountain was also a type, though perhaps 
 but a feeble one, ofthat future and heavenly glory, into 
 which our Lord had entered when our Apostle wrote his 
 Gospel. Certainly John was thinking upon what had 
 passed on the mount, when he wrote the words, " And 
 dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as 
 of the only begotten of the Father.") John had been 
 in the Island of Patmos before he wrote his Gospel, 
 and beheld, through the Spirit, not only future times, 
 but the Lord of glory himself; why, then, should he 
 hot yield to the other Evangelists the honour of des- 
 cribing the transfiguration upon the mountain, which 
 was but the shadow of those great things which he 
 himself had seen ? The four Evangelists, however, in 
 composing their Gospels, did not make an agreement 
 as to what each should write ; they were led by their 
 feelings to suit them to the various necessities of 
 those to whom they were addressed ; and at the 
 same time, were enabled by the Spirit of God to 
 write them with such wonderful simplicity and uni- 
 formity, that we may even term them miraculous. 
 
 The third occasion on which Jesus selected the 
 three disciples to accompany him, was during his 
 suffering in the garden of Gethsemane. They who 
 
TO WITNESS HIS GLORY. 47 
 
 had beheld his transfiguration on the mountain were 
 now to be the only witnesses of His deep humiliation 
 in the dark valley of the shadow of death, where He 
 was to receive that cup which the inexplicable coun- 
 sel of his Father had appointed him to drink. The 
 Loud himself compares his sorrows to a cup, and there- 
 by expresses that all the sufferings which his soul was 
 to undergo were now at hand ; it was as if a vessel had 
 been filled, out of which he was compelled to drink. 
 Indeed, our Lord had already asked his disciples, " Are 
 ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of ? " 
 The Scriptures, in order to express an overflowing quan- 
 tity, often use the term " cup ;" — for instance, " cup of 
 joy," " of salvation," " of anger," " of suffering," " of 
 sorrow," &c. In the latter case, it was a cup of gall 
 and bitterness which Jesus beheld in spirit, — a sym- 
 bol of his deepest humiliation, and of that fearful death 
 which he as the Lamb of God was to suffer, for the 
 sins and for the salvation of the world. 
 
 John does not mention in his Gospel that severe 
 and mysterious passion, of which he was a spectator ; 
 he merely alludes to the garden, and the path which 
 led to it over the brook Cedron ; the same which Da~ 
 vid crossed, accompanied by his weej)ing friends when 
 he fled from his son Absalom. Our Evangelist is si- 
 lent respecting the mysterious conflict of the Son of 
 man during the dark midnight hour ; perhaps because 
 his spirit failed when he attempted to express in word 
 and writing what he had witnessed. There is a si- 
 lence which is sacred; and to whom was it more suitable 
 than to the disciple who leaned on the bosom of our 
 
48 JOHN A WITNESS OF THE SÜFFERINGS OF JESUS. 
 
 Lord? John has left the other Evangelists to de- 
 scribe this severe conflict, which was the last temp- 
 tation of the prince of darkness, as well as the first 
 temptation in the wilderness of Judea. On the other 
 liand, he alone has preserved to us the hioh-jDriest- 
 like prayer which Jesus uttered ; and thereby shown 
 us the inexpressible greatness of the suffering Redeem- 
 er, and the love wherewith he loveth his own even 
 unto the end. 
 
 JOHN A WITNESS OF THE SUFFERINGS OF JESUS. 
 
 We are now come to that part of our history which 
 describes the presence of our Apostle, and the part 
 which he took, during the sufferings of our Lord. As 
 he had hitherto been constantly at the side of the Son 
 of David, so he must also remain there until the end. 
 
 Peter and John, the eldest and the youngest of the 
 disciples, were those whom Jesus sent before him 
 to Jerusalem, in order to prepare the feast of the pass- 
 over. Our Lord conferred on them a great distinc- 
 tion in thus assigning them an active part in prepar- 
 ing for an institution, which, as a memorial of his love 
 and of the sacrifice of himself, was to be of the highest 
 importance to all faithful believers even until the end of 
 the world. The Lord gave them for a sign, that on 
 
JOHN A WITNESS OF THE SUFFERINGS OF JESUS. 49 
 
 their entrance into Jerusalem they would meet a man 
 bearing a pitcher of water ; him they were to follow 
 into whatever house he entered, and say to the good- 
 man, " The Master saith unto thee, AYhere is the 
 guest-chamber, where I shall eat the passover with 
 my disciples ? And he shall sliew you a large upper 
 room furnished ; there make ready." In the style of 
 the commission which the two messengers received, 
 there seems a sort of intimation that our Lord was 
 about to add something new, of an important and 
 mysterious nature, to the solemnization of the paschal 
 feast. This was even implied by the choice of the 
 two disciples. 
 
 John relates little concerning the last passover which 
 Jesus held with his disciples, and does not even allude 
 to the institution of the Lord's supper. This need 
 not astonish us when we consider that John wrote 
 his Gospel for advanced Christians, who long had en- 
 joyed, and viewed the sacraments of baptism and the 
 eucharist as institutions appointed by God. It is 
 for this reason also, that John nowhere refers to the 
 institution of baptism. There is another viev/, besides, 
 which we must take ; the historical account of those 
 holy institutions, and the appointment of outward 
 signs of the covenant, seem by no means so suitable to 
 the spirit of Johns Gospel as those other subjects 
 which were constantly present before his soul, name- 
 ly, the glory of the Lord Jesus, and of that other 
 Comforter whom he promised to send to his disciples. 
 On the other hand, John alone has transmitted to 
 us the beautiful account of the washing of the dis- 
 
 E 
 
50 JOHN A WITNESS OF THE SÜFFERINGS OF JESUS, 
 
 ciples' feet. One might almost imagine that the other 
 Evangelists had silently yielded to him the honour of 
 describing this act of our Lord, or, perhaps, expressly 
 enjoined it. It is a history from the very heart of 
 Jesus ; and therefore most particularly belonged to 
 that disciple who leaned on his bosom. It begins 
 with the beautiful words, " When Jesus knew that 
 his hour was come, that he should depart out of this 
 world unto the Father, having loved his own which 
 were in the world, he loved them unto the end." 
 John then interrupts himself; but afterwards conti- 
 nues, " Jesus knowing that the Father had given all 
 things into his hands, and that he was come from 
 God, and went to God ; He riseth from supper, and 
 laid aside his garments, and took a towel and girded 
 himself. After that he poured water into a bason, 
 and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe 
 them with the towel wherewith he was girded." He 
 washed all, one after another, until He came to Peter^ 
 who showed his self-sufficient humility by striving 
 against him, not even omitting the traitor Judas, for he 
 washed his feet also, and dried them with the towel 
 wherewith He was girded. 
 
 During the feast, John, like another Benjamin, lay 
 on the bosom of Jesus ; and Peter, beckoning to him, 
 made signs that he should ask his Master of whom 
 He spake, when He said that one of them should be- 
 tray him. Jesus then pointed out to him Judas Isca- 
 riot, by giving him the sop of bread which he dipped 
 in the dish ; thus giving the beloved disciple a proof 
 
JOHN IN GETHSEMANE, AND ON GOLGOTHA. 51 
 
 of his confidence, which he himself has related in the 
 end of his Gospel. 
 
 John takes the same opportunity of relating the pre- 
 sumptuous self-confidence of Peter, and the prophecy 
 of our Lord concerning his three -fold denial ; as if 
 none of the Evangelists dared to omit this testimony 
 of human weakness to the divine foreknowledoe of 
 
 o 
 
 Jesus ; for they have all described in their writings 
 both the self-reliance, and the fall of this apostle. 
 
 We shall not now enlarge on the precious words 
 uttered by our Lord during these mysterious days, 
 passed among his disciples immediately preceding his 
 death : John has preserved them, particularly the 
 prayer of Jesus in his character of High Priest. We 
 shall only say, that the beloved disciple was chosen by 
 Jesus, and endued with the fulness of his Spirit, that 
 he might preserve his last words as a precious trea- 
 sure, for the benefit of every Christian ; and in what 
 a blessing are we hereby enabled to participate ! 
 
 JOHN IN GETHSEMANE, AND ON GOLGOTHA. 
 
 They now passed over the brook Cedron into the 
 garden of Gethsemane ; and here began our Lord's 
 passion, of which John, and the two other chosen 
 apostles, were the nearest witnesses. As we have al- 
 
52 JOHN IN GETKSEMANE, AND ON GOLGOTHA. 
 
 ready seen, he is silent concerning this mysterious and 
 inexplicable circumstance, which the other Evange- 
 lists have related so minutely ; perhaps, because they 
 were not eye-witnesses of it. It was a terrible and 
 awful hour, when, as Paul says, the eternal High 
 Priest "offered up prayers and supplications, with 
 strong crying and tears, unto him that was able to 
 save him from death." The Gospel which John wrote 
 is principally a testimony to that glory of Jesus 
 Christ, full of grace and truth, which he himself had 
 seen ; while the other Evangelists seem to follow the 
 thread of history ; and their Gospels merit this praise, 
 that in them the hand of man is scarcely discernible. 
 In John's, on the contrary, we see everywhere the 
 character of the man appearing, and the heart of tlie 
 disciple may be discerned throughout. He must, 
 however, finish the history of the sufferings of Jesus, 
 and that in his own peculiar manner ; so that, 
 through the darkness of hell and death, the light and 
 life of the Lamb of God may shine forth. 
 
 John, like his companions Peter and James, was 
 overpowered by fatigue and sleep during the suffering 
 of his beloved Master ; and to him, along with them, 
 was addressed the reproof, " What ! could ye not 
 watch with me one hour ? " as well as the words of 
 excusing love, " The spirit indeed is willing, but the 
 flesh is weak." In him also the words of prophecy 
 were fulfilled, " They shall smite the shepherd, and 
 the sheep shall be scattered;" for he fled with the 
 other disciples when Jesus was taken prisoner, and led 
 away bound. 
 
JOHN IN GETHSEMANE, AND ON GOLGOTHA. 53 
 
 But when the first terror was over, John and Peter 
 followed the multitude from afar, even to the palace 
 of the high priest. John, who was acquainted with 
 the high priest, went into the inner-court of the pa- 
 lace ; but Peter had remained without, until his com- 
 panion had persuaded the keeper of the gate to admit 
 him. Here is now related the three-fold denial of Peter, 
 after which he went out deeply humbled, and wept 
 bitterly. John, in comparison with the other Evan- 
 gelists, relates this event with peculiar forbearance. 
 Errors ought to have no place in the history of our 
 Lord's sufferings ; and this is only mentioned because 
 Jesus had prophesied it, and because it is intimately 
 connected with his history. John relates it in the most 
 simple manner ; and the crov/ing of the cock, which 
 had been foretold, ends the recital with the words, 
 " And immediately the cock crew." The Evangelist 
 concludes by announcing the break of day, and the 
 dawn of the morning-star, in the heart of his humbled 
 brother. It is as if he felt there was no need to al- 
 lude to Peter's bitter and tearful repentance. 
 
 John remained with his beloved Master during all 
 the terrible circumstances which took place. He ac- 
 companied him from Caiaphas to Pilate, from Pilate 
 to Herod, and from Herod again to Pilate ; beheld him 
 clad in the purple robe with the crown of thorns upon 
 his head; and followed him along the fearful path 
 which led to the death of a malefactor. Thus we find 
 him at last under the cross upon mount Calvary ! 
 
 The love which animated the heart of the beloved 
 disciple was of wonderful constancy and fervour, for 
 
54 JOHN IN GETHSEMANE, AND ON GOLGOTHA. 
 
 it endured and suffered all things. Near to John 
 stood the mother of Jesus, who now experienced the 
 words of Simeon, " Yea, a sword shall pierce through 
 thy own soul also." Beside her, though at a greater 
 distance, stood the other women who had accompanied 
 and ministered to Jesus during his pilgrimage. 
 
 Their love appears almost to equal that of the sor- 
 row^ino^ mother, who, in this fearful hour, cannot beai* 
 to leave her son ; for the ties which bind them together 
 are now far stronger than ever. Jesus acknowledged 
 the faithfulness of his disciple, and even on the cross 
 rewarded it in the most touching and expressive man- 
 ner. " When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and 
 the disciple standing by whom He loved. He saith 
 unto his mother. Woman, behold thy son ! Then 
 saith He to the disciple. Behold thy mother !" Thus, 
 while intrusting the blessed Virgin to the care of his 
 disciple. He enjoined upon him the tenderest of all 
 human relations, that of a son towards his mother. 
 Could John have received a more sacred possession, a 
 better consolation, or a stronger proof of his Master's 
 love ? 
 
 " And from that hour," writes he himself, " that 
 disciple took her unto his own home," from the mo- 
 ment when he received the command of the Lord 
 Jesus, and from the beginning of the three hours of 
 darkness during which our Lord in silence hung upon 
 the cross. In all probability, the other women accom- 
 panied the mother of Jesus ', and John afterwards re- 
 turned to Golgotha. 
 
 An old tradition states, that John maintained the 
 
JOHN AT THE DEATH AND BURIAL OF JESUS. 55 
 
 Virgin in his house at Jerusalem until her death, 
 which took place fifteen years afterwards ; and we can 
 well imagine with how much tenderness and love. 
 
 The Gospel of John relates nothing more concern- 
 ing the mother of our Lord ; the other Evangelists also 
 are henceforward silent, with the exception of Luke, 
 who, in his Acts of the Apostles, mentions her once 
 as joining with the disciples in prayer and supi^lica- 
 tion. This is the last time that her name is mention- 
 ed in the New Testament ; and it is strange that such 
 a silence is maintained on the subsequent history of 
 the holiest among women. Her holiness, however, did 
 not proceed from herself, but from him whose name 
 is " called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, 
 the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." 
 
 JOHN AT THE DEATH AND BURIAL OF JESUS. 
 
 Let us now picture to ourselves the beloved disci- 
 ple standing immoveable under the cross of the Re- 
 deemer ; the two bleeding criminals on either side ; 
 and our Lord hanging in the midst. Before him are 
 the rude heathen soldiery ; and round about are mul- 
 titudes of people of every class, mocking and reviling ; 
 among the rest the exasperated, though now trium- 
 phant priests and scribes. With what feelings of in- 
 dignation and sorrow do the eyes of John now rest 
 
56 JOHN AT THE DEATH AND BURIAL OF JESUS. 
 
 upon him whom his soul loved, and whose glory he had 
 beheld ! He now watches him as he dies — He who 
 had said, " Therefore doth my Father love me, be- 
 cause I lay down my life, that I might take it again. 
 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of my- 
 self ; I have poAver to lay it down, and I have power 
 to take it up again" — He who had so shortly before 
 proved himself to be the resurrection and the life, and 
 the Prince of Life. John received the last words of 
 his mouth, and then beheld him bow his head and 
 give up the ghost. In his Gospel he has preserved 
 his Master's last words, " It is finished ;" but he has 
 not written down the prayer of humanity, " Father, 
 into thy hands I commend my spirit." 
 
 When the corpse was hanging pale and bloody 
 on the cross, John remained by its side, unheeding 
 the noise of the earthquake or the rending of the 
 rocks asunder. With what anguish he must have 
 watched the soldiers, while they brake the legs of 
 the two malefactors ! And with what joy does he 
 now relate, " But when they came to Jesus, and saw 
 that He was dead already, they brake not his legs." 
 " For these things were done," he continues, " that 
 the Scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall 
 not be broken." Another circumstance took place 
 which appears to him of deep importance ; one of the 
 soldiers pierced the side of Jesus with a spear, upon 
 which there ran out blood and water : John then con- 
 tinues, " And he that saw it bare record, and his re- 
 cord his true ; and lie knoweth that he saith true, that 
 ye might believe." All that took place in the history 
 
JOHN AT THE DEATH AND BURIAL OF JESUS. 57 
 
 of our Lord had, in the eyes of our Apostle, a deep and 
 mysterious meaning; and this circumstance not the 
 least so, for the words in his first Epistle evidently re- 
 fer to it, " And there are three that bear witness in 
 cartli ; the Spirit, and the water, and the blood." The 
 Spirit is what is formed in man regenerated through 
 the preaching of the gospel, the water is the sacrament 
 of baptism, and the blood that of the Lord's supper. 
 John also applies anotlier prophecy to this circum- 
 stance, " They shall look on him whom they pierced." 
 
 When Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who 
 had hitherto in secret been worshippers and followers 
 of our Lord, took down the body from tlie cross, and 
 having embalmed it, buried it in the sepulchre cut in 
 the rock in which never man had been laid ; John, 
 without doubt, was present, and assisted them. One 
 may see from his circumstantial narration, that this 
 last honour which they showed to their beloved Mas- 
 ter at his death was well pleasing to the heart of his 
 favourite disciple. It was the sacrifice of reverejice 
 and of love, which the circumstances of the most shame- 
 ful death had not weakened, but, on the contrary, had 
 increased. 
 
 And how joyfully could John iiovv^ name him, whom 
 the other Evangelists neglected to mention, — Nicode- 
 mus, as a decided believer, who no longer was ashamed 
 to confess his Lord ! 
 
58 
 
 JOHN AT THE RESURRECTION. 
 
 While Jesus was resting in the grave, the disciples, 
 and the women who had followed him, were like 
 sheep that had lost their shepherd. With what an- 
 guish their hearts must have been torn, when they no 
 longer beheld that beloved Master in the midst of 
 them, whose intercourse they had enjoyed for three 
 whole years ! Their grief and sorrow were so much 
 the greater, for they had been connected with him in 
 the closest manner ; He was the vine, they were the 
 branches ; they had received from him their spiritual 
 and renewed life, and had constantly been novirished 
 and instructed by him. Well might they now be 
 termed orphans, and well might they now mourn. 
 
 Certainly our Lord Jesus, when he prophesied be- 
 forehand of the sufferings he should undergo, had told 
 them also that he should rise again from the dead on 
 the third day. But the incomprehensible and astound- 
 ing nature of those events which had recently taken 
 place, might partly have extinguished their remem- 
 brance of it ; and perhaps, also, they classed the pro- 
 phecy concerning the resurrection on the third day 
 among the words of our Lord which they were not to 
 take in their literal sense, because they shadowed forth 
 the future ; or they said in their hearts, like Martha, 
 " I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection 
 
JOHN AT THE RESURRECTION. 59 
 
 at the last day," John xi. 24. In short, they neither 
 thought nor believed that He would rise again now in 
 a bodily fonii. Why should they not then mourn ? 
 Even Thomas, who was one of the twelve, fell into a 
 state of doubt and despair, separating himself for se- 
 veral days from the rest of the disciples. 
 
 The holy Scriptures unreservedly describe the state 
 of mind in which the disciples were, and in no way 
 conceal their timidity and fear of the Jews, that is to 
 say, of the supreme council, who had by their arti- 
 fices effected the death of Jesus. Can we wonder at 
 this, on the part of the followers of our Lord ? Had 
 they not lost in their blessed Master the support of 
 their existence, the object of their hope ; and must not 
 the cause of Christ, which in their eyes was indissolu- 
 bly connected with his human existence, now appear 
 completely hopeless ? Thus the wicked violence and 
 oppressive power of those men who had slain Jesus 
 now hovered like a dark thunder-cloud over their 
 souls, and filled the dispirited disciples with fear and 
 trembling. As in times of dread and danger, when 
 the earthquake shakes human dwellings, and the raf- 
 ters of the houses crack, even after tranquillity is re- 
 stored, timid man continues to fear, and the slightest 
 sound fills him with terror. So it was with the disci- 
 ples ; although their love towards him who had fallen 
 asleep was in no degree diminished. 
 
 As soon as the Sabbath was over, the pious women, 
 who had accompanied and ministered to the wants of 
 our Lord and his disciples, prepared to show tlie last 
 tokens of their love and veneration towards his dead 
 
(JO JOHN AT THE RESUPcRECTION. 
 
 body. Thus the days had passed ; it had been even- 
 ing and morning, the evening had come again, and 
 now the third day was dawning; and they still 
 mourned and feared on account of the Jews. 
 
 Lo ! then came Mary Magdalene, full of sorrow and 
 anguish, to Simon Peter and John, and said unto 
 them, " They have taken away the Lord out of the 
 sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid 
 him." At break of day she had gone out of Jerusa- 
 lem, along with the other women, to anoint the dead 
 body ; but having hastened before them, found the 
 grave open and empty ; and deeply grieved by the 
 idea that the beloved corpse, which she still named 
 " the Lord," had been taken away, she had run back 
 with the tidings to the two disciples. These hasten- 
 ed now to Joseph's garden; " they ran both together, 
 and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came 
 first to the sepulchre." Thus the Gospel history men- 
 tions the smallest traits in the lives of the saints ; the 
 formerly rash and precipitate Peter now remained be- 
 hind, as if he had been carrying a burden ; and cer- 
 tainly his heart must have been heavy, for he had de- 
 nied his Lord. 
 
 John came first to the grave ; he remained stand- 
 ing before it, looked in and beheld the linen, the linen 
 clothes without the body ; but he did not go in. This 
 he himself describes, though he does not mention the 
 feelings of his heart. Peter came after him, and, 
 without thinking, entered the sepulchre ; he saw the 
 linen clothes, which had bound the body of Jesus, ly- 
 ing in order, and the napkin, which had been about 
 
JOHN AT THE RESURRECTION. 61 
 
 his head, wrapped in a place by itself. This did not 
 appear like a robbery. When Peter had described to 
 John the appearance of the things, he who had ar- 
 rived first at the sepulchre went in, and " saw and 
 believed." John writes this himself, and adds, " For 
 as yet they knew not the Scripture, that he must rise 
 again from the dead." Thus John began to believe 
 in the resurrection of the Lord ; faith awoke in his 
 heart, and the expressions of Jesus with regard to 
 it now^ recurred to him, and suddenly became clear. 
 John appears, according to his usual silent custom, to 
 have concealed within his own breast his dawning 
 faith ; and concludes his narration with the w^ords, 
 *•' Then the disciples went away again unto their own 
 home." 
 
 Our Lord soon after this manifested himself to all 
 his disciples, and, as Luke relates in his Acts of the 
 Apostles, " shewed himself alive after his passion by 
 many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, 
 and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom 
 of God." It is very evident that John was present 
 at those manifestations of his risen Master, as he had 
 formerly been at his sufferings ; but it must have been 
 with deeper, and, at the same time, with more exalt- 
 ed feelings. Jesus was the same as formerly, but now 
 He had overcome death ; humanly, but yet in a su- 
 perhuman manner, he walked in the midst of his dis- 
 ciples ; still a pilgrim upon earth, He ate and drank 
 with his foUow^ers, shewed them his wounds, and the 
 marks of the nails on his hands, and yet, what splen- 
 dour and glory shone around him ! 
 
62 JOHN AT THE RESURRECTION. 
 
 The Evangelist.« are silent here, as elsewhere, con- 
 cerning his personal appearance ; but how often, dur- 
 ing the forty days, must the heart of the beloved dis- 
 ciple have burned wdthin him, when he beheld the 
 countenance, and listened to the words, of his beloved 
 Master ! And yet he is silent ! He mentions him- 
 self, however, twnce after this, in the 21st chapter 
 of his Gospel, which seems to be a sort of appendix, 
 added after the rest had been completed. 
 
 That the apostle had at first intended to close his 
 Gospel with the 20th chapter, is evident from its con- 
 cluding words, " And many other signs truly did 
 Jesus in the presence of his disciples, wdiich are not 
 written in this book ; but these are written, that ye 
 might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of 
 God ; and that believing, ye might have life through 
 his name." What induced him at a later period to 
 add the supplement contained in the 21st chapter, 
 for want of sufficient information, we cannot explain. 
 That Gospel which the ancient Fathers of the church 
 have in a peculiar manner designated as the spiritual 
 one, combines, wath w^onderful depth of meaning, a 
 child-like simplicity of recital, whereby the mind and 
 temper of its holy writer everywhere shines forth. 
 This we can more peculiarly discern in the supple- 
 ment to his Gospel, in which he and Simon Peter, in 
 conjunction with our Lord, appear to be the chief 
 actors. 
 
 Peter and John were bound together by the ties of 
 love ; and at the time the latter wrote the supple- 
 ment to his Gospel, it is probable the former had ai- 
 
JOHN AT THE RESURRECTION. 63 
 
 ready glorified the Lord by the manner of his death. 
 John now remembered that occurrence at Gennesaretli, 
 in which Peter was so deeply concerned. He had al- 
 ready related his fall, but not his repentance and 
 tears ; and for this reason he now describes his recon- 
 ciliation with the Lord. The touching recital in 
 the 21st chapter may be compared to a monument 
 erected by one Apostle in memory of another. It is 
 also a full acknowledgment of the love entertained by 
 Peter towards our Lord, which was now sanctified 
 and strengthened by his deep humiliation, and which, 
 according to his Master's prophecy, he was to ratify 
 by his death. 
 
 The history is as follows : The first manifestation of 
 Jesus after his resurrection, took place in Jerusalem 
 and its neighbourhood ; after which the disciples, ac- 
 cording to his command, went to Galilee, near the sea 
 of Gennesareth. Here they awaited further disclosures 
 from their heavenly Master. One evening, as they 
 sat together, Peter who, from temperament, could not 
 long remain inactive, said, " I go a fishing;" the other 
 disciples replied, " We also go with thee." In this 
 manner, they returned j^robably for the last time to 
 their early occupation. They fished during the whole 
 night, but caught nothing. In the twilight of the 
 morning, they beheld a man at a distance stand- 
 ing on the bank ; it was Jesus, but they did not re- 
 cognise him. The unknown one called to them, 
 " Children, have ye any meat ? " that is to say, fish ; 
 which, next to bread, is the most general foad in the 
 East. They replied, " No ; " upon which the unknown 
 
64 JOHN AT THE liESURRECTION. 
 
 one advised them to cast their nets on the right side 
 of the ship ; they did so, and caught such a multitude 
 of fishes that they had great difficulty in pulling them 
 in aoain. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said 
 to Peter, " It is the Lord;" and Peter, vrho was only 
 half-clad, hastily threw on his fisher's coat, and gird- 
 ing himself, fiung himself into the sea, and swam 
 across, the other disciples folio v>^ing him in the ship 
 with the heavy laden net. On the land they found a 
 fire of coals, fish laid thereon, and bread. This was 
 the meal prepared for them by our Lord ; He now 
 said to them, " Bring of the fish which ye have now 
 caught." Peter stepped into the vessel, and, along with 
 the others, brought the net to land, full of great fishes, 
 a hundred and fifty- three. The words of John are, 
 " And for all there w^ere so many, yet was not the 
 net broken." At that time they lived in a world of 
 miracles. 
 
 Jesus now summoned them to the simple meal 
 which He had prepared, saying unto them, " Come 
 and dine." He then took of the bread, and the fish, 
 and gave it unto them ; but no one durst ask him, 
 " Who art thou ? " knowing that it was the Lord. 
 How well our Apostle knows how to express the deep- 
 est meaning in the most child-like language ! The dis- 
 ciples knew that He was tlieir Master, but no one had 
 courage to ask him ; they knew that He was the 
 same Jesus who had formerly walked in the midst of 
 them ; and yet that he was difi*erent, for since that time 
 He had risen from the dead. A reverential awe, 
 arising from being in the presence of a superior being, 
 
JOHN AT THE RESURRECTION. 
 
 65 
 
 prevented them addressing him as formerly. Thus 
 the Evangelist describes, in simple words, the impres- 
 sion which our Lord made upon them after his resur- 
 rection. 
 
 The disciples receive their meal from the hands of 
 their Lord, and enjoy it in silence and reverence, as if 
 it were a holy supper ; for, like the last supper, it w^as 
 full of the deepest signification to the apostles. How 
 could anything v\^hich was done by the Lord of heaven, 
 in his human form, and after his resurrection, fail to 
 be of mighty importance ? Had not all which He had 
 done upon earth, a divine signification ? His mira- 
 culous cures, and raising men from the dead, were not 
 merely acts of compassionate love, but were visible 
 testimonies of his power to free mankind from the 
 bonds of sin and of death. 
 
 Thus this last meal of which our Lord, now risen 
 from the grave, partook along with his future messen- 
 gers of peace, was a symbol, pledge, and seal, both 
 of their fellowship with him, and of the happy future 
 which he had promised them. This wonderful draught 
 of fishes vv^as a counterpart to the former fishing upon 
 the same sea, at which all who had been present were 
 seized with terror, and Peter, falling at the feet of 
 Jesus, had cried out, " Depart from me ; for I am a 
 sinful man, Lord ! " when Jesus had said to the 
 newly chosen disciple, " Fear not, from henceforth thou 
 shalt catch men;" and when, after having brought their 
 ships to land, they had forsaken all, and followed 
 him. 
 
 The last fishing had a reference to the sending forth 
 
66 JOHN AT THE RESURRECTION. 
 
 of the disciples into the world, where, without the vi- 
 sible agency of their Lord, they were to catch men. It 
 took place at lis word, and nearly in the same man- 
 ner as the first, though on this occasion he remained 
 at a distance, and they did not immediately recognise 
 him. It was only from the miracle which followed 
 that they discovered him, whose power had so bless- 
 ed their labours, to be Jesus ; for they had toiled dur- 
 ing the whole night, and had taken nothing. He 
 now led them to the meal which he had prepared for 
 them ; this and the miraculous draught of fishes, were 
 as much as to say, " Without me ye can do nothing ; 
 but be comforted, for I come at the hour when ye re- 
 quire me ; ere you imagine it, I am there, and fill 
 your nets. The world will henceforward be the great 
 sea in which you will catch men, of every degree, for 
 the kingdom of heaven. Do not despair though you 
 toil during the whole night in vain ; but let your loins 
 be girded, and your lights burning, and ye yourselves 
 like unto men that wait for their Lord ; and when He 
 cometh, verily I say unto you, that He shall gird 
 himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and 
 will come forth and serve them." 
 
 Thus the simple history of this manifestation of our 
 Lord has a deep and mysterious meaning, referring 
 to the eflicacy of the apostles in their calling, to the 
 blessing from above, and to that heavenly marriage- 
 feast, after their labours are finished, of which Jesus 
 had so often spoken to them. The actions of our Lord 
 :ire humble and simple, like his character, preaching 
 
JOHN AT THE RESURRECTION. 67 
 
 and parables ; but, at the same time, are, like them, 
 full of divine signification. 
 
 Now commences the conversation of Jesus with 
 Simon Peter ; w^e may regard it as a court of judg- 
 ment held by our Lord over his disciple, out of which 
 the latter comes forth justified. Our Lord calls him 
 Simon son of Jonas, which is the name he bore before 
 he became an apostle, and before he received the sur- 
 name of Peter. Three times he asks him, " Lovest 
 thou me ? " because three times he had denied Him. 
 He even asks him more pointedly, and referring to 
 the other disciples, " Lovest thou me more than 
 these ?" for Peter had said unto him, " Although all 
 shall be ofi'ended, yet will not I." Such a humilia- 
 tion of the fallen disciple by the Lord himself whom 
 he had denied, was necessary in order to re-establish 
 him in the faith, and confirm him for ever in that co- 
 venant which he had violated. 
 
 This was done with earnestness, but w^ith wonder- 
 ful mercy and lenity. The deeply abased Peter had 
 now ample opportunity to pour out the feelings of his 
 heart, and acknowledge his love to his Master ; and 
 He, the searcher of hearts, graciously received this ac- 
 knowledgment, and confirmed the renewed covenant of 
 love by the commandment, thrice repeated, " Feed 
 my lambs, feed my sheep ;" at the same time adding 
 the prophecy by what death Peter sliould glorify God. 
 "- When thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth 
 thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry 
 thee whither thou wouldest not." 
 
 Peter, whose heart had now been lightened of its 
 
68 JOHN AT THE RESURRECTION. 
 
 burden by his reconciliation with his Master, and who 
 had now regained his former boldness, was induced 
 by the prophecy of Jesus to ask the question regard- 
 ing John, "Lord, and what shall this man do?' 
 Upon which he received the evasive answer, " If I 
 will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee ? 
 Follow thou me." 
 
 This reply of our Lord spread itself afterwards 
 among the Christians who believed, that Jesus had 
 said that John should not die, but remain till the re- 
 turn of the Lord to judgment, when liis body should 
 be changed. John himself, in the childlike simplicity 
 of his heart, contradicts this opinion, when, repeating 
 the words of our Lord, he writes, " Yet Jesus said 
 not unto him he shall not die, but. If I will that lie 
 tarry till I come, what is that to thee ?" This was 
 uttered in contradistinction to the prophecy concern- 
 ing Peter, " Another shall gird thee, and carry thee 
 v/hither thou wouidest not ;" the word another, signi- 
 fying an enemy of the gospel. John, on the contrary, 
 was not to die the death of a martyr. And so it hap- 
 pened, — he died a gentle and natural death ; for his- 
 exit from this world was peaceful, like his actions and 
 character. 
 
JOHN IN JERUSALEM AFTER THE ASCENSION 
 OF OUR LORD. 
 
 We can easily imagine that our Lord spoke much 
 during the forty days succeeding his resurrection to his 
 beloved disciple, of which nothing has been preserved. 
 As Luke relates in his Acts of the Apostles, during 
 ibis time he gave them commands and promises, in- 
 structing them in the things pertaining to the king- 
 dom of God. Probably John had already heard much 
 of this in those conversations which Jesus held with his 
 disciples during the short period before his suirerings, 
 when he withdrew himself from the world into the 
 immediate circle of his faithful followers. "What glo- 
 rious, and at times prophetic words, are contained in 
 John s Gospel, after the 13th chapter ! And what he 
 says, at the conclusion of his history, regarding the 
 signs and wonders which Jesus did, but which he has 
 not written in his book, might well be applied to the 
 words of the Saviour also. The Apostle has transmit- 
 ted to us as much of the words of our Lord as we re- 
 quire, in order to acknowledge and believe " that Je- 
 sus is the Christ, the Son of God ; and that believing, 
 ye might have life through his name/' And, in fact, in 
 every single chapter of this precious Gospel we have 
 so rich a treasure, that we may well wonder at the 
 splendour of the whole. 
 
70 JOHN IN JERÜSALE3I AFTER THE 
 
 It is self-evident that John was a witness of our 
 Lord's ascent into heaven, and was present at all that 
 was done during the ten days at Jerusalem, and on 
 the feast of Pentecost ; although he himself has not 
 mentioned it. With respect to the pouring out of the 
 Holy Spirit, he is distinguished from the other Evan- 
 gelists as the one who has preserved most of the pro- 
 phecies of our Lord concerning it, and who has spoken 
 most of the offices and future efficacy of the Comforter, 
 the invisible representative of his glorified Lord and 
 Master. How gladly should we have read the des- 
 scription of that disciple's joy whom Jesus loved, vrhen 
 the fulness of the Spirit descended upon him, and the 
 power of the Highest streams down upon his soul. 
 This, however, is not granted to us ; and in the history 
 of that day in which the baptism of the Holy Ghost 
 took place, the name of John is not even mentioned. 
 
 As far as we can learn, John remained in Jerusalem 
 after the feast of Pentecost, and became a witness of 
 the mighty deeds of God which took place. He had a 
 small dwelling here, where he watched over the mother 
 of Jesus with faithful love, until the day of her death, 
 which took place fifteen years after that of her son. 
 
 The next time we read of our Apostle is in the 
 beautiful history when he and Peter go to the 
 temj^le to i^ray at the time of the evening sacrifice, 
 Avhere they meet the lame man asking for alms. 
 " Look upon us," said Peter, vvho, along with John, 
 fixed his eyes upon him. He did so, expecting to 
 receive alms ; when Peter, reading his thoughts, said, 
 *' Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have, give 
 
ASCENSION OF OUR LORD. 71 
 
 I thee ; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise 
 up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and 
 lifted him up ; and immediately his feet and ancle- 
 bones received strength. And he, leaping up, stood, 
 and walked, and entered with them into the temple, 
 walking and leaping, and praising God." Thus, Luke 
 detailed the circumstance in his Acts of the Apostles. 
 It made a powerful impression upon the astonished 
 people, who now crowded round the apostles. Peter 
 then stepped forward, and, addressing them, preached 
 Jesus Christ the crucified and risen Lord, the way, 
 the truth, and the life. The consequence was, that 
 many of those that heard the word, believed, and 
 the Christian community increased to five thousand 
 souls. But the enemies of truth, the high priests and 
 scribes, who had slain the Lord of glory, could not 
 rest in quiet, but made the two apostles be seized, 
 and, as it was evening, put them in prison until the 
 next day. Accordingly, on the morrow, they were led 
 before the high council to receive their sentence. 
 Peter, now filled with the Holy Ghost, began to speak, 
 and preached to the high priests and rulers of the 
 people Jesus of Nazareth, whom God hath raised 
 from the dead. In his name, and by his power, the 
 sick man had been made whole ; for in none other is 
 salvation to be found, and there is none other name 
 under heaven given among men whereby we may 
 be saved. The rulers were astonished when thev 
 beheld the boldness of Peterand John, for they knew 
 they were unlearned and ignorant men, and knew also 
 they had been with Jesus. They now looked at the 
 
72 JOHN IN JERUSALEM AFTER THE 
 
 man Avho had been made whole, who was standing 
 before them ; but they could say nothing against it. 
 The report of the miracle had already spread through 
 all Jerusalem ; so they closed their judgment with 
 threats, and the command that henceforth they should 
 not speak of Jesus to the people, and nowhere teach 
 or preach in his name. But Peter and John, the 
 history continues, ansv»'ered and said unto them, 
 " Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken 
 unto you more than unto God, judge ye; for we 
 cannot but speak the things which we have seen and 
 heard." 
 
 This is the first occasion on which John appears 
 after the feast of Pentecost, that morning of the new- 
 creation dawning on man ; and this, as he so often 
 had done before, in the company of Peter. Together, 
 thus writes the sacred historian, they were the instru- 
 ments of the miraculous cure of the lame man ; to- 
 gether^ they preached to the people the gospel of Je- 
 sus, the crucified one ; and together^ they underwent 
 the same punishment. Peter, however, is represented 
 as the chief speaker and actor. In this, also, we see 
 the silent and gentle temperament of John, who, as 
 the youngest of the apostles in relation to the eldest, 
 regarded Peter as a father; on every occasion gave 
 him the precedence, as the apostle most distinguished 
 by our Lord ; and as he seems to have had eloquence at 
 command, ahvays permitted him to speak. It is ex- 
 tremely probable that Jesus himself, who recommend- 
 ed his mother to the care of John, who was the most 
 childlike of the disciples, may also have recommended 
 
ASCENSION OP OUR LORD. 73 
 
 him to tlie care of Peter ; for as he was the disciple 
 whom the Lord loved, he must have been most accus- 
 tomed to receive love. Thus we see the most silent 
 of the apostles bound in the closest ties to the most 
 active and eloquent ; and as John is seldom mention- 
 ed in the Evangelical histories, it is the same way at 
 the commencement of his apostolic office. There lies, 
 if we may so express it, a holy mystery, a shadowy 
 veil over the disciple beloved by our Lord, like that 
 which envelops Lazarus raised from the grave, of 
 whom it is only said, that Jesus loved him. Even 
 over the writings which John has left behind him, 
 there is a faint cloud in which he envelops and conceals 
 himself. As he felt deeply, and loved ardently ; so 
 his spiritual ear seems on that account more open to 
 receive and to hear spiritual things. It was for this 
 reason that, in the solitary island of Patmos, our 
 Lord revealed to him distant futurity, and conferred 
 on our Apostle the honour of being the last of the pro- 
 phets. Who is it that is able to follow the depths of 
 such a spirit, and of such a heart ? 
 
74 
 
 JOHN UNDERGOING PERSECUTION IN JERUSALEM, 
 ALONG WITH THE OTHER APOSTLES. 
 
 When the Holy Spirit was poured out at the feast 
 of Pentecost, the first Christian community was the 
 beginning and type of the subsequent Christian church 
 upon earth. Thus the saying of the prophet was ful- 
 filled, that " out of Zion shall go forth the law, and 
 the v7ord of the Lord from Jerusalem ;" and also^ the 
 expression of Jesus to the Samaritan woman at Jacob's 
 well, " Salvation is of the Jews." Therefore the Lord 
 had commanded the disciples, that they should com- 
 mence the preaching of the gospel in Jerusalem, and 
 afterwards be witnesses unto him in Judea, Samaria, 
 and unto the uttermost part of the earth. This took 
 place amidst great struggles and persecutions ; and the 
 apostles w^ere the first who were destined to drink the 
 same cup as Jesus drank, and be baptized with his 
 baptism. As the number of the faithful was daily 
 increased by the preaching and miracles of the apos- 
 tles, they were seized, by command of the high coun- 
 cil, and put into prison. But the angel of the Lord 
 came by night, opened the prison-doors, and let them 
 go forth ; upon which they once more began to teach 
 and preach the words of life. They w^ere now sum- 
 moned before the council, scourged, and commanded 
 to preach no more in the name of Jesus. They then. 
 
JOnN UNDERGOING PERSECUTION, &C. 7^ 
 
 as Luke relates in liis Acts of tlie Apostles, " depart- 
 ed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that 
 they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his 
 name ; and daily, in the temple, and in every house, 
 they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ." 
 It was a glorious time for Zion ; for it seemed as if the 
 tree was now about to bud, and bring forth fruit. 
 But, alas ! it did not happen. 
 
 The enemies of truth were hereby still more embit- 
 tered, and the Lord, in the person of his saints, was 
 still more hotly persecuted. Stephen, a faithful wit- 
 ness of the gospel, was torn from the council-cham- 
 ber, and cruelly stoned by the raging populace ; thus 
 being the first martyr who sealed the truth of the 
 Christian religion with his blood. As the raoe of wild 
 beasts increases after they have tasted blood, so the 
 persecution now became more violent ; and many 
 Christians beino- constrained to leave the inimical 
 
 o 
 
 city, took refuge in Judea and Samaria, carrying the 
 seed of the gospel into those desert lands, where it 
 sprung up and bare much fruit. 
 
 The conversion of the Samaritans was the com- 
 mencement and preparation for casting down the wall 
 which had hitherto separated the Jews from the Gen- 
 tiles. In the kingdom of grace, as well as in the 
 kingdom of nature, every development takes place 
 by degrees, and generally in the midst of struggles 
 and tempests. Thus it happened with the progress 
 of the kingdom of heaven, through the persecutions in 
 Jerusalem. Samaria Avas like the entrance through 
 which the new faith was received by the Gentiles ; 
 
76 JOHN UNDERGOING PERSECUTION IN JERUSALEM, 
 
 and the Samaritans, who, on account of their self- cho- 
 sen worship, had been regarded as idolaters by the 
 people of God, were the first-fruits of the heathen. 
 
 The apostles remained in Jerusalem, protected by 
 the Lord, who had commanded them to abide here 
 and take care of his flock, waiting till He should call 
 them to a distance. Samaria was assigned as their 
 first field of labour ; for, when the gospel had taken 
 root here, Peter and John were sent by the rest of the 
 apostles to lay their hands upon those Samaritans 
 who had been converted and baptized by Philip ; in 
 order that their reception into the Christian commun- 
 ity might be sealed by prayer, and by the gift of the 
 Holy Spirit. They travelled, at the same time, through 
 Samaria, preaching the gospel in many j^laces, and 
 then returned to Jerusalem. 
 
 Our Apostle now spent several years in the capital 
 of the Jewish land ; but we have no information 
 either concerning the length of this sojourn, or the 
 blessings attending it. This, however, need not sur- 
 prise us. Luke might have given it to us in his Acts 
 of the Apostles ; but this is no worldly narrative ; on 
 the contrary, it is the history of the spreading of the 
 kingdom of heaven, after the disciples of the Lord 
 had received the Holy Spirit and the command to 
 preach the gospel to all nations. The sacred history 
 first describes the planting of the tree of life in the 
 hallowed soil of Judea, and its prosperity in spite of 
 storms and tempests; it then hastens to relate how it 
 took root in all parts of the earth, and in the Gen- 
 tile world particularly, through the labours of Paul 
 
ALONG WITH THE OTHER APOSTLES. 77 
 
 and his companions. This, however, is not done in 
 order to exalt the names of the messengers of Christ, 
 and to recount the simple fruits of their ministry ; on 
 the contrary, the one Name in whom alone is salva- 
 tion, and the one Man whom God has appointed to 
 judge the world, far outshines, and, by the splendour 
 of his glory, extinguishes the lustre of every other. 
 On this account, John and his labours for the com- 
 munity in Jerusalem are not brought into the fore- 
 ground ; we may, nevertheless, with truth conjecture, 
 that the soft and gentle spirit of the beloved disciple 
 would be shown in calmino- and consolino- the first 
 Christians during their afflictions. Thus the Lord 
 made him whom He loved tarry the longest for him 
 in the place which had been the chief seat of his 
 earthly pilgrimage, where He had found his cross, 
 his grave, and the scene of his glory. 
 
 The following we gather from scattered passages in 
 the sacred writings : When the apostle Paul came to 
 Jerusalem, in the third year after his conversion, he 
 found the apostles still together, or at least in Judea. 
 Paul did not see John during his fourteen days' so- 
 journ in Jerusalem ; but he saw the two apostles 
 Peter and James, the brother, or to speak more cor- 
 rectly, the cousin of our Lord ; for he was the son of 
 Alpheus and the sister of the mother of Jesus. Pro- 
 bably our Evangelist was then with his brother and 
 the other apostles and disciples, in the neighbourhood 
 of Jerusalem. For the servants and messengers of 
 the Lord never passed their time in inactivity ; and it 
 may be inferred, both from their characters and their 
 
78 JOHN UNDERGOING PERSECUTION, &C. 
 
 history, which is preserved to us, that they continued 
 preaching the gospel round about ; at the same time, 
 always extending their circle of usefulness. It ap- 
 pears also, that Paul's principal object in coming to 
 Jerusalem, to which he was probably moved by di- 
 vine impulse, was to converse with Peter, who had been 
 the first of the apostles, to open the gate of heaven to 
 the heathen world, and who had immediately preceded 
 tlie Apostle of the Gentiles in his great work. The 
 Lord doeth all things well ; He changeth the times 
 and the seasons; in the kingdom of God there is no less 
 order and gradation, than in the kingdom of nature. 
 The great work of the calling of the Gentiles was to 
 be commenced by the oldest Jewish apostle ; and it 
 took place in the conversion of the centurion Corne- 
 lius, and his house. But the apostles might well be 
 astonished, when they heard from Paul how God 
 had appointed him to preach the gospel to the hea- 
 then. 
 
 Ten years later Paul came from Antioch, with his 
 assistant Barnabas, to attend the assembly of the 
 apostles at Jerusalem ; when it was agreed, that the 
 Greeks, that is to say, the Gentile Christians, should 
 be freed from the observance of the Levitical law. 
 Acts XV. — which was another step in the gradual eman- 
 cipation of believers in the new dispensation, from the 
 thraldom of the old. John is not expressly mention- 
 ed as being present at this meeting ; yet it appears 
 that he was, from Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, 
 ii. 9. " And when James, Cephas, and John, who 
 seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was 
 
JOHN LEAVES JERUSALEM. 7^ 
 
 given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the 
 right hands of fellowship ; that we should go unto 
 the heathen, and they unto the circumcision. ' The 
 expression, " seemed to be pillars," denotes that they 
 were distinguished from the other apostles by their 
 character, wisdom, and the gifts wüth which God had 
 endowed them. The James who is named here was not 
 the brother of John, for the latter had been beheaded 
 some years before by the command of king Herod 
 Agrippa : this James was the son of Alpheus, and 
 appears to have been the minister and director of the 
 little community at Jerusalem. Our Evangelist is 
 not mentioned again in the Acts of the Apostles ; for 
 they are henceforward exclusively occupied in narrat- 
 ing the extension of the gospel amongst the heathen, 
 bv means of Paul and liis assistants. 
 
 JOHN LEAVES JERUSALEM. 
 
 The time which John passed in Jerusalem cannot 
 be exactly ascertained. Soon after the assembling of 
 the apostles, Peter left the city and went to Antioch, 
 the capital of Syria, where he found a considerable 
 congregation, and from wdiich he travelled in the ser- 
 vice of the gospel through the neighbouring lands 
 and provinces of Asia. Perhaps John made a mis- 
 sionary tour at the same time ; although the tradi- 
 
80 JOHN LEAVES JERUSALEM. 
 
 tion that he preached the gospel in Parthia is not 
 sufficiently attested. When Paul came to Jerusalem 
 for the last time, he visited James, the son of Al- 
 pheus, also called " James the younger " and 
 " James the just." John, however, is not mentioned, 
 as would probably have been done if he had still re- 
 mained in Jerusalem, Acts xxi. 18. James soon after 
 died the death of a martyr ; he was condemned to 
 deatli by the supreme council on account of his bold 
 testimony for Christ — was stoned by the people — and, 
 after he had uttered the prayer for his enemies, 
 " Fatlier, forgive them, for they know not what they 
 do," he was put to death by the blow of a club. 
 This took place soon after the departure of the Apostle 
 Paul, who, by his appeal to the Roman Emperor, had 
 withdrawn himself from the rage of the Jews ; about 
 sixty years after the birth of our Lord. 
 
 The time now approached for that judgment which 
 the Lord had pronounced over Jerusalem, and the 
 Jev/ish people. " For the days shall come upon thee, 
 that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and 
 compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, 
 and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy 
 children within thee ; and they shall not leave in thee 
 one stone upon another, because thou knew^est not the 
 time of thy visitation." The Jews themselves hastened 
 this fearful judgment. The more the gosi:)el of Jesus 
 Christ prevailed, and the power of God manifested it- 
 self in a thousand hearts, the more obstinately did 
 these deluded ones resist the vv'ord of truth, and seek 
 to stop for ever the progress of the gospel. As the 
 
JOHN LEAVES JERUSALEM. 81 
 
 Lord had prophesied, many false Messiahs now arose, 
 who attracted numerous followers, — a proof that the 
 time had arrived which Jesus had compared to the 
 spring whose approach may be known by the blossom- 
 ing of the trees. But as they had misunderstood the 
 times and rejected the true JMessiah, God sent them 
 strong delusion that they should believe a lie. Every- 
 where, excited by the arts of those deceivers, rebellion 
 and uproar were heard, and hordes of plunderers 
 ranged through the country, and wasted the land of 
 their fathers. This compelled the Romans to use 
 means of restraint and harsh oppressive measures, which 
 still farther embittered the Jews, and excited them to 
 resistance. At length a Roman army, under the com- 
 mand of Cestius Gallus, governor of Syria, invested Je- 
 rusalem, where the rebels were now arming themselves 
 for a vigorous resistance. But this was not the time 
 appointed for the judgment to take place ; the Roman 
 general withdrew his army; it was like the respite of 
 mercy before the flood, while Noah was building the 
 ark : but no one gave heed. 
 
 Many Christians had long before this quitted Jeru- 
 salem, remembering the prophecies and warnings of 
 our Lord ; and the others who had remained behind 
 now followed them. Thus the believers, obeying the 
 warning of Jesus, escaped that fearful judgment which 
 shortly after burst upon the devoted city ; the records 
 of which are perhaps the most terrible preserved in 
 the history of the world. 
 
 About this time, towards the end of the reign of the 
 emperor Nero, that cruel persecutor of the Christians, 
 
82 JOHN IN EPHESUS. 
 
 probably in the year of our Lord 66, when the apostles 
 Paul and Peter suffered martyrdom, John quitted Je- 
 rusalem. He was perhaps the only apostle who sur- 
 vived the destruction of Jerusalem, and the scatter- 
 ing of the Jewish people ; the type ofthat great coming, 
 when He shall appear amidst the clouds of heaven as 
 the shepherd dividing his flock, and as the righteous 
 King, " glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all 
 them that believe." 
 
 JOHN IN EPHESUS. 
 
 We have little or no account of the life and actions 
 of our Apostle after he quitted Jerusalem. It is cer- 
 tain, however, that he passed the latter part of his 
 life in Asia Minor, principally in Ephesus. We have 
 no means of knowing exactly what time he spent 
 there ; but the ancient tradition, which says he 
 preached the gospel in Parthia and India, seems to 
 me improbable. John was neither called nor appoint- 
 ed to undertake such far extended journeys as Paul, 
 Peter, and the other apostles were; besides, his temper 
 and character do not seem to have been suited to it. 
 After he had resided for some time in the Jewish land, 
 and, following in the footsteps of his Master, had mani- 
 fested his glory in characters of silent love, another 
 
JOHN IN EPHESUS. 83 
 
 dwelling-place was appointed to him, namely Epliesus 
 and its environs. 
 
 Meanwhile, we cannot doubt that during the inter- 
 mediate time his days were spent in works of mercy 
 and love, actively fulfilling the duties of his high call- 
 ing, and wherever he went dispensing the bread of 
 life. He sought not his own glory, but that of his 
 Master. 
 
 Epliesus was peculiarly fitted for being an aposto- 
 lical residence, — a far-famed commercial town, the ca- 
 pital of Lesser Asia; it lay on the Mediterranean 
 Sea, almost in the centre of the three great portions 
 of the then known world. It v/as the most conve- 
 nient point whence to travel towards Egypt, Syria, or 
 Greece ; on which account it was the resort of an im- 
 mense number of men from all parts of the globe. 
 Epliesus was to Asia Minor wdiat Antioch was to 
 Syria, or Alexandria to Egypt ; and thus it became 
 the place in the kingdom of God whence the light of 
 the gospel shone over the whole earth. 
 
 The Apostle Paul had founded the church in 
 Ephesus, and afterwards sent thither his beloved 
 Timotheus, in order to confirm the believers in the 
 faith. Paul had died the death of a martyr, and 
 Timothy does not seem to have been long in follow- 
 ing him. Thus this most important church required 
 an apostolical head ; and this the more imperatively, 
 because the rich and luxurious Ephesus was the seat 
 both of heathen worldly wisdom, and of Judaism ; 
 so the gospel was in danger of being either choked 
 among the thorns of persecution, or obscured by the 
 
84 JOHN IN EPHESUS. 
 
 errors of sophistry. Here, therefore, our Lord placed 
 the disciple whom He loved. 
 
 Ephesus now became to John another Jerusalem. 
 As he had formerly preached the gospel through 
 Judea and Samaria, so he did not now confine him- 
 self to Ephesus, but travelled through the neighbour- 
 hood, confirming the existing churches, and founding 
 new ones. In this manner the labours of the Apostle 
 resembled the three years' ministry of our Lord, who, 
 going out from Jerusalem and returning to it as a 
 central point, with unwearied diligence enlightened 
 the benighted regions of Judea, Samaria, and Galilee. 
 In his Gospel also, John takes the sacred festivals of 
 the Jews, particularly the passover, as the eras that 
 mark the principal events of his Master's life ; exhi- 
 biting them as the beacon lights, which governed his 
 course ; or as the tropics of that Sun of Righteous- 
 ness, which was to spread light and salvation over the 
 whole earth. 
 
 In Asia Minor, at various distances from Ephesus, 
 lay many cities in which there were Christian churches, 
 such as Smyrna, Thyatira, Pergamus, Sardis, Phila- 
 delphia, Laodicea, &c. where also the holy Apostle 
 laboured. The early Fathers of the church speak in 
 the most glowing terms of the power and love with 
 which he served his God ; and his name lived amidst 
 the blessings and praises of the Christians, in the 
 beautiful land of Asia ; until, as in Jerasalcm, their 
 candlesticks were removed out of their places, because 
 they had left their first love, and ceased to value the 
 happiness w^hich had been preached to them in the 
 
JOHN IN BANISHMENT. 85 
 
 name of Jesus. And because they had rejected the 
 Sun, a dull and gloomy crescent arose, striving with 
 its faint beams to dispel the darkness of the barren 
 and desert waste. 
 
 JOHN IN BANISHMENT. 
 
 The history of the lives and actions of the holy 
 Apostles becomes generally dark and gloomy, as we 
 approach the termination of their career. In the writ- 
 ings of the New Testament w^e find little information 
 regarding them, and that little is scattered at wide 
 intervals; for example, throughout the numerous 
 Epistles of the active and far-travelled Apostle Paul. 
 Many names of those first messengers of the gospel, 
 such as Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Matthew, &c. are 
 never mentioned again ; and why should they be so, 
 if the extension and prosperity of the kingdom of God 
 do not demand it? They preached not themselves, 
 but Jesus Christ and him crucified. The sum of 
 their history is comprehended in the injunction of our 
 Lord, " Go ye into all the world, and preach the gos- 
 pel to every creature ;" and in the prophecy, " Then 
 shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill 
 you ; and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's 
 sake," Matt. xxiv. 9. " They shall put you out of the 
 synagogues; yea, the time cometh that whosoever 
 
86 JOHN IN BANISHMENT. 
 
 killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And 
 these things will they do unto you, because they have 
 not known the Father, nor me." Jo'hn xvi. 2, 3. These 
 soldiers of the cross did not wish to be accounted w^or- 
 thy in their own persons ; but, as the representatives 
 and messengers of Jesus Christ, w^ere w-ell content that 
 they themselves should be eclipsed by the brilliancy 
 of that light with which they illuminated the sur- 
 rounding darkness. Their life on earth was hid with 
 Christ in God, and has now been long manifested with 
 Christ in glory. Yet in those places where they dis- 
 pensed the blessings of divine light, they were regard- 
 ed with love and thankfulness as the instruments of 
 the Holy Spirit ; and many traditions regarding their 
 glorious deaths were preserved and transmitted to pos- 
 terity. In this manner we have much intelligence 
 regarding them, collected by the Fathers of the church 
 during the first century, which has been treasured up 
 in their writings. 
 
 Although these traditions are not always of suffi- 
 cient authority, yet they serve to prove that the names 
 of the apostles stood in high estimation long after their 
 decease ; and they serve also to throw considerable 
 light over their lives, actions, and writings. 
 
 One tradition informs us that John, soon after the 
 destruction of Jerusalem, travelled from Ephesus to 
 Palestine, and there held a meeting with several of 
 the apostles and kinsmen of Jesus. Although there 
 is nothing improbable in this account, and although 
 we know enough of the character of our Apostle to 
 believe that he felt the warmest sympathy in the suf- 
 
JOHN IN BANISHMENT. 87 
 
 ferings of his unfortunate country, and would do all 
 in his power to assist the exiles botli by deed and by 
 counsel, yet the occurrence is not sufficiently authen- 
 ticated. 
 
 There is another anecdote of our Apostle to which 
 the same remarks may be applied : it is said that 
 during the reign of the cruel emperor Doraitian, being 
 at Rome, he was thrown by his command into a caldron 
 of boiling oil, out of which he was drawn unhurt, and 
 afterwards banished to Patmos. The latter circumstance 
 is undeniable, since the Apostle mentions it in his Re- 
 yelation ; but the miracle which preceded it is unsup- 
 ported by the same testimony. The tradition of the 
 boiling oil, in all probability, took its rise from the 
 wish to signalize the Apostle by a martyrdom and 
 wonderful deliverance, of which he most certainly did 
 not stand in need. 
 
 Thus John came to Patmos, a desert and rocky 
 island in the Egean sea, now called Patino, which the 
 Romans made use of as a place of banishment for cri- 
 minals. He was banished here, as he himself relates 
 " for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus 
 Christ." Rev. i. 9. We cannot be exactly certain 
 regarding the time when this took place, but most 
 probably it was towards the end of the reign of the 
 cruel emperor Domitian. Here he received the holy 
 revelations of God, which are contained in the last 
 and only prophetic book of the New Testament. As 
 John has described in his Gospel the glory of Jesus 
 as the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth ; 
 so he was also deemed worthy to represent to believ- 
 
88 JOHN IN BANISHMENT. 
 
 ers, in prophetic imagery, tlie conflict upon this earth 
 of the heavenly kingdom with the kingdom of dark- 
 ness, and its final victory and glory. It is a book full 
 of deep and mysterious things, the greater part of 
 which are still veiled in impenetrable secrecy, but 
 which shall one day be revealed, for the consolation 
 of all true believers during the time of their affliction, 
 and in order to strengthen them in faith and love. 
 
 Thus our Lord gave the disciple w^ho had been ba- 
 nished for his sake a new proof that He loved him, 
 by opening his eyes while on this desert island, and 
 enabling him to behold in spirit his future kingdom, 
 and the new and heavenly Jerusalem. He can trans- 
 form the desert wilderness into a paradise for his 
 faithful servants ; and thus John did not feel burden- 
 some the lonely time passed in inactivity and in se- 
 paration from his flock. We know as little regarding 
 the exact duration of his imprisonment in the island 
 of Patmos, as we do about its commencement ; the 
 most authentic records of the ancient Fathers ao-ree, 
 however, in stating that after the death of Domitian, 
 when the emperor Nerva came to the throne, and all 
 those exiled by the former emperor were recalled, that 
 John also was set at liberty, and returned to his resi- 
 dence in Ephesus. How must the faithful in that 
 city, and those of the neighbouring communities, have 
 rejoiced, when God restored to them their beloved fa- 
 ther, John the Apostle, and they enjoyed ofice more 
 the privilege of listening to his instructions ! 
 
89 
 
 THE LATTER TIME JOHN PASSED IN EPHESUS. 
 
 How gladly would we possess a circumstantial ac- 
 count of the life of our Apostle during bis latter so- 
 journ in Ephesus until the time of his death ! How 
 much that is beautiful and edifying would strike our 
 gaze in the picture of such an old man's closing scene! 
 I even think his countenance must have appeared 
 glorified and illuminated during this period, after the 
 visions and revelations which God bad vouchsafed to 
 him in Patmos. 
 
 Our very natural wishes on this subject, however, 
 have not been gratified. The holy men of God liave 
 proved themselves in truth to be messengers in Christ's 
 stead, when they withdrew themselves, after having 
 fulfilled their divine commission, and entirely disap- 
 peared from our gaze. Most faithfully did they pre- 
 serve in their hearts, and practise during their whole 
 lives, the words of the Lord, " So likewise ye, when 
 ye shall have done all those things which are com- 
 manded you, say. We are unprofitable servants ; we 
 have done that which was our duty to do." They 
 did not describe their own works and characters, but 
 preached and declared to the world that one Man, 
 who had called them from darkness into his marvel- 
 lous light. This was their occupation and calling, for 
 which they lived and died ; and those works of humi- 
 lity, which they did by the power of God, have as- 
 
90 THE LATTER TIME JOIIxX PASSED IN EPHESÜS. 
 
 cendecl up after them, like a sweet-smelling savour, 
 to the place where their names stand inscribed. 
 
 Do not the character and actions, nay, the very per- 
 son of John, still continue to dwell in the midst of us? 
 Can we not experience the thoughts of his exalted spirit 
 and the sensations of his pure heart, and can we not 
 quicken ourselves in faith and love, by looking at his 
 example, and listening to his words ? If we have 
 eyes to see, ears to hear, or a heart to feel, does he 
 not speak to us in all that which he has written with 
 his immortal pen ? May God enable us to appreciate 
 the costly gifts of the Evangelist and Apostle ! 
 
 The Gospel of St. John vs^as called by the ancient 
 Fathers of the church, in order to distinguish it from 
 the other three, " the Spiritual Gospel," and also " the 
 Heart of Christ," the depth of which no one can com- 
 prehend who has not lain upon the bosom of our Lord. 
 And certainly, while the otlier Evangelists who also 
 accompanied Jesus in his vranderings merely tran- 
 scribe his words and actions, and circumstantially re- 
 late them as they took place, apparently without any 
 ulterior object ; the glory of our Lord seems ever to 
 be hovering before the soul of John while he is writ- 
 ing. The three former describe the human pilgrim- 
 age of our Lord upon earth ; but John reveals the di- 
 vine form and glory of the Son of Man ; they de- 
 pict the body, John depicts the soul. Thus the 
 fourfold history describes both the God-man and the 
 Son of man ; and as the New Testament is the key 
 of the Old, so the Gospel of John is the key and key- 
 stone of the rest. 
 
THE LATTER TIME JOHN PASSED IN EPHESUS. 91 
 
 What a simple and wonderful foundation, on which 
 the eternal structure of the kingdom of God is erected 
 into a holy temple of the Lord, and a habitation of 
 God through the Spirit ! Truly, the four Gospels are 
 a miracle, humble in outward form, like our Lord him- 
 self, but inwardly full of glory, grace, and truth. 
 
 John wrote his in Ephesus, whether before or after 
 his banishment is immaterial, though the latter is the 
 more probable. He bore it long in his heart before he 
 began to write it ; when it was done, however, it took 
 a place exalted far above all time and change. Many 
 old Fathers maintain, and it is besides extremely pro- 
 bable, that John, in composing it, had in view the 
 refutation of the errors of certain heretics and unbeliev- 
 ers. There were then men in Lesser Asia, who sought 
 to crush or falsify Christianity ; and if John referred 
 to them in his Gospel, he certainly took the best 
 means of refuting their errors by developing the 
 truth in the most masterly manner, and by eloquently 
 representing it in all its heavenly simplicity. So 
 when one brinos a light into a dark cliamber, the 
 darkness disappears ; and when the tints of the 
 morning cast their roseate hue, the night fades away 
 from the heavens. 
 
 In his three Epistles, but particularly in the first, he 
 makes particular mention of those false teachers ; 
 while he earnestly warns Christians against their de- 
 ceptions, and admonishes them to try spirits whether 
 they are of God, and to remain steadfast in the faith. 
 These Epistles are perhaps the last of those writings 
 which the Apostle has left behind him. The first 
 
92 THE LATTER TIME JOHN PASSED IN EPHESUS. 
 
 seems to have been a circular, or pastoral letter, ad- 
 dressed to the numerous congregations of Lesser Asia, 
 who probably forwarded it from one to another. For 
 this reason, it wants the form of a letter, as well as 
 the superscription and the benediction at the conclu- 
 sion. The Apostle, also, addresses his readers in 
 a peculiar fatherly manner, calls them his children 
 and little children, and with benevolent condescen- 
 sion often makes use of tlie confidential " we," instead 
 of using the admonitory " you." They all knew the 
 beloved and still youthfully-minded old man, who 
 had often prayed in the midst of them ; and they were 
 all personally known to him. They required no ad- 
 dress, and no salutation ; it was enough that the Epis- 
 tle was from the disciple wlio had leaned on the bosom 
 of our Lord. It bears in every line the impress of his 
 spirit, and is full of holy earnestness and love, child- 
 like, yet manly. 
 
 The tw^o other short Epistles are directed to single 
 individuals. The first, addressed to a Christian lady 
 of the name of Tyria, contains a friendly exhortation 
 to remain steadfast in truth and love, and to beware 
 of false teachers and deceivers. The other Epistle, 
 which was written to a friend of the Apostle, of the 
 name of Gains, both contains his praises and a recom- 
 mendation to shovv^ love and hospitality to those Chris- 
 tians who had been persecuted on account of the 
 faith, and exiled from their homes. The particular 
 occasion on which it was w^ritten, as well as the rela- 
 tion of Gains to the Apostle, are unknown to us. If 
 we had known it, we might perhaps still better per- 
 
THE LATTER TIME JOHN PASSED IN EPHESÜS. 93 
 
 ceive and admire the peculiar union of tender love 
 towards Christians, with righteous anger against the 
 enemies of truth, so peculiarly developed in the cha- 
 racter of John. The preservation of those short letters 
 to mere individuals, is another proof of the high esti- 
 mation in which John was regarded, both by his con- 
 temporaries and their immediate descendants. They 
 would not permit even a single page of his writings 
 to be destroyed ; and thus, those simple Epistles have 
 survived the lapse of centuries, and the destruction of 
 mighty kingdoms. In the two latter Epistles John 
 named himself " the elder," or bishoj), which has a 
 similar but more pleasing signification than teacher 
 or director of the Christian community ; for it seems 
 to refer to his personal connection with it. It is also 
 more lowly than if he had named himself "Apostle ;" 
 for he now no longer travelled about, but visited at 
 intervals the Christian churches from his dwelling- 
 place, which he had fixed in the midst of them. 
 
94 
 
 JOHN AND THE ERRING BUT REPENTANT 
 YOUNG MAN. 
 
 Ephesiis was now, as Jerusalem had formerly been, 
 the residence of the Apostle ; whence he visited the 
 Christian churches in the neighbouring to\\Tis and 
 villages, appointed the ministers and teachers, and 
 carefully preserved the purity of faith and doctrine. 
 
 The manner in which he laboured here, and the 
 struggle he maintained with the numerous enemies of 
 Christ, particularly with those teachers of error who 
 mingled the pure truths of the gospel with earthly 
 traditions, has not been transmitted to us. Neverthe- 
 less, there is one anecdote belonging to this era, which 
 Clement, bishop of Alexandria, one of the Fathers of 
 the church, has circumstantially related ; not as an 
 uncertain tradition, but as a history well known and 
 faithfully remembered. It is as follows : 
 
 After John had returned from Patmos to Ephesus, 
 he visited the neighbouring congregations, in order to 
 appoint bishops, and to arrange the church govern- 
 ment. On one occasion, when he had preached the 
 gospel in a town not far from Ephesus, admonishing 
 and encouraging the brethren, he beheld a young man 
 of distinguished appearance, and of a countenance 
 which betokened both a fiery spirit and pre-eminent 
 mental talent. The Apostle turned to the bishop of 
 
JOHN AND THE ERRING BET REPENTANT YOENG MAN. 95 
 
 the church with the "words, " In the presence of 
 Christ and this assembly, I solemnly commend this 
 young man to thy care." The bishop, upon this, un- 
 dertook the charge of his education, promising to do 
 all in his power for him. He took him to his house, 
 entertained, educated and instructed him, until he 
 judged him worthy of receidng the rite of baptism. 
 
 Afterwards, however, when the bishop had some- 
 what relaxed in his superintendence, the young man 
 fell into bad company, where he was enticed into 
 drunkenness and immoral practices, and afterwards 
 into midnight robbery and theft. Thus he progressed 
 in wickedness ; and, as a fiery horse that starts aside 
 from the mountain path falls into the abyss, so his 
 violent nature, after he had once quitted a virtuous 
 course, plunged him into destruction. 
 
 He now began to despair of the mercy of God, and 
 no longer hoped for salvation ; in order, therefore, to 
 execute greater and bolder misdeeds, he united his 
 companions into a robber band, of which he became 
 the captain, and rendered the whole neighbourhood 
 insecure. 
 
 Some time having elapsed, John was again sum- 
 moned to visit the same flock ; and when every thing 
 had been set in order, he said to the bishop, " Where 
 is the pledge with which I intnisted thee in the pre- 
 sence of tlie Lord and this congregation ?" The 
 bishop at first was alarmed, lest some one had falsely 
 accused him to the Apostle, of breach of faith witli 
 regard to some earthly possession. But when John 
 «aid, ^' I demand from thee the soul of thv brother. 
 
96 JOHN AND THE ERRING BUT REPENTANT YOUNG MAN. 
 
 the young man with whom I intrusted thee ! " the 
 old man sighed, and weeping, replied, " Alas ! he is 
 dead !" " Dead ? " asked John, " of what death did 
 he die ? " " lie is dead to God," replied the bishop, 
 " he is lost to Christ, he is a robber. Instead of being 
 now a member of the church, yonder mountain is in- 
 fested with his banditti ! " 
 
 When the Apostle heard this, lamenting bitterly, 
 he exclaimed, " Alas ! to what a careless watchman 
 have I intrusted the soul of my brother t" Upon this, 
 he hastily left the assemblage, and procuring a horse 
 and a guide, proceeded to the neighbourhood where 
 the robbers were encamped. He was soon arrested 
 by some of the gang, and led into the presence of the 
 captain. AYhen the latter beheld the aged Apostle, 
 his first impulse was to fly, but John held him back, 
 called him his son, and promised him forgiveness of 
 sins in the name of Jesus. He then took him under 
 his own superintendence, giving him spiritual instruc- 
 tion, and afterwards led him back to the congregation, 
 an example of true repentance and regeneration. 
 
 We cannot doubt that in many instances John 
 showed similar faithfulness as a shepherd, and equal 
 zeal in leading back to the paths of truth and holiness 
 those who had been seduced from the right way by 
 the numerous temptations of that corrupt age. The 
 numerous admonitions and warnings, contained in his 
 Epistles, prove how near this subject lay to his heart, 
 as well as the joy which he took in those who walked 
 in righteousness, and proved themselves to be brethren 
 in the truth. 
 
97 
 
 THE MIRACLES WHICH JOHN PERFORMED. 
 
 In the life of a man of God such as John, nothing 
 can be unimportant ; for this reason we may well 
 ask, what miracles he performed ? Supernatural oc- 
 currences necessarily belong to the character of a 
 divine manifestation ; for a manifestation of God 
 is of itself a miracle, being a disclosure from the 
 invisible world. The miraculous powers of Jesus 
 Christ were necessary proofs that He was the pro- 
 mised Messiah, the Son of God, the Lord and Saviour 
 of men. He himself refers to them as a testimony of 
 this fact ; and John says, in his Gospel, that the Lord 
 by those signs of divine power and might manifested 
 his glory. They were proofs and tokens that He 
 had power to loose men from the bonds of sin and of 
 death, and to remove the barrier that separated earth 
 and heaven ; they were also necessary to perfect the 
 picture of Jesus Christ, as the image of God, and as 
 his Son born of a woman. As He calls his own 
 miracles the works of his Father, so he imparted to 
 his apostles power and strength to perform the same 
 miracles in his name which He himself had done. 
 These powers necessarily belonged to the apostolic 
 office, as being the sure means of proving to mankind 
 that they were the messengers of Christ; for no apos- 
 tle ever made use of them to glorify himself, any more 
 than our Lord did. 
 
 H 
 
98 THE MIRACLES WHICH JOHN PERFORMED. 
 
 There is no doubt that these divine gifts had been 
 imparted to our Apostle ; yet we never read in tlie 
 Scriptures of John performing any miracle. Even at 
 the cure of the lame man in Jerusalem, he appears to 
 have stood by as a silent and inactive spectator ; all 
 being done through the medium of Peter's words and 
 actions. This is the only circumstance of the kind at 
 which he is described as being present ; for the fact 
 of his imparting the Holy Ghost to the converts made 
 by Philip in Samaria, by means of laying his hands 
 upon them,, was but the consequence of his apostolical 
 office. In the silent usefulness of the beloved disciple, 
 as it is depicted to us in his Gospel, without the bril- 
 liancy of miracle, there seems to be another indication 
 of the peculiar modesty of his character, in which we 
 behold the mild lustre of the moon veiled by the 
 evening cloud. 
 
 Meanwhile antiquity, in her reverence for our 
 Apostle, appears to have been of a different opinion, 
 and to have considered miracles indispensable in the 
 history of St. John. Among other things it is related, 
 that on one occasion John and several of the brethren 
 drank out of a poisoned cup ; the latter fell on the ground 
 in the agonies of death, while he not only was un- 
 harmed but was the means of restoring them to life 
 and vigour. Although this history contains nothing 
 improbable in itself, for our Lord had promised his 
 apostles that they should drink poison uninjured; yet 
 it is not grounded on sufficient testimony, and we can- 
 not place it in the rank of undoubted truths. It is 
 for this reason that painters have generally represent- 
 
THE MIRACLES WHICH JOHN PERFORMED. 99 
 
 ed the holy Apostle with a cup in one hand, out of 
 which a serpent is raising its head. Were cur his- 
 tory symbolical, we might with truth say in the same 
 manner, that John must have drunk many cups full 
 of deadly poison ; namely, the poison of lying and 
 deceit, presented to him by the enemies of Christians 
 and falsifiers of the truth. But as Paul escaped un- 
 scathed from the viper in the island of Crete, so John 
 also was unharmed by the poison of heretics and slan- 
 derers ; and, if we may believe his testimony, a life 
 in Christ can never be said to be in danger. For this 
 reason the anecdote, as well as the manner in which 
 painters represent the Apostle, may well please us ; 
 although, for want of sufficient evidence, we can 
 hardly regard the fact as authenticated. 
 
 The tradition, also, that John destroyed the temple 
 of Diana of the Ephesians with his own hand, caus- 
 ing it to be razed to the ground, is also without doubt 
 allegorical. This miracle was probably performed by 
 the preaching of the gospel ; there being no need for- 
 cibly to destroy idolatry, as it would fall to pieces 
 from its own worthlessness. Hence it came to pass, 
 as the Roman governor Pliny wrote to the emperor 
 Trajan, that the idolatrous temples and altars were 
 empty and deserted ; for they were gradually disap- 
 pearing from the kingdom of light and truth. In this 
 sense Cyrill, an old Father of the church, with good 
 reason might call John the destroyer of the temple of 
 Diana. 
 
 There is one thing, however, which is well attest- 
 ed, that John, during his latter sojourn in Ephesus, 
 
100 John's disciples and friends. 
 
 raised from the dead a deceased person; although the 
 minute circumstances of the case have not been trans- 
 mitted to us. Wherever it was necessary to glorify 
 the name of Jesus, we may be certain that John 
 would make use of the miraculous power imparted to 
 him as a messenger of the Lord, in order to restore to 
 sight the spiritually blind, and awaken the spirituall 
 dead to a new life. And how great must the number 
 of those be whom he, during his long life, led to their 
 God, and admitted into the fold of the Lord ! 
 
 JOHN'S DISCIPLES AND FRIENDS. 
 
 We cannot form a better idea of the position of 
 John in the church at Ephesus, than by picturing 
 him in the form of a benevolent and serious, yet 
 cheerful father of a family, in the midst of his house- 
 hold circle. His Epistles authorize us to make this 
 comparison ; in them he addresses the Christians as 
 " children" and " little children," sometimes also as 
 *' brethren ;" he also makes a distinction between 
 " fathers, young men, and children," and then again 
 addresses them collectively by the term " beloved." 
 Those who loved and reverenced the Apostle as their 
 spiritual father must have formed a numerous family, 
 especially if we. include all whom he diligently visit- 
 
joun's disciples and friends. 101 
 
 cd, and who lived not merely in Ephesus, but in tiie 
 neio-hbourino- towns and villaoes. 
 
 We can easily imagine that our Apostle, like the 
 apostles Peter and Paul, had some among the many 
 who were bound to him by the ties of love, to whom 
 he stood in a closer relation, and who may with pro- 
 priety be named his disciples. The most distinguish- 
 ed of these were Ignatius and Polycarp ; the first 
 became afterwards bishop of Antioch, and, in the reign 
 of the emperor Trajan, on account of his bold confession, 
 was carried to Rome, and thrown to wild beasts for 
 the amusement of the populace. As they were lead- 
 ing him away to suffer tlie death of a martyr, he said, 
 " I am the wheat of Christ, which must be oround 
 by the teeth of wild beasts before becoming pure 
 bread." In like manner, many thousand Christians 
 ended their lives at the same time in joyful faith and 
 confession of the truth ; but so much the more did 
 the kingdom of God prosper and increase. Poly- 
 carp, the other disciple of the Apostle John, had 
 been appointed by him bishop of the community at 
 Smyrna ; and antiquity is full of his praises for 
 faith and boldness in the service of the Lord : he 
 also sealed his confession with his blood. When 
 he was about ninety years old, there arose a tu- 
 mult among the Jews and heathens, who with wild 
 cries demanded his death. The old man fled from his 
 flock to an estate in the neighbourhood of Smyrna ; 
 but his retreat was betrayed, he was taken by armed 
 men, and carried back to the city. In vain the gover- 
 nor tried to persuade him to renounce Christianity, if 
 
102 
 
 only in appearance, and to pay divine honours to 
 the image of the emperor : he was inexorable. The 
 enraged populace now desired his death with still 
 greater violence, and demanded that he should be 
 burned alive. It took place a ccordingly ; the old man 
 advanced with joy to meet his fiery death, and his 
 body, says the story, glittered in the flames like gold 
 in the furnace. It was the general opinion of antiquity 
 that Poly carp was the angel of the church in Smyrna^ 
 mentioned in Revelations ii. 8. and that the following 
 verses are addressed to him. 
 
 There are also various other names of lesser note, re- 
 corded as those of the disciples and j)upils of the Apos- 
 tle ; for it is undoubted, that by word and example be 
 induced many to become the servants of the Lord. It 
 is an undoubted fact, that where such a chosen ser- 
 vant of God arises, he does not remain alone ; but 
 arouses many others to follow his example, and become 
 his assistants in the cause of truth. The names of 
 these men are now lost, as the lesser lights are extin- 
 guished in the lustre of the greater ; or perhaps, fol- 
 lowing their Master's example of humility, they 
 themselves may have concealed them. Lesser Asia 
 continued, for many years after the death of John, to 
 be a green and flourishing garden of the Lord, full of 
 springs of living water ; but when these in later times 
 were dried up, then the golden candlesticks also were 
 thrown down from the altar. 
 
 There is another story regarding John, which an 
 old and pious author of the fifth century has transmit- 
 ted to us from the writings of the Fathers. We 
 
John's disciples and friends. ]03 
 
 shall relate it, because it is characteristic of the dis-. 
 position of the beloved disciple. It happened that he 
 possessed a tame partridge, which he was one day 
 caressing and fondling, when a forester entered the 
 apartment. He was astonished to see the venerable 
 Bishop of the Ephesian church amusing himself with 
 such an insignificant bird. Upon which John asked 
 him, why he did not always keep his bow on the 
 stretch ? Upon which the huntsman replied, " If I 
 did so, the string would relax, and the bow would 
 lose its elasticity." " Then," said John, '^ wonder no 
 longer if the human mind also, that it may not sink 
 under the weight of severe thought, sometimes has 
 recourse to amusement in order to enliven itself." 
 It appears to me that, by this mild reproof, the Apos- 
 tle showed the huntsman the rashness of his speech, and 
 at the same time said no more to him than he could 
 easily understand, "^^^e may also remark from this 
 anecdote, the simple nature of John, which found 
 pleasure even in a tame little bird ; and perhaps re- 
 garded the bright red eye of his favourite with the 
 same sort of feelings as our Lord beheld the lilies of 
 the field. 
 
104 
 
 JOHN ON HIS DEATH-BED. 
 
 In John were fulfilled the words of the royal 
 Psalmist, "The righteous shall flourish like the palm 
 tree ; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those 
 that be planted in the house of the Lord, shall flour- 
 ish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring- 
 forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; 
 to show that the Lord is upright : he is my rock, and 
 there is no unrighteousness in him." Psalm xcii. 12-15. 
 
 John attained a good old age; and though the church 
 historians vary with regard to the exact duration of 
 his life, yet they all agree that he lived beyond 
 ninety, probably to ninety-eight years of age ; — the 
 days of his pilgrimage thus nearly equalling those of 
 the ancient patriarchs. Ephesus and the parts of Les- 
 ser Asia, where he spent the latter period of his life, 
 may be compared to another Canaan ; as the earlier 
 period, when he enjoyed the society of our Lord, re- 
 sembled the patriarchal times. 
 
 John long survived the first judgment which God 
 passed on the city of Jerusalem and the Jewish peo- 
 ple, because they had rejected their Saviour the Lord 
 of glory ; he was to have the ^ satisfaction of be- 
 holding the spreading of the gospel and the founding 
 of Christian churches in all parts of the earth, and was 
 the last of the apostles who, as a good and faithful ser- 
 vant, entered into the joy of his Lord. 
 
 It is strange that the disciple whom Jesus loved, and 
 
JOHN ON HIS DEATH-BED. 105 
 
 who lay upon his bosom, should tarry the longest upon 
 earth. Well might we have expected that he should 
 sigh for the rest of his Lord, and, like Paul, desire to de- 
 part and be with Christ. But there is no trace of this 
 in the Epistles which he wrote in his old age, and he 
 nowhere expresses that longing for a future life and a 
 heavenly inheritance, which we find in the writings 
 of the other apostles, Paul and Peter. In this also 
 we behold the character and spirit of the beloved dis- 
 ciple, who was a living personification of the words of 
 our Lord, " I in you, and ye in me." That living and 
 abiding in Jesus as the fruit does on the vine, was 
 most peculiarly the characteristic of him who lay on 
 his bosom ; for the Lord whom he bore in his heart 
 was never distant from him. The beautiful parable 
 of the bridegroom and the bridegroom's friend, which 
 John transmitted to us from the mouth of the Baptist, 
 was gloriovisly fulfilled in his own person. He there- 
 fore remained willingly upon earth in the service of his 
 Master, adorning the church as the bride of the Lamb, 
 and preparing her for the great marriage-day. 
 
 He also most assuredly remembered that word 
 which our Lord addressed to Peter after his resurrec- 
 tion, when the latter questioned him regarding the 
 future destiny of John, " If I will that he tarry till 
 I come, what is that to thee ?" And thus, in hu- 
 mility and patience, he waited the summons of his 
 Lord to lay down his mortal body ; having constant- 
 ly in his mind the sentiment he strove to impress 
 upon others, " Beloved, now are we the sons of God ; 
 and it doth not yet appear what we shall be ; but we 
 
106 JOHN ON HIS DEATH-BED. 
 
 know that, when he sliall appear, we shall be like 
 him, for we shall see him as he is," Even a longing 
 for home has its delight, when one is on the road to 
 that home, and sees it from afar. 
 
 What a blessing, joy, and honour for the churches 
 and conoTeoations in Lesser Asia, to have the beloved 
 disciple of their Lord so long in the midst of them ! 
 and to fonii, along with him, a beautiful picture of a 
 household and family of God upon earth ! They also 
 beheld in the aged Christian a living proof, that, when 
 the outer man becomes old and decay approaches, the 
 inner man may remain young in faith, hope, and love, 
 and renew itself from day to day. 
 
 The Lord came at last, however, to recall his faith- 
 ful servant to his heavenly home. John, when he was 
 no longer able to walk, made himself be supported by 
 two youths and led into the congregation. Here he 
 appeared, for the last time, as a father among his 
 children ; for he knew that his hour was come : — and 
 how must his countenance have shone illuminated 
 with joy ! The time for a glorious death -bed song, 
 like those of Jacob and Moses in their last hours, was 
 past ; for prophecy had been fulfilled, death had been 
 conquered, sin had been expiated, eternal justice had 
 been satisfied, and the Holy One had been anointed. 
 The whole life of the Apostle had been a song of 
 praise for the appearance of the eternal Word of life 
 in the flesh, and for his glory full of grace and truth ; 
 and in like manner, his last breath evinced the spirit 
 which had ever animated his heart. 
 
 " Children, love one another !" were his last words, 
 
JOHN ON HIS DEATH-BED. 107 
 
 which he several tmies repeated, " Children, love one 
 another !" 
 
 Thus that disciple whom Jesus had loved fell asleep, 
 and was buried at Ephesus. Because Jesus had said 
 to Peter, " If I will that he tarry tilll come," the re- 
 port had spread during the life-time of John that he 
 w^ould never die, but remain upon earth imtil the 
 day of judgment, and enter heaven without passing 
 through the gates of death. Although John contra- 
 dicts this opinion in the conclusion of his Gospel, and 
 though his grave at Ephesus was also a proof to the 
 contrary, yet the saying long continued, " He lives, 
 and only slumbers in the tomb." It testifies at least 
 in what reverence his name was held, both in the 
 Eastern and Western land. We also know and tes- 
 tify, though in another manner, "this disciple has 
 not died." He lives, and will still live, in the church 
 of the Lord upon earth, until the end of time. We 
 can listen to the words of the Apostle, until w^e see 
 Him whom he loved and whom he preached, in the 
 following words : " And we have seen, and do testify, 
 that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the 
 w^orld. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the 
 Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. 
 And we have known and believdd the love that God 
 hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in 
 
 love dwelleth in God, and God in him. And this 
 
 commandment have we from him, that he who loveth 
 God love his brother also." 
 
 FINIS. 
 
b*4i^s Etrr.N'BT, Pi-inter, East Tlii^tle Street Laue. 
 
Princeton Theological Semmary-Spcer Library 
 
 1 1012 01059 2303 
 
 DATE DUE 
 
 MAY^adPi 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 DEMCO 38-2« 
 
 37